Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Gospel of John (English → Russian)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, drawn from all 21 chapters of John. Terms already established in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [Reused from Romans TM] and their Russian rendering is copied exactly, unchanged. Terms new to the John curriculum are marked [New] and require entry into translation memory before Phase 2 processing begins, per the Language Package’s term-discovery protocol.
Risk tiers follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions exactly (Critical / High / Medium / Low).
A. Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Translation Memory
| English Term | Russian Rendering | Risk (baseline) | Key John Occurrences | Reuse Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | Бог | Critical | 1:1,18; 3:16-17; 20:28 | No change; John intensifies deity-of-Christ stakes (1:1, 20:28) |
| Jesus | Иисус | Medium | throughout | Иисус only, never Исус |
| Lord | Господь | High | 20:28; 21:7 | 20:28 confession is climactic; retain personal force |
| Son of God | Сын Божий | Medium | 1:34,49; 3:18; 20:31 | Central to John’s stated purpose (20:31) |
| Holy Spirit | Святой Дух | Medium | 1:32-33; 14:26; 20:22 | Never дух alone |
| Father | Отец | Medium | throughout chs.5,8,10,14,17 | батюшка forbidden, per baseline |
| grace | благодать | Critical | 1:14,16-17 | ”grace and truth,” John 1:14,17 — baseline Critical notes fully apply |
| faith / believe | вера / верить | High | throughout, esp. 3:15-16; 20:31 | John’s central verb (98 occurrences); anchor to personal trust in Christ |
| salvation / save | спасение / спасти | Critical | 3:17; 4:42; 12:47 | Anchor to Christ’s mission (3:17), not open-ended process |
| resurrection | воскресение | Critical | 2:19-22; 5:29; 11:25; 20:1-18 | Guard against flattening into cultural/calendar Easter observance |
| sin | грех | High | throughout, esp. 1:29; 9; 16:8-9; 20:23 | Restore weight against post-Soviet flattening |
| law | закон | Medium | 1:17,45; 7:19-23 | Moses/grace contrast, 1:17 |
| glory | слава | Medium | 1:14; 2:11; 11:4,40; 12:23,28; 17 | Central Johannine theme; guard against casual-exclamation flattening |
| peace | мир | Medium | 14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26 | Same lexeme as “world” (see κόσμος below) — flag collision explicitly |
| kingdom of God | Царство Божие | Medium | 3:3,5; 18:36 | Guard against tsarist/imperial political resonance |
| Messiah / Christ | Мессия / Христос | High | 1:41; 4:25-26; 20:31 | 1:41 itself glosses Мессия=Христос — cite as internal precedent |
| church (ekklesia concept) | церковь | High | not lexically present in John; concept anticipated in 10; 15; 17 | Apply baseline note when teaching “one flock,” “one body” themes |
| adoption / children status | усыновление (concept parallel) | High | 1:12-13 (τέκνα Θεοῦ, distinct term — see below) | Note: John uses τέκνα Θεοῦ, not υἱοθεσία; concept parallel, not lexical identity |
| election | избрание | High | 6:37,44,70; 13:18; 15:16,19 | Never судьба/рок/карма |
| providence | промысел Божий | High | (concept, cf. 6:44 “draws”) | Apply if curriculum draws Romans 8:28 parallel |
| intercession | ходатайство | Medium | (concept parallel, Paraclete ministry 14-16) | Distinguish from заступничество (see Παράκλητος below) |
| mission | миссия / благовестие | Medium | 17:18; 20:21 | Sending pattern (Father→Son→disciples) |
| Israel | Израиль | Low | 1:31,49; 3:10; 12:13 | No new risk |
| David | Давид | Low | (implicit, “King of Israel” 1:49, 12:13) | No direct occurrence; background only |
| covenant | завет | Medium | (concept background, Passover/tabernacle typology) | Apply for OT-typology teaching (ch.1, ch.19) |
B. New Terms Introduced by the John Curriculum
| English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Key Passages | Rejected Alternatives | Risk Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word (Logos) | λόγος / logos | Слово | Critical | Deity/Pre-existence of Christ | 1:1,14 | none viable (proper Synodal term) | Ordinary Russian “слово” carries none of the philosophical/personal weight by default; must be explicitly taught as a title for the eternal Son |
| only begotten / unique Son | μονογενής / monogenēs | единородный | Critical | Deity/Pre-existence; Sonship | 1:14,18; 3:16,18 | ”единственный” (too weak, ordinary “only”) | Nicene-settled term; risk is precision (unique divine Sonship vs. ordinary family “only child”), not rival-concept defense |
| flesh (incarnation term) | σάρξ / sarx | плоть | Critical (per baseline incarnation note) | Incarnation; Humanity of Christ | 1:14; 3:6; 6:51-56 | none | плоть in Russian ascetic tradition connotes bodily appetites to mortify; here means genuine humanity/origin, not moral status |
| life / eternal life | ζωή / ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē / zōē aiōnios) | жизнь / жизнь вечная | High | Eternal Life through Faith | 1:4; 3:15-16,36; 5:24-29; 6:35-58; 10:10,28; 11:25; 17:3 | ”загробная жизнь” (afterlife only — too narrow) | Must be anchored to present relational knowledge of God (17:3), not a vague future afterlife concept |
| light / darkness | φῶς / σκότος (phōs / skotos) | свет / тьма | Medium | Judgment/Belief-Unbelief; Deity of Christ | 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9; 12:35-36,46 | none; standard | Orthodox liturgical light-symbolism is an asset; guard idiomatic “тьма народу” drift |
| world | κόσμος / kosmos | мир | Critical | God’s Love for the World; Judgment | 1:9-10; 3:16-17,19; 12:31; 15:18-19; 17:14-16 | человечество (too narrow), вселенная (too broad/impersonal) | Same Russian lexeme as “peace” (мир); THREE distinct senses (created order / humanity / God-opposing system) share one Russian word — explicit disambiguation required every occurrence |
| perish | ἀπόλλυμι / apollymi | погибнуть | Medium | Eternal Life; Judgment | 3:16; 10:28; 17:12 | ”исчезнуть” (too weak, implies mere disappearance) | Must be anchored to final relational/spiritual ruin, not merely physical death/disaster |
| born again / born from above | γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν / gennēthēnai anōthen | родиться свыше | High | New Birth and Regeneration | 3:3,7 | ”родиться снова/заново” (loses “from above” sense; Synodal rejects) | свыше resolves the Greek again/from-above pun toward “from above,” but removes the wordplay explaining Nicodemus’s confusion (v.4) — must be taught explicitly |
| Spirit / wind (wordplay) | πνεῦμα / pneuma | дух (Spirit) — wind-sense NOT carried by same word | Critical | New Birth and Regeneration | 3:5-8 | none — Russian has no single word covering both senses | Synodal renders 3:8 directly about the Spirit, not a wind-analogy — the Greek pun (same word = wind and Spirit) is entirely lost; must be explicitly taught, not left implicit |
| water (new birth) | ὕδωρ / hydōr | вода | High | New Birth and Regeneration | 3:5; 4:10-14 | none | Risks defaulting to sacramental-baptismal-necessity reading (Orthodox) without explicit interpretive framing |
| Son of Man | υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου / huios tou anthrōpou | Сын Человеческий | Medium | Deity/Pre-existence; Judgment | 1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 12:23; 13:31 | none; standard | Danielic-judgment/authority title easily flattens to “the Son who is human” without OT (Daniel 7) background gloss |
| lifted up / exalted (double meaning) | ὑψωθῆναι / hypsōthēnai | вознесён / возвышен | Medium (asset flagged) | Substitutionary Death; Judgment | 3:14; 8:28; 12:32-34 | none | One of the few places Russian preserves the Greek cross/glory double meaning — an asset; still requires teaching that the cross itself is the exaltation |
| wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ / orgē tou Theou | гнев Божий | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:36 | ”ярость” (too volatile/passionate) | Must be framed as righteous judicial opposition to sin, neither anthropomorphized as emotional volatility nor minimized/omitted |
| testify / witness | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία (martyreō / martyria) | свидетельствовать / свидетельство | Medium | Deity of Christ; Judgment | 1:7-8,15,32,34; 3:11; 5:31-39; 21:24 | none | Legal/eyewitness force risks being heard as mere personal opinion in casual modern usage |
| sign | σημεῖον / sēmeion | знамение | High | Deity of Christ (general) | 2:11; 4:54; 6:14; 9:16; 11:47; 20:30 | ”чудо” (miracle — too generic, loses meaning-pointing sense) | Risks superstitious-omen reading (live Russian folk category) rather than deliberate christological revelation |
| living water | ὕδωρ ζῶν / hydōr zōn | живая вода | Medium | Eternal Life; Holy Spirit | 4:10-14; 7:38-39 | none | Coincides with Russian folk-tale “живая вода” motif — resonant but risks magical/folkloric misreading |
| worship | προσκυνέω / proskyneō | поклоняться | Medium | Unity of Father/Son; general | 4:20-24; 9:38 | none | Well-attested Orthodox liturgical term; guard against narrowing to formal ritual acts only |
| Savior of the world | σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου / sōtēr tou kosmou | Спаситель мира | High | God’s Love for the World; Salvation | 4:42 | none | Combines Critical-risk κόσμος with баseline спасение family; universalizing title |
| have life in himself | ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ | иметь жизнь в самом себе | High | Deity of Christ; Unity of Father/Son | 5:26 | ”иметь обильную жизнь” (functional-only, loses self-existence claim) | Ontological self-existence claim, not merely abundant/derivative life |
| honor (the Son as the Father) | τιμάω / timaō | почитать | Medium | Unity of Father/Son; Lordship | 5:23 | none | Orthodox saint-veneration association is largely an asset; clarify Son receives this as fully divine, not analogous to venerating a creature |
| bread of life (1st “I Am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς | Я есмь хлеб жизни | Critical | Seven “I Am” Statements; Eternal Life | 6:35,48 | ”Я — хлеб жизни” / “Я есть хлеб жизни” (both break required archaic-formula consistency) | Must use archaic “Я есмь” consistently across all seven statements to preserve Exodus 3:14 echo |
| eat flesh / drink blood | τρώγω… σάρξ μου… αἷμα μου | вкушать плоть Мою, пить кровь Мою | Critical | Substitutionary Death; Eternal Life | 6:53-58 | none | Sits atop historic Eucharistic (memorial vs. real-presence) controversy; requires explicit theological framing, not silent resolution |
| draw (Father draws) | ἕλκω / helkō | привлечёт | High | Regeneration; Election | 6:44 | none | Must be personal/gracious, never судьба/рок/карма-adjacent compulsion |
| light of the world (2nd “I Am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου | Я есмь свет миру | Critical | Seven “I Am” Statements; Judgment | 8:12 | see φῶς and κόσμος entries above | Compounds two already-Critical/Medium component terms |
| truth sets free / slave-free | ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει / δοῦλος-ἐλεύθερος | истина сделает свободными / раб — свободный | Medium | New Birth; general freedom-from-sin | 8:31-36 | none | Guard against Soviet/post-Soviet political-liberty register drift; freedom is from sin’s bondage, not political |
| devil | διάβολος / diabolos | диавол/дьявол | Low-Medium | Judgment/Belief-Unbelief (cosmic conflict) | 8:44; 13:2,27 | none; standard | Well-settled; ensure not weaponized as general slur beyond the specific confrontational context |
| before Abraham, I AM (absolute) | ἐγώ εἰμι (absolute) / egō eimi | Я есмь | Critical | Deity/Pre-existence of Christ | 8:58 | any predicated paraphrase (“I already existed”) | Must stand as bare, unqualified “Я есмь,” matching Exodus 3:14 LXX/Synodal, to preserve the direct deity claim |
| door / gate (3rd “I Am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα | Я есмь дверь | Critical | Seven “I Am” Statements | 10:7,9 | none | Archaic-formula consistency (see above) |
| good shepherd (4th “I Am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός | Я есмь пастырь добрый | Critical | Seven “I Am” Statements; Substitutionary Death | 10:11,14 | none | пастырь also = Orthodox priest-title; asset for imagery, guard against collapsing Christ’s unique shepherding into ordinary clergy ministry |
| lay down (one’s) life | τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν / tithēmi tēn psychēn | отдать жизнь (душу) Свою | Critical | Substitutionary Death | 10:11,15,17-18 | ”жертвовать жизнью” (weakens deliberate, voluntary, substitutionary force) | The preposition “for/in place of the sheep” (ὑπέρ) must render with substitutionary за, not merely benefactive “для” |
| I and the Father are one | ἐγώ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν | Я и Отец — едино | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son | 10:30 | ”мы согласны” (mere agreement — underreach); “мы одна личность” (modalism — overreach) | Neuter ἕν = unity of essence, not personal identity or mere functional agreement; foundational Trinitarian proof-text |
| resurrection and the life (5th “I Am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή | Я есмь воскресение и жизнь | Critical | Seven “I Am” Statements; Resurrection; Eternal Life | 11:25 | none | Combines two Critical-risk terms; present-tense personal claim, not abstract future doctrine |
| the way, the truth, and the life (6th “I Am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή | Я есмь путь и истина и жизнь | Critical | Seven “I Am” Statements; Salvation exclusivity | 14:6 | none | Most-quoted “I Am” statement; anchors the истина/правда consistency decision (cf. 3:21) |
| Paraclete (Counselor/Advocate) | Παράκλητος / Paraklētos | Утешитель (Scripture citation) / gloss as “Защитник/Заступник/Советник” in exposition | Critical | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7 | заступничество-derived terms for the title itself (reserve заступничество only for the separate “intercession” concept per baseline) | Established Утешитель (“Comforter”) narrows the legal-advocate/counselor range; directly mismatched with this curriculum’s own doctrine title — must be explicitly glossed with fuller range on first teaching use |
| Spirit of truth | Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας | Дух истины | Medium | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:17; 15:26; 16:13 | ”Дух правды” (breaks истина consistency) | Keep истина, not правда, for consistency with 14:6/8:32 |
| true vine (7th “I Am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή | Я есмь истинная виноградная лоза | High | Seven “I Am” Statements; Christian Identity | 15:1,5 | none | Requires OT vine/vineyard-as-Israel background (Isaiah 5, Psalm 80) to register as fulfillment-typology |
| abide / remain | μένω / menō | пребывать | High | Eternal Life; Assurance; Union with Christ | 15:1-10 | ”оставаться” (too passive/neutral, loses relational vitality) | Formal/literary register is appropriate but must be taught as active, mutual, vital union, not static residence |
| convict (Spirit convicts world) | ἐλέγχω / elenchō | обличать | Medium | Holy Spirit as Counselor; Judgment | 16:8 | none | Concentrated verse combining convicting ministry with праведность and κρίσις — dense doctrinal freight |
| overcome (the world) | νικάω / nikaō | победить | Medium | Assurance; God’s Love for the World (contrast) | 16:33 | none | Preserve perfect-tense “already accomplished” force, not merely future hope |
| sanctify / consecrate | ἁγιάζω / hagiazō | освятить/освящать | Critical (per baseline освящение note) | Sanctification concept (background to doctrine list) | 17:17,19 | обожение (never as silent synonym) | Two distinct senses in close proximity (disciples’ ongoing sanctification vs. Christ’s unique self-consecration) sharing one Russian verb — must be glossed contextually each time |
| that they may be one | ἵνα ἕν ὦσιν / hina hen ōsin | да будут едино | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son (extended to believers) | 17:11,21-23 | none | Uses Father-Son unity as the pattern for believers’ unity — dual risk of overreach (ontological collapse) or underreach (denying real Trinitarian unity); must be explicitly distinguished in teaching |
| It is finished | Τετέλεσται / Tetelestai | Совершилось! | Critical | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 19:30 | ”Кончено” (implies mere ending, loses “paid in full” completion sense) | Commercial/legal “paid in full” receipt nuance not automatically audible in Russian; must not be softened to a mere emotional exclamation |
| receive the Holy Spirit | λάβετε Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον | примите Духа Святого | High | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 20:22 | none | Relationship to Acts 2 Pentecost is genuinely debated; avoid foreclosing the interpretive question by translation choice |
| forgive sins (disciples’ authority) | ἀφίημι ἁμαρτίας | прощать грехи | Critical | Substitutionary Death; Church authority (background) | 20:23 | none | Sits atop a live East-West/Catholic-Protestant divergence (sacramental absolution vs. declarative gospel authority); must be explicitly framed, not silently resolved |
| My Lord and my God | Ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου | Господь мой и Бог мой! | Critical | Deity of Christ; Lordship of Christ | 20:28 | none | Climactic, unambiguous deity-confession bookending 1:1; preserve exclamatory, personal force |
| feed my lambs / shepherd my sheep | βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου / ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου | паси агнцев Моих / паси овец Моих | Medium | (Shepherding ministry — background) | 21:15-17 | none | Derivative ministry, distinct from Christ’s own unique Good-Shepherd substitutionary role (ch.10) |
| love (Agapaō/Phileō distinction) | ἀγαπάω / φιλέω | любить (single verb for both) | Medium | Restoration; Christian identity (background) | 21:15-17 | none — no natural two-verb Russian equivalent | Two-Greek-verb alternation unrecoverable in Russian without added commentary; teach via footnote, not lexical choice |
| children of God | τέκνα Θεοῦ / tekna Theou | дети Божьи | High | New Birth; Adoption (parallel concept) | 1:12-13 | none | Distinguish sharply from μονογενής (Christ’s unique Sonship); shares baseline adoption’s orphanage-culture sensitivity |
| Lamb of God | ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ / amnos tou Theou | Агнец Божий | High | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 1:29,36; 19:36 | ”ягнёнок Божий” (wrong register, loses sacrificial/liturgical weight) | Requires OT Passover/sacrificial background to carry full substitutionary force; climactic fulfillment at 19:36 |
| grain of wheat (dies to bear fruit) | κόκκος σίτου / kokkos sitou | зерно пшеничное | Low | Substitutionary Death (supporting image) | 12:24 | none | Self-explanatory agricultural metaphor; low risk |
| new commandment | ἐντολὴ καινή / entolē kainē | новая заповедь | Medium | Christian Identity/Ethics (background) | 13:34 | ”новый закон” (wrong register — заповедь reserved for individual commandments per baseline) | “New” = Christ-shaped standard of love, not an added item on an existing list |
| wash feet | νίπτω τοὺς πόδας / niptō tous podas | умыть ноги | Low | Servanthood (background) | 13:1-17 | none | Cultural intelligibility (not translation) risk; brief context strengthens reception |
| dwelling places / rooms | μοναί / monai | обители | Medium | Assurance; Eternal Life (background) | 14:2 | ”комнаты” (too mundane, loses dignity of register) | обители carries appropriately elevated Scripture register (cf. established Synodal “в доме Отца Моего обители многи”) |
| tabernacled / dwelt | σκηνόω / skēnoō | обитал | Medium | Incarnation | 1:14 | ”жил” (too plain, loses OT tabernacle echo entirely) | OT tabernacle-presence echo (Exodus 25-40) not recoverable from обитал alone; requires explicit background teaching |
| temple (of his body) | ναός / naos | храм | Medium | Deity/Pre-existence; Resurrection | 2:19-21 | none | храм strongly denotes Orthodox church buildings; clarify this is about Christ’s own body, not a critique of church buildings |
| doing the truth | ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν / poiōn tēn alētheian | поступающий по правде (Synodal) or творящий истину (curriculum-consistent alternative) | High | Judgment/Belief-Unbelief; Truth theme | 3:21 (cf. 14:6) | — decision required | Synodal’s правда (not истина) here breaks the deliberate verbal link to 14:6’s “I am the truth” (истина); flagged for human theologian review to fix curriculum-wide consistency |
| judge / judgment / condemn | κρίνω / κρίσις / krinō / krisis | судить / суд / осуждён | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:17-19; 5:22-29; 9:39; 12:31; 16:8,11 | none | Everyday “не судите” idiom risks softening a real, present, forensic divine verdict into casual moral criticism |
C. Cross-Reference: The Seven “I Am” Statements (Consistency-Critical Set)
| # | Reference | Greek | Russian (mandatory consistent form) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6:35,48 | ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς | Я есмь хлеб жизни |
| 2 | 8:12 | ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου | Я есмь свет миру |
| 3 | 10:7,9 | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα | Я есмь дверь |
| 4 | 10:11,14 | ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός | Я есмь пастырь добрый |
| 5 | 11:25 | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή | Я есмь воскресение и жизнь |
| 6 | 14:6 | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή | Я есмь путь и истина и жизнь |
| 7 | 15:1,5 | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή | Я есмь истинная виноградная лоза |
Plus the absolute, non-predicated form (8:58; also 8:24; 13:19; 18:5-6): ἐγώ εἰμι → Я есмь (no predicate, matching Exodus 3:14 LXX/Synodal “Я есмь Сущий”).
All eight forms (seven predicated + one absolute) must use the archaic verb есмь without exception across every Phase 2 document, per the Theological Consistency Rules established in the baseline 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
D. Risk Summary for This Glossary
| Risk Tier | Count (new John terms) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 21 | Human theologian |
| High | 15 | Human theologian / Native speaker (mixed) |
| Medium | 18 | Native speaker |
| Low | 4 | Automated review |
This glossary must be merged into translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json before Phase 2 segment translation begins for the John curriculum, per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Бог
Transliteration: Bog
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: Всевышний (acceptable poetic synonym only)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John intensifies deity-of-Christ stakes built on this term (1:1 «Слово было Бог»; 20:28 «Бог мой»); keep the referent vivid and personal, not the emptied secular-idiom register («слава Богу»).
Lord
Approved rendering: Господь
Transliteration: Gospod’
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: хозяин, владыка (reserve for liturgical/poetic register only)
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; risk elevated from Romans’ High to Critical for John, since 20:28’s «Господь мой и Бог мой!» is the Gospel’s climactic worship-confession bookending 1:1. Preserve personal, exclamatory force; do not flatten to a recited liturgical line.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Сын Божий
Transliteration: Syn Bozhiy
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: божественный посланник
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; risk elevated from Romans’ Medium to Critical for John, since Сын Божий is the Gospel’s own explicit purpose-statement category (20:31). Must be kept sharply distinct from дети Божьи (believers’ derivative sonship).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Святой Дух
Transliteration: Svyatoy Dukh
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: дух (never use alone), энергия
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; risk elevated from Romans’ Medium to Critical for John given the Spirit’s role in regeneration (3:5-8) and as Paraclete (14-16). дух alone must never stand in for the Holy Spirit. See spirit_wind_wordplay below for the John 3:8 pun this term cannot carry.
Grace
Approved rendering: благодать
Transliteration: blagodat’
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: милость, дар, везение, удача
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John 1:14,16-17 («благодать на благодать»; «закон дан Моисеем, благодать и истина явились через Иисуса Христа») echoes Romans’ law-grace argument; all baseline Critical-risk cautions against theosis/uncreated-energies absorption apply unchanged.
Salvation
Approved rendering: спасение
Transliteration: spaseniye
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: избавление (acceptable narrowly for ‘deliverance’), освобождение
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Must remain anchored to the Father’s sending of the Son (3:16-17; 4:42; 12:47) as a decisive historical mission, not an open-ended theosis process.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: воскресение
Transliteration: voskreseniye
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: оживление, реинкарнация
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Central to Russian Orthodox liturgical identity (Пасха); guard explicitly against flattening into a cultural/calendar observance rather than the personally appropriated truth of 11:25 and chapter 20.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: воплощение
Transliteration: voploshcheniye
Doctrine: Incarnation of the Word
Rejected alternatives: аватар (never use), явление
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; term-level risk recorded as Critical in John’s bible_term_registry.json given John 1:14’s foundational status, though the doctrine-level risk in doctrine_risk_registry.json is Medium since Orthodox icon theology already gives incarnation high, doctrinally secure cultural standing. аватар remains explicitly forbidden.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: праведность
Transliteration: pravednost’
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: справедливость, честность
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Occurs at John 16:8 in the Spirit’s convicting ministry (concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment) — see convict below; the same баseline caution against справедливость applies.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: освящение
Transliteration: osvyashcheniye
Doctrine: Incarnation of the Word
Rejected alternatives: обожение (reserve for explicit theosis discussion only), очищение
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged as the noun form; see sanctify_consecrate below (Section B) for the verb ἁγιάζω’s two distinct senses in John 17:17,19. Never let обожение silently substitute.
Word Logos
Approved rendering: Слово
Transliteration: Slovo
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: Логос (transliteration, too specialist/unfamiliar)
Original: λόγος
Category: Christology
John 1:1,14. Ordinary Russian слово carries none of the Logos’s philosophical/personal weight by default and must be explicitly taught as a title for the eternal Son. Named live rival reading: Jehovah’s Witness Russian-language literature renders 1:1c to deny full deity; state the Nicene sense of Слово plainly.
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: единородный
Transliteration: yedinorodnyy
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: единственный (too weak, ordinary ‘only’)
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
John 1:14,18; 3:16,18. Nicene-settled term, shared confession with Russian Orthodoxy (recited in the Creed at every Divine Liturgy); risk is precision (unique eternal Sonship, not ordinary family ‘only child’), not defense against a rival concept.
Flesh
Approved rendering: плоть
Transliteration: plot’
Doctrine: Incarnation of the Word
Rejected alternatives: человеческая природа (loses eucharistic-adjacent connection at 6:51-56)
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
John 1:14; 3:6; 6:51-58. Russian ascetic tradition (fasting, монашество) can connote ‘sinful bodily appetites to be mortified’ rather than ‘creaturely human origin’; gloss on first occurrence to prevent an ascetic misreading.
Spirit Wind Wordplay
Approved rendering: дух / Дух
Transliteration: dukh / Dukh
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: none — Russian has no single word covering both wind and Spirit senses
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: God
John 3:8 (πνεῦμα). Synodal renders this verse directly about the Spirit, entirely losing the wind/Spirit pun that is the illustration’s whole point. Single most consequential lexical loss in the core passage; must be explicitly taught, not left implicit.
World Kosmos
Approved rendering: мир
Transliteration: mir
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: человечество (too narrow), вселенная (too broad/impersonal)
Original: κόσμος
Category: God
John 1:9-10; 3:16-17,19; 12:31; 15:18-19; 17:14-16. Same Russian word already flagged Medium risk in the Romans baseline for ‘world’/‘peace’; here it must ALSO carry both the beloved-object sense (3:16) and the God-opposing-system sense (15:18-19) within the same book. No alternative Russian term covers the full range; disambiguate explicitly every occurrence.
Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: Я есмь хлеб жизни
Transliteration: Ya yesm’ khleb zhizni
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Rejected alternatives: Я — хлеб жизни / Я есть хлеб жизни (both break the mandatory archaic-formula consistency)
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
John 6:35,48. First of the seven ‘I Am’ statements. Must use archaic есмь without exception, matching Исх. 3:14 LXX/Synodal («Я есмь Сущий»), across all eight forms (see Section C consistency note in 08_core_glossary.md).
Eat Flesh Drink Blood
Approved rendering: вкушать плоть Мою, пить кровь Мою
Transliteration: vkushat’ plot’ Moyu, pit’ krov’ Moyu
Doctrine: The Bread of Life and the Eucharistic Controversy
Original: τρώγω… σάρξ μου… αἷμα μου
Category: Salvation
John 6:53-58. Sits directly atop the historic real-presence (Orthodox theosis-via-Eucharist) vs. memorial (much Protestant tradition) controversy. Requires explicit theological framing naming both readings, not silent resolution. Flagged for human theologian review.
Light Of The World
Approved rendering: Я есмь свет миру
Transliteration: Ya yesm’ svet miru
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Christology
John 8:12. Second ‘I Am’ statement; carries forward Critical risk from мир (world) and Medium risk from свет (light). Archaic есмь formula mandatory.
Absolute I Am
Approved rendering: Я есмь
Transliteration: Ya yesm’
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: any predicated paraphrase (‘I already existed’)
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι (absolute)
Category: Christology
John 8:58; also 8:24; 13:19; 18:5-6. Unpredicated divine self-designation matching Исх. 3:14 LXX/Synodal exactly; must stand bare, without an added implied predicate, to preserve the direct deity claim.
Door Gate
Approved rendering: Я есмь дверь
Transliteration: Ya yesm’ dver’
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα
Category: Christology
John 10:7,9. Third ‘I Am’ statement; archaic-formula consistency mandatory.
Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: Я есмь пастырь добрый
Transliteration: Ya yesm’ pastyr’ dobryy
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός
Category: Christology
John 10:11,14. Fourth ‘I Am’ statement. пастырь is also the standard Russian title for an Orthodox parish clergyman — an asset for imagery, but Christ’s unique life-laying-down shepherding must not collapse into ordinary clergy ministry (contrast 21:15-17).
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: отдать жизнь (душу) Свою
Transliteration: otdat’ zhizn’ (dushu) Svoyu
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: жертвовать жизнью (weakens deliberate, voluntary, substitutionary force)
Original: τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν
Category: Salvation
John 10:11,15,17-18. The substitutionary preposition ὑπέρ (‘for/in place of the sheep’) must render with substitutionary за (‘за овец’), never merely benefactive для. Flagged for human theologian review alongside chapter 19.
Father And Son Are One
Approved rendering: Я и Отец — едино
Transliteration: Ya i Otets — yedino
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: мы согласны (mere agreement — underreach), мы одна личность (modalism — overreach)
Original: ἐγώ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν
Category: Christology
John 10:30. Grammatically neuter ἕν = unity of essence, not personal identity or mere functional agreement. Foundational Trinitarian proof-text; flagged for human theologian review, paired with 17:11,21-22.
Resurrection And The Life
Approved rendering: Я есмь воскресение и жизнь
Transliteration: Ya yesm’ voskreseniye i zhizn’
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
John 11:25. Fifth ‘I Am’ statement, combining two already-Critical/High terms (воскресение, жизнь вечная family); present-tense personal claim, not abstract future doctrine.
Way Truth And Life
Approved rendering: Я есмь путь и истина и жизнь
Transliteration: Ya yesm’ put’ i istina i zhizn’
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
John 14:6. Sixth and most-quoted ‘I Am’ statement; anchors the curriculum’s истина/правда consistency decision (cf. doing_the_truth at 3:21).
Paraclete
Approved rendering: Утешитель
Transliteration: Uteshitel’
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: заступничество-derived terms for the title itself (reserved for the separate intercession concept)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: God
John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7. Established Synodal Утешитель (‘Comforter’) narrows the legal-advocate/counselor range — a direct, named mismatch with this curriculum’s own ‘Counselor’ doctrine title. Retain Утешитель for Scripture citation; gloss with Защитник/Заступник/Советник on first teaching use. Flagged for human theologian review.
Sanctify Consecrate
Approved rendering: освятить / освящать
Transliteration: osvyatit’ / osvyashchat’
Doctrine: Incarnation of the Word
Rejected alternatives: обожение (never as silent synonym)
Original: ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
John 17:17 (disciples’ ongoing sanctification) and 17:19 (Christ’s own unique self-consecration to mission) — two distinct senses within nine verses, sharing one Russian verb. Requires explicit contextual glossing at each occurrence, not a lexical fix.
That They May Be One
Approved rendering: да будут едино
Transliteration: da budut yedino
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἵνα ἕν ὦσιν
Category: Christology
John 17:11,21-23. Uses the ontological Father-Son unity as the pattern for believers’ relational unity — dual risk of overreach (collapsing believers into essential unity) or underreach (reducing the Father-Son unity to mere agreement). Flagged for human theologian review, paired with 10:30.
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: Совершилось!
Transliteration: Sovershilos’!
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: Кончено (implies mere ending, loses ‘paid in full’ completion sense)
Original: τετέλεσται
Category: Salvation
John 19:30 (τετέλεσται). Commercial/legal ‘paid in full’ receipt nuance not automatically audible in Russian; must not be softened in exposition into a merely emotional exclamation.
Forgive Sins Authority
Approved rendering: прощать грехи
Transliteration: proshchat’ grekhi
Doctrine: Forgiveness of Sins and the Church’s Authority
Original: ἀφίημι ἁμαρτίας
Category: Salvation
John 20:23. Sits atop a live, named East-West and Catholic-Protestant divergence (sacramental absolution vs. declarative gospel authority); must be explicitly framed as an acknowledged interpretive difference, not resolved silently. Flagged for human theologian review.
My Lord And My God
Approved rendering: Господь мой и Бог мой!
Transliteration: Gospod’ moy i Bog moy!
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου
Category: Christology
John 20:28. Climactic, unambiguous deity-confession bookending 1:1; preserve exclamatory, personal, worship force, not a flattened calm doctrinal statement.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: вера / верить
Transliteration: vera / verit’
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: доверие, убеждение
Original: πιστεύω / πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John’s central verb (98 occurrences), governing the Gospel’s stated purpose (20:31). верить в + accusative approximates John’s πιστεύειν εἰς αὐτόν construction but must be reinforced as personal trust in Christ, not Orthodox institutional identification.
Sin
Approved rendering: грех
Transliteration: grekh
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: ошибка, проступок
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John 1:29 (Lamb who takes away sin), chapter 9’s blindness/sin discourse, and 16:8-9, 20:23 all require the term’s full judicial and relational weight restored explicitly against post-Soviet folk-moral flattening.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Мессия / Христос
Transliteration: Messiya / Khristos
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: спаситель мира (as a stand-alone substitute)
Original: Χριστός / Μεσσίας
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John 1:41 itself glosses the transliterated title («что значит: Христос») for readers — internal scriptural precedent for this curriculum’s practice of re-surfacing the worn-smooth messianic meaning of Христос.
Election
Approved rendering: избрание
Transliteration: izbraniye
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: судьба, рок, предопределение (use only with careful qualification)
Original: ἐκλέγομαι / ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Applied in John to Christ’s choosing of disciples (6:70; 13:18; 15:16,19) and the Father’s drawing (6:44, see draw_the_father_draws below). Never судьба, рок, or карма.
Church
Approved rendering: церковь
Transliteration: tserkov’
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: храм, собрание (acceptable for local congregation emphasis)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. ἐκκλησία is not lexically present in John, but the concept is directly anticipated in the one-flock (10:16), one-body-adjacent (15), and one-in-us (17) themes; apply baseline’s caution against defaulting to ‘the [Orthodox] Church’ as the only referent.
Adoption
Approved rendering: усыновление
Transliteration: usynovleniye
Doctrine: Sonship and Adoption as Children of God
Rejected alternatives: принятие в семью
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Concept parallel to John’s τέκνα Θεοῦ (children_of_god, Section B) — John does not use the Greek term υἱοθεσία, but the doctrine and its orphanage-culture sensitivity carry over directly.
Providence
Approved rendering: промысел Божий
Transliteration: promysel Bozhiy
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: судьба, случай, карма (never use)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Concept parallel to John 6:44’s ἕλκω (‘draws’, see draw_the_father_draws below); apply if the curriculum draws an explicit Romans 8:28 comparison. Never судьба/случай/карма.
Truth
Approved rendering: истина
Transliteration: istina
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: правда (breaks consistency with 1:14,17; 8:32; 14:6; 17:17 except at the disputed 3:21 idiom, see doing_the_truth)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
John 1:14,17; 8:32; 14:6; 17:17. This verse-family’s истина at 14:6 is the single most load-bearing occurrence and should anchor the curriculum’s decision on the 3:21 правда/истина inconsistency.
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: Агнец Божий
Transliteration: Agnets Bozhiy
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: ягнёнок Божий (wrong register, loses sacrificial/liturgical weight)
Original: ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
John 1:29,36; 19:36. Requires OT Passover/sacrificial background for the substitutionary force to land; Агнец (not ягнёнок) matches Orthodox liturgical hymnody, an asset.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: дети Божьи
Transliteration: deti Bozh’i
Doctrine: Sonship and Adoption as Children of God
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
John 1:12-13. Must be sharply distinguished from единородный (Christ’s unique, essential Sonship); shares the baseline усыновление doctrine’s orphanage-culture sensitivity (Soviet/post-Soviet детский дом associations).
Sign
Approved rendering: знамение
Transliteration: znameniye
Doctrine: Signs and Belief
Rejected alternatives: чудо (miracle — too generic, loses meaning-pointing sense)
Original: σημεῖον
Category: Christology
John 2:11; 4:54; 6:14; 9:16; 11:47; 20:30. Strongly connotes an omen/portent in Russian folk religiosity, adjacent to the culturally prominent post-Soviet экстрасенс/предсказатель phenomenon; each sign’s specific christological point must be supplied by context.
Born Again From Above
Approved rendering: родиться свыше
Transliteration: roditsya svyshe
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: родиться снова/заново (loses ‘from above’ sense; Synodal rejects)
Original: γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν
Category: Salvation
John 3:3,7 (ἄνωθεν). свыше correctly resolves toward ‘from above’ but removes the again/from-above wordplay explaining Nicodemus’s confusion in v.4; teach explicitly, not assumed recoverable from the citation.
Water New Birth
Approved rendering: вода
Transliteration: voda
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: ὕδωρ
Category: Salvation
John 3:5. Russian Orthodox sacramental theology strongly defaults this toward baptismal-necessity (крещение). State the curriculum’s interpretive position explicitly rather than letting вода silently resolve the sacramental question either way.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: жизнь вечная
Transliteration: zhizn’ vechnaya
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: загробная жизнь (afterlife only — too narrow)
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Eschatology
John 3:15-16,36; 5:24; 6:35-58; 11:25; 17:3; 20:31. Risks being heard as a vague future-afterlife folk concept; must be anchored to John 17:3’s own present-tense, relational definition (‘this is eternal life, that they know you’).
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: гнев Божий
Transliteration: gnev Bozhiy
Doctrine: The Wrath of God against Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: ярость (too volatile/passionate)
Original: ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Judgment
John 3:36. Not present as a dedicated entry in the Romans baseline TM. Ordinary Russian гнев is emotional/psychological; risks anthropomorphic misreading or post-Soviet secular minimization/omission. Frame explicitly as righteous, judicial opposition to sin.
Judge Judgment
Approved rendering: судить / суд / осуждён
Transliteration: sudit’ / sud / osuzhdyon
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: κρίνω / κρίσις
Category: Judgment
John 3:17-19; 5:22-29; 9:39; 12:31; 16:8,11. The everyday idiom «не судите» risks softening a real, present, forensic divine verdict into casual moral criticism. осуждение (as the forensic opposite of baseline’s оправдание) is a new John-specific entry.
Doing The Truth
Approved rendering: поступающий по правде (Synodal) / творящий истину (curriculum-consistent alternative)
Transliteration: postupayushchiy po pravde / tvoryashchiy istinu
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν
Category: Faith
John 3:21 (ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, in the core passage). Synodal’s правда breaks the deliberate verbal link John draws to 14:6’s ‘I am the truth’ (истина). UNRESOLVED — flagged for human theologian decision before Phase 2; whichever choice is made must be applied consistently and cross-referenced explicitly to 14:6.
Savior Of The World
Approved rendering: Спаситель мира
Transliteration: Spasitel’ mira
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Salvation
John 4:42. Combines the Critical-risk мир (world) with the baseline спасение family; this universalizing title must not be read as Russian Orthodoxy’s exclusive national possession (cf. ‘Third Rome’/‘Holy Rus”).
Have Life In Himself
Approved rendering: иметь жизнь в самом себе
Transliteration: imet’ zhizn’ v samom sebe
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: иметь обильную жизнь (functional-only, loses self-existence claim)
Original: ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ
Category: Christology
John 5:26. Must be taught explicitly as an ontological, not merely functional, claim — the Son’s life is essentially his own, as the Father’s is, not derivative/granted-and-revocable.
Draw The Father Draws
Approved rendering: привлечёт
Transliteration: privlechyot
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: ἕλκω
Category: Salvation
John 6:44 (ἕλκω). Must be kept distinct from судьба/рок/карма (fate/doom/karma); the Father’s drawing is personal, purposive, and gracious, not impersonal compulsion.
True Vine
Approved rendering: Я есмь истинная виноградная лоза
Transliteration: Ya yesm’ istinnaya vinogradnaya loza
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή
Category: Christology
John 15:1,5. Seventh and final predicated ‘I Am’ statement; requires OT vine/vineyard-as-Israel background (Isaiah 5, Psalm 80) to register as fulfillment-typology, not a generic agricultural metaphor.
Abide Remain
Approved rendering: пребывать
Transliteration: prebyvat’
Doctrine: Assurance and Abiding in Christ
Rejected alternatives: оставаться (too passive/neutral, loses relational vitality)
Original: μένω
Category: Faith
John 15:1-10. Formal/literary register is appropriate to Scripture but risks sounding static; the active, vital, mutual sense (Christ himself also ‘abides’ in the branch) must be reinforced in exposition.
Receive The Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: примите Духа Святого
Transliteration: primite Dukha Svyatogo
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
John 20:22. Relationship to Acts 2 Pentecost is genuinely debated among interpreters; avoid a translation/paraphrase choice that forecloses the interpretive question.
Medium Risk Terms
Jesus
Approved rendering: Иисус
Transliteration: Iisus
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: Исус (Old Believer spelling, avoid)
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Иисус only, throughout all 21 chapters of John, never Исус.
Father
Approved rendering: Отец
Transliteration: Otets
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: батюшка (reserve exclusively for addressing an Orthodox priest)
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John’s Father-Son relational language (5:19-26; 10:30; 14-17) intensifies the term’s Trinitarian load beyond Romans’ adoption-focused use; батюшка remains forbidden.
Law
Approved rendering: закон
Transliteration: zakon
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: правило, заповедь (reserve for individual commandments)
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John 1:17’s Moses/grace contrast and 7:19-23; 5:46 cite the Law as testimony to Christ. Keep the Mosaic referent clear against modern Russian/Soviet civil-law categories.
Glory
Approved rendering: слава
Transliteration: slava
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: почёт, величие
Original: δόξα / δοξάζω
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John’s paradox that the crucifixion itself is the «час прославления» (12:23,28; 17:1-5) must be taught explicitly; guard against the casual-exclamation register («слава Богу»).
Peace
Approved rendering: мир
Transliteration: mir
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: спокойствие, покой
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Shares its Russian lexeme with κόσμος (‘world’, see world_kosmos below in Section B); the greeting-context of 20:19-26 disambiguates the sense, but any lesson covering both terms must name the collision explicitly.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: Царство Божие
Transliteration: Tsarstvo Bozhiye
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: государство Божие
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Entered only through new birth (3:3,5); explicitly not a this-worldly political order (18:36) — the sharpest test of the baseline’s tsarist/imperial political-resonance caution, given the Pilate-trial context.
Mission
Approved rendering: миссия / благовестие
Transliteration: missiya / blagovestiye
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: пропаганда (never use)
Original: ἀποστέλλω / πέμπω
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. John’s sending-chain (Father→Son→church, 3:17; 17:18; 20:21) is a Trinitarian pattern beyond Romans’ scope; retain baseline’s caution against пропаганда and legal sensitivities around миссионерство.
Covenant
Approved rendering: завет
Transliteration: zavet
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: договор, соглашение
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Background concept for John’s Passover-lamb (1:29,36; 19:36) and tabernacle (1:14) typology, requiring OT covenant-narrative grounding for the audience per baseline’s literacy caution.
Holy
Approved rendering: святой
Transliteration: svyatoy
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: чистый, непорочный
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Occurs at 6:69 («Ты — Христос, Сын Бога живого» variant readings include ‘Святой Божий’) and 17:11 («Отче Святый»). Clarify all believers, not only canonized figures, are called to holiness.
Intercession
Approved rendering: ходатайство
Transliteration: khodataystvo
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: заступничество (reserve for saints’/Mary’s intercession contexts)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Concept parallel to the Paraclete’s advocating ministry (14-16, see paraclete below); заступничество remains reserved for Orthodox devotional intercession of saints/Theotokos and must never substitute for Christ’s or the Spirit’s unique role.
Tabernacled Dwelt
Approved rendering: обитал
Transliteration: obital
Doctrine: Incarnation of the Word
Rejected alternatives: жил (too plain, loses OT tabernacle echo entirely)
Original: σκηνόω
Category: Christology
John 1:14 (σκηνόω, ‘pitched a tent’). The Exodus 25-40 tabernacle echo and the later temple-of-his-body theme (2:19-21) are not recoverable from обитал alone; requires explicit OT background teaching.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: Сын Человеческий
Transliteration: Syn Chelovecheskiy
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: Человек (loses office-title sense entirely)
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
John 1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 12:23; 13:31. In modern Russian ‘человеческий’ reads as merely adjectival (‘human’); without a Daniel 7 gloss the exalted judgment-authority sense flattens. Gloss on first occurrence.
Testify Witness
Approved rendering: свидетельствовать / свидетельство
Transliteration: svidetel’stvovat’ / svidetel’stvo
Doctrine: Testimony and Witness Concerning Christ
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
John 1:7-8,15,32,34; 3:11; 5:31-39; 21:24. Legal, eyewitness-authority register risks being heard as merely ‘giving an opinion’ in casual modern Russian; reinforce with context on first major occurrence.
Temple
Approved rendering: храм
Transliteration: khram
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ναός
Category: Christology
John 2:19-21. Overwhelmingly denotes an Orthodox church building in ordinary Russian usage; clarify this verse is about Christ’s own body, not a critique of church buildings.
Lifted Up Exalted
Approved rendering: вознесён / возвышен
Transliteration: voznesyon / vozvyshen
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὑψωθῆναι / ὑψόω
Category: Salvation
John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32-34 (ὑψωθῆναι). One of the few places Russian preserves the Greek cross/glory double meaning — an asset. Still requires teaching that the cross itself, not a subsequent event, is the moment of exaltation.
Perish
Approved rendering: погибнуть
Transliteration: pogibnut’
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: исчезнуть (too weak, implies mere disappearance)
Original: ἀπόλλυμι
Category: Eschatology
John 3:16; 10:28; 17:12. Most readily evokes physical death/disaster in ordinary Russian (погиб в аварии); anchor to final relational/spiritual ruin, not merely a this-worldly danger.
Light Darkness
Approved rendering: свет / тьма
Transliteration: svet / t’ma
Doctrine: Light and Darkness
Original: φῶς / σκότος
Category: Judgment
John 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9; 12:35-36,46. Well-supported by Orthodox liturgical light-symbolism (asset); secular idiom «тьма народу» is unrelated and could dilute theological weight without contextual reinforcement.
Living Water
Approved rendering: живая вода
Transliteration: zhivaya voda
Doctrine: Living Water and the Coming of the Spirit
Original: ὕδωρ ζῶν
Category: Salvation
John 4:10-14; 7:38-39. Coincides with a well-known Russian folkloric motif (fairy-tale ‘living water’ that revives the dead) — resonant but risking a magical/folkloric rather than personal-relational reading; distinguish briefly in exposition.
Worship
Approved rendering: поклоняться
Transliteration: poklonyat’sya
Doctrine: Worship in Spirit and Truth
Original: προσκυνέω
Category: God
John 4:20-24; 9:38. Well-attested in Orthodox liturgical usage (asset); ensure it is not narrowed to formal ritual acts to the exclusion of the whole-life, Spirit-enabled worship this passage commends.
Honor The Son
Approved rendering: почитать
Transliteration: pochitat’
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: τιμάω
Category: Christology
John 5:23. Orthodox почитание strongly associates with veneration practices (icons, saints); largely an asset, but clarify the Son receives this honor as fully divine, not analogous to venerating a creature.
Truth Sets Free
Approved rendering: истина сделает свободными / раб — свободный
Transliteration: istina sdelayet svobodnymi / rab — svobodnyy
Doctrine: Freedom from Sin through the Truth
Original: ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει / δοῦλος-ἐλεύθερος
Category: Sanctification
John 8:31-36. Свобода/свободный carries heavy Soviet-era and post-Soviet civic-liberty resonance; frame clearly as freedom from sin’s spiritual bondage, not political/economic liberty.
Spirit Of Truth
Approved rendering: Дух истины
Transliteration: Dukh istiny
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: Дух правды (breaks истина consistency)
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: God
John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13. Always use истина, not правда, for consistency with 8:32 and 14:6.
Convict
Approved rendering: обличать
Transliteration: oblichat’
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ἐλέγχω
Category: God
John 16:8. Concentrates three already-flagged doctrinal terms in one verse (грех, праведность, суд); meriting theologian attention when this verse is translated.
Overcome The World
Approved rendering: победить
Transliteration: pobedit’
Doctrine: Assurance and Abiding in Christ
Original: νικάω / κόσμος
Category: Eschatology
John 16:33 (νενίκηκα, perfect tense). Preserve the ‘already accomplished’ force against any softening into merely future hope; combines with the Critical-risk мир (world).
New Commandment
Approved rendering: новая заповедь
Transliteration: novaya zapoved’
Doctrine: Servanthood, Love, and the New Commandment
Rejected alternatives: новый закон (wrong register)
Original: ἐντολὴ καινή
Category: Sanctification
John 13:34. заповедь is well-established (Десять заповедей); ‘new’ must be understood as a qualitatively Christ-shaped standard of self-giving love, not an eleventh item added to an existing list.
Dwelling Places
Approved rendering: обители
Transliteration: obiteli
Doctrine: Assurance and Abiding in Christ
Rejected alternatives: комнаты (too mundane, loses dignity of register)
John 14:2. обители carries the appropriately elevated Scripture register of the established Synodal phrase «в доме Отца Моего обители многи».
Feed My Lambs Shepherd My Sheep
Approved rendering: паси агнцев Моих / паси овец Моих
Transliteration: pasi agntsev Moikh / pasi ovets Moikh
Doctrine: Shepherding Ministry and the Restoration of Peter
John 21:15-17. Peter’s derivative, Christ-modeled shepherding ministry; distinct from, though modeled on, Christ’s own unique substitutionary Good-Shepherd role (chapter 10).
Love Agape Phileo
Approved rendering: любить
Transliteration: lyubit’
Doctrine: Shepherding Ministry and the Restoration of Peter
Rejected alternatives: no natural two-verb Russian equivalent exists
John 21:15-17. The Greek ἀγαπάω/φιλέω alternation is unrecoverable in Russian without added commentary; teach via footnote, not an artificial lexical distinction.
Blood And Water
Approved rendering: кровь и вода
Transliteration: krov’ i voda
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
John 19:34. A physically observed detail also carrying sacramental/typological interpretive weight in the wider Christian tradition (Eucharist and baptism); low new-vocabulary risk, but note for theologian review given how readily Orthodox sacramental theology may draw a strong sacramental inference here.
Low Risk Terms
Israel
Approved rendering: Израиль
Transliteration: Izrail’
Doctrine: Sonship and Adoption as Children of God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Occurs at 1:31,49; 3:10; 12:13. No new John-specific risk beyond baseline’s note on the modern nation-state sharing the identical Russian name.
David
Approved rendering: Давид
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not directly quoted in John’s text as ‘seed of David’, but implicit background to the ‘King of Israel’ title (1:49; 12:13) and to the Davidic covenant typology behind 7:42’s crowd debate.
Devil
Approved rendering: диавол / дьявол
Transliteration: diavol / d’yavol
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: διάβολος
Category: Judgment
John 8:44; 13:2,27 (διάβολος). Well-settled term shared across Orthodox and Protestant usage; ensure ‘children of the devil’ is read as spiritual paternity/allegiance in this specific confrontation, not a general slur.
Washing Feet
Approved rendering: умыть ноги
Transliteration: umyt’ nogi
Doctrine: Servanthood, Love, and the New Commandment
John 13:1-17. Cultural intelligibility (not translation) risk: foot-washing is a less immediately intuitive image in contemporary Russian daily life than agricultural/pastoral imagery; brief cultural framing strengthens reception.
Grain Of Wheat
Approved rendering: зерно пшеничное
Transliteration: zerno pshenichnoye
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
John 12:24. Self-explanatory agricultural metaphor for Christ’s death producing resurrection life for many; low risk.
Manna
Approved rendering: манна
Transliteration: manna
Doctrine: The Bread of Life and the Eucharistic Controversy
John 6:31-33,49. Established transliterated loanword from the OT narrative; typological background for the bread_of_life ‘I Am’ statement, requiring OT (Exodus 16) grounding for full effect.
Serpent Bronze
Approved rendering: змей / змия
Transliteration: zmey / zmiya
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
John 3:14, referencing Numbers 21:4-9. Requires OT narrative background to register as typology rather than an isolated strange image, per baseline’s caution on limited sustained OT narrative literacy.
Passover
Approved rendering: Пасха
Transliteration: Paskha
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55; 19:14. Established loanword; Russia’s paramount cultural-liturgical feast — an asset for cultural recognition, essential background for the Lamb-of-God/Passover typology climax at 19:36.
High Priest
Approved rendering: первосвященник
Transliteration: pervosvyashchennik
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
John 11:49-51; 18:13-24. Established loanword for the OT/Second Temple office; low risk, standard vocabulary.
Betray
Approved rendering: предать
Transliteration: predat’
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
John 13:2,21; 18:2,5 (παραδίδωμι, of Judas). Standard, well-understood Russian vocabulary.
Crucify
Approved rendering: распять / распятие
Transliteration: raspyat’ / raspyatiye
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
John 19 (throughout). Established Russian term; low lexical risk, though the event itself carries all the Critical-risk theological weight of the substitutionary-death doctrine (see lay_down_life, it_is_finished).
Referenced passages