Passage

Romans 1

• Glossary Term

  Apostle

  Transliterated loanword, fully established since the earliest Church Slavonic translations.

  ROM.1.1

• Doctrine

  Apostleship

  Risk: Russian Orthodox usage treats 'apostle' as a closed, historically unrepeatable office tied to icons and feast days; readers may not immediately see its relevance to Paul's argument about his own authority as a living, contested claim rather than settled hagiography.

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Called

  Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Calling

  Noun form.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Doctrine

  Christian Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ; avoid коллектив, the Soviet-era term for a work/social collective, which flattens fellowship into an organizational unit.

  ROM.1.12

• Glossary Term

  Covenant

  завет is the deeply established term (it names the two Testaments themselves: Ветхий/Новый Завет).

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  David

  Synodal standard proper name form.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Davidic Covenant

  Requires OT narrative background explanation for readers whose primary Bible exposure has been liturgical excerpts (Psalter, Gospel/Epistle lectionary readings) rather than continuous OT narrative reading.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Deity of Christ

  Shared, settled Nicene-creed confession with Russian Orthodoxy (the Creed itself is prayed at every Divine Liturgy); risk is precision of expression, not defense against a rival theological framework.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Divine Calling

  God's personal, relational call must be distinguished from судьба (fate) and предназначение (impersonal predetermined destiny), both live categories in Russian folk and literary fatalism, and from Soviet-era language of assigned social 'destiny' or duty.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Exhort

  Context-sensitive: use просить/умолять (entreaty) for beseeching; увещевать/ободрять (encourage, build up) for edification contexts.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Faith

  In everyday Russian religious usage, 'having faith' (вера) often means identifying as Orthodox and participating in its sacraments, rather than personal trust in Christ specifically; Romans' individual, Christ-directed sense must be made explicit, especially in the justification passages.

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Faith

  вера is the standard, unambiguous term, but in Russian Orthodox usage 'faith' is often assumed to include sacramental participation and church membership (вера = being Orthodox) rather than personal trust in Christ alone.

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Fellowship

  общение conveys shared communion/participation well.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Fulfillment of Prophecy

  Linear historical fulfillment (OT to NT) is not in tension with any competing native Russian cosmology, unlike in some other cultures; main risk is treating OT prophecy as generic religious literature rather than a specific, historically anchored promise.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Glory

  слава is standard and well established (also the root of 'Slavic' cultural pride, e.g.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  God

  Бог is the standard, universally recognized term across Orthodox, Protestant, and secular Russian usage; unlike Hindi's 'भगवान', there is no competing polytheistic default sense to guard against.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Gospel

  Евангелие is universally recognized, including by secular Russians, but chiefly as the name of a book or historical text rather than a living proclamation demanding response; the curriculum must restore the sense of an active announcement, not assume it from the word alone.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Gospel

  Established Synodal Bible term, already a loanword from Greek euangelion via Church Slavonic.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Humanity of Christ

  Well-supported by Orthodox Christology (against ancient docetism, which Orthodox tradition already firmly rejects); real physical human nature is uncontroversial doctrinal common ground here.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Incarnation

  Lower risk than in non-creedal-heritage languages: Russian icon theology gives incarnation an unusually high cultural profile (icons are doctrinally justified precisely because God took a visible body).

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  Incarnation

  воплощение is the settled and doctrinally precise Orthodox and Protestant term alike; Orthodox icon theology in fact gives incarnation an unusually high cultural profile in Russia (the icon is theologically justified because God took a visible human body).

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Inspiration of Scripture

  Orthodox theology holds Scripture as authoritative within Holy Tradition (Предание) — councils, patristic interpretation, and liturgy jointly with the biblical text — rather than a stand-alone final authority (sola scriptura).

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Jesus

  Standard modern Russian Orthodox and Synodal spelling Иисус (with double и).

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Justification

  CRITICAL: оправдание is the standard Synodal rendering, but Russian Orthodox theology has no developed forensic-declaration doctrine analogous to Reformation justification; salvation is more commonly framed as a synergistic, lifelong process of theosis (обожение) cooperating with grace rather than a one-time legal verdict.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Law

  закон is the standard Synodal term for the Mosaic Law/Torah and also the ordinary word for civil law, which is helpful for Paul's legal-metaphor argument in Romans 2-7 but requires context to keep readers from assuming only Russian/Soviet civil-law categories are in view.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Lord

  Established Synodal and liturgical term.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Lordship of Christ

  Romans 10:9's confession 'Иисус есть Господь' risks sounding like a recited liturgical creed line, given Господь's heavy association with formal Orthodox liturgical address, rather than landing as a personal, decisive act of allegiance; surrounding text must restore that personal force.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Messiah

  Мессия is transliterated and used alongside Христос (Christ, itself originally a title meaning 'Anointed One' but functioning as a proper name in everyday Russian).

  ROM.1.3-4

• Doctrine

  Messianic Promise

  Христос functions as Jesus' effective surname in everyday Russian usage, and the original 'Anointed One' / promise-fulfillment sense has worn smooth through overuse; the curriculum should explicitly re-surface the title's Jewish messianic-fulfillment meaning rather than assume readers still hear it.

  ROM.1.3-4

• Glossary Term

  Mission

  миссия retains the term directly; благовестие ('good-news-telling') is the more native theological description and avoids the connotation, present in some post-Soviet contexts, of Western-funded religious 'миссионерство' as a suspect foreign import.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mission to the Nations

  Russian law (notably the 2016 'Yarovaya law' amendments) restricts evangelistic 'missionary activity' outside registered religious premises, and post-Soviet public discourse often treats Western-funded миссионерство with suspicion; use благовестие where a less legally and culturally loaded term is preferable.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mutual Edification

  Building one another up in faith; no significant doctrinal risk.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Obedience of Faith

  Obedience that flows from faith, not a separate meritorious religious duty (религиозный долг) or ritual observance (соблюдение обрядов) stacked alongside it; must not collapse into an Orthodox-praxis-only reading of the Christian life.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Obedience Of Faith

  Romans 1:5 and 16:26.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Power Of God

  сила Божия is standard.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Power of God for Salvation

  Use сила Божия; avoid энергия, a term with specialized meaning in Orthodox Palamite theology (uncreated divine energies) that would import an unrelated technical debate into a plain reading of the verse.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Prophecy

  God-inspired declaration; distinguish from horoscope/astrology-style prediction (гороскоп, предсказание), which remains a widespread cultural practice in secular post-Soviet media.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Prophet

  пророк is standard and well understood via both the Orthodox Old Testament canon and general literary culture (Pushkin's 'Пророк').

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Resurrection

  воскресение is unambiguous, doctrinally settled, and central to Russian Orthodox liturgical identity (Easter/Пасха is the paramount feast, celebrated even by secular Russians culturally).

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Resurrection of Christ

  Central to Russian Orthodox liturgical identity (Пасха/Easter is the paramount feast, marked culturally even by secular Russians).

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Righteousness

  праведность is correct and established, but its everyday register (a 'righteous/upright person', праведник) evokes an Orthodox saint or morally exemplary elder, biasing readers toward righteousness-as-achieved-virtue rather than righteousness-as-gift received by faith.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Sainthood (Called to be Holy)

  In ordinary Russian religious usage, святые refers to a formally canonized, venerated minority (icons, intercessory prayer, feast days), not to living ordinary believers; Romans 1:7's address must be rendered unmistakably corporate and inclusive of every believer.

  ROM.1.7

• Doctrine

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: Must be anchored to Christ's decisive death and resurrection (Romans 10:9-10) rather than defaulting into the Orthodox theosis framework of salvation as an open-ended, lifelong sacramental process.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: спасение is the correct and only viable term, but it must be anchored to Christ's death and resurrection as a decisive, received event (Romans 10:9-10), not left to default into the Orthodox theosis framework of salvation as an open-ended lifelong process of deification requiring ongoing sacramental participation.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Seed Of David

  Romans 1:3; the archaic Synodal phrasing 'от семени Давидова' is the recognized Bible-register form.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Separation unto God's Service

  Must not be read as a call to formal monasticism (монашество) or ascetic withdrawal, a real and historically prestigious path in Russian Orthodox spirituality (monks, elders/старцы).

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Sin

  грех is well established, including in secular Russian idiom, but seven decades of state atheism have partly flattened it into a folk-moral or even joking register ('грех жаловаться' = 'it'd be a sin/shame to complain'), and secular readers may hear it as outdated moralism rather than a serious category of guilt before a personal God.

  ROM.1.18

• Glossary Term

  Son Of God

  Fully settled Nicene-heritage term shared with Russian Orthodoxy's own confession (Nicene Creed is used in the Orthodox liturgy itself, in Church Slavonic and modern Russian).

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Sonship of Christ

  Eternal, unique Sonship is uncontested shared ground with Orthodox Trinitarian theology; low risk of doctrinal drift, mainly a matter of clear exposition.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Spiritual Gifts

  Spirit-given enablements must be clearly distinguished from экстрасенсорные способности (psychic/paranormal abilities), a live and culturally prominent category in post-Soviet Russia (television psychics, folk healers).

  ROM.1.11

• Glossary Term

  Spiritual Gifts

  духовные дары is standard evangelical Russian usage.

  ROM.1.11

• Doctrine

  Thanksgiving

  Standard term shared with Orthodox liturgical usage (the Eucharist itself, Евхаристия, means thanksgiving).

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Glossary Term

  Thanksgiving

  Standard term shared across Orthodox liturgy (the Eucharist itself is called Евхаристия/благодарение) and everyday Russian.

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Doctrine

  Universal Human Accountability

  Seven decades of state atheism have partly flattened грех into a folk-moral or even joking register; the weight of universal guilt before a personal God in Romans 1:18-3:20 must be restored explicitly rather than assumed from the vocabulary alone.

  ROM.1.18

• Doctrine

  Universal Scope of the Gospel

  Directly challenges any ethno-religious identification of the gospel with Russian Orthodox national identity (the historic 'Third Rome' / 'Holy Rus'' self-understanding); must retain unqualified universality rather than being read as Russian Orthodoxy's exclusive possession.

  ROM.1.16