#council

• Abstention — The act of refraining and its result; the voluntary refusal to perform an act, consume a substance, or express a political or legal choice. In constitutional and administrative law, it denotes the formal option of a member within a deliberative body to vote neither in favor of nor against a proposal, often acting as a strategic tool or an ethical obligation in case of a conflict of interest.
• To adopt — To legally receive a child into a family, granting them the rights of a legitimate descendant. Broadly, the act of embracing or appropriating an external idea, method, opinion, artistic style, or behavior. In administrative or legislative contexts, it means to accept, approve, or validate a bill, resolution, or law following a formal vote.
• Adoption — The act of adopting and its result; the legal act establishing a relationship of civil filiation between the adopter and the adoptee. By extension, the process of officially approving and enacting a legislative bill, governmental strategy, or budget, as well as the conscious embrace of new habits, ideas, or behaviors.
• Adoptionism — A non-trinitarian theological doctrine that emerged during the early centuries of Christianity and was condemned as a heresy, asserting that Jesus of Nazareth was born purely human and was later adopted as God's Son at his baptism in the Jordan River due to his exceptional virtues. This christological view re-emerged in 8th-century Spain and was officially refuted by major church councils.
• Adoptionist — An individual or theologian who adheres to the principles of adoptionism, asserting that Jesus Christ was a purely human being chosen and later adopted by God. As an adjective, the term characterizes a writing, argument, sectarian community, or dogmatic perspective promoting or incorporating elements of this non-trinitarian christology.
• Adoptionists — Members, adherents, or promoters of the doctrine of adoptionism, who denied the inherent and eternal divinity of Jesus Christ, arguing that his status as Son of God was achieved through divine adoption at his baptism. The term is used strictly in ecclesiastical historiography to denote religious factions of antiquity and the early Middle Ages in conflict with trinitarian orthodoxy.
• Amphictyon — A delegate, political representative, or deputy sent by the member states of a religious and political confederation in Ancient Greece (called an amphictyony) to the common council managing a pan-Hellenic sacred sanctuary, such as that of Apollo at Delphi or Demeter at Thermopylae. These delegates had the structural duty to safeguard the sacred peace, pilgrimages, and temple treasury.
• Amphictyons — The plural form of the masculine noun 'amfictiun' (or amphictyon); delegates, political representatives, or deputies sent by the member states of a religious and political confederation in Ancient Greece to a common council dedicated to managing a pan-Hellenic sanctuary. These sacred magistrates formed the deliberative body that safeguarded the confederal peace, managed temple finances, and organized pan-Hellenic games.
• Amphictyon — A representative, delegate, or deputy sent by a city-state (polis) in Ancient Greece to the council of an amphictyony, a religious and political association formed around a shared sanctuary, such as the one in Delphi. This official envoy had the structural role of deliberating on cult matters, administering the temple's treasury, and maintaining the sacred peace among allied cities.
• Amphictyonic — Belonging to an amphictyony, referring to a religious and political association in Ancient Greece, or organized by it. This structural descriptive term defines councils, treaties, sacred leagues, or wars waged under the aegis of federations of allied city-states that guarded and administered a shared Hellenic sanctuary.
• Apollinarianism — A 4th-century christological heresy, initiated by Apollinaris of Laodicea, which asserted that Jesus Christ possessed a human body and a lower soul, but that the human rational mind (nous) was completely replaced by the divine Logos. This doctrine diminished the full humanity of the Savior and was officially condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (381) to preserve the dogma of the two full natures.
• Areopagus — The supreme judicial council of ancient Athens, originally composed of former high-ranking magistrates (archons), which met on the hill dedicated to the god Ares to deliberate on state crimes and constitutional matters. In a modern figurative sense, the term denotes an assembly of persons possessing unquestionable moral, scientific, or legal authority, structurally invested with the power to issue definitive decisions.
• Arian — Belonging or relating to Arianism or to the 4th-century heretical theological doctrine initiated by the priest Arius of Alexandria, which denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ and His consubstantiality with God the Father; a follower of this early Christian doctrine.
• Arianism — A 4th-century Christian theological doctrine, initiated by the priest Arius of Alexandria, which denied the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son, maintaining that Jesus Christ is not co-eternal or co-substantial with God the Father, but a distinct created being, the first and most perfect of all creation. This early heresy was officially condemned at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which established the structural dogma of the Trinity.
• Areopagus — An obsolete, popular, or regional graphic and phonetic variant of the term 'areopag' (areopagus); the supreme council, court, or assembly of judges in ancient Athens that met on the rocky hill dedicated to the god Ares. Figuratively, the term describes a gathering of learned people, an elite jury, or a forum of absolute structural authority capable of issuing major verdicts.
• Aulic — Relating to the court of a sovereign, a royal or imperial court, or its dignitaries. In a broader or figurative sense, the term describes a literary style, language, or behavior characterized by extreme solemnity, ceremonial rigor, or formal elegance.