SPECIAL USE OF TERMS πρωτότοκος AND μονογενής IN COLOSSIANS, JOHN AND LUKE

Alexander Alexandrovich Dorofeev

St. Petersburg Theological Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia

Email: sasha.dorofeev.98@mail.ru

ORCID: 0009–0000–8660–3934

Issue: № 3 (35), 2026

Pages: 11

Annotation

The article is devoted to the comparative philo- theological analysis of terms πρωτότοκος «original» and μονογενής «single-born», which, in their turn, are crucial to the disclosure of the Christological teaching in the texts of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. Noting the semantic peculiarity of usage and the interpretation in the Epistle to the Colossians and the Gospels from John and Luke, it should be noted that the terminology with strong roots in the Old Testament and ancient culture, especially in the context of family relations, was reinterpreted in the early Christian tradition and came into use to express the exceptional superiority and divine dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result of the comparative analysis, two interrelated logical trajectories are identified. The term πρωτότοκος in Colossians, not losing its primacy, is filled with cosmological and encyclopaedic content, while μονογενής in John becomes an absolute expression of uniqueness, singularity and sonship of Christ. In contrast to the use in Luke, where these terms are used in the ordinary anthropological context, it highlights the depth of their theological perception and transmission of the Christological teaching in the texts of the New Testament

Keywords

πρωτότοκος, the firstborn, μονογενής, the only begotten, Epistle to the Colossians, The Gospel of John, The Gospel of Luke

For citation

Dorofeev A. A. Special use of terms πρωτότοκος and μονογενής in Colossians, John and Luke // Ipatievsky vestnik. 2026. № 3. Р. 11–19 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.24412/2309–5164–2026–3–11–19