hebdomad

Noun

hebdomad (plural hebdomads)

1. (obsolete) A group of seven.
   • God was now to deliver them, from the bodily captivity of Babylon: ſo was he alſo after ſeventy hebdomades more, to deliver them from bondage of ſin and prevarication, and that by the anointed Meſſias, which is indeed the Holy of Holies. This (I ſay) may be the reaſon of naming ſeventy Hebdomades...1650, Robert Persons, “That the Service which God Requireth of Man in This Present Life, is Religion. […]”, in A Christian Directory, Guiding Men to Eternall Salvation, Commonly Called the...
   • Let us now pass to the other species of the hebdomad, which is comprehended in the decad, and which exhibits an admirable nature no less than the former hebdomad. This, therefore, is composed of one, two, and four, which possess two most harmonic ratios, the duple and the quadruple; the former of...1829 October 3, Philo, “On the Properties of the Hebdomad, or Number Seven”, in Thomas Taylor, transl., The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, volume XII, number 321...
2. (historical) A period of seven days; a week.
   • For that ſaying of our Saviour, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work, is by the moſt judicious underſtood of the works of preſervation and providence: Thoſe of creation being concluded within the firſt Hebdomade, accordingly as is expreſt in the Hiſtory, that God on the ſeventh day reſted from...1662, [Joseph Glanvill], “Daily Creation of Souls is Inconsistent with the Divine Attributes”, in Lux Orientalis, or An Enquiry into the Opinion of the Eastern Sages, Concerning the Præexistence of...
   • [page 115] The truth is, "we discover no trace of a Sabbath" even among those oriental nations which had the hebdomade or week: but to the Greeks, the week itself was unknown!—their smallest interval being the decade or period of ten days. [...] [page 121] Making due allowance for the natural...1853, J[ohn] Newton Brown, W[illia]m B[enjamin] Taylor, “The Abrogation of the Sabbath. Reply to ‘J[ohn] N[ewton] B[rown]’”, in The Obligation of the Sabbath: A Discussion between Rev. J. Newton...
3. A group of seven world-creating archons (supernatural beings) often regarded as somewhat hostile; also, a term of address for the Demiurge (“a being sometimes seen as the creator of evil”).
   • When, then, the Great Archon had been orally instructed, and every creature of the Ogdoad had been orally instructed and taught, and [after] the mystery became known to the celestial [powers], it was also necessary that afterwards the Gospel should come to the Hebdomad, in order likewise that the...1868, Hippolytus of Rome, chapter XIV, in J. H. MacMahon, transl., edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Refutation of All Heresies, by Hippolytus: […] (Ante-Nicene Christian Library...
   • The light came down from the Hebdomad upon Jesus the Son of Mary. That this descent of the light was represented as taking place at the Annunciation, and not merely at the Baptism, is clearly implied in the express reference to the words of the angel in Luke i. 35, "A Holy Spirit shall come upon...1877, Fenton John Anthony Hort, “Basilides”, in William Smith, Henry Wace, editors, A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines: […], volumes I (A–D), Boston, Mass.: Little...