hebdomade

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...
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...
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...