BEMA • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Bema

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noun

Bema n.

(Gr. Antiq.) A platform from which speakers addressed an assembly.

(Arch.)

(a)

That part of an early Christian church which was reserved for the higher clergy; the inner or eastern part of the chancel.

(b)

Erroneously: A pulpit.

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Etymology of 'Bema'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Bema" Quotes from Famous Books

... want it? Make your will,—you are a dead man! A life do I say?—a hecatomb of lives! How many wars would have been prevented, how many thrones would be standing, dynasties flourishing, commonwealths brawling round a bema, or fitting out galleys for corn and cotton, if an inch or two more of apology had been added to the proffered ell! But then that plaguy, jealous, suspicious, old vinegar-faced Honour, and her partner Pride—as penny-wise and pound-foolish a she-skinflint as herself—have the monopoly of the ...

— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... or Ecclesia, was the General Parliament of the Athenian people, in which every adult citizen had a vote. It met on the Pnyx hill, where the assembled Ecclesiasts were addressed from the Bema, or speaking-block. ...

— The Eleven Comedies - Vol. I • Aristophanes et al

Words linked to "Bema" : sanctuary, church building, choir, church, chancel, area