The Greek word doxa in the Greek translations of the Old Testament andof the New Testament is usually rendered "glory" in the English versions, a translation of theLatin gloria. The Hebrew word kabod is usually rendered "honour" when applied toman, but rendered "glory" when applied to our Heavenly Father. Doxa means opinion,estimation, esteem, and repute. Kabad means to be heavy or make weighty, and esteem inits figurative sense.

Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Language hasthese three definitions under "glory," as follows: (1) in religious symbolism, the completerepresentation of an emanation of light from the person of a sanctified being, consisting ofthe aureole and the nimbus; (2) the quality of being radiant; as the glory of the sun; (3) anyring of light; a halo. Neither the Hebrew words kabod and kabad nor the Greekwords doxa and dokeo carry these meanings.

The Church identified Elohim with the Sun-deity, which was the prevailingdeity of the Roman emperors, the Roman capital, and the Roman empire. Gloria, a Roman goddess,was personified on an icon as a woman whose upper body was almost naked, holding a circle onwhich are zodiac signs. In the dictionaries, encyclopedias, and ecclesiastical books arefound many illustrations of our Saviour, the Virgin, and the saints, encircled with radiantcircles or emanations of light around them.

Instead of "glory," such words as "esteem," "high esteem," or "repute," whichcarry the meanings of the Hebrew and Greek words, can be used.