In recent years, this term can be found on the pages of the press, heard on radio and television. Its meaning is " the mass extermination of Jews during the Second World War "(Krysin L. P. Explanatory Dictionary of Foreign Words, Moscow, 1998), "the death of a significant part of the Jewish population of Europe - during the systematic persecution and extermination by the Nazis and their accomplices in Germany and in the territories occupied by it in 1933-45" (Dictionary of Human Rights Moscow; Ryazan, 1997). The topic of the Holocaust has recently been discussed from different angles: from the socio-psychological (how did the extermination of such a large number of representatives of one nation become possible in the XX century?), ethical and moral (why did Europe "keep silent", knowing about the persecution of Jews in Germany?), religious side (is Christianity guilty and responsible as a religion for the extermination of Jews and Jews?). The term Holocaust has long been known in European languages. Its etymological source is the Greek compound word holocaustos: holos "whole, whole, completely", kaustos "burning" < kaiein "to burn"; in late Latin, this form appears as holocaustum. Even in the biblical (Old Testament) history, the Jews had several types of sacrifices: the burnt offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the salvation or peace offering, the bloodless sacrifice, the purification offering, the jealousy offering, the drink offering; thus, the sacrificial procedure itself was carefully developed and lexically assigned to the corresponding designations in the absence of a single generalizing name. In unusual or extreme situations, sacrifices were sometimes made in huge numbers: from history it is known that Solomon sacrificed 22 thousand oxen and 120 thousand sheep at the consecration of the temple (Christianity. Encyclopedia, vol. I. M., 1993, p. 541). In the New Testament, the very concept of the Old Testament sacrifice is reinterpreted: specific ... Read more