The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (721 page)

 
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Ekwan
(Korean monk)
:

see
SANRON
.

 
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(Heb., ‘God’). The name of the supreme God of the Canaanite pantheon (known e.g. from the
Ugaritic
texts), which became the name of the God of Israel.

 
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Elan Vital
(name of religious movement)
:

see
DIVINE LIGHT MISSION
.

 
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Judaism
A group of respected citizens who form a consulting body. In the
Talmudic
period, the term was used of scholars, particularly members of a
bet din
, and the word means ‘one who has acquired wisdom’ (
B.Kid.
32
b
).
Christianity
In the New Testament period, elders
(Gk.,
presbyteroi
) were church officials with a collective authority and oversight (they are called
episkopoi
, cf.
bishops
, in Acts 20. 28, Titus 1. 5–7) over local congregations. In
Reformed churches
, there are both teaching and ruling elders.

 
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Elders of Zion
,
Protocols of the Learned
.

An
anti-Semitic
forgery. The book purports to be the report of a conference of world Jewry in which the leaders plot world domination.

 
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Eleazar
.

The name of various prominent Jewish
tannaim
and
amoraim
. Eleazar ben Arakh (late 1st cent. CE) was the most outstanding pupil of R.
Johanan b. Zakkai
who described him as ‘a spring flowing with ever-increasing force’. Eleazar ben Azariah (1st–2nd cent. CE) was a
priestly
descendant of
Ezra
and became
nasi
to replace Rabban Gamaliel II. Eleazar ben Damma (early 2nd cent. CE) was the nephew of R.
Ishmael
. Eleazar ben Judah of Bartota (early 2nd cent CE) was a student of R. Joshua. He was famous for his generosity. Eleazar ben Matya (early 2nd cent. CE) was a pupil of Tarfon. He is said to have understood seventy languages (
TJ
,
Shek
5. 1, 48a). Eleazar ben Parta (early 2nd cent. CE) was arrested by the Romans for publicly teaching Torah, but was miraculously delivered. Eleazar ben Shammua (
c.
150 CE) was a student of
Akiva
and the teacher of
Judah ha-Nasi
. Eleazar ben Simeon (late 2nd cent. CE) was thought to be the author of much of the
Zohar
. Eleazar ben Yose I (late 2nd cent. CE) is said to have exorcized the Roman emperor's daughter. Eleazar ben Zadok (late 1st cent. CE) practised
asceticism
to try to prevent the destruction of the
temple
in
Jerusalem
. Eleazar Hisma (early 2nd cent. CE) transmitted halakhot in the name of Joshua b. Hananiah, and Eleazar of Modin (late 1st cent. CE), said to be the uncle of Simeon
bar Kokhba
, was much respected by R. Gamaliel.