AMFITEATROV, ANTON. - A dissenting Russian theologian of the 19th century (1815-79), student and doctor of the Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy.
He devoted much attention to the formation of the parochial clergy, for which he published a Dogmatic Theology of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church, widely used in Russia and translated into Greek (Athens 1858) and Bulgarian (Kiscerov 1869). He also left two collections of discourses (Kiev 1859; Kazan 1870).
Martino Jugie
'AM HÃ'-ARES. - A Hebrew expression (people of the land), which in early documents simply denotes the people of a given region or the rural populace (Gen. 42:6; 2 Kings 24:14), but already in Ezra (4:4) and Nehemiah (10:31) it designates pagans related to the Israelites. The pejorative sense, foreign to the original meaning, grew ever stronger; the expression became almost synonymous with 'ignorant' and 'impious.' The learned Pharisees and scribes used this term to describe those who did not know the Law. The zealous Pharisees reproached the 'am hā'-āres for their ignorance of the Law (cf. Deut. 27:26) and their neglect of duties they deemed fundamental to their zeal, such as the payment of tithes and all practices of legal purity (Matt. 23:1-36). The rabbinic doctors prescribed the most rigorous separation from the despised 'people of the land.' The hatred between the two antagonistic groups, which also surfaces in the Gospel (John 7:49: 'accursed'), had deep roots and manifested itself in drastic forms, as seen in the Mishnah, particularly in the tractate Pesaḥim. Christianity, with its doctrine of love and universal brotherhood, found greater acceptance among the 'people of the land,' to whom it offered understanding and charity, than among the proud scribes and Pharisees.