PARACLETE. - Attribute of the Holy Spirit.
It literally means “one who is called near”
(παράκλητος, from παρακαλέω = “I call near”),
especially in a court of law; hence advocate, defender,
patron, protector. Since the advocate also has
the task of consoling the client, and since Greek adjectives
in -τος may also have an active sense, some understand the term in the sense of “consoler.”
Holy Spirit (v.) the title
of Paraclete, implying that he himself is a Paraclete:
“I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete,
that he may remain with you for ever, the Spirit of truth”
(Io. 14, 16 sqq.; cf. I Io. 2, 1). He assigns to the Paraclete
the office of teaching (Io. 14, 26), of bearing witness
in his favor (ibid. 15, 26), and of convicting the world
(ibid. 16, 8-14).
Coptic, Ethiopic, and Gothic versions merely transcribe,
without translating, the Greek term Paraclete; whereas the Armenian and Slavonic versions translate it, narrowing its meaning, as
“consoler.”
In I Io. 2, 1, where the author applies the term Paraclete
to “Jesus Christ the righteous,” the Vulgate appropriately translates
the term as advocatus. He is the advocate, the
defender before the Father when someone falls into sin.