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The analysis of the phenomenon of sanctity from the religious, philosophical, theological and Orthodox perspective is conducted by means of a semantic, etymological and structural examination of this concept. One of the work’s objectives is to highlight the different conceptual meanings of sanctity called for by the use of a comparative method. The point of departure was the biblical understanding of sanctity which substantially approaches the idea as the quality of deity, later developed in the Patristic teachings and supplemented by religion experts and philosophers. Based on that, the concept of sanctity is viewed in four semantic levels: 1) sanctity as sanctity, i.e. a quality typical of God and His chosen ones; its achievement is possible through the process of theosis [deification]; 2) sanctity as numinosum, or a particular dimension of transcendence leading to a unique experience in the human psyche; 3) sanctity as sacrum, or a higher level of being, ontological reality, the original reality manifested in hierophanies; and finally 4) sanctity as perfection, moral virtue achieved by a person through personal development.

The present article deals with the problem of the retranslation of the Bible in Christian tradition. The difference between Roman Catholic Church, Russian Orthodox Church and Protestant Churches is analyzed. Three main tendencies are postulated: 1) the return to the «right» text on sacred language and «purification» of the existing version; 2) striving for «modernization» – the transition from the traditional sacred language to the modern one; 3) the contamination of both tendencies, when the Bible is represented on «non-sacred» language, but the text is most archaized.