Paradise
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Gen. 2:8; Joel 2:3; Luke 23:42–43; 2 Cor. 12:4). The word is Persian in origin and signifies a garden. It first denotes Eden, the blessed dwelling of the first human beings before the Fall, in which their bodily surroundings and their spiritual communion with God formed one harmonious blessedness. It also denotes the blessed dwelling of the righteous and the renewed creation after the Last Judgment. See Eden.