Popular Phrases [antikvár]

An abomination of desolation Mep30CTb 3anycTemiH The phrase an abomination of desolation comes from the Bible. The biblical story has it that when the Romans conquered Palestine, they set up their standard in the Holy of Holies in the temple of Jerusalem. The Holy of Holies was the sanctuary of the temple, entered only by the high priest. The Román standard within the walls of the sanctuary was regarded by the people of Jerusalem with horror and disgust, as an abomination. The abominable place was forsaken by the people and feli into ruin and neglect. As the Román standard caused abomination and brought destruction, it was called an abomination of desolation (the abomination that makes desolate). In modern speech the phrase is used to denote anything very hateful, regarded with aversion, an abominable thing. I shall pay no attention to such quotations as those with which Dr Sámuel Smiles diversifies Self-Help and Character. These were done with scissors and paste, and, so far from improving the texture of Smiles' work, make it an abomination of desolation. E. E. Kellett, Literary Quotation and Allusion