Christos

Christ is the English term for the Greek Χριστός (Christos) meaning "anointed", which as a translation of the Hebrew משח (mashach) meaning "to smear," "anoint," "spread a liquid," carries much of its original Jewish meaning of משיח mashiyach (nm. Messiah, anointed by the Lord; Christ) or appointed by God with a unique and special purpose (mission) on Earth.

The anointing of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John, in which a woman pours a whole jar of very expensive perfume over the head of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Mark the perfume in question was the purest of Spikenard. Luke adds that the woman had been sinful all her life, and was crying; and when, according to Luke, her tears started landing on the feet of Jesus, she wiped his feet with her hair. Though the Synoptic Gospels do not identify the woman, John 12:1-8 names her Mary, which is commonly interpreted to be Mary, a sister to Lazarus, and the somewhat erotic iconography of the woman's act has traditionally been associated with Mary Magdalene.

In the 3rd- to 1st-centuries BC, the Tanakh (what Christians in later centuries would call the Old Testament) was translated into a Greek version called the Septuagint, in which Khristós was used as a translation of מָשִׁיחַ "Mashiah," "Mashiach," or "Moshiach." Jewish traditional customs associated an appointment to a special purpose with the customary "anointment" of a person with holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:22-30).

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