AGONY ( Luke 22:44 ) is not a translation but a transliteration of the Greek agônia , equivalent to St. Matthew’s ‘sorrowful and sore troubled’ ( Matthew 26:37 ) and St. Mark’s ‘greatly amazed and sore troubled’ ( Mark 14:33 ). The word does not mean ‘agony’ in the English sense. Agôn was ‘a contest,’ and agônia the trepidation of a combatant about to enter the lists. Christ’s Agony in Gethsemane was the horror which overwhelmed Him as He faced the final ordeal.

David Smith.