The Greek adverb anō (ἄνω) means "above," "upward," or "on high." It contrasts with katō (below, down). In the New Testament, anō refers to physical height but more significantly to heavenly, spiritual realities — "the things above" (Colossians 3:1,2) as distinguished from earthly things. The word carries the directional orientation that should characterize the Christian life: upward, toward God and heaven.
Paul's exhortation to "seek the things that are above [ta anō]" and "set your minds on things that are above [ta anō], not on things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:1–2) gives anō its greatest theological weight. The resurrection of Christ has fundamentally reoriented the believer's existence — hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), the Christian lives from a heavenly vantage point. Philippians 3:14 uses the related noun when Paul speaks of "the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" — the anō direction of divine calling. In John 8:23, Jesus uses anō to distinguish his own origin from that of the Pharisees: "You are from below; I am from above [anō]." This vertical axis — anō vs. katō — structures John's entire Gospel Christology.