Ichthyophobia

From Kristos Vocabulary Booster

Ichthyophobia is the Fear of Fish.

Those of us who follow the Julian Calendar just celebrated the Ascension this
last Wednesday/Thursday (Matins/Vespers on Wednesday, Liturgy Thursday). And
going over the text of the service, I found a brilliant stanza of poetry that
not only expresses the essence of the feast well, but even gives you the chance
to practice reading NT Greek without reading the NT. It is as follows
(transcription is modified Beta Code):

THN KATABASAN FYSIN TOY ADAM EIS TA KATWTERA MERHi THS GHS hO QEOS
KAINOPOIHSAS SEAuTWi,

QEOS is subject, FYSIN object. SEAUTWi could be dative of interest,
or of agent. I find dative of interest fits the composition
better. For KATWTERA, cf. G2736

hYPERANW PASHS ARCHS KAI EJOYSIAS ANHGAGES SHMERON,

hYPERANW see Eph 1:21

hWS AGAPHSAS GAR, SYNEKAQISAS, hWS SYMPAQHSAS DE, hHNWSAS SAYTWi,

QEOS is still the subject. All these phrases introduced by hWS are
in apposition to QEOS. The _object_ of SYNEKAQISAS etc. is 'man'.

The _roots_ of all these aorist participle verbs are found in NT
Greek, but not with the prefix SYN.

hWS hENWSAS SYNEPAQES, hWS APAQHS PAQWN DE, SYNEDOJASAS,

ALL' hOI ASWMATOI, "TIS ESTIN hOUTOS," ELEGON,

"The bodiless" refers to the Angels, who are often called "the
bodiless powers", even though some Orthodox theologians have been
fond of claiming that this expression is inexact, since the angels
are not _entirely_ immaterial.

It is a little confusing the way the quote is introduced and split up,
but this is, after all, poetry.

The quote continues:

hO WRAIOS ANHR? ALL' OUK ANQRWPOS MONON, QEOS DE KAI ANQRWPOS,

This word order would be odd in NG Greek, but it should still be
easy to understand: QEOS DE KAI = "both God and". DE KAI is used to
emphasize the contrast with "not just man".

TO SYNAMFOTERON TO FAINOMENON,

This word order is more typical of Attic than of NT Greek. Read as
TO FAINOMENON SYNAMFOTERON. SYNAMFOTERON is formed from AMFOTEROS
(the adjective) and SYN. Again, the root is a common NT Greek word,
though the compound is unheard of in NT Greek.

hOQEN EJALLOI AGGELOI, EN STOLAIS PERIIPTAMENOI,

You won't find PERIIPTAMENOI in the NT!

TOYS MAQHTAS, "ANDRES", EBOWN,

Again, the quote is introduced and interrupted before it is picked up
again:

"GALILAIOI, hOS AF' hYMWN PEPOREUTAI, hOUTOS IHSOUS ANQRWPOS QEOS,
QEANQRWPOS PALIN ELEUSETAI,

Cf. Acts 1:11. Both verbs for 'going' occur there too. But of course,
the quote is not meant to be exact.

KRITHS ZWNTWN KAI NEKRWN, PISTOIS DE DWROUMENOS hAMARTIWN SYGXWRHSIN,

SYGXWRHSIS is not NT Greek either. It means 'forgiveness'.

KAI TO MEGA ELEOS.


There! Wasn't that marvellous?


--
---------------------------
Subducat se sibi ut haereat Deo
quidquid boni habet, tribuat illi a quo factus est.
(St. Augustine, Ser. 96)

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