Tuesday, June 27, 2023

What about other Greek transliterations of YHWH? Is Jehovah there?

I was looking for any Greek transliterations of the tetragrammaton that would align with Jehovah.  Within TLG, I searched for the lemma "Ἰεχωβᾶς, ‑ᾶ, ὁ".  The hits I received were all from the 17th century or later, except one that was identified as being from the 12th century, from Nicholas Hydruntinus.  In his "Disputations against the Jews," he provides what appears to be a transliteration: «Γεχαβά», which looks like it would be, in modern phonetics, Yehava (gamma is pronounced soft before an epsilon).  

The first instance of Γεχωβά (i.e. with an omega instead of an alpha as the central Greek vowel) comes in the 17th century from Benedictus Tzancarolus, where it is explicitly linked to the tetragrammaton ("καὶ διὰ τοῦ Τετραγραμμάτου Γεχωβά,").  

The first instance of Γιεχοβᾶ (i.e. with an omicron instead of an omega or alpha as the central Greek vowel - also note the iota addition before the epsilon, perhaps to harden the gamma?) comes in the 17th or 18th century from Patriarch Dositheus II from (I believe) his "History of the Patriarchite of Jerusalem," published in 1715 after his death in 1707. Dositheus II is famous (or perhaps better to say, "infamous") for convening the contra-Reformation Synod of Jerusalem in 1672.

AI translation and Greek original of Nicolaus Hydruntinus are provided below.

 "I keep the Sabbath in your honor; for working in six days, on the seventh, which my Christ has sanctified, which is also the first, on which the light was made, I dedicate this [day] to God. Not that I am sanctifying it, but rather being sanctified in it, I shall utterly refrain from wicked deeds as if in idleness; for Sabbath is interpreted as rest. Hence, instead of the seventh, which was a type of the first, I have received this Lord’s day; for this is "the day which the Lord has made", that is, glorified by rising from the dead, on which also David calls us with cheerful spirit with the lyre, saying "let us rejoice and be glad in it." But to you it was said, "Sanctify the seventh day to me", which you marvelously and devoutly sanctify; for you abstain from all work, as much as not taking a reed to write even "Yahweh", that is, God the Lord, like what was written on Aaron’s rod, or "codes la Adonai", that is, holy to the Lord; for is this a great sin, O Jew, or not?

(ChatGPT 4.0 translation) 

Based on the following input from TLG:

Nicolaus HYDRUNTINUS, Disputatio contra Judaeos. {3103.003}

ὑπὲρ σὲ σαββατίζω· ἐν ἓξ γὰρ ἐργαζόμενος ἡμέραις, τὴν ἑβδόμην, ἣν ὁ

Χριστός μου ἡγίασεν, ἥτις καὶ πρώτη ἐστίν, ἐν ᾗ τὸ φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο, ταύτην

θεῷ ἀποδίδωμι. Οὐχ ἁγιάζων ταύτην ἐγώ, ἀλλ’ ἐν ταύτῃ μᾶλλον ἁγιαζόμενος,

ὡσεὶ ἀργίᾳ τῶν πονηρῶν πάντως χρήσομαι πράξεων· σάββατον γὰρ ἀνάπαυσις

ἑρμηνεύεται. Ὅθεν ἀντὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης, ἣ τύπος τῆς πρώτης ἦν, τὴν κυριακὴν   (20)

τήνδε παρέλαβον· αὕτη γὰρ ἐστὶν «ἡ ἡμέρα ἣν ὁ κύριος ἐποίησεν», ἤγουν

ὑπερεδόξασεν ἐγερθεὶς ἐκ νεκρῶν, εἰς ἣν καὶ Δαυῒδ τῇ τοῦ πνεύματος λύρᾳ

ἡμᾶς μετ’ εὐθυμίας ἀποκαλῶν «ἀγαλλιασώμεθα» φησὶ «καὶ εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐ- @1

(65) τῇ». Ὑμῖν δὲ «ἁγιάσατέ μοι τὴν ἑβδόμην» ἐρρέθη, ἣν θαυμασίως πως καὶ

σεπτῶς ἁγιάζετε· παντὸς γὰρ ἔργου ἀπέχεις σαυτόν, ὡς ὅτι κάλαμον οὐ λήψῃ

πρὸς τὸ γράψαι κἂν «Γεχαβά», ἤγουν θεὸς κύριος, οἷα ἐν τῷ πετάλῳ τοῦ Ἀα-

ρὼν ἐγέγραπτο, ἢ «κῶδες λὰ ἀδωνά», τοὐτέστιν ἅγιον τοῦ κυρίου· ἔστι γὰρ μέ-

γα ἁμάρτημα, ὦ Ἰουδαῖε, τοῦτο ἢ οὔ;   (5)

    Ο ΙΟΥΔΑΙΟΣ: Ἐπειδὴ «οὐ ποιήσετε», φησί, «πᾶν ἔργον», ὅπερ τις ταῖς

ἰδίαις χερσὶ ποιῆσαι βουλόμενος παρανομήσει πάντως καὶ ἁμαρτήσει.

    Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΣ: Ἀλλὰ τὴν τῆς λύρας νευρὰν ἀναλαβεῖν, ἵν’ οὕτω γελοίως

εἴπω, πρὸς τὸ τὴν τῆς συνορχουμένης σοι συνεύνου ἀηδῆ ἡδονὴν τελεσφορῆσαι

οὐ λογίζῃ ἁμάρτημα; ἐν γὰρ τοῖς σάββασιν ὑμῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα συμπράττετε ὄρ-   (10)

για, ἡνίκα καὶ μέθαις σχολάζετε.

    Ο ΙΟΥΔΑΙΟΣ: Διὰ ταῦτα μὲν οὐ βεβηλοῦται τὸ σάββατον· «σὰρξ γὰρ

μία» ἐστίν· καὶ γὰρ Ἡσαΐας «καὶ καλέσεις τὰ σάββατα» φησὶ «τρυφερά», ὅπερ 


Sunday, June 25, 2023

Sixth Century Greek theologian on Particular Redemption

Regarding the way in which he was slaughtered, the flowing blood was given as the price on behalf of those who are saved. And since he was crucified not on behalf of a portion or [on behalf] of one nation of men, he purchased by his blood [some] from every tribe of Israel and every language of men and indeed of [every] people.

Anonymous Greek Scholiast, in Fathers of the Church, Vol. 144, Cassiodorus, St. Gregory the Great, and Anonymous Greek Scholia, Writings on the Apocalypse, Scholia 29, p. 131 T.C. Schmidt, Trans.

Alternative translation:

Subsequent to the slaughter that was so executed, the blood that was shed was the price given for the redemption of those saved. Furthermore, since he was crucified for the sake of not just a part of humanity or of one nation only, he has redeemed by his blood people out of every tribe of Israel and of every human tongue, and, yes, of every people.

Cassian the Sabaite(?), An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation: a Critical Edition of the Scholia in Apocalypsin, P. Tzamalikos trans. (p. 133)   


Sixth Century Greek theologian on the Key of David

"Holy, true," not through participation, but being such in essence. He himself is God the Word, having the key of David. For when the Word became flesh, he opens the Scriptures by this key [Scriptures], which were shut before [his] advent [and] which no one is able to shut by asserting that they have not been fulfilled.

Anonymous Greek Scholiast (possibly drawing from Didymus the Blind), in Fathers of the Church, Vol. 144, Cassiodorus, St. Gregory the Great, and Anonymous Greek Scholia, Writings on the Apocalypse, Scholia 20, p. 121 T.C. Schmidt, Trans.

Alternative translation:

He that is holy, he that is true: This is God the Logos, who is what He is not by participation, but by essence. Who hath the key of David: when the Logos became flesh, through this key he openeth the scriptures, which were sealed before the advent, that no man can shut since he declares them not [yet] fulfilled.

Cassian the Sabaite(?), An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation: a Critical Edition of the Scholia in Apocalypsin, P. Tzamalikos trans. (p. 133)   


Saturday, June 24, 2023

Gregory the Great: the Woman of Revelation 12 is the Church

In a similar manner, John said: A woman clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet (Rv 12.1). For by the "sun" is understood the illumination of truth, whereas by the "moon," which wanes when the month is completed, the changeableness of temporal existence. But because the holy Church is protected by the splendor of light from above, she is, as it were, clothed with the sun. But because she despises all temporal things, she tramples the moon under her feet.

Gregory the Great, From Moralia 34.14 [25], 1-15. CCSL 143B: 1750. in Fathers of the Church, Vol. 144, Cassiodorus, St. Gregory the Great, and Anonymous Greek Scholia, Writings on the Apocalypse, Section 24, p. 65 Mark DelCogliano, Trans.


Cassiodorus on the Woman of Revelation 12

But he touches upon a few things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and his mother, and concerning the opposition of the devil. Joining past things with future things, he says that God ascended to heaven and that his mother was to be preserved at a certain time in secret places, that he might nourish her there for three-and-a-half years. This passage, as Tyconius relates, contains great mystery.[FN42]

...

Again, there is a mention of Christ the Lord and his mother, in that the devil, believing that he could hurt the mother, sent from his mouth an immense river and thought that it would drown her. But she, having been taken to a very safe place, evaded the poison of diabolic fraud.


[FN 42. Cf. Eph 5.32; Tyconius (Exposition of the Apocalypse, on Rv 12.6, CCSL 107A: 178, FC 134: 127) wrote that the woman nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days symbolizes the Church nourished on heavenly teaching from the birth of Christ up to the end of the world.] 

Cassiodorus (footnote is translator's) in Fathers of the Church, Vol. 144, Cassiodorus, St. Gregory the Great, and Anonymous Greek Scholia, Writings on the Apocalypse, Chapter 12, section 16. [1-6] and [13-16], pp. 27-28 Francis X. Gumerlock, Trans.


Cassiodorus: Angel can refer to Bishop

And to the angel of the church of Smyrna, write: The first and the last says these things, etc. He advises that the should write to the angel of Smyrna, that is, to the bishop; for that passage in the Acts of the Apostles testifies that a bishop is called an angel, where Peter comes and knocks on the door of the apostles, and it is said, "It is not Peter, but his angel."[FN22]

[FN22: Acts 9.15, Interestingly, Tyconius used this passage in Acts to prove that "angel" in Acts 9.15 meant Peter's own "spirit," and that John used the word "angel," not for the bishop of the church addressed in the letters in Rv 2 and 3, but as a metonymy for the Church itself. See Tyconius, Exposition of the Apocalypse, on Rv 1.19-20. CCSL 107A: 110, FC 134: 36.

Cassiodorus (footnote is translator's) in Fathers of the Church, Vol. 144, Cassiodorus, St. Gregory the Great, and Anonymous Greek Scholia, Writings on the Apocalypse, Chapter 2, section 5. [8], p. 19, Francis X. Gumerlock, Trans.