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χαιρε· σημρον γαρ ὁ θεος ἐγενετο ὁ ἀνθροπος

Posted: December 25th, 2012, 10:12 am
by James Cuénod
In light of Micheal Palmer's recent "Kαλά Χριστούγεννα", I thought I'd give something a bash.
Corrections are more than welcome.

Re: χαιρε· σημρον γαρ ὁ θεος ἐγενετο ὁ ἀνθροπος

Posted: December 25th, 2012, 4:20 pm
by timothy_p_mcmahon
Just a couple of minor quibbles:

1) σημερον is missing its epsilon

2) ἀνθρωπος is spelled with ω rather than ο

3) ἀνθρωπος being the predicate would normally be anarthrous ("God became human" rather than "God became THE [specific] human being")

Re: χαιρε· σημρον γαρ ὁ θεος ἐγενετο ὁ ἀνθροπος

Posted: December 27th, 2012, 1:48 am
by NathanSmith
timothy_p_mcmahon wrote:3) ἀνθρωπος being the predicate would normally be anarthrous ("God became human" rather than "God became THE [specific] human being")
This is well illustrated in the similar phrase in John 1:14
... ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο ...
Also, I wonder if σημερον works for "on this calendar day in the past", or if it more properly means literally "today". I won't track down all the uses now, but does anyone have a comment on this one way or the other?

Re: χαιρε· σημρον γαρ ὁ θεος ἐγενετο ὁ ἀνθροπος

Posted: December 27th, 2012, 4:04 am
by James Cuénod
Thanks guys.
I would be interested to know about the use of σημερον.

Re: χαιρε· σημρον γαρ ὁ θεος ἐγενετο ὁ ἀνθροπος

Posted: December 27th, 2012, 2:24 pm
by James Ernest
Regarding the use of "today": it seemed to me that this usage must surely be common in homilies on the nativity (and on any feast day, really), so I took a look.

A homily ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΓΕΝΝΗΣΙΝ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ in the pseudo-Athanasian corpus (MPG 28:906) opens thus:

Μυστήριον ξένον βλέπω, ἀντὶ ἡλίου τὸν ἥλιον τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀπεριγράπτως χωρήσαντα ἐν τῇ Παρθένῳ. Καὶ μὴ ζήτει πῶς· ὅπου γὰρ Θεὸς βούλεται, νικᾶται φύσεως τάξις. Ἠβουλήθη γὰρ, ἠδυνήθη, κατῆλθεν, ἔσωσε. Συνδράμετε πάντα· Θεὸς σήμερον ὁ ὢν καὶ προὼν γίνεται ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· ὢν γὰρ Θεὸς, γίνεται ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἐκστὰς τοῦ εἶναι Θεός.

It would be fun to look for others--I believe there are other instances in this same homily. Very similar wording appears in a homily in the Chrysostom corpus (MPG 56:385):

Καὶ μὴ ζήτει πῶς· ὅπου γὰρ βούλεται Θεὸς, νικᾶται φύσεως τάξις. Ἠβουλήθη γὰρ, ἠδυνήθη, κατῆλθεν, ἔσωσε· σύνδρομα τὰ πάντα τῷ Θεῷ. Σήμερον ὁ ὢν τίκτεται, καὶ ὁ ὢν γίνεται ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· ὢν γὰρ Θεὸς, γίνεται ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἐκστὰς τοῦ εἶναι Θεός.

And again, there are multiple occurrences of σήμερον in the remainder of this homily.

(For anyone having trouble reading the pseudo-Ath. quotation, a quick crib: I behold a strange mystery: in place of the sun, the Sun of Righteousness making his place, without being circumscribed, in the Virgin. And do not investigate how! For where God wills, the order of nature is overcome. For God willed, was able, descended, saved. Come together, all things! For today the existing and preexisting God becomes what he was not, becomes human, without stepping outside of being God.)

Re: χαιρε· σημρον γαρ ὁ θεος ἐγενετο ὁ ἀνθροπος

Posted: December 27th, 2012, 2:45 pm
by James Ernest
Another little comment: I wondered whether maybe the present tense would be better in the proposed greeting than the aorist. Patristic biblical exposition is I think normally a matter of appropriation and actualization rather than archaeology. But the aorist is used with "today." E.g., again in Chrysostom:

Ἃ πάλαι πατριάρχαι μὲν ὤδινον, προφῆται δὲ προὔλεγον, δίκαιοι δὲ ἰδεῖν ἐπεθύμουν, ταῦτα ἐξέβη, καὶ τέλος ἔλαβε σήμερον· καὶ Θεὸς ἐπὶ γῆς ὤφθη διὰ σαρκὸς, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη. Χαίρωμεν τοίνυν καὶ ἀγαλλιώμεθα, ἀγαπητοί. (MPG 49.353)