[B-Greek] Vocative hO QEOS
Philip Silouan Thompson
himself at philthompson.net
Fri Aug 20 18:31:59 EDT 2004
While the subject of that hO QEOS MOU passage is raised, I'm curious about
why the Psalmist often addresses God as hO QEOS rather than as QEE - e.g. in
Psalm 50, ELEHSON ME hO QEOS KATA TO MEGA ELEOS SOU... I'm not so familiar
with the LXX/OG Old Testament text outside the Psalms; Does QEE occur more
often in other parts of the LXX/OG?
It occurs to me that I know of just one Byzantine hymn that addresses God as
QEE (i.e. the last hymn in the Paraclisis service which we're singing this
week.) There are probably more, but in liturgical Greek God is still usually
addresed as hO QEOS. Even when QEOS accompanies another noun which *is*
vocative it sometimes stays nominative - e.g. XRISTE hO QEOS (O Christ God).
Are there other names or titles in Greek that are treated the same way? Or
is the nominative-as-vocative uniquely used in addressing God? (Maybe
something like the way some folks call everybody "you" except God who is
"Thou".)
I expect this has already been discused here in detail; maybe someone can
point me to the right section of the archives and I can read what's already
been said.
Silouan Thompson
Walla Walla, Washington USA
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