[B-Greek] KAQOLIKOS = "complete" (versus "universal")?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Tue Nov 29 10:23:40 EST 2005


On Nov 29, 2005, at 9:12 AM, Eric Weiss wrote:

> I have read that "catholic" can mean both "universal"/"general" and  
> KATA + hOLOS or
>   hOLIKOS = "according to the whole" = "complete." I.e., when  
> Ignatius and later the
>   Nicene Creed used the term "catholic church," they could have  
> been referring to it
>   being the completeness/fullness of the Gospel/Christ, and not  
> necessarily meaning
>   that it was geographically everywhere.

I'm somewhat confused about whether the question concerns the Greek  
word KAQOLIKOS or the English word "catholic." Although I find  
hOLIKOS listed in LSJ, it's giving the sense "universal, general,  
absolute (opp. GENIKOS or MERIKOS)"; this definition does not seem to  
me to differ essentially from that of KAQOLIKOS, and my guess is that  
it is more-or-less an abbrevited version of KAQOLIKOS, which itself  
derives from the attributive phrase KAQ' hOLOU as opposed to KATA  
MEROS,which phrases were common in Hellenistic Greek in conjunction  
with the article. In my opinion, your supposition here is improbable.

>   Ignatius wrote: "Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be  
> there; just as
>   wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" (Letter  
> to the Smyrnaeans, and
>   the first use of the term, apparently). To me, the meaning "whole/ 
> complete," as
>   opposed to "geographically everywhere," seems more fitting in  
> this instance, but I do
>   not recall finding much support in LSJ or BDAG for it meaning  
> "whole/complete."
>   Perhaps KAQOLOS (i.e., KATA + hOLOS, but this is a non-existent  
> word) might
>   mean "complete," but it doesn't seem to be a definition for  
> KAQOLIKOS. Any
>   thoughts?

I think the sense of KAQOLIKOS as applied to the EKKLHSIA is  
"universal" in the sense of "all inclusive" -- I don't think the  
sense was ever primarily or essentially world-wide geographically;  
for that the word is OIKOUMENIKOS.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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