[B-Greek] AGAPH

frjsilver at optonline.net frjsilver at optonline.net
Wed Jul 12 16:24:03 EDT 2006


Dear Friends --

AGAPH is one of four kinds of love, the others being EROS, STORGH, and PHILIA -- all considered somehow not as pure and selfless as AGAPH.  I think this is no less true in Modern Greek than it has been since classical and biblical times.

In churches, eg., we often see an inscription taken from the Divine Liturgy:  AGAPHSWMEN ALLHLOUS ('Let us love one another.')  And in Greece, we see signs in public parks saying:  AGAPATE TA DENDRA ('Be kind to the trees.'  

To their sweethearts, family members and some others, speakers of MG say S'AGAPAW  (often contracted to S'AGAPW) to mean 'I love you.'  Verbs related to the other three nouns are not as common except in compounds.

Hope that helps a little.

Peace and blessings to all.

Father James Silver

Monk James
Orthodox Church in America

----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Kohlstedt <ronrukohl at verizon.net>
Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 2:45 pm
Subject: [B-Greek] AGAPH

> IS  AGAPH (love) a common word in classical and modern
> Greek?  Is it primarily a New Testament word?  Could 
> a  contemporary Greek speaking  Greek who really loves
> ice cream  use AGAPH to express his love for ice
> cream?  Is the meaning  of AGAPH in classical and
> Modern Greek  similar to the how John used it  in QEOS
> AGAPH ESTIN?
> 
> 
> 
> Roger Kohlstedt
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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