From: KevLAnder@aol.com
Date: Wed Jan 31 1996 - 13:29:40 EST
I have a few minor questions about some reading I have done in the Apostolic
Fathers.
(1) Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 7:1
EUCHARISTIAS KAI PROSEUCHHS APECHONTAI, DIA TO MH hOMOLOGEIN THN
EUCHARISTIAN SARKA EINAI TOU SWTHROS hHMWN IHSOU CHRISTOU THN hPER TWN
hAMARTIWN hHMWN PATHOUSAN, hHN THi CHRHSTOTHTI hO PATHR HGEIREN.
Here both THN . . . PATHOUSAN and hHN . . . hO PATHR ktl. make the best sense
with IHSOU CHRISTOU as their antecedent, but they agree in gender with
EUCHARISTIAN. Is this simply a syntactically creative way for Ignatius to
point out the, as it were, "corporeal" connection between the Eucharist and
Christ's Passion/Resurrection? Contextually, of course, Ignatius is dealing
with a docetic heresy.
(2) Didache 7:3
EAN DE AMPHOTERA MH ECHHiS, EKCHEON EIS THN KEPHALHN TRIS hUDWR EIS ONOMA
PATROS KAI hUIOU KAI hGIOU PNEUMATOS.
Here I have a simple parsing question. My guess is that EKCHEON is a Pres.
Act. Ptc. neut. sg. nom. of EKCHEW. I would also surmise that if my parsing
is correct, the ptc. is being used imperativally. Can anyone confirm or
disconfirm this?
(3) Didache 16:5
TOTE hHXEI hH KTISIS TWN ANTHRWPWN EIS THN PURWSIN THS DOKIMASIAS, AND
SKANDALISTHHSONTAI POLLOI AN APOLOUNTAI, hOI DE hUPOMEINANTES EN THi PISTEI
AUTWN SWTHHSONTAI hUP' AUTOU TOU KATATHEMATOS.
My question concerns the very last phrase, hUP' AUTOU TOU KATATHEMATOS. The
Loeb translation (Kirsopp Lake) has, " . . . but 'they who endure' in their
faith 'shall be saved' BY THE CURSE ITSELF." Lake also provides a note
indicating that the meaning here is obscure. But I was wondering if, by any
stretch of the imagination, one could take TOU KATATHEMATOS as an ablative of
separation, thereby providing a more sensible translation such as, "they . .
. shall be saved by him from the curse." The trouble here, however, may be in
tracking down an antecedent for AUTOU.
Of course, part of the whole problem lay in the precise meaning of KATATHEMA,
which I have not adequately researched.
Kevin Anderson
Concord, CA
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:37:37 EDT