Re: EPI PASH TH MNEIA hUMON - Philippians 1:3

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Thu Aug 12 1999 - 12:50:26 EDT


At 12:24 PM -0400 8/12/99, Joseph Brian Tucker wrote:
>Greetings
>
>EPI PASHi THi MNEIAi hUMWN - I have noticed a few other difficulties:
>
>1. Does the EPI with the dative mean "because of" or does it convey the
>idea of time, "at the time of"?

I would say it means "at the time of" in this instance.

>2. PASHi THi MNEIAi - Does Paul mean "remembrance" or "mentioning someone
>in prayer"?

I personally think it MUST mean "remembering" in this instance; it is the
noun mostly closely cognate and used as a verbal noun like MIMNHSKOMAI.
Although some do want to understand it in the sense of English
"remembrance" = "act of kindness toward a person or group of whom one is
fond," I don't really find in the lexica convincing evidence for a sense
other than "recalling to mind" or "voicing what one has in mind =
mentioning." And it's not "mentioning in prayer"; rather, it's "at every
thought of you" (whether in prayer or not?), I thank God ..." But when Paul
uses this phrase, he seems quite regularly to be thinking about prayer, as
is evident in this complete listing of instances (in addition to Phil 1:3)
of MNEIA in the GNT, all of them in the Pauline corpus:

Rom 1:9: hWS ADIALEIPTWS MNEIAN hUMWN POIOUMAI ("I mention you all the time")
Eph 1:16 OU PAUOMAI EUCARISTWN hUPER hUMWN MNEIAN POIOUMENOS EPI TWN
PROSEUCWN MOU ("I don't cease to be thankful for you when I mention you in
my prayers")
1 Th 1:2 EUCARISTOUMEN TWi QEWi PANTOTE PERI PANTWN hUMWN MNEIAN POIOUMENOI
EPI TWN PROSEUCWN hHMWN, ADIALEIPTWS ("We thank God at all times for you
all, mentioning you in our prayers without fail.")
1Th 3:6 hOTI ECETE MNEIAN hHMWN AGAQHN PANTOTE, EPIPOQOUNTES hHMAS IDEIN
KAQAPER KAI hHMEIS hUMAS (" ... that you have a good recollection of us at
all times, desirous to see us as we to see you")
2 Tim 1:3 hWS ADIALEIPTON ECW THN PERI SOU MNEIAN EN TAIS DEHSESIN MOU
NUKTOS KAI hHMERAS ("that I mention you without fail in my prayers night
and day")
Philem 1:4 EUCARISTW TWi QEWi MOU PANTOTE MNEIAN SOU POIOUMENOS EPI TWN
PROSEUCWN MOU ("I thank my God every time when I mention you in my prayers")

>3. Does PASHi usually mean "all" or "every" when it stands outside the
>article-noun unit? (Moule,_Idiom_, 93)

Yes--that is, when it is in predicate position; when it is in attributive
position it normally means "whole."

>4. So is this a general: "whenever someone remembers another" or a specific
>"every remembrance of another."

It seems to me to be a Pauline formula that is part of the opening of a
letter, the section generally called "Thanksgiving": "Every time I pray I
do not fail to mention you thankfully to God."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad@ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

---
B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:35 EDT