“Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,

and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

But it shall not be so among you:

but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,

but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28, KJV)

The word the Athenians used for their Assembly was Ekklesia, the same word used in the New Testament for Church
(and it is the greatest philological irony in all of Western history that this word,
which connoted equal participation in all deliberation by all members,
came to designate a kind of self-perpetuating, self-protective Spartan gerousia -
which would have seemed patent nonsense to Greek-speaking Christians of New Testament times,
who believed themselves to be equal members of their Assembly.)

- Thomas Cahill, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter



ΦΙΛΟΤΙΜΟ: THE GREEK SECRET

Monday, September 23, 2013

SEMANTICS 101: Typo Tempests in Teapots

Moderator’s Note: We were recently treated to yet another disparaging letter by His Eminence. Click HERE to read the original.

Exaltation: to be raised up high, glorified or honored.
Exultation: to be joyful or jubilant, especially due to triumph or success; to show or take delight in the defeat or discomfiture of others.

Source: dictionary.com

His Eminence was quite correct in pointing out that "exaltation" and "exultation" have different meanings.

The two sentences below are illustrative:
  • Greek Orthodox parishioners in the Salt Lake valley were recently informed that someone brought to our exalted Metropolitan’s attention typographical errors in the September 8 Church Bulletin.  
  • The Metropolitan was exultant in that the errors provided him yet another opportunity to chastise our community.

Posted by TOCB Moderator at 1:54 AM

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