21 Jun
2010
Posted in: Featured Highlights, Greek Translation
By    3 Comments

Walking through The Apocalypse, i.1-3

αποκαλυψις ιησου χριστου ην εδωκεν αυτω ο θεος δειξαι τοις δουλοις αυτου α δει γενεσθαι εν ταχει, και εσημανεν αποστειλας δια του αγγελου αυτου τω δουλω αυτου ιωαννη, ος εμαρτυρησεν τον λογον του θεου και την μαρτυριαν ιησου χριστου οσα ειδεν. μακαριος ο αναγινωσκων και οι ακουοντες τους λογους της προφητειας και τηρουντες τα εν αυτη γεγραμμενα, ο γαρ καιρος εγγυς.

This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His true worshippers what must happen soon. And He revealed it by sending a special messenger to His servant John, who gave a witness to what he saw concerning the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The one who reads out the words of this prophecy, and those who listen and pay attention to what is written in it, are blessed because the time for their fulfillment is incredibly near.

The portion here that got me thinking and meditating more than any other element was the end: “ο γαρ καιρος εγγυς,” which I translated here “because the time for their fulfillment is incredibly near.” I guess a wooden literal translation looks more like

the (ο) for (γαρ) time (καιρος) near (εγγυς)

But simply saying “the time is near” is too ambiguous and non-committal for me. The time of what? When exactly is near? The καιρος, or time, refers to the fulfillment of the words of the prophecy, the message or revealing of “what must happen soon.”

I see the time, the nearness (εγγυς), as clearly imminent. If you look into the meaning and use of the term εγγυς (pronounced engous if you’re interested in sounding it out) throughout the New Testament, εγγυς itself testifies to either some thing or place extremely close in proximity, or, when talking about time, about some event occurring imminently; or, relatively speaking, closer to a matter of days than to millennia. While εγγυς is indefinite, as in not giving you a specific number of days or weeks, there is no question we are supposed to expect the fulfillment of the nearness, of the εγγυς, happening very, very soon. And “soon” did not mean 2,000 or so years later.

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  • Mike Cornett

    Hey Eddie…I just got a book titled, “Homilies on the Book of Revelation, Volume One” and thought you might be interested if you're still looking to tackle this feat. It's translations from +Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios of blessed memory by Constantine Zalalas. Grace and I were recently somewhere where Mr. Zalalas just spoke and dropped off a handful of copies. I heard good things from others, so I figured I'd pick one up.

    I've read the forward by him, as well as the Introduction by +Archimandrite Athanasios, and it looks well written and thorough so far. Apparently the majority of the source material came from a 100 hr series in Greece that has been typed up and translated w/ notes, etc. He said he has about 1/3 more to go, and this Volume took him 10 years to compile. It goes through Revelation 3:14-22. I have a couple others titles I'm in the middle of reading right now, so I can't devote proper time on this, but I figured if you are still working through this, it might come in handy as reference.

    +Archimandrite Athanasios claims his reference sources were: St. Andrew of Caesarea (6th Century), St. Arethas, Archbishop of Caesarea (9th Century), as well as from Professor Panagiotis Bartsiotis (professor from University of Athens, d. 1982). He says there was 1 other well-known source of commentary, and that was from St. Ecumenios, Archbishop of Tryki (6th Century), but he did not have access to a copy of this.

    The ISBN is 978-0-976218-31-9 if you'd like to look into it at all…I'd be happy to bring it to work if you're interested in taking a look at it.

  • http://schleitheim.com martyrologist

    I'd definitely be interested in having a peek at it if you could bring it in some time. Thanks.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=501987466 Michael Cornett

    Here’s another link that might come in handy…It includes a link to a thesis paper on St. Andrew of Caesarea’s commentary, with some notes on St. Ecumenios as well. The source of the paper is to be trusted…she has some great courses at the University of San Diego (the private catholic college), as well as a regular podcast on Ancient Faith Radio (ancientfaith.com). She refers to a mis-crediting by a few modern commentators on the subject…Averky being one of them…I’m looking to get + Fr. Averky’s book on the subject (The Apocalypse: In the Teachings of Ancient Christianity), but it’s good to have her warning on what to look out for.

    http://www.revelation-resources.com/2009/10/01/e-s-constantinou-andrew-of-caesarea-and-the-apocalypse/