Patrick Comerford
I was discussing the other evening how the Greek word εκκλησία (ekklesia) is used in the New Testament to speak of the church as an institution or organisation, as opposed to a church as a building or place of worship and liturgy.
The word εκκλησία (ekklesia), is used in Greek for the Church as an institution, so that, for example, the Church of Greece is Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος (Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos), the Church of Crete is Εκκλησία της Κρήτης (Ekklēsía tē̂s Kritis), and the Church of Cyprus is Ἐκκλησία τῆς Κύπρου (Ekklisia tis Kyprou).
But separate words are used in Greek when we speak of the church as a local church, a parish church or building, as opposed to, say, a church in a monastery.
As for those other two words used in modern Greek for the church as a building, ναός (naos) and ἱερός (ieros), I promised to look at them separately.
The word ναός (nāós) was used in classical Greek for a temple. The word means ‘dwelling’, and these temples were built to house statues of the deities within sanctuaries. The temple interiors were not meeting places as the sacrifices and rituals dedicated to the deity took place outside them, within the wider precinct of the sanctuary. Temples were also used to store votive offerings.
A sanctuary or cell of a temple like this, where the statue or image of the god was placed, was also called δόμος (domos) σηκός (sekos), the dwelling or enclosure, to distinguish it from τό ἱερόν (ieron), the whole temple or the entire consecrated enclosure.
In the Septuagint Greek version of the Bible, the word ναός (naós), ναοῦ (naou), ὁ ναίω (naíō, to dwell) is used to translate the Hebrew word הֵיכָל (hekhál), which is used for the Temple in Jerusalem, but only for the sacred edifice or sanctuary itself, consisting of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
And so, the Biblical use of the ναός (naós) refers to: the Temple in Jerusalem, but only the sacred edifice (or sanctuary) itself, consisting of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies; any heathen temple or shrine; and, metaphorically, for the spiritual temple consisting of the saints of all ages joined together by and in Christ.
This distinction is found in the New Testament (see, for example, Matthew 23: 16-35, 27: 40; Mark 14: 58, 15: 29, 38; Luke 1: 9-22, 23: 45; John 2: 19-21; 1-19). The word ναός (naós) is used specifically of the Holy Place where the priests officiated, and also in the visions in Revelation of the temple of the ‘New Jerusalem’.
But it is also used in the Acts of the Apostles: ‘The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines (ναοῖς, naois) made by human hands made by human hands’ (Acts 17: 24); and to refer to miniature silver temples modelled after the temple of Artemis of Ephesus, ‘A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines (ναούς, naous) of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans’ (Acts 19: 24).
The word also appears in four Pauline letters, (I Corinthians 3: 16-17, 6: 19; II Corinthians 6: 16; Ephesians 2: 21; and II Thessalonians 2: 4).
On the other hand, in Biblical references, the word ιερός (hieros) refers to a sacred place and to the entire precincts of a temple, such as the Temple in Jerusalem, and embraces both the sanctuary itself and the surrounding courts, porticoes, and colonnades, while naos denotes the central sanctuary itself.
The word ιερός (hieros) occurs 71 times throughout the New Testament.
Saint Matthew records Jesus’ early life framed by temple activity: during his public ministry, he healed in the temple (Matthew 21: 14), taught there (Matthew 21: 23), and drove out the money changers (Matthew 21: 12).
Saint Mark parallels these events, adding Christ’s refusal to allow merchandise to pass through the courts (Mark 11: 16) and his extended teaching ‘every day’ (Mark 11: 27).
Saint Luke places his presentation (Luke 2: 27) and later his youthful exchanges with the teachers in the Temple (Luke 2: 46). He emphasises Jesus’ steadfast pattern: ‘Every day he was teaching in the temple’ (Luke 19: 47), spending nights on the Mount of Olives but returning at dawn (Luke 21: 37-38).
John’s Gospel highlights two cleansings (John 2: 14-15; implied John 2: 19-21) and recalls Jesus ‘walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23). John 7-8 depicts prolonged debate during the Feast of Tabernacles, climaxing with the claim, ‘before Abraham was, I am’, after which he left the Temple (John 8: 59).
In the Acts of the Apostles, following Pentecost, the apostles continue to gather ‘day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple’ (Acts 2: 46). A lame man is healed ‘at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate’ (Acts 3: 2), the apostles ‘stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life’ (Acts 5: 20). Saint Paul’s vows (Acts 21: 26), prayers (Acts 22: 17), and later accusations (Acts 24: 12, 18) show the hieron as both mission field and flash-point of persecution.
In general usage in Greek today, the two words are combined together, as Ιερός Ναός, often abbreviated simply as IN. So, my local parish church when I am staying in Rethymnon in Crete is the Church of the Four Martyrs, which opened 50 years ago in 1975, and it is known formally in Greek as Ιερός Ναός Αγίων Τεσσάρων Μαρτύρων.
In previous years, when I stayed in the linked asuburban areas of Platanias and Tsemes over a span of five or six years, they formed one parish district with two churches, ο Ιερός Ναός της Αγίας Τριάδος (the Church of the Holy Trinity) and ο Ιερός Ναός του Αγίου Νεκταρίου (the Church of Nektarios).
Back in the 1990s, during long lingering holidays in Piskopiano in Crete, my local church was the Iερός Ναός Μεταμορφώσεως του Σωτήρος (the Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour).
I referred in my earlier posting to the etymology and Greek origins of the word ‘church’ in English, and its original meaning ‘of the Lord.’ Of course, there are other words for a church in Greek.
The word παρεκκλήσι (parekklísi) may refer to a chapel, often a side chapel or separate chapel with a monastery complex, while κηδεία is used for a funeral chapel.
The word καθολικόν (katholikon) can describe the cathedral of a diocese; the major church building in a monastery corresponding to a conventual church in western monastic foundations; or large church in a city certain important feasts are celebrated rather than in the local parish church.
The name katholikon derives from the fact that it is (usually) the largest church where all gather together to celebrate the major feast days of the liturgical year. A katholikon may have special architectural features, such as a kathedra (episcopal throne), or both an esonarthex (inner-narthex) and exonarthex (outer narthex), used for special services such as the Paschal Vigil or Vespers. An Eastern Orthodox diocese may have several katholikons, but only one is the bishop’s cathedral.
Previous words in this series:
1, Neologism, Νεολογισμός.
2, Welcoming the stranger, Φιλοξενία.
3, Bread, Ψωμί.
4, Wine, Οίνος and Κρασί.
5, Yogurt, Γιαούρτι.
6, Orthodoxy, Ορθοδοξία.
7, Sea, Θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ.
8,Theology, Θεολογία.
9, Icon, Εἰκών.
10, Philosophy, Φιλοσοφία.
11, Chaos, Χάος.
12, Liturgy, Λειτουργία.
13, Greeks, Ἕλληνες or Ρωμαίοι.
14, Mañana, Αύριο.
15, Europe, Εὐρώπη.
16, Architecture, Αρχιτεκτονική.
17, The missing words.
18, Theatre, θέατρον, and Drama, Δρᾶμα.
19, Pharmacy, Φᾰρμᾰκείᾱ.
20, Rhapsody, Ραψῳδός.
21, Holocaust, Ολοκαύτωμα.
22, Hygiene, Υγιεινή.
23, Laconic, Λακωνικός.
24, Telephone, Τηλέφωνο.
25, Asthma, Ασθμα.
26, Synagogue, Συναγωγή.
27, Diaspora, Διασπορά.
28, School, Σχολείο.
29, Muse, Μούσα.
30, Monastery, Μοναστήρι.
31, Olympian, Ολύμπιος.
32, Hypocrite, Υποκριτής.
33, Genocide, Γενοκτονία.
34, Cinema, Κινημα.
35, autopsy and biopsy
36, Exodus, ἔξοδος
37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος
38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς
39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια
40, Practice, πρᾶξις
41, Idiotic, Ιδιωτικός
42, Pentecost, Πεντηκοστή
43, Apostrophe, ἀποστροφή
44, catastrophe, καταστροφή
45, democracy, δημοκρατία
46, ‘Αρχή, beginning, Τέλος, end
47, ‘Αποκάλυψις, Apocalypse
48, ‘Απόκρυφα, Apocrypha
49, Ἠλεκτρον (Elektron), electric
50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις
51, Bimah, βῆμα
52, ἰχθύς (ichthýs) and ψάρι (psari), fish.
53, Τὰ Βιβλία (Ta Biblia), The Bible
54, Φῐλοξενῐ́ᾱ (Philoxenia), true hospitality
55, εκκλησία (ekklesia), the Church
56, ναός (naos) and ἱερός (ieros), a church
57, series to be continued.
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