Morning Devotion

[Σαῦλος]

Help me out! Does this look right?

ἡ Πρωϊνή Λειτουργία
Morning Devotion

Ὁ Θεός Πατήρ ἡμῶν, δωρεὰ τῆς χάριτος σοῦ θεοῦ πᾶσα ἡμέρα
God, our Father, each day is a gift of your grace.
καινοί οἱ ἔλεοι σοῦ καθʼ ἡμέραν
Your mercies are new every morning.
ὁδήγησον τὸ περιπατεῖν ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ φωτί τοῦ Λογοῦ σοῦ.
Guide our steps by the light of your Word.
ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ κακίας καὶ πονηρίας
Shield us from harm and keep us from evil.
κρεῖττον γάρ ἐστιν ἀγάπη σοῦ ἤ ζωή.
Better than life is your love.
δίδου ἡμῖν χαρᾶν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἡμῶν καὶ ἔπαινον ἐν τῷ στόματι ἡμῶν.

εγω,
Σαῦλος

[Σαῦλος]

A couple of notes:

This is the beginning part of "Morning Devotion" taken from: Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal pg. 152.

καινοί οἱ ἔλεοι σοῦ καθʼ ἡμέραν

Or… κατὰ τὸ πρωὶ Or... το πρωι πρωι (LXX Ex 16:21) ????

ὁδήγησον τὸ περιπατεῖν ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ φωτί τοῦ Λογοῦ σοῦ.

Or… ὑπο φωτός in order to distinguish it from the sense of “in the dark.”

ῥῦσαι

According to Liddell, “generally, to shield, guard, protect, of guardian gods, chiefs, etc.”

ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ

Or… εστη θυρεον ημων απο...

ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ κακίας

LN – κακία b, ας f: a state involving difficult and distressing circumstances

ὁδήγησον τὸ περιπατεῖν ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ φωτί τοῦ Λογοῦ σοῦ.

The words for "steps" seemed so obscure. Maybe "το περιπατειν̈́" is just as obscure, in form.

[Markos]

Does this look right?

πάνυ γε, ὦ ἄριστε Σαῦλε! πάντα γὰρ καλῶς ἔγραψας.

[Σαῦλος]

I caught one mistake...

δωρεὰ τῆς χάριτος σοῦ θεοῦ
gift of your grace
Cut θεου.

[Σαῦλος]

Let's make a deal. You help me with this prayer, and I'll pray for you to be helped.

Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, Πάτερ μου ὁ ἐποὐράνιος, διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ σου,
I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son,

ὅτι ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ με πεφύλαχας ἀπὸ παντῶν τῶν κακῶν καὶ κινδύνων.
that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger.

τήρει με καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας και παντός πονηροῦ
Keep me this day also from sin and every evil,

ὥστε εὐάρεστον σοι εἴναι το παν ἔργων μου καὶ τὸν βίον μου.
that all my doings and life may please you.

ἐν χέρσιν σου τιθημι τὸ σῶμα μου και τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ πάντα.
Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things.

ἔστω μετʼ ἐμοῦ ὁ ἅγιος ἄγγελος σου
Let your holy angel be with me,

ἵνα μη ἐχῃ ἐξουσίαν κατʼ ἐμοῦ ὁ πονηρός ἐχθρος.
that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.

ἡ πρωϊνή προσευχὴ τοῦ Μαρτινοῦ Λυττήρου.
MORNING PRAYER by Martin Luther

[Markos]

χαίροις σύ, ὦ ἄριστε Σαῦλε!

Let's make a deal. You help me with this prayer, and I'll pray for you to be helped.

πάνυ γε!

...τοῦ Μαρτινοῦ Λυττήρου.

γράφοιμι δὴ τὸ...τοῦ Μαρτίνου Λύθηρος.

καλῶς. νῦν δέ σε δεῖ προσεύχεσθαι ἵνα μοι βοηθῇ ὁ Θεός!

[persequor]

Ευγε, ευγε, ω Σαυλε! Συ δε ισχυεις προγεγραμμενον πεμπειν εν Word, Open Office, η PDF?

Εχω χαριν σοι,
Δεβένιος

[persequor]

Περσεκυωρ ειμι εν τη σελιδα τη ταυτην, και ονομα μοι Δεβἐνιος εν Β-Γρεεκ.

[Σαῦλος]

Περσεκυωρ Δεβενιε,

συγγνωμην εχε. ου καταλαμβανω τελεως. θελεις με πεμψαι σοι τί;

Σαῦλος

[persequor]

χαιρω λαμβανειν παντα οτι θελεις πεμπειν, ω φιλε.

[Markos]

χαίρετε, φίλοι!

οὐκ μὲν οἶδα τί θέλετε πέμπειν ἀλλήλοις. ἐγὼ δὲ πέμπω ὑμῖν ἀσπασμὸν ἐν τοῦ Κυρίου.

ὅ τι ὑμεῖς προσεὐχεσθε, γένοιτο ἐκ Θεοῦ!

ἔρρωσθε!

[Σαῦλος]

I found Luther’s Morning Prayer translated into Greek, from 1577 (Selnecker). I think this is Koine Greek (any opinions on that????). It seems that they were using Greek as an academic language. I have another edition that is in German, Latin, Greek, and HEBREW!

Here's my problem. I decyphered the running miniscule, except for one word. It’s seen in the image here. The phrase is also underlined in my transcription below.


Εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὦ Θεός πάτερ οὐράνιὲ, διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ σου ἀγαπητοῦ, ὅτι ἐμὲ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτί ἐκ πάντων κινδύνων, συμφορῶν καὶ κακῶν διασώζων διεφύλαξας. Δέομαί σου, ἵνα καὶ σήμερον ἀπὸ τῶν ἀμαρτιῶν, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων κακῶν διατηρῆς με, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ πράξεις μου, καὶ ὅλος ὁ βίος μου εὐάρεστός σοι γίνηται. ἐγῶ ?? ἐμὲ, καὶ τὸ σῶμά μου, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐμοῦ εἰς τὰς χεῖράς σου παρατίθημι. ἄγγελός σου ὁ ἅγιος μετ̀ ἐμοῦ ἔστω, ὥστε ὁ πονηρὸς ἐχθρὸς ἐν ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἔχειν οὐδέν· ἀμήν.

[Pros]

I believe after reading an online English translation of this prayer that the word is simply "γὰρ".

[Σαῦλος]

A friend who studied minuscule writing agrees. He said it's a standard way of writing γαρ. Another friend looked at the Hebrew, Latin, and German parallel translations in a similar text, and found ki, quia, and denn. So, γαρ it must be. Thanks.

[Markos]

I found Luther’s Morning Prayer translated into Greek, from 1577 (Selnecker). I think this is Koine Greek (any opinions on that????). It seems that they were using Greek as an academic language. I have another edition that is in German, Latin, Greek, and HEBREW!

Yes, this strikes me as basic Koine, with fairly simple syntax and an absence of particles.

One does wonder about Selnecker's motives. It's hard to imagine Lutheranism having much of an audience among Greek speaking Byzantine communities, and there a more Demotic version would be indicated. So I agree with you that it appears Ancient Greek was being composed for the same reason we compose it now, to help learn the language.

I think your version holds up fairly well to Selnecker's. The ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐμέ...is a nice turn of phrase. Jesus could have said: ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐμὲ καὶ τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἡμῖν ἔδωκα.

[Σαῦλος]

Thanks much for giving your opinion on it, Mark.

I would like to know more about WHY they were translating things into Koine. Here's a clue:

" When, in 1539, Justus Jonas translated the Nuernberg Sermons for Children, he made a third Latin translation of the Small Catechism. He calls it "this my Latin translation, not carefully finished indeed, but nevertheless rendered in good faith." (627.) This Latin text obtained special importance since it was immediately done into English, Polish, and Icelandic. In 1560 Job Magdeburg furnished a fourth Latin version. Concerning the translations into Greek, Hebrew, and other languages see Weimar Edition of Luther's Complete Works (10, 1, 718f.)"

http://bookofconcord.org/historical-9.php



Someday, I'd like to find that reference in Luther's Works and see what Luther said about these translations into Greek. (I tried looking at the online copy yesterday, but couldn't seem to find the right place in Volume 10.) From this webpage's comments, it seems that Latin was the bridge language. The academic language which others could then use to decypher and translate German. Could Koine have been the same? Maybe there were those in the Christian church (as today) who would understand Koine, but not understand either Latin or German.

Some months ago, I had some of my students talking in Koine (via video taped messages) with some students in the Far East. It was a magical experience to see Koine truly be used as a medium of communication. This wasn't a classroom stunt (like what I do all the time) to create a situation in which Koine can be used communicatively. This was actual communication in Koine.

And really, δια τί οὐ; Moslems converse in Arabic. Jews use reconstructed Hebrew. Catholic clergy still converse in Latin. Why not Ancient Greek?