It's all Greek

Editor’s note: Julia Annas is Professor Emerita of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Arizona. She is also a member of Saint Philip’s Church, serves on the Vestry, and volunteers as a sub-deacon.

Julia shares her knowledge of ancient Greek to translate what is in the icon on the front of the current seasonal bulletin.

At each of the top left and right hand corners are a pair of Greek letters with a tilde (a wavy line) over them. The tilde means that the letters are the first and last letters of a word which is abbreviated.

The left hand pair are: iota (I) and sigma (S), the first and last letters of IESOUS, Jesus. The right hand pair are: chi (CH) and sigma (S), the first and last letters of CHRISTOS, Christ. So as we read the icon down from the top we are first told that this is an icon of JESUS CHRIST.

Christ’s halo contains a Greek cross (a cross with arms all equal) with three arms visible, each containing a Greek letter. Reading from left to right we get: Ho on (the first o is short (omicron), the second long (omega). This means: He who IS. The positions of the three letters suggests the Trinity, and the choice of verb suggests that Christ IS eternally, not just at a point in time.

Lower down the words HO PANTOKRATOR are split, half on Christ’s right and half on his left. This means: THE ALMIGHTY.

Christ’s right hand is raised in blessing, and he holds an open book, in which are the words, in Greek: I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. THE ONE WHO FOLLOWS ME WILL NEVER WALK IN THE DARKNESS BUT WILL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE. (Ego eimi to phos tou kosmou; ho akolouthon emoi ou me perpatese en tei skotiai all’ hexei to phos tes zoes.)