(The layout-change and new picture of your, er, friendly blogger are due in part to comments addressed to "Opus" -- a name that, at the risk of dating me, is inextricably connected with Berke Breathed's wonderful Bloom County/Outland/Opus character -- and in part to my innate love of clean lines and quirky colors. Admit it: The muted brown tones were a little on the pretentious side. With any luck, no one will be able to take offense at the writings of a small penguin wearing a Carmen Miranda hat.)
Much of the Western Church celebrates Pentecost today -- the feast of the arrival of the Holy Spirit, as narrated in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. A significant part of the story is, of course, the disciples' spirit-induced polyglot state:
"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
This -- to Westerners -- familiar text put me in mind of another, far less recognizable one, from the fourth-century Life of Hilarion by Jerome. This vita -- one of three produced by Jerome and, like its companion pieces, on occasion unintentionally hilarious by virtue of its author's determination to out-do all competitors in the antiquity and impressiveness of his stories. Part of the story involves Hilarion casting out a demon from a certain Roman military official from Constantius' court "whose golden hair and personal beauty revealed his country (it lay between the Saxons and the Alemanni, was of no great extent but powerful, and is known to historians as Germany, but is now called France)." Pursued by a demon, the man seeks out Hilarion, who proceeds to interrogate him:
Immediately on being questioned by the servant of God the man sprang up on tiptoe, so as scarcely to touch the ground with his feet, and with a wild roar replied in Syriac in which language he had been interrogated. Pure Syriac was heard flowing from the lips of a barbarian who knew only French and Latin, and that without the absence of a sibilant, or an aspirate, or an idiom of the speech of Palestine. The demon then confessed by what means he had entered into him. Further, that his interpreters who knew only Greek and Latin might understand, Hilarion questioned him also in Greek, and when he gave the same answer in the same words and alleged in excuse many occasions on which spells had been laid upon him, and how he was bound to yield to magic arts, “I care not,” said the saint, “how you came to enter, but I command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to come out.” The man, as soon as he was healed, with a rough simplicity offered him ten pounds of gold. But the saint took from him only bread, and told him that they who were nourished on such food regarded gold as mire.
Demons, apparently, are multi-lingual as well, albeit with a preference for Syriac -- and, really, which amongst us would not consent to a little demonic possession if as a result "pure Syriac" could be heard flowing from our lips?! ;)
P.S.: As part of my non-EC extracurricular activities, I enjoy reading Japanese and Japanese-American fiction. Accordingly the recent release date of 1Q84 by Murakami has been a red-letter date in my calendar for a while. No English release date is set yet, but How To Japanese has life-blogged his reading experience! Wow!
Much of the Western Church celebrates Pentecost today -- the feast of the arrival of the Holy Spirit, as narrated in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. A significant part of the story is, of course, the disciples' spirit-induced polyglot state:
"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
This -- to Westerners -- familiar text put me in mind of another, far less recognizable one, from the fourth-century Life of Hilarion by Jerome. This vita -- one of three produced by Jerome and, like its companion pieces, on occasion unintentionally hilarious by virtue of its author's determination to out-do all competitors in the antiquity and impressiveness of his stories. Part of the story involves Hilarion casting out a demon from a certain Roman military official from Constantius' court "whose golden hair and personal beauty revealed his country (it lay between the Saxons and the Alemanni, was of no great extent but powerful, and is known to historians as Germany, but is now called France)." Pursued by a demon, the man seeks out Hilarion, who proceeds to interrogate him:
Immediately on being questioned by the servant of God the man sprang up on tiptoe, so as scarcely to touch the ground with his feet, and with a wild roar replied in Syriac in which language he had been interrogated. Pure Syriac was heard flowing from the lips of a barbarian who knew only French and Latin, and that without the absence of a sibilant, or an aspirate, or an idiom of the speech of Palestine. The demon then confessed by what means he had entered into him. Further, that his interpreters who knew only Greek and Latin might understand, Hilarion questioned him also in Greek, and when he gave the same answer in the same words and alleged in excuse many occasions on which spells had been laid upon him, and how he was bound to yield to magic arts, “I care not,” said the saint, “how you came to enter, but I command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to come out.” The man, as soon as he was healed, with a rough simplicity offered him ten pounds of gold. But the saint took from him only bread, and told him that they who were nourished on such food regarded gold as mire.
Demons, apparently, are multi-lingual as well, albeit with a preference for Syriac -- and, really, which amongst us would not consent to a little demonic possession if as a result "pure Syriac" could be heard flowing from our lips?! ;)
P.S.: As part of my non-EC extracurricular activities, I enjoy reading Japanese and Japanese-American fiction. Accordingly the recent release date of 1Q84 by Murakami has been a red-letter date in my calendar for a while. No English release date is set yet, but How To Japanese has life-blogged his reading experience! Wow!
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