Offical Language of the Church

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I am just curious… Why is Latin the offical language of the church? Someone told me that the Mass was first done in Hebrew, then Greek, then Latin. Is this true?

Thanks and God Bless!
-LiveForChrist :signofcross:
 
LiveforChrist said:
I am just curious… Why is Latin the offical language of the church? Someone told me that the Mass was first done in Hebrew, then Greek, then Latin. Is this true?

Thanks and God Bless!
-LiveForChrist :signofcross:
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It was installed by an African Pope (Black Pope?), St. Victor I, during the late 2nd century. It’s remained that way ever since. And the mass was never done in Hebrew, it was done in Aramaic, then Koine Greek, then Latin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Victor_I

-MontChevalier
 
Archaeologists have found that Latin was actually used in the first century liturgies. That would have been the Cicero-codified classical Latin before the Church Christianized the Latin language (oratio became “prayer” instead of “speech,” gratia become “grace,” etc.)

And Greek was never suppressed. Latin merely became the language of the Mass as it spread in the West.
 
Latin is only the official language of the Roman Church. The Eastern Catholics Churches do not use Latin as their official language, rather they each have their own languages (i.e. Greek, Coptic, Ge’ez, Church Slavonic, etc.). These are not so much “sacred” languages as “original” languages.
 
With the Church being headquartered in Rome after both Peter and Paul went there, Latin was the obvious choice. It has been retained to this day because it is a ‘dead’ language. In other words, there are no new words in latin, and the meaning of each Latin word was set in stone long ago. That which is written in Latin will never change meaning. While other languages evolve, Latin remains exactly the same. Partly for this same reason, Latin is also the language of science and medicine.
 
po18guy said:
With the Church being headquartered in Rome after both Peter and Paul went there, Latin was the obvious choice. It has been retained to this day because it is a ‘dead’ language. In other words, there are no new words in latin, and the meaning of each Latin word was set in stone long ago. That which is written in Latin will never change meaning. While other languages evolve, Latin remains exactly the same. Partly for this same reason, Latin is also the language of science and medicine.
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One problem with this: the popular language spoken throughout the Roman Empire at the time of Peter and Paul was Greek. The entire New Testament was originally written in Greek, not Latin, with the exception of Matthew’s Gospel which was perhaps written in Aramaic and then translated into… wait for it… Greek. At least the first seven Ecumenical Councils were conducted in Greek, the proceedings being subsequently written down in Greek (I am, of course, referring to Koine Greek). The Roman Mass itself was originally celebrated in Greek (vestiges of this remaining in the “Kyrie eleison”). If any language has any claim on being the language of the universal Church, it is Koine Greek. The fact remains that Latin is only the official language of the Latin/Roman Church, not of the entire Catholic Church.

Oh, and new words are added to Latin as time goes on. Otherwise the Church would not be able to discuss the technological developments of modern times. I don’t think the ancient Romans had a Latin word for “computer.”
 
As St Thomas More said, Latin isnt “holy” just old…😉
 
christosdavid said:
As St Thomas More said, Latin isnt “holy” just old…😉
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:rotfl:

I think if any language ought to be called “holy” it is the language that Jesus himself spoke. Sadly that is a language never heard these days.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
One problem with this: the popular language spoken throughout the Roman Empire at the time of Peter and Paul was Greek. The entire New Testament was originally written in Greek, not Latin, with the exception of Matthew’s Gospel which was perhaps written in Aramaic and then translated into… wait for it… Greek. At least the first seven Ecumenical Councils were conducted in Greek, the proceedings being subsequently written down in Greek (I am, of course, referring to Koine Greek). The Roman Mass itself was originally celebrated in Greek (vestiges of this remaining in the “Kyrie eleison”). If any language has any claim on being the language of the universal Church, it is Koine Greek. The fact remains that Latin is only the official language of the Latin/Roman Church, not of the entire Catholic Church.

Oh, and new words are added to Latin as time goes on. Otherwise the Church would not be able to discuss the technological developments of modern times. I don’t think the ancient Romans had a Latin word for “computer.”
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I stand corrected then. I do stand by its retention as a dead language.
 
po18guy said:
I stand corrected then. I do stand by its retention as a dead language.
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Its not dead yet, read the extracts of the Acts of Vatican II, all in Latin with numerous entertaining latinisms (eg Normanus Gilroy - Sydneyensis) 😃
 
ProVobis said:
Archaeologists have found that Latin was actually used in the first century liturgies. That would have been the Cicero-codified classical Latin before the Church Christianized the Latin language (oratio became “prayer” instead of “speech,” gratia become “grace,” etc.)

And Greek was never suppressed. Latin merely became the language of the Mass as it spread in the West.
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Actually, wasn’t it Tertulian? Today, Tertulian is considered the Founder of Western Theology, and is known as the Father of Latin Christianity.

Tertulian also ORIGINATED and advanced the" Trinity", the oldest extant, which was adopted as Creed (correct belief) in 325 AD, by 318 Fathers.

At first, the changes for a “Trinity” Tripartite structure was rejected, as heresy, by the Church at large, but, was later accepted as Christian Orthodoxy…

Tertulian was the Latin writer, creator of…and first to use the latin term, “Trinity”.

Tertulian was also responsible for the formal exposition of this Trinitarian (Latin Trinity) theology.

The revised “Trinity”, another Latin version was formally adopted by the First Council of Constantinople as Creed (correct belief) in 381 AD by 150 Fathers…
 
LayingHands said:
Actually, wasn’t it Tertulian? Today, Tertulian is considered the Founder of Western Theology, and is known as the Father of Latin Christianity.

Tertulian also ORIGINATED and advanced the" Trinity", the oldest extant, which was adopted as Creed (correct belief) in 325 AD, by 318 Fathers.

At first, the changes for a “Trinity” Tripartite structure was rejected, as heresy, by the Church at large, but, was later accepted as Christian Orthodoxy…

Tertulian was the Latin writer, creator of…and first to use the latin term, “Trinity”.

Tertulian was also responsible for the formal exposition of this Trinitarian (Latin Trinity) theology.

The revised “Trinity”, another Latin version was formally adopted by the First Council of Constantinople as Creed (correct belief) in 381 AD by 150 Fathers…
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Yes, its a pity that Tertullian left the Catholic Church to become a Montanist and held to a Stoic ‘Materialist’ understanding of the substance of God - otherwise he’d surely be a saint by now…:cool:
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
One problem with this: the popular language spoken throughout the Roman Empire at the time of Peter and Paul was Greek. The entire New Testament was originally written in Greek, not Latin, with the exception of Matthew’s Gospel which was perhaps written in Aramaic and then translated into… wait for it… Greek. At least the first seven Ecumenical Councils were conducted in Greek, the proceedings being subsequently written down in Greek (I am, of course, referring to Koine Greek). The Roman Mass itself was originally celebrated in Greek (vestiges of this remaining in the “Kyrie eleison”). If any language has any claim on being the language of the universal Church, it is Koine Greek. The fact remains that Latin is only the official language of the Latin/Roman Church, not of the entire Catholic Church.

Oh, and new words are added to Latin as time goes on. Otherwise the Church would not be able to discuss the technological developments of modern times. I don’t think the ancient Romans had a Latin word for “computer.”
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As I understand it, Latin was prevalent in the western Roman empire, while Greek was much more often observed in the east. As the Church was founded in Rome by Peter’s arrival there, I would guess that timing was everything. Would the origin of the Gospel and NT authors in the east have contributed to the NT scriptures being predominantly in Greek? One would think that the Latin, being the language of the oppressors, would be avoided - especially during times of persecution.
 
Latin is not dead.It is alive and well to those who choose to learn it for the latin mass or personal reasons .
 
Latin is used because it is a stable language. It is true that new words are added to the vocabulary on occasion, as when a new word is needed to describe, say, in a Vatican Congregation’s document, a modern thing that has no word already. But the meanings of words that already exist stay very much the same. If you take Latin in seminary, you will be able to read Church documents from two days ago just the same as Church documents from a thousand years ago. This is extremely valuable and important.

The Church needs a manner of expressing herself in a way that is (excepting extraordinary circumstances) incorruptible. The Latin language is that manner. Documents that were written a thousand years ago still need to be read because they contain, among other things, Church doctrines that are infallible, that is, they must still be heeded because they are still relevant to the Church and always will be for eternity. It is natural and necessary that the Church continues the use of the Latin language not just for the sake of tradition, but to ensure the perpetual nature of her teachings. The use of the Latin language is rooted in practicality. As the Church intends herself to be a long-term organization, she must ensure that her central tenets are expressed in such a manner so that, God willing, 25,000 years from now, people will still be able to read Church documents written now in the year 2011.

It is true that the Latin language began its use in codified Church documents and teachings naturally, that is, out of a natural progression. Perhaps the very first Church documents were written in the vernacular language, that is, Koine Greek. I don’t know. You have to understand that the very first Christians expected Jesus to come back very soon. So they probably didn’t anticipate having to actually become the huge religious, cultural and political organization it is today. When the Church first began to use Latin as its official language, Christians were perhaps just learning to accept that the Church just might be around for thousands of years or more. At that time, the language of Rome itself was Latin. Shortly thereafter, Latin began to vulgarize itself as a result of the degenerating Roman culture. Vulgar Latin was born, and out of that, the Romance languages like Italian and French were born. It wouldn’t make sense for the Church to start speaking Italian because that would entail translating all the Latin documents into that language, and we all know what happens when translating: meaning is lost. So in order to preserve the original meaning of Church documents throughout the centuries, the Church continued to preserve the Latin language. Using Latin, really, is a self-preservation technique, and it has worked very well so far.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
One problem with this: the popular language spoken throughout the Roman Empire at the time of Peter and Paul was Greek.
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Latin and Greek worked side-by-side for well over 500 years. After all, the inscription on the cross was in both Latin and Greek (and Hebrew). Perhaps the common person was more likely to speak Greek and accept its science, philosophy, and mythology, but they did operate under Roman law and military. By the third century Latin had been vulgarized to some extent, thus forming the Romance languages, indicating that more and more had been speaking it. Languages are mostly morphed by the illiterates so that’s how they know many spoke it. But Latin was also codified by the classicists, preserving its grammar and vocabulary even before Christ. And as we know, more and more Romans were converted to Christianity after Christ, slowly but surely. Perhaps the most powerful epistles are those addressed to the Romans.

As far as the New Testament goes, the earliest record of dictations are lost. They were translated into Greek but there had been versions in Latin, or the Vetus Latina. Unfortunately they were of poor quality, and St. Jerome was assigned to update them using the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic documents available at that time.
 
christosdavid said:
Yes, its a pity that Tertullian left the Catholic Church to become a Montanist and held to a Stoic ‘Materialist’ understanding of the substance of God - otherwise he’d surely be a saint by now…:cool:
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Worst, he believed as a Christian Montanist, when he brought this “Trinitarian”, “Trinity”, “Triparite” Belief and Structure to Christian Theology, and this so called “New Prophecy”…became CREED (Correct Belief) by the Roman Catholic Church in 325 AD, known as The Nicene Creed!

Tertullian is also known as the Montanists and their “New Prophecy”…as their best defender…

Tertullian met Montanus when he came to his home, at Carthage. When this New Prophecy was created and initiated by Montanus, he had 2 other persons with him and their names were Priscilla and Maximilla. The New Prophecy concept held by them is that they were not messengers of GOD, but, POSSESSED by GOD to Prophecy…3 Persons, and 1 Substance…the Trinity!

In a frenzy, Montanus would speak in the First Person, as GOD!.. I AM THE FATHER, AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT!
 
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