Sacred Languages besides Latin

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In your opinion, are other Sacred Languages in the Judeo-Christian tradition on a level with Ecclesial Latin?

IMO, Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic, Biblical/Koine Greek, Ecclesial Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Ge’ez, Classical Armenian, Old Georgian, and Church Slavonic are all equally Sacred Languages by virtue of the fact that the Bible was originally written in them (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) and/or by the fact that the Bible was translated into them at an very early date (Latin, Syriac, Coptic) or by the fact that they’ve been sanctified by widespread, long term liturgical use (like Church Slavonic and Classical Armenian).
 
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No.
Veterum Sapentia
‘But amid this variety of languages a primary place must surely be given to that language which had its origins in Latium, and later proved so admirable a means for the spreading of Christianity throughout the West.’
 
Maximilian75 said:
West
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The West.

Does the East not exist?

You honestly believe that Ecclesial Latin is Sacred, but Koine Greek which the Bible was written in, which the Bishop of Rome spoke for almost 200 years, which was in use throughout the Church for nearly 200 years before Latin, is not Sacred?
 
I wouldn’t say they are on par with Latin. Latin was the language in which Christianity spread through the Roman world. But that isn’t to say those other languages are unimportant. In fact they are quite important. Especially Greek and Hebrew.
 
Sorry, sorry. Didn’t see ‘west’

Also from VS

She values especially the Greek and Latin languages in which wisdom itself is cloaked, as it were, in a vesture of gold. She has likewise welcomed the use of other venerable languages, which flourished in the East.
 
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Latin was the official language of the Roman Empire correct? I know the Empire split in half but Latin was still primarily used, right?
 
Maximilian75 said:
She
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There you go, much better.

I understand and agree that Latin has pride of place in the Roman Church.

But there are other Sacred Languages which exist within the Catholic Church - such as Koine Greek, Church Slavonic, and Classical Armenian - which are every bit as venerable as Latin.
 
Entwhistler said:
I know the Empire split in half but Latin was still primarily used, right?
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Sort of.

Latin was the primary language of the aristocracy in the Western half of the Empire and around Rome itself.

But the lingua franca of the Empire was, without a doubt, Koine Greek.
 
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You have to remember the Roman Empire grew out of and subsumed the Grecian Empire. Hence the term “Greco-Roman.”
 
Maximilian75 said:
Kinda like French and English in Canada?
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Sort of. The Roman Empire was a polylingual society.

For example, in 1st century Palestine, most Jews mother tongue was Aramaic. However, educated Jews, especially those around Jerusalem, were also fluent in Hebrew. A Jew who spoke Aramaic and Hebrew and worked with Gentiles a lot - such as a Jewish tax collector or carpenter - could very well also be fluent in Koine Greek. And a trilingual Jew who also worked with the Roman Government a lot may possibly also be fluent in Latin.

Which is why I personally believe that Jesus, in his humanity, was quadrilingual. Galilean Aramaic was his mother tongue. He learned Biblical Hebrew as a child. He learned Koine Greek working with Joseph as a teenager and young man. Finally, he picked up Latin early in his ministry while dealing with various Latin speaking Romans.
 
I don’t think I’d agree that Gk is superior to Ln.

However, I would certainly agree that Gk is every bit as important as Latin, and that Koine Gk is just as sacred as Ecclesial Ln.

There was a lot of back and forth developmemt and borrowing between Greek and Latin, going all the way back to at least 1,000 B.C. They really developed side by side with each other - even within the Church they developed almost simultaneously.
 
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The former principal and Latin teacher of my school also knew and taught Greek.
I was so bummed when he retired
 
Considering the fact that the New Testament was written in Greek (as well as the Septuagint), and that Greek was the original ecclesiastical language up until the western Church began using Latin more and more in the 3rd and 4th centuries, I’d argue Greek is more sacred. It’s still, in a sense, the universal language of all of Christendom even today.
 
There’s no doubt Greek is equally sacred with Latin and is incredibly important to Christianity, but you can’t pretend nothing else developed in the Church after the 4th century.

In the Western Church, it is abundantly clear that Latin holds pride of place in terms of its importance and usage in the Church.
 
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