[Kolokotronis]

” It seems to me that Christ speaks to us through His letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. All seven churches are accepted by Him with commendations and rebukes - though two of the churches are spared rebukes and both of them remind me of Orthodox Christians I am privileged to know.”

What an interesting, and kind, observation, AG, but I trust you also recognize that we Orthodoxers can be the greatest of sinners, the worst among heretics. Some of us, myself included, believe that God chose a time for the Incarnation when Greek was the lingua franca of the Mediterranean world so that the NT would be written in Greek and thus readily available to Greeks. We, more than others I’m afraid, need every advantage we can get! :)

[Alamo-Girl]

LOLOL!

I will defer my never ending debate with beloved brother in Christ, kosta50, on whether the Hebrew or the Greek is to be preferred concerning the discussion of mind, soul and spirit per se.

I trust you also recognize that we Orthodoxers can be the greatest of sinners, the worst among heretics.

No fair, I thought I was the greatest of sinners and the worst of heretics!

[Alamo-Girl]

Rats, I forgot to mention that I agree with you that Christ was enfleshed at the time of common Greek language and word concepts for that very purpose, to spread the Gospel to the entire civilized world.

By his conquering, Alexander the Great, a subject of Daniel's prophesy, normalized the Greek language in the civilized world. Not only that but certain word concepts going as far back as Plato became common knowledge, e.g. Logos.

Moreover, this clue from Scripture:

And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. - John 12:20-23

However, ahem to Kosta50, there are certain Hebrew word concepts which, IMHO, should be better understood even by the Greek speaking Christians, e.g. nephesh, neshama, ruach, ruach Elohim

[betty boop]

Some of us, myself included, believe that God chose a time for the Incarnation when Greek was the lingua franca of the Mediterranean world so that the NT would be written in Greek and thus readily available to Greeks.

And then Alexander of Macedon -- who was steeped in Greek language and culture -- facilitated the transmission of the faith to all the lands of his conquest. That is, the classical intellectual culture was also a type of preparation for the dissemination and receipt of Christian ideas.

In short, I share your view regarding this Greek line of transmission....

Thank you so much for writing!

[kawaii]

we also dont generally accept the branch theory...