January 27 - Vulgar Words

January 27 - Vulgar Words

Athanasius encountered many different people during his life. One of them, the emperor, Julian, was Constantine's nephew. Julian hated Christianity. Why? Because his entire family was murdered by Constantine's son and others who called themselves Christians when Julian was only six years old. The boy grew up alone, always in fear.

Consequently, when Julian became emperor, Christian bishops and priests lost their privileges within the empire. He called home all those that had been exiled, hoping to upset the balance within the church.

Athanasius called the Eastern and Western churches together and after the arguments that had occurred due to the Creed of Nicaea, he hoped that they could meet and come to agreement. That did actually happen, and terrified Julian. He threatened Athanasius' life and he fled to hide among the desert monks, returning when Julian finally died.

The desert monks were a group that had been influenced by Paul and the Gnostics. These people had found refuge in the desert, leaving behind the political garbage of the empire and rejected all physical pleasures. They lived in poverty, eating only enough to stay alive.

Finally, though, a few began to realize that God's word said man wasn't to live alone (from Genesis 2:18). They founded monasteries. Women had already figured this out and were living in religious communities. The word 'nonnus' is the feminine word of monk - they were called nuns. The word 'convent' is Latin for gathering place.

It's amazing what guilt will do to a person. One of these monks was a man named Jerome. He was ashamed because he had admired pagan authors. It is said that even after he retreated to the desert, he battled memories of nude dancers in Rome. Guilt ate this man up and he began to hate everything physical.

He refused to bathe, insisting that Christ had cleansed him once for all. He couldn't get rid of his physical desires. As he tried to eliminate everything but God, he learned Hebrew. Finally, he realized that he couldn't live alone and returned to Rome.

There was a smart man there who put Jerome to a task - one of the most profound things that has come down to us. He asked Jerome to create a good Latin translation of the scriptures. He did something amazing with this. Rather than translating from the common Greek translations, Jerome went directly to the Hebrew scriptures. He also used words that were common, rather than high - churchy words. While church members didn't like it, it soon became a favorite version of the Bible. We still call this translation the Vulgate (Latin for common or vulgar).

Jerome finished this in 405 AD. It became the standard Bible for the Catholic church for hundreds of years.