Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Apostolic Creed - Late Antiquity vs Cicero


I will not pretend that the Apostolic Creed was not by the Apostles. I will however say, it is possible the translation to Latin came after an original Greek text.

DELPHINA ROSE ART : Apostles’ Creed (Credo in Deum) — Gregorian Chant
https://delphinaroseart.com/apostles-creed-latin-gregorian-chant-credo-deum/


Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et terrae, et in Iesum Christum, Filium Eius unicum, Dominum nostrum, qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine, passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit ad infernos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis, inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem, remissionem peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem, vitam aeternam. Amen.

The above is how someone in possibly Late Antiquity set the words in Latin in a way that was stylistically setting the tone for Medieval Latin.

Imagine someone with a perfect Ciceronian Latin, like Pliny the Younger, had had a bit more curiosity than speaking of "horrible" or "criminal superstition" and had come across this text.

Credunt deum esse Patrem et omnium rerum potentem, creasse caelum necnon terram. Credunt et Eum habere Filium unicum, Iesum ton Christon, quem Domini loco habent et quem credunt conceptum de Spiritu sancto, natum e Maria quae virgo remanet, passum Pontio Pilato procuratore in cruce, mortuum et sepultum, in Haden descensum ... dicunt eum tertia die post mortem resurrexisse a mortuis, postea ascensum ad caelos, ubi sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis dum inde veniat ad vivos et mortuos iudicandos. Credunt sanctum esse Spiritum ex quo conceptus Filius et sanctam et ecclesian quem constituunt, et se ipsos sanctos quorum communio est ipsa ecclesia, se vel eam habere potestatem ad remittenda peccata, et coram iudicio Iesu et caro omnium resurgere debere et aeternaliter vivere. Quo dicto, hebraico vocabulo dicunt "amen".

Caesar's prose would be closer to the actual text, and even closer if he had come to believe it and stated it "from the inside" ... but not identic. "Inde venturus iudicare" would at least be "ut iudicet" and probably also rather "dum inde veniat" as I put it, connecting to "sedet" : He will cease to sit up there, when He comes down here to judge the living and the dead in the valley of Josaphat./HGL

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