Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew referred to the catalytic effect of the Greek language on world culture and its expressive power in a recorded greeting, which was broadcasted during the online event “Seferis – Elytis: from Greece to the World”. The event was organized by the Consulate General of Greece in Constantinople, today, February 9, 2021, on International Greek Language Day.
“Rightly, the Greek language claims the title of “mother tongue of the spirit”. If “classic” is what reflects the common quests of people, and exceeds the limits of the culture in which it was created, then the Greek language is truly classical, “estate of humanity”, points out, among other things the Ecumenical Patriarch.
In his greeting, the Ecumenical Patriarch stated that “language expresses the identity and the quality of the culture to which it belongs. It is not simply a means of communication, but “a carrier of moral values”, as Elytis notes. Indeed, an entire civilization passes through language. As a pre-eminent “philosophical language”, the Greek language, primarily names the essence, the being, the dimension of the depth of things, and not their usefulness. Greek works of the human intellect are written in Greek. It has been said that philosophers, wherever they go, “think in Greek”, and that anyone who speaks Greek is “almost impossible not to philosophize”.
We add that those who speak the Greek language are impossible not to theologize. It is no coincidence that Greek became the axial language of Christian theology. Thanks to the Greek language, a philosophical and theological feat was achieved, “innovating the names”, the authentic expression of the experience of salvation in Christ, with the terminology of Greek philosophy. This combination of Hellenism and Christianity was a decisive milestone, not only in the evolution of philosophy and theology but also, in general, in the history of civilization”, the Ecumenical Patriarch emphasized.
In the modern world of technocracy, economics, numbers, and quantitative criteria, our poets speak about the incomparable values of our tradition, about Europe, about culture, about art, which magnifies the mystery of the world, sharpens the sense of beauty and the truth of things”, the Ecumenical Patriarch concluded.
