Euchomai
I am currently reading English historian Tom Holland's recent book, "Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World". I found particularly interesting this quote on page 32:
This spirit, this ferocious commitment to being the best, was one in which all aspired to share. In Homer's poetry, the word for 'pray', euchomai, was also a word for 'boast'.
This passage resonated strongly with me having just finished the Iliad last month and subsequently visited the site of ancient Troy. Praying and boasting are, for Achilles and his friends, much more closely related than we see them today.
Euchomai was also used, with a very different meaning, a millenium later by Paul in what has become the most influential set of letters ever written. In 50 AD, Paul planted a church in Corinth that he would write to several times over the next few years. It was facing some pretty significant issues: adultery (1 Cor 5:1), lawsuits (1 Cor 6:1), and prostitution (1 Cor 6:15) to name a few. In 55 AD, he writes in his final extant letter to the Corinthian community:
Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed. But we pray [euchometha] to God that you may not do anything wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray [euchometha] for, that you may become perfect.
2 Corinthians 13:5-9
Paul cares deeply for this community and wants the best for them. The last two lines are a stark contrast with Homer. Paul rejoices in his weakness if it means that his friends are strong, and in his weakness he is praying. The two statements can be read in parallel: weak/pray -> strong/perfect.
Paul's euchomai is my inspiration for this blog. You won't find any greatness here: most of my projects are half finished and my writing seems dated to me the very next time I read it. What I can offer is honesty and some of my small contributions to this world. Thank you for reading.