Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew paid tribute to the Greek language on Tuesday describing it as the “mother tongue of the spirit.”
As Greeks celebrated Greek Language Day last weekend Bartholomew reminded the audience at the Cultural Center of the Greek Diaspora in Istanbul that it has been the medium for unique works that have shaped the course of global civilization.
“In the hearts of all of us resides a feeling of pride for our language—the language of our ancestors and our own today—which serves as the key to entering what is perhaps the greatest intellectual paradise of the world,” Bartholomew stressed.
“Here lie unique works that have left their mark on the course of world civilization: the Homeric epics, the Tragedies, the Platonic dialogues, the Aristotelian corpus, the New Testament, the writings of the Greek Fathers, and all the flourishing fruits of these roots,” he added.
Bartholomew: Greek bridged Christianity and Hellenism
The Ecumenical Patriarch went on to highlight the vital role of the Greek language in bridging Christianity with Hellenism, as well as the Church’s enduring contribution to the preservation and dissemination of Greek thought.
“It is impossible for one who knows the Greek language not to philosophize and theologize. It has been rightly said that those who engage in philosophy, wherever they may be, ‘think in Greek.’
“Likewise, it is no coincidence that Greek became the central language of Christian theology. Through it, the great philosophical and theological achievement was realized: the authentic and admirable expression of the experience of salvation in Christ through the terminology of Greek philosophy.
“The union of Christianity and Hellenism was a decisive turning point not only in the course of the Church and theology but also in the history of thought and civilization,” he underlined.
Bartholomew referred to the Church’s role in cultivating, enriching, preserving, and spreading the Greek word. He noted that the Church established and operated schools and academies to promote both secular and Christian education.
The Greek language is a universal tongue
Continuing, the Ecumenical Patriarch emphasized that the Greek language has maintained its continuity from antiquity to the present day, despite its evolution and transformations:
“This continuity is not an ideological construct but a tangible linguistic reality. The Greek language has remained unified from ancient times to today.
“As Odysseas Elytis wrote, words like ‘sky,’ ‘sea,’ ‘sun,’ and ‘freedom’ are three thousand years old, yet as fresh as if they had just been lifted from the sea, among the pebbles and seaweed of an Aegean shore, within the deep blue and absolute transparency of the ether. They are words ‘one might call azure, still fragrant with the salt of the sea plants.”
Concluding his speech, the Ecumenical Patriarch emphasized that Greek remains a universal language and underscored the importance of preserving it in the era of artificial intelligence:
“The proper learning of the Greek language requires great effort, study, and diligence. However, it rewards us a hundredfold—it enriches us existentially, humanizes us, grants us spiritual joy, and liberates us from confinement in banality, the rigid logic of machines and statistical data.”
Related: Greece Honors Professor Korinthios Who Instigated Greek Language Day