What language is most beneficial?

prodromos

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Latin and Greek are the basis for much of our language, PERIOD. The great fallacy of our time is that it is only "useful" in medicine.
In the Jewish Talmud it states the following:
There are four languages which are useful; Hebrew for worship, Aramaic for dirges, Greek for singing and Latin for war.​
 
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rusmeister

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In the Jewish Talmud it states the following:
There are four languages which are useful; Hebrew for worship, Aramaic for dirges, Greek for singing and Latin for war.​
Fortunately, we’re not Jewish.

The question being asked is “most” (beneficial). All of those would be good and helpful to know. Knowing ancient Hebrew well would help one avoid the confusion and error deliberately caused by the Masoretic texts later translated into English in the KJV, for example. But I think Latin and Greek, for us, are more important still, Greek being marginally the most important.

The flip side is not knowing them, which is the case for most of us. It’s why the Harry Potter spells, after the first book, were all expressed in Latin, and never in plain English. It is ignorance which throws a glamour over words, makes them sound bigger, more mysterious, and more sophisticated than they really are. “Petrificus totalus!” sounds impressive. “Totally turn to stone!”, not so much. But knowing makes the meaning plain, and cuts through BS, deceptive language, and evil euphemisms. “Polyamory” sounds impressive, even though it is just a fake word, a mash-up of a prefix from Greek and a root from Latin. Translate the component parts and you realize they are trying to cast fornication with multiple people as “many/much love”, and you are undeceived.
 
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Radagast

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We're planning our homeschool curriculum for our kids. What language(s), in your opinion, would be beneficial for them in church life?

If I can be forgiven for interrupting a T.A.W. thread, many homeschooling families see a benefit in teaching an inflected language like Latin or Ancient Greek. That teaches concepts (like case) that will make a second or third language easier.

Also, as has already been said, there is a big overlap between Greek and Latin vocab and technical English vocab. For example, the English words thaumaturgy (wonder-working) and gynaecology (study of women) are essentially Greek. So in teaching Greek or Latin, you are also teaching English (also, the Greek alphabet is needed for mathematics).

However, I would expect that, for Orthodox, the Greek New Testament, the Septuagint, and the Greek Fathers would tip the balance towards Ancient Greek.

That's assuming that you don't have a strong family or church connection to Russian. If you do, Russian as a 2nd language would make sense.
 
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icxn

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...Also, as has already been said, there is a big overlap between Greek and Latin vocab and technical English vocab. For example, the English words thaumaturgy (wonder-working) and gynaecology (study of women) are essentially Greek. So in teaching Greek or Latin, you are also teaching English (also, the Greek alphabet is needed for mathematics).
You are going to love this! :)
 
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archer75

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If I can be forgiven for interrupting a T.A.W. thread, many homeschooling families see a benefit in teaching an inflected language like Latin or Ancient Greek. That teaches concepts (like case) that will make a second or third language easier.

Also, as has already been said, there is a big overlap between Greek and Latin vocab and technical English vocab. For example, the English words thaumaturgy (wonder-working) and gynaecology (study of women) are essentially Greek. So in teaching Greek or Latin, you are also teaching English (also, the Greek alphabet is needed for mathematics).

However, I would expect that, for Orthodox, the Greek New Testament, the Septuagint, and the Greek Fathers would tip the balance towards Ancient Greek.

That's assuming that you don't have a strong family or church connection to Russian. If you do, Russian as a 2nd language would make sense.
Russian is also pretty heavily inflected.
 
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E.C.

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Ancient Greek wouldn't be bad because we use the Septuagint as our Old Testament, and most of the New Testament (if not all) was written in Greek as well.

Slavonic wouldn't be bad, if nothing else, due to the shear size and spread of the Russian Church outside of Russia (Not ROCOR specifically, but the Russian Church collectively). However, with each passing generation those churches tend to drift towards whatever the vernacular is. Plus, most of the Slavic Churches still use Slavonic in their Liturgies anyway. I think Serbia is one of the few that doesn't.

Hebrew wouldn't be bad (שלום!) You have Modern and Biblical Hebrew. You have the Masoretic Text in Hebrew, but to my understanding it's missing some books that us Orthodox consider canonical. There's quite a few differences between the two, but the Biblical version isn't completely incomprehensible. The Christians who are on the Israeli side of the border also speak Hebrew alongside Arabic and English. Plus Hebrew being a Semitic language with a grammar structure that makes sense and is taught in a way that makes sense would help with other Semitic languages like Arabic (extensively used in the Orthodox Church in the Middle East), Assyrian, or Aramaic. There is a move within some Christian communities in both Israel and Lebanon to relearn Aramaic and get away from the Arab identity.

Or be a rebel and learn Yupik.
 
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