Friday, July 22, 2016

Rare word #17: isapostle

My daughter Magdalena's New Calendar name day is today so, before we feasted a little, I did my normal hagiographic reading. The word isapostle came up. It makes perfect etymologic sense (think of isosceles from ἰσοσκελής equal-legged), but is not a word I had noted at all before.


Isapostle - Equal to, or contemporary with, the apostles; a name given in the Greek Church to bishops consecrated by the apostles, and to other persons eminent in the primitive church.

Etymology: ecclesiastical Greek ἰσαπόστολος equal to an apostle

2 comments:

  1. Lord have mercy on me, but somehow I heard this said in the voice of Jar-Jar Binks: "Isapostle!" *shudder*

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  2. In addition to angels, deacons Melchizedek and the Good Thief, equals-to-the-apostles (isapotles) can also be depicted on the "deacon's doors" in the iconostasis. That's where I learned the term.

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