Humility and humble mindedness. The relation of the terms and the reason for creating new terminology

Abstract

The article explores the relation between two similar terms of one Christian virtue: ταπείνωσις (humility) and ταπεινοφροσύνη (mind of humility). The first word originates from Greek antique texts, but in Christianity changes its meaning from negative to positive. The second term first appears in the writings of Apostles Peter and Paul and has a primarily Christian use. The author tries to understand the difference between them and the reasons why the Apostles created a new term. Antiquity did not consider humility a virtue, but the texts of the Old Testament knew such a virtue under Hebrew words “anawa”, “anaw”, “ani”. Thus, the translators to Greek had to use different words for its translation, such as poor, oppressed, meek, and humble. In Christianity, the virtue of humility became one of the main virtues. It needed a special term for its significance. Ταπεινοφροσύνη became such a term. The author asserts this to be the main reason for creating this new word. The only difference between these words is the context in which they are used. Ταπεινοφροσύνη is the same ταπείνωσις, only used in a specifically Christian context. Thus, ταπεινοφροσύνη is concluded to be the translation of the Old and New Testament concept of humility in to the language of Greek Antiquity.