CHRESTOS: A RELIGIOUS EPITHET; ITS IMPORT AND INFLUENCE.
J. B. MITCHELL, 1880
https://archive.org/details/chrestosareligi00mitcgoog
The Epithet χρηστός
p.12
It is clear from those passages [from the "Fathers" - Greek: Justin, Clement of Alexandria; Latin: Tertullian, Lactantius, Jerome) that the Christians were accustomed to get the credit of being good and gracious because the word χρηστός when uttered had the same pronunciation as χριστός; but it may also be inferred from them that it was a very usual thing to write the words Christ and Christian with η in place of ι.
Reference to ancient Christian epigraphy shows this inference to be correct and proves that such was the fact. Careful search through the Christian inscriptions, numbering 1,287, in the fourth volume of Boeckh's "Corpus Inscriptionum," [1] published in 1877, fails to discover a single instance of earlier date than the third century, wherein the word Christ is not written Chrest or else Chreist. The two earliest of all the Christian inscriptions of known date are those which are numbered respectively 9,727 and 9,288 ; in the former the name occurs in the form of ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ (CHRESTOS), in the latter in that of XPEICTE.
The word Christian written in full is found in only twelve instances, but although these extend to very late ages, in one-third the spelling is with η (i.e. χρηστός - Chrestos). The numbers borne by the four inscriptions in question are:
add.
2,883 d;
3,857 g;
3,857 p;
9,481,
the word occurring with the latter spelling twice in 3,857 p. In connection with the latter inscription the editor of the "Corpus Inscriptionum" makes the following note :
- "Ceterum h.l. observabis lusum nominum CHRESTIAN CHRESTOS Quod at tempus attinet n. 3,865 1. docet denominationem illam in hoc tractu
seculo tertio obtinuisse."
TRANSLATION: "Furthermore, h.l. you will observe the game of names CHRESTIAN CHRESTOS As for the time n. 3,865 1. teaches that denomination in this passage obtained in the third century."
The admirable indices to Boeckh's great work, which afford the means of arriving at the above result with so much certainty, on being further questioned, reveal that which in all probability greatly conduced to the confusion between the two words.
In a spiritual or mystic sense the word χρηστός (Chrestos) was one of the epithets applied to the departed in the sepulchral epigraphy of the Greeks in all ages, pre-Christian as well as post-Christian, and as such is found constantly recurring in the "Corpus Inscriptionum." There are thirty-two instances to be counted in the index, and several more have been met with since the publication of Boeckh's text
It was more especially in the epitaphs which were inscribed on the kind of monument styled ηρωον (hero) that the word χρηστός (Chrestos) was used, the most common combination being the invocation ΗΡΩΣ ΧΡΗΣΤΣ ΧΑΙΡΕ.
ΗΡΩΣ (Hero of the Trojan War)
ΧΡΗΣΤΣ (CHRESTOS: "ethical, righteous, good, just, upright, virtuous".),
ΧΑΙΡΕ (HELLO)?
The ηρωον χρηστός (Good heroes) were in fact the saved or redeemed souls, the Pagan saints.
Fully to understand what was meant by the use of the expression χρηστός (Chrestos) applied to the departed, it is necessary to call to mind that it constituted the distinctive title of the divinities who ruled the next world, and in particular of 'Aeons' or Pluto, King of Hades and Judge of Souls; and that the same title was conferred on those who left his awful tribunal justified, and who then became ol χρηστός (Chrestos) "the good " par excellence. The solemn title of χρηστός (Chrestos), Bonus, was not given to any other divinity, but only to the fate-disposing pair, ^A8>y9 and Ilepo-e(f>6vriy and the ubiquitous mystic *Ep/Li^9, and sometimes, as by courtesy, to their subordinates.
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It is not difficult to divine what must have been the influence of this universally recognised significance of the title χρηστός (Chrestos) on Pagan society, familiar as it was, in one form or another, with the eschatological doctrines of the ancient religions, when the χριστός (Christos) of the Gospel was presented to them.
That this eschatology was well known not only to the Pagans but also to the section of Jewish society ......
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Chapter xii. of the Book of the Apocalypse reads like a paragraph of Plutarch's treatise " De I side et Osiride," and the latter portion of Chapter xxv. of the Gospel according to Matthew like a passage from the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The Book of the Dead or of the Departure, a copy of which was placed in every coffin, contained the things necessary for salvation- and requisite to be known to every one on entering on his justification before the dre^d tribunal installed in the Hall of Truth. Here sat the two-and-forty assessors or elders (Apoc. iv., 4) presided over by Hesir-Onnofri (Osiris χρηστός [Chrestos]) in his character of King of Kar-neter (Matth. xxv., 34, 40), clothed in a white or glistening robe and seated on his throne (Matth. xxv., 3 1 ; Apoc. iv.,. 4), before which were placed the four genii having severally the head of jackal, ape, man, and hawk or eagle (Apoc. iv., 6), and the recording angel Tot (the Word) with his book of "the things done in the body" (Apoc. v., 2, 7; X., 2, 9, 10; 2 Cor. v., 10). Addressing himself in succession to each of his judges, the defunct was required for his justification to declare that he had not committed such and such a sin.
[Chrestos = "ethical, righteous, good, just, upright, virtuous"]
"I have not blasphemed (taken the name of the Lord in vain)/* he was expected to say ;
I have not cheated ;
I have not stolen;
I have not caused strife;
I have treated no one with cruelty ;
I have occasioned no disorders;
I have not been an idler ;
I have not been given to drunkenness;
I have given no unjust orders;
I have not been indiscreet through idle curiosity;
I have not indulged in vain talk nor in evil speaking;
I have used violence to no one ;
I have caused no one to fear unjustly ;
I have not been envious ;
I have never spoken evil of the king nor of my parents;
I have not brought any false accusation."
Besides such negative pleas advanced by the defunct in favour of his innocence, there were others of a positive kind.
"I have made the requisite offerings to the Gods ; for the love of God I have given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, and shelter to the destitute." — Matth. xxv., 42-44.
(" Das Todenbuch des Egypter," von K. R. Lepsius; Leipzig, 1842. " Ritual of the Dead," by Samuel Birch ; Appendix to Bunsen's " Egypt's Place in History," vol. vi., pp. 125-333; Lond., 1867. " Le Rituel Fun^raire de TEgypte," par Charles Lenormant, pp. 9-1 1 ; Paris, 1862.)
[1] Corpus inscriptionum Graecarum; Author: August Boeckh
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_s5X4lUGIFBkC
NOTE: Corpus inscriptionum Graecarum (or its descendents) should be searchable today in 2024.
