DEARLY BELOVED

It was GILL who started it! The other day, when I was speculating on what to call my newly civil-partnered partner, she commented: "At the risk of introducing a cliché into your search for what to call each other, don't forget that well known truism: 'The Greeks have a word for it'!"

Well, yes, I thought, that's about as true as a truism gets, so what is that word that would have been used by Plato (right)?

And thus began a quest that led me into fascinating, unforeseen territory...

The words (there are more than one) are various and usually come (like the people to whom they refer, in couples): εραστης, the desirer, and ερομενος, the desired...

Or lover and beloved...

Which information led me - in the way Googling so often does - to a discussion about the story of Jesus healing the Centurion's Servant in the New Testament Gospels of both Matthew (Chapter 8: 5-13) and Luke (Chapter 7: 1-10) and famously painted by Veronése...


Here's Luke's version...

1 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. 3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: 5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.

6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.

The (possibly) significant phrase is "a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him", since the Greek word used by Luke to describe the servant was pais...

Now, according to The New Testament Greek Lexicon, pais means either "a child, boy or girl" or "a servant, slave, a king's attendant or minister".

However, if you accept the arguments set out on the web-pages of gaychristian101, supported by (doubtless selective) quotations from cited authorities, the word pais has another, additional, meaning...

According to Sir Kenneth Dover ('Noted Philologist and Greek scholar'):

"The pais in a homosexual relationship was often a youth who had attained full height..."

"The Greeks often used the word paidika in the sense of 'eromenos'..." [Meaning: "the boy you are in love with..."]
Paidika is the diminutive of pais.

"The junior partner in homosexual eros is called pais (or, of course, paidika) even when he has reached adult height and hair has begun to grow on his face..."

And from Robert Gagnon, Pittsburg Theological Seminary ('Noted Evangelical Scholar and Leading Anti-gay Apologist'):

"...boy (pais) could be used of any junior partner in a homosexual relationship, even one who was full grown."

There's extra back-up (if you'll pardon the expression) from a bunch of Ancient Greeks and, I might add, some fetching photos of real-life Centurions (left)!! But, were Luke and Matthew really recounting the story of how Jesus healed the homosexual lover of a Roman Centurion?

Who knows? But it is clearly it is important to those many Christian homosexuals who are struggling to square their religious beliefs with their experiences of intolerance or hostility within the church.

After all, if true, it suggests that Jesus might have met and helped someone who was open about having a gay lover --- and that would be a notion guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of any red-neck fundamentalist!

Certainly, enough people are so exercised about the question - one way or the other - as to be discussing it on something in the region 9,880 Internet pages!

Anyway, as we celebrate our First Anniversary --- ONE WEEK! --- I don't think I'll be calling David my pais, but I do quite like my Beloved or, maybe, my Dearly Beloved - or, perhaps, just my DB for short --- which, of course, neatly embodies both our initials!