Something I had wondered about has been clarified. People from Crete are indeed called Cretans. And in Titus’ time they were so named as a derogatory term. This is implied in the book by the healing qualities which Titus is required by Paul to encourage in the populace, namely
·
Blameless
·
Selfless
·
Slow to anger
·
Not a drunkard
·
Not quick to violence
·
Not a gambler (implied by “filthy lucre”)
·
Living the Word
·
Not unruly
·
Not vain talkers
·
Not dreamers
Those are from Chapter 1. Chapter 2 gives more.
Titus 1:12 gives a definition by one of themselves.
It reads: “It was one of them, their very own prophet, who said, ‘Cretans are
always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.’” New Revised Standard Edition.
(The KJV has the spelling “Cretians.”)
Present usage by Merriam-Webster is, “a stupid,
vulgar, or insensitive person: CLOD, LOUT.”
What a task Paul set for Titus! I am reminded that
Mary Baker Eddy appointed some of her students to go to certain towns and
spread the word of Christian Science by healing.
One can only wonder how Titus carried out his
task.
What really was required of Titus was to heal. One
doesn’t imagine that he healed the whole populace, but what joy over those who
were healed.
Joyce Voysey
2 comments:
A few days ago i was on a ferry in the Greek islands, and opposite me sat a young woman who was travelling back to her home in Crete (pronounced Cray-ta). She was thoroughly engrossed in reading a novel, stopping very frequently as she read to make copious notes in a notebook . Eventually I asked her whether she was a student and we had a lovely conversation. No, she was a mother, and loved really studying books then writing about them. She was enlightened, thoughtful, observant, generous, and the antithesis of someone just "following the crowd" or vulgar, lazy or vain. How nice to know that Cretans have outgrown that epithet. The Christ is at work, uplifting mankind.
How lovely.
Joyce Voysey
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