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各位教友： 上個主日，有些教友看了英文的 YHWH，以為是印錯字又或是我弄錯了，也有人猜到那其實是上主的名字，依照出谷紀第三章第十三至十五節的記敘，那是天主向梅瑟「自我介紹」時，所提到的名稱。 你知道以古希伯來文書寫聖經時，是沒有元音的嗎？希伯來文寫到天主會用 YHWH ，由於欠缺元音，聖經專家們曾爭論 YHWH 該如何發音呢！ 猶太人恐怕不小心冒犯了天主，索性稱天主為 Adonai(Lord)；古希臘文的舊約聖經譯本，則以 Kurios(Lord) 代替直呼天主的名，漸漸Adonai(Lord) 或 Elohim(God) 就成了 YHWH 的元音，這當然並不代表那就是當初出自天主口中的正確發音啦！ 翻看《天主教教理》，有關天主的名有以下解說： 203 天主向祂的子民以色列啟示了自己，使他們認識祂的名字。名字代表一個人的本質、身份及其生命的意義。天主有一個名字，而非一種無名的力量。祂透露自己的名字，就是使別人認識祂；這是以某種方式把自己交付出來，使自己變得平易近人，能被別人更親蜜地認識祂並以名字呼喚祂。 204 天主逐漸以不同的名字把祂自己啟示給祂的子民，然而在出離埃及訂立西乃盟約前，關於自己的名字，上主於焚而不毀的荊棘叢中向梅瑟所作的啟示，為新舊約都是基本的啟示。 206 天主啟示自己奧秘的名字 YHWH「雅威」，「自有者」，是要告訴我們祂是誰，我們該以什麼名字去稱呼祂。這個神聖的名字是奧秘的，正如天主是奧跡的一樣。是一個啟示的名字，同時好像又拒絕一個名字，這正好表達天主的本質，祂無限地超越我們所能了解和敘述的一切，祂是「隱密的天主」，祂的名字是不可言喻的，然而也是與人親近的天主。 另外根據教廷禮儀及聖事部的指引:
主佑， 莫靖龍神父 (此乃莫神父致教友書信之意譯，書信內容以英文為準) |
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Dear Parishioners: Last week, after reading the article I wrote, some parishioners came to me and asked me what the letters YHWH meant. Some thought it was a misprint, others just a finger error or even some thought I wasn’t giving enough attention and typed whatever came to my mind. Some of you however, realized that what I used what we call the Tetragrammaton. The divine name of God according to the reading of Ex. 3: 13-15. I will explain myself. The ancient Hebrew language that the Hebrew Scriptures were written in did not have vowels. In the original Hebrew, God’s name is given as "YHWH." Four letters and that is why we call it Tetragrammaton (from Greek tetra meaning four and gramma meaning letter) Because of the lack of vowels, Bible scholars debate how the Tetragrammaton “YHWH” was pronounced. Due to the Jewish fear of accidentally taking God’s Name in vain (Leviticus 24:16), they basically quit saying it out-loud altogether. Instead, when reading, they substituted the actual Tetragrammaton with the word Adonai (Lord). Even in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) the translators substituted Kurios (Lord) for the Divine Name. Eventually the vowels from Adonai (“Lord”) or Elohim (“God”) found their way into the consonants YHWH, thus forming “YaHWeH.” But this does not mean that was how God’s Name was originally pronounced. Any number of vowel combinations is possible, and the Jews are as uncertain of the real pronunciation as are Christians. “Jehovah” is actually a much later(probably 16th century) variant in Latin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: 203. God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them. A name expresses a person's essence and identity and the meaning of this person's life. God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. To disclose one's name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personally. 204 God revealed himself progressively and under different names to his people, but the revelation that proved to be the fundamental one for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai. 206 In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM WHO AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the "hidden God", his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men. Recently the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments gave some directives for the use of the Tetragrammaton in Liturgy.
Peace in Jesus Fernando Montano MG |