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56-750: These groups of elders make decisions for the local parish through a ruling body called the Kirk session ( Latin . sessio from sedere "to sit"), sometimes the Session , church session, or (in Continental Reformed usage) consistory . The members of the session are the pastor (Teaching Elder) of that congregation, and the other ruling elders (sometimes called " lay elders"). Elders are ordained for life, so if they are subsequently elected or appointed to Sessions at later points in their lives, they are inducted, there being no second ordination. In most denominations,

112-543: A proper noun , the Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland , the country's national church and this term is frequently used in the media, in everyday speech and in the church's own literature. The Kirk of Scotland was in official use as the name of the Church of Scotland until the 17th century. Kirk Session is still the standard term in church law for the court of elders in

168-612: A stress accent system , and the monophthongization of several diphthongs: The Koine-period Greek in the table is taken from a reconstruction by Benjamin Kantor of New Testament Judeo-Palestinian Koine Greek. The realizations of most phonemes reflect general changes around the Greek-speaking world, including vowel isochrony and monophthongization, but certain sound values differ from other Koine varieties such as Attic, Egyptian and Anatolian. More general Koine phonological developments include

224-450: A more open pronunciation than other Koine dialects, distinguished as open-mid /ɛ/ vs. close-mid /e/ , rather than as true-mid /e̞/ vs. close-mid /e̝/ as has been suggested for other varieties such as Egyptian. This is evidenced on the basis of Hebrew transcriptions of ε with pataḥ/qamets /a/ and not tsere/segol /e/ . Additionally, it is posited that α perhaps had a back vowel pronunciation as /ɑ/ , dragged backwards due to

280-564: A part of spoken Gaelic in the Highlands or Ireland. When the element appears in placenames of the former British empire, a distinction can be made between those where the element is productive ( named after a church) or transferred – from a place in Britain. Kirkland , a city in the United States, is an exception, being named after the surname of an English settler, Peter Kirk . The element kirk

336-481: A separate "Congregational Board", "Deacons' court" or "Management Committee" which deals with financial details and the maintenance of the property. The financial board thus relieves the Session of much routine responsibility but remains under the direction of the Session. Kirk Sessions remains the first court of the presbyterian church. They are under the jurisdiction of the presbytery of the bounds to which they commission

392-579: A surname. Koine Greek Koine Greek ( ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος , hē koinḕ diálektos , lit.   ' the common dialect ' ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek , common Attic , the Alexandrian dialect , Biblical Greek , Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek , was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period , the Roman Empire and

448-460: A very important source of information on the ancient Koine is the modern Greek language with all its dialects and its own Koine form, which have preserved some of the ancient language's oral linguistic details which the written tradition has lost. For example, Pontic and Cappadocian Greek preserved the ancient pronunciation of η as ε ( νύφε, συνέλικος, τίμεσον, πεγάδι for standard Modern Greek νύφη, συνήλικος, τίμησον, πηγάδι etc.), while

504-696: Is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, but also from other dialects. The degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic world. In that respect, the varieties of Koine spoken in the Ionian colonies of Anatolia (e.g. Pontus , cf. Pontic Greek ) would have more intense Ionic characteristics than others and those of Laconia and Cyprus would preserve some Doric and Arcadocypriot characteristics, respectively. The literary Koine of

560-509: Is a term used for present tense verbs that are used in some narrative sections of the New Testament to describe events that are in the past with respect to the speaker. This is seen more in works attributed to Mark and John than Luke . It is used 151 times in the Gospel of Mark in passages where a reader might expect a past tense verb. Scholars have presented various explanations for this; in

616-548: Is also used in anglicisations of continental European place names, originally formed from one of the continental Germanic cognates. Dunkirk ( French Flanders ) is a rendering of Dutch West-Flemish dialect of Duunkerke or standard Dutch form of Duinkerke . Kirk is also in use as both a surname and a male forename. For lists of these, see Kirk (surname) and Kirk (given name) , and also Kirkby (disambiguation) . Parallels in other languages are far rarer than with placenames, but English Church and German Kirch can also be

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672-856: Is sometimes used for the Greek written by the Greek Church Fathers , the Early Christian theologians in late antiquity. Christian writers in the earliest time tended to use a simple register of Koiné, relatively close to the spoken language of their time, following the model of the Bible. After the 4th century, when Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire , more learned registers of Koiné also came to be used. Koine period Greek differs from Classical Greek in many ways: grammar , word formation , vocabulary and phonology (sound system). During

728-625: The Anglican Communion . The first court of Presbyterian polity where the Elders of a particular congregation gather as a Session or meeting to govern the spiritual and temporal affairs of the church. The verb to kirk , meaning 'to present in church', was probably first used for the annual church services of some Scottish town councils, known as the Kirking of the Council . Since the re-establishment of

784-544: The Church of Scotland , the Scottish national church that developed from the 16th-century Reformation . Many place names and personal names are derived from kirk . As a common noun , kirk (meaning 'church') is found in Scots , Scottish English , Ulster-Scots and some English dialects , attested as a noun from the 14th century onwards, but as an element in placenames much earlier. Both words, kirk and church , derive from

840-633: The Hebrew Bible ), the Christian New Testament , and of most early Christian theological writing by the Church Fathers . In this context, Koine Greek is also known as "Biblical", "New Testament", "ecclesiastical", or "patristic" Greek. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his private thoughts in Koine Greek in a work that is now known as Meditations . Koine Greek continues to be used as

896-509: The High Kirk of Glasgow , and St. Giles' Cathedral , as well as the High Kirk of Edinburgh . The term "High Kirk", however, should be used with some caution. Several towns have a congregation known as the High Kirk that were never pre-Reformation cathedrals. Examples include: There is no connection between the term 'High Kirk' and the term ' High Church ', which is a type of Churchmanship within

952-582: The Koine Greek κυριακόν (δωμα) (kyriakon (dōma)) meaning Lord's (house) , which was borrowed into the Germanic languages in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions . (Only a connection with the idiosyncrasies of Gothic explains how a Greek neuter noun became a Germanic feminine). Whereas church displays Old English palatalisation , kirk is a loanword from Old Norse and thus retains

1008-554: The Moderator of the Kirk Session sits as a chairman of the elders primus inter pares . The person who takes minutes for the Session and maintains all of the church's ledgers of membership, births, baptisms, deaths, and elders is known as the Clerk of Session . However, the role takes on a special significance well beyond its stated duties. In leadership and influence across the congregation,

1064-1079: The Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Kirking of the Parliament has become a fixed ceremony at the beginning of a session. Historically a newly married couple would attend public worship as husband and wife for the first time at their kirking. In Nova Scotia, Kirking of the Tartan ceremonies have become an integral part of most Scottish Festivals and Highland Games. Kirk is found mainly as an element in many placenames of Scotland , England and countries of large British expatriate communities. Scottish examples include Falkirk , Kirkwall and numerous Kirkhills and Kirktons . Examples in England are Ormskirk and Kirkby in Lancashire, and Kirkstall , Kirklees and Kirklevington in Yorkshire. Newkirk, Oklahoma state of

1120-536: The Tsakonian language preserved the long α instead of η ( ἁμέρα, ἀστραπά, λίμνα, χοά etc.) and the other local characteristics of Doric Greek . Dialects from the southern part of the Greek-speaking regions ( Dodecanese , Cyprus , etc.), preserve the pronunciation of the double similar consonants ( ἄλ-λος, Ἑλ-λάδα, θάλασ-σα ), while others pronounce in many words υ as ου or preserve ancient double forms ( κρόμμυον – κρεμ-μυον, ράξ – ρώξ etc.). Linguistic phenomena like

1176-705: The papyri , for being two kinds of texts which have authentic content and can be studied directly. Other significant sources are the Septuagint , the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible , and the Greek New Testament . The teaching of these texts was aimed at the most common people, and for that reason, they use the most popular language of the era. Other sources can be based on random findings such as inscriptions on vases written by popular painters, mistakes made by Atticists due to their imperfect knowledge of Attic Greek or even some surviving Greco-Latin glossaries of

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1232-616: The Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the Hellenistic period , most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, " ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων συνεστῶσα " (the composition of the Four). This view was supported in the early twentieth century by Paul Kretschmer in his book Die Entstehung der Koine (1901), while Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and Antoine Meillet , based on

1288-562: The Disruption in 1843, when about a third of the Auld Kirk of Scotland left to form the Free Kirk. The Free Kirkers, who had sometimes given up homes as well as church buildings and started financially from scratch, were taunted with the rhyme: “ The Free Kirk, the wee Kirk, the Kirk without the steeple ”. This rhyme linking the Free Kirk with the derogatory diminutive "wee" was offensive, and a reply

1344-559: The Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is often mentioned as Common Attic . The first scholars who studied Koine, both in Alexandrian and Early Modern times, were classicists whose prototype had been the literary Attic Greek of the Classical period and frowned upon any other variety of Ancient Greek . Koine Greek was therefore considered a decayed form of Greek which was not worthy of attention. The reconsideration on

1400-491: The New Testament , W.F. Howard argues that the heavy use of the historical present in Herodotus and Thucydides , compared with the relatively infrequent usage by Polybius and Xenophon was evidence that heavy use of this verb tense is a feature of vernacular Koine, but other scholars have argued that the historical present can be a literary form to "denote semantic shifts to more prominent material." The term patristic Greek

1456-497: The Roman period, e.g.: Καλήμερον, ἦλθες; Bono die, venisti? Good day, you came? Ἐὰν θέλεις, ἐλθὲ μεθ' ἡμῶν. Si vis, veni mecum . If you want, come with us. Ποῦ; Ubi? Where? Πρὸς φίλον ἡμέτερον Λύκιον. Ad amicum nostrum Lucium. To our friend Lucius. Τί γὰρ ἔχει; Quid enim habet? Indeed, what does he have? What is it with him? Ἀρρωστεῖ. Aegrotat. He's sick. Finally,

1512-589: The Session Clerk is a partner with the Minister and often speaks for the Congregation and Elders in offering words of guidance and encouragement to the Minister as well as being the key to marshalling resources and support to implement the Minister's projects. Kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term the Kirk is often used informally to refer specifically to

1568-564: The United States, is another example. The element only found in place names of Anglo-Saxon origin but also in Anglo-Gaelic Southern Scottish names such as Kirkcudbright , a place around a Cudbright church. Here, the Gaelic element cil- (coming from a monk's cell) might have been expected to go with the Gaelic form of Cuthbert . The reason appears to be that kirk was borrowed into local Galwegian , it does not seem to have been

1624-604: The above imply that those characteristics survived within Koine, which in turn had countless variations in the Greek-speaking world. Biblical Koine refers to the varieties of Koine Greek used in Bible translations into Greek and related texts. Its main sources are: There has been some debate to what degree Biblical Greek represents the mainstream of contemporary spoken Koine and to what extent it contains specifically Semitic substratum features. These could have been induced either through

1680-454: The congregation and their families. In the pastoral function, elders rarely bring issues to Session meetings, resolving them privately or with the aid of the minister or other counsellor. In executive function a number of Sessions have complete authority (under presbytery) for the ordering of all business, spiritual and temporal, of their congregation. This condition is known in the Church of Scotland as " quoad omnia ". Other congregations have

1736-449: The day-to-day vernacular . Others chose to refer to Koine as "the dialect of Alexandria " or "Alexandrian dialect" ( ἡ Ἀλεξανδρέων διάλεκτος ), or even the universal dialect of its time. Modern classicists have often used the former sense. Koine Greek arose as a common dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great . Under the leadership of Macedon , their newly formed common variety

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1792-600: The early Byzantine Empire . It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, and served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties. Koine Greek included styles ranging from conservative literary forms to

1848-525: The early 20th century some scholars argued that the use of the historical present tense in Mark was due to the influence of Aramaic , but this theory fell out of favor in the 1960s. Another group of scholars believed the historical present tense was used to heighten the dramatic effect, and this interpretation was favored in the New American Bible translation. In Volume II of the 1929 edition of A Grammar of

1904-407: The historical and linguistic importance of Koine Greek began only in the early 19th century, where renowned scholars conducted a series of studies on the evolution of Koine throughout the entire Hellenistic period and Roman Empire . The sources used on the studies of Koine have been numerous and of unequal reliability. The most significant ones are the inscriptions of the post-Classical periods and

1960-453: The initial stage in the fortition of the second element in the αυ/ευ diphthongs) and the loss of vowel-timing distinctions are carried through. On the other hand, Kantor argues for certain vowel qualities differing from the rest of the Koine in the Judean dialect. Although it is impossible to know the exact realizations of vowels, it is tentatively argued that the mid-vowels ε / αι and η had

2016-473: The intense Ionic elements of the Koine – σσ instead of ττ and ρσ instead of ρρ ( θάλασσα – θάλαττα , 'sea'; ἀρσενικός – ἀρρενικός , 'potent, virile') – considered Koine to be a simplified form of Ionic . The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist Georgios Hatzidakis , who showed that despite the "composition of the Four", the "stable nucleus" of Koine Greek

2072-491: The language. The passage into the next period, known as Medieval Greek , is sometimes dated from the foundation of Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 330 AD, but often only from the end of late antiquity . The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic and Roman eras of history until the start of the Middle Ages. The linguistic roots of

2128-676: The liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church and in some Greek Catholic churches . The English-language name Koine is derived from the Koine Greek term ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος ( hē koinḕ diálektos ), meaning "the common dialect". The Greek word κοινή ( koinḗ ) itself means "common". The word is pronounced / k ɔɪ ˈ n eɪ / , / ˈ k ɔɪ n eɪ / , or / k iː ˈ n iː / in US English and / ˈ k ɔɪ n iː / in UK English. The pronunciation of

2184-466: The local congregation, both in the Church of Scotland and in any of the other Scottish Presbyterian denominations. Even more commonly, The Free Kirk is heard as an informal name for the Free Church of Scotland , the remnant of an evangelical presbyterian church formed in 1843 when its founders withdrew from the Church of Scotland. See: A pair of rhyming jibes remain from the time of the heated split of

2240-725: The main of the Greek language. S. J. Thackeray, in A Grammar of the Old Testament in Greek According to the Septuagint (1909), wrote that only the five books of the Pentateuch , parts of the Book of Joshua and the Book of Isaiah may be considered "good Koine". One issue debated by scholars is whether and how much the translation of the Pentateuch influenced the rest of the Septuagint, including

2296-518: The minister and at least one ruling elder. The minister is not a member of the congregation but of the presbytery, thus he or she is under the spiritual oversight of the presbytery. The members of the congregation, including the ruling elders, are under the spiritual oversight of the Kirk Session. This is a practical manifestation of the Protestant doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and as all elders are ordained, some to rule and others to teach,

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2352-426: The notion of meeting and gathering of men, without any particular character. Therefore, etymologizing this word could be needless, or even misleading, when it could guide to false meanings, for example that ἐκκλησία is a name used for the people of God, Israel. The authors of the New Testament follow the Septuagint translations for over half their quotations from the Old Testament. The " historical present " tense

2408-452: The opening of ε . Influence of the Aramaic substrate could have also caused confusion between α and ο , providing further evidence for the back vowel realization. The following texts show differences from Attic Greek in all aspects – grammar, morphology, vocabulary and can be inferred to show differences in phonology. The following comments illustrate the phonological development within

2464-474: The original mainland Germanic consonants. Compare cognates : Icelandic & Faroese kirkja ; Swedish kyrka (where the first ‘k’ was later palatalized as well); Norwegian ( Nynorsk ) kyrkje ; Danish and Norwegian ( Bokmål ) kirke ; Dutch and Afrikaans kerk ; German Kirche (reflecting palatalization before unstressed front vowel); West Frisian tsjerke ; and borrowed into non-Germanic languages Estonian kirik and Finnish kirkko . As

2520-403: The pastor and associate pastor have a vote as members of the session on any matters. However, the pastor will often refrain from voting except in tie situations. The Pastor is not a voting member of the congregation. The elders who are members of Session have both executive powers as a group and pastoral responsibility. Many elders will be in regular pastoral contact with a group of the members of

2576-620: The pastor serves as Moderator of the Session and thus convenes or presides over the session. All elders have an equal vote in the session. In some denominations, the pastor is given no vote. However, in a sitting body of an even number or with a quorum of the session counted, the pastor can break a tie with a casting vote. In the Polity of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States) ,

2632-399: The period generally designated as Koine Greek, a great deal of phonological change occurred. At the start of the period, the pronunciation was virtually identical to Ancient Greek phonology , whereas in the end, it had much more in common with Modern Greek phonology . The three most significant changes were the loss of vowel length distinction, the replacement of the pitch accent system by

2688-523: The period of Koine. The phonetic transcriptions are tentative and are intended to illustrate two different stages in the reconstructed development, an early conservative variety still relatively close to Classical Attic, and a somewhat later, more progressive variety approaching Modern Greek in some respects. The following excerpt, from a decree of the Roman Senate to the town of Thisbae in Boeotia in 170 BC,

2744-505: The practice of translating closely from Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic originals, or through the influence of the regional non-standard Greek spoken by originally Aramaic-speaking Hellenized Jews . Some of the features discussed in this context are the Septuagint's normative absence of the particles μέν and δέ , and the use of ἐγένετο to denote "it came to pass". Some features of Biblical Greek which are thought to have originally been non-standard elements eventually found their way into

2800-429: The spirantization of Γ , with palatal allophone before front-vowels and a plosive allophone after nasals, and β . φ, θ and χ still preserve their ancient aspirated plosive values, while the unaspirated stops π, τ, κ have perhaps begun to develop voiced allophones after nasals. Initial aspiration has also likely become an optional sound for many speakers of the popular variety. Monophthongization (including

2856-461: The spoken vernaculars of the time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek , which then turned into Modern Greek . Literary Koine was the medium of much post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch and Polybius . Koine is also the language of the Septuagint (the 3rd century BC Greek translation of

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2912-454: The term koine to refer to the Proto-Greek language , while others used it to refer to any vernacular form of Greek speech which differed somewhat from the literary language. When Koine Greek became a language of literature by the first century BC, some people distinguished two forms: written as the literary post-classical form (which should not be confused with Atticism ), and vernacular as

2968-476: The translation of Isaiah. Another point that scholars have debated is the use of ἐκκλησία ekklēsía as a translation for the Hebrew קָהָל qāhāl . Old Testament scholar James Barr has been critical of etymological arguments that ekklēsía refers to "the community called by God to constitute his People". Kyriakoula Papademetriou explains: He maintains that ἐκκλησία is merely used for designating

3024-656: The word koine itself gradually changed from [koinéː] (close to the Classical Attic pronunciation [koi̯.nɛ̌ː] ) to [cyˈni] (close to the Modern Greek [ciˈni] ). In Modern Greek, the language is referred to as Ελληνιστική Κοινή , "Hellenistic Koiné", in the sense of "Hellenistic supraregional language "). Ancient scholars used the term koine in several different senses. Scholars such as Apollonius Dyscolus (second century AD) and Aelius Herodianus (second century AD) maintained

3080-556: Was devised in: The Auld Kirk, the cauld Kirk. The Kirk wi’out the people . High Kirk is the term sometimes used to describe a congregation of the Church of Scotland that uses a building that had been a cathedral prior to the Reformation . As the Church of Scotland is not governed by bishops , it has no cathedrals in the episcopal sense of the word. In more recent times, the traditional names have been revived, so that in many cases both forms can be heard: Glasgow Cathedral , as well as

3136-605: Was spoken from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia . It replaced existing ancient Greek dialects with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand. Though elements of Koine Greek took shape in Classical Greece , the post-Classical period of Greek is defined as beginning with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, when cultures under Greek sway in turn began to influence

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