Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding Jesus).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, individual or several disciples address Jesus with the formal pronoun, expressing respect. Compare this to how that address changes after the resurrection.
In most Dutch as well as in Western Frisian and Afrikaans translations, the disciples address Jesus before and after the resurrection with the formal pronoun.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 18:28:
Noongar: “Then Peter said, ‘See! We have left our homes to follow you.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “From there, Petrus said: ‘But us (excl.), we (excl.) left-behind our (excl.) goods and followed you (sing.).'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then Petros spoke. ‘Look at us,’ he said, ‘We (excl.) have already left our (excl.) houses and we (excl.) are following you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Peter said, ‘As for us, we have abandoned all of our possessions so that we might be your disciples.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Pedro said, ‘And us (excl.) now? Because we (excl.) have left everything so-that we (excl.) would become your (sing.) disciples.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Pedro spoke, saying, ‘Well as for us (excl.) here, Master, isn’t it so that we have left everything to go around with you now?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
idou ‘see,’ emphatic introduction of what follows.
hēmeis aphentes ta idia ēkolouthēsamen soi ‘we having given up our possessions have followed you.’ hēmeis is emphatic and contrasts the disciples with the ‘ruler’ of vv. 18ff. For the general meaning of the clause cf. on 5.11.
ta idia lit. ‘the own things,’ i.e. ‘the things one owns,’ either in a specific sense, ‘home’ (An American Translation), or in a more general sense, ‘property’ (including wife and children), preferably the latter.
Translation:
Lo, cf. on “behold” in 1.20.
Left our homes, preferably, ‘given up our possessions, or, what was ours’ (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation, Nieuwe Vertaling).
For left and followed see on 5.11.
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
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