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撮要

歷世紀以來，儘管學者多番努力研究，試圖探尋答案，然而，我們還沒能明白主禱文中求賜飲食（太六11；路十一3）裏，ἐπιούσιος這希臘文的意思（及來源）。在差不多已知的希臘文學作品中，ἐπιούσιος純粹只見諸主禱文裏，這大抵是布道者所發明的詞彙罷。問題不在於在主禱文以外欠缺該詞語的充分例子，而卻在於研究方法上。學者因着臆測，竟忽略了主禱文的文學結構，而只着眼根據字源學的基礎來尋覓答案。本文作者致力透過仔細分析主禱文的詩體特色，來改善有關不足。本文指出馬太福音六章9節下至13節中四個文學部份，每一部份蘊含涉及多個層面、格式、模態所表達的平行對仗。經似發現，我們得見第9節的ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς和第11節的τὸν  ἐπιούσιον之間出現的關鍵平行對仗，這對仗在作用、位置、詞彙次序、音節數量上，尤其工整。而這些強而有力的證據，驅使作者達致如此結論——ἐπιούσιος衍生自 ἐπὶ τὴν ούσίαν。

ABSTRACT

It is still unknown to us, despite numerous attempts for solution over the centuries, regarding the meaning (and origin) of ἐπιούσιος in the bread petition of the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:11; Luke 11:3). Probably coined by the Evangelists, ἐπιούσιος is used exclusively within the context of the Prayer in virtually all known Greek literature. The problem persists not on the ground of insufficient examples of the word available outside the Prayer context, but rather on the methodological ground. Scholarly conjectures have overlooked the literary structure of the Prayer, seeking solutions solely on the basis of etymology. This paper seeks to address this inadequacy by means of implementing a detailed analysis of the poetic characteristics of the Prayer. The analysis identifies four literary sections in Matthew 6:9b-13, each of which contains poetic features including parallelism expressed at several levels, forms, and modes. The discovery of parallelism yields a crucial identification of parallel structure between ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (v. 9) and tòv ἐπι-ούσιον(v.11). These two phrases display remarkable agreement in their function, position, word order, and number of syllables. Finally, compelling evidence of this study leads to a conclusion which supports the theory that ἐπιούσιος is a derivative of ἐπὶ τὴν ούσίαν.

原載於《建道學刊》30期（2008年7月），頁1-19。