Amen

I do love a good time travel story, written or TV or film. Or multiverse. Or alternative history or fan fiction. Is it just me or does it seem like the 21st Century left the sacred timeline and dropped us in a dystopian side branch?

Or perhaps maybe history has its occasional quiet decades and most of my life (and yours) was in one of those moments?

Either way, how do we get back to a more rational world? Step one is to find some common ground. Any common ground. Anything that is literally common across cultures.

For example: amen, אמן, ἀμήν, آمين.

I had this thought while in Greece. I was attending a religious service (which I’ve not done for many years), trying to give my daughter the experience of seeing the Greek version. The one word that stood out, repeatedly, was… amen.

This is a word that has been used in prayer for millennia. It pre-dates Byzantium. Pre-dates Rome. Pre-dates the Parthenon and the Classical scholars of Athens.

And the one word that is common between Judaism, Christianity (of all denominations), and Islam. All three religions finish their prayers with this same word… amen, אמן, ἀμήν, آمين.

Tiny, but nonetheless, common ground.

---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen
https://www.abrahamicstudyhall.org/2018/08/12/amen-behind-the-word-and-meaning/
https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1383-amen
https://bismarckdiocese.com/news/what-does-the-word-amen-mean-and-what-am-i-affirming-when-i-say-it