The importance of this word will come out in time, over several posts, but I want to introduce it now.
In Greek, it’s αναμνεσις. It appears in both the Old and New Testaments. It corresponds to the Hebrew “zikkaron” (no, I’m not going to try to figure out the Hebrew script for this one). Both anamnesis and zikkaron are words for which there is no modern English equivalent. In fact, according to Scott Hahn in Letter and Spirit, most modern languages cannot translate anamnesis into anything truly meaningful.
Most modern Bible translations use “remembrance,” “memorial,” “memory,” or “commemoration.” These words don’t convey the meaning of anamnesis sufficiently.
The problem is this – anamnesis appears at a particularly critical juncture of the Bible story. Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 both use anamnesis at the institution of the Eucharist. “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”
“Do this in anamnesis of me.” What does this mean, with a word that we can’t translate completely into English?
Anamnesis is more than just “remembrance.” It’s an active memorial, not just a function of memory or imagination. It is, in fact, a re-living of the event being remembered. Whether it’s the deliverance from Egypt in Exodus, or the institution of the Eucharist in Matthew, Mark and Luke, this remembrance is intended take us back spiritually and sacramentally to the event being remembered. There is far, far more depth here than simply remembering an event in the past. You live it – body and soul – at that particular moment.
More on this in a later post.
Interesting.
'To memorialise me', while not perfect, seems stronger than 'in memory of me'. To memorialise at implies doing something, thereby including body and mind.