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Q&A Home > A > Alpha and Omega If "omega" is not considered to be the final letter of the Coptic Alphabet, how do you interpret the phrase, "God is Alpha and Omega"? Greek was the predominant language during the Lord's ministry. The first account of the Holy Gospel was written in Greek by St. Mark, who spoke Greek, not Coptic. The first Divine Liturgy written by him, was in Greek. It was St. Cyril the Pillar of Faith who translated the Divine Liturgy into Coptic, which we use today as the Divine Liturgy according to St. Cyril. St. John the Beloved wrote the Book of Revelation while he was in Patmos, a Greek island until now. In the Greek letters, Alpha is the first letter, and Omega is the last. The Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of all things. Compare Isaiah 41:4, "Who has performed and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? 'I, the Lord, am the first; And with the last I am He,'" with Revelation 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." Jewish rabbis also used the first and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet to convey a comprehensive understanding. Likewise, the English language uses a similar reference today when we want to say that something is thorough, 'from A to Z,' in totality, wholesome, and complete. Even the Arabic language, denotes a similar agreement to this style of expression, using as the first letter in Arabic, 'Aleph' - 'Yeh,' the last letter in Arabic. Though the Lord spoke Aramaic, He also spoke Greek. The Jews were the minority and the country was governed by the Romans, who spoke Greek. It was not until the Lord Jesus Christ went to Egypt as an infant with the Holy Family to escape from Herod, that the Lord spoke Coptic, since the Family remained in Egypt around 4-6 years. Until now, the Coptic Orthodox liturgies and psalmodies contain both Coptic and Greek, in addition to the language of each country, e.g., English, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, etc.
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