The Two Meanings of the Aramaic Word ( Ichidaya)

By Hadrian Mr lijah Bar Isral

http://www.marelijah.org

One of the most quoted scriptures in the history of the world, John 3:16 in English reads:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

However, few people have stopped to consider what only begotten might mean. To the native
English speaker it sounds like its saying that we are not all Gods children, because there was
only one! The same confusion exists in the French translation which uses Fils unique
(meaning unique son) which also carries this same confusing connotation.
These skewed definitions can be traced back directly to the Greek (meaning
monogenous), which is used in the verse, which the Byzantine Majority Text (2005) gives
as:
,
,
, .

Strong's Concordance gives the following:

monogens

only begotten

Original Word:
Part of Speech:
Transliteration:
Phonetic Spelling:
Short Definition:
Definition:

,
Adjective
monogens
(mon-og-en-ace')
only, only-begotten, unique
only, only-begotten; unique

The theological ambiguity is removed however when one accepts that all of these are actually
translations from the Peshitta, which says:

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( Ichidaya) is the Aramaic word which is normally translated as Only Begotten in

English.
This sentence then preserves the original meaning of being singular and united and / or of
one substance with, God!
It is this single substance / entity / being with God, which is the true nature of Christ, which
John 1:1 clarifies as the Miltha, which means simultaneously word, substance,
instance, occurrence, et cetera:

Which translates:
In the beginning was the Miltha and the Miltha was God and God was that
Miltha.1

The English word monastic also comes from the same Greek root. In Aramaic a monastic is
known as ichidaya, or single (as in celibate) also means singleness and is used to refer
to the monastic, the radical disciple of Jesus, who is also ichidaya just as Jesus is the ichidaya
(single substance) with the father. Saint Aprahat says that "the ihidaya from the bosom of His
Father gives joy to all ihidaye".2
Sebastian Brock notes that the term ihidaya is used of those living an ascetic life, that "Putting
on Christ the Ihidaya, and becoming an ihidaya oneself, was seen not just as an outward
adoption of the name, but as a radical reorientation of one's life involving the "putting on," the
imitation, of the whole of Christ's own life: in order to share in His resurrection, it is necessary
to participate in his sufferings as well.3

This is the authors direct translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta
Aphrahats Demonstration 6:6, cited in Sebastian Brock, St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns On Paradise, St.
Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY, 1990, ISBN 0881410764, Page 33
2

Ibid. Page 32

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