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Ancient of Days
This term, Ancient of Days comes from Prophet Daniel 7:13-14 which says,
"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
There are, however, two questions when it comes to the use of this title: 1) How is it broadly used in reference to the divine nature, in the writings of the fathers and the hymns of the Church? And then 2) who is the Ancient of Days in the prophesy of Daniel? There is also the question of how the Ancient of Days is used iconographically.
Ancient of Days as applied to the Godhead
St. Dionysius the Areopagite
St. Dionysius includes the title "Ancient of Days" in his treatise "On the Divine Names", and, as such, applies the title to the Godhead:
- "Now, this, we have thoroughly demonstrated elsewhere, that always, all the God-becoming Names of God, are celebrated by the Oracles, not partitively, but as applied to the whole and entire and complete and full Godhead, and that all of them are referred impartitively, absolutely, unreservedly, entirely, to all the Entirety of the entirely complete and every Deity. And verily as we have mentioned in the Theological Outlines, if any one should say that this is not spoken concerning the whole Deity, he blasphemes, and dares, without right, to cleave asunder the super-unified Unity."[1]
Of the meaning of the title "Ancient of Days", St. Dionysius says:
- "...Almighty God is celebrated as "Ancient of days" because He is of all things both Age and Time,--and before Days, and before Age and Time. And yet we must affirm that He is Time and Day, and appointed Time, and Age, in a sense befitting God, as being throughout every movement unchangeable and unmoved, and in His ever-moving remaining in Himself, and as being Author of Age and Time and Days. Wherefore, in the sacred Divine manifestations of the mystic visions, He is represented as both old and young; the former indeed signifying the "Ancient" and being from the beginning, and the latter His never growing old; or both teaching that He advances through all things from beginning to end,--or as our Divine initiator says, "since each manifests the priority of God, the Elder having the first place in Time, but the Younger the priority in number; because the unit, and things near the unit, are nearer the beginning than numbers further advanced" and "Almighty God we ought to celebrate, both as eternity and time, as Author of every time and eternity, and "Ancient of days," as before time, and above time; and as changing appointed seasons and times; and again as being before ages, insofar as He is both before eternity and above eternity and His kingdom, a kingdom of all the Ages. Amen."[2]
In Orthodox Hymns
In Orthodox Christian hymns, the Ancient of Days is often identified with Jesus Christ.
- "Thou hast borne incomprehensibly the Ancient of Days as a new Child Who showed us new paths of virtue upon the earth..." Teotokion, 1st Ode of Friday Matins in the 5th tone.
- "Thou hast borne the Ancient of Days as a new Child unto us..." Theotokion, 8th Ode of Tues. Matins in the 6th tone.
- "Thou hast surpassed the laws of nature, O pure Daughter, in bringing a new Child upon the earth Who is both the Lawgiver and the Ancient of Days..." Theotokion, 8th Ode, Matins, 5th Sunday of Lent.
In the writings of the Fathers
- «The Ancient of Days became an infant». St. Athanasius of Alexandria. (Homily on the Birth of Christ).
- "But what can I say? For the wonder astounds me. The Ancient of Days Who sits upon a high and exalted throne is laid in a manger." St. John Chrysostom (Homily on the Saviour's Birth).
- "Let the earth bow down, let every tongue sing, chant, and glorify the Child God, forty-day old and pre-eternal, the small Child and Ancient of Days, the suckling Child and Creator of the ages." St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Homily on the Presentation of the Lord)
- "The just Symeon received into his aged arms the Ancient of Days under the form of infancy, and, therefore, blessed God, saying, 'Now lettest Thy servant depart in peace...'" St. Methodius of Olympus (P.G.18, 3658)
The Ancient of Days in Daniel 7
In Orthodox Hymns
The Octoechos, Tone 5, Midnight Office Canon to the Holy and Life Creating Trinity, Ode 4, first troparion:
- "Daniel was initiated into the mystery of the threefold splendour of the one Dominion when he beheld Christ the Judge going unto the Father while the Spirit revealed the vision." [3]
- "Μυείται τής μιάς Κυριότητος, τό τριφαές ο Δανιήλ, Χριστόν κριτήν θεασάμενος, πρός τόν Πατέρα ιόντα, καί Πνεύμα τό προφαίνον τήν όρασιν." [4]
In the writings of the Fathers
The Fathers, commenting on Daniel 7, consistently see the Ancient of Days as specifically referring to the Father; and the Son of Man, who comes before the Ancient of Days, as being the God the Son:
- "I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and was brought near before Him..."… He showed all power given by the Father to the Son, who is ordained Lord of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and Judge of all." [5]
In "The Ancient of Days: Patristic and Modern views of Daniel 7:9-14, by Wilfred Sophrony Royer, St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 45:2 (2001), p 139 we read:
- "One of the earliest patristic commentators on the Book of Daniel, Hippolytus (ca. 170 – 236) writes that the Ancient of Days "is for Daniel, nothing more than the Lord, God and Master of all, the Father of Christ himself."
This citation differs from the reading found in the Ante-Nicene Fathers Series, which reads:
- "And came to the Ancient of days." By the Ancient of days he means none other than the Lord and God and Ruler of all, and even of Christ Himself, who maketh the days old, and yet becometh not old Himself by times and days. "His dominion is an everlasting dominion." The Father, having put all things in subjection to His own Son, both things in heaven and things on earth, showed Him forth by all as the first-begotten of God, in order that, along with the Father, He might be approved the Son of God before angels, and be manifested as the Lord also of angels." (From: St. Hippolytus, Fragments of Commentaries, ANF vol. 5, p. 189)
There is a footnote in the article, which explains this discrepancy:
- "Hippolytus, Fragmenta in Danielem (PG 10:684); critical edition in G.N> Bonwetsch, Hippolytus Werke, vol. I: Die Kommentaire zu Daniel and zum Hohenliede (Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1897), 212. The text found in J.P. Migne's Patrologia Graeca is based on a pre-critical edition that mistakenly omitted the important word pater ("Father") from Hippolytus' statement."
In the "The Treatise Against the Heretic Novation" (Often Attributed to St. Cyprian of Carthage) (ca. 255 A.D.), we read:
- "Like things to these also says Daniel: "I beheld a throne placed, and the Ancient of days sat upon it, and His clothing was as it were snow, and the hairs of His head as it were white wool: His throne was a flame of fire, its wheels were burning fire. A river of fire came forth before Him: thousand thousands ministered to Him, and thousand thousands stood before Him: He sat to judgment, and the books were opened." And John still more plainly declares, both about the day of judgment and the consummation of the world, saying, "And when," said he, "He had opened the sixth seal, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as of blood; and the stars fell to the earth, even as a fig-tree, shaken by a mighty wind, casteth her unripe figs. And the heaven departed as a book when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved from their places. And the kings of the earth, and all the great men, and the tribunes, and the rich men, and the strong men, and every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the caverns of the mountains; saying to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the sight of the Father that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: because the day of destruction cometh; and who shall be able to stand?" [6]
The Apostolic Constitutions (ca. 350), states:
- "And Zechariah says: "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, just, and having salvation; meek, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." Him Daniel describes as "the Son of man coming to the Father," and receiving all judgment and honour from Him." [7]
Lactantius (c. 240 – c. 320 A.D.) writes:
- "But when he had made arrangements with His disciples for the preaching of the Gospel and His name, a cloud suddenly surrounded Him, and carried Him up into heaven, on the fortieth day after His passion, as Daniel had shown that it would be, saying: "And, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days." [8]
- "...and then at length, on the fortieth day, He returned to His Father, being carried up into a cloud. The prophet Daniel had long before shown this, saying: "I saw in the night vision, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days; and they who stood beside Him brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him a kingdom, and glory, and dominion, and all people, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him; and His power is an everlasting one, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Also David in the 109th Psalm: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." [9]
- "But the prophet comprises both His advents in few words. Behold, he says, one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He did not say, like the Son of God, but the Son of man, that he might show that He had to be clothed with flesh on the earth, that having assumed the form of a man and the condition of mortality, He might teach men righteousness; and when, having completed the commands of God, He had revealed the truth to the nations, He might also suffer death, that He might overcome and lay open the other world also, and thus at length rising again, He might proceed to His Father borne aloft on a cloud. For the prophet said in addition: And came even to the Ancient of days, and was presented to Him. He called the Most High God the Ancient of days, whose age and origin cannot be comprehended; for He alone was from generations, and He will be always to generations. But that Christ, after His passion and resurrection, was about to ascend to God the Father, David bore witness in these words in the 109th Psalm: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."[10]
Commenting on the clause in the Creed which states that Christ shall come again to judge the living and the dead, St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315 – 386 A.D.) writes:
- "The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, "on the clouds of heaven," [Daniel 7:9] drawn by a stream of fire [Daniel 7:10], which is to make trial of men. Then if any man's works are of gold, he shall be made brighter; if any man's course of life be like stubble, and unsubstantial, it shall be burnt up by the fire. And the Father "shall sit, having His garment white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool" [Daniel 7:9]. But this is spoken after the manner of men; wherefore? Because He is the King of those who have not been defiled with sins; for, He says, I will make your sins white as snow, and as wool, which is an emblem of forgiveness of sins, or of sinlessness itself. But the Lord who shall come from heaven on the clouds, is He who ascended on the clouds; for He Himself hath said, And they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. [11].
The Creed tells us that Christ ascended into the heavens and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come again in glory to Judge both the living and the dead, and the fathers connect this to the vision in Daniel 7. In his commentary on the Apostles Creed, Rufinus (c. 345 – 410 A.D.) writes:
- "Now let us shew briefly, if you will, that these things were foretold by the Prophets. You will yourself, since you are so minded, gather together more from the ample range of the Scriptures. The Prophet Malachi says, "Behold the Lord Almighty shall come, and who shall abide the day of His coming, or who shall abide the sight of Him? For He doth come as the fire of a furnace and as fuller's soap: and He shall sit, refining and purifying as it were gold and silver." But that thou mayest know more certainly Who this Lord is of Whom these things are said, hear what the Prophet Daniel also foretells: "I saw," saith he, "in the vision of the night, and, behold, One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and He came nigh to the Ancient of days, and was brought near before Him; and there was given to Him dominion, and honour, and a kingdom. And all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him. And His dominion is an eternal dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed." By these words we are taught not only of His coming and judgment, but of His dominion and kingdom, that His dominion is eternal, and His kingdom indestructible, without end; as it is said in the Creed, "and of His kingdom there shall be no end." So that one who says that Christ's kingdom shall one day have an end is very far from the faith."[12]
St. John Chrysostom (c. 347 – 407 A.D.) is a particularly significant Father in this discussion. One finds many liturgical and Patristic quotes in which the infant Christ is spoken of as the Ancient of Days (this issue will be discussed further when we get to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, and one also find St. John Chrysostom speaking in this manner:
- "What can I say? What can I utter? For the wonder stuns me: the Ancient of Days became a child. He who is seated upon a high throne and carried aloft is placed in a manger." (2nd Homily on the Nativity, EPE, vol. 35, p. 472. as quoted by George Gabriel).
It should be noted that this is not a commentary on the vision found in Daniel 7, and this is clearly demonstrated when one looks at the following citations in which St. John Chrysostom actually does discuss who the Ancient Days was in that passage. In his commentary on Daniel, St. John says, this prophet "was the first and only one [in the Old Testament] to see the Father and the Son, as if in a vision." [13]
Elsewhere St. John makes the following comments on the question of visions of the invisible God in the Old Testament:
- "No man hath seen God at any time." By what connection of thought does the Apostle come to say this? After showing the exceeding greatness of the gifts of Christ, and the infinite difference between them and those ministered by Moses, he would add the reasonable cause of the difference. Moses, as being a servant, was minister of lower things, but Christ being Lord and King, and the King's Son, brought to us things far greater, being ever with the Father, and beholding Him continually; wherefore He saith, "No man hath seen God at any time." What then shall we answer to the most mighty of voice, Esaias, when he says, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up" (Isa. vi. 1); and to John himself testifying of Him, that "he said these things when he had seen His glory"? (c. xii. 41.) What also to Ezekiel? for he too beheld Him sitting above the Cherubim. (Ezek. i. and x.) What to Daniel? for he too saith, "The Ancient of days did sit" (Dan. vii. 9.) What to Moses himself, saying, "Show me Thy Glory, that I may see Thee so as to know Thee." (Ex. xxxiii. 13, Ex. xxxiii 13 partly from LXX.) And Jacob took his name from this very thing, being called3 "Israel"; for Israel is "one that sees God." And others have seen him. How then saith John, "No man hath seen God at any time"? It is to declare, that all these were instances of (His) condescension, not the vision of the Essence itself unveiled. For had they seen the very Nature, they would not have beheld It under different forms, since that is simple, without form, or parts, or bounding lines. It sits not, nor stands, nor walks: these things belong all to bodies. But how He Is, He only knoweth. And this He hath declared by a certain prophet, saying, "I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the hands of the prophets" (Hos. xii. 10), that is, "I have condescended, I have not appeared as I really was." For since His Son was about to appear in very flesh, He prepared them from old time to behold the substance of God, as far as it was possible for them to see It; but what God really is, not only have not the prophets seen, but not even angels nor archangels. If you ask them, you shall not hear them answering anything concerning His Essence, but sending up, "Glory to God in the Highest, on earth peace, good will towards men." (Luke ii. 14.) If you desire to learn something from Cherubim or Seraphim, you shall hear the mystic song of His Holiness, and that "heaven and earth are full of His glory." (Isa. vi. 3.) If you enquire of the higher powers, you shall but find7 that their one work is the praise of God. "Praise ye Him," saith David, "all His hosts." (Ps. cxlviii. 2.) But the Son only Beholds Him, and the Holy Ghost" [14]
Note that the Ancient of Days vision is cited as an instance in Which God was seen, but not in his very essence. And if one doubts who the Ancient of Days is (or who was seen in all of the other Old Testament Theophanies mentioned), St. John identifies the "He" he has been talking about when he says that only the Son and the Holy Spirit behold Him as he is in His essence.
St. Augustine (354 –430 A.D.):
- "I do not know in what manner these men understand that the Ancient of Days appeared to Daniel, from whom the Son of man, which He deigned to be for our sakes, is understood to have received the kingdom; namely, from Him who says to Him in the Psalms, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee; ask of me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance; and who has "put all things under His feet." If, however, both the Father giving the kingdom, and the Son receiving it, appeared to Daniel in bodily form, how can those men say that the Father never appeared to the prophets, and, therefore, that He only ought to be understood to be invisible whom no man has seen, nor can see? For Daniel has told us thus: "I beheld," he says, "till the thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened," etc. And a little after, "I saw," he says, "in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Behold the Father giving, and the Son receiving, an eternal kingdom; and both are in the sight of him who prophesies, in a visible form. It is not, therefore, unsuitably believed that God the Father also was wont to appear in that manner to mortals." [15]
St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444):
- "Behold, again Emmanuel is manifestly and clearly seen ascending to God the Father in heaven… The Son of Man has appeared in the flesh and reached the Ancient of Days, that is, He has ascended to the throne of His eternal Father and has been given honor and worship…" [16]
- ""What is the meaning of 'he came unto the Ancient of Days' (Dan. 7:13)? Perchance it means coming to a place? But how could this be, it is stupid. The Divine would not be located in a place for it fills all things. What, then, is the meaning of 'he came unto the Ancient of Days?' Plainly, it means that the Son came to the glory of the Father. And where is this seen? He [Daniel] speaks again and says the following, 'To Him was given honor and the reign.' For He heard the Father saying, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool'."[17]
It is important to note that St. Cyril too sees this vision as referring to the session to the right hand of the Father that we affirm in the Creed – which is the same connection we have seen the other fathers make on this passage.
St. John of Damascus (d. 749):
- "And Daniel saw the likeness of a man, and as the Son of Man coming to the ancient of days. (Dan. 7.9, 13) No one saw the nature of God, but the type and image of what, was to be. For the Son and Word of the invisible God, was to become man in truth, that He might be united to our nature, and be seen upon earth. " [18]
Blessed Theophylact (c. 1050 – c. 1108 A.D.):
- Quoting Matthew 26:64: ""Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming upon the clouds of heaven." He is speaking to them from the prophecy of Daniel who said, "I saw one coming as the Son of Man upon the clouds." For since they thought that He was deluded, as He appeared to them in humble form, He said, "You shall see Me then coming in power and seated with the Father." "Power" here means that of the Father, and the Son of Man will be coming not from earth but from heaven." [19]
Commenting on the parallel in Mark 14:62: "He says, "as the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power of the Father." For power" here means the Father. At the second coming He will come in His Body, so as to be seen and recognized by those who crucified Him." [20]
Dionysius of Fourna (ca. 1734):
- "The painting of holy images we take over not only from the holy fathers, but also from the holy Apostles and even from the person of Christ our only God… We therefore depict Christ on an icon as a man, since he came into the world and had dealings with men, becoming in the end a man like us except in sin. Likewise we also depict the Timeless Father as an old man, as Daniel saw him clearly…." [21]
Bishop Theophilos of Campania (1749–1795):
- "Entering into the sanctuary, the Bishop kisses the holy icons, revealing that through [Christ] we come to be loved by the Father. With his entry into the Holy Bema, one Bishop fulfills the type of that which the great Paul says, that Christ did not enter into anything constructed by human hands, but into heaven itself, in order to appear before the Father for us. And this was like arriving at the Ancient of Days and standing before Him, according to Daniel the Prophet, and receiving the same authority and honor, and the Kingdom: namely, the glory which he had before He became a man as well, which He petitioned as man when He was still here, saying, "and now glorify me, Father, with the glory which I had beside yourself, which I had beside you before the world came to be" (The Explanation of the Divine Liturgy).
St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain (c. 1749 – 1809 A.D.):
- "We must note that since the present Council [the Seventh] in the letter it is sending to the church of the Alexandrians pronounces blissful, or blesses, those who know and admit and recognize, and consequently also iconize and honor the visions and theophaniae of the Prophets, just as God Himself formed these and impressed them upon their mind, but anathematizes on the contrary those who refuse to accept and admit the pictorial representations of such visions before the incarnation of the divine Logos (p. 905 of Vol. II of the Conciliar Records) it is to be inferred that even the beginningless Father ought to have His picture painted just as He appeared to Daniel the prophet as the Ancient of Days. Even though it be admitted as a fact that Pope Gregory in his letter to Leo the Isaurian (p. 712 of the second volume of the Concilliar Records) says that we do not blazon the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet it must be noted that he said this not simply, but in the sense that we do not paint Him in accordance with the divine nature; since it is impossible, he says, to blazon or paint God's nature. That is what the present council is doing, and the entire Catholic Church; and not that we do not paint Him as He appeared to the Prophet. For if we did not paint Him at all or portray Him in any manner at all to the eye, why should we be painting the Father as well as the Holy Spirit in the shape of Angels, of young men, just as they appeared to Abraham? Besides even if it be supposed that Gregory does say this, yet the opinion of a single Ecumenical Council attended and represented by a large number of individual men is to be preferred to the opinion of a single individual man. Then again, if it be considered that even the Holy Spirit ought to be painted in the shape of a dove, just as it actually appeared, we say that, in view of the fact that a certain Persian by the name of Xanaeus used to assert, among other things, that it is a matter of infantile knowledge (i.e., that it is a piece of infantile mentality or an act of childishness) for the Holy Spirit to be painted in a picture just as It appeared in the semblance of a dove, whereas, on the other hand, the holy and Ecumenical Seventh Council (Act 5, p. 819 of the second volume of the Conciliar Records) anathematized him along with other iconomachs from this it may be concluded as a logical inference that according to the Seventh Ecum. Council It ought to be painted or depicted in icons and other pictures in the shape of a dove, as it appeared… As for the fact that the Holy Spirit is to be painted in the shape of a dove, that is proven even by this, to wit, the fact that the Fathers of this Council admitted the doves hung over baptismal founts and sacrificial altars to be all right to serve as a type of the Holy Spirit (Act 5, p. 830). As for the assertion made in the Sacred Trumpet (in the Enconium of the Three Hierarchs) to the effect that the Father out not to be depicted in paintings and like, according to Acts 4, 5, and 6 of the 7th Ecum. Council, we have read these particular Acts searchingly, but have found nothing of the kind, except only the statement that the nature of the Holy Trinity cannot be exhibited pictorially because of its being shapeless and invisible"[22]
There is only one patristic source that references Daniel 7, and can possibly be understood as teaching that the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 is the Son, and that is that of St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339 – 397):
- "Let Him [Jesus] therefore stand in your midst, that the heavens, which declare the glory of God, may be opened to you, that you may do His will, and work His works. He who sees Jesus, to him are the heavens opened as they were opened to Stephen, when he said: "Behold I see the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Jesus was standing as his advocate, He was standing as though anxious, that He might help His athlete Stephen in his conflict, He was standing as though ready to crown His martyr. Let Him then be standing for you, that you may not be afraid of Him sitting; for when sitting He judges, as Daniel says: "The thrones were placed, and the books were opened, and the Ancient of Days did sit." But in the eighty-first [second] Psalm it is written: "God stood in the congregation of gods, and decideth among the gods." So then when He sits He judges, when He stands He decides, and He judges concerning the imperfect, but decides among the gods. Let Him stand for you as a defender, as a good shepherd, lest the fierce wolves assault you." [23]
It is not at all clear here that St. Ambrose was focusing on the distinct person of the Son in this passage, as opposed to speaking more generally of God. It is also clear that he is not focusing on Daniel 7, but rather alluding to it, and does so with reference to the final judgment… not to the incarnation. Even if this text is taken as proof that St. Ambrose believed the Son to be the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7, we still are left without a patristic commentary explaining what it would mean for the Son of Man (who is without question Jesus Christ) to come before Himself (as the Ancient of Days), and then to bestow upon Himself the Kingdom and dominion.
The Ancient of Days in Iconography
In Orthodox Iconography, we find the image of the Ancient of Days used in two ways:
- 1. Often, Jesus Christ is depicted as an old man, to show symbolically that he existed from all eternity, and sometimes as a young man to portray him as he was incarnate. This iconography emerged in the 6th century, mostly in the Eastern Empire.[24]
- 2. The Father is also often symbolically depicted as the Ancient of Days. We find this on many miraculous icons, including the Kursk Root Icon[25], the Reigning Icon of the Mother of God (Derzhavnaya icon)[26], and the Sitka Icon[27], just to name a few.
The Council of Moscow in 1667 declared that the Ancient of Days was the Son and not the Father, and that the depiction of the Fathers as the Ancient of Days was forbidden.[28] This is however the same council that anathamatized the Old Rite, and like many of its decrees, this decree has generally been ignored ever since, and this image has been a regular element in Orthodox Iconography, both within Russia, and elsewhere in the Church. The above cited references to the standard "Painters Manual" of Dionysius of Fourna, as well the comments of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain in "The Rudder" demonstrate that this was an accepted element of Orthodox Iconography. In the second half of the 20th Century, however, a movement to reject this element of Iconography arose from some of the representatives of the Neo-Patristic movement, and so this has become a matter of controversy in more recent times.
External Links
- ↑ On the Divine Names, chapter 2, section I
- ↑ On the Divine Names, chapter 10
- ↑ HTM Pentecostarion (which includes this text from the Octoechos), p. 270
- ↑ Ωδή δ' πλ. α', ΤΟ ΜΕΣΟΝΥΚΤΙΚΟΝ
- ↑ (From: St. Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, ANF vol. 5, p. 209)
- ↑ (ANF, Vol. V, p. 663)
- ↑ (The Apostolic Constitutions, Book 5, Chapter 20, ANF vol. 7, p. 448)
- ↑ (The Divine Institutes, Book 4, Chapter 21, ANF vol. 7, p. 123)
- ↑ (The Epitome of the Divine Institutes, Chapter 47, ANF vol. 7, p. 241)
- ↑ [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07.iii.ii.iv.xii.html (The Divine Institutes, Book 4, Chapter 12, ANF vol. 7, p. 111)
- ↑ (Catechetical Lectures, Lecture XV, NPNF2, Vol 7, page 110)
- ↑ (Commentary on the Apostles' Creed, NPNF2, Vol. 3, p. 556)
- ↑ In Danielem (PG 56:231-233)
- ↑ (15th Homily on the Gospel of John)
- ↑ (On the Trinity, Book II, Chapter 18, NPNF1, Vol. 3)
- ↑ (Letter 55, in The Fathers of the Church, vol. 77, Washington: CUA Press, 1987, pp. 28, 29)
- ↑ (St. Cyril of Alexandria, PG 70, 1461B. Translated by George Gabriel)
- ↑ (St. John of Damascus, On Div. Images, 3.26)
- ↑ (The Explanation of the Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, House Springs MO: Chrysostom Press, 1992, p. 236)
- ↑ (The Explanation of the Holy Gospel According to St. Mark, p. 128)
- ↑ (The Painters Manual. 87 (This is a standard Orthodox text on Iconography "compiled on Mt. Athos, Greece from 1730-1734 from ancient sources by Dionysius of Fourna))
- ↑ The Rudder, pp 420-421 trans. D. Cummings
- ↑ [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.v.xv.html (Letter 63:5-6, NPNF, vol. 10, p. 457)
- ↑ Cartlidge and Elliott, 69-72
- ↑ Orthodox Life Vol. 32, No 6 November - December, 1982
- ↑ The Miraculous "Reigning" Icon, 2/15 March, St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Washington, D.C.
- ↑ History of the Wonder-working Sitka icon of the Mother of God, Diocese of Alaska Website
- ↑ The Tome of the Great Council of Moscow (1666-1667 A.D.), Ch. 2, 43-45; tr. Hierodeacon Lev Puhalo, Canadian Orthodox Missionary Journal


text:
For those of you who don't know it:
Anyway, it may be corny, but the song got me through some shitty times. After I failed the first anatomy test in medical school (big time, too- I was the class low out of 120 people) I went to a used record store and bought the Muppet Movie soundtrack just to listen to that song. In a sappy sort of way it reminded me of why I was there in the first place, and I pulled my shit together, didn't drop out of school, and forged ahead.
Life goes on. Medicine is still fun. I mean, I like what I do. I have to earn a living, so I might as well be doing something I like.
And then, one day a few years back, I was having an ordinary day at the office. And toward the end of it was served with my first malpractice suit.
Nothing will kick the shit out of you faster than that moment. Yes medical students and residents, you WILL get sued. Get used to it. Someone on Sermo recently wrote "I have believed for a long time that unless you are practicing grossly negligent medicine your probability of getting sued is small." This is a remarkably ignorant statement.
Getting sued is like cancer- something that happens to other people. I think all doctors, on a superficial level, know it will likely happen. But you're still blindsided when it happens to you.
Obviously, I'm not going to go into legal details of the case, or who won, or even if it was dismissed. Because none of those are relevant to this post.
And I'm sure there are plenty of patients out there who can write how horrible Dr. Butcher maimed you. I'm sure some of you have legitimate claims. But I'm not writing about you.
Malpractice isn't black or white. It's really mostly shades of gray. I'm not biased against lawyers, in fact- my Dad is one, and sued several doctors for malpractice. But I'm not going to get involved in arguments about lawyers vs. doctors, either.
My point is just my own experience.
People portray doctors as being arrogant or uncaring. And I'm sure some are. But anytime a case goes bad, it's personally devastating for most of us. Even if you did nothing wrong. Sometimes shit happens despite your best efforts.
It hurts. A lot. You do your best day in and day out, and feel awful when things go wrong. And now someone is accusing you of having committed malpractice in your efforts. They tell you not to take it personally, but how can you not? Hell, they even name your spouse in the suit (really, they do).
You may be absolutely right. The literature may back you up completely. But that often doesn't matter.
You see, there is always another doctor out there willing to testify in court (for a nice fee, of course) that what you did wasn't appropriate. He's Dr. Jukebox. You put in money and he'll play whatever tune they want him to (it pays a lot better than seeing patients). The statements from these whores will make you feel like shit, and the legal language used makes you sound on a par with Dr. Mengele.
No amount of medical competence can prevent someone from filing a lawsuit against you. Even if you did nothing wrong, there's always a hungry lawyer willing to take the case. After all, it only costs about $100 to file a suit, the potential payoff is 1/3 of the winnings, and he knows a Dr. Jukebox who will gladly testify that you're incompetent.
Your medical school teachers won't tell you what it's like to be sued, but I will.
It's devastating.
It kicks the shit out of you. You lie awake at night wondering if you're going to lose everything you ever worked for. You cry. You think about suicide, but have to go on for your family. With this sword of Damocles hanging over your head, you still have to go to work every day, and do your best for the patients who still depend on you. Some days it's pretty damn hard NOT to start drinking.
And, deep down, you wonder: Am I really incompetent? You question your own judgment. Suddenly every headache patient needs a brain MRI. Every person you see is a time bomb. You start to view them as the enemy.
People use the phrase "defensive medicine" in a derogatory fashion, meaning unnecessary testing doctors order to prevent themselves from being sued. But after it's happened to you, hell, you don't give a fuck how much money the "unnecessary" tests cost. You'll order anything to cover your ass.
And no matter what you did, Dr. Jukebox will testify that it wasn't the right thing. And no amount of literature in your favor will change his "expert" (i.e. well-paid) opinion. The people on the jury deciding your fate aren't medical people.
Even if you win, it still doesn't take away the living hell you and your family are put through for the 3-5 years (yes, years) it takes the case to play out. The sleepless nights, the gray hairs, the stress eating that shortens your time on Earth, and the spouse and kids who worry about you.
And, regardless of the case's outcome, it will forever destroy your Rainbow Connection, and the beliefs that once drove you to dream of being a doctor.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.
And I'm Audie Cornish. In Pakistan, deadly attacks by the Taliban and similar groups are so common these days the rest of the world barely notices. But the war between these militants and Pakistan's government has cost tens of thousands of lives and caused terrible economic damage. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected on a promise of trying to end the seven-year conflict by negotiating peace with the Pakistani Taliban. And those talk s have now begun.
And for more about them we're joined by NPR's correspondent in Islamabad, Philip Reeves. Philip, to start, who exactly is negotiating with whom?
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: Well, these are not direct talks between the Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistani government. Both sides have nominated a small team of people to act as intermediaries. The members of these teams don't actually belong to the Taliban or to the government, except for one guy who's an advisor to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The team nominated by the Taliban compromises two Islamic clerics and a senior figure from an Islamic religious party. And the other team includes a respected journalist known to be an expert on the tribal areas and the former intelligence agents. Now this arrangement has led both sides to question whether the other really has a mandate.
CORNISH: So how far along are they in these talks?
REEVES: Well, there's in a very preliminary stage and they got off to a faltering start. Two of the Taliban's nominees declined to take part. They kicked off two days late -- two days later than planned at any rate because of a disagreement. But then the two teams did sit down for three hours or so and they made some headway it seems, or be it limited. They emerged saying that, you know, their discussions had been cordial.
And the government's team said it laid down some conditions which include an end to all hostilities while these talks are taking place, holding the talks -- this is interesting -- within the framework of Pakistan's constitution. That's quite a big deal as militants don't accept the constitution. And also limiting the scope of these talks just to the conflict areas rather than the entire country, but that's the government's position -- its initial position.
CORNISH: So what exactly does the Taliban want to get out of this?
REEVES: Well, ultimately of course is the imposition of their fundamentalist variant of Sharia Law right across Pakistan. The government won't agree to that ever. But the militants slightly do have their eye on some more immediate goals, such as the release of hundreds of Taliban prisoners being held by the authorities. The withdrawal, for example, of Pakistani troops from areas in the mountains close to Afghanistan which the militias consider their turf.
And we can expect the government, among other things, to look for a total end to violence and the release of hostages perhaps that are held by the militants, including the son of a former prime minister.
CORNISH: Now what happens if these talks fail?
REEVES: Well, for a long time now people here have been, you know, predicting that the government will launch a big military offensive to try to crush the militants in North Waziristan, which is where they have that principle haven. That would involve conducting operations using jets and gunship helicopters and tanks. And they've done this kind of thing before and it's always exacted a heavy toll on the people who are caught up in the fighting.
And so some here believe that the government's actually expecting these talks to fail but is using them to buy time to try to consolidate public support for such military measures. There's generally a lot of skepticism here. Others argue that the Taliban aren't serious either. They're using these talks as a ploy to get publicity and to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the public.
CORNISH: That's NPR's Philip Reeves in Islamabad. Philip, thank you.
REEVES: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.


text:
Translating Gramps
Tips for translators of the Gramps program.
The page coding for translation may also be of interest to translators.
Please read A Translators Guide to Git
- 1 Gettext file format
- 2 Tips for translators
- 3 Hard to translate phrases
- 4 Advanced issues
- 5 Translating man pages
- 6 Translating wiki manual
- 7 Language specific pages
- 8 Translating addon plugins
Gettext file format
msginit is a GNU utility, called on /po directory, which generates a header for gettext file template : gramps.pot.
"Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n" "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2004-12-30 10:52-0500\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <[email protected]>\n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" "Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=(n != 1);\n"
- Project-Id-Version : this is the name and version of the package. Fill it in if it has not already been filled in by xgettext.
- Report-Msgid-Bugs-To : this has already been filled in by xgettext. It contains an email address or URL where you can report bugs in the untranslated strings:
- Strings which are not entire sentences, see the maintainer guidelines in Preparing Strings.
- Strings which use unclear terms or require additional context to be understood.
- Strings which make invalid assumptions about notation of date, time or money.
- Pluralisation problems.
- Incorrect English spelling.
- Incorrect formatting.
- POT-Creation-Date : this has already been filled in by xgettext.
- PO-Revision-Date : You don't need to fill this in. It will be filled by the PO file editor when you save the file.
- Last-Translator : fill in your name and email address (without double quotes).
- Language-Team : fill in the English name of the language, and the email address or homepage URL of the language team you are part of. Before starting a translation, it is a good idea to get in touch with your translation team, not only to make sure you don't do duplicated work, but also to coordinate difficult linguistic issues. In the Free Translation Project, each translation team has its own mailing list. The up-to-date list of teams can be found at the Free Translation Project's homepage, in the "Teams" area.
msgid / msgstr / comment / fuzzy
#: gramps.py:10 #, fuzzy msgid "File not found" msgstr ""
- text after # provides a comment.
- The file reference and the line number after #:
- A comment on code or the main string (msgid) after #.
- A comment on your translation (msgstr) after #
This will help translator but is optional for having a translation.
- #, fuzzy could be added because string is not up-to-date. It means that there was a change somewhere (a string has been added, removed or modified) and xgettext did a guess on what the translation should be. This guess is most likely not entirely correct, but it is often very close.
fuzzy strings are ignored, english string (msgid) will be used ! Need to correct/validate entry on your translation editor.
- msgid is the string, present on gramps' code
- msgstr is your translation string
Tips for translators
Getting started
- Always save your translations in UTF-8 encoding without BOM (take care with NotePad)
- Don't overwrite the English strings, your translation should be below the original string
- Take heed on special characters. You must have the same number of and types as the original string.
- Verify spelling and grammar on your translation.
- Don't translate "too freely". Your translation should be as close match to the original as possible
- Be consistent with your translations. If you decide on a specific word/phrase for something, stick to that throughout the translation.
- If possible, try the translation before sending
Translating Gramps into a new language means translating English strings used in the Gramps interface. To put it shortly, this amounts to
- obtaining the gramps.pot file with the strings to be translated,
- translating the strings in the template, and
- getting the translated file uploaded into the Gramps Git repository.
Another avenue of translation is translating the documentation. This is a different and lengthy process and it is described in our Translating the Gramps User manual page. Here we will concentrate on the interface translation only.
Obtaining gramps.pot
- Download
from Gramps Git repository, see the introduction to Git.
You can also download files by browsing via GitHub web interface.
- Look for
in the po directory.
Translating messages
- Copy
to the file namedlang.po
, according to the language you are translating into (fr.po
for French,ru.po
for Russian, etc.) - Use GTtranslator (GNOME, windows), KBabel (KDE), Lokalize (KDE, windows), Emacs po-mode, Virtaal (GNU/Linux, Mac, windows), poedit (GNU/Linux, OSX, windows), or any similar tool designed for translating
files. If you do not like any of these tools, you can use any text editor to translate messages. If using vim, properly setting the "langmap" option will significantly speed up your work. - Even though Gramps uses UNICODE (UTF-8) for its character set, you may use your native character set for your translation. Just make sure you specify the character set you are using in the
line in the.po
file. Gramps will handle the conversion to UNICODE. - If there are non ASCII characters in the original English string, try to preserve them by copying them, if applicable.
As an extension to standard gettext, strings in Gramps can have a context prefix. This prefix should not be translated, and just be deleted in the translation. More info and an example further down.
As a special context, you will see the manual context, e.g., :
these strings should only be translated if a wiki user manual is available in your language, e.g., in Dutch :
The string refers to a section, e.g., Editing_Dates in Dutch becomes Datums_aanpassen.
Testing your .po
Environment change For Gramps 4.0, 52 and master, see new environment. |
In the po
directory run the command:
If there are errors in your po file, this will fail and give you an error message. You should correct these errors. If you have trouble understanding the error, try to run the next test, which might give a more verbose output.
In the po
directory run the command:
./check_po --skip-fuzzy lang.po
python check_po --skip-fuzzy lang.po > lang
where lang is your language code. This will give you errors in your translation, information on badly translated phrases, ... the output could resemble something like this..
File: nl.po Template total: 3816 PO total: 3671 Fuzzy: 125 Untranslated: 12 %s mismatches: 0 %d mismatches: 2 %() name mismatches:9 %() missing s/d: 0 Runaway context: 0 XML special chars: 0 Last character: 15 Shortcut in msgstr: 16 PO Coverage: 99.67% Template Coverage: 95.89% Localized at: 97% (previous gramps.pot)
If you get previous gramps.pot, then you are not using the last gramps.pot, see update your translation. fuzzy and untranslated strings will be ignored, Gramps will use main strings in english.
-------- %d mismatches --------------
You can see that there are 3816 strings to be translated and the coverage is around 96 %. There are still 12 untranslated strings and some 120 fuzzies. The last one can be ok, but should be checked. Additional information shows e.g., that in 15 strings there is a mismatch with the 'last character':
-------- last character not identical --------- msg nr: 98, lineno: 602 msgid "Could not make database directory: " msgstr "Kon geen gegevensbestandsmap aanmaken"
This is very valuable information, because you can easily see what the problem is, even if you do not understand the language! Clearly the last characters must be ": "
In the po
directory run the command:
msgfmt --statistics lang.po
msgfmt.exe --statistics lang.po
where lang is your language code. This should not throw an error.
Basically this gives the same info in a condensed format: 3533 translated messages, 125 fuzzy translations, 12 untranslated messages.
GNU `gettext' utilities
GNU `gettext' utilities provides a few stand-alone programs to massage in various ways the sets of translatable strings, or already translated strings:
msgattrib - attribute matching and manipulation on message catalog msgcat - combines several message catalogs msgcmp - compare message catalog and template msgcomm - match two message catalogs msgconv - character set conversion for message catalog msgen - create English message catalog msgexec - process translations of message catalog msgfilter - edit translations of message catalog msgfmt - compile message catalog to binary format (.po->.mo) msggrep - pattern matching on message catalog msginit - initialize a message catalog msgmerge - merge message catalog and template msgunfmt - uncompile message catalog from binary format msguniq - unify duplicate translations in message catalog
For checking syntax (header, format, domain) :
msgfmt -c nl.po
msgfmt.exe -c nl.po
For checking keyboard accelerators (underscore) :
msgfmt --check-accelerators=_ nl.po
msgfmt.exe --check-accelerators=_ nl.po
Gettext lint
Gettext lint is a collection of tools for checking the validity, consistency and spelling of PO. Some python scripts do not work anymore with last expat version.
Pology (KDE)
Pology is a Python library and collection of command-line tools for in-depth processing of PO files, the translation file format of the GNU Gettext software translation system. Pology functionality ranges from precision operations on individual PO messages, to cross-file operations on large collections of PO files. Pology is used by the KDE translation teams for checking syntax.
Translate Toolkit
Translate Toolkit is a collection of useful tools for localisation. It can help to improve the quality of your localisation, including tools to help check, validate, merge and extract messages from your localizations.
Save as .mo file
If possible and when you are finished translating, go to File -> Save as... to generate a .mo file for testing syntax.
- Under poedit, you can set to always compile a .mo file when saving changes by clicking File -> Preferences and on the Editor tab check the Automatically compile .mo file on save box. A dialog will warn you if there is a syntax error on your .po file.
- Lokalize, GTranslator also provide a syntax check when saving. If an error occured we can navigate to messages which contain errors.
Please, enable this feature to avoid errors on compilation process.
Formatting (compiling) .po
- Currently, formatting (msgfmt) is performed during build time, so you should not have to worry about it. The translated
file is the product of your work. However, try to check syntax before any commit.
Send your contribution
Check it into Git if you obtained the permission to do so.
The following configuration option simplifies pushing a branch back to the server:
$ git config --global push.default upstream
Otherwise you can fork gramps repository with a Github account and pull a merge request.
See: https://github.com/gramps-project/gramps
Updating your translation
If you have submitted a translation, it may well be that after some weeks/months, new strings are added to Gramps, implying you need to update your translation file.
Assuming you have obtained originally the Gramps source tree as explained in Brief introduction to Git. Now:
- Update your Gramps tree from Git. This can be done by executing the command
git pull --rebase
from the root Gramps directory. This will download an updatedgramps.pot
file. - Use your outdated translation to translate the strings that did not change:
msgmerge lang.po gramps.pot -o newlang.po
ormsgmerge --no-wrap lang.po gramps.pot -o newlang.po
is your language code. The--no-wrap
option will prevent changes due to automatic word wrapping, use it if your previous po file was constructed like that. The--no-wrap
options allows for more readable Git diffs. - Check fuzzy messages and translate all untranslated messages in
. When you are sure everything is right, renamenewlang.po
and check it into Git as you did with the original file. - If command
is not available on your system, you have to install thegettext
package. For windows users. - To back-port translations, e.g., to merge master branch translations onto an earlier branch, do this on the earlier branch (assuming gramps.pot is updated):
msgmerge -C lang.po master-lang.po gramps.pot -o newlang.po
. Then resolve the fuzzies as usual.
There is also the make target that does the following:
- Create new
template from the source code files
cd po ./genpot.sh or python update_po.py -p see differences between tools.
- Updates each
file in the source tree
It may be an overkill for you, but if you feel like using it, you can run:
cd po python update_po -m all
in the po
directory. This assumes that you have already successfully configured the source. Note, this command ignores --no-wrap
option, so not practical for Git diffs.
Environment change For Gramps 4.0, 52 and master, see new environment. |
Testing your update
You can test your update easily with the above mentioned check_po file. If you downloaded this file, just do:
python check_po --skip-fuzzy newlang.po
If everything is ok, the output will be something like this:
File: newlang.po Template total: 3075 PO total: 3075 Fuzzy: 0 Untranslated: 0 %s mismatches: 0 %d mismatches: 0 %() name mismatches:0 %() missing s/d: 0 Runaway context: 0 XML special chars: 0 Last character: 0 Shortcut in msgstr: 0 PO Coverage: 100.00% Template Coverage: 100.00%
Installing your translation
Environment change For Gramps 4.0, 52 and master, see new environment. |
You want to use the new translation immediately, and systemwide? You can by installing just the contents of the po directory, but you will need to build the source first, so:
./autogen.sh make cd po make --prefix=/usr install #as root !
This should install your translations to /usr/share/locale/{lang}/LC_MESSAGES/gramps.mo, with {lang} being your language. You could of course copy your files manually to that dir with the gramps.mo name.
Make sure you only install from within the po directory, or you will install the development version of Gramps, which is not supported and for testing only!
Running the master branch with your translation
The i18n data are often under ../share/locale according to the default prefix.
So you can use:
python setup.py build python setup.py install #as root !
This will install the .mo files under ../share/locale/xx/LC_MESSAGES, according to the default prefix set.
python setup.py build python setup.py install --root=/home/joe/gramps --prefix="/home/joe/gramps4" --enable-packager-mode #as simple user !
This will install Gramps and translations under your /home/... directory.
$GRAMPSI18N (for your locale)
Actually you don't even need to install the files in order to test them. This is useful because you can develop Gramps without needing superuser privileges. Bear in mind the Gramps i18n process goes something like this when you use the master branch:
- when you type
python build
in the source tree root (/home/user/Gramps e.g.) all the po/*.po files are compiled into build/mo/{lang}/*.mo files. - when you type
python install
inside the po directory, these .mo files are copied to {prefix}/share/locale/{lang}/LC_MESSAGES as gramps.mo files.
But you can change the place where Gramps looks for these files by altering the environment variable $GRAMPSI18N. So you could also for instance do something like this and avoid the python setup install
step: (if you are using csh or tcsh the syntax would be a little different)
[user@localhost /home/user/Gramps]$ mkdir -p po/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES [user@localhost /home/user/Gramps]$ cp po/en_GB.gmo po/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES/gramps.mo [user@localhost /home/user/Gramps]$ cd gramps [user@localhost /home/user/Gramps/src]$ GRAMPSI18N=$PWD/../po LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 python gramps.py
On a gramps launcher (copy from {prefix}/bin/gramps
) you can set :
export GRAMPSDIR=/... export GRAMPSI18N=/...
Where the environment variable $GRAMPSDIR is the path to your gramps directory.
Where the environment variable $GRAMPSI18N is the path to your gramps locale directory.
Just testing your translation
If you don't want to compile all translations, you may save your .po file as .mo file, or use msgfmt utility on /po directory:
msgfmt -o gramps.mo your_lang.po
msgfmt.exe -o gramps.mo your_lang.po
this will create a gramps.mo file, a compiled version of your .po file. Put it on your translation path (see above).
Hard to translate phrases
Some things are just hard to translate. Below are a few of the more difficult items, along with some suggestions on how to handle them.
Gramps terminology
There are terms with special significance in computer software. The terms are often creatively awkward constructs in English... just so the term is more unique and stands out in a sentence. Translating the words literally or substituting a translation of the underlying concept may not be workable. It may be necessary to become creative and substitute a similarly awkward (and short!) label in your target language.
The labels of some Gramps core concepts or interface elements hold that higher level of significance. These must be translated consistently between the User Interface and the Wiki. (Inconsistent translations will confuse the users.)
Example: The Active Person in Gramps is not a person with a healthy amount of vigorous physical exercise. Instead, it is the record from the People Category that is the focal center of reference for display & change. Neither would translate into a memorable label.
The Gramps Glossary is a good resource for understanding the context and significance of such terms. If you translate the Glossary and then alphabetize the translated terms, also leave an ID SPAN with the untranslated English term. This allows hotlinks from untranslated pages to work in unison with translated hotlinks.
If it becomes necessary to be creative translating a term, please add a language specific reference page for your language. This helps other Translators share your style of creativity.
LDS terminology
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons) maintains a lot of genealogy data. In the United States, they are probably the non-government organization with the most detailed records available. Genealogical research is important to the Mormon church. They are responsible for defining the GEDCOM format.
The LDS Church has some specific terminology that can present difficulty in translating. There are two approaches to handling the information.
- If the LDS Church has a presence in your country, contact the LDS Temple in your area and ask them what the correct terminology is in your native language
- If the LDS Church does not have a presence in your country, it would probably be safe to simply not translate the phrases.
These terms include:
- LDS Ordinance names:
- Sealed to Parents
- Sealed to Spouse
- LDS Baptism
- Endowment
- LDS Status names for Ordinances:
- Child
- Cleared
- Completed
- Infant
- Pre-1970
- Qualified
- Stillborn
- Submitted
- Uncleared
- BIC (Born In the Covenant)
- DNS (Do Not Submit)
- Canceled
- DNS/CAN (Do Not Submit/Previous sealing cancelled)
Advanced issues
Format line parameters
Format line parameters such as %s and %d should not be translated. The order of these parameters should not be changed. Examples:
Long widowhood: %s was a widow %d years.
Translation (using Backward English as an example :-):
Gnol doohwodiw: %s saw a wodiw %d sraey.
Named format line parameters such as %(something)s and %(something)d also should not be translated. Feel free to change the order of named parameters to correctly phrase the message in your language. Also, use hints provided by the names. Examples:
Baptized before birth: %(male_name)s born %(byear)d, baptized %(bapyear)d.
Translation into Backward English:
Dezitpab erofeb htrib: %(byear)d nrob %(male_name)s, dezitpab %(bapyear)d.
In the above example, the verb "born" should be in masculine form (if verbs in your language have gender, that is), since the person born is apparently a male.
Sometimes those %(something)s are positioned in a text without spaces, like in the example below:
This person was baptised%(endnotes)s.
Translation into Backward English:
Siht nosrep saw desitpab%(endnotes)s.
Translation context
In some cases, two different concepts can be expressed by the same word in English and yet require different translations. For example, the title of the book and the nobility title of the person are expressed by the same Title word. However, in other languages different words are needed to describe the book title and the person's title.
To mitigate such problems, a context can be added to the translation string. A context-enabled string has a vertical line separating the context from the string:
book|Title person|Title
The correct translation should not include either the context or the separator. The context is to give the translator idea of what the string means. However, both the context and the separator must not be in the translated string, so in backward english the above is translated into
Eltitkoob Eltitnosrep
If you are a Gramps translator and need a developer to help you add a context to the Gramps source files, please ask for it on the gramps-devel list.
Translation context in GUI labels
If there is a string in the Glade GUI (i.e., in a .glade source file) that requires the translation context, it's impossible to have it translated statically. In this case, one needs to add runtime code to the corresponding dialog initialization to override the label string with the text obtained with an sgettext call. I.e.,
- Verify the relevant widget has a meaningful id in the .glade file (as opposed to a silly autogenerated one). Modify the id if needed and make sure no existing code used the old widget id! e.g., change
<object class="GtkLabel" id="label3">
- into
<object class="GtkLabel" id="place_name_label">
- Add a context to the translatable string in the .glade file. This way, when you look at the POT file or a PO file derived from it, you see a reference to this place, along with the actual place in the .py file(s) which also has the same context string. e.g., change
<property name="label" translatable="yes">Name:</property>
- into
<property name="label" translatable="yes">place|Name:</property>
- In the corresponding dialog initialization, add code to set the string to the correct translation during runtime, e.g.,:
- globally in the file:
PLACE_NAME = _('place|Name:')
- in the MergePlace.__init__ method:
for widget_name in ('name_btn1', 'name_btn2'): self.get_widget(widget_name).set_label(PLACE_NAME)
- The exact method to call on the Gtk control will be different based on the actual GUI element affected. e.g., a GtkButton has a set_label method, whereas a GtkLabel has a set_text.
- Regenerate the POT, translate the new PO strings, and test your work.
Plural forms
There was requests for plural forms support.
First, translators need to check if information is available on .po header :"Plural-Forms:\n". (See samples)
- msgid contains the singular string in english
- msgid_plural contains the plural string in english
- msgstr[0] contains the singular translated version (for 1 and sometimes 0, set on header)
- msgstr[1] contains the plural version (for 1 + 1 = 2 )
- msgstr[2] contains the plural form (for 2 + 1 = 3)
- For language with one form (singular=plural, Plural-Forms: nplurals=1; plural=0), like Chinese, Hungarian or Turkish:
msgid "%d second" msgid_plural "%d seconds" msgstr [0] "%d 秒"
- For language with one plural form (Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=n != 1;), like english:
msgid "%d hour" msgid_plural "%d hours" msgstr [0] "%d hour" msgstr [1] "%d hours"
- For language with more plural forms (like Czech):
msgid "%d second" msgid_plural "%d seconds" msgstr [0] "%d sekunda" msgstr [1] "%d sekundy" msgstr [2] "%d sekund"
As a final check, please do ensure that the following command does not throw any errors:
msgfmt -c filename.po
Translating mnemonics keys(Keyboard Shortcut keys)
Mnemonics are accelerator keys (also known as Keyboard Shortcut keys) you find in labels, accessible by pressing the ALT key together with the mnemonic. You see then in the translated text with a low line, e.g., '_Help' is shown as 'Help' with an underline under the H, and can be put to focus/selected by pressing ALT+h.
It is nice if mnemonics on a screen are unique, but it is not required. If you use twice the same mnemonic, the user must press repeatedly the accelerator to switch between the different entries. However, note the following rule:
- "If duplication of access keys in a window is unavoidable, you should still refrain from duplicating the access keys for any of these buttons that appear in the same window: OK, Cancel, Close, Apply or Help."
So you should check in your language what the mnemonic key is for those buttons, and avoid using the same in translated text
Capital letters are no problem though, underlining e.g., G will work just fine as the letter does not write over the line.
Translating relationships
Translating relationships is not done within the .po
files, except for occasional father
and mother
strings here and there in the interfaces and reports. Complete translation of all relationships for the language/culture is done inside a relationship calculator plugin.
In short, the need for a plugin comes from the impossibility to translate "first cousin twice removed" in languages such as, e.g., German or Russian. See the Relationship Calculator page for details on why and how to create such a plugin.
Translating dates
Handling date translation is not entirely done within the .po
files. Complete handling of date translation for each language/culture is done inside a dedicated date handler module.
The need for a separate module comes from the requirements to handle culture-specific parsing and displaying of dates. For example, the month and day order is different between most European countries and the US. Also, each language has its own set of acceptable modifier and qualifiers for the date: things like "from X to Y" or "between X and Y" may have different word order. Same with "around", "calculated", "estimated". Add to this calendar names, and you have a compelling need for a dedicated module. See the Date Handler page for details on why and how to create such a module.
Translating man pages
Environment change For gramps 4.0, 52 and master, see new environment. |
You can also translated the man pages into your own language.
For the development version (master branch) you can find the required starting files under the directory data/man. You will find the files
- Makefile.am
- gramps.1.in
First off all you must make a directory for your language under data/man.
cd data/man
and do
mkdir xx
where xx is your languagecode (fr for French, sv for Swedish, etc.) You should use Git. See the introduction to Git.
Next step is to copy the Makefile.am and gramps.1.in from data/man to your new directory. Translate all relevant strings in the data/man/xx/gramps.1.in file. Change the file data/man/xx/Makefile.am:
- add the line mandir = @mandir@/xx
- change the line && CONFIG_FILES=data/man/xx/$@ $(SHELL)
Next step: change the file data/man/Makefile:
- add xx to the line SUBDIRS = fr nl sv
The final step is to alter the file Configure.in :
- add data/man/xx/Makefile to the line AC_CONFIG_FILES([
All changes must be committed and pushed to the server:
git commit -am "Add man page for xx" git push
You should see no errors when you run the
Install This last step must be done only in the data/man/xx directory. If not, your normal gramps installation will be overwritten. And this step must be done as superuser(su) |
sudo make install
This will put the gramps.1.gz file into /usr/local/share/man/xx/man1 directory. You could also use a prefix. Then you do:
sudo make --prefix=/usr/share install
To see the result of your work, do:
man -L xx gramps
Translating wiki manual
To enable the weblink for help when pressing the F1 button in the Gramps program, you need to have or edit the MANUALS
variable to contain your language code locale in the:
display.py file for Gramp 4.x or greater
GrampsDisplay.py file for Gramps 3.x or earlier
On approximately line 41 of that file, you may see:
#list of manuals on wiki, map locale code to wiki extension, add language codes #completely, or first part, so pt_BR if Brazilian portugeze wiki manual, and #nl for Dutch (nl_BE, nl_NL language code) MANUALS = { 'nl' : '/nl', }
These entries map a language code to the extension used on the wiki, so to add french, change this too:
MANUALS = { 'nl' : '/nl', 'fr': '/fr', }
- Every '
' entry in thegramp.pot
file refers to a section in the manual, so make sure to use good section headings so this does not change too much over time.
Note that reports/tools link to a section in the page with the same name as the report name in Gramps.
- You should be able to edit directly on wiki or using tools like txt2po or po4a. Also previous gettext file for the manual and Translation Memory may help you to upgrade deprecated/old gettext files. e.g., store existing entries from /usr/share/locale.
Language specific pages
Check out the pages which cover some aspects of translation into a specific language, such as the glossary.


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