Saturday 11 August 2012

Bible: 1 Corinthians 13. On love...


1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.



Never again such beautiful words have been written on love. In Greek, these verses spoken, are sweet to the tongue, flow like honey. They melt in our soul and calm the heart, warming the cold, vanishing loneliness, inspiring the mind. 


Krzysztof Kieslowski, in his movie "Three Colors: Blue (1993)" ,


used the prototype Greek translation of these Bible verses in the "symphony for the unification of Europe". The Greek translation is the following:


Εάν ταις γλώσσαις των ανθρώπων λαλώ και των αγγέλων, 
αγάπην δε μη έχω, γέγονα χαλκός ηχών ή κύμβαλον 
αλαλάζον.
και εάν έχω προφητείαν και ειδώ τα μυστήρια 
πάντα και πάσαν την γνώσιν, και εάν έχω πάσαν την πίστιν, 
ώστε όρη μεθιστάνειν, αγάπην δε μη έχω, ουδέν ειμι.
και εάν ψωμίσω πάντα τα υπάρχοντά μου, και εάν παραδώ το σώμα 
μου ίνα καυθήσομαι, αγάπην δε μη έχω, ουδέν ωφελούμαι.

 Η αγάπη μακροθυμεί, χρηστεύεται, η αγάπη ου ζηλοί, η αγάπη 
ου περπερεύεται, ου φυσιούται, ουκ ασχημονεί, ου ζητεί τα 
εαυτής, ου παροξύνεται, ου λογίζεται το κακόν, ου χαίρει επί 
τη αδικία, συγχαίρει δε τη αληθεία. πάντα στέγει, πάντα 
πιστεύει, πάντα ελπίζει, πάντα υπομένει. η αγάπη ουδέποτε 
εκπίπτει. είτε δε προφητείαι, καταργηθήσονται. 

είτε γλώσσαι παύσονται. είτε γνώσις καταργηθήσεται. εκ μέρους δε 
γινώσκομεν και εκ μέρους προφητεύομεν. όταν δε έλθη το 
τέλειον, τότε το εκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται. ότε ήμην νήπιος, 
ως νήπιος ελάλουν, ως νήπιος εφρόνουν, ως νήπιος 
ελογιζόμην. ότε δε γέγονα ανήρ, κατήργηκα τα του νηπίου. 
βλέπομεν γαρ άρτι δι΄εσόπτρου εν αινίγματι, τότε δε 
πρόσωπον προς πρόσωπον. άρτι γινώσκω εκ μέρους, τότε δε 
επιγνώσομαι καθώς και επεγνώσθην.
νυνί δε μένει πίστις, 
ελπίς, αγάπη, τα τρία ταύτα. μείζων δε τούτων η αγάπη.


Zbigniew Preisner, the composer of the original music, created indeed, a haunting soundtrack, that compliments this exceptional film. 
"Three Colors: Blue" is concentrated on a woman's mourning and her grief process. Words cannot express the depth and intensity of this film, as the makers explore the complexity of Julie's emotions towards her only daughter's loss and her later husbands infidelity. Key element in Blue, is a blue sphere, the only remaining link between Julie and her child and a symphony, her husband's work that is left unfinished with his death.
I will say no more, because in the end, Blue is a "heavy" film that has to be seen with the heart, to be experienced and only once you immense yourself in Julie's world you can acknowledge the directors perspective. 
Below is the fore mentioned "song for the unification of Europe", a title that probably does no right to this beautiful piece.