In Christian theology, the term metanoia (from the Greek μετάνοια, metanoia, changing one's mind) is often translated as "conversion" or "repentance", though most scholars agree that this second translation does a disservice to the original Greek meaning of metanoia.
In Christianity, especially in Orthodox Christianity, the Greek philosophical concept of metanoia has become linked with Christian prayer, in which a prostration is called a metanoia, with "the spiritual condition of one's soul being expressed through the physical movement of falling facedown before the Lord" as seen in the biblical passages of Matthew 2:11, Luke 5:12, and Luke 17:15–16. In this context, the term suggests repudiation, change of mind, repentance, and atonement.
The most direct translation of the term "metanoia" from the Greek to English is "think again".
Contents
Christianity
New Testament
All three synoptic gospels refer to "metanoia", as does the Acts of the Apostles, and there are a number of occasions in the New Testament letters where the word is used. Modern English Bible translations use the word "repentance" for both the Greek words metanoia and metamelomai. The former term is so translated almost ten times as often as the latter. The noun metanoia/μετάνοια, is translated "repentance", and its cognate verb metanoeō/μετανοέω is translated "repent" in twenty two instances in the King James Version of the New Testament.
Abid Rogers Bhatti in his book A Textbook of Soteriology writes about the meaning of metanoia/μετάνοια. In the Bible translations into Hindi and Urdu, the word for "repentance" is toba. Toba means regret, grief, and sorrow over sinful deeds that lead to a change of mind and life. Abid agrees with Tertullian in preferring "conversion" rather than "repentance" to translate metanoia/μετάνοια in Mark 1:4. In summary, Abid believes that "conversion" (rather than "repentance") is the best English word to express the meaning of the Greek metanoia/μετάνοια.
The Greek Orthodox Church in America teaches the following:The Greek term metanoia denotes a change of mind, a reorientation, a fundamental transformation of outlook, of man's vision of the world and of himself, and a new way of loving others and God. In the words of a second-century text, The Shepherd of Hermas, it implies "great understanding", or discernment.
Early Christianity
Metanoia "... was used consistently in the literature of that time to express a fundamental change in thinking that leads to a fundamental change in behavior and/or way of living". In 2006, an ecumenical group of scholars published a study of repentance in the Bible and the Church. After "a thorough examination of Hellenistic Jewish writings", the study found that for Jews living at the time of Jesus, "repentance" meant "a fundamental change in thinking and living". For the New Testament, this change is a necessary ingredient in accomplishing God's plan for salvation for community and for everyone.
The non-canonical Acts of Peter ties metanoia to the cross on which Peter was crucified. While Peter was being crucified, he explained parts of the cross from which he was hanging, including "the nail which holds the cross beam to the upright in the middle". This nail is "the conversion [epistrophē] and repentance [metanoia] of man".
According to Robert N. Wilkin, "The Latin Fathers translated metanoia as paenitentia, which came to mean 'penance' or 'acts of penance'." Tertullian protested the unsuitable translation of the Greek metanoeo into the Latin paenitentiam ago by arguing that "in Greek, metanoia is not a confession of sins but a change of mind." "Conversion" (from the Latin conversiōn-em turning round) with its "change in character" meaning is more nearly the equivalent of metanoia than repentance.
Theological concept
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary transliterates the Greek μετάνοια into metanoia and borrowing it as an English word with a definition that matches the Greek: "a transformative change of heart; especially: a spiritual conversion", augmented by an explanation of metanoia's Greek source: "from metanoiein to change one's mind, repent, from meta- + noein to think, from nous mind.
Synonyms for "conversion" include "change of heart" and "metanoia".
In opposition to the Church's interpretation of metanoia as comprising contrition, confession, and penances, Martin Luther objected that it retained its classical sense of "a change of mind". For John Staupitz, "... metanoia can be derived, though not without violence, not only from post and mentem, but also from trans and mentem, so that metanoia signifies a changing of the mind and heart, because it seemed to indicate not only a change of the heart, but also a manner of changing it, i.e., the grace of God." Metanoia is a concept of fundamental character for Luther, as it marks the ground of the first of his 95 theses.
John Calvin pointed to the double derivation of the Hebrew and Greek words for "repentance": the Hebrew derives from conversion, or turning again, and the Greek means a change of mind and purpose. The meaning of the word, for Calvin, is appropriate to both derivations because repentance (a) involves "withdrawing from ourselves", (b) turning to God, (c) "laying aside the old", and (d) putting on "a new mind".
Gregory Martin, the translator of the Douay-Rheims Bible, argued in chapter 13 of his work A Discovery of the Manifold Corruptions of Scripture for the translation of "penance". He based his conclusions on the writings of the church fathers and the awkward sentences that other readings lead to.
In his 1881 The Great Meaning of the Word Metanoia, Treadwell Walden, Episcopal priest and sometime rector of St. Paul's Church, Boston, designated cathedral of the diocese in 1912, asserts that metanoia conveys the essence of the Christian gospel. Walden holds that the meaning of the Greek metanoia is very different from the meaning of the English "repentance". He describes the translation of metanoia as repentance as "an extraordinary mistranslation". Walden believed the meaning of metanoia as a "transmutation" of consciousness contrasted with classical Greek which he viewed as expressing a superficial change of mind. Walden sought to promote the proper meaning of metanoia as "change of Mind, a change in the trend and action of the whole inner nature, intellectual, affectional and moral" over against its translation as repentance.
Christian prayer
The theological concept is linked with Christian prayer, in which a prostration is called a metanoia, with "the spiritual condition of one's soul being expressed through the physical movement of falling facedown before the Lord" as seen in the biblical passages of Matthew 2:11, Luke 5:12, and Luke 17:15–16.
In Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Western Orthodox Christianity, believers make metanoias (prostrations) during the seven fixed prayer times; prayer rugs are used by some adherents to provide a clean space for believers to offer their Christian prayers to God, e.g. the canonical hours. Oriental Orthodox Christians, such as Copts, incorporate metanoias in their prayers that are performed facing eastward in anticipation of the Second Coming of Jesus, making metanoias thrice in the name of the Trinity; at the conclusion of every Psalm (when saying 'Alleluia'); and forty-one times for the Kyrie eleisons (cf. Agpeya). Syriac Orthodox and Indian Orthodox Christians, as well as Christians belonging to the Mar Thoma Syrian Church (an Oriental Protestant denomination), make multiple metanoias at the seven fixed prayer times during which the canonical hours are prayed, thrice during the Qauma prayer, at the words "Crucified for us, Have mercy on us!", thrice during the recitation of the Nicene Creed at the words "And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit...", "And was crucified for us...", & "And on the third day rose again...", as well as thrice during the Prayer of the Cherubim while praying the words "Blessed is the glory of the Lord, from His place forever!" (cf. Shehimo). Oriental Catholic and Oriental Protestant rites also use metanoias in a similar way as the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
Among Old Ritualists, a prayer rug known as the Podruchnik is used to keep one's face and hands clean during metanoias, as these parts of the body are used to make the sign of the cross.
Other religions
Judaism
Joseph and Aseneth depicts Metanoia as "in heaven, a beautiful and especially good daughter of the Most High". There, "she entreats God Most High hourly" on behalf of people.
Paganism
In Classical Greek, metanoia meant changing one's mind about someone or something. When personified, Metanoia was a figure of unclear description who accompanied Kairos, the god of Opportunity, and ultimately inspired human individuals to deep changes in their normal consciousness modes; a feeling of personal regret would provide the emotional catalyst to approach life with a substantially different perspective.
This conventional portrayal continued through the Renaissance. "Regret, reflection, and transformation are always present in the concept of metanoia to some degree," writes scholar Kelly Myers.