In Num 5:5,
we read the following:
Then shall the man bring his wife unto the
priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of
barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it
is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to
remembrance.
The Hebrew term translated as [an offering of] memorial is זִכָּרוֹן zikkārôn; the LXX translates this, not as αναμνησις, but μνημόσυνον, with the result being the brining of iniquity to "remembrance" (ἀναμιμνῄσκω). Here, in the LXX for this verse, μνημόσυνον is used, not in a “mere-memory” sense, but as a memorial offering. It shows that there are more Greek terms that can be used to refer to a memorial offering/sacrifice beyond only αναμνησις. This also blows out of the water the following attempt to artificially bolster the significance of αναμνησις as used in Luke 22:19 and 1 Cor 11:24-25:
The
Greek αναμνησις appears 4 times in the New Testament (Lk
22:19; 1Co 11:24, 25; Hb 10:3). The first three refer to remembering Christ’s
sacrifice. The last, Hb 10:3, refers to the sacrifices required by the
Levitical law which serve to bring to “remembrance” the sins of the people,
thus not allowing a relief of the individual’s conscience. Although the stress
is on remembrance, it is the sacrifice that brings the sins to remembrance, not
a reading of the law or the teaching from a prophet. In effect, the sacrifice
possesses an inevitable result of bringing either the guilt of sin to remembrance,
or, as in the case of Christ at the Last Supper, bringing the atonement and
forgiveness of sins to remembrance. Sacrifice brings either the anamnesis of sin or salvation. Hence, it is no surprise
to discover that the statement “This is my blood of the covenant” is followed
in Mt 26:28 with “which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,”
but followed in 1Co 11:25 with “do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance
of me.” The connection between the “the forgiveness of sins” and “remembrance
of me” is quite apparent. A similar word to αναμνησις, yet one without
sacrificial overtones, is αναμιμνησκω, used 6 times in the New Testament (Mk
11:21; 14:72; 1Co 4:17; 2Co 7:15; 2Tm 1:6; Hb 10:32). Other words for
remembrance include: μιμνησκομαι
(Hb 2:6; 13:3); μναομαι (used 21 times, e.g., Lk 23:42); μνημονευω (used 21 times, e.g., Lk 17:32); υπομιμνησκω (used 7 times, e.g., Lk 22:61); μνημη (2Pt 1:15); υπομνησις (2Tm
1:5). In each case, the latter terms refer to a mental effort to recollect past
events, but with no sacrificial context. The only other Greek word that has
connections to sacrifice is μνημοσυνον, used
twice in reference to a memorial of death (Mt 26:13; Mk 14:9) and once in
reference to offerings of self-sacrifice to God (Ac 10:4). (Robert A. Sungenis,
Not By Bread Alone: The Biblical and
Historical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice [2d ed.; Catholic
Apologetics International Publishing, Inc.: 2009], 105 n. 104)
Other
instances of μνημόσυνον being used in sacrificial contexts include the
following from the Torah:
And thou shalt take the atonement money of
the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle
of the congregation; that it may be a memorial (μνημόσυνον; Heb לְזִכָּרוֹן) unto the children of Israel before the
Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. (Exo 30:16--note here that μνημόσυνον
beings about a propitiation [εξιλασκομαι] of God’s wrath against sins)
And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the
priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of
the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn
the memorial (μνημόσυνον; Heb אַזְכָּרָתָהּ) of it upon the altar, to be an
offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord . . . And the priest
shall take from the meat offering a memorial (μνημόσυνον; Heb אַזְכָּרָתָהּ) thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar:
it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord . . . And the
priest shall burn the memorial (μνημόσυνον; Heb אַזְכָּרָתָהּ) of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil
thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto
the Lord. (Lev 2:2, 9, 16)
Then shall be bring it to the priest, and the
priest shall take his handful of it, even a memorial (μνημόσυνον; Heb אַזְכָּרָתָה ) thereof, and burn it on the altar, according to the offerings
made by fire unto the Lord: it is a sin offering. (Lev 5:12)
And he shall take of it his handful, of the
flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense
which is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet
savour, even the memorial (μνημόσυνον; Heb אַזְכָּרָתָהּ) of it, unto the Lord. (Lev 6:15 [v. 8 in the LXX])
And the priest shall set the woman before the
Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial (μνημόσυνον;
Heb הַזִּכָּרוֹן ) in her hands, which is the jealousy offering, and the priest
shall have in his hands the bitter water that causeth the curse . . . And the
priest shall take an handful of the offering, as its memorial (μνημόσυνον; Heb אַזְכָּרָתָהּ) portion, and burn it upon the altar, and
afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. (Num 5:18, 26)
Contra
Sungenis and other Roman Catholic apologists, there is a flexibility in the meaning
of terms translated as “memory”/”remembrance,” from both the physiological (“merely
remembering something”) to something more tangible, like a placard of something
or even a memorial sacrifice. It is not limited to αναμνησις (the attempt to privilege αναμνησις as only ever having the sense of
“memorial sacrifice/offering” as some Catholic apologists do), and even then, αναμνησις often only refers to remembering something, as
seen in all the instances of the term in the works of Josephus and Philo
demonstrate.
