Church, the origin of the word

This is the word used in most English versions as a rendering of the “New Testament’s” Greek word ekklesia. This word really means “a calling out,” a meeting or a gathering. Ekklesia is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew qahal, which means an assembly or a congregation. Neither ekklesia nor qahal means a building. Tyndale, in his translation, uniformly translated ekklesia as “congregation” and only used the word “churches” to translate Acts 19:37 for heathen temples!

Where does the word “church,” come from then? Ecclesiastical sources give the origin as kuriakon or kyriakon in Greek. However, to accept this, one has to stretch your imagination in an attempt to see any resemblance.

Also, because kuriakon means a building (the house of Kurios = Lord), and not a gathering or meeting of people, as the words ekklesia and qahal imply, therefore this explanation can only be regarded as distorted, even if it is true. Our common dictionaries, however, are honest in revealing to us the true origin. They all trace the word back to its Old English or Anglo-Saxon root, namely circe.

And the origin of circe? Any encyclopedia, or dictionary of mythology, will reveal who Circe was. She was the goddess-daughter of Helios, the Sun-deity! Again, another form of Sun-worship, this time the name of the daughter of the Sun-deity, had become mixed with the Messianic Belief.

Some interesting facts emerge from the study of the word circe. The word is related to “circus,” “circle,” “circuit,” “Circean,” “circulate,” and the various words starting with “circum-.” Latin rules of grammar demands a pronunciation of “sirke.” The Old English word circe could have been pronounced similarly to “kirke,” or even “sirse.”

However, Circe was in fact originally a Greek goddess where her name was written as: Kirke, and pronounced as such – just as in numerous similar cases of words of Greek origin, e.g. cyst and kustis, cycle and kuklos, cylinder and kulindros. The word “church” is known in Scotland as kirk, and in German as kirche and in Netherlands as kerk. These words show their direct derivation from the Greek Kirke even better than the English “church.” However, even the Old English circe for “church,” reveals its origin.

Let us rather use the Scriptural “assembly” or “congregation,” and renounce the word that is derived from Circe, the daughter of the Sun-deity!

(Article from a book called: "Come Out of Her My People" by Chris Koster)