Aorist Passive Participle. Genitive Absolute

§259

The declension of λυθείς, λυθεῖσα, λυθέν, having been loosed, the aorist passive participle of λύω, is as follows:

§260

Like the present active participle and the aorist active participle, the aorist passive participle is declined according to the third declension in the masculine and neuter, and according to the first declension in the feminine.

§261

The characteristic -θε, which it will be remembered is the sign of the aorist passive system (the sixth of the principal parts), appears throughout. This -θε, as in the rest of the aorist passive system, is added to the verb stem.

§262

The augment, of course, must be dropped (from the sixth of the principal parts) before the aorist passive participle can be formed. Compare §§251, 252.

§264

Like the other aorist participles, the aorist passive participle denotes action prior to the time of the leading verb; and to it applies also all that has been said about the attributive and substantive uses of the participle.

Examples: (1) ἐκβληθέντα τὰ δαιμόνια ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, the demons, having been cast out by the Lord, when went away into the sea, or | after \ the demons had been cast out by the Lord, they went away into the sea.

(2) ἐγερθέντι ἐκ νεκρῶν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ, they came to Him after He had been raised from the dead, (3) οἱ διδαχθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἦλθον εἰς τὸν οἶκον, the having-been-taught-by-the-apostle men came into the the men house, or ie a who had been taught by the apostle those came into the house.

§265

The following summary will serve for the review of what has been learned thus far about the participles:

A table appears here in the book.

§266

A noun or pronoun with a participle often stands out of connection with the rest of the sentence in the construction called the genitive absolute.

(1) εἰπόντων ταῦτα τῶν ἀποστόλων οἱ μαθηταὶ ἀπῆλθον, the apostles having said these things, the disciples went away. Here εἰπόντων and τῶν ἀποστόλων stand in the genitive absolute. ἀποστόλων is not the subject of any verb, the subject of the only finite verb in the sentence being μαθηταί, nor has it any other connection with the framework of the sentence. It is therefore absolute (the word means “loosed” or ‘separated”’). In the English translation, the apostles having said is in the absolute case, which in English grammar is called the nominative absolute. But this nominative absolute is very much less common in English than the genitive absolute is in Greek.

Usually, therefore, it is better to translate the Greek genitive absolute by a clause, thus giving up any attempt at a “‘literal” translation. For example, instead of the “‘literal’’ translation of the sentence just given, it would have been better to translate, when (or after) the apostles had said these things, the disciples went away. Of course all that has already been said about the tense of the participle applies to the participle in the genitive absolute as well as in other constructions.

It should be noticed that the genitive absolute is normally used only when the noun or pronoun going with the participle is different from the subject of the finite verb. Thus in the sentence, εἰπόντες ταῦτα οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἀπῆλθον, the apostles, having said these things, went away, or when the apostles had said these things they went away, the word ἀπόστολοι has a construction in the sentence; it is the subject of the leading verb ἀπῆλθον. Therefore it is not “absolute.” But in the former example it is not the apostles but some one else that is represented as performing the action denoted by the leading verb. Hence, in that former example ἀποστόλων is not the subject of the sentence but genitive absolute.

(2) λέγοντος αὐτοῦ ταῦτα οἱ μαθηταὶ ἀπῆλθον, while he was saying these things, the disciples went away. Compare λέγων ταῦτα ἀπῆλθεν, while he was saying these things he went away or he went away saying these things.

(3) τῶν μαθητῶν διδαχθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὴν ἔρημον οἱ δοῦλοι, when the disciples had been taught by the Lord, the servants went out into the desert. Compare οἱ μαθηταὶ διδαχθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, when the disciples had been taught by the Lord, they went out into the desert.