Nicolae Carpathia - The Antichrist With Wrong Romanian Name! |
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July 8th, 2007 by Chris
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Left Behind is a very popular series of novels - especially among Protestant Christians - based on Bible’s prophecies, co-authored by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Hidden under the category of fiction, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins just found a brilliant way to pass their religious messages to the masses. Not just the authors, but possibly most of their millions of readers, believe that about half of Bible’s prophecies already became reality, and what’s to come can easily follow one of the not-so-fictional scenarios described by these books. Christian or not, it’s hard to not enjoy their writing, with lots of adventures and conspiracy theories.
I really like these books and I hardly wait to get the next one. But as a Romanian guy myself, who spent his last 17 years in North America, I find truly awkward when I read about this “Carpathia”, the “Romanian Antichrist”, all over the web. And nobody seems to bother that Carpathia is not even a Romanian name! Something misleading intentionally used by Left Behind’s authors? It rather looks to me like ignorance, arrogance and/or bad homework… Assume for a moment you read a very good novel - better than Left Behind - about an evil American guy named Nick Apalasi, identified this time by some Romanian heroes as the Antichrist. Beside the fact that - fiction or not - nobody is happy to see its country or compatriots linked just-like-that with the source of the universal evil, what’s wrong with this picture? You surely will not read it, no matter how good it is. And let’s also forget about the Romanian heroes, because most Americans are not used to this. In most your novels, movies or newspaper articles, you HAVE to read about American heroes, to feel good about yourselves. The great American soldier, who saves from death a cute Iranian pussycat, will get better coverage on CNN or some major newspapers. It sells well and it tells you again and again - but you already know this - that Americans are the most brave, fair and carrying people in the world. Don’t be offended by these remarks; other people feel the same way about themselves, including many of my Romanian fellows… What spoils the credibility of my story is the Apalasi name I used for an American guy. And yes, I know, in North America live guys like Chung or Karpovski, as new immigrants from other countries or whose parents came from other continents. But what if I also tell you - to look smart and educated to you - that Apalasi is in fact an American name, because it comes from the Appalachian Mountains - in Romanian spelled as “Apalasi“? You see, I didn’t bother to consider how YOU actually spell it right, in your country, where these mountains are. I wrote the novel rather for my fellow Romanians, and you can be sure most of my readers - at least the most ignorant of them - will buy it. Again, don’t be offended. If you feel bad when ignorant people misspell your names - because they either didn’t bother with a very little research or simply don’t give a dime on what you may think - you should also understand what someone who lived half of his life close to the Carpathian Mountains feels when he finds out - from highly educated people from another continent - that Carpathia IS a Romanian name. For you, English speaking people, Carpathian Mountains is how you spell it. For any Romanian in the world it’s “Muntii Carpati” (pronounced as “karpatzee”). You’ll never find in Romanian the group of letters “th”. The h following another consonant exists only in groups like “chi”, “che”, “ghi”, “ghe”. There is no such region as Carpathia - or even Carpatia - in Romanian. And chances of finding a Romanian name like Carpatia or Carpatian are as low as finding some pure American guy named Nick Appalachian, in North America. At some point, the authors suggest that Carpathia comes from Latin, because Romanian themselves have Roman roots. Well, even in Latin - or other related languages, such as Italian, Spanish, French - the group “th” is rarely found. So next time some brilliant and well-educated American writers try to put the mark of the evil Antichrist on the front of another guy from one of those small, remote, insignificant and politically-not-strategic countries they know too little about, they’d better do a small research. It’s so easy to invent, to figure out on-the-fly a name like Mbunga Dwunga Mazawee, for a negative hero from Zimbabwe. Like Left Behind, the book may sell well to millions of people in the world and translate in 20 languages. But it’s simply a deep lack of respect for the people who live there, for the 2-3 guys from Zimbabwe who may happen to read the book and to whom the authors may look like either ignorant or disrespectful persons. In time, books like these - otherwise captivating and well written - just loose their credibility, when new generations of Americans will hopefully start to read more and really give a dime about the rest of the world. PS: My name is indeed Christian - coincidentally also the name of Christ and the nomination of those who belong to the Christianity. However, in Romanian it’s always spelled Cristian, with Cristi as nickname. While I lived long enough in North America, I just got tired to see people always confused about that “h”. But I, for myself, am fine with this… Tags: antichrist, carpathia, jenkins, lahaye, left behind Related Posts |
After “Left Behind” and “Tribulation Force“, I just finished reading the third novel from the series, “Nicolae“. 8 Comments
Cristi Says:July 10th, 2007 at 11:58 am |
The disinformation continues: on Left Behind’s site I found these silly Q&As: Q: What is the significance of the name Nicolae Carpathia? Most common names in Romania are in fact Ion (~John) and Gheorghe (~George), followed by many other. What was in LaHaye’s mind was probably the name of Nicolae Ceausescu, the former dictator. We’re not all named after him And “good” explanation about the Carpathian Mountains, with the obvious association with Dracula ;). Q: How do you pronounce the names of these characters? People, if your name is Patt, I try to say Pat (like it is pronounced in your language), not Pet or Peet, because you will obviously feel offended. If you want it to be Nicolae Carpathia from Romania, say rather NICK-o-lyee Car-PA-thee-ah (see the -lyee and -PA). Otherwise say the Antichrist was actualy American, but you tried to hide it |
Right Behind » Romanians and Gypsies - Two Worlds Apart Says:March 12th, 2008 at 11:31 am |
[...] Carpathia, a Romanian, it’s no big deal, you may say. But when well-educated authors give him a name that doesn’t even spell right in Romanian, when they insinuate in a book sold millions of copies all over the world that “Romanians are [...] |
very well said Says:July 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 am |
Very good point of view. Let us not forget that this fraud character has a page on Wikipedia, where he is presented under the flag of Romania, which is highly offensive to everyone of us in Romania, even though it is said about him it is an imaginary character. If he is an imaginary character [which btw is imaginary to the same extent as Christ is, namely the antichrist is very real] why couldn’t he be imaginary all the way? If the nationality and the place of origin are very real, the character itself ceases to be imaginary and becomes an insult to all Romanian people. We refuse absolutely to be depicted as the country of vampires and now of the antichrist. If these Protestant Apocalypse-obsessed want to speculate about the nationality of the antichrist let them pick another descent. How about American? Or Jewish ? Linking antichrist to Jewish nation would be considered anti-semitic. And it would really be, by all means. Consequently, depicting antichrist as a Romanian is highly anti-Romanian and punishible by any democratic law. Isn’t it? |
Simone Says:October 14th, 2008 at 3:37 pm |
Salut, I’m a British reader. Just wanted to add that I sympathise with your argument here, and I knew from the start that Nicolae Carpathia was a VERY unlikely and badly-chosen name for any Romanian character. I believe the authors’ reasoning was that the Antichrist should be descended from a pure Ancient Roman bloodline (I can’t remember where I read that, so it may be wrong)…not sure how this led them to Romania, but there you go. If it’s any consolation, I (and many others, judging from the reviews) think that the Left Behind books are badly written, all of the characters are two-dimensional and I doubt the authors did much research into anything besides the Biblical prophecies that they used. Last post from Simone: Hockey and stuff. |
dug Says:October 29th, 2008 at 11:22 am |
I think the authors mentioned in the first book that though he is from Romania - his origin is Italian (Roman) - And I think there is also mention of the same argument in the story. I don’t have it in front of me but I remember reading people in the story questioning His origin as his name does not sound Romanian. he then explain that his name is Italian. I think the authors did this on purpose as to prevent associating the (fictional) anti-christ with a particular country. |
JB Bryant Says:November 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 am |
Cristi: Thank you for your perspective. Allow me to qualify my comments with two things: (1) I am no fan of the “Left Behind” series. I have read almost the entire series (I think I quit two books short — it’s been a few years). I actually enjoyed the series very much as fiction, but I have strong theological disagreements. In my own ongoing study of Revelation (see my blog), I spent three lengthy lessons countering the teaching of a pretribulation rapture (which is the foundation of the series). Here’s a link to Part 1: http://www.jbryant.org/library/2008/09/focus-study-pre-tribulation-or-post-tribulation-rapture-part-1/ (2) I sympathize with your core concern — insensitivity to other cultures and people. All of that said, I wonder if LaHaye is innocent in this… The name “Nicolae,” accordning to many “name meaning” sources on the ‘net, is ultimately of Greek origin and means “Victory” or “Vixtory of the People.” It has counterparts in Latin, German, and Russian languages, but it is not specifically a Romanian name. It is understandable that the authors would want to choose a name with this meaning for the antichrist since the antichrist would want to convince the world that he will lead the people into victory over all things evil. The name “Carpathia” probably is taken from the Carpathia Mountians, but those are not specifically a Romanian mountain range, either. According to the Wikipedia article on them [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpathian_Mountains], they are part of Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, and Serbia. The article also says that their name ultimately comes from Albanian and Czech words that mean “Rock.” Again, since the Bible depicts Christ as the Rock, it would make sense that LaHaye would want a name that has a similar meaning for the antichrist. I think in this case, LaHaye did fairly thorough research in finding names from “the east” that cover several nationalities so as not to pinpoint a particular one. Last post from JB Bryant: One Kingdom Under God, Indivisible: Revelation 11:15-19 |
SM Understand Says:January 15th, 2009 at 12:59 am |
Hey, |
IWASSANE Says:November 19th, 2009 at 7:23 pm |
I REALLY ENJOY WHAT I HAVE READ. I HAVE ACQUIRED ALL12 BOOKS & ALTHOUGH I HAVEN’T READ ALL OF’EM I’M ENJOYING MY SPARE TIME READING’EM.I STARTED IN PRISON READING’EM & JUST LUCKED UP UPON THEM & TOOK OFF FROM THERE. GREAT BOOKS! |
