Traditional Ukrainian greeting

[Corinnebelle]

I have just read a book about a Ukranian. They used a beautiful traditional greeting.

1st speaker: "Glory to Jesus Christ!"
2nd speaker: "For endless ages. Amen."

[duome]

This is from the orthodox service in the the old slavic / old church slavonic language. This is exactly how it is spoken in every orthodox church to this day. It may have been adopted for use in some less formal contexts, i.e. not just in a church. Much like the Irish Dia dhuit / Dia's Muire dhuit.

[Corinnebelle]

Dia dhuit / Dia's Muire dhuit.

What does it mean?

[duome]

God to you / God and Mary be with you (used basically as hello/hello when people meet).

[Enzfj2]

It is (shortened) "Слава Ісу!" – "На віки віків!"
Not that I often go to orthodox church, but I don't remember anyone saying it outside strictly religious environment.

Besides, for two major holidays there are special greetings:
"Христос народився!" – "Славі́мо його!"
and
"Христос воскрес!" – "Воі́стину воскрес!" – three times, and to kiss each other, also thrice.

[Stasia]

I have just read a book about a Ukranian. They used a beautiful traditional greeting.

1st speaker: "Glory to Jesus Christ!"
2nd speaker: "For endless ages. Amen."

We have it in Polish, too, although the use is somewhat limited (this is what you say when you greet a priest or a nun - you never say to them "good morning" or "hello").

[Meli578588]

I am
Studying Ukrainian now.

[HeyMarlana]

It reminds me of the Easter greeting, as @Enzfj2 mentioned, and what the English possibilities would be if we spoke like this:

Person 1: "Christ has risen!"
Person 2: "No doubt!"

I think of this like the days whenever people used to say "How do you do? Nice to meet you," and someone would reply: "Likewise!" It's a charming, old-school answer to many things back, about a hundred years ago. Not many people say it now. They just say, "You too." Only today, Ukrainians are perfectly content to use these greetings and replies.

[Steve579062]

Reading about greeting made me think of my walks in the UK this weekend. I am lucky enough to live in a fairly rural area. Everyone I passed whilst out on the canal side said hello. Horse riders , cyclists and dog walkers all pass some greeting.
It may not be the same for all areas and probably not in the cities but I wonder if it is the same in other countries ?

[Enzfj2]

Reading about greeting made me think of my walks in the UK this weekend. I am lucky enough to live in a fairly rural area. Everyone I passed whilst out on the canal side said hello. Horse riders , cyclists and dog walkers all pass some greeting.
It may not be the same for all areas and probably not in the cities but I wonder if it is the same in other countries ?

In Ukrainian countryside, it's absolutely required to greet everyone.
In big cities, you're supposed to know your neighbours at least from the same staircase, so you say "hello" to everyone in the elevator cabin or on the stairs. The same I observed in Germany and Spain: you say "Hallo" or "Hola" respectively to everyone within the building, regardless of if you know the person(s) or not.

[OCgXt4Pu]

The greeting discussed here sounds like an Ukrainian version of a traditional Christian greeting (in Latin: Laudetur Iesus Christus — in saecula saeculorum) that had found its way into many languages around even if it's not widely used anymore. It's interesting to learn that it's the same in the Orthodox Church.
Similarly the traditional Easter greeting among Christians is Christus resurrexit — vere resurrexit (we have that one in Polish rendered as Chrystus zmartwychwstał — prawdziwie zmartwychwstał). Although in this case the Latin form is reportedly already a calque from Greek so it's not surprising that it's the same.