The Blessed Virgin, Part IV: The Angelic Salutation

"You are all-beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you." (Song of Solomon, 4:7)

As a Catholic, I would be the first to admit that the idea of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (the dogma that she was conceived without original sin) is nowhere explicitly stated in the Sacred Scriptures. The verse quoted above from the Canticles has been viewed by countless theologians to be a prophecy of the Blessed Virgin, as well as a description of the Church, and it is used in the liturgy for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. While this verse may be the one exception, even it is not tied explicitly to Mary's name. 

I would also point out, as I mentioned at the end of the last post, that little enough is said of Mary at all in the Bible. But what is said is remarkable. Each verse, each word, is laden with riches. The Magnificat, Elizabeth's prophecy, the Presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple, Simeon's words, Christ's gift of his Mother to the Beloved Disciple during His Passion-- what a wealth of spiritual truth and light is found in these passages! Thus, while not all the peculiarly Catholic dogmas concerning Mary may be found explicitly in Scripture, I most firmly believe that all of them are found, at least implicitly, or in kernel form, within its pages.

Throughout the course of these essays we will examine all the passages that deal with Mary specifically, and the prophetic types of her found in the Old Testament. Along the way we will also strive to "think with the mind of the Church" by examining the Church Fathers and various ancient Christian writings, especially those in the first five or six centuries.

Today we will begin with the Annunciation, in particular the Angelic Salutation, St.Gabriel's remarkable greeting of the Virgin. This is a passage with which all of us, both Protestant and Catholic, are deeply familiar. It  heralds the moment in which Mary conceived the Messias, the Savior, in her womb, and is thus a familiar passage in all churches around the time of Advent and Christmas. In one sense it is Gospel, the first proclamation of the Good News.  It is also familiar to Catholics for another reason, as the opening words of the Archangel's greeting have been taken as the opening words of the "Hail Mary" prayer, so popular among Catholics for many centuries.

Such universal familiarity, while good in itself, can also be a negative, if by familiarity, we become so accustomed to a thing that it loses its remarkableness. I fear that this is very much the case with this particular passage. If we can step back for a moment, read it as if for the first time, and contemplate its uniqueness, we will find ourselves amazed. Gabriel's greeting, the name by which he calls the Virgin of Nazareth, her replies, their entire conversation-- about these there is nothing ordinary at all, not even by the standards of the intercourse between angels and humans found rather more frequently in the Old Testament.

Before considering this passage itself, let us set the stage with a few preliminary observations.

The Annunciation is found only in the Gospel of St. Luke. This particular Gospel also has more to say about Mary than any of the other three. In the beginning of Luke's Gospel the author clearly states that he had gone to some length to diligently research his information, and to set it forth accurately, to the "most excellent Theophilus." Luke was not one of the Twelve Apostles, though he spent much time after his conversion traveling with St. Paul. He was likely not an eyewitness of many of the things which he recounts in his Gospel. Certainly God could have given him a direct revelation concerning these events, but his opening words clearly indicate that he did his research, probably by consulting as many eyewitnesses as possible.

This consideration leads us to an important question. Who were the eyewitnesses to the Annunciation? As far as we know, there was no one present besides the Archangel Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin herself. This fact, coupled with the fact of Luke's greater amount of information concerning Mary, leads us strongly to the conclusion that he must have consulted Christ's mother herself before composing his Gospel. I doubt that any of us would question the Virgin's humility, yet it seems that she herself was the one who decided to recount the incredible title by which St. Gabriel saluted her. This is a matter of profound significance, and one worthy of great consideration.

The second preliminary point to ponder is the use of language. All of the earliest manuscripts for all the Gospels which have survived to our day are in Greek. We know, however, that the Gospel of St. Matthew was originally composed in Aramaic, so the Greek manuscripts which are available to us are actually early translations of that particular Gospel. St. Luke, however, composed his Gospel in Greek. Thus we may well accept the idea that important and carefully chosen Greek words found in St. Luke's Gospel were intentionally set there by the Evangelist himself. Now, we do not know what language the angel spoke when he greeted the Virgin Mary. It may have been Aramaic, it may have been liturgical Hebrew. It may have been no human tongue at all. The dialogue may, in fact, have proceeded without the use of human words whatsoever. Whatever the case may be, however, St. Luke took the concept that the Blessed Virgin conveyed to him, and then set it forth as accurately as possible in Greek.

The third consideration concerns the Archangel. Angels speak only the truth, and they convey to us the message of God, not their own message. Thus, when they speak, it is as if God Himself were speaking. The message which Gabriel conveys to Mary is not Gabriel's message, but God's message. The name by which he calls her is not Gabriel's name for Mary, it is God's name for her.

Thus, as we prepare to consider the Scriptural passage itself, let us keep these three facts in mind, and realize that the Greek words used here were set down under inspiration by St. Luke, to convey the Annunciation story as it was told him by the mother of Christ, expressing the message of God Himself. What weight must we then attach to these words! What prayerful consideration and meditation must we expend upon them!

The Archangel's greeting then, begins with two Greek words, "Chairo, Kecharotimene!" We will consider these two words in order.

Chairo

Chairo, is a Greek word that means roughly "rejoice", or "be happy", but which can be used in two different ways. The first way is as an imperative,  in which the greeter bids the one greeted "to rejoice". The second way is as formal greeting, as which it has commonly been translated as Ave in Latin, or "Hail" in English. Both of these interpretations appear to be valid in considering this passage. The standard Latin translation as Ave indicates that the second interpretation is probably the most traditional. Concerning the second, we have theologians of no less weight than Hans Ur Von Balthasar and Pope Benedict XVI adopting it in modern times.

The reason for accepting both versions is due to the use of the word in two different versions of Sacred Scripture. Since the word is Greek it appears nowhere in the Old Testament, which was originally written predominantly in Hebrew. However, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Septuagint, uses the word on several occasions. While many Protestants do not approve of the Septuagint, it should be noted that the majority of Old Testament quotes used by the Apostles in the New Testament are from the Septuagint, indicating at least some validity to the translation. Thus, we must be prepared to consider the use of the word Chairo in the Septuagint as a valid translation of its Hebrew equivalent. This particular use of Chairo is always in the imperative. The second use of the word may be found in the Greek New Testament, the same set of writings in which we find Gabriel's greeting. Here it is used strictly as a formal greeting. Thus, I see no way to avoid accepting both usages of the word as valid, and accepting what both teach us.

When we consider the use of Chairo as an imperative in the Septuagint, we will find the word used three times. Each time is within the context of a Messianic prophecy. These three passages are Zeph. 3:14-17; Joel 2:21; and  Zach. 9:9.

Let us look at each of these verses:

 Joel 2:21-23: "Fear not, O land! Exult and rejoice! For the Lord has done great things. Fear not, beasts of the field! For the Pastures of the plain are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and the vine give their yield. And do you, O children of Zion, exult and rejoice in the Lord, your God! He has given you the teacher of justice: he has made the rain come down for you, the early and the late rain as before." 

The first of the commands to rejoice is made to the "land", the second is made to the "children of Zion". Neither of these are the kind of personal greetings found in Luke, chapter 1. The second thing to notice is that a little further on, vs. 27, God says through the prophet, "And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel...." I would like to draw particular attention to this idea, as we will see it again.

Zach: 9:9: "Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass." 

There are several points to observe in this passage. First, the phrasing of the greeting is far more similar to the Angel's greeting in Luke, and the one greeted is a personification of God's holy mountain, "daughter Zion", and God's holy city, "daughter Jerusalem". Secondly our attention is drawn to the time and manner of the coming of the Messiah. The specific fulfillment of this verse is seen in Matt. 21:4, and Jn. 12:14, when Jesus enters Jerusalem, riding upon a donkey. But we must remember that the beginning of the Messiah's coming occurred at the moment in which He was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. This, too, was an example of meekness and humility, for St. Paul tells us in Phil. 2:6-7, "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." We may perhaps even see the donkey as a type of the flesh-- our Savior, meek, and overcoming in the flesh. Thus we begin to see a threefold interpretation which will serve us well in the future: the literal Zion/Jerusalem as a type, the fulfillment of that type first in Mary, and the second fulfillment of it in the Church, the New Jerusalem. We also notice here, again, the idea of God being present to His people, being with them.

Zeph. 14:-17: "Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; the King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear. On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully, because of you, as one sings at festivals." 

Here, again, we see the greeting addressed to "daughter Zion", "daughter Jerusalem", and also "Israel." Again, we see the statement of the fact that God "is in your midst". The third interesting point to notice here, is that "on that day" (the day when the prophecy is to be fulfilled), "it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion...." And on the day of the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel says to Mary, "Fear not...."

The promises of the infinite, eternal, omnipotent, immaterial God being in the "midst" of a material place or city are remarkable. When we think about the Incarnation we must feel awe and astonishment that God Himself walked among us as a man. As Catholics we feel the same kind of awe when we consider the Blessed Sacrament-- Christ still materially present with us. Yet it was Mary who first bore our Lord within herself. God was truly "in the midst" of her.It is interesting here that Gabriel uses a rather redundant expression to announce the conception of our Blessed Lord: "You shall conceive in your womb." It is obvious that whenever a woman conceives it is always in her womb, and there does not seem to be any particular reason to point the fact out. Nor did the same angel use that expression three months earlier when he announced to Zachariah that Elizabeth would bear a son. It seems as if Gabriel was trying to get a message across. As the Church Fathers said, the Blessed Virgin contained within her womb the One Whom heaven and earth could not contain.Whenever we consider the Old Testament types that have to do with the idea of God being in a place, we will do well to consider the Blessed Virgin first as we seek to find their fulfillment in the New Testament. Temple, Ark of the Covenant, Zion-- in all of these we will find foreshadowings of both Mary and the Church. This is an idea which will be considerably amplified in a later post.

If we move away from the Greek Old Testament and consider the use of Chairo in the Greek New Testament, we will find it is used over seventy times. However, only seven times is used directly as a greeting in the same grammatical structure as Luke 1:28.

I wish to be cautious here, and to not try to make a case out of evidence that does not exist. I will say that what follows is not conclusive, perhaps not even overwhelming, but I think that it is interesting and very worthy of consideration.

The idea which I wish to express is that there seems to be something respectful, for lack of a better word, about the use of chairo as a greeting in the Greek New Testament. The reason why I do not want to make too much out of this is because chairo was simply a standard greeting used among Greek speaking peoples of Jesus' time. Yet within the limits of the New Testament itself, the use of the greeting strikes me as interesting.

Matt. 26:49 "Immediately he went over to Jesus and said, 'Hail, Rabbi!' and he kissed him."

The speaker here is Judas, who was in the process of betraying Jesus. Certainly there was nothing respectful towards Jesus in Judas' heart, yet the language itself is respectful, greeting a venerated teacher.

Matt. 27:29 "Weaving a crown of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'" 

Sarcasm indeed, but still acting as if they were greeting someone of a superior position, in this case a King.

Matt. 28:9 "And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, 'All Hail.'" 

This is the only exception, in which the greeting is addressed to those who are clearly inferior to the speaker. But I do not think that it is inconsistent at all to think that here chairo should be used in its literal meaning of "Rejoice", since Jesus is greeting the women for the first time after His resurrection, and His victory over sin and death.

Mk. 15:18 "They began to salute him with, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'" 

Jn.19:3 "...and they came to him and said, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And they struck him repeatedly."

Again, the sarcastic address noted above in Matt 27:29.

Acts 15:23 "This is the letter delivered by them: 'The apostles and the presbyters, your brothers, to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of Gentile origin: greetings.'"

Not addressing a superior in this case, but certainly formal, and deeply respectful.

Acts 23:25-26 "Then he wrote a letter with this content: 'Claudius Lysias to his excellency the governor Felix, greetings.'" 

This was written by a Roman commander to a governor, hence a superior.

James 1:1 "James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings."

Similar to Acts 15:23 James is not clearly addressing a superior, but again, is deeply respectful.

While several interpretations of the word chairo seem possible here, it will seem very difficult, after we examine the next word of the greeting, to assume that St. Gabriel was merely greeting Mary with a cheery "Hi!", or "Top o' the mornin' to you!"

At the very least, a brief study of the Greek word chairo in the Greek Old Testament and the Greek New Testament affords us ample room for meditation.

Kecharotimene

"Just as you know not how the breath of life fashions the human frame in the mother's womb, so you know not the work of God which he is accomplishing in the universe." (Ecc. 11:5)

But it is the second word of the Archangel's greeting that amazes us, and tells us that something momentous has occurred in human history. That word  is kecharotimene, and it is remarkable for three reasons: first, because of its meaning; secondly, because of its uniqueness; and thirdly, because of its use as a title, or name.

Let us first consider the word itself. The Greek root of the word is charis, and it refers to grace. It has traditionally been translated as "full of grace", but in more modern times it has been more often translated as "highly favored". The second translation is by far the poorer of the two, but neither full express the profundity of this remarkable word. Kecharotimene is a feminine, perfect past participle, in the passive voice. What does this mean? It is passive, because it indicates that the action has been received by the subject, Mary, and is not due to her own work. It is feminine because it addresses a woman, which would probably explain why it has sometimes been translated as "highly favored daughter". As a perfect past participle it indicates an action that has been completed in the past and continues to the present time. The structure of this Greek word also indicates a sense of "maximizing", of completeness, an intensification.

What then does kecharotimene mean? It is impossible to translate it into a single English word, or even into two or three. It indicates a state of having been graced (by God, since it is in the passive voice), to a point of total fullness, like a bucket filled to the very brim with pure water, a state completed in the past, and continuing into the present. Thus, "full of Grace" is not a bad translation, but it is lacking in two chief respects. First of all, it does not indicate the passive voice, and can thus be troubling to Protestants who are not familiar with Catholic teachings concerning Mary. If we understand that Mary was "full of grace" because she had been given this grace by God, well and good. If, however, we understand it to mean that Mary had her own grace to bestow on others from her own fullness, then we have left the land of Catholic theology and entered the land of paganism. Secondly, "full of grace" is imperfect because it fails to indicate the aspect of time which occurs in the Greek. "Fully graced" is a somewhat better option, but a very awkward one to use as a title or name. I think that "full of grace" is about as good as we can do in a few short words, and, despite its imperfections, it is far more true to the Greek than "highly favored."

This literal meaning of word is remarkable enough, but there is even more to notice here. I mentioned above the uniqueness of the word. It is so unique, in fact, that only one other time, in Scripture or in Greek secular literature does it ever appear again. The word practically does not exist. The one other occasion in which it is used is found in the Septuagint, in the book of Sirach. This book is deemed apocryphal by most Protestants, it is in the genre of wisdom literature, and kecharotimene is used, not as a title, but as a description of a hypothetical good person, and hence has no bearing on the present situation. Thus, we may observe, with no little astonishment, that not only is this word used only twice in history, but that it has never been used to name or title a single living person except in all the world, except the humble Virgin of Nazareth.

The third point to notice is that Gabriel uses the word in place of Mary's name. We are so accustomed to the "Hail Mary" prayer, that we may simply assume that Gabriel actually addressed Mary with the words "Hail Mary, full of grace." This, however, he never did. Rather he used kecharotimene in place of her name: "Hail, fully graced one!" This is a fact of great importance. Name changes are given great significance in Scripture-- Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter, etc. They indicate something far more real and significant about the one whose name was changed, than do the apparently random names with which we far too often casually endow our children. They also indicate a permanency of position. They tell us something essential about the person, something that God declares to be true, something about how He sees that person. Given the similarity of this greeting with the greeting of Gideon, it is also possible to see it as a title. One Catholic scholar has written that the word kecharotimene should be seen as somewhere between a title and a name. If it is used as a name, it becomes even more interesting, since the Angel does not announce that he is changing her name. Abram, Jacob, Simon, were all notified of a change in their names. Thus we would see in Gabriel's greeting not a name change, but a statement of something that had already been true, as the grammatical structure of the word indicates anyway.

At any rate, it is of outstanding importance that this is the word with which Gabriel addresses the Virgin of Nazareth, and it tells us a great deal about who Mary really was. However, the name which the angel did not use is also significant. The name Mary means simply "Lady" (something which we will ponder more in a later post), and is simply our translation of the Hebrew name Miriam. This name, Miriam, sends us back to the Pentateuch, where we find that other famous Miriam, the sister of Moses. Types in the Old Testament find their fulfillment in the New, and the Old Testament types always fall short of their New Testament archetypes. Thus Moses is a type of Christ Himself, yet he sinned and was denied entry into the Promised Land. Miriam we most likely remember for composing a victory song, and for being given leprosy for an offense against her brother Moses, which, through Moses' intercession, was soon removed. However, she is mentioned again much later in the Old Testament in a most remarkable passage. "For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery I released you; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." (Micah 6:4). Thus we see that the children of Israel were led by priest and prophet, and also by a woman, whose name was simply "Lady". No other Miriam is mentioned in the Old Testament. We begin to see here that God had planned, through His own will and grace, to intimately involve Mary in the history of salvation, to help lead His people out of slavery.

To summarize our reflections on the word kecharotimene, we may consider the following. The Archangel Gabriel, the Angel of the Lord, does not use Mary's actual name. Instead he greets her with the title, or name kecharotimene. Since this word is used as a title or name by the angel it tells us three things-- that this is who Mary actually is, that this is God's title or name for her, and that it is permanent. Thus we may see from this incredible greeting that Mary, alone among all persons in the history of our species, was given the name kecharotimene, meaning "filled by God completely with grace", and that she had been so filled already in the past, remained so until the present, and would continue so into the future.

Grace is the antithesis of sin. To be filled so completely with grace as the word kecharotimene indicates leaves no room for sin. Thus, we are led, by the strength of Sacred Scripture itself, to understand that God, in His wisdom and omnipotence, preserved the one who would become His mother on earth from every stain of sin.

It is pertinent here to offer a quote on this topic by two Greek scholars, noting that they are Protestant scholars (who make no attempt to define kecharotimene in this way, but merely affirm that the following definition is consistent with the Greek language):

"It is permissible, on Greek grammatical and linguistic grounds, to paraphrase kecharotimene as completely, perfectly, enduringly endowed with grace." (Blass and DeBrunner, Greek Grammar of the New Testament).

An objection comes easily to mind here. Perhaps, it may be asked, the Virgin was sinless and fully graced past, present, and future; perhaps, but how far in the past? Could not this Divine "gracing" have occurred somewhat earlier in her youth? Why take it back all the way to her conception, and say that she never sinned, that she was Immaculate?

This objection certainly has weight, but even if it were found to be true, what we have learned concerning the Blessed Virgin's title is already unfathomably amazing. However, I believe that there is good reason to think that the "time past" aspect of the word kecharotimene goes all the way back to the beginning of her existence. But I shall reserve this and several other objections and considerations for the next post, as this one has already gone on far too long.

If I may be allowed to offer my own paraphrase of the angel's greeting, based upon what we have learned concerning Mary's title and its uniqueness, we may say, "Hail, you who alone of all the human race have been freely filled by God with grace; filled so completely that there is no place within you that is not filled to the maximum with grace; so filled past, present, and future. The Lord is with you!" 

This, my brothers and sisters, is no ordinary greeting, and its like has never been heard before or since by human ears.