eulogeo

[kmaaj]

In my journey to the Catholic faith, I have always had a conviction that everything that the Church claims Mary to be can be found in the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Magnificat accounts in Luke.

One thing that I have noticed in recent times, amidst all of the debate concerning the use of “Chaire, Kecharitomene”, no one, Catholics included, seem to pay much attention to what follows immediately, in the words of the archangel and Spirit filled Elizabeth: “Blessed art thou…” The word translated here for “blessed” is NOT the more common “makarios”, but rather the much less and more reservedly used “eulogeo”, which is much broader and encompassing in definition. It can mean “consecrate’”, i.e. set apart.

Matter of fact, using the KJV and the online Strong’s, I have found that the use of “eulogeo” in the Gospels is only reserved for the following: Mary, Jesus, God, the loaves and the fish, (this next one is curious) our enemies, and the Eucharist. Not once is eulogeo used in relation to followers and believers of Jesus Christ until after the Resurrection, just prior to the Ascension.

To be quite frank, in my own personal walk, “eulogeo” carries a lot more weight in the role of Mary than does the oft maligned “Chaire, Kecharitomene”. For anyone to say Mary is not who the Church says she is, they are not really arguing with the magisterium, they are in fact arguing with Gabriel, the very mouthpiece of God. The way I see it, God Himself said that Mary was pre-emptively redeemed and “consecrated, set apart”.

The same with the Eucharist, “eulogeo” as used in the 1st 3 Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, that word really drove it home for me as to how the Lord Himself regarded the bread and the wine as much much more than symbolic. And definitely not metaphorical, as reformed mindsets insist.

So this coming Advent, I will really dig into the Catholic translations of the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Magnificat.

My protestant friends are claiming that the Strong’s does not define eulogeo as “consecrated”. I keep pointing them HERE, but they keep diverting elsewhere. Do other Greek lexicons and dictionaries give eulogeo the same weight as the Strongs? And do the Catholic (and other) translations show the same ratio of usage when it comes to eulogeo vs. makarios?

 

[Dave_Noonan]

Here is the dictionary entry for eulogeo from the LJS, which most scholars would see as the best dictionary of ancient Greek in English. The entry also includes scripture references including the LXX.

perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=eulogew&la=greek#lexicon

The basic meaning is to honor or praise, or as a euphemism, to curse, and can be used to refer to God/gods or people. I don’t see “consecrate,” as a possibility but one would have to look more closely at the various contexts in which the word occurs and see whether that meaning could fit. You might be able to make such an argument from Gen. 2:3/Ex. 20:11. Wherever you see the word “bless” in the O.T., it’s likely from this verb.

Here’s makarios:

perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dmaka%2Frios

More “blessed; happy” as in Ps. 1:1 (LXX)–often translated “happy.” The usage of makarios in the N.T. is about the same as eulogeo in terms of frequency.

I don’t know anything about the accuracy of the BLB or the background or competency of its people.

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

In my journey to the Catholic faith, I have always had a conviction that everything that the Church claims Mary to be can be found in the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Magnificat accounts in Luke.

One thing that I have noticed in recent times, amidst all of the debate concerning the use of “Chaire, Kecharitomene”, no one, Catholics included, seem to pay much attention to what follows immediately, in the words of the archangel and Spirit filled Elizabeth: “Blessed art thou…” The word translated here for “blessed” is NOT the more common “makarios”, but rather the much less and more reservedly used “eulogeo”, which is much broader and encompassing in definition. It can mean “consecrate’”, i.e. set apart.

Matter of fact, using the KJV and the online Strong’s, I have found that the use of “eulogeo” in the Gospels is only reserved for the following: Mary, Jesus, God, the loaves and the fish, (this next one is curious) our enemies, and the Eucharist. Not once is eulogeo used in relation to followers and believers of Jesus Christ until after the Resurrection, just prior to the Ascension.

To be quite frank, in my own personal walk, “eulogeo” carries a lot more weight in the role of Mary than does the oft maligned “Chaire, Kecharitomene”. For anyone to say Mary is not who the Church says she is, they are not really arguing with the magisterium, they are in fact arguing with Gabriel, the very mouthpiece of God. The way I see it, God Himself said that Mary was pre-emptively redeemed and “consecrated, set apart”.

The same with the Eucharist, “eulogeo” as used in the 1st 3 Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, that word really drove it home for me as to how the Lord Himself regarded the bread and the wine as much much more than symbolic. And definitely not metaphorical, as reformed mindsets insist.

So this coming Advent, I will really dig into the Catholic translations of the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Magnificat.

My protestant friends are claiming that the Strong’s does not define eulogeo as “consecrated”. I keep pointing them HERE, but they keep diverting elsewhere. Do other Greek lexicons and dictionaries give eulogeo the same weight as the Strongs? And do the Catholic (and other) translations show the same ratio of usage when it comes to eulogeo vs. makarios?

I praise your devotion to hermeneutics. I will keep curiously and attentively reading for this is not my turf…though I understand and read greek…

Sorry, I cant help, too specialized for me, though I have a lady greek friend of mine who is a specialist in Classics latin and Greek and Koiné that might be willing to help if the question would be formulated exactly.