Greek & "Full of Grace"

[Classicist]

Friends & Brethren

My own transliteration has it:

In Luke 1:28, the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to as κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitoméne)
In John 1:14, the incarnate Logos is referred to as πλήρης χάριτος (pléres cháritos)

The two different terms are usually translated as “Full of Grace”. Why is this?

Would it be better to translate the Lord’s “full of grace” as “the fullness of grace”, since He - being God - is “Grace Itself”? Is the Virgin’s “full of grace” is more like “filled with grace (by God)”?

I hope this isn’t some sort of hapax legomenon, and that the Septuagint has a similar term somewhere, to compare to these…

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Our Lord has created grace. His human soul was filled with sanctifying grace at the moment of his animation. As Man, He also has special grace as the Head of the human race, and the grace of the hypostatic union (cf. ST III, Q2, Q7, Q8). All this could be referred to as “full of grace” as distinct from being “grace itself,” i.e., Uncreated Grace, which would refer to His divinity.

 

[porthos11]

Friends & Brethren

My own transliteration has it:

In Luke 1:28, the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to as κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitoméne)
In John 1:14, the incarnate Logos is referred to as πλήρης χάριτος (pléres cháritos)

The two different terms are usually translated as “Full of Grace”. Why is this?

Would it be better to translate the Lord’s “full of grace” as “the fullness of grace”, since He - being God - is “Grace Itself”? Is the Virgin’s “full of grace” is more like “filled with grace (by God)”?

I hope this isn’t some sort of hapax legomenon, and that the Septuagint has a similar term somewhere, to compare to these…

“Full of grace” or “filled with grace” is the exact translation of “pleres charitos”. “Kecharitomene” is nearly untranslatable, and even “full of grace” falls short of the power of the word, much less “highly favoured.” The problem is with the perfect tense of the participle, combined with the fact that it is a vocative. English cannot capture the precision of the Greek without plenty of awkward phrasing.

 

[Classicist]

“Full of grace” or “filled with grace” is the exact translation of “pleres charitos”. “Kecharitomene” is nearly untranslatable, and even “full of grace” falls short of the power of the word, much less “highly favoured.” The problem is with the perfect tense of the participle, combined with the fact that it is a vocative. English cannot capture the precision of the Greek without plenty of awkward phrasing.

Is it possible to give the most literal translation of “kecharitomene”, even if it does sound awkward? Being perfect tense, exactly how much more powerful is it than merely “full of grace”? Is this really ark-of-the-covenant-level stuff?

 

[DaveBj]

Is it possible to give the most literal translation of “kecharitomene”, even if it does sound awkward? Being perfect tense, exactly how much more powerful is it than merely “full of grace”? Is this really ark-of-the-covenant-level stuff?

“You (fem.)-who-have-been-graced-in-the-past-and-upon-whom-the-effects-of-your-having-been-graced-still-remain.”

Try fitting that into a Hail Mary

Grammatically it’s a passive (meaning that the action was done to, not by, the referent) present perfect (meaning that the action took place in the past, but the effects of that action still remain) feminine singular nominative/vocative (in the feminine they’re identical) participle, or verbal adjective, that can be used as a noun.