Protestantism in its majority denies the term “Most Holy Mother”, thus refusing to bestow on the Holy Mother the highest of honors amongst all other saints. Thus, an argument that it usually relies on is found in the verse that we shall examine here.  There is the impression that Jesus “corrected” a certain woman who called his mother blessed, as though He didn’t want His mother to be honored. However, this verse says totally different things. So, in order to analyze this verse, we shall enlist an excerpt from the text by professor Stergios N. Sakkos, herebelow.

XVXVXVXVXVXVXVX

 

The incident is quite simply narrated, in the Gospel of Luke. While listening to the amazing teaching of the Lord, a woman in the crowd shouted out enthusiastically:

“Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts that You suckled” (Luke, 11:27).

In other words, the woman is calling the Lord’s mother a blessed person, thus verifying the Virgin’s prophecy pertaining to Her person:

“Behold, for from now on, all generations shall call Me blessed” (Luke 1:48).

The Lord responds to this woman’s enthusiasm, with the phrase:

«Μενούνγε, μακάριοι οι ακούοντες τον λόγον του Θεού και φυλάσσοντες αυτόν»

 “Indeed - but blessed are they who heed the word of the Lord and preserve it” (Luke II/XI  28).

... the last part of the excerpt was delivered in modern Greek as follows:

“Blessed rather are those who listen to the word of the Lord and preserve it”. Therefore, those who listen to and preserve the divine word are more blessed than the mother of the Lord.(!!!)

Naturally, no-one doubts the significance and the importance of listening to the divine word, especially when it is accompanied by its enforcement. Nevertheless, the proposed meaning of “ΜΕΝΟΥΝΓΕ” (men-oon-yeh) inferring “blessed rather”, as pertaining to those who preserve the divine word and not to the Holy Mother, is incorrect.

I believe the error lies in the careless translation of the very first word of this sentence, which is a composite word: the particle “ΜΕΝΟΥΝΓΕ” (men-oon-yeh).  What is its significance?  According to the dictionaries, this particle is comprised of three different words:  the oppositional particle “ΜΕΝ” (men = rather), the conclusive particle “ΟΥΝ” (oon = therefore) and the certifying particle “ΓΕ” (ye = certainly). In composite form, these words do not maintain their initial significance. The fragment “ΜΕΝΟΥΝΓΕ” (men-oon-ye) is usually used at the beginning of a reply; at times, it can be used as a weighty verification and it can also be used as a certification that somehow corrects and supplements the significance of those words that precede it. The particle “ΓΕ” (ye = certainly) intensifies the meaning of the word to which it is annexed.

Thus, the specific tract of the New Testament, could be seen as equivalent to the modern Greek expressions of “indeed”, "verily", “yes, of course”, “most certainly!”.  It is remarkable how, this same composite word “ΜΕΝΟΥΝΓΕ” (men-oon-yeh) is mentioned in three other tracts of the New Testament, with the same connotation:

Romans 9:20

"

20 μενοῦνγε, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, σὺ τίς εἶ ὁ ἀνταποκρινόμενος τῷ Θεῷ;"

"Indeed, o man, who are you, that talks back to God? 

Romans 10:18

"18 μενοῦνγε, εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν,

"18 Indeed, to all the earth has their word gone forth...   

Philippians 3:8 

"8 αλλά μενοῦνγε καὶ ἡγοῦμαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Χριστοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου μου,

"18 Indeed, and I believe that all things are losses, because of the superiority in knowing Christ Jesus my Lord"

In each of these instances, this word confirms the significance of the preceding sentence and intensifies its meaning.

To confine myself to Luke 11:27-28 and the text that gave rise to the present commentary: 

27 ᾿Εγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ λέγειν αὐτὸν ταῦτα ἐπάρασά τις γυνὴ φωνὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου εἶπεν αὐτῷ· μακαρία ἡ κοιλία ἡ βαστάσασά σε καὶ μαστοὶ οὓς ἐθήλασας. 28 αὐτὸς δὲ εἶπε· μενοῦνγε μακάριοι οἱ ἀκούοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ φυλάσσοντες αὐτόν.

²⁷ And it happened, as He was saying these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that You suckled!”  ²⁸ And He said, “Indeed (that is so); but also blessed are they who hear the word of God and guard it!”

In response to the anonymous woman’s display of enthusiasm, the Lord begins His reply with this word “ΜΕΝΟΥΝΓΕ” (men-oon-yeh),  not for the purpose of denying or diminishing that woman's respect towards His mother: “He does not deny the natural kinship, but only adds to it the kinship of virtue”, comments saint John the Chrysostom (On Matthew, 45,1). 

The Lord was saying that He fully agrees and accepts as sincere the popular expression of respect towards His mother. And, with what He says after that, He aspires to leading his audience’s thoughts to another noble thought. The meaning of His words is: “Yes! Of course! Certainly! My mother is indeed blessed as you say; but I say to you that blessed is also the one who heeds My divine word and preserves it”.

“These words of the Lord” says Saint John the Chrysostom “do not indicate that He is repulsing His mother; they are stressing that His birth would have been of no benefit to the Holy Mother, if She hadn’t indeed been wholly pure and faithful” (On John, 21,3). Thus, the Lord is encouraging the woman into hoping that she too – like every Christian – can become blessed just like His mother, if she heeds His word and preserves it.

Another similar response by Jesus bears the same meaning, when, speaking in the Temple they announced to Him that His mother and brothers were asking for Him and He replied “My mother and my brothers are (all) those who listen to the word of God and obey it (Luke 8:21, Matthew 12:48-50, Mark 3:34-35).

The blessed status of the Virgin and Her highest glory are attributed to the fact that She was chosen before the ages by God to become the "flesh mother" of the Lord Jesus, precisely because She remained the eternal guardian of the divine Lord. She herself had opened Her soul and submitted herself to Him: “Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord” (Luke 1:35), while Elisabeth, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, blessed the Holy Mother for Her trust in God's words (during the Annunciation through the Archangel Gabriel) : “Blessed is She who has believed that it is the fulfilment of the things that were told to Her by God"  (Luke 1:45).