The Hail Mary is Biblical

 

Many are familiar with the Hail Mary that the Roman Catholics use. Of course many Protestants protest the use, crying idolatry to any who dare utter the prayer. I find it funny, however, that those who rely on Sola Scriptura are so against a prayer that is Biblical. Below I will lay out the case.

First, the typical form that we see from the Roman Catholics is, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen." 

 

Second, the form we Orthodox typically use (because many in the Western Rite will use the "Roman" form above) is, Rejoice, O virgin Theotokos! Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is thy fruit of thy womb, for tho hast borne the Savior of our souls."

 

In the Gospel of Luke Chapter 1, starting with verse 28 we read, "And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." (KJV) The word that is typically translated as "hail" in the Greek is χαῖρε (chaíre), and can rightly be translated both as "hail" and "rejoice". Also, the , "thou art highly favoured," in Greek is κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitōménē) - which can also be translated as "full of grace" or "to show, or bestow with grace". So we already see from this one verse that the first part of the prayer is biblical - aside from the Orthodox usage of "Theotokos" which I'll explain in more detail below.

 

Further down in the same book and chapter, starting with verse 41 we read, 

 

"41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"(KJV)

This covers the second part of the prayer, notice that when the Blessed Virgin Mary visits her cousin, St. Elizabeth, St. Elizabeth cries out, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." (verse 42).

 

Now, notice that in verse 43, St. Elizabeth goes on to say, "And when is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" The word for Lord used here is the same Greek word found in the Old Testament (Septuagint) when referring to the Lord God, and also throughout the New Testament - Κυρίου. Κυρίου, or Kyrion, is the genitive case of Κύριος (Kýrios) - meaning, Lord or Master. We see the word, Kyrios back up there in verse 28 to refer to God. As early (as in reading wise) as Genesis Chapter 2, verse 5 we see the term, "κύριος ο θεός" meaning, "The Lord God." In the Hebrew version of this same verse the Hebrew, "יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙" from right to left reads, "Yahweh God". Later, in Deuteronomy 10:17 we read, "For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords."(KJV) Here, the Greek is, "ὁ γὰρ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν, οὗτος θεὸς τῶν θεῶν καὶ κύριος τῶν κυρίων," while the Hebrew reads, כִּ֚י יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם ה֚וּא אֱלֹהֵ֣י הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים וַאֲדֹנֵ֖י הָאֲדֹנִ֑ים הָאֵ֨ל הַגָּדֹ֤ל הַגִּבֹּר֙ וְהַנֹּורָ֔א אֲשֶׁר֙" לֹא־יִשָּׂ֣א פָנִ֔ים וְלֹ֥א יִקַּ֖ח שֹֽׁחַד׃" I mention this because here we see in the Hebrew that Yahweh and Adonai are both translated as Kyrie (or Kyrios and kyrion [pl]). And I wanted to point this out because Adonai was often used as a replacement for the Tetragrammaton. So we see, constantly that Kyrie is used for both Yahweh and Adonai in the Greek text.

 

So, St. Elizabeth is saying that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of her Lord - as in the Mother of God. And the term Theotokos is loosely translated into English as Mother of God and God-bearer. I say loose, because there is no exact equivalent in English for the Greek τόκος. Calling the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God is Biblical, because we can see it being done in this verse.

 

So we see that the Orthodox version is completely biblical. But what about the rest of the Roman version? Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. A common complaint from many Protestants is that only God is holy, and yet we see in such verses as 1 Peter 1:15-16 that we are called to be holy, "15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."(KJV). The word "saint" comes from the Latin "sancta" meaning "holy" - this term is applied to those we know have been sanctified - who have been made holy. So calling the Theotokos "Holy Mary" lines right up with the Bible telling us to be holy.

 

In James 5:16 we read, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."(KJV) So we are told to pray for each other. In fact we are told so very often to pray for one another and we see the Apostles praying for others that there are a plethora of verses to choose from such as Romans 15:30, Colossians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:25, and 1 Timothy 2:1. And in Revelation chapter 8 we read about the prayers of the saints rising up with incense before God, "3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand."(KJV) So asking for prayers, and praying for others is biblical.

 

This raises another frequent objection: Mary is dead and can't hear our prayers. Yet we see in the Gospels of St. Matthew (22:32), St. Mark (12:27), and St. Luke (20:38) that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. We also read in the Gospel of St. Luke 16:19-31 about the rich man and Lazarus,

"19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."(KJV)

This is often used as a proof text that praying to the "dead" will avail us nothing, but a better and careful reading will show that Abraham is saying that if the rich man's brothers wouldn't listen to Moses and the prophets that they wouldn't listen to a man coming back from the dead. It is often quoted too, the part about the gulf between Abraham and the rich man, but if you actually read that verse (26) Abraham is saying that there is a gulf between Abraham's bosom and Hell so that the inhabitants of either cannot pass between.

 

We have a few examples of the "gulf" being crossed by others, such as Samuel conversing with King Saul through the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:8-20), and Moses and Elijah conversing with Jesus during the Transfiguration (St. Matthew 17:1-4, St. Mark 9:2-8, and St. Luke 9:28-36). So we see that it is indeed possible for those in Heaven to bridge that gap.

 

Therefore, it is indeed biblical to ask those saints who now reside in Heaven to pray for us, because to not do so on the basis that they are dead is to say that God is the God of the dead - which is in direct contradiction to what the Bible tells us.

 

In conclusion, the Hail Mary - either version - is biblical. The majority of it is quotes from scripture. The rest of it can be inferred from scripture.

 

Please pray for me, a sinner.

 

All Greek scriptures come form the Apostolic Bible Polyglot. All Hebrew scriptures come from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. All English scriptures is from the King James Version.