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Nice addition. “That’s rather nice” would functionally mean the same as “that’s quite nice,” in which case, “quite” would be an appropriate replacement for “rather” in Luke 11:28.

Mistranslation by the KJV, Luke 11:28

27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman called out from the crowd and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”

King James Version

28 But Jesus said, “Yes, rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

Eastern Orthodox Version

28 But Jesus said, “Yes, and more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

The Greek word menounge (μενοῦνγε), translated above in the text of verse 28 as “yea, more than that,” but rendered inaccurately in the KJV as "yea, rather," is the same word which occurs in Phil. 3:8, where the KJV gives Yea, doubtless, and in Rom. 10:18, where the KJV gives Yes, verily.

The force of menounge is that it corrects the previous statement, not by negating it, but by amplifying it.

Philippians 3:8 “Yes, without a doubt, I consider all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things. I consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ.”

Romans 10:18 “But I say, did they not hear? Yes, most certainly: Their sound went out into all the earth, Their words to the ends of the world.”

Evangelicals and opponents of traditional Christianity often frame this statement of Christ as proof that His Mother was not holy or deserving recognition, that she was merely a vessel with little importance, and this perspective directly results from a mistranslation of Christ’s words.

Indeed, blessed is she who contained the Uncontainable: Christ our God.

Understand that Luke’s Gospel was originally written in Greek, so perhaps we ought to study the original language that the scriptures were written in to have a better understanding of Christ’s life-giving message.

Thalerhof was the first concentration camp in Europe, active from 1914 to 1917 and its primary victims were Eastern Christians. This camp preceded even Dachau which is considered to be a prototype of concentration camps built by Nazi Germany.

It is the place where Austrians interned 30,000 “Russo-philes” which meant that those who identified as Rusyns (or Ruthenian), including Orthodox and Greek Catholics, were interned in either Thalerhof or Terezin.

Rusyns are a little known population who originated in the northern Carpathian mountains, along the modern borders of Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. To this day, their identities as Rusyns are not acknowledged and they’re often underrepresented in censuses, especially in Ukraine, where they are merely listed as Ukrainian highlanders.

There are countless efforts to erase this part of Eastern European history and today, Thalerhof has been razed to the ground and an airport is built where it once stood. Carpatho-Rusyns, in their attempt to escape genocide, are responsible for bringing Orthodox Christianity to America.

Why do we judge our brethren? Because we do not strive to know ourselves. Whoever occupies himself with self-knowledge never notices others; judge yourself, and you will stop judging others. And so, beloved, let us not observe the sins of others and judge them, so as not to hear: "The sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword" (Ps. 56:5). For when the Lord leaves a man to himself, then the devil gets ready to crush him, as a millstone does a grain of wheat.

☦︎ St. Seraphim of Sarov

Studenica monastery, central Serbia, July of 1931. Photo by Slovene ethnographer Matija Murko.

The Holy Snakes of Virgin Mary

The phenomenon of the Holy Snakes of the Virgin Mary has been occurring for centuries during the festivities to the Theotokos between August 5 and August 15 in the village of Markopoulo on the island of Kefalonia, Greece.

The small black snakes appear at the Eastern Orthodox Church of Panagia of Langouvarda on the site of a monastery, established as a nunnery and dedicated to Our Lady of Langouvarda.

The myth about these snakes is attached to the year the monastery was attacked by pirates in 1705. The Orthodox nuns prayed fervently to the Virgin Mary for protection and were subsequently transformed into the snakes to avoid being taken as prisoners.

The snakes have a small cross on their head and their tongues are also in the shape of a cross. They are known to belong to the Telescopusfallax species, also known as the European Cat Snake, and they appear in and around the courtyard of the church, on the walls and on the bell tower.

The snakes show no fear while the services are held and are harmless during the festivities. As soon as the Liturgy concludes on the 15th of August, they become hostile and aggressive and disappear back into the wilderness of the area. The snakes cannot be found until the following year.

The inhabitants of the villages consider them to be holy, collecting them and setting them on the silver icon of the Virgin of the Snakes (Panagia Fidoussa). It has been documented by the locals that during World War II and the year of the island’s destructive 1953 earthquake in August, the snakes failed to appear.

The locals now use this as a sign that if the snakes do not show just before the 15th of August that something bad is imminent.

Yes, I am specifically referring to the Greek word «μενουνγε» (“menounge”) being translated to “rather” when the appropriate—with the evolution of the English language considered—translation of «μενουνγε» is “verily”; as its purpose is to amplify the preceding statement, not negate it as the modern “rather” would.

In the cases you listed of the word “rather” being used in the KJV such as 1 Corinthians 14:1, Luke 12:31, 2 Corinthians 3:8, the source Greek word that became “rather” in the KJV is not «μενουνγε» but «πλην» (“plin”) and «μαλλον» (“mallon”) which respectively mean “however” or “except” and “rather” or “instead”, in which case it was properly translated in the KJV.

The examples I put forth in my original post were specifically for the Greek source word «μενουνγε».

Mistranslation by the KJV, Luke 11:28

27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman called out from the crowd and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”

King James Version

28 But Jesus said, “Yes, rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

Eastern Orthodox Version

28 But Jesus said, “Yes, and more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

The Greek word menounge (μενοῦνγε), translated above in the text of verse 28 as “yea, more than that,” but rendered inaccurately in the KJV as "yea, rather," is the same word which occurs in Phil. 3:8, where the KJV gives Yea, doubtless, and in Rom. 10:18, where the KJV gives Yes, verily.

The force of menounge is that it corrects the previous statement, not by negating it, but by amplifying it.

Philippians 3:8 “Yes, without a doubt, I consider all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things. I consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ.”

Romans 10:18 “But I say, did they not hear? Yes, most certainly: Their sound went out into all the earth, Their words to the ends of the world.”

Evangelicals and opponents of traditional Christianity often frame this statement of Christ as proof that His Mother was not holy or deserving recognition, that she was merely a vessel with little importance, and this perspective directly results from a mistranslation of Christ’s words.

Indeed, blessed is she who contained the Uncontainable: Christ our God.

Understand that Luke’s Gospel was originally written in Greek, so perhaps we ought to study the original language that the scriptures were written in to have a better understanding of Christ’s life-giving message.

Thinking about being in church makes me want to lay on the floor and cry it is home I’m home finally I’m home

A Different Worldview and a Different History; Catholicism and Orthodoxy

The Roman Catholic Scholastic thinker Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) wrote in his massive work, the Summa Theologiae, that theology is the "highest scientia" since a high degree of rationality is required to understand the most important and complex philosophical concepts about God. The universities that developed during the Scholastic period in the Christian West were intended to teach students how to deal in this "science" of theology through rigorous conceptual analysis. Theology was considered to be the preeminent Scholastic endeavor, a good thing in many ways. Yet, as a result of the high regard for logic and rationality in medieval Roman Catholicism, those who studied and taught (the "doctors") came to be more highly regarded than the monks and nuns (the "religious") whose main vocation was to pray.

Theology began to be expounded by scholars outside of the context of prayer, pastoral ministry, and liturgical worship. Pelikan traces this specific change in the West through the changing job description of the theologian. He notes that, between AD 100 and 600, most theologians were bishops; from 600 to 1500 in the West they were monks. But after 1500, Western theologians are university professors: "Gregory I, who died in 604, was a bishop who had been a monk; Martin Luther, who died in 1546, was a monk who became a university professor. Each of these lifestyles has left its mark on the job description of a theologian." After the sixteenth century in the West, the task of theology increasingly became separated from its earlier moorings to the worship of the community and the spiritual disciplines.

From an Eastern Orthodox point of view, knowledge of God comes only from an encounter with the God who has revealed Himself: "What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them" (Rom. 1:19). Thus, theology can never be separated from prayer, worship, and contemplation of the Holy Trinity. Metropolitan Ware affirms that all true Orthodox theology is mystical: "Just as mysticism divorced from theology becomes subjective and heretical, so theology, when it is not mystical, degenerates into an arid scholasticism, 'academic' in the bad sense of the word." That is to say, Orthodox mystical theology guards against either unacceptable extreme: subjective and heretical, or arid and academic.

- A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology, Eve Tibbs

Serbia, 16th century

Thalerhof was the first concentration camp in Europe, active from 1914 to 1917 and its primary victims were Eastern Christians. This camp preceded even Dachau which is considered to be the prototype of concentration camps built by Nazi Germany.

It is the place where Austrians interned 30,000 “Russo-philes” which meant that those who identified as Rusyns (or Ruthenian), including Orthodox and Greek Catholics, were interned in either Thalerhof or Terezin.

Rusyns are a little known population who originated in the northern Carpathian mountains, along the modern borders of Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. To this day, their identities as Rusyns are not acknowledged and they’re often underrepresented in censuses, especially in Ukraine, where they are merely listed as Ukrainian highlanders.

There are countless efforts to erase this part of Eastern European history and today, Thalerhof has been razed to the ground and an airport is built where it once stood. Carpatho-Rusyns, in their attempt to escape genocide, are responsible for bringing Orthodox Christianity to America.

Saint Nicholas Monastery - Gomel, Belarus

Mistranslation by the KJV, Luke 11:28

27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman called out from the crowd and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”

King James Version

28 But Jesus said, “Yes, rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

Eastern Orthodox Version

28 But Jesus said, “Yes, and more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

The Greek word menounge (μενοῦνγε), translated above in the text of verse 28 as “yea, more than that,” but rendered inaccurately in the KJV as "yea, rather," is the same word which occurs in Phil. 3:8, where the KJV gives Yea, doubtless, and in Rom. 10:18, where the KJV gives Yes, verily.

The force of menounge is that it corrects the previous statement, not by negating it, but by amplifying it.

Philippians 3:8 “Yes, without a doubt, I consider all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things. I consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ.”

Romans 10:18 “But I say, did they not hear? Yes, most certainly: Their sound went out into all the earth, Their words to the ends of the world.”

Evangelicals and opponents of traditional Christianity often frame this statement of Christ as proof that His Mother was not holy or deserving recognition, that she was merely a vessel with little importance, and this perspective directly results from a mistranslation of Christ’s words.

Indeed, blessed is she who contained the Uncontainable: Christ our God.

Understand that Luke’s Gospel was originally written in Greek, so perhaps we ought to study the original language that the scriptures were written in to have a better understanding of Christ’s life-giving message.

Edit: I made a Part Two, I might make it a series. The second part is linked below!

Trawling through Orthodox tags and it’s like 50% my own posts, what the heck guys. My back hurts from carrying the Orthoblr universe.

Why we trying to glorify and place virtue on an act that explicitly a failure of trust and lack of faith in God

We’re not. I recommend reading about the issues and dissent against the Christian faith during the time of St. Irenaeus in the 2nd century to get an idea of what his writings were a response to. He was not saying that Eve was the height of virtue, he was responding to the Romans who accused the holy scriptures of falsehood; accusations of Adam having demonic tendencies to defy God; and accusations of God having created Eve imperfectly, saying that she was created without proper brain function with malicious intent on the Creator’s part.

The quote that I posted was only a part of a bigger dispute. This is not man vs woman.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, but the world did not know him.

John 1:10

Why Eve Was More Courageous Than Adam

Why did the serpent not attack the man, rather than the woman? You say he went after her because she was the weaker of the two.

On the contrary. In the transgression of the commandment, she showed herself to be the stronger... For she alone stood up to the serpent. She ate from the tree, but with resistance and dissent and after being dealt with perfidiously.

But Adam partook of the fruit given by the woman, without even beginning to make a fight, without a word of contradiction - a perfect demonstration of consummate weakness and a cowardly soul. The woman, moreover, can be excused; she wrestled with a demon and was thrown. But Adam will not be able to find an excuse... he had personally received the commandment from God.

☦︎ St. Irenaeus, 2nd Century

Smashing of the Church at Easter Night by Ilya Glazunov

Exterior view of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ

Late 1880s