02_Feník Lapko_498-524_498-524 10/12/15 10:15 Pagina 508 508 JURAJ FENÍK – RÓBERT LAPKO 508 lale,w; 2,20 lale,w) used in reference to the angel’s action does not exhaust the range of the annunciation aspect present in this peri- cope. A verb from the opposite semantic domain (avkou,w) in 2,20 with the shepherds as the subject portrays them as hearers of the angel’s message. Upon their return, they glorify and praise God evpi. pa/sin oi-j h;kousan. The cumulative effect of the elements just an- alyzed is clear: the shepherds are fashioned by the evangelist as the recipients of an angelic announcement. An attentive examination of the middle section of the pericope provides a sufficient amount of evidence for claiming that its prin- cipal intent is to portray the shepherds as the transmitters and Mary as the recipient of the message. After references to discovering and seeing Mary, Joseph, and the child in 2,16-17a, the evangelist ex- presses the chief action of the shepherds by the finite verb evgnw,risan followed by the prepositional clause peri. tou/ r`hm, atoj tou/ lalhqe,ntoj auvtoi/j peri. tou/ paidi,ou tou,tou. The wording of the text does not leave any room for quibbling. The shepherds now do the speaking as they announce the speech made to them about the child. In making the shepherds the subject of the verb gnwri,zw in 2,17, the evangelist manages to make an intentional link to 2,15 in which the same verb was used with ku,rioj as the act- ing agent, and so the following dynamic emerges: as the Lord spoke to the shepherds, so they now assume the role of speakers. Referring back to 2,11.14, they announce the message spoken to them con- cerning the child, namely, that the child born is swth,r and cristo.j ku,rioj and that his birth brings peace to the people of God’s favor. By styling first the Lord (2,15) and then the shepherds (2,17) as the subject of gnwri,zw, the evangelist artfully constructs a transition from the heavenly to the earthly messengers, which Coleridge cap- tures in the following comment: “The effect of the verbal link is to associate the shepherds with the angels” 16. Diefenbach’s perception is likewise accurate: “Die Hirten teilen den Eltern Jesu die Engels- botschaft mit (VV. 16-18)” 17. The functional assimilation of the 16 COLERIDGE, The Birth of the Lukan Narrative, 148. 17 M. DIEFENBACH, Die Komposition des Lukasevangeliums unter Berück- sichtigung antiker Rhetorikelemente (FTS 43; Frankfurt am Main 1993) 59. One may further cite F. JUNG, ΣΩΤΗΡ. Studien zur Rezeption eines hellenist- ischen Ehrentitels im Neuen Testament (NA 39; Münster 2002) 278, who speaks of “[d]ie Weitergabe der frohen Botschaft an die Eltern [...]”. Among