Mary: The Holy Mother of God and Our Mother

Mary: The Holy Mother of God and Our Mother

by 

Rev. David A. Fisher

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Her Praises in the First-Half of the First Christian Millennium

Then the tribes of Israel heard that Anna had conceived the immaculate one.  So everyone took part in the rejoicing.  Joachim gave a banquet, and great was the merriment in the garden.  He invited the priests and Levites to prayer; then he called Mary into the center of the crowd, that she might be magnified. (On the Birth of Mary, St. Romanos the Melodist (c.490-c.556 AD)

 
Introduction

We must always resist the modern tendency of turning the Sacred Scriptures into a history book.  The Scriptures are in no way concerned with giving us a biography of Moses, David, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Luke, or even the Holy Virgin Mary.  For the Sacred Scriptures are a proclamation and revelation of the self disclosure of God in Jesus Christ.  St. Ephrem wrote: “Scripture brought me to the Gate of Paradise, and the mind stood in wonder as it entered.” At the Gates of Paradise we enter into that perfect relationship with God and his holy martyrs and saints, the Church of heaven that John speaks about in his Apocalypse/Revelation, whose queen is the Holy Virgin.  

Jesus reveals to us that God is not a philosophical concept of notions of divine perfection, rather God is the perfection of relationship, which means love.  God is from all eternity Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, communion as perfection, communion of eternal love. It is this life into which we enter as members of the Church, this is why we listen to the prophets, honor the saints, and adore Mary, who is the image par excellence of the Church.  From her nativity, Annunciation, the flight into Egypt, the presentation in the Temple, the wedding at Cana, and at the foot of the Cross; Mary, image of the  Church, contemplates all these things in her heart, shares in his suffering, listens to his words, stands by his Cross, and shares in his Resurrection.  

The Fathers of the Church pondered the silence of Mary, rejoiced in her nativity and maternity, followed her example of sanctity, and invoked her prayerful assistance.   As noted by Chorbishop Seely Beggiani in his book Early Syriac Theology, “It was natural for Syriac writers to see Mary as the fulfillment of Old Testament types and a symbol of the future church.

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Protoevangelium of James, whose original title was The Nativity of Mary, was written probably around 145 AD.  While not being one of the four canonical Gospels, it is from this influential early Christian writing that we read of the Nativity of Mary.        

And her months were fulfilled, and in the ninth month Anna brought forth. And she said to the midwife: What have I brought forth? And she said: A girl. And said Anna: My soul has been magnified this day. And she laid her down. And the days having been fulfilled, Anna was purified, … and called her name Mary. …

And when she was a year old, Joachim made a great feast, and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel. And Joachim brought the child to the priests; and they blessed her, saying: O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations. … And Anna made a song to the Lord God, saying: I will sing a song to the Lord my God, for He has looked upon me, and has taken away the reproach of mine enemies; - Protoevangelium of James

 
The Protoevangelium of James is not a biography but a proclamation of the earliest traditions of the Church concerning Mary, the one chosen to be the holy mother of the Christ; the Theotókos (God-bearer, Mother of God), as the Third Ecumenical Council, held in Ephesus in 431AD will proclaim as dogma.  

From this early Christian apocryphal writing and other lesser known apocryphal  writings of that time we discover the devout parents of Mary, Joachim and Anna, Joseph a widower who will become betrothed to Mary and will be the protector of the Holy Family.  Also, we discover the oldest teachings of the perpetual virginity of Mary.  

The Nativity of Mary along with her fiat given to the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, will form the hinge on the door of human history.  For due to the “yes” of Mary to “let it be done to me according to your will,” the door of human history is opened to the Father to send his Son for our salvation.   

She is the leaven of our new creation, the root of the true vine whose branches we have become, by virtue of the germination proper to baptism.  She is the point of arrival of the reconciliation of God with men, on which occasion the angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth and good will toward men.” - Severus of Antioch (c.465-538 AD)

 
Saint Ephrem the Syrian: Poet of the Virgin Mary

The poetic theological and spiritual writings of St. Ephrem on the role of Mary in salvation history, are some of the most beautiful and profound expressions of faith to be found among the Church Fathers.  His work on the significance of the Holy Virgin for the Church and its mission to the world, will influence later Syriac writers, such as Narsai (d. 502AD) and Jacob of Serug (d. 521AD).

For St. Ephrem, Mary is the beauty of creation: “Only you [Jesus] and your Mother are more beautiful than everything.” He sees Mary as All-Holy: “Handmaid and daughter of blood and water [am I] whom You redeemed and baptized.”  He is possibly the first speak of the Holy Name of Mary: “Blessed are you also, Mary, whose name is great and exalted because of your Child.” For Ephrem, Mary is a defender of the Church’s faith in Christ: “His death on the Cross attests to his birth from the woman.  For anyone who dies must have been born as well…Therefore, the human conception of Jesus is demonstrated by his death on the Cross.  If anyone denies his birth, the Cross proves him wrong.” Importantly, Mary is a symbol of the Church: “Three angels were seen at the tomb, these three announced that he was risen on the third day.  Mary, who saw him, is the symbol of the Church which will be the first to recognize the signs of his Second Coming.”

As regards the Nativity of Mary, some have held that St. Ephrem is the first Christian writer to explicitly refer to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.  He wrote:

In Mary, as in an eye,

the Light has made a dwelling and purified her spirit,

refined her thoughts, sanctified her mind, and 

transfigured her virginity.    

 
St. Ephrem affirms the enduring belief of the Church, that Mary is the greatest of our human race and the perfect example of one who gave their whole life in service to God’s will.  

Conclusion: St. Romanos the Melodist

St. Romanos the Melodist (d. 560AD)  was born in Emesa (modern Homs) Syria, of Jewish parents who seemingly converted to Christianity.  As a young man he moved to Beirut, and was ordained a deacon, serving in the Church of the Resurrection.  From there he moved to Constantinople, to live as an ascetic in the Marian shrine known as Blachernae. It was here, living a monastic life, serving as a deacon and cantor, that Romanos created the kontakion, the first formal construction of Byzantine chant.  

St. Romanos although known for being one of the most important founders of Byzantine hymnology; represents the Syriac poetic, musical tradition of expressing theological and doctrinal truths in hymns.  In expressing his theology of Mary in musical verse he brings the tradition of St. Ephrem two centuries forward.  He sings of Mary’s Nativity as an address to Mary’s mother Anna:

Your birth is worthy of veneration, O holy woman, because you brought to light the joy of the world, the powerful mediatrix of graces for men.  Indeed she is the rampart, the defense, and the haven of whoever trusts in her.  Every Christian finds in her, in your fruit, a protector, a defense, and the hope of salvation.

 
These words of St. Romanos are a summation of the devotion to Mary in the Church of the first half of its first millennium.  The birth of Mary is the beginning of the Christ-event, which is our salvation and deification.  Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the Theotókos who never ceases to intercede for us before the throne of God.  

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Full of Grace: The Assumption/Dormition of Mary

 
"Hail (Mary) full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women.” (Luke 1:28)

 
“When your saving plan was accomplished, you returned to your Father, and then drew your Mother, who was full of grace, to yourself  and seated her at your right hand.”  (Maronite Ramsho of the Assumption of the Virgin)

 
Introduction

Each year on the 15th of August the Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption or Dormition of the All-Holy Mother of God.  In remembering the “falling asleep” and bodily assumption of Mary, the Church is invited to contemplate the power and majesty of God’s grace in the greatest of our race, the Holy Virgin of Nazareth.  

Like John the Baptizer, Mary’s life never points toward herself but always in the direction her Son and Lord, Jesus Christ.  In being the Mother of the Word made Flesh, she is the Mother of the Church, which is the Body of Christ on earth.  The faithful have for centuries, since the beginning of the Christian faith, realized that she alone represents what a life “full of grace” can achieve; death without bodily corruption and fullness of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.  

The Marian Dogmas

The Catholic Church has proclaimed four Marian dogmas of faith.  Two have been proclaimed by Councils of the Church and two by Popes.  

The first dogma concerning Mary is that of being proclaimed Theotókos (Θεοτ?κος), rendered in English as Mother of God, by the Second Ecumenical Council in 431AD, held in Ephesus.  The teaching of the Council was to protect the Christological truth of the two natures of Christ.  That Jesus in his Incarnation is truly eternally the Son of God and now also truly human, and that as God made Man he was born of the Virgin Mary.  The Council stated: "...begotten from the Father before the ages as regards his godhead, and in the last days, the same, because of us and because of our salvation begotten from the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, as regards his manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten…”  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, further states: "495 Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my Lord". In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).”   

The second Marian dogma is that of being “Ever Virgin” or Aeiparthenos (?ειπ?ρθενος).  The Church’s belief that Mary retained her virginity before, during, and after the birth of Jesus is found in the earliest baptismal formulas, in the teachings of the early church father St. Ignatius of Antioch, and in the teaching of the Lateran Council of 649 AD, which stated that Mary, "without any detriment to her virginity, which remained inviolate even after his birth.”  In his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, St. Ignatius of Antioch remarked of Mary: “You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly born of a virgin,…”  The Catechism of the Catholic Church drawing upon the The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church - Lumen Gentium of the The Second Vatican Council writes: “499 The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ's birth "did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it." And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the ‘Ever-virgin’.” 

The third dogma associated with Mary is that of her Immaculate Conception.  This dogma was proclaimed in 1854 AD by His Holiness, Pope Pius IX in the Apostolic Constitution “Ineffabilis Deus,” which teaches: "that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege from Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, was kept free of every stain of original sin.”  One interesting aspect of this dogma from an ecumenical perspective, is that it is the only one of the four dogmas that is not totally shared with the Eastern Orthodox Churches.  Orthodox Christians do speak of Mary as being Immaculate and by that they mean she did not commit sin, but since the Orthodox Churches have a different theology of “original sin,” seeing the sin of Adam resulting in death, rather than a passed on compulsion towards sinning; this means the doctrine is understood in a slightly different manner.  However, both traditions Orthodox and Catholic would agree that Mary is “All-Holy” and totally obedient to God from the moment of her conception and throughout her entire life.  

The fourth Marian dogma is that of her Assumption or what is commonly referred to in the Eastern Churches, especially those of Byzantine origin, her Dormition.  In the Syriac Churches the term Shunoyo (Soonoyo) is often used, literally meaning “departure.”  For the Catholic Church the dogma was solemnly proclaimed by Pope Pius XII on the first of November in 1950 in his Encyclical Munificentissimus Deus: "Mary, Immaculate Mother of God ever Virgin, after finishing the course of her life on earth, was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory.”  The teaching of this encyclical is further highlighted in The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church - Lumen Gentium from the The Second Vatican Council: "Taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside her salvific duty... By her maternal love she cares for the brothers and sisters of her Son who still journey on earth.”  Also, we read in The Catechism of the Catholic Church, that Mary is the “972 eschatological icon of the Church.”  Meaning that Mary draws the Church into reflecting upon its own mission and calling, that being to prepare each person and all creation for the “end-of-time” and the fulfillment of God’s plan.  

The Syriac Tradition: Jacob of Sarug, 451-521 AD

In the tradition of Aphrahat, St. Ephrem the Syrian, St. Isaac of Nineveh and others, Jacob stands as one of the great poet-theologians of the Syriac Patristic Tradition.  While St. Ephrem is known as the “Harp of the Holy Spirit”, Jacob was given the title “Flute of the Holy Spirit.”  

His theology of the Virgin Mary is beautiful, extensive and always reflective of her life being united to the saving mission of her Son.  He writes of her Assumption:

“The heavenly company performed their “Holy, Holy, Holy,” unto the glorious soul of this Mother of the Son of God. Fiery seraphim surrounded the soul of the departed and raised the sound of their joyful shouts. … They shouted and said: “Lift up, O gates, all your heads, because the Mother of the King seeks to enter the bridal chamber of light.” - On the Death and Burial of Mary

Jacob of Sarug poetically imagined that at Mary’s deathbed the prophets and apostles arrived to escort her to her place of burial, yet her tomb is empty of all relics for her Son arrived and took her to the Kingdom of Heaven.  He taught that it was necessary for her first to die like all human beings, so that she might fully share in his Resurrection.  He writes in On the Death and Burial of Mary, “Unto the Mother of this Jesus Christ, Son of God, death came that she might taste his cup.”

The “All-Holiness” of Mary, which is realized in her Assumption gives light for Jacob’s understanding of Mary’s ministry within the Church, which is twofold.  First he sees her as the conduit of the Holy Spirit, given imagery here with Jesus in the womb of Mary giving the Holy Spirit to John the Baptist (the Forerunner) in the womb of Elizabeth: “By the mouth of Mary, her Son stretched forth the Spirit to his envoy, from the womb to womb; and he received it while he was in his mother.  With Mary’s voice the Holy Spirit was sent out unto the barren one and she was filled with great strength”  (from On the Visitation).

Second Mary is for Jacob the spokesperson of the Church: “The beauty of the matter which appeared openly is because of her; she was the reason that it was explained to us by the angle.  By that question, the wise one became the mouth of the Church; she learned that interpretation for all Creation” (from, On the Virgin).  By asking an explanation from the Angel Gabriel for the words he spoke to her, and understanding that he was bringing the message of salvation to all, she consented to give birth to the Redeemer of the world, making her the perfect spokesperson of the Church - “let it be done unto me as you say.”

Conclusion

The dogmas and doctrines of the Church concerning the Holy Virgin Mary are teachings of hope and teachings of love.  Scripture tells us that the Christian life can understood in this way: “He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39).  Mary lived her whole life in love of God and in love of neighbor, offering her Son, who was also her Lord; as her heart was pierced as if by swords, as He offered the perfect offering and sacrifice of love upon the altar of the Cross.  She who is Queen of Angels and Queen of the Apostles, was present with them when Jesus appeared to them in the upper room and breathed upon them the soft of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit by which he was conceived in the womb of he Holy Mother of God.  

Each step of our life, each step of the Church’s life is guided by the beacon of Mary’s holiness, the one who is full of grace.

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Mary the Evangelist

 
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? - The Gospel of Luke 1:41-43

 
The Theological Significance of the Virgin Mary

Mariology is the title given to the theological discipline concerning the Holy Theotokos, Mary the Virgin Mother of Our Lord Jesus. Mary never ceases to enlighten us about the gift of salvation that is given to the world in her Son and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  In the same way in which her life was a constant affirmation of what the power of faith in Christ can accomplish in our human lives. The theological reflections of Mariology give us moral, dogmatic, and spiritual insight into the great gift of salvation bestowed on us by the Father, through his Son and Holy Spirit. 

The spiritual devotion given to the Holy Virgin, along with the doctrinal and theological reflections on Mary, also reveal to us the beauty of the ancient Church.  What has remained a common element of the faith of Roman Catholics, Eastern Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Assyrian, Coptic, Armenian, and Ethiopian Orthodox, beyond the schisms and disagreements that fractured the unity of the ancient Church, is devotion to Mary as the The Holy Mother of God, and acknowledgment of her Perpetual Virginity.  Mary is the symbol of human single-mindedness at the service of God.  The Church never ceases to gain strength from those words of Mary in response to the Angel Gabriel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).  These words of Mary are spoken for the Church, and with the Church, that the People of God will have total trust (faith), and total devotion towards God our Father.  

The theology of the Syriac Fathers was often expressed in poetic form and Mary was often the person used by them to express the beauty of God’s creation and its redemption in Christ.  St. Ephrem the Syrian, the “Harp of the Holy Spirit,” is possibly the greatest example of the poet-theologians of the Syriac tradition.  

Due to his verses on the interior beauty of the Holy Virgin, many theologians have come to see him as the first expositor of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception:

The eye is clear if united to the sun. By its light it conquers armies. It shines with its light, gleams with its brilliance, is adorned by its beauty.

 
As though on an eye, the light dwelt in Mary and purified her spirit; it cleansed her thoughts, sanctified her conscience and perfected her virginity.

 
The river in which He was baptized conceived Him symbolically. The moist womb of the water conceived Him in purity, bore Him in splendor and made Him ascend in glory.

 
In the chaste womb of the river recognize the Daughter of man, who conceived without knowing man and gave birth without the seed of man. By grace she formed the Lord of grace.  

 
Light in the river, splendor in the tomb. He skipped over the mountain, shone in the maternal womb, was resplendent in His rising, was radiant as He rose to the heavens. (Hymn on the Church, XXVI, 1-5 {Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 199, 87-88}). 

 
St. Ephrem beautifully writes of how Eve led Adam to clothe himself in the stain of sin, while Mary brings to him the clothes of salvation which is Christ himself.  Adam therefore becomes a type of the Church, clothed in redemption.

Adam had been naked and fair, but his diligent wife labored and made for him a garment covered with stains. The Garden, seeing him thus vile, drove him forth.

 
Through Mary, Adam had another robe which adorned the thief (Lk 23:43); and when he became resplendent at Christ’s promise, the Garden, looking on, embraced him in Adam’s place.(Hymn on Paradise, IV, 5 {Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 137, 69}). 

 
We see the same poetic beauty in the Liturgies of the Syriac Churches today, and even in translation this dynamic aspect is retained: “O holy Virgin Mary, O Beautiful Lily and Fragrant Rose, the fragrance of your holiness has filled the whole universe.  Pray for us that we may become the sweet fragrance of Christ that spreads throughout the world.” (Book of Offering, According to the Rite of the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church, p.458)

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth

After her holy Annunciation in which the Angel Gabriel revealed to her that she would be the Mother of the Savior of the World, Mary goes to see her older cousin Elizabeth; the Visitation:  

Mary then travelled the nearly hundred miles from Nazareth to the little town in the hills of Judea where Zachary and Elizabeth lived. According to tradition this town was Ain Karim, which then was five miles from Jerusalem, but is today incorporated in that city’s municipal boundaries. (“Blessed Are You Among Women,” Melkite Eparchy of Newton, 2016)

Saint Paul reminds us in his first epistle to the Corinthians that Jesus fulfills the plan of salvation “…according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).  It was revealed to the New Testament Church and further elaborated upon in the thought of the Fathers, that the Jewish Scriptures/Old Testament was about the Messiah who was to come, they were totally about Jesus, the Word made Flesh.  Therefore, as the Church sees the “types” of Christ in the Old Testament, it also sees “types” of the Holy Virgin.  One of the most powerful images of the Theotokos in the Jewish Scriptures is found in Second Samuel:

Then David and all the people who were with him set out… to bring up from there the ark of God, … and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”… The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, …David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with joy… Then David came dancing before the Lord with abandon, girt with a linen ephod.  David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and sound of horn. (2 Samuel 6:2-15)

Mary is the New Ark of the New and Eternal Covenant, whom she carried in her womb.  Completing the theological reflection of this passage from Samuel; David is a “type” of Jesus, bringing in his person the dynamic presence of God among his chosen people, who are a “type” or “image” of the Church. 

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth is also the awakening of grace in the life of Saint John the Forerunner; the one who will be called the Baptizer is baptized by his Lord while in the womb of Elizabeth his mother.  Saint Ambrose of Milan in his treatise on the Gospel of Luke, describes the encounter:

Notice the contrast and the choice of words. Elizabeth is the first to hear Mary’s voice, but John is the first to be aware of grace. She hears with the ears of the body, but he leaps for joy at the meaning of the mystery. She is aware of Mary’s presence, but he is aware of the Lord’s: a woman aware of a woman’s presence, the Forerunner aware of the pledge of our salvation. The women speak of the grace they have received while the children are active in secret, unfolding the mystery of love with the help of their mothers, who prophesy by the spirit of their sons. “The child leaps in the womb; the mother is filled with the Holy Spirit, but not before her son. Once the son has been filled with the Holy Spirit, he fills his mother with the same Spirit. John leaps for joy, and the spirit of Mary rejoices in her turn. (St. Ambrose, Commentary on Luke)

 
In many ways the Visitation represents the bridge from the Old Law to the New Law in Christ, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from the sacrifice of the Temple to the sacrifice of Christ, from the Church of the Israelites to The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.  

Mary the Evangelist

An Evangelist is one who proclaims and shares the Good News of salvation in Christ.  Holy Church has especially given this title to the Four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Church itself is always evangelical in the sense of calling all men and women to itself; to become members of the community of faith, which is the Church.  The first “evangelist” of the New and Final Covenant is the Holy Virgin Mary. 

In being chosen to be the Mother of the Messiah she who is full of grace is the example of faith (total trust), “And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).  Mary as evangelist, calls others to this same faith in her Son, as seen at the Wedding at Cana when she addresses those who are confused and unsure by saying to them, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). 

Mary is the greatest of evangelists, for she alone gives birth to the object of faith, Jesus. She whose heart was pierced as if by a sword witnessed the crucifixion of her Son and Lord, and with his Holy Apostles received the gift of the Spirit of Truth from the Father at Pentecost.  It was certainly she who gave insights into the life of Jesus to the first disciples, insights that only she would have known, so that the New Testament Church could fulfill its mission as the Evangelizing Church.  As Saint Ambrose wrote:

Let Mary’s soul be in each of you to proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Let her spirit be in each to rejoice in the Lord. Christ has only one mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ in faith. Every soul receives the Word of God if only it keeps chaste, remaining pure and free from sin, its modesty undefiled. The soul that succeeds in this proclaims the greatness of the Lord, just as Mary’s soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior. (St. Ambrose, Commentary on Luke)  

 
The Church like Mary never ceases to point towards the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.  She is the grace filled example, of how the grace filled People of God must share their faith with others who do not yet know Christ, or who have lost total trust in the God who loves them.  Mary as evangelist shows us that the strongest proclamation of faith is by the example of how one lives.  How has Mary over the centuries drawn so many peoples, races, and cultures to faith in her Son; by the example of her life of faith, “Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

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Mary, Mother of the Church: Reflections On John’s Gospel

 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,…John 1:1,14

 
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, …When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to his disciple, “Behold your mother!”…John 19:25-27

 
Introduction

The Gospel of John gives expression to the Incarnation of Christ in an approach that is different from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).  John does not mention the Annunciation, the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, the Nativity, the Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family, or the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.  As we see from the quote above, from the beginning of his Gospel John declares the divinity of the Word, and that the Word became flesh.  It is also significant that he chooses here to use Word (Logos), rather than Son or Christ.  The term Logos in Greek, had by this time almost three centuries of meaningful linguistic and philosophical usage. The term had been coined by the philosopher Heraclitus, to mean total, perfect, communication that is knowable and understandable not only to human reason by in a totally all consuming manner.

In recalling the famous maxim of St. Irenaeus (140-202AD), the Father is never present without his two hands, the Son and the Spirit.  The Son is the Word of the Father revealing to us the God of Love, and the Spirit is the dynamic, charismatic energy of the Father, who confirms us in the truth revealed by the Word and brings us into the life of Holy Trinity (Theosis) - making us god-like by becoming Christ-like. 

From this perspective of John’s Gospel, we can gain access to unique aspects of our understanding of the Holy Virgin and her role in salvation history, that may not be immediately accessible from the Synoptic Gospels. 

Mary, Mother of God      

The Third Ecumenical Council was held in the year 431AD in Ephesus, having been called by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II, and presided over by St. Cyril of Alexandria.  This Council affirmed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol of Faith (The Creed), that had been defined by the first two Ecumenical Councils, condemned Pelagianism, and Nestorianism.  In condemning Nestorianism, the Council proclaimed Mary, Theotokos (God-Bearer or Mother of God).  

From the beginnings of the Christianity, there had been movements that tried to diminish the teaching of John’s Gospel that, “the Word became flesh.” From the early gnostic heresy of Docetism, that denied the reality of Christ’s flesh or humanity, to Arianism which taught that the Son was created by the Father before time, to Nestorianism which separated the humanity of Christ from the divinity of the Son; which taught that Mary was Christotokos, the Mother of Christ, but not of the Eternal Son of the Father who united humanity to his divinity without confusion.  In proclaiming Mary (Theotokos), the Fathers of the Third Ecumenical Council affirm the primary role of the Holy Mother of God, to protect the true and full humanity of the Word of God.  She is truly the Mother of the Savior; our flesh, our humanity is united to the divinity of the Eternal Word, through Mary.

Mary, Mother of the Church

Our Christian faith begins with the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord, the Apostolic Proclamation, “Christ is Risen.”  In the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, and giving of the Holy Spirit, the Father reveals to us the God of Love, the Holy Trinity.  It is given to the Apostles of the Lord to be the first to experience these truths, united in prayer with Mary.  As they come to understand that the Jewish Scriptures were about him, Jesus; and that he would always be present to his Church in the Eucharist, they go forth to proclaim the Good News (Gospel) of the Lord Jesus.  

From this perspective we can see that Mary, is the Mother of the Church because she shares in the Cross of her Son and Lord,  which is present in every step of his earthly life and ministry.  For example, John tells us of the first miracle of Jesus at the Wedding of Cana: 

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:1-6)  

 
The Wedding at Cana points toward the Passion and Cross, along with the Eucharist by which the Church will share in his Passion, Cross, and Resurrection.  The presence of Mary at this miracle reveals how she who guards the true and full humanity of Christ, also shares in the suffering and Cross of Christ.  

On the Cross Our Lord gives Mary to the Church, as its Mother through the Apostle John:  “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to his disciple, “Behold your mother!”  St. Ephrem the Syrian expressed this poetically in his Hymn on Virginity, XXV, 8-9: 

The young disciple John saw in the woman how much the Almighty had humbled himself,…For her part the woman marveled that the disciple had been exalted, even to resting on the bosom of God.  

Each admired the other for having been found worthy of so great a grace.  As they fixed their gaze on each other, they saw You, O Lord, in themselves.  Your Mother saw You in the disciple, and he saw You in Your Mother. Happy were they who saw You, O Lord, as they continually contemplated each other!

 
May we never cease to contemplate the beauty of Our Mother, the Mother of the Church, the Holy Mother of God.  May we never cease to exalt in the Eternal Word who took our flesh, and destroyed our death on the Cross.

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A Brief Introduction of St. Ignatius and St. Ephrem on The Mother of God

 
      “Through Eve death, life through Mary” 

                                                      - St. Jerome, (Epistula 22 ad Eustochium)

 
Introduction

Mary the Blessed Virgin, proclaimed the “God-Bearer” (Mother of God) by the Council of Ephesus, is significant throughout the theology of the period of the Fathers of the Church.  As noted by Chorbishop Seely Joseph Beggiani in his book Early Syriac Theology, “It was natural for Syriac writers to see Mary as the fulfillment of Old Testament types and a symbol of the future church.

What must be kept in mind is that the Fathers, often were confronted with heresies that challenged the Church’s doctrinal understanding of the Triune nature of God, and the unity of the “divine” and “human” natures in the Son of God made Man, Jesus of Nazareth.  Therefore, theological writings on Mary in the Patristic Era are more often than not a defense of the truth of the Incarnation, and a safeguard of the actual humanity of Christ.  We find these teachings in doctrinal proclamations, liturgical documents, apologetic arguments defending the “true faith," theological tomes, and in the case of St. Ephrem and others in the Syriac tradition — poetry.   

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

St. Ignatius was the second successor of St. Peter as the Bishop of Antioch.  He was born in Syria sometime around the year 50A.D. and was martyred in the arena in Rome between 98 and 117A.D.  Although the date of his birth makes it impossible, according to some early writers he was the child taken up into the arms of Jesus in Mark 9:36-37. "He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.' “ On his way to Rome to be martyred, he wrote letters to the various Christian communities he passed through, leaving us with seven letters that allow us a glimpse of the early Church.  In the following quotes from his Letter to the Ephesians, we see Mary’s role as the mother of Jesus, and related to this her connection with the action of the Holy Spirit:

There is only one Physician, having both flesh and spirit, born and unborn,

God become man, true life in death, from Mary and from God, first passible

and then impassible - Jesus Christ our Lord. …

For our God Jesus Christ, according to God’s economy, was conceived

by Mary of the seed of David, but also by the Holy Spirit.  He was born and 

baptized, that by his Passion he might purify the water.

 
We see here also that St. Ignatius places Mary within God’s “economy” of salvation.  He is one of the first Church Fathers to use this term, which eventually becomes a technical term that refers to God’s plan of salvation being perfect and central  to the total revelation of God to his people.  Mary, who is always linked to the ministry of her Son and Lord, in bringing salvation to the Father’s creation, is overshadowed by the Father’s Holy Spirit at the Annunciation, that same Spirit who raises Jesus form the dead - the mystery of faith, the economy of salvation.  

St. Ephrem, the Harp of the Holy Spirit

Ephrem was born in Syria around 306 and died in Nisibis in 373.  He became the greatest example of Syriac poetry in the Patristic period, writing over three million lines of verse.  The beauty and  quantity of his work awarded him the title Harp of the Holy Spirit.  “His verses not only overflow with beauty of form and lyricism but also express rich religious and theological thought.  The poet reveals his feelings of deep awe and admiration when considering the holy Virgin and her virtues.”  Living some two centuries after St. Ignatius and the Apostolic Fathers (those Fathers who knew the Apostles or disciples of the Apostles), St. Ephrem not only sees Mary in relation to doctrine and apologetics, but also as the object of spiritual devotion.  This is illustrated in the following quote:

Only you (Jesus) and your Mother

are more beautiful than everything

For on you, O Lord, there is no mark;

neither is there any stain in your Mother

Some have held that St. Ephrem is one of the first Christian writers to explicitly refer to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.  He wrote:

In Mary, as in an eye,

the Light has made a dwelling and purified her spirit,

refined her thoughts, sanctified her mind, and 

transfigured her virginity.

 
For St. Ephrem, Mary is the symbol of the Church, the People of God, who await the  Kingdom of God, whose gates were opened by Christ.  In his Hymns on the Crucifixion, he wrote:

Three angels were seen at the tomb:

these three announced that he was risen on the third day.

Mary, who saw him, is the symbol of the Church

which will be the first to recognize the signs

of his Second Coming.

 
Conclusion

 
This brief exposition introduces us to the vital role of Mary in the “economy of salvation," and this role is illustrated even in the primitive Church and throughout the Patristic tradition and beyond.  Mary especially in her most important title, Mother of God, affirms the true humanity of Christ, accepts the power of the Holy Spirit in the Word becoming flesh, and mirrors the Church as being the daughter of Christ and vessel of the Holy Spirit.