The Blessed Virgin Mary
Where does one begin when he begins to talk about his mother? I suppose I must start somewhere, so here it goes.
As Christians we are to be Christ-like; Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, and he kept the “Torah” perfectly. He followed the Ten Commandments as no one else ever could. He was perfect, spotless, and blameless.
One of those Ten Commandments was “honor they father and mother.” If we are to truly be like Jesus we must not only honor our parents, but we must also honor His Father and Mother. In the pages of Scripture we see how perfectly Jesus honored His heavenly Father, and we get many glimpses of how He honored His mother.
Jesus Christ, as we all know, is unique in all of history. He is the God-Man: Fully God and fully man, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity in human flesh. One of the most unique opportunities that Christ had was that He got to choose His own mother.
Please understand that God did not arbitrarily pick Mary out of a line-up of young Jewish virgins to be the mother of His Son. God doesn’t operate like that. He didn’t create you haphazardly, you didn’t accidentally end up looking like you do, and He didn’t choose you to be the Mother of God.
But He did choose Mary and He chose her from the foundation of the world to be the mother of Jesus. What honor and what glory God heaped up on this poor, young Virgin!
If you had the opportunity to create your own Mother how would you make her? Ponder this as we look closely at the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church concerning the Mother of God.
There are four Marian dogmas in the Church and they are: Mary is the Mother of God, that Mary was a Perpetual Virgin, that Mary was Immaculately Conceived, and that, at the end of her earthly life, she was Assumed into Heaven. We’ll work our way through each of these in turn.
To begin our look at Mary, we must begin in the beginning; in Genesis. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
Who is this woman? Well, whose seed will bruise the serpent? If the seed is Jesus the woman is Mary. This passage is known as the “proto-evangelium,” or the First Good News. It is the first glimpse that God gives us at the future redemption available in Christ.
The word “enmity” doesn’t carry as much weight in English as it did in Hebrew. In the Hebrew language the word for “enmity” basically meant “polar opposite.” If you had enmity with someone that meant that the two of you had absolutely nothing in common. So the woman cannot be Eve, because she already had something in common with Satan; she was a sinner and she was doing the serpent’s will by eating the forbidden fruit.
The oldest manuscripts in existence for the Book of Genesis actually use a neuter pronoun for who will do the bruising of the serpent’s head. It could very well read that “she” will bruise the serpent’s head. Either way, it is obvious that the enmity will be between the woman and the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed.
The first woman, Eve, sinned by saying “No!” to God thus bringing sin into the world. The new Eve, Mary, said “Yes!” to God, and she brought salvation into the world.
Jesus refers to Mary as “Woman” many times in the Bible. He isn’t calling her names, He’s quoting Scripture! Just as St. Paul tells us that Christ is the New Adam, Mary is the New Eve. Just as bye the first man and woman sin enslaved us all, so by the new man and woman we can overcome sin.
Eve is the mother of all the living and Mary is the mother of all the Christians. On the Cross, just before his death, Jesus gave Mary to all His followers when He said to St. John and Mary, “Son behold your mother. Mother behold your son.” We’ll look more at this passage later.
The Early Church was full of this teaching on Mary as the New Eve. It is mentioned in countless documents and sermons. We’ll also look at these later.
We could also spend some time in the other books of the Old Testament looking at the role of the Queen Mother in the Davidic Kingdom, of which Christ and the Church is the fulfillment. When you come to understand the “intercessory” role of the Queen Mother you will begin to understand the powerful intercessory role of Mary on our behalf. I won’t go through all of the Biblical texts here, but I will cite a few.
In Jerusalem the wife of the King wasn’t the Queen, the King’s Mother was.
1 Kings 15:13: “He [Asa] also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother, because she had an abominable image made for Asherah.”
Jeremiah 13:18: “Say to the king and the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.” [refers to king Jehoiachin and his mother Mehushta]
2 Kings 10:13: “Jehu met the kinsmen of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they answered, “We are the kinsmen of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes, and the sons of the queen mother.”
The most well-known Queen Mother in the Old Testament is Bathsheba who ruled alongside her son King Solomon.
1 Kings 2:16-20: “”Pray ask king Solomon- he will not refuse you- to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.” Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak for you to the king.” So Bathsheba went to king Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” and the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”"
Solomon couldn’t refuse his mother, but who can? He bowed before her and made her to sit at his right hand.
Can Jesus refuse His mother? Not according to Scripture. It was at the Wedding Feast as Cana that he performed His first public miracle, at the request of His mother!
Moving on, the Early Church also saw Mary as the “Ark of the New Covenant”.
The Ark of the Covenant was built because God loves His people and His desire is to dwell among them. God gave very specific instructions about how the Ark was to be built, using the very finest materials. The Ark was carried into battle with the “Shekinah glory cloud” overshadowing it as the soldiers followed behind. Inside the Ark was a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s rod which budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
The parallels between Mary and the Ark are easy to see. Inside the Ark were the stone tablets of the Covenant or, the Word of God. Inside Mary’s womb was the Word made Flesh (John 1). The Ark also contained a bowl of Manna, the bread that God gave the Israelites to eat in the desert. Inside the womb of Mary was Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life (John 6). The last item inside the Ark was Aaron’s priestly rod which bloomed to prove to his countrymen that he was the High Priest. Likewise, in Mary’s womb was the High Priest of the New and Everlasting Covenant.
But the parallels don’t stop there. When the Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke’s Gospel He made the relationship between Mary the New Ark, and the Ark of the Old Covenant explicitly clear to the readers of Luke’s day.
The Ark traveled to the House of Obed-Edom in the hill country of Judea (2 Sam 6:1-11).
Mary traveled to house of Elizabeth and Zechariah in the hill country of Judea (Lk 1:39).
David put on priestly garments and danced and leapt in front of the Ark (2 Sam 6:14).
John the Baptist, of priestly lineage, leapt in his mother’s womb at the approach of Mary (Lk 1:41).
David asks “Who am I that the Ark of my Lord should come to me?” (2 Sam 6:9).
Elizabeth asks “Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).
David was shouting in the presence of the Ark (2 Sam 6:15).
Elizabeth “cried out” in the presence of the Mary (Lk 1:42).
The Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom for three months (2 Sam 6:11).
Mary remained in the house of Elizabeth for three months (Lk 1:56).
The house of Obed-edom was blessed by the presence of the Ark (2 Sam 6:11).
The word “blessed” is used three times and surely the house of Elizabeth was blessed by God (Lk 1:39-45).
The Ark returns to its home and ends up in Jerusalem where God’s presence and glory is revealed in the Temple (2 Sam 6:12; 1 Ki 8:9-11).
Mary returns home and eventually ends up in Jerusalem where she presents God in the flesh to the Temple (Lk 1:56; 2:21-22).
Is all of this purely coincidence or is God up to something here? There are no accidents where God is concerned. Let’s move on to the New Testament and look at Mary’s life.
In Luke 1:28, the Angel Gabriel appears to Mary and greets her saying, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee”. What an odd greeting! No where else in Scripture does an Angel great anyone with anything other than their name. The Angel Gabriel greets Mary with a title, and that title is “full of grace.” The Greek word is “Kecharitomene.” Many of the newer Bible translations render the word as “highly favored one” but that can be misleading. “Kecharitomene” doesn’t translate well into English, it implies a unique fullness and quality that is hard to describe in our language. A fair definition would be “to endow with grace.” Nevertheless, ”Kecharitomene” is a perfect passive participle of the Greek word “charitoo,” and since the word is used in the perfect tense, it implies that Mary’s grace is something that exists right along with her, from the moment of her conception onward. This is important as it regards Mary’s Immaculate Conception.
The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was conceived without sin, and that she never committed any sin during her life. This unique blessing of God has everything to do with Mary’s unique role. She was the Mother of God. Not the mother of God the Father, but the mother of Jesus. Jesus is not only the Son of God, He is also God the Son, this is important to remember. And since Mary is the Mother of Jesus, and since Jesus is God, Mary is the Mother of God.
You may object and say, as I used to, that Mary was only the mother or Christ’s human nature, but this is impossible. Mother’s give birth to children, not natures. And the Child born of the Virgin was God. When you say that Mary isn’t the Mother of God you are, in effect, denying the Divinity of Jesus; which is why the Church defined this Dogma. Some heretics in the Church were trying to deny Christ’s Divinity, like the modern Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormon’s try to do. The Church said, “No.” The Son of Mary is the Second Person of the Trinity, God in the Flesh, and thus Mary is the Mother of God.
In order to be the Mother of God, Mary needed to be unique. But she is still only human, and humans are born with original sin and, eventually, commit actual personal sins. Christ could not be born into sin, so something had to be done. So, what did God do? Simply put, Jesus saved Mary.
Mary tells us herself that her “spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47). So it’s obvious that she needed a Savior. But if she was born without sin, how did Jesus save her?
Let’s say that I live on a road way back in the woods. My house sits right beside the road, and in the middle of the road is a huge muddy pit. I see you walking down this road as it starts to get dark, and I realize that you are completely unfamiliar with the terrain. I see that, unless I intervene, you are going to fall into the pit.
I decide to save you from this pit. There are two ways that I can do it. I can do it the way that Christ saves all of us: I can allow you to fall into the muddy pit of sin, and then pull you out and clean you up, or I can prevent you from falling into the pit of sin in the first place, as Christ did with Mary.
Jesus is indeed Mary’s Savior but, in His Mercy, He saved her from sin by creating her without sin. Again, consider how you would create your own Mother if you had the prerogatives of Jesus.
Likewise, remember the word “enmity” used in Genesis 3:15? Recall how the Hebrew word denotes a completely polar opposite? Mary was the polar opposite of Satan because she was sinless.
But, you may say that you cannot believe this, “Everyone has sinned!” But think about it. Do children who die before the age of accountability commit any sins? What about adults with severe mental disabilities? Surely neither of these two groups can be charged with any personal sin. So, there are exceptions. Is anything impossible with God? No! Could He create Mary immaculately if he so desired? Of course He could.
This is why the Church honors Mary more than all the other Saints. She is the greatest of all of God’s creations, His perfect creature! She is the standard by which we should all measure ourselves.
“And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” (Luke 1:29-34)
Mary was already betrothed to Joseph. She was old enough to understand where babies come from. So, why did she respond like she did? Why didn’t she just say “Alright, I get it. I’m going to marry the man I am engaged to and we are going to do the marriage thing and have a son.”?
Mary never intended on having marital relations with Joseph. There isn’t anything explicit in Scripture, but many writings that didn’t make the final cut for Scripture spoke about how Joseph was a man much older than Mary. Tradition says that Mary was given by her parents to be a servant in the Temple. She served up until the age where she became a woman and began menstruating. According to Jewish law this made her unclean, and therefore unable to serve in the temple. But as an avowed virgin she couldn’t just marry like the rest of the world.
Joseph was an older man, a widower, and when the lots were cast for Mary’s hand in marriage, the lot fell upon Joseph.
There is an ancient book known as The Proto-Evangelium of James in which all of this is laid out for us. It isn’t Scripture, but that doesn’t make it wrong, either. The Early Church simply didn’t believe that it was inspired by God like the books of the Bible.
This brings us to the verses of Scripture that speak of the “brethren of the Lord”. In the Hebrew and Aramaic languages common to the Jews of Jesus’ day there is no word for “cousin”. The word translated as “brother” is “adelphos.” This word can mean cousin, brother, half-brother, or even nephew or uncle. Some believe that the older Joseph had children from his previous marriage that are in fact Christ’s half-brothers because they are Joseph’s sons.
In the Jewish culture the same word was used to refer to any male kinsmen that were not your father. For example, in Genesis 14:14, Lot is referred to as Abraham’s “brother,” even though Genesis 11:26-28 tells us that Lot was the son of Abraham’s brother, making Abraham Lot’s uncle.
Chronicles: 23:21-22 tells that Kish and Eleazar were the sons of Mahli. Kish had sons of his own, but Eleazar had only daughters. These daughters married their “brethren,” the sons of Kish. These “brethren” were actually their cousins.
Likewise, Genesis 29:15 call Jacob the brother of Laban, but Laban is actually Jacob’s uncle.
So the Jews had two ways to label their kinsmen. They could simply call all male relatives their “brothers” and all female kin their “sisters,” or they could use circumlocution and say something like “the daughter of my kinsman,” but that gets confusing very quickly. The Jews basically stuck with “brother” and “sister”.
Also, it is important to note that Jesus is referred to as “the” son of Mary and not “a” son of Mary (Mark 6:3). And in the few events in Scripture that tell of His childhood, like when Mary and Joseph found Him in the Temple at the age of twelve, there is no mention of siblings. Even Jesus’ “brethren” are never referred to as “sons of Mary.”
Finally, in John 19:26-27, Jesus entrusted Mary to St. John’s care. If Mary had other sons why didn’t they take care of her? Would Jesus smack his siblings in the face as one of His final acts on the Cross? The answer must be a resounding, “No!”
Still, you may object and say, “the Bible says that, “Joseph did not know her “until” she brought forth her first-born son” (Matthew 1:25).
The words “first-born” and “until” can be misleading if always taken in the literal sense. For “until” (Greek: hoes), doesn’t always mean that something happened afterwards.
“Michal the daughter of Saul had no children till the day of her death” (2 Sam. 6:23).
Does this verse mean to say that Michal had children after she died?
The same came be said for “first-born.” The child that “opens the womb” in Jewish culture is always called the “first-born”, regardless of whether or not the woman had any other children (see Exodus 13:2, Numbers 3:12). The first-born in Israel were to be sanctified to the Lord. Does this mean that the parents could not call their first child “first-born” until the birth of a second child? Obviously not.
Reread the Crucifixion accounts in the four Gospels, you will see in all the parallel accounts that there were a number of Marys standing around the cross, including Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary the mother of James and his brethren.
You may think that the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, shared an odd arrangement. Well, they did, because they were no normal family. No other family had the responsibility, or the honor, of raising God.
We’ve covered three of the four Marian dogmas, what remains is Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. Where exactly is that in the Bible?
Well, it’s not in the Bible, not word for word. But the Church has believed since the very beginning that this was a part of the deposit of faith.
We know that a couple of other people in the Bible were assumed into heaven; Enoch and Elijah for example. So we know from Scripture that God can and has done this before.
And make no mistake about it, it was the power of God that assumed Mary into glory, not her own power. As great as Mary is, she is still only the best of us, she is not a goddess.
Another proof of the Assumption comes from the Early Church. In ancient times many Christians desired to touch the belongings of the dead in Christ. If the could get their hands on a scrap of cloth from a tunic, or a fragment of bone, they believed that this had healing power. They believed this for good reason. Recall that the Apostles and Jesus healed many people just by either touching them or by being touched by them.
Also, in the Early Church the graves of the Saints were a holy place. People made long pilgrimages to visit the locations where the holy were laid to rest. Interestingly enough, no city or country ever claimed to have the remains of the Blessed Virgin. Cities often fought and argued over which one of them had the rights to a set of remains, but not where Mary was concerned. No one ever claimed to have them because there were none to be had!
The Church doesn’t teach whether Mary died or was simply taken up while she was still alive. Either way, we know that she is in heaven.
“A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne” (Revelation 12:1-5).
Here St. John sees in heaven “a woman, clothed with the sun… and a crown of twelve stars… she was pregnant and about to give birth… to a son… who will rule the nations with an iron scepter.” The child is clearly Jesus, thus the woman is absolutely Mary. Mary is in heaven, crowned as Queen Mother by her Messianic, Kingly Son who fulfilled the Davidic Kingdom.
This deals with the “technical/ theological” details of the four Marian Dogmas. But I want to make this personal. I want to help you, the reader, understand Mary better as a person. I want you to love the Mother of God as I have come to love her.
Here is Mary’s song that she sang to Elizabeth from Luke 1:46-55: And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me- holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”
If only we could all praise God like our mother! Mary was a quiet and holy person, as is evident in Scripture. She is always there with Jesus and His Apostles, often staying behind the scenes. I can imagine her, like most mothers, not wanting to get in the way of things.
Mary was a contemplative mother, she still is. She certainly witnessed a lot of things in her time on earth, but she was ever-patient and, “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
She knew what it was to suffer, can you imagine living a life where you continually watched your only Son being persecuted and always hearing the leaders of the people threatening His life? She knew that eventually Jesus would let them have their way. “Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35)
Adam and Eve lived in a beautiful Garden in Eden, surrounded by animals and everything they could ever want. The New Adam was born in a cave; in a manger in a hole in the earth, surrounded by cold and cattle.
The Virgin had to accompany her Child, the Son of God Himself, on long weeks and months of running from the world; the world He created. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (John 1:10-11). And Mary was with Him all the way.
When the hands of the God-Man were too small, even to feed himself, Mary looked after Him with a mother’s love. She knew that one day those hands would feed the multitudes and eventually be stretched out in death.
When the Eternal God, through whom the world was created, struggled to help Joseph build a chair in his workshop, Mary knew that someday He would build His Church and establish His Kingdom.
It is impossible to imagine a young boy apart from his mother. We musn’t separate them too far once he becomes an adult; He will always be His mother’s Son.
Mary cannot take anything away from her Son. She can only point us to a deeper and closer union with Him. Mary never speaks a word for herself, her every word is the Eternal Word, Jesus.
Ask Mary any question, she has only two answers; two very Biblical answers. She is the handmaid of the Lord, she tells us in the Gospels, not some selfish woman seeking her own gain.
If God asks anything of her, she has proven time and again that she only wants to do His will, “Let it be to me according to your Word” (Luke 1:38)
When anyone of us asks the Blessed Mother of God a question, or offers her a special petition, her only response is the one she gave to the servants at the Wedding Feast at Cana. She smiles, points to her Son, and says, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5).
The Early Church on Mary
Origen
The Book [the Protoevangelium] of James [records] that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honor of Mary in virginity to the end, so that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word . . . might not know intercourse with a man after the Holy Spirit came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the first fruit among men of the purity which consists in [perpetual] chastity, and Mary was among women. For it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the first fruit of virginity (Commentary on Matthew 2:17 [A.D. 248]).
Hilary of Poitiers
If they [the brethren of the Lord] had been Mary’s sons and not those taken from Joseph’s former marriage, she would never have been given over in the moment of the passion [crucifixion] to the apostle John as his mother, the Lord saying to each, “Woman, behold your son,” and to John, “Behold your mother” [John 19:26-27], as he bequeathed filial love to a disciple as a consolation to the one desolate (Commentary on Matthew 1:4 [A.D. 354]).
Athanasius
Let those, therefore, who deny that the Son is by nature from the Father and proper to his essence deny also that He took true human flesh from the ever-virgin Mary (Discourses against the Arians 2:70 [A.D. 360]).
Epiphanius
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God . . . who for us men and for our salvation came down and took flesh, that is, was born perfectly of the holy ever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit (The Man Well-Anchored 120 [A.D. 374]).
Jerome
But as regards Victorinus, I assert what has already been proven from the gospel-that he [Victorinus] spoke of the brethren of the Lord not as being sons of Mary but brethren in the sense I have explained, that is to say, brethren in point of kinship, not by nature. (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]).
Didymus the Blind
It helps us to understand the terms “firstborn” and “only begotten” when the Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin “until she brought forth her firstborn son” [Matt. 1:25]; for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised above all others, marry anyone else, nor did she ever become the mother of anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an immaculate virgin” (The Trinity 3:4 [A.D. 386]).
Ambrose of Milan
Imitate her [Mary], holy mothers, who in her only dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of maternal virtue; for neither have you sweeter children [than Jesus], nor did the virgin seek the consolation of being able to bear another son (Letters 63:111 [A.D. 388])
Pope Siricius I
You had good reason to be horrified at the thought that another birth might issue from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the Flesh. For the Lord Jesus would never have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had ever judged that she would be so incontinent as to contaminate with the seed of human intercourse the birthplace of the Lord’s body, chat court of the eternal King (Letter to Bishop Anysius [A.D. 392]).
Augustine
In being born of a virgin who chose to remain a virgin even before she knew who was to be born other, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave (Holy Virginity 4:4 [A.D. 401]).
Leporius
We confess, therefore, that our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Father before the ages, and in times most recent, made man of the Holy Spirit and the ever-virgin Mary (Document of Amendment 3 [A.D. 426]).
Cyril of Alexandria
The Word himself, coming into the Blessed Virgin herself, assumed for himself his own temple from the substance of the Virgin and came forth from her a man in all that could be externally discerned, while interiorly He was true God. Therefore he kept his Mother a virgin even after her childbearing (Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4 [A.D. 430]).
Justin Martyr
[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course that was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied, “Be it done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) (Dialogue with Trypho 100 [A.D. 155]).
Irenaeus
Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, “Behold, 0 Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.” Eve . . . who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband – for in paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children . . . having become disobedient [sin], was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient [no sin], was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith (Against Heresies 3:22:24 [A.D. 189]).
Origen
This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one (Homily 1 [A.D. 244]).
Hippolytus
He [Jesus] was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle [Mary] was exempt from defilement and corruption (Orat. In Illud, Dominus pascit me, in Gallandi, Bibl. Patrum, II, 496 ante [A.D. 235]).
Ephraim the Syrian
You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others, for there is neither blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my children can compare in beauty to these? (Nisibene Hymns 27:8 [A. D. 361]).
Ambrose of Milan
Come, then, and search out your sheep, not through your servants or hired men, but do it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh, which is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin (Commentary on Psalm 118:22-30 [A.D. 387]).
Gregory Nazianzen
He was conceived by the virgin, who had been first purified by the Spirit in soul and body; for, as it was fitting that childbearing should receive its share of honor, so it was necessary that virginity should receive even greater honor (Sermon 38 [d. A.D. 390]).
Augustine
We must except the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honor to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin (Nature and Grace 36:42 [A.D. 415]).
Theodotus of Ancrya
A virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily sprouting among thorns (Homily 6:11[ante A.D. 446]).
Proclus of Constantinople
As He formed her without any stain of her own, so He proceeded from her contracting no stain (Homily 1[ante A.D. 446]).
Jacob of Sarug
[T]he very fact that God has elected her proves that none was ever holier than Mary, if any stain had disfigured her soul, if any other virgin had been purer and holier, God would have selected her and rejected Mary[ante A.D. 521].
Romanos the Melodist
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 1 [d. ca A.D. 560]).
Pseudo – Melito
If therefore it might come to pass by the power of your grace, it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome death, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and take her with you, rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: “Be it done according to your will” (The Passing of the Virgin 16:2-17 [A.D. 300]).
Timothy of Jerusalem
Therefore the Virgin is immortal to this day, seeing that he who had dwelt in her transported her to the regions of her assumption (Homily on Simeon and Anna [A.D. 400]).
John the Theologian
The Lord said to his Mother, “Let your heart rejoice and be glad. For every favor and every gift has been given to you from my Father in heaven and from me and from the Holy Spirit. Every soul that calls upon your name shall not be ashamed, but shall find mercy and comfort and support and confidence, both in the world that now is and in that which is to come, in the presence of my Father in the heavens”. . . And from that time forth all knew that the spotless and precious body had been transferred to paradise (The Dormition of Mary [A.D. 400]).
Gregory of Tours
[T]he Apostles took up her body on a bier and placed it in a tomb; and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come. And behold, again the Lord stood by them; and the holy body having been received, He commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise: where now, rejoined to the soul, [Mary] rejoices with the Lord’s chosen ones. . . (Eight Books of Miracles 1:4 [A.D. 575]).
Theoteknos of Livias
It was fitting … that the most holy-body of Mary, God-bearing body, receptacle of God, divinised, incorruptible, illuminated by divine grace and full glory … should be entrusted to the earth for a little while and raised up to heaven in glory, with her soul pleasing to God (Homily on the Assumption [ca. A.D. 600]).
Modestus of Jerusalem
As the most glorious Mother of Christ, our Savior and God and the giver of life and immortality, has been endowed with life by him, she has received an eternal incorruptibility of the body together with him who has raised her up from the tomb and has taken her up to himself in a way known only to him (Encomium in dormitionnem Sanctissimae Dominae nostrae Deiparae semperque Virginis Mariae [ante A.D. 634]).
Germanus of Constantinople
You are she who, as it is written, appears in beauty, and your virginal body is all holy, all chaste, entirely the dwelling place of God, so that it is henceforth completely exempt from dissolution into dust. Though still human, it is changed into the heavenly life of incorruptibility, truly living and glorious, undamaged and sharing in perfect life (Sermon I [A.D. 683]).
John Damascene
It was fitting that the she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped when giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father, It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God (Dormition of Mary [A.D. 697])
Gregorian Sacramentary
Venerable to us, O Lord, is the festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death, but still could not be kept down by the bonds of death, who has begotten Thy Son our Lord incarnate from herself (Gregorian Sacramentary, Veneranda [ante A.D. 795]).
