Intro to the Theotokos

Luke's Gospel is the one which speaks about our Lady the most. Read the whole thing, as this Gospel speaks of her conceiving Christ, the Annunciation, how she lost Christ for three days when He was twelve, etc. Something worthy of note: in Protestantism, it is thought that our Lady had other children after Christ. To support this, they cite that Christ is said to have "brothers." However, as anyone who has read even the smallest portion of the Scriptures knows, the term "brothers" can refer to a variety of things. Let us consider Archangel Gabriel's appearance to our Lady which you will soon read of in Luke: if you were betrothed to a man, and an angel appeared to you telling you that you would soon bear a child, would you ask "how can this be?" Obviously you would not, because you would assume that the angel was speaking of when you would consummate your marriage with your betrothed in the near future. Thus, the fact that our Lady asks "how can thus be?" not only demonstrates that she had no children at the time, but that she did not intend to have children in the future also. As to why this might be, see the later entries of this curriculum

The first two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew cover the same material, but from a different angle.

This is an article by me, where I explain who Christ's brothers really are, particularly focusing on James, since we know the most about him comparatively.

People who do not read closely think that when Christ said, "Woman, behold thy son," He was speaking of Himself. In reality, as the Scriptures say, He was referring to the Apostle John, as He then says to "the disciple whom He loved," "Son, behold thy mother." Also note that, were Jesus' brothers His literally biological brothers, her care would have been entrusted to them. We see here in the Scriptures, though, as well as in the history to follow, that Mary lived with John for the rest of her earthly life.

These verses show how our Lady was with the Apostles during this time.

This passage speaks for itself.

Please note that the queen of the Davidic empire was not the king's bride, but actually his mother. Also note that, when Christ says "Woman, behold..." and "Son, behold..." in John, He is fulfilling the prophecy in this psalm. This psalm says, "Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house," and, "In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth." By "fathers," it refers to the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Israel, and those who replace them are the twelve disciples, the sons of Christ. One cannot argue that Christ only gave Mary to John as a courtesy, only because could not leave His mother uncared for, as it explicitly says after He had given her over: "now that He had done all He set out to do," implying that what had just occurred was something He "set out to do." And what exactly was that? To appoint Mary as the Mother of the Church, and her sons, the twelve disciples, as the new Patriarchs of the New Israel. Also please note that the Theotokos actually quotes this psalm about herself when she says, "All generations shall call me blessed."

Read the hymns for the feasts about our Lady. You can see what pages these are on via the table of contents.

Now, this text is certainly a forgery. It was known to be a forgery by the Fathers. I include it here for two reasons: 1) many of the traditions contained herein are true, and can be traced back to earlier and authentic sources (such as Ss. Irenaeus and Justin), and 2) it is a very referenced source in modern academic works, and so it would simply be good for you to read it so you know what people are talking about when they mention this text.

I much prefer this text to the prior one. I believe that this text was really written by the Apostle Matthew, as did the Fathers. Saint Jerome's letter about the text appears at the beginning of this digital version.

The link here goes to a collection of pre-Nicaea Fathers. In this collection are the epistles here named. For those unaware, Ignatius' was a student of John and a friend of Mary. Obviously, the letters you are about to read are from before that relationship was developed. These letters are genuine. The only reason some people say they are inauthentic, is because in the intro to his epistle to our Lady, he calls her "the Christotokos" as opposed to "Theotokos." The Nestorians eventually picked up on this word, and said "Since Christ and God in the man Jesus are two different people, Mary is the Christotokos and not the Theotokos." Then, looking at these epistles attributed to Ignatius later readers said, "ah, this says 'Christotokos' and thus must be a Nestorian forgery." Now, bear in mind that these same scholars later decided that "Theotokos" wasn't actually an Apostolic title for our Lady, and kept their view on Ignatius' extra epistles, but were then later proven wrong by the Sub Tuum Præsidium, the oldest Christian prayer outside the Bible (c. AD 101) which says the word "Theotokos." Then they cited this as proof against Ignatius' epistles. The obvious error, though, is that prior to Nestorius, the term "Christotokos" was not opposed to "Theotokos." For example, if I wrote an epistle which began, "In the name of the prophet and successor of Moses, Jesus Christ," would that imply that I deny His divinity? No — in fact, the Scriptures call Him this, as does Dionysius (who is quite explicit about His divinity). So the whole dispute is predicated on a fallacy.

This is an article of mine about the origins of intercessory prayer. I typically find that Protestants' issue is not so much with Mary as it is with the whole practice of praying to saints, so here I try to succinctly cover both topics.

This is a life of our Lady written by St. Maximos the Confessor.

Saint Justin attended liturgy in Ephesus, which is where John and our Lady went when they were on earth. Thus, Justin's testimony is essentially the testimony of the Theotokos' own parish, and of John's theology.

Saint Irenaeus was a student of Polycarp, who was himself of student of Ss. John and Paul. Thus, Irenaeus' testimony serves the same purpose as St. Justin's.

This work is by St. Dumitru Staniloae. Staniloae explains that Mary did not give birth merely to Christ’s human nature or to a separate human person: the one born from her is the eternal divine Hypostasis of the Word, now subsisting in both divine and human natures. Consequently, the title Theotokos safeguards the hypostatic union and the whole reality of salvation. He connects this doctrine with the virginal conception, the action of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s assumption and deification of human nature, and humanity’s adoption as children of God. Mary is presented as humanity’s supreme free response to God: through lifelong personal purity and complete availability to the divine will, she contributes the human nature from which the Word forms His body. Stăniloae teaches that she inherited ancestral sin but committed no personal sin and was purified from ancestral sin when the Word began dwelling within her. Her perpetual virginity consequently expresses not only bodily integrity but her complete and permanent dedication to God.

This work is by St. John Maximovitch. Saint John follows her veneration from her earthly life and the apostolic-era Church through the early attacks upon her perpetual virginity, the Nestorian controversy and Third Ecumenical Council, and the defense of her icons against Iconoclasm.

This is an article by me on how our Lady is the pinnacle of attained sanctity (as opposed to Christ, Whose sanctity was natural and not attained), and how she is the ultimate image of womanhood, and how in Christ and the Theotokos we see the divine syzygy, showing us what it really means to be a father, son, mother, or daughter.

This is a very difficult work by Sergius Bulgakov about the nature of the Church.

This is a very difficult work by Sergius Bulgakov about our Lady.