Perpetual virginity of Mary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vladimir Eleusa icon of the Ever Virgin Mary. The Aeiparthenos (Ever Virgin) title is widely used in Eastern Orthodox liturgy, and icons show her with three stars, on shoulders and forehead, symbolising her threefold virginity.[1]

The perpetual virginity of Mary is the doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was a virgin ante partum, in partu, et post partum—before, during and after the birth of Christ.[2] It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, and is held also by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church and by some Lutherans. Most Protestant churches, however, today reject it as a dogma.[3][4]

Mary's virginity before the birth is attested in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Gospel of Luke, but the Bible makes no explicit statements on her virginity during and after.[5] The Pauline epistles, the four canonical gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, all mention the "brothers (adelphoi) of Jesus";[6] for the Catholic Church the adelphoi would be cousins of Jesus; while for the Orthodox Church they would be step-brothers, children of Joseph from a previous marriage.

The official acts of the Fifth Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople in 553 refer to Mary as Aeiparthenos (ever-virgin in Greek).[7] Several ancient Christian theologians such as Athanasius of Alexandria, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, and Origen staunchly defended the dogma of the perpetual virginity.[8]

Origin[]

Nativity (Throne of Maximianus in Ravenna)

2nd century[]

The exact origin of the tradition of Mary's perpetual virginity is unknown[9] Mary's virginity, pre or post natal, seems to have attracted little theological attention prior to the end of the 2nd century, Ignatius of Antioch (c.35-108), for example, discussing it only to argue for the reality of Jesus's human birth against the docetic heretics who deny him any humanity.[10] The doctrine of perpetual virginity is a later theological development (from the later 2nd century, according to Bromiley, or even later, according to Rampton).[11][12]

The idea of Mary's perpetual virginity first appears in a middle or late 2nd century text called the Gospel of James (or Protoevangelium of James),[13][14] which is "the ultimate source of almost all later Marian doctrine."[15] In this story Mary remains a life-long virgin, Joseph is an old man without physical desire, who marries her; the brothers of Jesus are explained as Joseph's sons by an earlier marriage.[16] The birth takes place in a cave near Bethlehem, and the new-born Jesus simply appears from a cloud and a blinding light and takes his mother's breast;[17] a midwife is present outside the cave, who believes, and her acquaintance Salome, who demands to touch the physical organs of the holy mother:

The midwife came out of the cave [in which the birth took place], and Salome met her. And she said to her: "Salome, Salome, I have I have a new sight to tell you; a virgin has brought forth, a thing which her nature does not allow." And Salome said: "As the Lord my God lives, unless I put (forward) my finger and test her condition, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth." And Salome went in and made her ready to test her condition. And she cried out saying: "I have tempted the living God..." (The Protoevangelium of Gospel of James, 19:3-20, quoted in Brown, 1978).[18]

Salome's hand withers, but she prays to God for forgiveness and an angel appears and tells her to touch the Christ-child again, whereupon her hand is restored;[19][20] the episode performs the same function as "doubting Thomas" in the Gospel of John.[21]

James possibly derives from a sect called the Encratites,[15] whose founder Tatian teaches that sex and marriage were symptoms of original sin;[22] its context was the growth of asceticism with its emphasis on celibacy, the monks seeing all sexual activity as tainted by sin.[11] It was widely distributed and seems to have formed the basis of the stories of Mary in the Quran.[23]

3rd–4th century establishment of orthodoxy[]

By the third century Hippolytus holds that Mary was "all-holy Mary, ever-virgin",[24] in the early 4th century the spread of monasticism promoted celibacy as the ideal Christian state,[25] and a moral hierarchy was established, with marriage occupying the third rank below life-long virginity and widowhood.[25] Around 380 Helvidius rejected the doctrine of Mary's virginitas post partum;[26] and he objects to the devaluation of marriage and argued that the two states, of virginity and marriage, were equal;[27] while his contemporary Jerome, defended that virginity was superior to marriage. Jerome wrote influential works to defend the perpetual virginity of Mary such as The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary and Against Jovinianus issued c.383. He reasoned that if we would accept as fact that she was not a virgin, then her place in the Kingdom of Heavens would be below virgins, a conclusion which he considered absurd.[28]

Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, fastened on certain ideas, such as the perpetual virginity of Mary after the birth of Jesus (virginitas post partum) and the virginity of Mary in the process of giving birth (virginitas in partu), to exhort his followers to adopt an ascetic life. In Ambrose's theology, Mary "ever-virgin" became a model for the life-long celibacy of the consecrated virgin.[26] It is due to Ambrose that virginitas in partu came to be included consistently in the thinking of subsequent theologians.[29]

Jovinian rejected her virginitas in partu.[26] Jovinian's view was rejected at a Synod of Milan held under Ambrose's presidency in 390, after which Mary's perpetual virginity was established as the only orthodox view.[30] The Council of Ephesus in 431 establishes a full general consensus on the subject,[31] in 553 the Second Council of Constantinople gives her the title Aeiparthenos, meaning Perpetual Virgin, and at the Lateran Council of 649 Pope Martin I emphasises its threefold character, before, during, and after the birth of Christ.[30]

Doctrine[]

Catholic Church[]

Image of Mary depicting her nursing the Infant Jesus. 3rd century, Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome.

The perpetual virginity of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a truth divinely revealed, the denial of which is heresy.[32] It declares her virginity before, during and after the birth of Jesus,[33] or in the definition formulated by Pope Martin I at the Lateran Council of 649:[34]

The blessed ever-virginal and immaculate Mary conceived, without seed, by the Holy Spirit, and without loss of integrity brought him forth, and after his birth preserved her virginity inviolate.

Thomas Aquinas says that reason could not prove this, but that it must be accepted because it was "fitting",[35] for as Jesus was the only-begotten son of God, so he should also be the only-begotten son of Mary, as a second and purely human conception would disrespect the sacred state of her holy womb.[36] Symbolically, the perpetual virginity of Mary signifies a new creation and a fresh start in salvation history.[37] It has been stated and argued repeatedly, most recently by the Second Vatican Council:[38]

This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception … then also at the birth of Our Lord, who did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it... (Lumen Gentium, No.57)

Symbolically, the perpetual virginity of Mary signifies a new creation and a fresh start in salvation history.[37] It has been stated and argued repeatedly, most recently by the Second Vatican Council:[38]

This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception … then also at the birth of Our Lord, who did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it... (Lumen Gentium, No.57)

Orthodox Church[]

Eastern Orthodox Church recognizes Mary as Aeiparthenos, meaning "ever-virgin".[39] The 2nd century Gospel of James affirms that Mary was always a virgin before, during and after childbirth, stating that Jesus' brothers (adelphos) are sons of Joseph from a previous marriage.[20]

Lutheranism and Anglicanism[]

Lutherans, following Luther, have traditionally accepted the perpetual virginity of Mary, though Luther did not hold it to be a binding view of Scripture.[40][41][42][43]

Other Protestants[]

Many modern protestants reject the sanctity of virginity, and as a result of marriage and parenthood being extolled, Mary and Joseph are seen as a normal married couple, and sexual abstinence is no longer regarded as a virtue.[44] They also hold to the idea of the Bible as the fundamental source of authority regarding God's word (sola scriptura),[45] and the reformers say that while holy scripture explicitly requires belief in the virgin birth, it only permits acceptance of perpetual virginity.[46] Thus, many modern protestants, other than Anglicans and Lutherans, reject the doctrine of perpetual virginity.[citation needed]

Arguments and evidence[]

The Church Fathers in an 11th-century depiction from Kyiv

The problem facing theologians who want to maintain Mary's perpetual virginity is that the New Testament mentions the brothers (adelphoi) of Jesus, with Mark and Matthew recording their names and Mark adding unnamed sisters,[47] and her virginity is explicitly affirmed only prior to the conception of Jesus.[48] The Gospel of James and Epiphanius solved this by arguing that the adelphoi are Joseph's children by an earlier marriage,[49] which is still the view of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.[50] Jerome believes that Joseph, like Mary, must be a life-long virgin,[51] and that these adelphoi are children of Mary's sister, another Mary, whom he considers the wife of Clopas.[51] A modern proposal is that the second Mary, mentioned in John 19:25 as the wife of Clopas, is not the sister of Mary and that Clopas is Joseph's brother.[50] The word adelphos only very rarely carries any other meaning than a physical or spiritual sibling,[52] though the Septuagint, the translation used by the New Testament authors,[53] does use adelphoi to refer to non-fraternal relatives, notably in Genesis 14:14, where Lot is referred to as adelphos of Abraham, even though he is not a blood brother.[54] [55]

Further scriptural difficulties are added by Luke 2:6, which calls Jesus the "first-born" son of Mary,[56] and Matthew 1:25, which adds that Joseph did not "know" (consummated the marriage) his wife "until she had brought forth her firstborn son."[57] Helvidius argues that first-born implies later births, and that the word "until" left open the way to sexual relations after the birth; Jerome, replying that even an only son will be a first-born, and that "until" did not have the meaning Helvidius construed for it, paints a word-portrait of Joseph having intercourse with a blood-stained and exhausted Mary immediately after she has given birth - the implication, in his view, of Helvidius's arguments.[28] Opinions on the quality of Jerome's rebuttal range from the view that it is masterful and well-argued to thin, rhetorical and sometimes tasteless.[30]

Two other 4th century Fathers, Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine, advance a further argument by reading Luke 1:34 as a vow of perpetual virginity on Mary's part,[58] although virginity was never an ideal in Israel and such a vow would have been "inconceivable" among Jews of the time.[5] Nevertheless, this argument, and those advanced by Jerome and Ambrose, are put forward by John Paul II in his catechesis of August 28, 1996, as the four facts supporting the Catholic Church's ongoing faith in Mary's perpetual virginity:[59]

...[T]here are no reasons for thinking that the will to remain a virgin, which Mary expressed at the moment of the Annunciation (cf. Luke 1:34) was then changed. Moreover, the immediate meaning of the words "Woman, behold your son!" "Behold your mother" (John 19:26), which Jesus addressed from the Cross to Mary and his favorite disciple, imply that Mary had no other children. ...[T]he word "firstborn" literally means "a child not preceded by another", and, in itself, makes no reference to the existence of other children. ...The phrase "brothers of Jesus" indicates "the children" of a Mary who was a disciple of Christ (cf. Matthew 27:56) and who is significantly described as "the other Mary" (Matthew 28:1). "They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression."

See also[]

Notes[]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ Hesemann 2016, p. unpaginated.
  2. ^ Bromiley 1995, p. 269.
  3. ^ Senz, Paul (26 February 2021). "Why Mary's Perpetual Virginity Matters". Catholic Answers. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  4. ^ Taylor, Aaron (2017-01-06). "Luther affirmed Mary's perpetual virginity. It's a shame that many Protestants now reject it". Catholic Herald. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Boisclair 2007, p. 1465.
  6. ^ Bauckham 2015, p. 6-8.
  7. ^ "Perpetual Virginity: Dogmatic Status and Meaning : University of Dayton, Ohio". web.archive.org. 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  8. ^ "Perpetual Virginity: Dogmatic Status and Meaning : University of Dayton, Ohio". web.archive.org. 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  9. ^ Brown 1978, p. 275.
  10. ^ Hunter 1993, p. 61.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Bromiley 1995, p. 271.
  12. ^ Rampton 2008, p. 191.
  13. ^ Lohse 1966, p. 200.
  14. ^ Ehrman 2003, p. 63.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Hunter 1993, p. 63.
  16. ^ Hurtado 2005, p. 448.
  17. ^ Burkett 2019, p. 242.
  18. ^ Brown 1978, p. 276.
  19. ^ Booton 2004, p. 55.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Vuong 2019, p. 100-101.
  21. ^ Zervos 2019, p. unpaginated.
  22. ^ Hunter 2008, p. 412.
  23. ^ Bell 2012, p. 110.
  24. ^ of Rome, Hippolytus. Against Beron and Helix: Fragment VIII. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b Hunter 2008, p. 412-413.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hunter 1993, p. 47.
  27. ^ Hunter 1999, p. 423-424.
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b Polcar 2016, p. 185.
  29. ^ Rosenberg 2018, p. unpaginated.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b c Polcar 2016, p. 186.
  31. ^ Rahner 1975, p. 896.
  32. ^ Collinge 2012, p. 133.
  33. ^ Greene-McCreight 2005, p. 485.
  34. ^ Miravalle 2006, p. 56.
  35. ^ Dodds 2004, p. 94.
  36. ^ Miravalle 2006, p. 61-62.
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b Fahlbusch 1999, p. 404.
  38. ^ Jump up to: a b Miravalle 2006, p. 59.
  39. ^ Fairbairn 2002, p. 100.
  40. ^ The American Lutheran, Volume 49. American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. 1966. p. 16. While the perpetual virginity of Mary is held as a pious opinion by many Lutheran confessors, it is not regarded as a binding teaching of the Scriptures.
  41. ^ The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 11. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1983. p. 562. ISBN 978-0-85229-400-0. Partly because of these biblical problems, the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary has not been supported as unanimously as has the doctrine of the virginal conceptioon or title mother of God. It achieved dogmatic status, however, at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and is therefore binding upon Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic believers; in addition, it is maintained by many Anglican, some Lutheran, and a few other Protestant theologians.
  42. ^ Luther's Works, 22:214-215
  43. ^ Grisar, Hartmann (1915). Luigi Cappadelta (ed.). Martin Luther. Translated by E. M. Lamond. St. Louis: B. Herder.
  44. ^ Miller-McLemore 2002, p. 100-101.
  45. ^ Miller-McLemore 2002, p. 100.
  46. ^ Pelikan 1971, p. 339.
  47. ^ Maunder 2019, p. 28.
  48. ^ Van Der Toorn 1999, p. 550.
  49. ^ Nicklas 2011, p. 2100.
  50. ^ Jump up to: a b Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 238.
  51. ^ Jump up to: a b Kelly 1975, p. 106.
  52. ^ Blomberg 2006, p. 387 fn.1.
  53. ^ Nicole, Roger, New Testament Use of the Old Testament Revelation and the Bible, ed. Carl. F.H. Henry (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1958), pp. 137–51.
  54. ^ "Bereishit (Genesis) 14 :: Septuagint (LXX)". Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  55. ^ "Kata Biblon - Genesis 14 - Greek Septuagint". en.katabiblon.com. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  56. ^ Pelikan 2014, p. 160.
  57. ^ Harrington 1991, p. 36 fn.25.
  58. ^ Brown 1978, p. 278-279.
  59. ^ Calkins 2008, p. 308-310.

Bibliography[]

Retrieved from ""