May 2023 Print

Devotion to the Mother of God in the Early Church

By Romanus

When we read attentively the Scriptures, we may be struck by the intermittent character of Our Lady’s presence. At first, she appears veiled in the Old Testament prophecies, but comes into full light in the first chapters of the Gospel of St. Luke. Then, she drifts back into relative obscurity during Christ’s ministry, and finally comes back into full light in the Apocalypse. This pattern of highlights and obscurities was somehow repeated in the Marian teachings of the first centuries of the Church. Why was this, considering that Revelation was complete and Mary’s role in the economy of salvation was already exposed?

The Christian preaching of the one God, incarnate in Christ, both creator and redeemer, was set in opposition to the multiplicity of pagan gods. However, at the early stages of preaching, to have emphasized the person of the Virgin Mother could have created confusion among the faithful, perhaps even have led to an assimilation of Our Lady with the many “mother goddesses” of the pagan myths. Nonetheless, both the humanity and the maternity of Mary had to be emphasized to stress the reality of the Incarnation, especially against the early heresies that denied the reality of Christ’s humanity.

Moreover, from the very beginning, the faithful were attracted to the person of Mary and desired to know more about her life, privileged position and dignity, and virtues. Unfortunately, however, this desire, good in itself, also posed a danger, as it fostered the proliferation, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, of a kind of “popular” literature, which sometimes did offer further insights into Mary’s life, but was far too mixed with fanciful legends and erroneous assertions, often supported with the false claim of having been written by the apostles and first disciples.

It was the task of the Fathers to exercise the necessary discernment and guide and focus the faithful’s devotion on the theological truth about Mary.

Mary and the Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd Centuries

The Fathers of the second and third centuries chose to progressively stress the exceptionality of Mary, the extraordinary privileges and gifts she had received from God to carry out her unique and universal mission.

The Fathers made clear that their Marian doctrine was not superfluous or merely a theological opinion but necessary to preserve the integrity of the faith—as Mary is intimately united to the mystery of the union of divine and human natures in Christ. Thus, in the very first professions of faith, the confession of Christ was inseparably united with a confession of the exceptionality of Mary.

As the Fathers’ theological reflection was focused on Christ, their references to Mary were initially indirect, but as time passed and they refuted the first heresies, they began to throw a new light on Mary.¹

The first heresies to appear were Docetism and Gnosticism, which asserted that matter is the root and source of all evil. Consequently, the One sent by God could not have assumed matter, nor taken up a true body; therefore, He could not have been born of Mary.

To oppose this first error, the earliest Fathers of the Church had to stress that Christ is truly man and the proof of His humanity is that He is born of Mary. Thus, St. Ignatius of Antioch (disciple of St. John, martyr in 110) wrote to the church of Smyrna: “The Lord 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.” Thus he affirmed, at the same time, the true, absolute maternity of Mary: Christ is God and Man because born “from Mary and from God.”

The Gospels state the supernatural character of the birth of Christ: Mary is both Virgin and Mother.

The Fathers pointed out that the denial of the virgin birth usually went hand in hand with the denial of the divinity of Christ. Some heretics saw Him only as a man, the natural son of Joseph and Mary, while some other heretics, although accepting the idea of a virginal birth, considered it only apparent, not the actual birth of a true man.

Therefore, the virginity of Mary had always to be mentioned together with her maternity. Thus she appears in the first professions of faith: Christ, God and Man, natus ex Maria Virgine. St. Justin (philosopher, pagan convert, martyr in 165), disputing with the Jew Trypho, explained the meaning of the prophecy of Isaiah, pointing out that the precise term parthenos, “virgin,” cannot be translated as simply referring to a “young girl,” thus leaving no doubt that Mary, although Mother of Christ, is also Virgin.²

The first great theologian, St. Irenaeus of Lyon (bishop, martyr in 202), developed the parallelism between Mary and Eve, asserting that God wants to restore the primitive plan of salvation, damaged by Adam’s sin. This plan of salvation followed the same stages of the Fall, using the same means that served for former ruin. As what perished was flesh and blood, Christ has now assumed flesh and blood:

[The Lord’s] obedience on the tree of the cross reversed the disobedience at the tree in Eden; the good news of the truth announced by an angel to Mary, a virgin subject to a husband, undid the evil lie that seduced Eve, a virgin espoused to a husband. As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve.³

Mary is, thus, the cause of salvation for herself and mankind through her obedience—Maria sibi et universo generi humano causa facta est salutis. These themes were developed even more by Origen in the mid-3rd century, who not only addressed Mary as “Mother of God,” but, based on her being the “new Eve,” also addressed her as “Mother of the faithful.” Being doubly sanctified by a double consecration (the descent of the Holy Ghost in her soul and of the Son in her womb), she has become an active channel of the Holy Ghost for the sanctification of men.

The precise expression “Mother of God” corresponds to the next period of doctrinal development, culminating in the formal admission of the title by the ecumenical council of Ephesus. However, the reality asserted—the Divine Maternity—was clearly understood from the beginning: the one and same Being, born of Mary, is both Man and God.

Although implicit, it is evident in the New Testament. In the Annunciation, the Child to be born of Mary is the “Son of the Most High.” In the Visitation, St. Elizabeth exclaims: “How is this that the Mother of my Lord comes to me?” But as the divine maternity was not yet directly denied by the first heresies, it was not explicitly formulated.

The heretics’ difficulty consisted of how so utterly different natures could be united in the same being—and they solved their problem by denying one or the other of those natures. The Fathers stressed either the humanity or the divinity of Christ, according to which heretic they were opposing, but all asserted the union of both natures in one Being, born of Mary.

Mary in the Roman Catacombs

As doctrine developed in these centuries, so did the piety of the faithful in correspondence with it. It is to be found chiefly in the decoration and the inscriptions of Christian tombs.⁴

The theologians were struggling to find the terms that could express the truths of Christianity unequivocally. In a similar way, the artists needed to create a Christian visual language. They first resorted to their usual models and patterns, which proceeded from pagan art, but choosing from them those that appeared more appropriate to express Christian ideas. But when we compare those images with the contemporary doctrinal explanations of the Fathers of the Church, we realize that they go hand in hand, that the images are a sometimes naïve visualization of the belief of the faithful, which is being elaborated and expounded in theological terms by the Fathers. The most important and ancient images of our Blessed Mother are found in Priscilla’s catacomb on the Via Salaria in Rome. The oldest image, from the mid-second century, represents the Virgin with the Child [cf. title image], and at her side, a man with a scroll in hand (indicating that he carries or delivers a message; perhaps the prophet Isaiah) pointing to a star. In the same catacomb, the funerary inscription of Severa, from the third century, offers a similar image, this time indubitably the adoration of the Magi (three men in oriental dress and caps), bringing offerings to the Virgin, who, as Roman matron, sits on a high-backed chair, with the Child in her arms, and a man (St. Joseph, perhaps, or a Prophet) standing behind her and pointing to a star.

A gilded glass from the catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus (third century) represents the Virgin as Orans,⁵ clearly identifying her as “Maria,” standing between Sts. Peter and Paul also identified by name.

In the Coemeterium Majus, close to the catacomb of St. Agnes, on the Via Nomentana, in an early fourth-century fresco, the Virgin is represented again as Orans, with the Child, and the Greek letters XP that identify Our Lord.

It has to be noted that, in these scenes, there is no abstraction, no symbolism, despite the fondness of the early Christian artists for it. Instead, they are straightforward, “literal” representations of evangelical passages and of the Mother and Child—and this has been deliberately done with a doctrinal intent.

These precise representations directly point to the mystery of the Incarnation. The images asserted what the Docetist heresy denied, both the reality of the human nature of Christ and the divine maternity of Mary.

Moreover, it must also be noted that these images were not an object of veneration. They were decorations and, above all, a sign of recognition—a profession of faith and hope, an invitation to visitors to pray for those buried there.

The Oldest Prayer to Mary

A fragment of Egyptian papyrus, in Greek, now in John Rylands Research Institute and Library in Manchester, UK, contains a version of a prayer we still use, the Sub tuum praesidium: “Under your mercy, we take refuge, O Mother of God! Our prayers do not despise in necessities, but from the danger deliver us, only pure, only blessed.”

It dates from c. 250-280, amidst increasingly violent and methodical persecutions, but still in the same period in which the images of Our Lady were being painted in the Roman catacombs.

The prayer expresses the faith of the Church in the divine motherhood of Our Lady. She is the Theotokos, “God-bearer,” Dei Genetrix, “birth-giver of God.” It stresses Mary’s power of intercession, already performing the function of Mediatrix. She is the object of a special election, “the only blessed,” and perpetually virgin, “the only pure.”

Mary in the Fourth Century

By the third century, in the manuscripts of the New Testament, the name of Mary was abbreviated as MP, Meter, “Mother”—a kind of abbreviation used only in reference to the sacred names of God and Christ—therefore, to be understood as Meter Theou, “Mother of God.”

In the anti-Arian struggle of the fourth century, the Alexandrian Fathers used the title of Theotokos to defend the divinity of Christ.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus (+ 395) asserted, “If anyone does not agree that holy Mary is the Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead.” Around the same time, St. Gregory of Nyssa (+ 390) reported what is the first record of a Marian apparition, to St. Gregory the Wonderworker, a saint of the third century.

By the fourth century, the different liturgical prayers in use in the East piled up, in oriental fashion, the terms of praise of Mary and invoked her intercession. For example, in the Antiochene Liturgy of the Twelve Apostles: “Let us make the memorial of the all-holy, immaculate, highly glorious, blessed Lady, Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary by whose prayers and supplications may we be preserved from evil and may mercy be upon us in either world.”

Also, by the end of the fourth century, in the Eastern Roman Empire, the first recorded liturgical feast in honor of Our Lady was observed on the day after Christmas.

The regard and veneration of the faithful for Mary had become so high and widespread that, in some cases, unhindered by doctrine or common sense, it led to unhealthy extremes and even heresy. Thus, St. Epiphanius of Salamis wrote of a sect in Arabia that venerated Mary almost as a goddess and, on account of that, had a female priesthood. He concluded: “Let Mary be held in honor. Let the Father, Son and Holy Ghost be adored, but let no one adore Mary.”

The Council of Ephesus

When Nestorius, a monk from Antioch, became patriarch of Constantinople in 428, he was surprised by the extent of the devotion to Mary in the city and greatly scandalized by the use of the title of Theotokos.

Nestorius had been formed in the theological school of Antioch, which, in its opposition to the Arian heresy, insisted on the distinction of natures in Christ. However, the imprecisions of theological language undermined the union of the human and divine natures in one Person in the Incarnation. Therefore, for Nestorius, Jesus is not identical to the Son of God, but a complete human person united with the Son of God. Both come together, inseparably, to act as one Person, one subject of dignity and power and action—therefore, both can be called by a common name and must be worshiped together.

Consequently, he strongly objected to the use of Theotokos, which he interpreted as a denial of Christ’s full humanity, and proposed Christotokos as a more suitable title—Mary could be acknowledged as “mother of the inseparable Temple of the Word of God,” but not as “mother of the Word of God.”

Disregarding the common liturgical use of the title, and the sensus fidei of the people, he lost no time in showing his hostility both to the title and to what he judged to be excesses of devotion.

His doctrine provoked strong reactions in Constantinople and throughout the churches, particularly in Alexandria, where the title of “Mother of God” had already been received as part of the Deposit of Faith and was widely used in the liturgy and private devotion of the faithful.

St. Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, clearly discerning Nestorius’ error and the dangers it posed, did not take upon himself to issue a universal condemnation. He appealed to the Roman See, to St. Celestine I, to pass a definitive sentence on the doctrine. The Pope, in a Roman synod, condemned Nestorius’ error and charged St. Cyril with making an effort to bring him back to orthodoxy or, failing that, to signify his excommunication.

However, in the meantime, Nestorius himself had asked the emperor to convoke an ecumenical council where he could be vindicated—fixed for Ephesus, June 431. The Pope delegated St. Cyril to preside in his name.

On the very first day of the Council, a conclusion was reached and summarized in the first anathema (the formal condemnation of a doctrinal proposition):

“If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth, and therefore that the holy Virgin is the Mother of God (for she bore in a fleshly way the Word of God become flesh), let him be anathema.”

The people’s devotion to Our Lady was such that, when this sentence was known through the city, a joyous multitude spontaneously gathered around St. Mary’s church, where the Council was held, and accompanied the conciliar Fathers back home, in procession, with lighted torches.

The papal legates, arriving late, joined St. Cyril and confirmed the sentence against Nestorius, which was ratified a year later by Pope St. Sixtus III. The doctrinal discussion was over—never again would an objection be raised against the title of Theotokos.

The Triumph of Mary

After Ephesus, the attention focused on Mary herself, and a triumphal veneration of the Theotokos spread like wildfire in arts, liturgy, and popular devotions.

In Rome, numerous churches were newly built or re-dedicated to Mary. Only one year after Ephesus, in 432, St. Sixtus III commissioned the mosaics of the triumphal arch of St. Mary Major, where Our Lady appears jeweled, enthroned, and guarded by angels. In the frescoes of Santa Maria Antiqua, the Virgin appears enthroned, in a jeweled dress, crowned, surrounded by archangels offering to the Child the crown and scepter, symbols of imperial power.

Let us feast our eyes on these triumphal images while in our hearts rings the joyous praise addressed to our heavenly Mother by St. Cyril in Ephesus:

We salute Thee, O Virgin Mother, Thou who art the living and immortal temple of the Divinity, the treasure and the light of the world, the flower of virginity, the support of the orthodox faith, the firm support of all the churches! Thou who didst bring forth a God, and didst conceal in Thy chaste womb Him whom no space can contain! Thou by whom the Holy Trinity is known and adored, the Cross of Calvary honored by all the earth—in whom the angels and archangels rejoice, and before whom the demons fly away! Thou by whom fallen man is restored to his inheritance, idolatry is destroyed, and Christianity is established! We hail, we praise Thee, O Virgin Mother, of whom the prophets have spoken, the evangelists have written, the apostles have preached! All hail Thee, O Virgin Mother of God!

Endnotes

¹ Cf. Fernandez, Domiciano. La spiritualité mariale chez les Pères de l’Église. Dict.Sp., vol. X.

² St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 100.

³ St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, Bk. 5:19.1.

⁴ Cf. Wolter, Maurus OSB. Les catacombs de Rome et la doctrine catholique. Paris: Tequi, 1872.

⁵ Image of a person standing in prayer, head veiled, hands raised to heaven in supplication.