 | Perpetual virginity of Mary: Encyclopedia II - Perpetual virginity of Mary - History and details of the doctrine
Perpetual virginity of Mary - History and details of the doctrine
Perpetual virginity of Mary - Earliest centuries
The virginity of Mary was, from the earliest years of the faith, considered as hidden a mystery as the death of the Savior. "The virginity of Mary, her giving birth, and also the death of the Lord, were hidden from the prince of this world: — three mysteries loudly proclaimed, but wrought in the silence of God" (St. Ignatius of Antioch [3], died c. 107, Jurgens §42). These elements of faith are, in this very early example, given some sense of equality, and the former thereby strongly affirmed in terms of the central event.
The apocryphal books Protoevangelium of James, believed to have been written c. 125–150, ² and the "Gospel of the Nativity of Mary," whose date is unknown, translated from the Hebrew by Jerome, both mention the doctrine, illustrating prior belief. James is concerned with the character and purity of Mary [4] and is the first literature to attest her perpetual virginity (James chs. 7 - 8). Aristides of Athens ([5], [6]), c. 140, stated of Jesus: "He was born of a holy Virgin" (Jurgens §112).
Among the Church fathers, Tertullian is unusual in accepting the virgin birth (Jurgens §277) but also the notion of later childbearing by Mary (Jurgens §359). Athanasius, in Orations against the Arians, II:70 written 362 refers in passing to Mary as "Mary Ever-Virgin", implying all three areas of virginity.
The teaching of Jovinian, that as a virgin Mary conceived, but that the act of childbirth ended her physical virginity was rejected at a synod at Milan (390), presided over by Ambrose, which recalled the Apostles' Creed, "born of the Virgin Mary". St. Pope Siricius [7], wrote in 392 to the Bishop of Thessalonica: "Surely, we cannot deny that regarding the sons of Mary the statement is justly censured, and your holiness has rightly abhorred it, that from the same virginal womb, from which according to the flesh Christ was born, another offspring was brought forth" (Denziger §91).
Jerome described Mary in relation to virginity in his famous essay Against Helvetius, ch. 21:
"But as we do not deny what is written, so we do reject what is not written. We believe that God was born of the Virgin, because we read it. That Mary was married after she brought forth, we do not believe, because we do not read it. Nor do we say this to condemn marriage, for virginity itself is the fruit of marriage; but because when we are dealing with saints we must not judge rashly. If we adopt possibility as the standard of judgment, we might maintain that Joseph had several wives because Abraham had, and so had Jacob, and that the Lord's brethren were the issue of those wives, an invention which some hold with a rashness which springs from audacity not from piety. You say that Mary did not continue a virgin: I claim still more, that Joseph himself on account of Mary was a virgin, so that from a virgin wedlock a virgin son was born. For if as a holy man he does not come under the imputation of fornication, and it is nowhere written that he had another wife, but was the guardian of Mary whom he was supposed to have to wife rather than her husband, the conclusion is that he who was thought worthy to be called father of the Lord, remained a virgin."
To Eustochium, Jerome wrote: "For me, virginity is consecrated in the persons of Mary and of Christ." He encouraged others to "[s]et before you the blessed Mary, whose surpassing purity made her meet to be the mother of the Lord."
Perpetual virginity of Mary - Relevant scriptural citations
A partial list of common reference points:
- Isaiah 7:14 ("a virgin shall conceive..." although this translation is disputed by some)
- Ezekiel 44:2 ("This gate ... because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut")
- Matthew 1:18 ("with child, of the Holy Ghost")
- Luke 1:27 ("the virgin's name was Mary")
- Luke 1:34 ("How shall this be done, because I know not man?")
- Luke 2:41-51 (No other children mentioned as Jesus and parents go to Jerusalem for the pasch)
- John 19:26 (Entrusted Mary to John not to a sibling)
Perpetual virginity of Mary - Continuity over time
In A.D. 649 (the Lateran Synod) a statement covering the three specific aspects of virginity — before, during, and after the birth of Jesus — was issued. St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) taught (Summa Theologiae III.28.2), in reply to three objections based on logic and observed facts of nature, that Mary gave birth painlessly in miraculous fashion without opening of the womb and without injury to the hymen. Pope Paul IV affirmed the three-fold belief in an ecclesiastical constitution, Cum quorundam, August 7, 1555, at the Council of Trent (Denziger §993). The doctrine has been affirmed by the Roman Catholic Church as recently as the 1990s. [8]
Perpetual virginity of Mary - Expressed in iconography
In many icons, Mary's perpetual virginity is signified by three stars that appear on her left, her right, and above her or on her head. These three stars represent her virginity before giving birth, while giving birth, and after giving birth in iconography.
Other related archives107, 120, 125, 1274, 140, 150, 1555, 1:24, 362, 390, 392, 649, Ambrose, Apostles' Creed, Assumption of Mary, Athanasius, August 7, Blessed Virgin Mary, Calvin, Catholic theology and doctrine, Christ, Christianity, Christians, Chrysostom, Council of Trent, Crucifixion, Desposyni, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox Catholic, Exodus, Ezekiel, God, Hebrew, Immaculate Conception, Isaiah, Islam, James the Just, Jerome, Jerusalem, Jesus, John, Joseph, Jovinian, Jude Thomas, Luke, Luther, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Matthew, Matthew 1:18, Matthew 1:25, Mt 1:18, Muslim teaching related to Jesus, New Testament, Numbers, Panagia, Pope Paul IV, Protestants, Protoevangelium of James, Qur'an, Resurrection, Roman, Second Helvetic Confession, St., St. Augustine, Summa Theologiae, Tertullian, Theotokos, Thomas Aquinas, Virgin Birth, Zwingli, apocryphal, clergy, faith, hymen, iconography, laity, miracles, mores, pasch, sola scriptura, virgin
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History and details of the doctrine", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
