The Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

The day after Christmas, our Church celebrates the feast day of the Synaxis of the Theotokos. This feast gives us the opportunity to make some points which are related to the life of the Mother of God and show what the beliefs of the Orthodox Church are about her holy person.

Firstly, let us give a definition of the word ‘Synaxis’. The gathering of people for a particular purpose is known in the Greek language as a Synaxis. In the language of the Church, it means the gathering of the faithful to celebrate a great event, either from the life of the Theotokos, the saints or the angels. Usually, a Synaxis is celebrated after a great Despotic or Theometoric feast.

During the feast of the Synaxis of the Theotokos, the liturgical life of our Church directs the attention of the faithful to the holy person of the Theotokos. Its goal is to present to us her holy personality and to highlight her great contribution to the salvation of mankind, and more specifically, the important role she played in the mystery of the Holy Incarnation.

Our Orthodox Church has an abundance of adjectives which describe the Holy Virgin. One of these is the title Theotokos. This title is used in the dogmatic language of Orthodox theology, in the liturgical language of the Church, and in the everyday prayers of the faithful (All-holy Theotokos save us, It is meet indeed to bless Thee, the ever-blessed and most pure Theotokos…etc)

One of the dogmatic teachers of the Church, St John Damascene, explains in simple words why She, who is ‘blessed among women’ is named Theotokos:

“Our church proclaims the Holy Virgin as Theotokos.” This adjective as explained by the holy father, means that the Virgin literally gave birth to the True God. God was incarnated through her, so she is literally ‘Theotokos’ (the birthgiver of God)”

We emphasise that the Virgin is ‘Theotokos’, not ‘Christotokos’, as the impious and heretical Nestorius taught. The Virgin gave birth to Christ - perfect man and perfect God - and not just as a man, as this heretical belief suggests. Nestorius was anathematised by the Third Ecumenical Council which was convened in Ephesus because of his impious teaching.

St John Damascene continues and states: “Why do we say that from her (the Virgin Mary) God was born? Not because the divine nature of the Word came into existence through her, but because the Word of God, Who was born from the Father before all ages was conceived in the womb of the Virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit for our salvation and He became human without any affect or change to His Divinity.”

Thus, the Virgin gave birth to perfect God and perfect man, and the title Theotokos conveys this great truth very accurately. The faithful should therefore address the Holy Virgin as Theotokos. It is the ultimate title of honour for the humble maiden of Nazareth. It is also a title of honour for the entire human race, which the Virgin so worthily represents.

Both the Bible and the Holy Tradition of the Church are full of references to the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God by nature and the Saviour of the world. The Creed also refers to the incarnation of the Son and Word of God. Therefore, for every person of faith who studies the gospels and the holy fathers of the Church, there is not even the slightest doubt that the Holy Virgin is truly Theotokos.

St Ambrose, bishop of Mediolan (339-397AD) says that, of all people who were born in the world, there is no person who is totally free of sin, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary was conceived by the sperm of Joacheim, after the fervent prayer he and his wife Anna made, asking God to grant them a child. None of the holy and God-bearing fathers of the Church has ever suggested that God purified the Virgin in a miraculous way at the time when she entered the womb of her mother Anna.

Only the Lord Jesus Christ is totally pure and free from all sin. All descendants of Adam were born with the original sin, and therefore, have the inclination towards sin. This means that the Virgin Mary, being conceived in the usual way was born with the original sin, although, with the grace of God and her great faith and virtue, she committed no personal sins of her own.

In regards to the purification of the Virgin from the original sin, the Orthodox Church teaches that this occurred on the day of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel told her: “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most Hight will overshadow you.” It was at this time that the Virgin was cleansed from the original sin and later, through the sacrifice of the Lord, Her Son and God, She was saved.

However, the Roman Catholic Church began teaching the theory of Immaculate Conception during the 8^th century. Despite the objections of western theologians like Bernard, Thomas Aquinas, Vonaventura and the Dominican order of monks, Pope Pius made the Immaculate Conception an official dogma of the Catholic Church in 1849.

According to this dogma, the Virgin was born without the original sin. If she had no inclination towards sin, why do we continually refer to her many virtues as worthy of imitation? This dogma goes against the teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, because the salvation of mankind, according to this dogma, is given without the presence and sacrifice of Christ, the Messiah. Why did the Lord need to become human if a person could be freed from the original sin and saved without His sacrifice?

According to the Bible and the Holy Tradition, the Church does not recognise or accept any other means of salvation, apart from that which is attained through Jesus Christ. Therefore, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is heretical, unfounded and goes against the teaching of the Bible and the Holy Tradition.

Our Church teaches the ever-virginity of the Mother of God. The Bible witnesses that “the Virgin conceived in the womb by the Holy Spirit”.

The above words fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah which says that “The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son.” Holy apostolic and God-bearing fathers and sacred writers opposed the impious heretics who doubted the ever-virginity of the Mother of God. Among the many fathers that preached the ever-virginity of the Theotokos, we will refer to Ambrose, Origen, Ieronimos, Epiphanios, John the Damascene and the holy Augustine, with his famous: “Virgo concepit, virgo peperit, virgo permansit”, in other words: “The Virgin conceived, the Virgin gave birth, and Virgin she remained.”

To the above we add the words of the second canon from the Fifth Ecumenical Council, which comes to verify the teaching of the Church: “ Whoever does not truly recognise the glorious ever-virgin as Theotokos…let anathema be to them.”

In conclusion, we also humbly confess that the pure maiden of Nazareth is the more honourable than the Cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim - truly and literally is Theotokos and Ever-virgin. That She literally gave flesh to our Saviour and that the Only-Begotten Son and Word of God was incarnated by Her through the intervention of the Holy Spirit and thus was born the Saviour of the world, the truly blessed God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

By the late Father Nicholas Moutafis 1931-2001