Sacred Founders by Angelova Diliana N

Author:Angelova, Diliana N.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780520284012
Publisher: University of California Press

THEOLOGY, GENDER, AND EMPIRE: MARY IN THE WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS BEFORE EPHESUS

Had Christianity not become an imperial religion, the idea of the Virgin Mary as queen might not have come into existence. Mary’s role in the Incarnation pulled her out of the relative obscurity assigned her by the Gospels.40 She did not need to be imaged as queen for that role.41 Mother, yes, but why queen? The need for a divine prototype for the empress is one part of the answer; another relates to late antique discussions of the female gender. A cultural debate about women was folded into the theological debates about the nature of Christ. Those who opposed Mary the Theotokos also accepted the notion of an unredeemed Eve that implied the sinfulness and inferiority of all women.

In the debate on theology the main question was whether Mary had given birth to God or to a man. In the Gospel of Luke she is described as a virgin, favored by God, who would bear the huios theou (Son of God).42 But both Mary’s motherhood and Christ’s sonhood came under fire in the early Church. From the second century to the Council of Ephesus, in 431, which affirmed the designation Theotokos for Mary, Church writers mobilized the Virgin Mary to settle debates on the nature of Christ. This elevated her visibility in Christian theology. In particular Tertullian (ca. 160–ca. 225), Clement (d. ca. 215), Origen (ca. 185–254), Athanasius (295–373), and Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306–73) highlighted her unique status as the one who carried God in her womb.

The first Christian writer to sing Mary’s praises in beautiful and memorable poetry was Ephrem the Syrian. His works were quickly translated into Greek and were mentioned among the texts considered by the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.43 Ephrem celebrated Mary as a larger-than-life figure, critical to Christ’s humanity. He sang of Mary’s womb as the place where God wove the garment of salvation.44 In another hymn he compared Christ’s flesh with a “little vest of the Body to Him that covereth all.”45 Mary is a towering figure, who nourishes, quenches thirst, and ensures salvation. One of the earliest instances of Mary as the Bride of Christ also appears in the hymns of St. Ephrem. He wrote how Christ, the ornament of his mother, adorned Mary with every ornament, “For she was Thy Bride by nature.”46 The influential Syrian hymnodist also elaborated on the idea that Christ was conceived through the Virgin’s ear: “Glory to the Voice which became Body, and to the Word of the High One that became Flesh!”47 Mary’s maternity thus provided proof of the full humanity of Christ. Out of her flesh Christ came as a “Son of man,” and suffered human passions.48 Her womb testified to Christ’s humanity.49

But Mary was also instrumental in defining the divinity of Christ. St. Ephrem praises her for being uniquely blessed with the honor of conceiving and rearing the “Son of the Creator.”50 Athanasius of Alexandria argued that Christ’s humanity,

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