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To: NYer
The fragment dates to 250 but, as Fr. Longenecker notes, "if this hymn to the Virgin dates from 250 AD we can deduce that it must be a written record of an earlier practice. Think about it, by the time something is written down for use in the liturgy it must already have been in use for some time. Furthermore, if this prayer is part of a document that is a copy of another document, then this also indicates that the actual practice is earlier than the manuscript itself."

Speculation on his part.

46 posted on 11/06/2015 1:48:10 PM PST by ealgeone
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To: ealgeone

dates from 250 AD we can deduce that it must be a written record of an earlier practice.

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Actually such deductions are not logical. Often it is the written record that starts the theology.. For instance the Hymn or Christmas Carol “Silent Night”. Much tradition that was not thought of before the hymn became popular is now set in most of Christianity.

Mary is the mother of Christ for sure. One of the last things The Savior did while on the cross where He gave His life for us was ask John to take care of His mother, in fact to make her his mother. He didn’t give instructions to worship her or treat her special, just to take care of her. In all the Scriptures we don’t ever hear of Christ honoring His mother more than that. You would think that by 325 AD when most of the Bible was consolidated into what we have today there would have been some mention of her. The early church had no such veneration, honor yes, worship no.

The other thing I want to mention is caution in calling “early church” something that happened in 250AD. Subtracting 250years from today would put us in 1765, before the creation of this country. That was a long time ago, what happened in 250 can barely be called early church because there was quite an organization by that time. There were not even great, great, great grand children around of those who had seen the Apostles. There was plenty of time for error to creep in.

Sill, I suspect that Mary must have been quite the young woman to have been singled out by God to be the mother of The Savior of the world.


49 posted on 11/06/2015 2:48:15 PM PST by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours)
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