I remember that discussion way back on this thread. The age three business with Panagia came up from a reading of the Protoevangelium of James. I don't for the life of me remember who raised it. I thought it was you, FK, in the form of a question ...
Yes, that is exactly it, Kolo. (Kosta, when I said "your view", I meant the Orthodox view.) Kolo and I were discussing the Protoevangelium, which said that at age 3, Mary received a special grace from God, just before entering the church for the rest of her upbringing, and it was this grace which allowed her to live her life sinlessly. Mary was born in the normal way and from 0-3, she was not yet old enough to be capable of sin. I "thought" (I could be wrong) I remembered Kolo saying this was not necessarily "infallible", but that it was part of Tradition. So, if I'm being fair with all of this, then that's why I thought it was the Orthodox position as the explanation for Mary's sinlessness.
Now, on John the Baptist, I could be mixing Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Upon reflection, the person I have the strongest memory of in saying that JTB was sinless is Alex. I believe the reasoning was that the Spirit indwelt him in the womb when he jumped at Mary's arrival while pregnant with Jesus. So, I would just ask Alex if I am remembering correctly. From what Kolo and Kosta have said, I will take it that this is not the Orthodox view.
You are remembering correctly. St. John the Baptist was rendered sinless while in his mother's womb in the presence of yet-unborn Christ. I believe that to be both Catholic and Orthodox view, however Jo Kus told us it was allowed but not dogmatic view in the Catohlic Church, and Kolokotronis and Kosta can correct me regarding the Orthodox dictrine.
"Mary was born in the normal way and from 0-3, she was not yet old enough to be capable of sin. I "thought" (I could be wrong) I remembered Kolo saying this was not necessarily "infallible", but that it was part of Tradition. So, if I'm being fair with all of this, then that's why I thought it was the Orthodox position as the explanation for Mary's sinlessness."
You are being very fair, my friend. The protoevangelium is a piece in the Holy Tradition though I have never heard anyone say that its content is somehow infallibly correct or that it is in its entirety an expression of Orthodox dogma. Indeed, I don't know if the 3 years old business is anything generally known (or cared about) by Orthodox people. I doubt that many Orthodox actually think about the details Panagia's sinlessness, but I am sure that there are few if any who doubt that sinlessness. I know the only time I might think about such things is in a discussion like this which sparks a dim memory of something read many, many years ago.
Bottom line, the Protoevangelium of James might be where we get the idea of Panagia's life-long sinlessness. It is equally likely that we got it from, say, the writings of +Ignatius of Antioch or any of a number of other sources. Again, however, for us Orthodox it simply isn't an issue.