The Church Fathers- Mary: Ever Virgin

The Church Fathers ^ | 120AD-450AD

[marshmallow]

The Protoevangelium of James

“And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by [St. Anne], saying, ‘Anne! Anne! The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive and shall bring forth, and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.’ And Anne said, ‘As the Lord my God lives, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God, and it shall minister to him in the holy things all the days of its life.’ . . . And [from the time she was three] Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there” (Protoevangelium of James 4, 7 [A.D. 120]).

“And when she was twelve years old there was held a council of priests, saying, ‘Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple of the Lord. What then shall we do with her, lest perchance she defile the sanctuary of the Lord?’ And they said to the high priest, ‘You stand by the altar of the Lord; go in and pray concerning her, and whatever the Lord shall manifest to you, that also will we do.’ . . . [A]nd he prayed concerning her, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him saying, ‘Zechariah! Zechariah! Go out and assemble the widowers of the people and let them bring each his rod, and to whomsoever the Lord shall show a sign, his wife shall she be. . . . And Joseph [was chosen]. . . . And the priest said to Joseph, ‘You have been chosen by lot to take into your keeping the Virgin of the Lord.’ But Joseph refused, saying, ‘I have children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl’” (ibid., 8–9).

“And Annas the scribe came to him [Joseph] . . . and saw that Mary was with child. And he ran away to the priest and said to him, ‘Joseph, whom you did vouch for, has committed a grievous crime.’ And the priest said, ‘How so?’ And he said, ‘He has defiled the virgin whom he received out of the temple of the Lord and has married her by stealth’” (ibid., 15).

“And the priest said, ‘Mary, why have you done this? And why have you brought your soul low and forgotten the Lord your God?’ . . . And she wept bitterly saying, ‘As the Lord my God lives, I am pure before him, and know not man’” (ibid.).

Origen

“The Book [the Protoevangelium] of James [records] that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honor of Mary in virginity to the end, so that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word . . . might not know intercourse with a man after the Holy Spirit came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the firstfruit among men of the purity which consists in [perpetual] chastity, and Mary was among women. For it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the firstfruit of virginity” (Commentary on Matthew 2:17 [A.D. 248]).

Hilary of Poitiers

“If they [the brethren of the Lord] had been Mary’s sons and not those taken from Joseph’s former marriage, she would never have been given over in the moment of the passion [crucifixion] to the apostle John as his mother, the Lord saying to each, ‘Woman, behold your son,’ and to John, ‘Behold your mother’ [John 19:26–27), as he bequeathed filial love to a disciple as a consolation to the one desolate" (Commentary on Matthew 1:4 [A.D. 354]).

Athanasius

“Let those, therefore, who deny that the Son is by nature from the Father and proper to his essence deny also that he took true human flesh from the ever-virgin Mary” (Discourses Against the Arians 2:70 [A.D. 360]).

Epiphanius of Salamis

“We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God . . . who for us men and for our salvation came down and took flesh, that is, was born perfectly of the holy ever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit” (The Man Well-Anchored 120 [A.D. 374]).

“And to holy Mary, [the title] ‘Virgin’ is invariably added, for that holy woman remains undefiled” (Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 78:6 [A.D. 375]).

Jerome

“[Helvidius] produces Tertullian as a witness [to his view] and quotes Victorinus, bishop of Petavium. Of Tertullian, I say no more than that he did not belong to the Church. But as regards Victorinus, I assert what has already been proven from the gospel—that he [Victorinus] spoke of the brethren of the Lord not as being sons of Mary but brethren in the sense I have explained, that is to say, brethren in point of kinship, not by nature. [By discussing such things we] are . . . following the tiny streams of opinion. Might I not array against you the whole series of ancient writers? Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and many other apostolic and eloquent men, who against [the heretics] Ebion, Theodotus of Byzantium, and Valentinus, held these same views and wrote volumes replete with wisdom. If you had ever read what they wrote, you would be a wiser man” (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]).

“We believe that God was born of a virgin, because we read it. We do not believe that Mary was married after she brought forth her Son, because we do not read it. . . . You [Helvidius] say that Mary did not remain a virgin. As for myself, I claim that Joseph himself was a virgin, through Mary, so that a virgin Son might be born of a virginal wedlock” (ibid., 21).

Didymus the Blind

“It helps us to understand the terms ‘first-born’ and ‘only-begotten’ when the Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin ‘until she brought forth her first-born son’ [Matt. 1:25]; for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised above all others, marry anyone else, nor did she ever become the Mother of anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an immaculate virgin” (The Trinity 3:4 [A.D. 386]).

Ambrose of Milan

“Imitate her [Mary], holy mothers, who in her only dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of material virtue; for neither have you sweeter children [than Jesus], nor did the Virgin seek the consolation of being able to bear another son” (Letters 63:111 [A.D. 388]).

Pope Siricius I

“You had good reason to be horrified at the thought that another birth might issue from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh. For the Lord Jesus would never have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had ever judged that she would be so incontinent as to contaminate with the seed of human intercourse the birthplace of the Lord’s body, that court of the eternal king” (Letter to Bishop Anysius [A.D. 392]).

Augustine

“In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave” (Holy Virginity 4:4 [A.D. 401]).

“It was not the visible sun, but its invisible Creator who consecrated this day for us, when the Virgin Mother, fertile of womb and integral in her virginity, brought him forth, made visible for us, by whom, when he was invisible, she too was created. A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin bearing, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual. Why do you wonder at this, O man?” (Sermons 186:1 [A.D. 411]).

“Heretics called Antidicomarites are those who contradict the perpetual virginity of Mary and affirm that after Christ was born she was joined as one with her husband” (Heresies 56 [A.D. 428]).

Leporius

“We confess, therefore, that our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Father before the ages, and in times most recent, made man of the Holy Spirit and the ever-virgin Mary” (Document of Amendment 3 [A.D. 426]).

Cyril of Alexandria

“[T]he Word himself, coming into the Blessed Virgin herself, assumed for himself his own temple from the substance of the Virgin and came forth from her a man in all that could be externally discerned, while interiorly he was true God. Therefore he kept his Mother a virgin even after her childbearing” (Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4 [A.D. 430]).

Pope Leo I

“His [Christ’s] origin is different, but his [human] nature is the same. Human usage and custom were lacking, but by divine power a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bore, and Virgin she remained” (Sermons 22:2 [A.D. 450]).

[Quix]

Because he was awake when the trip began and awake when it ended and that’s what his senses etc. told him he experienced.

And my teen pastor—one of the 2 best I’ve known—who works all over the same State of LA pegs him as an authentic bloke.

[Quix]

Just a reminder that I know I’m made of mud.

I’ve talked about my flaws and sins on FR more than the folks of the Vatican Cult who frequently post hereon put together several times over.

Catch up to my record even 10% and maybe I’ll feel like bothering yet again.

What a cheeky bunch! Must be something in the holy water.

[stfassisi]

What part Christ physical body was NOT fully God,dear Sister?Christ was fully God and Fully MAN and His Mother is Mary as Scripture says.

You are devaluing the Incarnation just like Nestorious did

Read about nestorian theology for yourself and see the mistake you’re making,dear Sister

http://www.nestorian.org/nestorian_theology.html

[Quix]

Then leave the falsehoods aside!

[Quix]

For someone not believing lock-step identically to the way the hierarchy currently says they must . . . FELLOWSHIP DOCTRINE etc.

[Quix]

And, after more than 10 years . . .

you’re just now noticing that I

persistently use sentence fragments is

evidence

that you WERE taught in a parochial school?

Evidently being awake, aware, observant and knowing how to think were not parts of the curriculum!

[Titanites]

And, after more than 10 years . . . you’re just now noticing

Your fabrication has nothing to do with me, but I'm sure that won't stop you from jumping to a conclusion.

[Quix]

AND WHEN

he walks in the back of a church service already underway that he was to speak at—from the back to the platform—he was surprised to see what extra gawking attention everyone gave him as he passed them by—along with the Pastor when he got to the platform. IIRC, He began to wonder if he’d missed something getting dressed after a quick shower.

He discovered that folks were gawking at him because he was luminescentl—he gave off a glow from his face—IIRC—his whole body—particularly his head and upper body, IIRC.

The Pastor et al have verified this.

[Quix]

Your cheap shots about Benny are pathetic.

I’ve long made it known that Benny is not a favorite of mine.

I deplore a lot of his stuff.

If God chooses to use Benny, that’s God’s business. God used a donkey to speak to a prophet once.

Grope. Grope.

However, please avoid giving it a rest. It helps y’all’s perspective be all the more absurd with such relentless harping over something I’m not a fan of.

I realize that it’s difficult to find something to harp obsessively over that gets you any traction.

[Quix]

Ask someone who’s IN WELS.

I haven’t per se worked with anyone in WELS for 12-15 years or more. I still have close friends in WELS but we rarely get into the denomination as a whole. Mostly it sounds as messed up and self-defeating as ever.

[Quix]

GROPE GROPE.

Most Proddys hereon are quite Biblical in their beliefs about such things . . . regardless of Vatican Cult fantasies about Proddy beliefs.

[Titanites]

He discovered that folks were gawking at him because he was luminescentl—he gave off a glow from his face—IIRC—his whole body—particularly his head and upper body, IIRC.

A pastor of my 3rd cousin's step niece saw the same thing but said the luminescence was due to the reflection off Jesse's Rolex.

[Quix]

One doesn’t need to fabricate about bitterness and vengeance

which flaunt themselves loudly far and wide.

One has to merely be above comotose to notice.

[Titanites]

One doesn’t need to fabricate

Then why did you do it?

[Quix]

Fascinating false constructions on reality y’all seem to enjoy propagating.

[Titanites]

Fascinating false constructions on reality

The false construction was yours when you claimed "And, after more than 10 years . . . you’re just now noticing ".

[Quix]

Ahhhhhhhhhh

So your earlier characterization, inference was . . . at best flawed.

OK.

I could have said . . .

welllllllllllllllllll,

it appears that you are just now noticing . . . Is that the fault of your Parochial school?

[Titanites]

OK. I could have said

You could have, but you didn't. Instead you went with a complete fabrication.

[presently no screen name]

the only woman that has value is the one that is a virgin

And that would tie in with the muzzie's koran - virgins being a reward to them after they martyr themselves while killing Jews or Christians. As we know, the I'm all yours, Mary' pope loved that book.