Posted on 05/31/2011 11:53:33 AM PDT by 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]).
The pride of hell is never satisfied.
The only solution is daily—TO THE CROSS.
And not just occasionally symbolically—but literally taking the lowly place in contrition and authentic servatude.
CHRIST HIMSELF SAID—HIS DISCIPLES
WOULD BE SERVANT OF ALL
NOT LORDING IT OVER ONE ANOTHER.
ON THAT SCORE ALONE
THE VATICAN CULT FAILS as any remotely Christian successor to Christ.
In my book, practicing idolatry pretty much fits the definition. You may certainly disagree with it, but it doesn't invalidate the term's use. Praying to anyone other than God, and then trying to explain it away as a form of communication is ludicrous at best, and blasphemous indeed. When asked by his disciples, to whom did Jesus instruct them to pray?
Also -- I claim no degree in logic; but I can certainly see illogic and call it for what it is.
Have a happy day.
Hoss
WOULD BE SERVANT OF ALL
NOT LORDING IT OVER ONE ANOTHER.
ON THAT SCORE ALONE
THE VATICAN CULT FAILS UTTERLY as any remotely and even fractionally Christian successor to Christ.
Now see, you were doing so well giving kudos to our own Mad Dawg...then you just HAD to ruin it by flushing your own credibility.
Sheesh!
Sorry, I simply forgot to give 1. an executive summary and 2. an UNQuixicated version.
Will ponder your kind responses to Marbren and I above and return to them, hopefully today. Take your time. Fine with me.
Likewise in your rural wanderings today. Yes, New Mexico days are hard to beat—though that sun do be hot in the summer!
prayer |pre(ə)r|
noun
a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship : I'll say a prayer for him | the peace of God is ours through prayer.
• ( prayers) a religious service, esp. a regular one, at which people gather in order to pray together : 500 people were detained as they attended Friday prayers.
• an earnest hope or wish : it is our prayer that the current progress on human rights will be sustained.
"...addressed to God OR AN OBJECT OF WORSHIP."
You're welcome.
Hoss
I agree.
The Vatican groups are far more a hellish perverse set of diverse Cults than a denomination.
If y’all want to use an archaic definition and pretend it’s modern English—have at it.
When you !DEMAND! that I do so, I refuse.
When y’all !DEMAND! that an UNBiblical meaning, dogma, structure, unmitigated set of farces derive from that archaic meaning be accepted as Biblical, kosher and spiritually operative and attractive,
I fiercely refuse.
----
That's simply utterly false.
Nevertheless, I refuse to do so on cue from the Demanding Vatican Cultists and Papist bigots.
That if they canNOT have their DAFFYNITIONARY,
Their whole house of cards collapses. Therefore, they MUST
persist in INSITING, !DEMANDING! to USE THEIR DAFFYNITIONARY and some THROW A HUGE HISSY FIT CONTINUING TO USE IT!
Sheesh! I never realized before how much like the JW and Mormon Cults the Vatican Cult is on such scores.
Then your "book" is in error. Words mean things, and don't mean other things. Ironic that you presume to lecture others on what words mean on this very thread.
You may certainly disagree with it, but it doesn't invalidate the term's use.
Actually...yes it does. Sure, you can use words to mean anything you like, but that's what's called "wrong." Of course now I'm doubting you know what "invalidate" means, too.
Also -- I claim no degree
Then by what right do you presume to advise others on matters of which you are clearly ignorant?
How much are we BID for the
MetMom plastic idols concession?
How about the MetMom Rosary concession?
We have to attend to these lofty priorities in proper order, after all.
Thank You Alamo-Girl for providing Scriptural warrant that is for the arrest of the replacement theology lie.
Thanks for your kind words.
I agree about Mad Dawg, BTW.
LUB Bro.
Thus demonstrating my point.....
Seems to me
Marbren’s credibility continues to
RISE
in
GOD’S EYES.
Now, now.
What a dastardly deed!
You should know by now that shorn of their DAFFYNITIONARY,
Vatican Cult members are reduced to frothing at their fingers.
/sarc
Most of the frequent posting Vatican Cultists hereon
appear to have PhD's in precisely that!
And Proddys DON'T DO THAT.
However, even if we did--we'd merely be following y'all's lead!
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