The Oldest Hymn to Mary (early christian worship)

Patheos Standing on my head ^ | November 6, 2015 | Fr. Dwight Longenecker

[NYer]

Papyrus in the Rylands Library, Manchester UK

One of the things that maddens and amuses me about Protestants is something called “primitivism”. I’ve written about it here. “Primitivism” is the ambition to return the church to the simplest form as it was in the “early church”.

The little fundamentalist church in which I grew up worked on this assumption. They were going back to basics and getting rid of all those “man made traditions”. They were cutting out the denominations and prayers read out of books and all that fancy stuff and it would be just the Bible.

Their idea of the “early church” was, of course, what their church was like. They were actually ignorant of the facts about the early church, which is understandable as they were Bible only Christians. Consequently they assumed that the early church was just a group of Christians meeting in someone’s home or a simple building to sing songs and have a Bible study.

One of the things they definitely did NOT have was any devotion to the Mother of God. That was a late, Catholic, man made abomination! That was a much later pagan interpolation into the simple Bible based religion!

Except it wasn’t. This blog post outlines the fascinating discovery of the manuscript of the oldest hymn to the Blessed Virgin.Their idea of the “early church” was, of course, what their church was like. They were actually ignorant of the facts about the early church, which is understandable as they were Bible only Christians. Consequently they assumed that the early church was just a group of Christians meeting in someone’s home or a simple building to sing songs and have a Bible study.

One of the things they definitely did NOT have was any devotion to the Mother of God. That was a late, Catholic, man made abomination! That was a much later pagan interpolation into the simple Bible based religion!

Except it wasn’t.

Thisoutlines the fascinating discovery of the manuscript of the oldest hymn to the Blessed Virgin.

The earliest text of this hymn was found in a Christmas liturgy of the third century. It is written in Greek and dates to approximately 250 A.D.

In 1917, the John Rylands Library in Manchester acquired a large panel of Egyptian papyrus including the 18 cm by 9.4 cm fragment shown at left, containing the text of this prayer in Greek.

C.H. Roberts published this document in 1938. His colleague E. Lobel, with whom he collaborated in editing the Oxyrhynchus papyri, basing his arguments on paleographic analysis, argued that the text could not possibly be older than the third century, and most probably was written between 250 and 300. This hymn thus precedes the “Hail Mary” in Christian prayer by several centuries.

Here's the text:

On the papyrus:
.ΠΟ
ΕΥCΠΑ
ΚΑΤΑΦΕ
ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕΤ
ΙΚΕCΙΑCΜΗΠΑ
ΕΙΔΗCΕΜΠΕΡΙCTAC
AΛΛΕΚΚΙΝΔΥΝΟΥ
…ΡΥCΑΙΗΜΑC
MONH
…HEΥΛΟΓ

Full text:
Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν
εὐσπλαγχνίαν
καταφεύγομεν
Θεοτὸκε· τὰς ἡμῶν
ἱκεσίας μὴ παρ-
ίδῃς ἐν περιστάσει
ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ κινδύνου
λύτρωσαι ἡμᾶς
μόνη ἁγνὴ
μόνη εὐλογημένη.

In English:
Beneath your
compassion
we take refuge,
Theotokos! Our
prayers, do not despise
in necessities,
but from danger
deliver us,
only pure,
only blessed one.

Here it is set to music:

Sub tuum praesidium

Turns out the hymn to the Theotokos (the God Bearer) dates from 250 AD.

What is very interesting about these comparatively recent documentary and archeological discoveries is not only what we can gather from the scraps of text themselves, but how they become part of a much larger puzzle. We can piece things together to build up a better picture of the true facts.

The hymn is clearly a prayer to the Blessed Virgin asking for her intercession and assistance in time of trouble. This shows continuity with the belief of the church down through the ages. I’m thinking “Mary Help of Christians.”

Therefore, 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.

In addition to this, if the hymn-prayer is included in the liturgy, then it must be something which is approved by the church and in practice on a fairly widespread basis. If it is included in the liturgy, then the term “theotokos” was not simply a theological term or a theological concept, but something which was integrated into the worshipping and devotional life of the church from the earliest days.

That argument also goes the other way: if the term “theotokos” was used in a hymn-prayer venerating the Blessed Virgin, then a high view of her significance in the plan of redemption must also have been prevalent in the theology of the early church.

You want primitive Christianity? You want to worship like the “early church” then Marian devotion had better be part of it!

[Steelfish]

Except those who were contemporaries of John were among the early Church fathers who painstaking worked through hundred of manuscripts to separate the false from the true. They worked for hundreds of years always making sure the written word was consistent with the sacred oral tradition. For as John himself wrote Christ said and did many things that were never written down.

So why don’t Protestants go back and assemble your own Bible? And while at it have your own calendar for Christmas and Easter? Or maybe just toss a coin and join anyone of the 30,000 varieties of contradictory Protestant nonsense that is out there?

As a Catholic, I can attend any Catholic Church from here to Timbuktu, and the Mass - the highest form of prayer and worship- is the same. The same goes for Catechism of the Church. One Church, One Truth, for all peoples and all nations, for all times and until the end of time. This explains why hundreds of former Protestant theologians have converted to Catholicism while low-info Christians are drowning in shallow theological waters.

[Elsie]

Except those who were contemporaries of John were among the early Church fathers who painstaking worked through hundred of manuscripts to separate the false from the true. They worked for hundreds of years always making sure the written word was consistent with the sacred oral tradition. For as John himself wrote Christ said and did many things that were never written down.

They had it straight from the horse's mouth; so to speak.

Trying to avoid the false teaching in the Asia churches by claiming the BOOK hadn't been assembled yet?

Weak.

John NEVER said, "Whoops! Some Jesus sayings that were so BADLY need got left out."

[Elsie]

Except those who were contemporaries of John were among the early Church fathers who painstaking worked through hundred of manuscripts to separate the false from the true. They worked for hundreds of years always making sure the written word was consistent with the sacred oral tradition. For as John himself wrote Christ said and did many things that were never written down.

They had it straight from the horse's mouth; so to speak.

Trying to avoid the false teaching in the Asia churches by claiming the BOOK hadn't been assembled yet?

Weak.

John NEVER said, "Whoops! Some Jesus sayings that were so BADLY need got left out."

[Elsie]

So why don’t Protestants go back and assemble your own Bible?

We think you guys did a fairly decent job. Thanks. but the extra stuff in there that the Jews didn't have?

Well....

And while at it have your own calendar for Christmas and Easter?

We continue to use yours. Thanks Pope Gregory.

[Elsie]

Or maybe just toss a coin and join anyone of the 30,000 varieties of contradictory Protestant nonsense that is out there?

Really?

You gonna spout this nonsense; too?!?