[Claud]

It refutes nothing of the sort. Joseph having children from a previous marriage is completely consistent with the doctrine of perpetual virginity, and as I understand, it is the common belief among the Orthodox. I think it helps explain a lot myself.

If Tertullian is your only witness against the doctrine, and I’d have to check what he said, but whoopdeedoo. That’s ONE Church Father against all the rest. And remember, though he wrote works in Greek, he likely learned it as a second language through his education. He was a Latin from Africa—not an area of the Empire known for Greek speakers.

[ealgeone]

I'm not hanging my hat on Tertullian as you suggest. I posted the info to show the claim that it was always believed Mary remained a virgin to be a false claim. There was no 100% agreement on this issue

So are you willing to concede authority to the Greek church and take it away from Rome??

[ealgeone]

No one but Greeks can learn Greek? Does this mean only Italians can learn Latin? Can only someone born in France learn French?

The Catholic disdain for the ability to learn and use the NT Greek is amazing.