Magyar Egyház, 1954 (33. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1954-11-01 / 11. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11 world. Mary was obedient to God, she accepted Jesus’ conception from the Holy Spirit in her womb and thus, the process of redemption started in the world. “Proto-Evangelium of James” and “Odes of Solomon” mention the legend that Mary remained virgin in her whole life. Against this legend Tertullian (died 222 AD), one of the greatest authorities of the ancient times, raises his voice and teaches that Mary and Joseph lived in a normal marital relationship. This is, by the way, also Irenaeus’ opinion. — The first known Mary-picture also originates from the 2nd century. It is a painting in the Priscilla catacomb in Rome and shows Mary with the child- Jesus. The Influence of Paganism The Christian church existed at least 150 years without even mentioning the name of Mary. Only after the middle of the second century begin to appear the legend of Mary, but the church was, of course, far from making a cult of it. However, this marks the very beginnings of today’s Roman Catholic Mary-cult. Why did the Christian church neglect the admonition of her Lord (Luke 11,28) and how did she get on this fateful way? It is certain that in this respect the influence of Greek-Roman pagan religions on Christianity played an important role. In these polytheistic religions, besides the gods, the godesses are also always present. In the godesses (like Artemis; Athene “The Parthenos”; etc.), primitive pagan imagination personified great human qualities, like virginity, womanliness, and maternity. Heathens, converting to Christian religion, retained these ideas and all the imagined qualities of their goddesses were transferred to the most eminent women-figure of Christianity. Mary. Thus, the converted heathens regained their lost goddesses in the person of Mary. The Roman Catholic “patron saints” are in fact christianized forms of old pagan gods. In polytheism everything had its own god: sea, war, hunting, smithcraft, etc. After the same fashion developed in Roman Catholicism the gallery of “patron saints” for seamen, soldiers, hunters, blacksmiths, and in modern times, for cyclists, drivers, etc. This kinship of pagan cult explains why the cult of Mary developed so fast after that Constantine the Great granted freedom of worship for Christians (313 AD). The consequence of this freedom was to influx of a great number of heathens into the church. The Synod of Nicea (325 AD) pronounced the “homousios” doctrine (Christ is of the same substance as God) and the simple popular belief concluded that, if Jesus Christ equals God, then Mary really carried the living God in her womb. In accordance with this belief, Athanasius (died 373 AD) calls Mary “Godbearer”. This expression was officially adopted by the Synod of Ephesus (431; “Theotokos”). Of course, these events did not happen without difficulties; many people objected and wanted to call Mary merely “man-bearer” at the most “Christ-bearer” (“anthropotokos” and “Christotokos”). These speculations originated from the fact that Jesus’ miraculous conception came about without the cooperation of a human father. The fact that Mary conceived a child and still remained a virgin, has been extended into the legend that Mary was virgin before, remained virgin during and after the birth of Jesus (“ante partum, in partu, post partum”). Mary conceived without sin — otherwise she would not have been able to bear the sinless Jesus, who is God. But in order to be able to conceive and bear without sin, it was necessary for Mary to be free from sin. Mary must have been free from any sins — so concluded the popular imagination — therefore she must have been free also from the original sin, which is everybody’s lot. But for Mary herself, in order to be free from the original sin, it was necessary to have also been conceived free of sin. (“Immaculata conceptio”.) It was thought logical that Mary was able to conceive and bear God in a sinless state only because she was free of sin since her conception. Mary was more than just a woman; she was more than just a human being. She was different from everybody else; not yet a goddess but certainly not merely a man. The Resistance of Sober Christians Beginning with the 5th century, the Mary cult becomes more and more popular. She appears frequently on paintings; people start to name churches after her; they start to pray to her as to an intercessor. The famous preacher, Chrysostomus (died 430 AD) however, did not want to know anything of these. He was whole-heartedly against this re-paganizing development. He does not call Mary neither “Cod bearer”, nor “Christ-bearer”. (This is why Roman Catholic theologians do not favor Chrysostom.) H elvi dius declared, as the most natural thing, that after the birth of Jesus Mary and Joseph had several other children. (Hieronymus in 383 AD wrote a book against this statement, entitled: “Adversus Helvidium”.) Ambrosius (died 937 AD) does not utter even a word about the exemption of Mary from the original sin, in spite of the fact that this great bishop of Milan honored the mother of Jesus beyond measure. Augustinus (died 430 AD) is also among those who do not teach the sinless conception of Mary. Fulgentius (died 533 AD), bishop of Ruspe, definitely denied the trueness of this sinless conception. Yet, ideas, like the above mentioned ones, gained more and more ground among the simple Christians. Gregory (died 594 AD), bishop of Tours, first mentions a fantastic legend according to which Mary, after her death and miraculous resurrection (similar to the death, resurrection and ascension of Christi, ascended to heaven. In the whole Christian literature this is the first written testimony to the existence of this legend — about 500 years after Mary’s death. Nobody seems to have been even aware of it before. But, apart from this, bishop Gregory was not the tvpe of man whom we could trust without reservation. It is a known fact that his education was incomplete and that he was a naive person, without the abilitv of sober judgement. His eight books, entitled “Miracles”, are collections of the most fantastic “miracles” and impossible heroic deeds of several martyrs. Gregory accepted all of them without any suspicion as true stories. The Middle Ages The spiritual climate of the Middle Ages was favorable to the development of the Mary-cult. The simple believer, who has been told that God is an angry Lord and always ready to send the sinner into hell, sought the protection of the tender-hearted and loving Mary. Monks, who despised women and would not even look at them, wanted to rest “on the heavenly breasts” of Mary. The art was over-flown with
