Magyar Egyház, 1954 (33. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1954-11-01 / 11. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ mariological elements: Mary with the child Jesus, Mary as “mater dolorosa” under the cross, etc. The rosary became popular; poems and hymns were written for the honor of the “God-mother”. And the stories of miracles, performed by Mary, started as responses to prayers offered to her. Mary became a paragon of perfect motherhood but, at the same time, she was also the personifier of a complete virginity, innocence and goodness. God’s anger blazed up because of the sins of men but the perfect beauty of the Virgin Mary appeased His anger and changed it into love: “Ave Virgo, quae furorem Conditoris in amorem Tua forma convertisti, Votis iram extinxisti...” This way Mary got an active role in the work of redemption. Now, Mary stands right besides Jesus and she is of the same rank with him. Jesus is Son of God — but Mary is the mother of Jesus, therefore, the mother of God. Jesus died for mankind — but if Mary would not have borne Jesus, then He could not have died at all. Jesus gave satisfaction once to God by sheding his blood — but Mary reconciles God constantly with her beauty. Who redeemed the world? The question was not raised in this contrasting form, but it seems true that Mary has at least as big a role in the work of redemption as Jesus himself. The holiday of the “Immaculate Conception” has been first celebrated in 1140 A.D. in Lyon, France. Bernhard of Clairvaux (died 1109 AD) protested against it and declared, that this holiday stands in contradiction to “the practice of the Church, the tradition and reason.” Thomas Aquinas (died 1274 AD), who is being considered by the Roman Catholic church as her greatest teacher, also firmly opposed the doctrine. Another authority in the field of theology during the Middle Ages, Bonaventura (died 1274 AD) taught that Mary was a sinner just as much as any other men. Then came the so called “speculative theology” whose most prominent representative, Duns Scotus (died 1308 AD) thought that the conception of Mary without sin is possible because of the retroactive affect of Christ’s death. "Speculation" — Basis of the New Doctrines There were three opposing elements in this trend of thought: popular belief, Biblical theology and speculation. Popular belief favored the Mary-cult because in it, it could best live out its primitive pagan inclinations. The Church, for a long while, veiled from the people the idea of a loving God, His redeeming Christ and replaced them with the idea of hell and the prospect of eternal damnation. Popular belief, with a natural instinct for redemption and salvation, tried to produce something to offset the anger of God and the judgement of Christ. This counterpoise was the easiest to find in the mother of Jesus, the benevolent mediatrix, the Blessed Virgin. Biblical theology, of course, could not accept anything of these, not only because (as it was told by Bernhard of Clairvaux) it found every one of these ideas to be in contradiction to the practice of the Church, to tradition and to reason, but also because the Mary-cult contradicted the essence of the Gospels. But the Mary-cult already existed in practice and, therefore, the decisive question emerged: in relation of practice to theory, which one should yield to the other? Church-history repeated itself: theology, although a little belated, made its best to construct a theoretical foundation for an already existing practice. One could not use the Bible as a basis for this theory beacuse there is no reference in it to the Marian-cult. One could not refer to tradition either, because the Mary-cult does not have any background in tradition. (The first mention of the “immaculate conception” of Mary was made 250 years, and of her assumption 500 years after her death!). Duns Scotus therefore made use of the new method of theology to solve this problem. He tried to create a theoretical basis for the Mary-cult by means of speculation. Roman Catholic theology, up until now, uses exclusively this method while discussing the Mary-problem. Thus, Roman Catholic theology in proving the trueness of Mary doctrines relies solely on “logical deductions”, without and contrary to the teachings of the Bible and the traditions. A New Religion Is Borne The problem of the “Immaculate Conception” brought about the most interesting and most significant inner strife in the Church of the Middle Ages. Thomas Aquinas (who objected to the new dogma) belonged to the Dominican order and thus the Dominican order was always against the dogma of “Immaculate Conception”. Its great rival, the Franciscan order, stood up for the dogma and adopted it as its favorite doctrine. The dispute between these two great orders became more and more ardent until Pope Sixtus IV. (died 1484 AD) prohibited the entire discussion, but without deciding the question in favor of one or the other. The problem was left undecided also by the Synod of Trident (1546, sessio V.) It simply left the decrees of Sixtus IV. untouched. In the process of Reformation there was no time for the discussion of this problem. Soon after the Reformation the Mary-cult found new and industrious propagators for itself among the members of the Jesuit order. It was mostly their merit that the discussion finally has been officially decided. On December 8, 1854 in the St. Peter’s Cathedral of Rome pope Pius IX. proclaimed the new doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church: the Immaculate Conception of Mary. In commemoration of this occasion the present pope declared the current year as “Marian year”. The doctrine of “Immaculate Conception” teaches that Mary, in the very first moment of her conception, remained free from the original sin. This fact distinguishes her from any other human being. It was merely the result of further “logical conclusions” that pope Pius XII. pronounced a new doctrine on November 1, 1950 according to which Mary did not remain in her grave but shortly after her burial she arose, left the grave and was lifted up to heaven. With this doctrine, the re-paganizing development of the Roman Catholic church has been accomplished. Mary is now officially being mentioned as the “Queen of Heavens”, “Regina Coelis”. (To be continued next month)
