The veneration of the Mother of God, intrinsically linked to the veneration of the Lord Christ, the Son of God and her own Son, is an inalienable aspect of the faith, of dogma and of the Christian experience, endowing Christianity – both at a theological level and in the specific popular perception – with a spiritual dimension and an emotional experience of unique purity, delicacy and piety. The Mother of God, the first human to be deified and the intercessor between humankind and God, has been, from the earliest centuries to the present day, alongside her Son—God—a model of human perfection, an inspiration to the faithful, regardless of where or when they may have been; and this is also because, in her meaning and significance, she has surpassed even the loftiest figures embodying the ideal of femininity in earlier religions. It is to these that, as a sine qua non, we shall refer in the first part of our study.
Romanity and Christianity
Succeeding, in the Near East, the Hellenistic rule and civilisation initiated by Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire—itself having assimilated the civilisation and culture of ancient Greece, which it had conquered— faced, in this particular region, frequent revolts by populations who were brutally oppressed and at risk of losing their ethnic identities, as well as a conglomerate of ancient local religions, tolerated under the pax romana, but which, in various forms and with increasing intensity, sought not adherence to the idolatrous gods of the official Roman religion, but faith in a saviour hero for whom they waited eagerly.
Some of these religions date back to a time lost in the mists of antiquity and, over the course of time, underwent many inherent transformations, partly due to their proximity to neighbouring cultures and their syncretism; the most important of these religions, with their principal deities – the Phrygian (with Cybele and Attis), Egyptian (with Isis and Osiris), Phoenician (with Adonis), Iranian (with Mithra), to which must be added Greek Dionysianism1 – were ‘mystery religions’, centred, in the traditional mindset, on the worship of deities who had experienced death and resurrection (following the model of Nature’s cyclical nature – n. n., I. St. L.) and involving the initiation and integration of the human individual into the mysteries of the cosmos and the earth. During the period in question, these spiritual frameworks, underpinned by specific and secret rituals, evolved into a vibrant syncretism, borrowing religious beliefs and ideas, particularly the ‘promise of salvation’, to the extent that they could also be regarded as ‘religions of salvation’, gradually descending from the eternal horizon of their founding myths ever closer into history, through belief in a saviour-hero whose actions could transcend the boundaries of ethnicity; thus, as Mircea Eliade pointed out, they had come to “no longer had an ethnic character; their structures and soteriologies proclaimed a universal purpose” (p. 272) – which became a spiritual counterpart to the imperial (Hellenistic and Roman) idea of universality. As such, without going into detail, it can be said that each of the cults mentioned – to which Hermeticism and alchemy should be added – experienced, to a greater or lesser extent, through the soldiers of the Roman legions stationed in various theatres of war, an extension into the European sphere, competing, for a certain period, with Christianity, until the latter’s ‘triumph’; the cult of Mithras acquired particular prominence, having evolved as a synthesis of the spiritual currents and ritual practices of the Roman Imperial era2; a cult to which some Roman emperors dedicated an altar as ‘benefactor of the Empire’ and which was brought to an end towards the end of the 4th century AD, following the edict of Saint Constantine the Great, by which Christianity became the religio licita.
Unlike the gods of pre-Christian religions, who existed only in the realm of myth, Jesus Christ, the proponent of the new religious movement, demonstrated – through His physical existence, a reality in history, through His death and Resurrection, and through His Ascension into Heaven – the truth of the new religion.
During the period of Roman rule in the Near East, a spiritual – and, on this occasion, historical – event entered the ‘stage’ of religious life within the empire, competing with the mythologies and ritual customs of the local religions. It is the marvellous, mysterious and kenotic birth of the Son of God as God incarnate and Son of Man, bringing an essential message of peace and universal love, of the restoration of the human condition within the salvific horizon of the one God; and it is, at the same time, the birth of Christianity, the religion with the true attributes of universalisation (and universality)3. Unlike the gods of pre-Christian religions, who existed only in the mythical imagination, Jesus Christ, the proponent of the new religious orientation, demonstrated – through His physical existence, real in history, through His death and Resurrection, and through His Ascension into Heaven – the power of truth of the new religion, which would bring together and/or disregard, synthesise and/or elude the main trends, themes, mythical-ritual scenarios and symbols of previous religions, which were, however, to undergo a transformation in meaning and significance. The process of transformation was, however, by no means easy; theoretical and practical conflicts, stemming from traditional esoteric practices and erroneous interpretations (“heresies”) of Old and New Testament events and figures, as well as of the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, persisted throughout the first few centuries4 – whilst Christianity was an “illicit religion” and dogma had not yet been established.
Living in hiding in caves or catacombs, where they set up small places of worship, the followers of the religion of Christ served as an example to outsiders, who swelled their ranks, gradually forming close-knit and resilient communities, and many of their leaders openly confronted the persecuting pagan emperors, their martyrdom often giving rise to inexplicable, life-changing moments5. We have neither the scope nor the time here for persuasive details, but merely wish to emphasise that, alongside the superficial confrontations, religious syncretism was, at a deeper level, bringing about a shift from the fundamental elements of the previous local religions towards the new, Christian faith.
In most cases, however, this ‘shift’ was not, in popular culture, a mechanical adoption and integration, but rather an interpretation of the Christian novelty in relation to local traditions and the collective imagination that carried it forward, complementing it, the canonical text of Christ’s earthly life and teachings, as recorded in the canonical Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. This resulted in a number of apocryphal/non-canonical texts (such as the Protoevangelium of James, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, etc., which their authors attributed to the biblical figures alongside whom he is said to have been a disciple, thereby lending credibility to their accounts) – texts forming a unique ‘Christological novel’6, which proved highly popular (thanks to the narrative structure and the functional miraculous elements), a ‘novel’ closely linked to the sacred texts and Holy Tradition, which were not contradicted but rather confirmed, with the added benefit of a fresh perspective, and which have been preserved through the centuries. ‘The miraculous, the fantastical and the hieratic create a truly special atmosphere. The tension never lets up for a moment. You are swept up in a whirlwind, entering a trance-like state. You are constantly tempted to reread passage after passage. You reread the apocrypha, then turn to the canonical Gospels. And you realise with amazement that, reading them now, after being immersed in the miraculous, the latter seem ‘more true’; they reveal themselves more easily and are full of life,” remarks the recent Romanian anthologist Cristian Bădiliță 7 in particular.
This is a ‘classic’ example of the fruit of the popular intellectual crucible of the early centuries, in which – as Mircea Eliade also pointed out – ‘conversion to Christianity gave rise to religious symbioses and syncretisms that illustrate (…) the creativity of agrarian or pastoral ‘folk’ cultures, whose ethnic traditions, as well as local mythologies, were assimilated – that is, integrated – into the same ‘holy history’ and expressed in the same language, that of Christian faith and mythology”8.
Of particular importance in this context was the Christian valorisation of Nature, the endowment of Nature with spiritual significance aimed at a different ‘order’ of the visible and invisible world – which led Mircea Eliade to formulate his concept of ‘cosmic Christianity’:
(…) one need only read the hymnography of the Eastern Church or observe the Paschal liturgy to understand how closely Nature is linked to the Christological mystery, to the crucifixion, death and Resurrection of the Saviour.
‘For a long time it was believed that a sense of nature and solidarity with cosmic rhythms (the cyclical view of existence – author’s note, I. St. L.) betrayed a non-Christian spirituality. (…) In reality, early Christianity did not devalue Nature. (…) For archaic Christianity, as understood by the Eastern Holy Fathers, the cosmos never ceased for a single moment to be God’s creation, and the cosmic rhythms were always conceived as a cosmic religion9. ‘Nature (cf. ibid.) is never absent from Christian doctrine. On the contrary. (…) Nature is ennobled, being the direct creation of God. But the Christian symbolism of the seasons and of Nature transfigures these seasons and transfigures Nature as a whole. The sun is no longer, as it was for the pagans, the cosmic force through which the face of the earth is renewed. The sun is God’s creation, and its law is made and willed by God. (…) Nature is God’s Creation, the place God has chosen for man’s suffering and perfection”10.
In turn, in the Christian view—in which earlier religious traditions were Christianised—Nature, in a fundamentally empathetic modus vivendi, does not remain indifferent to the divine drama of the Saviour: “(…) just as the human soul thirsts for salvation, so too does the whole of Nature (in spring – author’s note, I. St. L.) groan and sigh as it awaits the Resurrection. Indeed, one need only read the hymns of the Eastern Church or observe the Paschal liturgy to understand how deeply Nature is united with the Christological mystery, with the crucifixion, death and Resurrection of the Saviour. The whole of nature is in mourning during Holy Week, but is reborn, triumphant, through the Resurrection of Jesus. Moreover, – adds Mircea Eliade – “we find this cosmic liturgy in Romanian folklore”11, from which, in his lecture The Mysticism of Spring, he also quoted an edifying passage, as folkloric religious creativity runs parallel to that of theologians, mystics and artists. As such, “in archaic Christianity (and in popular Christianity, we might add, I. St. L.), a ‘cosmic Christianity’ can be attested by virtue of the fact that the Christological mystery is projected throughout all of Nature and emphasis is placed (…) on the liturgical dimension of existence’ 12.
The origins of Marian devotion
Within this particularly complex, complicated and often dramatic (as well as tragic, referring to the persecutions resulting in Christian martyrs) context – a context which we have endeavoured to outline as concisely as possible – a significant stage in spiritual transformations is that which reveals the transition from the traditional worship of the female deities of Nature to the worship of the Virgin Mary – the Mother of God, a form of worship that gradually took shape and developed its own distinctive features.
‘The Mother of God first revealed herself to the piety of the Eastern Christians,’ wrote Mircea Eliade in 1936, establishing himself as a historian of religions. ‘This is no mere coincidence. Here, in Eastern Europe, women and mothers have always been revered (…), regarded since time immemorial as a divine miracle on earth. All creative virtues were symbolised in women: light, goodness, fertility. It was in these eastern lands that the most powerful cults of the Great Goddess, the Mother Goddess, known to the pre-Christian world, originated and spread”,13 wrote the young Eliade before Marija Gimbutas’s major discoveries in the 1970s in Old Europe (largely on our territory), where there was a very prominent cult of the Great Goddess14 in these places, dating back to the Neolithic era. We quote from the preface by the historian Radu Florescu: “This great historical and cultural unity of Old Europe runs parallel to and is comparable with that which developed relatively synchronously in the Near East – Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine. Although similar, the two entities developed in parallel and in relatively different ways, autonomously in relation to one another, yet without excluding mutual exchanges’15. With this ‘similarity’ posited, let us continue to follow the young Eliade: “Particularly around the Aegean Sea and in the heart of Asia Minor, Great Goddesses have been worshipped since ancient times – representing, for the consciousness and piety of the people of that era, all that is luminous, worthy and fruitful in the world. The cult of the Great Goddesses was linked to the cults of vegetation (…). In the East, therefore, long before Christianity, there existed a sincere and popular piety towards women and towards the mother (…). It is therefore no coincidence that it is precisely here, in the East, that Christianity first turns to the Mother of God”16 (…) Motherhood has always been honoured in the East. But this religious reverence for motherhood is now transfigured and sanctified in the veneration of the Mother of God. The Virgin Mary is not only the Holy Mother of the Saviour of the world – she is also man’s most powerful helper, both on earth and after death. For the Mother of God prays ceaselessly for the salvation of the human race, for the forgiveness of our sins, the sins of us all”17.
‘The saints and enlightened leaders of Christendom in the first three or four centuries after Christ somewhat overshadowed devotion to the Mother of God.’ This period of dormancy would last until the official recognition of the Christian religion by Constantine the Great and, more precisely, until the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in the year 431 ADn., when the essential attributes of the Mother of Christ were dogmatically established: her Ever-Virginity and her status as the Mother of God (Theotokos).
‘The veneration of the Mother of God began even during her lifetime. Those who recognised the Saviour could not remain indifferent towards the one who gave birth to Him,’ states, quite rightly, the researcher and editor Cristian Bădiliță. There are accounts that, following the Ascension of the Lord Christ, her Son, the Mother of God, having withdrawn to the house of Saint John the Apostle in Jerusalem, was visited, more or less in secret, by representatives of Christian communities from the Eastern region, who came to pay her homage, to listen to her recollections of life with her Son – God – and to seek her counsel. However, the veneration of the Mother of God ‘had not yet taken shape in the first century’, the young Eliade emphasised. ‘Considerable numbers of simple, devout people were converting to Christianity, especially from regions where the Great Goddesses had once been worshipped. Such simple people, still living amidst a strong pagan culture, could slip, unwittingly, into idolatry. For this reason, the saints and enlightened leaders of Christendom in the first three or four centuries AD kept devotion to the Mother of God somewhat in the background’18. This period of latency would last until the official recognition of the Christian religion by Constantine the Great and, more precisely, until the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431 ADn., when the essential attributes of the Mother of Christ were dogmatically established: her Ever-Virginity and her status as the Mother of God (Theotokos).
During that period of obscurity in the early centuries, driven by the believers’ need to learn more about the life and attributes of the Mother of God than was provided by the few references in the canonical Gospels, a rich body of apocryphal literature flourished, of which the most significant for Marian theology are: the Protoevangelium of James, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, De Nativitate Mariae, and the Homily of Saint John the Theologian on the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, which provided numerous details: Mary’s parents, her birth, how she and the Child Jesus grew up, how her virginity was tested by a midwife unprepared to accept the miracle, how the idols fell to the ground, shattering as the infant Jesus, Joseph and Mary passed by the temples in Egypt, how the Son of God descended from Heaven a second time to take His Mother up to Heaven with Him when she fell asleep, and so on. 19, details which do not contradict the Gospels and, for that reason, a good many of them have been accepted by the Church and remain part of the liturgy. ‘The Apocrypha, which appeared very early on, alongside Holy Scripture,’ notes the contemporary theologian Alexis Kniazev, ‘are proof that in popular piety the Mother of Christ occupied a special place right from the beginnings of the Church’ 20, with ordinary people remembering above all the Nativity of the Lord by Mary – His Mother – as well as His Passion and Crucifixion, for which they deeply sympathised with her, understanding her from a human perspective and regarding her, in turn, as sympathetic to human suffering. A shift would take place in the minds of the early Christians regarding their prayers: at first, they prayed to the martyrs, who had entered the Kingdom of Christ, to carry their prayers to the Saviour, but then, realising that a power greater than that of the martyrs would be found in having the Mother of God as ‘mediatrix’, they prayed especially and more frequently to the Mother of God. A ‘recently discovered’ manuscript, ‘Sub tuum praesidium’, notes Alexis Kniazev, ‘proves that people prayed to the Mother of Jesus Christ and believed in the special power of her intercessory prayer to her Son on behalf of Christian believers’21. And from then until today, in popular Christianity, the veneration of the Mother of God as the Mother of God, compassion for her maternal suffering during the Passion and Crucifixion of her Son—God—and the heartfelt prayer for her help as ‘mediatrix’ between humankind and God – have been the main pillars of the devotion that has been paid to her and continues to this day, particularly on the feasts and celebrations dedicated to the key moments of her earthly life: the Nativity (8 September), Her Entry into the Church (21 November), the Annunciation (25 March), and the Dormition (15 August)22. These feasts were officially recognised following the historic Ecumenical Council of 431, held at Ephesus, which, by establishing the essence of the doctrine concerning the Mother of God as the Ever-Virgin and Mother of God, by divine decree and action, paved the way for the veneration of the Most Holy Virgin and Mother of God, associated with the veneration of her Son, Christ the Saviour. Thus, over time, the four major feasts included in the calendar amongst the imperial feasts were joined by other ‘less important’ feasts dedicated to the Holy Virgin and Mother of God, such as (in the order presented by Father Professor Ene Braniște):
A shift took place in the minds of the early Christians regarding their prayers: at first, they prayed to the martyrs, who had entered the Kingdom of Christ, to carry their prayers to the Saviour, but then, realising that a power greater than that of the martyrs lay in having the Mother of God as their ‘mediator’, they prayed especially and more frequently to the Mother of God.
• The Synaxis (or Assembly) of the Mother of God (26 December);
• The Protection of the Mother of God (1 October) – in ecclesiastical language, the Pokrov (of Slavic origin);
• The Life-Giving Spring (on the Friday of Bright Week);
• The Conception of the Mother of God (in calendars, ‘The Conception of Saint Anne’); etc.
According to an ancient tradition, the first icons depicting the Mother of God were painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist; it is also worth noting that images depicting the Mother of God were discovered in the Roman catacombs, dating back to the 3rd century AD.
We should also note, according to the same source (Ene Braniște), ‘other forms of worship’ of the Mother of God, which were practised particularly from the 4th to the 6th centuries, when this form of worship began to gain momentum:
• ‘special hymns and prayers, addressed to and incorporated into the order of all church services’;
• “special services composed in honour and praise of the Holy Virgin”, of which we mention: “the oldest”, the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God or the Akathist Hymn of the Annunciation, the Paraclis of the Mother of God, the Funeral Service of the Mother of God – the latter two being more recent and celebrated during the Fast of the Dormition of the Mother of God;
• “the building of churches in honour and in remembrance” of the Holy Mother, “placed under her special protection and bearing her name (…) or dedicated to her various feasts”;
• ‘the painting of the image of the Mother of God on icons and on the walls of churches’, in most cases together with the image of her Son – God, thus marking Marian devotion (Mariology) alongside that of the Lord Christ (Christology). It is worth noting that, according to an ancient tradition, the first icons depicting the Mother of God were painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist; it is also worth noting that images of the Mother of God have been discovered in the Roman catacombs, dating back to the 3rd century AD. A great many icons of the Mother of God, on Mount Athos and amongst the Eastern peoples (the Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Poles, etc.), are said to work miracles. Inside churches, frescoes depicting icons of the Mother of God (showing scenes from her life, either alone or with Jesus – the divine child) are placed on the altar vault, the narthex vault, and on the walls of the nave or the narthex (particularly in the iconography of the Akathist);
• various types of sermons (homilies, panegyrics, eulogies);
• the name ‘Maria’ being borne by women and the derived name ‘Marin’ by men;
• “the widespread circulation amongst the people of (popular) devotional books concerning the life and miracles of the Mother of God”, the majority of which are apocryphal: The Dream of the Mother of God, The Mother of God’s Journey to Hell, The Miracles of the Mother of God, etc.23.
Most forms of expression of this devotion originated in the first half of the first millennium, particularly in the 4th–6th centuries, and mark a distinctive form of religiosity—more complex and widespread—associated with popular Christianity.
From that time onwards, in relation to the dogma established at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) concerning the Mother of God as the Mother of God (Theotokos) and her Ever-Virginity, the Holy Fathers, other theologians, hierarchs, preachers, hymnographers and poets have debated and refined the provisions of the dogma, upholding:
– Mary’s divine motherhood;
– her eternal virginity (…);
– the holiness and purity of the Mother of God (…);
– faith in Mary’s intercession with her Son on behalf of the Christian people24.
Of all these, we emphasise that, for the first half of the Christian millennium, only the demonstration of the Ever-Virginity of the Mother of God was emphasised: ante partu (before birth), in partu (during birth) and post-partu (after birth), with Saint Ambrose of Milan playing a decisive role in this regard, having settled one of the most hotly debated issues.
Such topics remain a subject of debate even today within Catholic and Protestant circles, but this is not the place to address them here.
- 1
Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Beliefs and Ideas, Vol. II: From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity, translated by Cezar Baltag, Bucharest, Scientific and Encyclopaedic Publishing House, 1986, pp. 270–289 (Syncretism and Creativity in the Hellenistic Era: ‘The Promise of Salvation’), which we shall examine below.
- 2
Mircea Eliade, op. cit., pp. 317–320 (If Christianity had been suppressed...)
- 3
Ibid., pp. 321–350 (The Birth of Christianity); see also, in the same vein, Mircea Eliade, ‘The Sense of Death in Christianity’ (in Mircea Eliade, 50 Radio Lectures 1932–1938, Bucharest, Humanitas & Casa Radio, 2001, pp. 114–118), where, in discussing the mystery religions—with their occult and intricate mythical-ritual scenarios and their pessimistic outlook on life—which were superseded by the ‘revolution’ of Christianity, the prestigious historical future of religions reveals how, by responding to ‘the ancient world’s soul thirsting for religiosity’, Christianity, through Christ and His teachings, brought to light the values of life, peace and love amongst people, and faith in the life to come, and did so with a marvellous ‘simplicity and humanity’, thereby conferring upon it universality.
- 4
Ibid., pp. 351–382 (Paganism, Christianity and Gnosticism in the Imperial Age) and pp. 383–400 (The Twilight of the Gods)
- 5
The Acts of the Martyrs.
- 6
The Apocryphal Gospels, translation, introductory study, notes and commentary by Cristian Bădiliță, Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 1996, p. 9; see also the same author, 5th edition, Bucharest, Adevărul Holding, 2012, p. 23.
- 7
Op. cit., p. 20; op. cit., p. 24.
- 8
Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Beliefs and Ideas, Vol. III: From Muhammad to the Age of the Reformations, translated by Cezar Baltag, Bucharest, Științifică și Enciclopedică Publishing House, 1988, p. 232.
- 9
Mircea Eliade, ‘The Destiny of Romanian Culture’, in Mircea Eliade, Romanian Prophecy, Vol. I, Bucharest: ‘Roza Vânturilor’ Publishers, 1990, p. 147.
- 10
Mircea Eliade, ‘The Mysticism of Spring’, in Mircea Eliade, 50 Radio Lectures: 1932–1938, 2001, p. 284.
- 11
Mircea Eliade, The Destiny of Romanian Culture, in op. cit., p. 147.
- 12
Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Beliefs and Ideas, Vol. II, 1986, p. 391.
- 13
Mircea Eliade, ‘The Mother of God’ (18 April 1936), in Mircea Eliade, 50 Radio Lectures: 1932–1938, Bucharest: Humanitas, 2001, p. 191.
- 14
Marija Gimbutas, Civilisation and Culture: Prehistoric Remains in South-Eastern Europe, translated by Sorin Paliga, with a foreword and notes by Radu Florescu, Bucharest, Meridiane Publishing House, 1989.
- 15
Radu Florescu, in Marija Gimbutas, op. cit., pp. 8–9.
- 16
Mircea Eliade, The Mother of God, in op. cit., p. 191.
- 17
Ibid., pp. 192–193.
- 18
Ibid., p. 192.
- 19
Cristian Bădiliță, in Apocryphal Gospels, Bucharest, Vremea Publishing House, 2012, pp. 23–24.
- 20
Alexis Kniazev, The Mother of God in the Orthodox Church, translated from the French by Lucreția Maria Vasilescu, Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 1998, pp. 28–29.
- 21
Ibid., p. 29.
- 22
For further reading, see, amongst others, Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, The General Liturgy, with an introduction to ecclesiastical art, architecture and Christian painting, 2nd edition, revised and expanded, Bucharest, Published by the Biblical and Missionary Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church, 1993, pp. 186–199.
- 23
Ibid., in particular pp. 194–198.
- 24
Quoted in Alexis Kniazev, op. cit., pp. 30–31.