Mary
The Second Council of Nicaea (787), the seventh Ecumenical Council, which is fully accepted by the Orthodox, declared:
- The Lord, the apostles and the prophets have taught us that we must venerate in the first place the Holy Mother of God, who is above all the heavenly powers . . . If any one does not confess that the holy, ever virgin Mary, really and truly the Mother of God, is higher than all creatures visible and invisible, and does not implore, with a sincere faith, her intercession, given her powerful access (parrhésia) to our God born of her, let him be anathema.
posted by Sean at 9/26/2005 08:48:00 AM
6 Comments:
Do you really believe the perpetual virginity of Mary?
Yes. Early Christian Tradition was unanimous in holding to Mary's Perpetual Virginity. It was first doubted, as far as we know, by one Helvidius, who tangled with St. Jerome in 380, but by few others until recent times. All the Protestant Founders firmly held the belief, as did later notable Protestants such as John Wesley, and many more to this day, on biblical grounds alone.
It's not bulletproof logic, but you could look at it this way: if Mother Teresa or any of the other thousands of nuns and unmarried women throughout history could remain chaste for life, stands to reason Mary could.
Funny thing is that there's no doctrine saying Joseph remained a virgin. hmm... think about that :)
Yeah but what of passages that mention Mary with Jesus' brothers and sisters. Or James, the brother of the Lord...
Just curious to know how Catholics handle such difficulties.
So, Sean, just another honest question:
Are you a Roman Catholic?
Well, I'm not a Roman Catholic yet, but I am going to go to RCIA class and probably be confirmed etc. on easter.
Unless something drastically hits me to make me reconsider but I haven't come across anything yet.
Regarding Jesus' "brothers" and "sisters": see the new post linked to a short article explaining the catholic postion.
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