Theotokos (Koine Greek: Θεοτόκος) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are Dei Genitrix or Deipara (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer" – but these both have different literal equivalents in , and Theophorus respectively.Ph. Schaff, H Wace Nicene and Ante-Nicene Fathers, II.XIV ()J.F. Bethune-Baker, Nestorius and His Teachings: A Fresh Examination of the Evidence (1998), p. 58
The title has been in use since the 3rd century, and in the Liturgy of St James (4th century).John Witvliet, "The Anaphora of St. James" in ed. F. Bradshaw Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers, 1997. The Council of Ephesus in AD 431 decreed that Mary is the Theotokos because her son Jesus is both God and man: one divine person from two natures (divine and human) intimately and hypostatic union.
The title of Mother of God (Greek: Μήτηρ (τοῦ) Θεοῦ) or Mother of Incarnate God, abbreviated ΜΡ ΘΥ (the first and last letter of main two words in Greek), is most often used in English language, largely due to the lack of a satisfactory equivalent of the Greek τόκος. For the same reason, the title is often left untranslated, as "Theotokos", in Eastern liturgical usage of other languages.
Theotokos is also used as the term for an Eastern icon, or type of icon, of the Mother with Child (typically called a Madonna in western tradition), as in "the Theotokos of Vladimir" both for the original 12th-century icon and for icons that are copies or imitate its composition.
The Church Slavonic translation is Bogoroditsa (Russian/Serbian/Bulgarian Богородица). The full title of Mary in Slavic Orthodox tradition is Прест҃а́ѧ влⷣчица на́ша бцⷣа и҆ прⷭ҇нод҃ва мр҃і́а (Russian Пресвятая Владычица наша Богородица и Приснодева Мария), from Greek Ὑπεραγία δέσποινα ἡμῶν Θεοτόκος καὶ ἀειπάρθενος Μαρία "Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary". German has the translation Gottesgebärerin (). In Arabic, there are two main terms which are widely used at the general level, first one is: " Walidatu-liilahi" () and "Ùmmu-'llahi" or "Ùmmu-l'iilahi" (Arabic language: أُمُّ ٱللهِ or أُمُّ ٱلْإِلَـٰهِ, lit.'Mother of God').
"Mother of God" is the literal translation of a distinct title in Greek, Μήτηρ τοῦ Θεοῦ (translit. Mētēr tou Theou), a term which has an established usage of its own in traditional Orthodox and Catholic theological writing, hymnography, and iconography. The Second Vatican Council stated: "Clearly from earliest times the Blessed Virgin is honoured under the title of Mother of God." Pope Paul VI, Lumen gentium, 66 In an abbreviated form, (), it often is found on Eastern icons, where it is used to identify Mary. The Russian term is Матерь Божия (also Богома́терь). Богоматерь-Богородица Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). — СПб., 1890—1907.
Variant forms are the compounds
Within the Orthodox and Catholic tradition, Mother of God has not been understood, nor been intended to be understood, as referring to Mary as Mother of God from eternity — that is, as Mother of God the Father — but only with reference to the birth of Jesus, that is, the Incarnation. To make it explicit, it is sometimes translated Mother of God Incarnate."We recognize the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Theotókos, the mother of God incarnate, and so observe her festivals and accord her honour among the saints." Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC II) (cf. the topic of Christology, and the titles of God the Son and Son of man).
The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 affirmed the Christian faith on "one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds (æons)", that "came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man". Hence, the term affirms Jesus Christ's full divinity as God by referencing Mary as the "Mother of that God". In the Syriac tradition, the creed contains an addition of Theotokos after mentioning the incarnation, where it reads "...was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God Yāldath."
The status of Mary as Theotokos was a topic of theological dispute in the 4th and 5th centuries and was the subject of the decree of the Council of Ephesus of 431 to the effect that, in opposition to those who denied Mary the title Theotokos ("the one who gives birth to God") but called her Christotokos ("the one who gives birth to Christ"), Mary is Theotokos because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human.
This decree created the Nestorian Schism. Cyril of Alexandria wrote, "I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave Him birth, not Theotokos?" (Epistle 1, to the monks of Egypt; PG 77:13B). But the argument of Nestorius was that divine and human natures of Christ were distinct, and while Mary is evidently the Christotokos (bearer of Christ), it could be misleading to describe her solely as the "bearer of God" without referencing the humanity. At issue is the interpretation of the Incarnation, and the nature of the hypostatic union of Christ's human and divine natures between Christ's Annunciation and birth.Within the Orthodox doctrinal teaching on the economy of salvation, Mary's identity, role, and status as Theotokos is acknowledged as indispensable. For this reason, it is formally defined as official dogma. The only other Mariology teaching so defined is that of her virginity. Both of these teachings have a bearing on the identity of Jesus Christ. By contrast, certain other Marian beliefs which do not bear directly on the doctrine concerning the person of Jesus (for example, her sinlessness, the circumstances surrounding her conception and birth, her Presentation in the Temple, her continuing virginity following the birth of Jesus, and her death), which are taught and believed by the Orthodox Church (being expressed in the Church's liturgy and patristic writings), are not formally defined by the Church.
Origen (d. 254) is often cited as the earliest author to use Theotokos for Mary (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History 7.32 (PG 67, 812 B) citing Origen's Commentary on Romans), but the surviving texts do not contain it. It is also claimed that the term was used c. 250 by Dionysius of Alexandria, in an epistle to Paul of Samosata,. but the epistle is a forgery of the 6th century.Wolfgang A. Bienert, "Dionysius von Alexandrien: zur Frage d. Origenismus im 3. Jh", de Gruyter (1978), pp.47-49.
The oldest preserved extant hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν (English: "Beneath thy Compassion," Latin: Sub tuum praesidium,) has been continually prayed and sung for at least sixteen centuries, in the original Koine Greek vocative, as ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕ. The oldest record of this hymn is a papyrus found in Egypt, mostly dated to after 450,G. Vannucci, Marianum, 1941 (3), pp. 97-101, "La piu antica preghiera alla Madre de Dio". P. Ryl. Gr. 3 470 (Roberts, Colin Henderson) = Le Muséon 52 (1939), p. 229-233 (Mercenier, P. F. ) = Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 74 (1952), p. 76-82 (Stegmüller, Otto). "Date: AD 450 - 799". but according to a suggestion by de Villiers (2011) possibly older, dating to the mid-3rd century.
John Cassian (360–435) stated:
Basil of Caesarea (330-378) stated:
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) stated:
The competing view, advocated by Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, was that Mary should be called Christotokos, meaning "Birth-giver of Christ," to restrict her role to the mother of Christ's humanity only and not his divine nature.
Nestorius' opponents, led by Cyril of Alexandria, alleged that this view, in conjunction with Nestorius's two-nature Christology, leads to two persons in Christ, which results in an incomplete incarnation and, by extension, incomplete salvation for mankind. The council accepted Cyril's reasoning and his one-nature Christology, affirmed the title Theotokos for Mary, and Nestorius' view as heresy. (See Nestorianism)
In letters to Nestorius which were afterwards included among the council documents, Cyril explained his doctrine. He noted that "the holy fathers... have ventured to call the holy Virgin Theotokos, not as though the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of their existence from the holy Virgin, but because from her was born his holy body, rationally endowed with a soul, with which the Word was united according to the hypostasis, and is said to have been begotten according to the flesh" (Cyril's second letter to Nestorius).
Explaining his rejection of Nestorius' preferred title for Mary ( Christotokos), Cyril wrote:
Whilst Calvin believed that Mary was theologically speaking rightly qualified as "the mother of God", he rejected common use of this as a title, saying, "I cannot think such language either right, or becoming, or suitable. ... To call the Virgin Mary the mother of God can only serve to confirm the ignorant in their superstitions."
Other examples include Sub tuum praesidium, the Hail Mary in its Eastern form, and All creation rejoices, which replaces Axion Estin at the Divine Liturgy on the Sundays of Great Lent. Bogurodzica is a medieval Polish language hymn, possibly composed by Adalbert of Prague (d. 997).
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is a Roman Catholic feast day introduced in 1969, based on older traditions associating 1 January with the motherhood of Mary. Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 35 f.
The tradition of Marian veneration was greatly expanded only with the affirmation of her status as Theotokos in 431. The in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, dating from 432 to 40, just after the council, does not yet show her with a halo. The tradition of the Theotokos or Madonna (Our Lady), showing the Virgin enthroned carrying the infant Christ, is established by the following century, as attested by a very small number of surviving icons, including one at Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai Peninsula, and Salus Populi Romani, a 5th or 6th-century Byzantine icon preserved in Rome. This type of depiction, with subtly changing differences of emphasis, has remained the mainstay of depictions of Mary to the present day. The roughly half-dozen varied icons of the Virgin and Child in Rome from the 6th to 8th centuries form the majority of the representations surviving from this period, as most early Byzantine icons were destroyed in the Byzantine Iconoclasm of the 8th and 9th century,
notable exceptions being the 7th-century Blachernitissa and Agiosoritissa.The iconographic tradition is well developed by the early medieval period. The tradition of Luke the Evangelist being the first to have painted Mary is established by the 8th century.Michele Bacci, Il pennello dell'Evangelista. Storia delle immagini sacre attribuite a san Luca (Pisa: Gisem, 1998).
An early icon of the Virgin as queen is in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, datable to 705-707 by the kneeling figure of Pope John VII, a notable promoter of the cult of the Virgin, to whom the infant Christ reaches his hand.
The earliest surviving image in a Western illuminated manuscript of the Madonna and Child comes from the Book of Kells of about 800 (there is a similar carved image on the lid of St Cuthbert's coffin of 698). The oldest Russian icons were imports from Byzantium, beginning in the 11th century.
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