The present writer has and will have nothing whatsoever of substance to contribute to Catholic – Orthodox understanding of Mary and of Marian doctrines.
The present writer might be able to do an adequate job of summarizing the profound regret within the Orthodox-Catholic Church that (a) Marian Dogma(s), and reaction thereto, has/have become Church dividing. |
[Dear Friends, Colleagues, Contributors and Collaborators:
This page, like this website as a whole, is still in an early stage of development. Now, already in 2016, and as the days evaporate away it must, with a very heavy heart, be admitted that this whole project should be much further along than it is. It is not months but years behind schedule. Please consider what you see here to be little more than a place holder.
DOC
]
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And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. |
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Saint Paul to the Ephesians 4:11-14 [emphasis added] |
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Salus Populi Romani – the Health and Salvation of the People of Rome |
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Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma |
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| One of the Lucan Icons of the Blessed Virgin and Jesus and the oldest and most important Marian icon of the Eternal City, Salus Populi Romani dates back to the V century, or earlier, for example if it actually is an (one of the) icon(s) written by Evangelist Saint Luke on a table top from the home of the Holy Family. |
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in Egypt
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Now I say plainly, I will never defend or screen any one from your just rebuke, who, through false devotion to Mary forgets Jesus. But I should like the fact to be proved first; I cannot hastily admit it. there is this broad fact the other way; -- that, if we look through Europe, we shall find, on the whole, that just those nations and countries have lost their faith in the divinity of Christ, who have given up devotion to His Mother, and that those on the other hand, who had been foremost in her honour, have retained their orthodoxy. |
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John Henry Cardinal Newman in 1866 |
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in Cathedral of Córdoba, Argentina |
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Madonna of Humility (1420 - 1423) by Gentile da Fabriano, a loan from the collection of the San Matteo National Museum in Pisa to the Latvijas Arhitektūras muzejs in Riga. |
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In Traditions Semetic, Byzantine-Slavonic, Latin and all others everywhere, Mary is the Queen of Heaven, as depicted here above the main altar in Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima – the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima. |
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Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute |
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Notre Dame de Paris |
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Aušros Vartų Dievo Motina – Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, Lithuania |
| In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. |
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Luke 1:26-38 The Annunciation and the Yes of Mary
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| In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechari'ah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever." And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her home. |
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Luke 1:39-56 Elizabeth's confession under the influence of the Holy Spirit and the Magnificat of Mary
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| So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Mag'dalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the scripture), "I thirst." A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished"; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. |
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John 19:25-30 Christ's gift of His Mother to all humankind through John |
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The Lord came through her. Through her He worked His first miracle. And then from the Cross He commended us all to her with His kind words, "Behold thy mother." The entire Church, the Orthodox-Catholic Church — Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox — has from the Apostolic Age, from the very earliest decades and centuries after the earthly mission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, venerated His Mother, Saint Mary – Maria – מרים – Maryām, the Blessed Ever-Virgin God-Bearer – Θεοτόκος Theotokos. |
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Lourdes |
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The Fathers of the Church discuss the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Reni depicts Saints Jerome and Augustine in the foreground and behind them Saints Ambrosius, Gregory the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom.
Do we have such consensus on the dogma? |
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Immaculata Conceptio Beatae Virginis Mariae
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Η Άμωμος Σύλληψη
Непорочное зачатие Девы Марии |
Painting of 1625 in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg in Russia
by Guido Reni – Гвидо Рени (* 1575 in Bologna – 1642 †). |
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Painting of 1680 in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo –
Бартоломе Эстебан Мурильо (* baptized 1 January 1618 in Seville – 1682 †). |
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Before turning the the subject of this Mary Page, the two Catholic Marian Doctrines of:
the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary as set forth in 1854 in Ineffabilis Deus, and
the Assumption of the Virgina Mary as set forth in 1950 in Munificentissimus Deus,
first some preliminary remards are offered.
Introductory Remarks
The present writer has and will have nothing whatsoever of substance to contribute to Catholic – Orthodox understanding of Mary and of Marian doctrines.
My brothers and sisters, do you think it ends here? It does not end here with these two Marian doctrines. It will never end, and it should not ever end. Those reflective and perceptive among the community of the Christian faithful will always probe the mysteries of faith, the will of God even though It surpasses all understanding. If the thoughts and reflections of those holy geniuses among us, today and in the generations and centuries to come, remain within the realm of theological opinion — theologoumenon (pl. theologoumena), to be used by individual Christians as such persons find the precepts useful to deepen Christian understanding or to be left aside if they are not useful, then we have a very different situation to that in which such opinions come to be defined as Dogma, that which must be accepted on faith by all Christians or they are not Christians. In such latter cases — and at this point in human history few indeed should be the occasions wherein it becomes necessary or even useful to define additional dogma — but on such occasions, should there be any, it is of paramount importance that the community of the orthodox Christian faithful understands and receives as authoritative a voice within the Church empowered by God to announce such Dogma.
The Oriental Orthodox, the Orthodox and the 30,000 some odd communities and sects which self-identify as being Protestant may be, more or less, of one mind in asserting that, standing by himself, a monarchial and infallible Pope empowered by God to so announce dogma is not a model which is "canonical". It is not consistent or consonant with the Biblical Canon or with Apostolic and later early Patristic Church understanding and practice. And yet, if it is not an acceptable model, what is the model ordained by God? If the monarchial and infallible solo-Pope model is not the God-ordained model to fulfill the explicitly God-announced intention that Christians be united in faith, then what does constitute that God-ordained model? What model might we in the Church and of the Church put forward as a workable model which reflects God's will as best as we can understand It?
This is the reverse side of taking pot-shots at the Pope and at the "papists", is it not? Their model does not work, so what is your model that will work, your model both "canonical" and workable? This is where the Orthodox — Oriental and "Eastern" — are conspicuously silent, and the simple reason is that they (we, I should say) have no corporate model. Yes, individuals have brought forward their individual ideas and suggestions. Nothing has been accepted and received. For all of the work of the Joint International Commission of Theological Dialogue Between the Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church and many other lower-ranking bodies, virtually nothing has been accomplished on this central-most question. So maybe there actually is a Christian role for this film I am putting together from the contributions of scores of experts and holy men.
If the present writer may share a personal experience, in December of 2009, His Most Godly Beatitude, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, said to me about the subject and content of this film, words to the effect of:
"Dave what is to talk about, everybody knows what must be done. The Pope has to step down. Like his predecessor said of himself, he is the problem."
I did not answer. I do not know if I better should have. But be that as it may, is not the answer also rather obvious, that the Pope can not "step down" [as sole absolute Monarch], and he should not step down, until the Big O Orthodox step up. |
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Apse of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Roma |
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Facade of the Cathedrale of Notre Dame de Paris |
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The façade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, of which these base relief images of the Dormition and Assumption
into Heaven of the Blessed Ever Virgin Theotokos Mary form a part, was completed in 1225. |
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The Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
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Defined on 1 November, the Feast of All Saints, in the year of the great Jubilee 1950, by Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic Constitution, Munificentissimus Deus:
"43. We rejoice greatly that this solemn event falls, according to the design of God's providence, during this Holy Year, so that we are able, while the great Jubilee is being observed, to adorn the brow of God's Virgin Mother with this brilliant gem, and to leave a monument more enduring than bronze of our own most fervent love for the Mother of God.
"44. For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." |
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17th c. frescos on ceiling vault of the 16th. c. Dormition Cathedral (or Assumption Cathedral) - Успенский Собор,
in the Свято-Троицкая Сергиева Лавра в Сергиевом Посаде — Holy Trinity Saint Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad.
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The Dormition of the Virgin (c. 1612) in MMA
Carlo Saraceni (Venice c. 1579-1620) |
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... from Church of Saint Titus in Heraklion, Crete, Greece |
The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
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Pope Pius IX
Ineffabilis Deus
Original Sin
Saint Augustine of Hippo, Orthodox Saint Augustine the Blessed, Catholic Saint and Doctor of the Church, born in Thagaste in modern day Algeria on 13 November 354, reposed in the Lord on 28 August 430 in Hippo Regius, also in modern day Algeria.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (O.P. or The Order of Preachers, in Latin Ordo Praedicatorum, after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order; the Saint's name in Italian is Tommaso d'Aquino or Thomas of Aquino), born in 1225 in Aquino in the Kingdom of Sicily in modern day Italy, reposed in the Lord on 7 March 1274 in Fossa Nuova also in the Kingdom of Sicily. Author of the Summa Theologica, Saint Thomas Aquinas is regarded by the Catholic Church as one of the 33 as yet identified Doctors of the Church. He is also known as Doctor Angelicus, the Angelic Doctor, and Doctor Universalis. According to the 1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 1366 § 2, "The study of philosophy and theology and the teaching of these sciences to their students must be accurately carried out by Professors (in seminaries etc.) according to the arguments, doctrine, and principles of St. Thomas which they are inviolately to hold." |
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The Immaculate Conception (c. 1627)
Guido Reni (1575-1642 Bologna) |
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