Theotokos
(Greek: Te?t????, translit. Theotókos
) is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer
and the one who gives birth to God
. Less literal translations include Mother of God
. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and some Protestants use the title Mother of God
more often than Theotokos
. The Council of Ephesus decreed in 431 that Mary is Theotokos
because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human.
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THEOTOKOS TICKETS
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Etymology and translation
Theotokos
is a compound of two Greek words, Te??
God
and t????
parturition, childbirth
. Literally, this translates as
God-bearer
or
the one who gives birth to God
. However, since many
English-speaking Orthodox find this literal translation awkward, in
liturgical use,
Theotokos
is often left untranslated, or paraphrased as
Mother of God
. The latter title is the literal translation of a distinct title in Greek, ??t?? Te?? (translit.
Meter Theou
).
Mother of God
also accurately translates the Greek words Te?µ?t?? (translit.
Theometor
; also spelled Te?µ?t??, translit.
Theometer
) and ??t???e?? (translit.
Metrotheos
), which are found in patristic and liturgical texts.{e.g. "?aß?µ??? ?
Te?t????
t?? e? t?? a????t?? ?a? pa?aµ?µ?? a?t?? ??s?ast????? sa??????ta ???p???? ?a? a???f?ast?? ????a?a ?? ?aß?d? ... ep? t??t??? pa???s?as?µe??? ? d??a??? ?a? t? p??t??p? e??a? t?? d?a????saµ???? Te? p??? a????p???
Te?µ?t????
... pe??fa??? ?e??
?e?µ?t??
e?et??e?." Methodius of Patra, "Speech on Symeon and the Holy Theotokos".}
In many traditions,
Theotokos
was translated from the Greek into the local liturgical language. The most prominent of these were
Latin (
Deipara
,
Dei genetrix
and, as paraphrased,
Mater Dei
),
Church Slavonic (?????????? translit.
Bogoroditsa
),
Coptic (
????????? translit.
Ti.Theotokós
),
Arabic (????? ???? translit.
Walidat Allah
),
Georgian (???????????? translit.
Ghvtismshobeli
),
Armenian: (??????????? translit.
Astvadzatzin
), and
Romanian (
Nascatoare de Dumnezeu
or
Maica Domnului
).
Mother of God
The English term
Mother of God
is mostly used as an imprecise translation of
Theotokos
, and frequently requires explanation.
[1] The other principal use of
Mother of God
has been as the precise and literal translation of ??t?? Te??, a Greek term which has an established usage of its own in traditional Christian theological writing, hymnography, and iconography. In an abbreviated form ?? T? it often is found on Orthodox
icons (see illustration above), where it is used to identify Mary.
A hymn normally sung as part of the Greek
Divine Liturgy includes both titles in close proximity, in both cases referring to Mary, showing that the titles are not synonymous: "It is truly fitting to call you blessed, the
Theotokos,
ever-blessed and wholly pure and the
Mother of our God
(
????? ?st?? ?? ?????? µa?a???e?? s? t?? Te?t????
, t?? ?e?µa????st?? ?a? pa?aµ?µ?t?? ?a? µ?t??a t?? Te?? ?µ??
...", emphasis added.) The difference between the two terms is that the former,
Theotokos
explicitly refers to physical childbearing, while the latter,
Mother of God
, describes a family relationship but not necessarily physical childbearing.
Within the Christian tradition,
Mother of God
has not been understood, or 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. This limitation in the meaning of
Mother of God
must be understood by the person employing the term. By contrast,
Theotokos
makes it explicit, thus excluding any misunderstanding of Mary's divine maternity.
However, those reading or hearing the English phrase
Mother of God
as a translation of a Greek text cannot — unless they know the Greek text in question, or obtain additional information — know whether the phrase is a literal translation of ??t?? Te?? or an imprecise rendering of Te?t???? or one its Latin equivalents or equivalents in other languages.
Catholic and Orthodox Christians justify use of the term Mother of God by citing in which Elizabeth greets the Virgin Mary as the "mother of my Lord."
Theology
Key articles on
Mariology
|
General perspective
Mother of Jesus • Blessed Virgin
|
Specific views
Anglican • Eastern Orthodox • Marian veneration • Muslim • Protestant • Roman Catholic
|
Key prayers & devotions
Angelus • Hail Mary • Rosary
|
Ecumenical
Ecumenical views
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Theotokos
specifically excludes the understanding of Mary as Mother of God in the eternal sense. Christians believe that God is the cause of all, with neither origin nor source, and is therefore "without a
mother." This stands in contrast to classical
Greco-Roman religion in particular, where a number of
divine female figures appear as "mothers" of other divinities,
demi-gods, or heroes. For example,
Juno was revered as the mother of
Vulcan;
Aphrodite, as the mother of
Aeneas.
On the other hand, most Christians believe
God the Son is begotten of
God the Father "from all
eternity" (see
Trinity and
Nicene Creed), but is born "in time" of Mary.
Theotokos
thus refers to the
Incarnation, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on human nature in addition to his pre-existing divine nature, this being made possible through the cooperation of Mary.
Since mainstream Christians understand Jesus Christ as both fully God and fully human, they call Mary
Theotokos
to affirm the fullness of God's incarnation. The
Council of Ephesus decreed, 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"), that Mary
is
Theotokos
because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human. As
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). Thus the significance of
Theotokos
lies more in what it says about Jesus than any declaration about Mary.
Within the Orthodox doctrinal teaching on the
economy of salvation, Mary's identity, role, and status as
Theotokos
is acknowledged as indispensable, and is for this reason formally defined as official dogma. The only other
Mariological 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 nonetheless not formally defined by the Church, and belief in them is not a precondition for baptism.
Use of Theotokos
in the early Christian Church
Many
Fathers of the early Christian Church used the title
Theotokos
for Mary since at least the third century AD.
Origen (d. 254) is often cited as the earliest author to use
Theotokos
for Mary (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History 7.32 citing Origen's Commentary on Romans)
but the text upon which this assertion is based may not be genuine.
Dionysios of Alexandria used
Theotokos
in about 250, in an epistle to
Paul of Samosata.
Athanasius of Alexandria in 330,
Gregory the Theologian in 370,
John Chrysostom in 400, and
Augustine all used
Theotokos
.
Theodoret wrote in 436 that calling the Virgin Mary
Theotokos
is an
apostolic tradition.
Third Ecumenical Council
The use of
Theotokos
was formally affirmed at the
Third Ecumenical Council held at
Ephesus in 431. 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, viewed this as dividing Jesus into two distinct persons, the human who was Son of Mary, and the divine who was not. To them, this was unacceptable since by destroying the perfect union of the divine and human natures in Christ, it sabotaged the fullness of the Incarnation and, by extension, the salvation of humanity. The council accepted Cyril's reasoning, affirmed the title
Theotokos
for Mary, and
anathematised 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
[T]heotokos
, not as though the nature of the [W]ord 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 [body] the [W]ord 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: "Confessing the Word to be united with the flesh according to the hypostasis, we worship one Son and Lord, Jesus Christ. We do not divide him into parts and separate man and God as though they were united with each other [only] through a unity of dignity and authority... nor do we name separately Christ the Word from God, and in similar fashion, separately, another Christ from the woman, but we know only one Christ, the Word from God the Father with his own flesh... But we do not say that the Word from God dwelt as in an ordinary human born of the holy virgin... we understand that, when he became flesh, not in the same way as he is said to dwell among the saints do we distinguish the manner of the indwelling; but he was united by nature and not turned into flesh... There is, then, one Christ and Son and Lord, not with the sort of conjunction that a human being might have with God as in a unity of dignity or authority; for equality of honor does not unite natures. For Peter and John were equal to each other in honor, both of them being apostles and holy disciples, but the two were not one. Nor do we understand the manner of conjunction to be one of juxtaposition, for this is insufficient in regard to natural union.... Rather we reject the term 'conjunction' as being inadequate to express the union... [T]he holy virgin gave birth in the flesh to God united with the flesh according to hypostasis, for that reason we call her
Theotokos
... If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is, in truth, God, and therefore that the holy virgin is
Theotokos
(for she bore in a fleshly manner the Word from God become flesh), let him be
anathema." (Cyril's third letter to Nestorius)
Hymns
Mary is very frequently addressed as
Theotokos
in the
hymns of the
Eastern Orthodox,
Eastern Catholic and
Oriental Orthodox churches. The most common is
Axion Estin
(
It is truly meet
), which is used in nearly every service.
Other examples include
Beneath thy compassion
dating from the third century, 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.
Solemnity
In the Roman Catholic Church, the solemnity of the Theotokos is celebrated on January 1st, on the same day as the
World Day of Peace.
This solemnity comes from around 500 AD and was originally celebrated in the Eastern Churches.
Icons
Notes
References
- For example [1], [1] and [1]