THE THIRD ECUMENICAL COUNCIL SYNOD

The holy Fathers who participated in this Council in Ephesus in 381 carefully examined the Holy Scriptures and attacked the teachings of the Nestorians which denied the divine nature of Jesus. They wanted Mary to be termed a Christotokos because according to the belief of their leader Nestorius, Mary gave birth to Christ without His divine nature. The Ecumenical Synod declared that Mary was indeed the Theotokos or Mother of God, since she gave birth to the Son of God who had both a divine and human nature that united in the person of Jesus Christ. The word Theotokos is a Greek designation for the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and it is used especially in the Greek Orthodox Church. Its literal translations in English include God-bearer and the one who gave birth to God; while a less literal translation includes Mother of God. The latter title is also the literal translation of a separate title in Greek, Miter Theou, Mother of God which also translates the Greek words Theomitor and Mitrotheos, which are found in many texts of the early Church Fathers as well as in a wide range of liturgical texts. Mary is also referred to as the Aeiparthenos (Ever Virgin) and the Panayia (All Holy). The renowned Orthodox scholars Nissiotis (1974) and Coniaris (1982) considered these definitions to be representative on the subject of defining Mary the Virgin as the Mother of God. There are numerous passages in the Holy Bible which attest to the immense importance of Mariology and which are critical inputs in Eastern Orthodox Christianity as well as Roman Catholic faith. The Archangel Gabriel and Elizabeth both confess to the Virgin Mary as they state, "Blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28 and 42) and no other woman in the Holy Bible is referred to in such glowing terms. It is in Luke 1:26-28, however, that we find the important clarification: "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." Later on Elizabeth, inspired by the Paraclete (the Comforter), says to Mary "blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, And why is it that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:42-43). We can view this as a Semitic means of saying that Mary was indeed the most blessed of all women ever. This is the predominant reason why in future "all generations will call [Mary] blessed" (Luke 1:48). The Archangel Gabriel appears to Joseph in a dream and assures him that "What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:20). By giving birth to the Theanthropos or God-Man, Mary did not lose her purity and chastity either before, during or after giving birth, despite being married to Joseph. The New Testament stresses that Joseph and Mary were only "betrothed" to one another (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:27), which obligated overall sexual abstinence (Edersheim 1957: 41). Mary was with child "before they came together" in any kind of sexual familiarity. The conception is thus attributable to a miracle brought about by the power and energy of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35). Coniaris notes that: "The Incarnation was not only the work of the Father, of His Power and His Spirit...but it was also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin...Just as God became incarnate voluntarily, so He wished that His mother should bear him freely and with full consent" (Coniaris 1982: 77). Gregory the Theologian states "if anyone does not accept the Holy Mary as Theotokos, he is without the Godhead" (Epistle 101). Mary is uniquely blessed as she bore her own Saviour. In Roman Catholicism she is also special in that she immaculately conceived and without spot of sin, whereas Eve who was immaculately created, sinned. Orthodoxy disagrees here since they state only Jesus was without stain of original sin. Mary was thus made pure on the day of the Annunciation in Orthodoxy and if we accept the notion of an Immaculate Conception in a literal sense, we give Mary the stature of a goddess besides God. Mary is the virginal bride of God the Father (Cutsinger 2000: 43). Furthermore, her soul is without spot of blemish (Cunningham 2006: 111). Mary is the virginal bride of God and in the plethora of Orthodox doctrinal teachings on the economy of salvation, her unique and special status as Theotokos is recognised as being indispensable and is thus established as a representative Orthodox Church doctrine. In the authentic interpretations of Scripture in the Orthodox faith as well as in the official formulations and confession of faith, Mary is afforded a superior status as the "First amongst the Saints". Shoemaker (2005: 445448) accentuates Mary's indispensable contributions to the earthly assignment of Jesus Christ and emphasises her leadership of the apostles in the early church, the Ekklesia. Her free and willing response to the Incarnation makes her even more worthy of honour since she accepted what God desired of her. The blessing of God which is placed on Mary is made analogous to the blessing of God which rests upon Jesus Christ in His humanity as the incarnate Logos of God. United in the one person of Jesus Christ are two distinct natures, the divine and the human. Mary, as the Theotokos is the mother of the one essence of Christ; as such she is the Mother of God.