Theotokos
Theotokos is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are Dei Genitrix or Deipara. Common English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer" – but these both have different literal equivalents in, and Theophorus respectively.
The title has been in use since the 3rd century, and in the Liturgy of Saint James. 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 intimately and hypostatically united.
The title of Mother of God or Mother of Incarnate God, abbreviated ΜΡ ΘΥ, is most often used in English, largely due to the lack of a satisfactory equivalent of the Greek τόκος. For the same reason, the title is often left untranslated, as, 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, as in "the Theotokos of Vladimir" both for the original 12th-century icon and for icons that are copies or imitate its composition.
Etymology
Theotokos is an adjectival compound of two Greek words Θεός "God" and τόκος "childbirth, parturition; offspring". A close paraphrase would be " whose offspring is God" or " who gave birth to one who was God". The usual English translation is "Mother of God"; Latin uses Deipara or Dei Genitrix.The Church Slavonic translation is Bogoroditsa. The full title of Mary in Slavic Orthodox tradition is Прест҃а́ѧ влⷣчица на́ша бцⷣа и҆ прⷭ҇нод҃ва мр҃і́а, 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,.
"Mother of God" is the literal translation of a distinct title in Greek, Μήτηρ τοῦ Θεοῦ, a term which has an established usage of its own in traditional Orthodox and Catholic theological writing, hymnography, and iconography.
In an abbreviated form, ΜΡ ΘΥ, it often is found on Eastern icons, where it is used to identify Mary. The Russian term is Матерь Божия.
Variant forms are the compounds
- Θεομήτωρ: Theometor|
- Μητρόθεος:
- Θεογεννήτωρ:
- Θεοκυήτωρ:
The theological dispute over the term concerned the term Θεός "God" versus Χριστός "Christ", and not τόκος versus μήτηρ, and the two terms have been used as synonyms throughout Christian tradition. Both terms are known to have existed alongside one another since the Early Church, but it has been argued, including in modern times, that the term "Mother of God" is unduly suggestive of Godhead having its origin in Mary, imparting to Mary the role of a Mother Goddess. But this is an exact reiteration of the objection by Nestorius, resolved in the 5th century, to the effect that the term "Mother" expresses exactly the relation of Mary to the incarnate Son ascribed to Mary in Christian theology.
Theology
Theologically, the terms "Mother of God", "Mother of Incarnate God" does not mean that Mary is the source of the divine nature of Jesus, who Christians believe existed with the Father from all eternity.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.
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 ", 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 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."
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 but called her Christotokos, 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 birth, not ?". But the argument of Nestorius was that divine and human natures of Christ were distinct, and while Mary is evidently the Christotokos, 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 conception 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 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, which are taught and believed by the Orthodox Church, are not formally defined by the Church.
History of use
Early Church
The term and similar titles were certainly in use before the 4th century. Ephrem the Syrian used it in 318, Alexander I of Alexandria in 321,Athanasius of Alexandria in 330, Gregory the Theologian in 370, John Chrysostom in 400, and Augustine all used Theotokos.Origen is often cited as the earliest author to use Theotokos for Mary, 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.
The oldest preserved extant hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν 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, but according to a suggestion by Henri de Villiers possibly older, dating to the mid-3rd century.
John Cassian stated:
Basil of Caesarea stated:
Augustine of Hippo stated:
Third Ecumenical Council
The use of Theotokos was formally affirmed at the Third Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in 431. It proclaimed that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: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 anathematized Nestorianism as heresy.
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".
Explaining his rejection of Nestorius' preferred title for Mary, Cyril wrote:
Nestorian schism
Following the decision of the Council of Ephesus to anathematize the two-nature formula and its adherents such as Ibas of Edessa, the followers of Nestorius moved eastwards within the borders of the Sassanid Empire. There they spread their ideology, and eventually, their later student, Barsauma of Nisibis, is often credited with the official establishment of the Church of the East in 424. Other influential figures include Narsai, Babai the Great, and Babai of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. The Church accepts the teachings of Nestorius's mentor, Theodore of Mopsuestia, as official doctrine. Whether the Church of the East is truly "Nestorian" is a subject of debate, and modern research suggests that the Church of the East in China did not teach a doctrine of two distinct natures of Christ.Reformation
retained the title of "Mother of God", a term already embraced by Martin Luther; and officially confessed in the Formula of Concord, accepted by the Lutheran World Federation.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."