Mariology

When it came time to baptize Dietrich, I was in seminary, and Kelsey's parents were with us to attend the baptism. Leading up to this, we had many conversations with her parents (who are Baptists) about the meaning of baptism and why we were baptizing our infant child. They had many concerns that we were becoming Roman; we assured them we were not. The day of the baptism arrived, and as we sat there for the homily, the priest began to sermonize about "the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Heaven and the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep in Christ." It was like bringing your friend who thinks the Church only wants people's money, and the homily is on tithing.

Mariology, like tithing, is one of those topics that gets very visceral reactions from people. Because of its abuse in the past, it has become a red herring for people to point to as an indicator of those corrupted by Rome. At the mere mention of the "Blessed Virgin," we prepare ourselves in the case that we are in the presence of-- God forbid-- "an inveterate Ritualist with incense-blackened lungs", who, if his lungs were in better shape, would "swim the Tiber." For this reason, you may have looked up the manufacturer of your Church Calendar when you saw this past Friday, "the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary." But, in all seriousness, it may have confused you when you went to look in your Prayer Book and did not see a corresponding feast.

August 15th has historically been a Christian feast in both East and West since the seventh century (though some parts of the Church have observed it existed since the fourth century). The East calls it "the Dormition of the Mother of God," and the West calls it "the Assumption of the Virgin Mary." There is some disagreement on how this is exactly understood. In the East, Dormition is the "falling asleep" of a person (i.e., death). At the same time, the West was more ambiguous on whether the Virgin Mary died or was taken up alive into heaven like Enoch and Elijah. However, it was not considered Roman dogma until the 1950s that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven.

Within Anglicanism, there has been less of a consensus. While the Sarum and other Uses within England, before the Reformation, observed August 15th as a principal Marian feast, it was removed from the calendar at the Reformation. However, many early Prayer Books and the 1662, retained the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on September 8th as a minor holy day. Both feasts were omitted from the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637 and subsequently in the American Prayer Books of 1789, 1892, and 1928. In 1929, however, the Scottish Prayer book was one of the first to restore the Marian feast of "the Falling Asleep of the B.V.M." (following a more Eastern title) to August 15th.  Other Prayer Books followed this throughout the Anglican Communion, including the 1954 South African Prayer Book and the 1979 American, and included August 15th as a feast day. Eventually, even in England, August 15th has replaced September 8th as the predominant Marian feast. This movement is partially an ecumenical movement, but is also fitting, as one's Feast day is usually the day of death, where they are born into the presence of God, which is the focus of August 15th. The feast, however, has been renamed "the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary," so as not to imply controversial doctrines of the Assumption of Mary.

So, what do we do with all of this information? While we do not have the time to present a comprehensive Mariology, a few things can be gleaned. The Anglican tradition, unlike Rome and the Puritans, did not feel the need to make everything a matter of dogma. Personal piety can include or exclude views on the assumption of Mary, her immaculate conception, or perpetual virginity (Luther held these views; Calvin did not refute her perpetual virginity nor her assumption; many Anglican Divines have historically held to these views, too). However, what we say about Mary, we, in turn, say something about Christ. This was the dispute between Cyril of Alexandria and the heretic Nestorius (5th century) over the Marian title of Theotokos (God-bearer). The debate was not about how exalted Mary was but who Jesus was/is. Has he always been God, or did he become God? This is the gift of Mary, that she should always point us to Christ, not subtract from him. As Mary bore Christ into the world, so we are called to bear Christ in our lives to others. When we refer to Mary as the Queen of heaven, we mean the Queen Mother, not Queen Regent. That is, she is the mother to the reigning King; she does not hold the power of a monarch, there is only one Monarch. This is important because it reminds us that the King of Kings, while being fully God, is fully man, born of a virgin. Our King knows our struggles; he shares our humanity.

Don't recoil from honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary just because her role has been abused in the past. Giving her the right and proper honor will allow her to lead you to know Christ more and show us the hope of the resurrection. It is by drawing our attention to her that she can decrease so that Christ can increase. So, sing the Magnificat with your family or read Luke 1 and dwell on the hope of Christ, who, in the words of the Te Deum, "didst humble [himself] to be born of a Virgin."

Peace of Christ,

Fr. Aaron