When I first came to Ephesus it was in 1989; at the invitation of Father Luigi Padovese, the Archbishop of İskenderun, I had attended the first of a long series of conferences which were celebrated every year until 2010, which was the year of his martyrdom.
At that very first conference, I talked about the Council of Ephesus, where we are here today. It was an unforgettable experience and now I owe a debt of gratitude and thanks for giving me the permission to live this moment again.
Last year, I know that you discussed the history of this Council, the 1600th anniversary of which you were preparing to celebrate and so I will briefly remind you of some parts of it. Therefore, I will focus on the most important conclusion of the Council, that Mary is God’s Mother, her declaration as Theotokos.
Christian communities founded by Jesus’s disciples, from the first centuries, tried to better understand the content of their faith, the God in whom we believe and in whose name we were baptised.
In this quest, while the Writer of the first letter of Peter was addressing the Christians in today’s Turkey in this area, he was inviting them to question the hope in their hearts and give an appropriate answer, (1. Petrus 3,15) they were not doing anything else than obeying what was expected from them.
This circumstances towards the end of the second century is understood very well by the Athenian Christian Philosopher, Athenagoras who refused to worship Greek-Roman religions’ gods and was blamed for being an atheist and thus presented his faith to the pagans who shared his belief:
He writes; “We know what is God and the Logos who is with Him; what is the unity of the Son with the Father and what is the unity of the Father with the Son; what is the Holy Spirit; what is the unity of these supreme beings and what is the unity of the Spirit with the Son and being thus united with the Father and also we move with the same desire to know the distinctions of each one of them”.
This is an important text: it tells us how the first Christians introduced themselves, and what they tell about themselves. They considered themselves as people who were eager to learn about the secret of the Holy Trinity, because they knew that people were being baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity. In order to be a new being they were in need of learning from WHOM they were receiving this new life.
In order to feel themselves more as children of God and to accept Him, the community of believers in the following centuries would accomplish formulating the Apostles’ Creed in 325 Nicae and in 381 Constantinopole Councils, which we still say as a basis of our faith in our time. In these Councils (a philosophical term “ousia”) one essence in the Holy Trinity, in other words each one of them are different and yet equal in “nature, dignity and creativity”, three people (“hypostasis” another philosophical name) sharing one and same divinity was announced.
Once the Trinity doctrine had been established in the mind, a need was felt to deepen everything about the Son of God in the mystery of his incarnation. As God with the Father, He “incarnated”, was born, grew, suffered and died…” as the Gospel of Saint John declares. Thus a new question arose, with the desire to understand more: How did humanity and deity unite in Him? How can we comprehend that He is the Son of the Father, Son of God, but at the same time Son of a woman, Son of Mary? As a Son coming from the same essence of the Father how He had been “born from a woman”? as Saint Paul states in his Letter to the Galatians.
This complex issue was discussed at the Council of Ephesus, as I said previously, I will confine myself to recalling the two different solutions suggested. On one hand, the solution offered by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Krillos. He kept on saying in Messiah “divine nature permeates human nature as what fire does on burning coal”, he accepted divine Logos as the sole subject of the Incarnation and viewed his assumed human nature as a passive and obedient mean to his divinity.
The solution of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople was exactly the opposite. Nestorious says that “the Logos dwells in Christ as in a temple” and that when he says temple he refers to Christ’s human body; his two natures, divine and human, it wouldn’t be right to attribute the certain characteristics of one and the other without making distinctions, they should be set apart. Therefore, as a first consequence Nestorius refused to give Mary the title Theotokos “Mother of God”, that is the Mother of the divine nature of the Logos, preferring to call her the “Mother of Christ” that is, the Mother of human nature in which the divine Logos dwells.
The Council which was convened by Emperor Theodosius II, in 431 was rightly called the “most unorganised meeting and ended in a still more disorderly manner”. Doctrinal-didactic disputes were also mixed with political reasons that made the opposition between the two patriarchates increasingly deeper: Alexandria didn’t want to cede its primacy as an imperial seat to Constantinople, which was declared second after Rome. Bishops representing the two streams met in two parallel Councils and excommunicated each other. The Emperor deposed both patriarchs, but while Nestorius cloistered himself in a monastery near Antioch, Krillos managed to return back to Alexandria in triumph. It can be repeated that “Ephesus is the classic example of a council that created division…The immediate result was the rupture of the unity between the two great patriarchates.”
In order to compensate for the division that had been created, the Emperor definitely wished an empire politically united in religious matters but more importantly he wanted religious leaders who would be less interested in preserving their prerogatives but who would be more interested in preserving the unity of the Church and be willing to give something up for its sake. There was a need of slow work of mediation resulting from the efforts of such other theologians. Among them, a special role was played by Theodoretus of Cyrus who was a friend of Nestorius, with whom he shared his thoughts to a great extent, but also perceiving every positive nuance of Cyrus’ doctrine and persuaded him to restore peace.
Two years after this dramatic outcome in 433, Theodoretus finally put an end to this tiring debate by his “Unity Formula ” for which we owe him a great debt of gratitude. Right at the beginning of this formulation we see that Mary is announced as the Mother of God however, we understand that an extremely important truth is also expressed in this Formula as well: The Fathers of the Council stated that, despite the weakness of the human mind, the believer “has in himself this very mystery that contains realities beyond man”, they accepted the impossibility of expressing “the mystery they declared unreachable” to explain with human words or reducing it to definitions and they continued to think about it in order to understand it not merely as a doctrine but rather as a reality to be experienced, and thus to find the most appropriate language to proclaim it in each new cultural context, in each new age.
Thus the formula of union accepted Theotokos in Mary, Mother of God, as it reads in the text approved by all the bishops “in that woman” “the Word of God took flesh and became man, and from the moment of conception the Word united this temple with Himself, which He assumed.”
The title Theotokos wasn’t actually new, it was a term familiar to the faithful community for a long time. However, in reality it’s not explicitly stated in Scripture, although it is implied in many passages of both the Old and New Testaments.
Among them I would like to focus on the event of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, which is described in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, because it is precisely in this event, as Luke narrates, that Mary’s divine motherhood is indirectly implied –but not so indirectly- and accepted. This event is very well known but let us look at the text again.
After Mary received the Angel’s announcement that God would grant David the Kingdom and therefore become the Mother of the Son of the Most High who would reign forever, she wanted to understand better how this astonishing announcement could be possible. Many expressions of Messianic prophecies appeared in this declaration. We know how the Angel answered her question. At first he explains to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the one who is to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.” But then he continues talking to her, as if to help her trust in the “power of the Most High” that will make her the Mother of Christ, and brings her yet more extraordinary news. Here he says to her, “Your relative Elizabeth in her old age is also pregnant with a son and is in her sixth month, although she was called barren.” Finally, to further confirm, he adds,“There is nothing impossible for God.”
This is a confirmation, but also as we read in Genesis 18:14, it is an answer to the question that the Lord asked Abraham, when he saw the doubtful smile of Sarah when she heard the promise that she would have a son, even though she was old and barren. “Why did Sarah laugh? Is there anything impossible for the Lord? This is a question that God continues to ask his people throughout human history, encouraging them to grow in faith in him, to trust in his Word that guarantees life and salvation even when it does not seem humanly possible. Let us consider a moment of Isaac’s, then his exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, and later during the exile God’s calling the prophets and giving them His Word which is always effective, comforting and fulfilling what He had said. Let us remember Isaiah 55:11: “As the rain and the snow comes down from heaven, and does not return to it without watering the earth and making it sproutand flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
The Word of God, through the Prophet Isaiah had said that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a son, whose name would be Immanuel meaning “God with us”.
And here is the Word spoken more than 700 years ago, which was fulfilled in Nazareth in the house of Mary. But now God is no longer asking her if she really believes or not as for Him no word is impossible. Mary has found grace in His eyes and assured her through the Angel: indeed what the Lord had revealed to her was no longer impossible, even if it were the most extraordinary Word to be given and it would be the Holy Spirit who would make it happen in her; and her will was necessary because our God doesn’t do anything without the cooperation of his people who He has created.
Mary answered and expressed her will when she heard the Angel’s annunciation to her. The word she pronounced “fiat”(YES) actually in the Gospel of Saint Luke in Greek text in a subjunctive mood. Thanks to this “FIAT” through the expression of her desire Mary becomes the Mother, thus ensuring the fulfilmentof God’s Word, God’s promise.
As the Gospel of Saint John states: “The Word became flesh.”
After describing the dialogue between the Angel Gabriel and Mary, Luke immediately begins to present to us another scene. It says, “In those days Mary hastily went into the hill country to a town in Judah.” The Angel had told her about Elizabeth and she went to see her as if to verify the news she had learnt and maybe to strengthen her faith about the things happening to her.
This event is often cited as a sign of Mary’s great humility and readiness to serve: Mary, the Mother of the Lord and also pregnant, made a difficult journey from Nazareth to Ein Karem in Judah in order to help her relative Elizabeth. This is a comment given by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan in the 4th century, but if we read Luke’s text carefully we can’t find anything about this. Instead, the older interpretive tradition paid more attention to the data of the sacred text and emphasized other aspects. Origen, one of the great third century Bible commentators, commented on this part as follows: “Mary had to visit Elizabeth, to see the miraculous fruit of her conception, and to believe in the words of the Angel.” This may have been the main reason for her journey. Origen continues, “By this act of faith she herself strengthened her faith in the child she was carrying. The journey from Galilee to Judea didn’t benefit Elizabeth: It helps Mary, because as Origen explains: “Elizabeth’s words exactly reinforces this faith.” Elizabeth considered Mary blessed because she believed! And Mary also needs to be accepted for her faith.
How important it is when our faith is appreciated! If faith is real, it will spread: a man who devotes himself to God and women are said to be under the light, because faith pervades the whole life, expresses itself in gestures and words, it is a dimension that creates a way of existence that cannot remain hidden.
But Elizabeth offers Mary another gift. She not only confirms her faith that she has conceived like her but also confirms that her motherhood will be unique and extraordinary. While Elizabeth is greeting Mary she tells her: “Why did the Mother of my Lord come to me?” With these words Elizabeth did nothing but repeated what the Angel announced before. As a matter of fact, the Angel said to Mary: “You will be a mother…” and Elizabeth said to Mary: “Mother of my Lord”. With these words Elizabeth shows that she sees what Mary is experiencing in her life and Mary is expecting this recognition not from aheavenly being but from somebody like herself.
With this greeting, Elizabeth declared Mary as the Mother of God. In fact in the Greek Bible and in the New Testament the word “Kyrios” means “Lord” and it is a divine term referring to God. That’s why Paul said: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
Therefore, we can say that we find the first testimony of Mary’s divine motherhood in Elizabeth’s greeting: it was Elizabeth who announced her as Theotokos and did this by welcoming her into her home, because Mary, as we will see this afternoon, is a woman who wants to be welcomed into the homes, and into the hearts of the faithful. The words of the Gospel are always lively and effective, and they also appeal to us as we hear them here. Thus Elizabeth’s greeting of Mary, is becoming our greeting of Mary today: “Hail Mary, Mother of God”.
Prof. Francesca Cocchini
