(Redirected from Christotokos)
'''Theotokos''' (,
translit. ''Theotókos'') is a
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''.
Etymology and translation
''Theotokos'' is a compound of two Greek words, Θεός ''
God'' and τόκος ''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''. However, the latter title is also the literal translation of a separate title in Greek, Μήτηρ Θεού (translit. ''Mētēr Theou''). ''Mother of God'' also accurately translates the Greek words Θεομήτωρ (translit. ''Theomētor''; also spelled Θεομήτηρ, translit. ''Theomētēr'') and Μητρόθεος (translit. ''Mētrotheos'') which are found in patristic and liturgical texts.
In many traditions, ''Theotokos'' was translated from the Greek into the local liturgical language. The most prominent of these are
Latin (''Deipara'' or ''Dei genetrix''),
Church Slavonic(Богородица translit. ''Bogoroditsa''),
Coptic ( translit. ''Ti.Theotokós''),
Arabic (والدة الله translit. ''Wālidat Allah''),
Georgian (ღვთისმშობელი translit. ''Ghvtismshobeli''),
Armenian: (Աստվածամայր translit.''Astvatzamayr'' or Աստվածածին translit.''Astvadzatzin''), and
Romanian (''Născătoare de Dumnezeu'' or ''Maica Domnului'').
Mother of God
The main use of the English term ''Mother of God'' has been, and still is, as an imprecise translation of ''Theotokos'' that frequently requires explanation.
[1] The other principal use of ''Mother of God'' has been as the precise and literal translation of Μήτηρ Θεού, a Greek term which has an established usage of its own in traditional Christian theological writing, hymnography, and iconography. In an abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ 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
eucharistic 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'' (...", 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, God's birth on earth in flesh; but 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 Μήτηρ Θεού or an imprecise rendering of Θεοτόκος or one its Latin equivalents or equivalents in other languages.
Theology
''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 or source, and thus without mother. This stands in contrast to classical
Greco-Roman religion in particular, where a number of divine female figures appear as mother of other divinities,
demi-gods, or heroes. For example,
Juno was revered as the mother of
Vulcan;
Aphrodite, the mother of
Aeneas.
On the other hand, 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 divine person of God the Son took on human nature in addition to his pre-existing divine nature, this being made possible through Mary's cooperation.
Since mainstream Christianity understands 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 in what it says about Mary.
Within the Orthodox doctrinal teaching on the
economy of salvation, Mary's identity, role, and status as ''Theotokos'' is acknowledged to be indispensable, and it is for that reason formally defined as official dogma. (The only other Mariological teaching so defined is that of her
perpetual virginity). Other Marian beliefs (for example, her sinlessness, the circumstances surrounding her
conception and
birth, her
Presentation in the Temple, and her
death) are expressed in the Church's liturgy but are not formally dogmatized, and belief in them is not a precondition of baptism. The Roman Catholic Church has formally defined as dogma various Marian or Mariological beliefs and teachings, for example, her sinlessness (1850), the
Immaculate Conception, and the
Assumption.
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 is not 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
anathematized 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's preferred title for Mary of ''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)
By the end of his life, Nestorius had agreed to the title ''Theotokos'', stating the apparent communication of the attributes (''idiomata'').
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.
Icons
Notes
1. For example [1], [2] and [3]
References
★
Cyril of Alexandria, ''On the Unity of Christ'',
John Anthony McGuckin, trans. ISBN 0-88141-133-7
★ McGuckin, John Anthony, ''St. Cyril of Alexandria: The Christological Controversy'' (1994, and reprinted 2004) ISBN 0-88141-259-7 A full description of the events of Third Ecumenical Council and the people and issues involved.
★ Saint
John of Shanghai and San Francisco,""The Orthodox Veneration of Mary, The Birth Giver of God"(2004, Sixth Printing, Third Edition). ISBN 0-938635-68-9
★
Ware, Bishop Kallistos, "The Orthodox Way" (1979, Revised Edition, 1995, and reprinted 1999). ISBN 0-913836-58-3
See also
★
Agni Parthene
★
Blessed Virgin Mary
★
Christology
★
Panagia
★
Dormition of the Theotokos
★
Anthropotokos
External links
★
Theotokos article on the
''Orthodox Wiki''
★
Resources on the Theotokos
★
Study of the Mother of the Lord the All-Holly Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary by St. Nectarios (in Greek)
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