The Mystery of the Virgin Mary (by Fr. Andrew)

The first Church Fathers in the 2nd century were already aware of the Virgin Mary as the reversal of Eve. Eve said no to God and, as Adam did later, she ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil in the Garden of Eden, which began man’s life of sin. By contrast, the Virgin Mary said yes to God, which began man’s life of salvation in Christ. Thus, the Theotokos is the New Eve & Christ is the New Adam, as St. Paul describes Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Among other considerations, the fact that the Virgin Mary gave birth to the Life of mankind, our Savior Jesus Christ, allowed the Church Fathers to wonder how sin did or did not affect her. The old Eve introduced sin, so it is sensible to ask if sin was somehow weakened in the New Eve. Firstly, all of the Church Fathers taught that by the time the archangel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus in her, the New Eve was freed from sin because Christ is sinless. So the Church Fathers wondered if or not God minimized sin to some extent in the New Eve or kept her free from sin or created her sinless from the time of her nativity in the womb and at birth. However, it was not acceptable to say that she was created sinless because she would not have been born with normal human nature and Christ would not be fully human; plus it could be said that she was equal to Jesus Christ, who is the only sinless one. Mankind can only be saved by the fully-human Sinless One; and the Virgin Mary needed to be saved from the results of sin. So she must have been capable of sinning, if or not she sinned. And if she did sin, was it minor or was it indirect or abstract, like a toddler lying about stealing a cookie? According to the Holy Church, God does not account it as a sin when a toddler lies or steals because a toddler does not yet grasp what sin is, nor is the conscience yet affected. Could the Virgin Mary have sinned in a way similar to a toddler’s actions? Or was she strong enough in God’s grace to preserve the Holy Spirit in her, so that she never chose to sin for all her life? It is possible that the Apostles never explained any of this because it cannot be explained in words. We know something apparently happened to weaken sin in the Virgin Mary, since she was pure enough for the Only Pure One, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, to enter her womb. No one else in history was so pure. And there is a clue in the birth of St. John the Baptist, who lived in his mother’s womb full of the Holy Spirit. If a baby in the womb has the Holy Spirit, it means that sin has been greatly curtailed and it means that it is highly unusual, like being in Christ’s presence. The Bible never says that anyone else in history lived in the womb full of the Holy Spirit, except by inference regarding the Virgin Mary, the New Eve. Since the Baptist gave birth to Christ’s ministry through baptism, the Theotokos gave birth to God the Word. So she must have also been full of the Holy Spirit in her mother’s womb. In her situation, it appears that sin was numbed in some way, so the Lord Jesus became man by her and destroyed sin and death. But it is good that the Church Fathers could not explain it. If they could have explained it, it would look like the Apostles or Church Fathers concocted perfect explanations for everything. Since the Holy Church does not dogmatize it, it means they were honest about man’s lack of knowledge regarding certain details of the Faith and that God is as mysterious as the Bible says He is. We cannot know how God judges sin and holiness. We only know that the Virgin Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit in her mother’s womb and that Mary was free from sin when she conceived Christ in her womb. Exactly how sin was minimized in her case is unknown.

(2nd century – St. Ireneus, a disciple of St. Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle John): “Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, “The handmaiden of the Lord; be it to me according to your word.” In contrast, Eve was disobedient. For she did not obey when she was still a virgin….Having become disobedient, she was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race. Correspondingly, Mary, who was also a virgin, by yielding obedience, became the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race….This demonstrates the corresponding reference from Mary back to Eve….So it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the Virgin Mary set free through faith.”

(2nd century – St. Justin Martyr): “He became man by the virgin in order that the disobedience which began with the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience & death. But the Virgin Mary received faith & joy when the angel Gabriel announced the good news to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her.”