The Virgin Mary in the Ministry of Jesus and the Early Church according to the Earliest Life of the Virgin

Abstract

In 1986, Michel van Esbroeck published a remarkable new Life of the Virgin that not only is among the most profound and eloquent Mariological writings of early Byzantium but also presents a useful compendium of early apocryphal traditions about Mary. Some of the Life's episodes are already well known from their original sources, such as the Protevangelium of James and the early dormition apocrypha, but many other extrabiblical traditions appearing in this Life of the Virgin are not otherwise attested in early Christian literature. This is true especially of the section that overlaps with the gospels, where the Life expands the canonical narratives in ways unprecedented (to my knowledge) in Christian apocryphal literature. By writing Mary into the story at key points and augmenting several of her more minor appearances, the Life portrays Mary as a central figure in her son's ministry and also as a leader of the nascent church. The result is a veritable “Gospel of Mary” in the section of the Life that emphasizes Mary's essential contributions to her son's earthly mission and her leadership of the apostles in the early Christian community: the Life gives a brief account of the same events recorded in the canonical gospels, but with the Virgin Mary brought to the fore at nearly every instance. The origins of these traditions are not entirely clear, and while they may be the work of the Life's author, it is equally possible that they reflect now lost apocryphal traditions about Mary that once circulated in late antiquity. In any case, the attention that this earliest Life of the Virgin lavishes on the activities of Mary and other women as important leaders in the formation of Christianity is rather striking and quite exceptional among the literature of Christian late antiquity. In its emphasis on the roles played by these women it represents a surprising ancient predecessor to much of the recent work in New Testament scholarship to recover the importance of women in the early Christian movement.

Women on the Fault Lines of Faith: Pussy Riot and the Insider/Outsider Challenge to Post-Soviet Orthodoxy

“…The performance appealed to an ancient Orthodox image of the Mother of God as a leader of the post-Ascension Christian community, an image which persisted in prerevolutionary Russia and has resurfaced in post-Soviet Russia through the publication of the genre of Mary's hagiographic Life. In these accounts, she is depicted as the primary inspiration to the disciples, as well as an influential teacher and administrator in her own right (Maximus 2012;Shevzov 2012;Shoemaker 2005). Accordingly, as many liturgical prayers in the Orthodox Church have done, Punk Prayer appealed to Mary as a powerful historical force, which assumes that she has the independence, authority and means to intervene in history, especially political history (Shevzov 2004: 244-250;Shevzov Forthcoming, 'Cast in Marian Light').…”

Women on the Fault Lines of Faith: Pussy Riot and the Insider/Outsider Challenge to Post-Soviet Orthodoxy

“…In these accounts, she is depicted as the primary inspiration to the disciples, as well as an influential teacher and administrator in her own right (Maximus 2012;Shevzov 2012;Shoemaker 2005 Church have done, Punk Prayer appealed to Mary as a powerful historical force, which assumes that she has the independence, authority and means to intervene in history, especially political history (Shevzov 2004: 244-250;Shevzov Forthcoming, 'Cast in Marian Light'). This belief -based in large part on Russia's extensive culture of Marian miracle-working icons -is commonly praised and upheld by Orthodox clergy and laity in their celebration of such well-known images as the Kazan' and Vladimir icons of the Mother of God.…”