The Ascension of Isaiah (Written ca 70 A.D.)

“[T]he report concerning the child was noised abroad in Bethlehem. Some said, ‘The Virgin Mary has given birth before she was married two months.’ And many said, ‘She has not given birth; the midwife has not gone up to her, and we heard no cries of pain’” (Ascension of Isaiah 11 [A.D. 70]).

The Odes of Solomon (Written ca 80 A.D.)

“So the Virgin became a mother with great mercies. And she labored and bore the Son, but without pain, because it did not occur without purpose. And she did not seek a midwife, because he caused her to give life” (Odes of Solomon 19 [A.D. 80]).

The Protoevangelium of James (Written ca 144 A.D.)

“And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by, saying: Anna, Anna, the Lord hath heard thy prayer, and thou shalt conceive, and shall bring forth; and thy seed shall be spoken of in all the world. And Anna said: As the Lord my God liveth, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God; and it shall minister to Him in holy things all the days of its life. And, behold, two angels came, saying to her: Behold, Joachim thy husband is coming with his flocks. For an angel of the Lord went down to him, saying: Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God hath heard thy prayer Go down hence; for, behold, thy wife Anna shall conceive. And Joachim went down and called his shepherds, saying: Bring me hither ten she-lambs without spot or blemish, and they shall be for the Lord my God; and bring me twelve tender calves, and they shall be for the priests and the elders; and a hundred goats for all the people. And, behold, Joachim came with his flocks; and Anna stood by the gate, and saw Joachim coming, and she ran anti hung upon his neck, saying: Now I know that the Lord God hath blessed me exceedingly; for, behold the widow no longer a widow, and I the childless shall conceive. And Joachim rested the first day in his house. …And the child was three years old, and Joachim said: Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take each a lamp, and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart be captivated from the temple of the Lord. And they did so until they went up into the temple of the Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying: The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel. And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her.” –The Protoevangelium of James 4-7.  Translated by Alexander Walker. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 8. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.)

Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.)

“[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied ‘Be it done unto me according to your word’ [Luke 1:38]” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 100 [A.D. 155]).

Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 A.D.)

“Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, ‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient, and, when yet a virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband—for in paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children, and it was necessary that they first come to maturity before beginning to multiply—having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith” (Against Heresies 3:22:24 [A.D. 189]).

“The Lord then was manifestly coming to his own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation that is supported by himself. He was making a recapitulation of that disobedience that had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience that was upon a tree [i.e., the cross]. Furthermore, the original deception was to be done away with—the deception by which that virgin Eve (who was already espoused to a man) was unhappily misled. That this was to be overturned was happily announced through means of the truth by the angel to the Virgin Mary (who was also [espoused] to a man). . . . So if Eve disobeyed God, yet Mary was persuaded to be obedient to God. In this way, the Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so it is rescued by a virgin. Virginal disobedience has been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way, the sin of the first created man received amendment by the correction of the First-Begotten” (ibid., 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]).

Tertullian of Carthage (155-240 A.D.)

“It was while Eve was still a virgin that the word of the devil crept in to erect an edifice of death. Likewise through a virgin the Word of God was introduced to set up a structure of life. Thus what had been laid waste in ruin by this sex was by the same sex reestablished in salvation. Eve had believed the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel. That which the one destroyed by believing, the other, by believing, set straight” (The Flesh of Christ 17:4 [A.D. 210].

Hippolytus of Rome (170-235 A.D.)

“The Lord was made without sin, His human nature made of incorruptible wood, that is to say, of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit, overlaid within and without, as it were, by the purest gold. Tell me, O Blessed Mary, what it was that was borne by you in a virgin’s womb.” – Discourse on Psalm 23 (Written ca 200 A.D.)

“Thus, too, they (the prophets) preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, his advent by the spotless and God-bearing (theotokos) Mary in the way of birth and growth.” – Discourse on the End of the World 1 (217 A.D.)

Gregory Thaumaturgus (213-270 A.D.)

“Among all nations she alone was both virgin and mother and without knowledge of man, holy in body and soul. Among all nations, she alone was made worthy to bring forth God; alone she carried in her, Him who carries all by His word.” –Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary (Written 262 A.D.)

“Let us chant the melody that has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, ‘Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy sanctuary.’ For the Holy Virgin is in truth an ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary.” –Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary (Written 262 A.D.)

“The Holy Virgin herself is both an honorable Temple of God and a shrine made pure, a golden altar of burnt offerings, by reason of her surpassing purity, ‘She is the door which looks eastward’ (Ezekiel 44) and by the comings and goings forth, the whole earth is illuminated… She is the boast of virgins and the joy of mothers; the declaration of archangels, even as it was spoken: ‘Be thou glad and rejoice, the Lord is with thee!’” –Homily on the Annunciation (Written 262 A.D.)

“A bulwark of imperishable life hath the Holy Virgin become unto us… with His handmaid, her that is unspotted, the Lord of glory halloweth all.” –Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary (Written 262 A.D.)

“Holy and wise was the all blessed Virgin; in all ways peerless among nations and unrivaled among women. Not as the first virgin Eve, who being alone in the garden, was led astray by the serpent and so took his advice and brought death into the world and thus has been the suffering of all saints. But in her alone, this holy Virgin Mary, the Stem of Life hath shot up for us. For she alone was spotless in soul and body.” –Homily on the Annunciation (Written 262 A.D.)

“No more doth Eve fear the pangs of childbirth; for by the Holy Virgin her transgressions are blotted out and effaced; forasmuch as in her was God born, to the end that He might make alive him whom He made in His image.” –Homily on the Annunciation (Written 262 A.D.)

“When I remember the disobedience of Eve, I weep. But when I view the fruit of Mary, I am again renewed. Thou didst take on flesh from Mary Virgin in order that Thou mightest renew afresh Adam fashioned by Thy holy hand.” –Homily on the Annunciation (Written 262 A.D.)

“Where death came forth, there has life now prepared its entrance. By a woman came the flood of our ills, now by a woman, comes the spring of our blessings. Hail thou that hast sunk in your womb the death that came of our first mother Eve! Hail thou, bodily temple of God! Hail thou, the equal home of heaven and earth alike!” –Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary (Written 262 A.D.)

Pseudo-Melito (Written ca 300 A.D.)

“If therefore it might come to pass by the power of your grace, it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome death, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and take her with you, rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: ‘Be it done according to your will’” (The Passing of the Virgin 16:2–17 [A.D. 300]).

Ephraim the Syrian (306-373 A.D.)

“You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others, for there is no blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my children can compare in beauty to these?” (Nisibene Hymns 27:8 [A.D. 361]).

“Mary and Eve, two people without guilt, two simple people, were identical.
Later, however, one became the cause of our death, the other the cause of our life.” – Op. Syr. II: 37 (Written ca. 360 A.D.)

“Mary gave birth without having relations with a man, as in the beginning Eve was born from Adam without a carnal relationship. Eve brought to the world the murdering Cain; Mary brought forth the Lifegiver. One brougnt into the world him who spilled the blood of his brother, the other, him whose blood was poured out for the sake of his brothers. One brought into the world, him who fled, trembling because of the curse of the earth; the other brought forth him who, having taken the curse upon himself, nailed it to the Cross.” –Harmonization of the Gospels 2:2 (Written 350 A.D.)

“The Church gave us the living Bread, in place of the unleavened bread Egypt had given. Mary gave us refreshing bread, in place of the fatiguing bread that Eve had procured for us.”  –Hymns on the Unleavened Bread 6:6-7 (Written 350 A.D.)

Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373 A.D.)

“O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Ark of the Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides.” –Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin, ed. T. Lefort, in Le Muséon 71 (1958):216-17

“If I say that the angels and archangels are great but you are greater than them all, for the angels and archangels serve with trembling the One who dwells in your womb, and they dare not speak in his presence, while you speak to him freely.” –Homily of the Papyrus of Turin, ed. T. Lefort, in Le Muséon 71 (1958):216-17

Gaius Marius Victorinus (300-355 A.D.)

“That He might re-create that Adam by means of the week, and bring aid to His entire creation, was accomplished by the nativity of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.. that on the same day on which the dragon seduced Eve, the angel Gabriel brought the glad tidings to the Virgin Mary; that on the same day the Holy Spirit overflowed the Virgin Mary, on which He made light; that on that day He was incarnate in flesh..” –On the Creation of the World (Written 350 d. D.)

Gregory of Nazianzus (330-389 A.D.)

“Believe in the Son of God, the Word before the ages, who was begotten of the Father apart from time and incorporeally, who in the last days was, for your sake, made Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary in an indescribable and stainless way -for there is no stain where God is and whence salvation comes- whole Man and at the same time God also…” –Oration on Holy Baptism 40:45 (Written 380 A.D.)

“He was conceived by the Virgin, who had first been purified by the Spirit in soul and body; for, as it was fitting that childbearing should receive its share of honor, so it was necessary that virginity should receive even greater honor.” –Sermon 38:13 (Written 381 A.D.)

“They are not few in number who say that the God-man was born from a Virgin’s womb, which the Spirit of God formed, constructing a pure temple to house the Temple.  For the Mother is the Temple of Christ, while Christ is the Temple of the Word.” –Poems About Others 7:180-94. (Written in 380 A.D.)

Gregory of Nyssa (335-395 A.D.)

“It seems to me that, already, the great Moses knew about this mystery by means of the light in which God appeared to him when he saw the bush burning without being consumed (Ex 3:1). . . What was prefigured at that time in the flame of the bush was openly manifested in the mystery of the Virgin. . . As on the mountain the bush burned but was not consumed, so the Virgin gave birth to the light and was not consumed. Nor should you consider the comparison to the bush to be unfit, for it prefigures the God-bearing body of the Virgin.” –On the Birth of Christ 46

Ambrose of Milan (340-397 A.D.)

“Mary’s life should be for you a pictorial image of virginity. Her life is like a mirror reflecting the face of chastity and the form of virtue. Therein you may find a model for your own life . . . showing what to improve, what to imitate, what to hold fast to” (The Virgins 2:2:6 [A.D. 377]).

“The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater [to teach by example] than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chaste than she who bore a body without contact with another body? For why should I speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind, who stained the sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble in heart, grave in speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading, resting her hope not on uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intent on work, modest in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as the judge of her thoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before her elders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, to love virtue. When did she pain her parents even by a look? When did she disagree with her neighbors? When did she despise the lowly? When did she avoid the needy?” (ibid., 2:2:7).

“Come, then, and search out your sheep, not through your servants or hired men, but do it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh, which is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a virgin not only undefiled, but a virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin” (Commentary on Psalm 118:22–30 [A.D. 387]).

Rufinus of Aquileia (344-411 A.D.)

“He is born by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin. Here a chaste ear and a pure mind is required. For you must understand that now a temple has been built within the secret recesses of a Virgin’s womb for Him of Whom erewhile you learned that He was born ineffably of the Father. And just as in the sanctification of the Holy Ghost no thought of imperfection is to be admitted, so in the Virgin-birth no defilement is to be imagined. For this birth was a new birth given to this world, and rightly new. For He Who is the only Son in heaven is by consequence the only Son on earth, and was uniquely born, born as no other ever was or can be.” -Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed 9 (Written ca 407-409).

Jerome of Stridon (342-420 A.D.)

“Take as your example blessed Mary, whose purity was so great that she merited to be the Mother of the Lord. When the angel Gabriel came down to her, in the form of a man, and said: Hail, you that are highly favored; the Lord is with you, (Luke 1:28).”
–Epistle 22 to Eustochium 38 (Written in 384 A.D.)

Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.)

“That one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spirit only but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is our Savior himself—of whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children of the bridegroom—but plainly she is the mother of us who are his members, because by love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of that head, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the Mother of that very head” (Holy Virginity 6:6 [A.D. 401]).

“Having excepted the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on account of the honor of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when treating of sins—for how do we know what abundance of grace for the total overcoming of sin was conferred upon her, who merited to conceive and bear him in whom there was no sin?—so, I say, with the exception of the Virgin, if we could have gathered together all those holy men and women, when they were living here, and had asked them whether they were without sin, what do we suppose would have been their answer?” (Nature and Grace 36:42 [A.D. 415]).

John Cassian (360-435 A.D.)

“‘For the Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.’ Admirably did the angel speak, and explain the majesty of the Divine work by the Divine character of his words. For the Holy Ghost sanctified the Virgin’s womb, and breathed into it by the power of His Divinity, and thus imparted and communicated Himself to human nature; and made His own what was before foreign to Him, taking it to Himself by His own power and majesty. And lest the weakness of human nature should not be able to bear the entrance of Divinity the power of the Most High strengthened the ever to be honored Virgin, so that it supported her bodily weakness by embracing it with overshadowing protection.” -On the Incarnation of Christ Book II: Chapter 2 (Written in 429 A.D.)

Timothy of Jerusalem (Written ca 400 A.D.)

“Therefore the Virgin is immortal to this day, seeing that he who had dwelt in her transported her to the regions of her assumption” (Homily on Simeon and Anna [A.D. 400]).

John the Theologian (ca. 400 A.D.)

“[T]he Lord said to his Mother, ‘Let your heart rejoice and be glad, for every favor and every gift has been given to you from my Father in heaven and from me and from the Holy Spirit’” (The Falling Asleep of Mary [A.D. 400]).

“And from that time forth all knew that the spotless and precious body had been transferred to paradise” (ibid.).

Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 A.D.)

“Hail, Mary Theotókos, Virgin- Mother, lightbearer, uncorrupt vessel. Hail, O Virgin Mary, mother and handmaid; virgin, for the sake of him who was born virginally from you; mother, for the sake of him whom you carried in your arms and nursed with your milk; handmaid, for the sake of him who took the form of a servant. For the king entered into your city; or rather, your womb, and he came forth from it, butyour gate remained shut. For you conceived without seed and gave birth divinely. Hail, Mary, you are the most precious creature in the whole world; hail, Mary, uncorrupt dove; hail, Mary, inextinguishable lamp; for from you was born the Sun of justice.” –Homily 11; PG 77 (Written ca 430 A.D.)

Vincent of Lerins (Died 445 A.D.)

“From this unity of Person it follows, by reason of a like mystery, that, since the flesh of the Word was born of an undefiled mother, God the Word Himself is most Catholicly believed, most impiously denied, to have been born of the Virgin; which being the case, God forbid that any one should seek to defraud Holy Mary of her prerogative of divine grace and her special glory. For by the singular gift of Him who is our Lord and God, and withal, her own son, she is to be confessed most truly and most blessedly — The mother of God Theotokos.” –Commontorium 15:9

Theodotus of Ancyra (Died ca. 446 A.D.)

“If iron, once joined to fire, immediately expels the impurities extraneous to its nature and swiftly acquires a likeness to the powerful flame that heats it, so that it becomes untouchable and capable of setting any material on fire, how much more, in a superior way, did the Virgin burn when the divine fire (the Holy Spirit) rushed in? She was purified from earthly impurities, and from whatever might be against her nature, and was restored to her original beauty, so as to become inaccessible, untouchable, and irreconcilable to carnal things.” –Homily 4:6

“A person who has had water poured upon his head is made wet in every part of his body, from head to toe; just so, we believe that the divine Virgin Mother was also entirely anointed with the holiness of the Holy Spirit, who descended upon her. And so, in this way, she received the living God, the Word, into her virginal and fragrant bridal chamber.” –Homily 4:6

“Consider that the Virgin, by means of her body, brings to light the Word, not of course conferring by this birth the principle of divinity (God forbid!), but so that he might make himself known to men, as God-made-man. Therefore God, the Word, made a birth proper to himself; he chose the Virgin as his Mother and came forth from a womb adorned with virginity.“ –Homily 2:8

“Innocent virgin, spotless, without defect, untouched, unstained, holy in body and in soul, like a lily-flower sprung among thorns, unschooled in the wickedness of Eve, unclouded by womanly vanity. Even before the Nativity, she was consecrated to the Creator. Holy apprentice, guest in the Temple, disciple of the law, anointed by the Holy Spirit, clothed with divine grace as with a cloak, divinely wise in your mind; united to God in your heart. Praiseworthy in your speech, even more praiseworthy in your action. Good in the eyes of men, better in the sight of God.” -Homily 6:11

Proclus of Constantinople (Died 446 A.D.)

“O Virgin, unmarried maid, mother without the corruption of birth, where did you get the wool from which you prepared the garment that today clothed the Master of the world? Where did you find the uterine loom on which you wove the seamless garment?” –Homily 4:2

Caelius Sedulius (Died ca. 450 A.D.)

“The synagogue withdrew, eclipsed by his face. Christ unites himself to the Church in fairest love. This illuminates the conspicuous greatness of Mary, who, while always conserving the glorious name of Mother, remains a Virgin ever. The Lord showed himself to her eyes first, when he revealed himself openly in the light, so that the good Mother, who was once the way of his arrival, by spreading the news of the great miracles, became the sign of his return as well.” – Carmen Paschale 5: 357-364

“Because of one man, all his descendants perished; And all are saved because of one man. Because of one woman, the deadly door opened; And life returned, because of one woman.” -Elegia 5-8

“We are the blind offspring of the children of pitiful Eve, bringing with us the shadows born of an age-old error. But when God deigned to assume the mortal form of a human nature, then came forth from the Virgin a world of salvation.” –Carmen Paschale 4:265-269

“As the tender rose springs up among prickly thorns but does not offend in any way, since its beauty obscures its thorny branches. So holy Mary, the new virgin descending from the branch of Eve, Makes pure the old virgin’s offense. Just so the old nature languished, corrupted under the sentence of death. Once Christ was born, man could be born anew and cast off his old nature’s stain.” –Carmen Paschale 2:28-34

Peter Chrysologus (380-450 A.D.)

He who is not awestruck by this Virgin’s spirit and who does not admire her soul is ignorant of how great God is. Heaven trembles, angels quake, creation cannot bear it, nature is helpless–yet a girl carries God in her womb; she receives him into herself and offers him a dwelling place. ‘” –Sermon 140:6

“The woman, who had received the leaven of perfidy from the devil, received the leaven of faith from God. He hid it in three measures of four, that is to say, in three periods of human history; namely, from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Moses, and from Moses to Christ. Thus the woman, who in Adam ruined the entire mass of the human race with the leaven of death, restored the entire mass of our flesh in Christ with the leaven of the Resurrection. Then the woman, who had baked the bread of suffering and sweat, baked the bread of life and salvation.” –Sermon 99:5 (Written 432 A.D.)

“Through Christ, she became the true Mother of all the living, who in Adam had become the mother of all the dead. Christ willed to be born in this way, so that, as death came to all through Eve, so life might return to all through Mary. For Mary corresponds to the typology of the leaven, she bears its likeness, she authenticates the figure, since she receives the leaven of the Word from above and receives his human flesh into her virginal womb, and, in her virginal womb, she transfuses the heavenly man into the entire mass [of dough].” –Sermon 99:5 (Written 432 A.D.)

““Mary and the other Mary came to see the tomb” (Mt 28:1). She who had taken perfidy away from paradise hurries to take faith from the tomb; she, who had snatched death from the hands of life, hastens to snatch life from the hands of death. “Mary came.” The name is that of the Mother of Christ; that is, the Mother came, the woman came, so that she who had become the mother of the dying might become now the Mother of the living, and so that what had been written might be fulfilled: “She was the Mother of all the living (Gen 3:20).” –Sermon 74:3

Maximus of Turin (380-465 A.D.)

“Therefore, He is Son of divinity; of divinity, I say, incorrupt, integral, complete. I plainly understand a mystery; for, therefore, the nativity is fruitful through the immaculate Mary, since, before, He was constituted complete through divinity: Whose first nativity stood glorious, His second will not be reproachful. That is, as, in some way, the virgin divinity gave Him forth, so also the virgin Mary generated Him.” –Sermon IV: On the Nativity of the Lord II.  Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, Tomus LVII (Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1862)

Pope Leo I “the Great” (400-461 A.D.)

“By the Spirit, Christ is born from the body of his unsullied Mother; by this same Spirit, the Christian is reborn from the womb of holy Church.” –Sermon 29:1

Jacob of Serugh (451-521 A.D.)

“The Mother Virgin and blessed, was even more beautiful than the Ark, full of mysteries of the house of God . . . while the Ark was being carried, David had danced for joy. . . He typified in figure the way of Mary with John the Baptist, for also that maiden was the Ark of the Godhead.” –Homily III on the Mother of God (ca 490 A.D.) (Comparing 2 Samuel 6:14-16 to Luke 1:41)

Fulgentius of Ruspe (467-527 A.D.)

“For God, not restraining His mercies in anger (8), was made Man to this end, that whatever He had created sound in man, this same creation God might make sound again, assuming it wholly into Himself. [12] This was certainly a wonderful Person, having the natures of God and of man, but truly conceived and born according to the flesh, inasmuch as the Virgin, in an indescribable manner, conceived and bore the God of heaven, and remained inviolate, Virgin and Mother,-she, of course, is truly designated by the angel ‘full of grace’ and ‘blessed among women’,  because she neither had nor desired any commerce of man but, while retaining a virginity both of mind and of body, she received from Him whom she was about to conceive and bear the gift of uncorrupted fruitfulness and of fruitful integrity.” –Letter Of Fulgence And Fourteen Other African Bishops Exiled In Sardinia, to Various Of Their Brethren 2240 [17, 11]

Romanos the Melodist (Died ca. 560 A.D.)

“Then the tribes of Israel heard that Anna had conceived the immaculate one. So everyone took part in the rejoicing. Joachim gave a banquet, and great was the merriment in the garden. He invited the priests and Levites to prayer; then he called Mary into the center of the crowd, that she might be magnified.” –On the Birth of Mary 4

“This mystery will be the object of contradicting ideas, so that doubt will arise in your mind. Yes, when you see your Son nailed to the Cross, Immaculate Virgin, and recall the words of the angel, his divine conception, and his ineffable miracles, at that moment you will doubt: for you, this hesitation will be a sword of pain. But later God will bring ready healing to your heart.” –On the Presentation I3

Gregory of Tours (538-594 A.D.)

“The course of this life having been completed by blessed Mary, when now she would be called from the world, all the apostles came together from their various regions to her house. And when they had heard that she was about to be taken from the world, they kept watch together with her. And behold, the Lord Jesus came with his angels, and, taking her soul, he gave it over to the angel Michael and withdrew. At daybreak, however, the apostles took up her body on a bier and placed it in a tomb, and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come. And behold, again the Lord stood by them; the holy body having been received, he commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise, where now, rejoined to the soul, [Mary’s body] rejoices with the Lord’s chosen ones and is in the enjoyment of the good of an eternity that will never end” (Eight Books of Miracles 1:4 [A.D. 584]).

“But Mary, the glorious Mother of Christ, who is believed to be a virgin both before and after she bore him, has, as we said above, been translated into paradise, amid the singing of the angelic choirs, whither the Lord preceded her” (ibid., 1:8).

Modestus of Jerusalem (Died 630 A.D.)

“When [Mary] had completed her life’s voyage happily. . . The one who gave the Law on Sinai, and who administered it from Sion, our God, summoned his ark of sanctification to be brought home from Sion to himself, just as David, her ancestor, had said of her in a psalm, “Go up, O Lord, to the place of your rest, you and your ark of sanctification” (Ps 131:8). She is not carried like Moses’ ark of old, drawn by oxen, but she is escorted and surrounded by an army, heaven’s holy angels. She is not an ark made by hands, not plated with gold, but is God’s spiritual handiwork, resplendent all over with the radiance of the holy and life-giving Spirit, who descended upon her. She does not contain the vessel of manna and the tablets of the covenant, but the Lord who provided both the manna and the eternal blessings promised in the Old and the New Covenants, and who was born as her child- he who freed from the curse of the Law those who have faith in him. She does not contain the rod of Aaron, nor is she crowned with glorious cherubim, but rather the incomparably more glorious rod of Jesse, revealed by the prophet and overshadowed by the almighty power of the Father on high (Is 11:1; Lk 1:35). She does not move before the Hebrew people, like that former ark, but follows the God who has appeared on earth in flesh furnished by her; she is called blessed by angels and by men and women, for the glory of the one who magnified her above all ranks of heaven and earth, as she cries out her holy words, ‘My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.’ (Lk 1:40).” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 4

“And perhaps they were amazed to consider how this mortal being had come to be mother of the maker of mortals- to wonder who she might be, and how great are the personal qualities of the one who nurtured God. She contained the uncontainable one, she bore the fire of divinity without being singed, she gave birth to the maker of all, she cradled in her arms him who carries the universe in his hand, she fondled him ‘who looks down on the earth and makes it to tremble’ (Ps 103:32 ILXX]), she fed him “who gives food to all flesh” (Ps 135:25 (LXX]). So they wondered how they might sing her praises, and exalt her journey from this earth to the God who is beyond the universe.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 8

“Since you abide in his presence with full freedom of access, pray to him for his Church, that it may be preserved forever in this reverent state of mind. Hail, venerable, immaculate Mother of God! The Lord God came from on high to dwell in your womb as his earthly homeland, without being limited and without leaving heaven behind; now he deems you worthy to come from this earthly, temporal homeland into a better land in heaven, a place also given- through your mediation- to the saints as their longed-for goal.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 10

Theoteknos of Livias (550-650 A.D.)

“For if he has blessed his saints with the whole kingdom of heaven, if he opened Paradise to a thief with a single word, how much more [would he have been eager to welcome] the one who made him a home in her womb—the one whom he had created, whom he had formed, from whom he became flesh, as [he willed]. His purpose was that the power of the Prince of Evil should be destroyed through her by whom he had deceived us, and that through her all women should find freedom from the curse that bound them.” –Encomium, Section 1

“She has found what Eve had lost; she has found what Adam was deprived of, because of his disobedience. She has entered, saying, ‘Breathe on my garden’ (Cant 4:10). God the Word has entered, has dwelt in her, and Paradise is opened.” –Encomium, Section 7

“For she is ark and vase and throne and heaven. She was judged worthy to be entrusted with ineffable mysteries; she was judged worthy to reveal things hidden and sealed in the Book of Daniel, and through her ‘all of us, with faces unveiled, will gaze on the glory of the Lord’ (2 Cor 3:18).” –Encomium, Section 7

Sophronius of Jerusalem (560-638 A.D.)

“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. What Joy could surpass this, O Virgin Mother? What grace can excel that which God has granted to you alone? What could be imagined more dazzling or more delightful? Before the miracle we witness in you, all else pales; all else in inferior when compared with the grace you have been given. All else, even what is most desirable, must take second place and enjoy a lesser importance.” –Oratio 2, in Sanctissimae Deparae Annuntiatione (Sermon on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God), in Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 87, cols. 1235–1250.

Maximus the Confessor (580-662 A.D.)

“Now by her grace let us speak about her Dormition and removal from the world to the eternal kingdom, for it is the joy and the light of pious souls to hear such a story. When Christ our God wanted to bring his all-holy and immaculate mother forth from the world and lead her into the kingdom of heaven so that she would receive the eternal crown of virtues and supernatural labors, and so that he could place her at his right hand beautifully adorned with golden tassels in many colors (cf. Ps 44.10, 14) and proclaim her queen…” –The Life of the Virgin: Maximus the Confessor, Chapter 8, translation by Stephen J. Shoemaker

John of Thessalonica (wrote ca 610-649 A.D.)

“And our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who bestowed glory on his immaculate Mother Mary Theotokos, will also bestow glory on those who glorify her. Those who call upon her, celebrating her memorial every year, he will save from every danger, and he will fill their households with good things, like the house of Onesiphorus (cf. 2 Tim 1:16; 4:19). … For he has shown her to be his cherubic throne on earth, an earthly heaven, the hope and refuge and confidence of our race, so that if we celebrate, with the sacred mysteries, the festival of her holy Dormition, we might find mercy and grace in the present age and in the age to come, by the grace and kindliness of our Lord Jesus Christ: to whom be glory and power, with his unbegotten Father and with the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and for the ages of ages. Amen.” –Homily on the Dormition of Our Lady, Mother of God & Ever-Virgin Mary, chap 14. ON THE DORMITION OF MARY: Early Patristic Homilies.  From the “Popular Patristics Series Volume 18”.  Brian E Daley S.J. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, NY

Germanus I of Constantinople (634-733 A.D.)

“Her body, being human, was adapted and conformed to the supreme life of immortality; however, it remained whole and glorious, gifted with perfect vitality and not subject to the sleep of death, precisely because it was not possible that the vessel that had contained God, the living Temple of the most holy Divinity of the Only-begotten, should be held by a tomb made for the dead.” -Homily I On the Dormition (Written 715 A.D.)

Andrew of Crete (650-740 A.D.)

“A place had to be prepared before the King’s arrival. The royal garments had to be woven before they could receive the royal Child at his birth. Finally, the clay had to be prepared before the Potter’s arrival.” –Homily 3 on Mary’s Nativity (Written ante 740 A.D.)

“O Virgin undefiled, undefiled is your birth.” –Canon on the Nativity of the Blessed Mother [Ode 5] (Written ante A. D. 740)

“Today, O Savior, you have given to pious Anne fruitful offspring of her womb, Your Immaculate Mother” –Canon on the Nativity of the Blessed Mother [Ode 4] (Written ante A. D. 740)

Theodore the Studite (759-826 A.D.)

“Therefore, I believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit—the holy and consubstantial and primal Trinity, [in whose name] I was baptized and regenerated and perfected. I confess God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit—the three are one with respect to divinity just as conversely the one is three with respect to individual persons. For the Trinity is one God according to substance although it is divided by the distinction of persons. I also confess that one of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, came into the flesh out of immeasurable charity, that is to say for
the salvation of our race, having assumed the flesh from the holy and blameless Mother of God.” –Testament: Concerning Faith 1

“Today, that ark of holiness, wrought with gold and divinely furnished, has been lifted up from her tabernacle on earth and is borne towards the Jerusalem above, to unending rest; and David, the ancestor of Christ, poet as he is, strikes up a song for us and cries, ‘Virgins’ -meaning souls- ‘will be led to the King’ -to you O God- ‘behind her (Ps 45:14).” -Encomium on the Dormition of’ Our Holy Lady, the Mother of God (Written 747 A.D.) Patrologia Graeca: The Greek Fathers of the Church Vol 99. Edited Jacques-Paul Migne. 1857–1866

“Now the Mother of God shuts her material eyes, and opens her spiritual eyes towards us like great shining stars that will never set, to watch over us and to intercede before the face of God for the world’s protection. Now those lips, moved by God’s grace to articulate sounds, grow silent, but she opens her [spiritual] mouth to intercede eternally for all of her race. Now she lowers those bodily hands that once bore God, only to raise them, in incorruptible form, in prayer to the Lord on behalf of all creation.” –Encomium on the Dormition of’ Our Holy Lady, the Mother of God (Written 747 A.D.) Patrologia Graeca: The Greek Fathers of the Church Vol 99. Edited Jacques-Paul Migne. 1857–1866

“See, now: the mother giving birth is also still an incorrupt virgin, because God was the cause of her conceiving! So in your life- giving sleep, since you are different from all the rest, you alone have rightly found incorruption for both [body and soul].” – Encomium on the Dormition of’ Our Holy Lady, the Mother of God (Written 747 A.D.) Patrologia Graeca: The Greek Fathers of the Church Vol 99. Edited Jacques-Paul Migne. 1857–1866

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