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George S. Gabriel, Ph. D.
“The discourse that follows is a small offering toward a unified view of the mystery of Mary the Mother of God. Her mystery belongs to the seamless unity of the theology of the one Holy, Orthodox, Catholic and Apostolic Church, a theological integrity that is absent from heterodox churches, eastern and western, professing to honor the mother of Jesus Christ. There are denominations, for example, that believe the Son of the Virgin is, in some manner, the Savior and eternal Son of God, yet they reject her names ‘Mother of God’ and Theotokos. Others allow that her maternity imparted something less than full humanity to the Logos or Word of God. Ironically, certain papal dogmas exempt her from the consequences of papal theology itself. Most denominations, if not all, would reject her ontological role in the mystery of every theophany, i.e. appearance, of God before men, from the beginning and in all His operations in the cosmos. The single theme underlying this study is the indivisible oneness of the doctrine and veneration of the Mother of God with the single theology and biblical methodology of the Ancient Church and the holy Fathers.”
—“INTRODUCTION”
CONTENTS
DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
EZEKIEL’S PROPHECY OF THE EAST PORTAL
INTRODUCTION
I. THE MYSTERY OF MARY
The mystery hidden from the ages
A succession of chosen and hallowed generations
Mary’s free choice or predestination?
II. MOTHERHOOD TO GOD
The seedless and virginal conception
The second angelic annunciation: “Thy Son is risen.”
III. EVER-VIRGINITY
Ever-virginity and motherhood to God are one.
Joseph “knew her not till she brought forth...”
Jesus, Mary’s “firstborn son”
The “brethren” of Jesus
“This portal shall be shut, and no one shall enter by it.”
IV. “IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF CHILDBIRTH”
“The firstborn male that opens the womb...”
V. THE FINAL MYSTERY
The third angelic annunciation
“Your tomb heralds your translation to Heaven in the body.”
VI. THE PAPAL CHASM
The Immaculate Conception
The Assumption
Orthodox perspectives
VII. TWO SALVATIONS
Two views of divine justice
The wages of sin
Two different salvations, two different Virgins
VIII. THE INCARNATION: CAUSE OF ALL THINGS MADE, AND CAUSED BY NONE
“Rejoice, O fulfillment of the Creator’s economy.”
IX. “NOT BY WORDS ALONE”
Abraham’s tent prefigured the Virgin’s womb.
“He Who was not come as yet was present.”
The Father never appears to men.
If He was seen by the Prophets, Mary was His mother.
Mystical models of the future
X. MARY, THE TOUCHSTONE OF TRINITARIAN FAITH
Orthodoxy in collision with forbidden images
The Lord is depicted at times as white haired and at times as young.
“O Christ, we know no other God but Thee.”
The doctrine of prototypes
Mary, the guardian of the dogma of the Holy Trinity
Mary’s Son is the Father’s only Image.
XI. MARY THE MEDIATRESS
One mediation of the Mediator and the Mediatress
Power to do all that she wills
Mother and symbol of the Church
“The Virgin filled the apostate powers with fear.”
PLATES AND DESCRIPTIONS
APPENNDIX A:
Predestination in Western Theology
1666 Council of Moscow on Icons of the Holy Trinity
APPENNDIX B:
Homily on the Sunday of the Myrrh Bearers, 1351, by St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GENERAL INDEX
Item Number: BKZ192
Publication Data: Ridgewood, NJ: Zephyr, 2014
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: ii + 210
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.1 cm × 13.7 cm × 1.3 cm
Additional Information: black-and-white illustrations
ISBN: 978‒0‒9707303‒0‒5
$22.95 (USD)
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