The Fathers of the Church never worked out a systematic theology of
Mary’s priesthood. But from their writings it is clear that for them Mary
possessed the highest priestly dignity any human being could possess. This was
implied for them by Mary’s close association to Jesus Christ, who was the
great High Priest and the sacrificial victim.
Although few Fathers directly applied the title ‘deacon’,
‘liturgical minister’ or ‘priest’ to Mary, they implied her
priesthood and her priestly functions in a thousand ways. We could summarise
their view by saying: ‘If anyone was a priest, after Christ and with
Christ, it was Mary!’ A study of the sample texts offered in this
selection will make the point.
| Title
given to Mary |
Meaning of the
title |
Fathers who use the
title |
| Mary is ‘of priestly descent’ |
According to Old
Testament law, only members of the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron could
be priests.
As bridge between Old and New, Mary’s descent from a
priestly family seemed significant to the Fathers. |
‘There is no doubt that the
Virgin Mary possessed not only royal, but also priestly blood’; ‘Mary
drew her family ties both from a royal [=Judah] and a priestly tribe
[=Levi]’: St. Augustine; also: St. Irenaeus; St. Hilary of Poitiers;
St. Ambrose; Epiphanius; Severus of Antioch, etc.
‘Mary, the Mother
of God, was of both royal and priestly descent’: John of Euboea.
‘Hail, o Queen, descended from kings, descended from
priests!’: John the Geometer.
‘All the glories of Mary
cannot be mentioned in one breath: I mean the fame of her race, the double
nobility of her parents, elevated equally in priestly and royal
dignity’: St. Andrew of Crete. |
| Mary is the ‘priestly staff’ |
According to Numbers
17,16-26, God affirmed Aaron’s priesthood by making his staff miraculously
sprout. |
‘Aaron’s
staff’: Pseudo-Athanasius; George of Nicomedia; Pseudo John of
Damascus; Theodore the Studite.
‘you, blossoming staff of
Aaron’: St. Tarasius of Constantinople.
‘levite
staff’: St. Andrew of Crete.
‘priestly staff’:
St. Andrew of Crete; George of Nicomedia.
‘priest’s staff
which has budded forth . . . . the guarantee of the eternal
priesthood’: Pseudo-Methodius. |
| Mary is the ‘altar of holocausts’ |
This altar stood in the priests’ court,
facing the sanctuary.
The main sacrifices were offered here by
priests. |
‘spiritual altar of the
divine victim, altar consecrated and dedicated to God’:
St. Germanus of Constantinople; St. Andrew
of Crete.
‘golden altar of holocausts’: Proclus.
‘living altar of the bread of life’: Pseudo-Methodius.
‘I call the Virgin both priest and altar’:
Epiphanius II |
| Mary is the ‘sanctuary’ |
The sanctuary [=Greek naos] was a small
building in the middle of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Only priests were
allowed to enter the sanctuary. |
‘the sanctuary, in which the
High Priest in the order of Melchisedech will dwell’: Basil of
Seleucia.
‘holy sanctuary’: St. Andrew of Crete.
‘living sanctuary’: Pseudo-Gregory Thaumaturgos; Modestus of
Jerusalem; John of Euboea; Gregory of Nicomedia; Epiphanius II.
‘sanctuary of all sacrificial worship’: St. Andrew of Crete.
|
| Mary is the ‘altar of incense’ |
This altar stood in the front part of the
sanctuary (in the ‘Holy Place’).
Twice a day priests offered an
incense offering here. |
Pseudo-Ephraem; Pseudo-John of
Damascus.
‘altar of parfums, entirely made of the purest gold. On
this altar the Word has enbalmed the world with heavenly scent by offering his
flesh as a holocaust’: Gregory of Nicomedia.
‘golden altar
of incense on which the Word, assuming his body, filled the world with scent,
and on which the hurts of disobedience have been burnt’: Gregory of
Nicomedia. |
| Mary is ‘the lamp-stand with seven
branches’ |
This
lamp-stand stood in the Holy Place of the
sanctuary. |
Pseudo-Proclus; St. Andrew of Crete;
St. Germanus of Constantinople; St. Tarasius of Constantinople; Leo the
Philosopher; Pseudo-Ephraim. |
| Mary is ‘the table with the loaves of
proposition’ |
This table stood in the Holy Place of the
sanctuary.
It held 12 sacred loaves of proposition.
Once a day priests
refreshed these loaves.
Only priests could eat of the sacred loaves. |
‘table that carries life,
that supplies not the loaves of proposition but the bread of heaven’:
St. John of Damascus.
‘this table of life on which lie the loaves
of proposition of human life . . . .’: Gregory of Nicomedia.
‘holy table’, ‘mystical table’, ‘the most holy
table which has carried by itself the living bread, Our Lord and God Jesus
Christ, eternal life made bread . . . . ’: St. Andrew of Crete.
‘Table through whom we who suffered hunger have been filled with
bread’, ‘o table, who carries the new and supernaturally cultivated
bread with which we, who died of hunger because of the season of sin, have been
fed’: St. Germanus of Constantinople.
‘table of the bread
of life’: St. Tarasius of Constantinople, St. Joseph the Hymnographer,
Pseudo-Ephraem, Epiphanius II. |
| Mary is the ‘Holy of Holies’ |
The innermost part of the sanctuary which was
entered only once a year by the High Priest to fulfil the rite of
reconciliation. |
Pseudo-Gregory Thaumaturgus, Andrew
of Crete.
‘Mary entered the Holy of Holies where only the High
Priest could enter’: St. Germanus of
Constantinople. Also: Gregory of Nicomedia; Jacob the Monk; Theophylact of
Bulgaria. |
| Mary is ‘the golden thurible’ |
The thurible with which
the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year |
Pseudo-Proclus; Theodore the
Studite. |
| Mary is ‘the ark of the covenant’ |
This box, which stood in
the Holy of Holies, originally contained the two tablets with the 10
commandments.
God was believed to be present on top of it, between the
wings of the cherubim that stood on both sides. |
‘spiritual ark’:
Modestus of Jerusalem.
‘The the ark prefigured the Virgin who gave
birth to God, the propitiation of the world, for in it lay the urn with the
manna that fed Israel’: Romanos Melodes.
‘She is the ark,
guilded inside and outside, sanctified in body and spirit, where were found the
thurible of gold and the urn with manna’: Pseudo-Proclus.
‘spiritual and divine ark of the New Covenant’: St. Germanus
of Constantinople.
‘See here the new ark of the glory of God in
which lies the golden urn that contained the manna that fed Israel’:
St. Andrew of Crete.
Also: Theodore Studites, St. Ambrose, Proclus of
Constantinople, etc. |
| Mary is ‘(the lid of) propitiation’ |
The cover of the ark of
the covenant was known as the propitiation, or the throne of mercy, because on
the day of atonement the High Priest sprinkles sacrificial blood on it to
mediate atonement. Lev 16,1-34. |
‘highly mystical (lid of)
propitiation of the priest who rules the world’: St. Germanus of
Constantinople; also St. Tarasius.
‘very holy and consecrated (lid
of) propitiation’: Leo the Philosopher.
‘the (lid of)
propitiation that expiates our sins through the mystical coming of
Jesus’: St. Andrew of Crete.
‘the very divine (lid of)
propitiation, based on God, through which has come propitiation for the whole
world’: Modestus of Jerusalem. |
| Mary is ‘deacon’ |
The diaconate belonged
to Holy Orders. During the time of the Fathers many
women were ordained deacons. |
‘You who have become deacon
of the great mystery, o totally immaculate!’: Joseph the
Hymnographer.
‘You alone have been revealed as the true deacon of
the great mystery, you who gave birth to God!’: Joseph the
Hymnographer. |
| Mary
is ‘liturgical minister’ (of the Incarnation) |
The word
‘liturgy’ indicates activity by members of the hierarchy, esp, in
worship. E.Peterson, Réserches de Sciences
Réligieuses 36 (1949) 577-578. |
‘o ministry greater than that
of High Priests!’: St. Tarasius.
‘No one else has been
chosen for the liturgy of this mystery except this little girl’:
George of Nicomedia.
‘Mary exercises the liturgy of the secrets of
God’: George of Nicomedia.
‘Mary was chosen by God for the
liturgy of this mystery’: Jacob the Monk. |
| Mary is ‘mediatrix’ |
Mediation for sinners is
one of the main priestly functions according to Hebrews 5,1; 8,6; 9,15;
12,24.
The Fathers often apply these texts to Christ's priesthood or the
ministry of other priests. |
‘Truly kind mediatrix of all
sinners’: St. Germanus of Constantinople.
‘Hail o
mediatrix of all people on earth!’; ‘mediatrix of salvation for the
world’: St. Tarasius.
‘Exercising your mediation you
reconcile us’; ‘Mary's birth is a great joy, for she will bring
mediation and reconciliation’: George of Nicomedia.
‘Mary
mediates between God and people’; ‘this instrument of reconciliation
[=Mary] is presented in the Temple. Be all reconciled to God today!’;
‘Christ has reconciled us to God, o Mary, through you’: St.
Andrew of Crete. |
| Mary is ‘priest’ |
Pseudo Epiphanius uses
the term ‘hiereus’, the ordinary Greek word for
‘priest’.
Theodore calls Mary ‘thuêpolos’
which means ‘sacrificial priest’. |
‘I call the Virgin both
priest and altar, she, the “table-bearer” [=liturgical minister] who
has given us the Christ, the heavenly bread for the forgiveness of sins.’
Epiphanius II
“Hail daughter, young
sacrificial priest,
whose purity is aimiable and whose vestments are
incredibly beautiful, in the eyes of him who says in the Canticles: ‘How
beautiful are your feet in your sandals,o daughter’ of Amminadab. (Cant
7,1)” Theodore Studites. |
