August 2022

The doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary (meaning that Mary was a virgin before, during, and after she gave birth to Christ) is a dogma held by both the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches. Though the Orthodox Church agrees with the Catholic Church’s stance on Mary as ever virgin, it does not accept the Roman Catholic belief of the Immaculate Conception, which states that Mary was conceived without original sin. The Protestant Churches on the other hand not only reject the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, they also do not accept the belief that Mary remained a virgin after she gave birth to Jesus. However, the founder of the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther highly esteemed the Virgin Mary and fervently held onto the doctrine of Mary as Ever Virgin. It is also the stance of this author that Mary did indeed remain a virgin her entire life and this work will strive to support that belief and make a solid case for the Perpetual Virginity of Mary.

A Christian Apocryphal work dating to the mid-second century AD known as the Protoevangelium of James, or Infancy Gospel, or quite simply as the Gospel of James describes the events prior to and leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ. Though the Orthodox Church does not consider the entirety of this Gospel to be inspired, there are some elements of this work that may contain some accurate traditions regarding the life of the Virgin Mary that are not found in the four Canonical Gospels. For example, the Gospel of James states that Mary was dedicated to God from the age of three and remained in the temple until she began to be ritually unclean under the law of Moses and could no longer reside within the temple. Mary would now need a guardian to look after her outside of the temple because by this time her parents had already died and she had no siblings. Since Mary was a consecrated virgin she needed a situation where the guardian agreed not to touch her virginity. Because of this a selection was made by the priests as to who would look after Mary. As a result, Joseph who was an elderly widower with children of his own was chosen to be the suitable guardian to ensure that Mary would stay a virgin even though Joseph was legally married to her.

Apart from the Apocryphal Gospel of James, the four Canonical Gospels also reveal that Mary is ever virgin. First off, in Matthew 1:25 we read that Joseph, “…knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son.” At first glance this verse seems to say that Joseph knew not his wife during her pregnancy, but did have relations with her after Jesus was born. However, there are other scriptures that use the word “till” or “unto” to express something perpetual or eternal. For instance, in Matthew 28:20 Jesus tells His disciples that He will be with them always, “…even unto the end of the world.” Now we understand this scripture to mean that Jesus will always be with us, but the way in which it’s worded would seem that Jesus will be with us until the end of the world but not after that. It reads as if once the world ends Jesus will not be with us anymore, just as it is worded in Matthew 1:25 that Joseph knew not his wife till she gave birth to Christ, when in fact the Gospel writer is expressing something that goes beyond a certain amount of time or chronology and even extends unto eternity.

In addition to the scriptures of the New Testament which support the doctrine of Mary as Ever Virgin, there are passages in the Old Testament that also point to the perpetual virginity of Mary. For in Isaiah 7:14 it is written that a virgin will conceive and bear a son. Though this verse does not say a perpetual virgin, we can still tie Mary’s vow of virginity to what we read in the book of Numbers 30:3-6, where it speaks of women taking vows of virginity which last their entire life. Going further, we see in the book of Ezekiel a veiled prophecy concerning Mary’s ever virginity, where she is the typology of the eastern gate of the temple. For it is written that the gate looking towards the east shall be shut, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. The LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. (Ezekiel 44:1-3). This passage from the Old Testament (though symbolic) is clear that by what door the Lord enters, no man shall enter. And as we read in the Gospel of Luke 1:35 the Holy Ghost came upon the blessed virgin, and by the power of the most high conceived the Son of God. This means that God impregnated her, and if God impregnated her then she is the bride of God. So if Mary slept with Joseph after Jesus was born, Mary would have committed adultery against God Himself!

Continuing in Luke’s Gospel we see that Mary is not only the Bride of God, but also the Mother of God. For as soon as Mary knew that she would give birth to the Messiah, she went to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth to share with her these glide tidings. It was then that St. Elizabeth (while pregnant with John the Baptist) saluted the Blessed Virgin and said to her, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43). In these verses we see that St. Elizabeth refers to the Virgin Mary as the mother of the Lord, and since the Bible says that the Lord is God, then scripture backs up the dogma of the Church which holds that Mary is the Mother of God, for she gave birth to the Son of God. In addition to the English title of Mary as the Mother of God, there is also a Greek title for the Virgin Mary in which she is called the Theotokos, meaning God bearer, for she brought forth God in the flesh. Going further, Panagia is also another commonly used title for Mary in the Greek language which means, “The All Holy One.”

When examining the virgin birth of Christ the Church Fathers tell us that the birth of our Lord was a miraculous birth, which took place in a miraculous manner. The Fathers state that God passed through the Blessed Virgin’s womb the same way light passes through glass without harming it. So during the birth of Christ no physical harm was done to Mary’s virginity. Also, since the mother of Jesus Christ became pregnant by the Holy Spirit and not through carnal pleasure the Virgin Mary in turn suffered neither pain nor sorrow in child birth to the infant Jesus. This miracle of a mortal woman who carried within her the consuming fire that is God and not being harmed, is reminiscent of the story in the Old Testament of the bush that burned but was not consumed. We also see in the Old Testament that the ark of the covenant was the earthly throne of God in ancient times. In the New Testament Mary too was a type of the ark which contained the holy presence of the Lord God: making both the ark and Mary sacred vessels which where not to be touched.

Another aspect that points to Mary as ever virgin, are the family members listed in relation to the Blessed Virgin as found written in the Gospels. For in John’s Gospel 19:25 it says, “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” Here the Bible says that the Virgin Mary had a sister and this sister was also named Mary. But as we all know it is not heard of that a man and woman would give the same name to two of their children. So going down this road we must come to the conclusion that the two Marys at the cross were not the same daughters of the same parents. It is however the tradition of the Orthodox Church that Cleophas, whom the Bible lists as the husband of the other Mary, was none other than the brother of Joseph who was betrothed to the Virgin Mary.

Now the word used in the Gospels to assert that Jesus had brothers and sisters, is the Greek word “adelphos”, which being interpreted can mean a sibling, a step-sibling, or even a cousin and a distant relative. For example, the Bible tells us that a certain James was the brother of the Lord (Galatians 1:19), and Holy Tradition tells us that James the brother of the Lord was in fact the son of Cleophas, making Jesus and James first cousins. Since James and Jesus are cousins and not blood brothers, then this would make a strong case for the meaning of the word brethren in scripture to include relatives that are not of motherly relation. Also, in John 19:25-27 we see that Jesus made His disciple John to be the son of His mother Mary, and Mary the mother of John. The Bible says that from that hour John took the Virgin Mary into his own home. Now if the Blessed Virgin had other children besides Jesus then they would have taken care of their mother and would not have relinquished that responsibility over to someone else.

In conclusion it is seen throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments that there were some people, both men and women who remained virgins their entire life. The prophet Elijah was celibate his whole life as was John the Baptist and so was Jesus. Going further in 1 Corinthians 7:25-38 the Apostle Paul makes it clear that virginity is something very sacred and a desired vow in order to live out a lofty spiritual life. So if women who did not give birth to Christ remained virgins their whole life, then how could Mary as virtuous as she was ever let a man touch her, and how could any righteous man who knew that she gave birth to the Son of God even think of touching her after that? For as we see from the scriptures that some people have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake, and Jesus Himself encouraged His followers to do so if they could make room for this high calling. The Virgin Mary herself was so devoted to God that she was chosen to give birth to the Savior of the world and was set apart from the world and its lusts and has become greater than all the saints. For as the Blessed Virgin said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” (Luke 1:46-48).

References:

Holy Apostles Convent. The Life of the Virgin Mary, The Theotokos. (Buena Vista, CO: Holy Apostles Convent, 2000).

Strong, J. The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2010).

Zondervan. The Holy Bible, King James Version. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009).