Mary and the Incarnation: An Anglican Tradition

From Easter 2004:

O Queen of Heaven, be joyful, alleluia;
Because He whom so meetly thou barest, alleluia,
Hath arisen as He promised, alleluia:
Pray for us to the Father, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
For the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia.

In the Easter season, we should feel the most transformed, and should, with eager anticipation, renew our encounter with the ageless truth of Christ's ineffable conception, birth, death, and glorification in our human flesh. Jesus Christ is born, in order to die and rise again. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Incarnation has happened, in our world, in our space and time, for us, in our human nature. Emmanuel, God is with us.

Along with the typical festivities of our exultant holiday, we will spiritually note, even if barely in passing, the beauty and love portrayed so overwhelmingly in the gesture of a Mother who sojourns with her Son on the path that leads to crucifixion and resurrection. This union of Mother with Son is most vividly portrayed in the brilliant masterpiece which every professing Christian should see, the film entitled, The Passion of the Christ.

Many Christians, sadly, seem to acknowledge the occurrence of the event which wrought the beginning of our salvation and only once a year, on 25th December. Even more sadly, many devout Christians who rejoice in the Saviour's Nativity will again this year, as they have done for so many others, take a brief notice of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Christmas crèche, and then entirely forget her once the celebration is over. Far too many Christians, and yes, Anglicans, pull our Lord's Mother out of the closet and display her for the Christmas season, only to stuff her back quickly into the closet once those festivities have subsided.

There are many reasons for this, but perhaps fear or misunderstanding are the principal ones. Some worry that honouring the Mother of the Lord might detract from His glory, His praise and worship. Some fear that by giving honour and recognition to Mary we potentially obscure the centrality and uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Others ask why we do not pay more attention to the special place Mary holds in the Christmas story, in the Passion story, and in the economy of salvation achieved by her Son. Helpfully, the Holy Catholic Church of the ages supplies answers to these questions and concerns, and guides the faithful to a right and authentic way of reverencing the Mother of the Lord for her special vocation as the agent of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God. Anglicanism, as we shall see, has her share in handing-on this right and authentic way we call Tradition. How should we really see the Mother of Jesus Christ?

The Church Catholic

For example, the celebration of Christmas, the Mass of Christ, is the Feast of the Incarnation par excellence. The ancient Latin Church proclaimed Christmas to be magnum mysterium, the Great Mystery. And it is fitting, therefore, that as we insert ourselves by prayer, liturgy, and sacrament, into the solemn Mystery of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, we should ponder the unique role played by the Virgin of Nazareth in the accomplishment of our salvation at that holy season.

On the Feast of the Annunciation, 25th March, we recall that our Lady by her fiat brings the infinite into the finite and conveys flesh and blood to the Immortal Creator of all. The Virgin Mary becomes the Throne and Temple of God, Who dwells inside of her bodily. By a free act of her will, the Blessed Virgin chose to co-operate with God's plan for the human family and consented to become the human Mother of Him who is God.

'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.' (S. Luke 1.38). Not only does Mary's act of obedience, faith, and love serve as a primary example for all Christians today and in every age; it sparks the process whereby mankind is redeemed and saved. Thus, the early Church Fathers see in the conversation between the Holy Virgin and the Archangel Gabriel the reversal of the curse of Eve procured by the first mother's disobedience.

In the patristic tradition, which faithfully interprets Scripture, Mary is portrayed as the new and Second Eve, by whose obedience the disobedience of our first parents is rectified. 'Death by Eve, life by Mary' (S. Jerome). 'By disobeying, Eve became the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race. In the same way, Mary, though she also had a husband, was still a virgin, and by obeying, she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience. What Eve bound by her unbelief, Mary loosed by her faith' (S. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.22). The early Church also regards Mary as the Touchstone of Orthodoxy. A right understanding of Mary's role has always been held to protect, defend and secure a right understanding of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. For this reason the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (AD 431) proclaimed Mary to be Theotokos, or Mother of God. 'And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me' (S. Luke 1.43). The doctrine simply means that the Person to whom Mary gave both human nature and human birth is God, the One Divine Person of the Eternal Son. Jesus Christ is God; Mary is His Mother; therefore Mary is the Mother of God, or God-Bearer.

The Church of England and all the Churches of the Anglican Tradition officially commit themselves to this dogmatic truth because they accept the decrees of the undisputed Ecumenical Councils. So, although you may not hear the phrase used very often in your parish, Anglicans should and do call Mary the Mother of God. Otherwise, we would not accept the reality of the Incarnation.

The title regarding Mary's divine maternity ensures that Christians truthfully apprehend the identity of her divine Son. The term Theotokos is meant to glorify the Redeemer, and only by derivation His Mother. Certainly it does honour her, as it more profoundly honours Christ; it acknowledges what God has done through and in Mary by becoming Man for our salvation. This teaching, like all genuine devotion to the Lord's Mother, points directly and powerfully to Christ. 'Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it' (S. John 2.5). Mary herself would have it no other way.

The Anglican Divines

From the start of the English Reformation, the apostolic Church of England was keen to preserve the ancient Church's doctrinal position concerning our Lady while correcting abuses and errors which had crept in during the medieval period. The 1549 first English Book of Common Prayer enshrines the Church's universal reverence for our Lady in its commemoration of the Saints: 'And chiefly in the glorious and most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord and God.' The great hymn of our Lady, the Magnificat, is the heart of the BCP Evening Prayer office. The Prayer Book Christmas collect designates our Lady 'a pure Virgin' (BCP 96).

The course of Anglican theological writing from the seventeenth century forward reveres the greatness of the Lord's Mother and the singular dignity of her vocation. 'Her virgin-eyes saw God Incarnate born, When she to Bethlehem came that happy morn/ How high her raptures began to swell, None but her own omniscient Son can tell; Heaven with transcendent joys her entrance graced, Next to His throne her Son His Mother placed/ And here below, now she's of Heaven possessed, All generations are to call her blessed' (English Hymnal 217).
These words were penned by the saintly Bishop Thomas Ken (d. 1711), better known for our beloved doxology.

Consider the words of the famous priest-poet George Herbert: 'I would address/ My vows to thee most gladly, Blessed Maid/ And Mother of my God, in my distress' (To All Angels and Saints). That indefatigable poet William Wordsworth, an Anglican, calls Mary 'our tainted nature's solitary boast.' Bishop John Pearson (d. 1686) writes: 'We cannot bear too reverend a regard unto the Mother of the Lord, so long as we give her not that worship which is due unto the Lord Himself. Let us keep the language of the Primitive Church. Let her be honoured and esteemed, let Him be worshipped and adored' (Exposition of the Creed).

Today, the 1662 English Prayer Book maintains the Feasts of the Conception, Nativity, Annunciation and Purification of the Blessed Virgin; the 1928 American the last two. The Anglican liturgical tradition is steeped in a restrained and filial Marian piety. Love for the Lord's Mother is woven throughout the vast collection of hymns found in the Ecclesia Anglicana. 'Virgin-born, we bow before thee; Blessed was the womb that bore thee; Mary, Mother meek and mild, Blessed was she in her Child' (Bishop Reginald Heber, English Hymnal 640). Observe the lyrics of Sing of Mary, pure and lowly (Hymnal 117), written by a Continuing Church priest, Roland Palmer, SSJE. We need only sing the wonderful phrase of Ye watchers and ye holy ones to be reminded the pivotal role played by the Mother of God in the Anglican ethos: 'O higher than the cherubim, More glorious than the seraphim, Lead their praises, Alleluia! Thou bearer of the eternal Word, Most gracious, magnify the Lord, Alleluia! (Hymnal 599).

The Living Tradition Today

Theology, to find its genuine meaning, must be expressed in the worship and devotion of the Christian in the pew, for the Christian Faith is unintelligible apart from worship. Christianity is neither a philosophy nor an ethical system, but a living Communion of Divine Persons in the One Godhead with whom we share intimate communion. We should never forget that devotion to our Lord's Mother belongs to the earliest stage of Christian worship. It would be historically inaccurate to claim that the Church's honour of the Mother of Jesus belongs to a much later development; rather, it is an historical fact that the memory and prayers of Mary were solicited by Christians in liturgical prayer and private devotion well before the formulation of the Nicene Creed.

Devotion to the Mother of our Lord is an integral part of the Church's family tradition, a tradition which unites us to the Saviour Christ and thus to His Mother in a special relationship. Orthodox Christian instinct has always realised the closeness which exists for time and eternity between the God Incarnate and His human Mother; she who bore the Son of God in her body for nine months enjoys an intimacy and a communion with her Saviour which exceed all imagination. She who loved and loves her Son Who is God continues to be close to Him, and we who are by grace drawn to union with Jesus find ourselves therefore in a close spiritual bond with the one who was graced to be 'highly favoured' (S. Luke 1.28).

The unforgettable Christmas image is that of Mother and Child. We are invited to share in the love that that Mother and that Son share. All who belong to the Son are embraced by the Mother. Like Jesus, we are children of Mary too. 'Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy Mother' (S. John 19.26-27).

It is a serious danger to suppress or reject a balanced, sober and biblical devotion to our Lady, for where this has happened experience has clearly shown that our Lord has been allowed to fall into her position, and while being honoured and venerated as a good or even perfect man, He ceases to be adored as God. Devotion to Mary as the Lord's Mother safeguards the Deity of Jesus Christ. Where devotion to the Mother is cultivated, devotion to the divine Son flourishes; where honour for the Lord's Mother is neglected, supernatural faith in the Incarnate Lord wavers.

Or, as a couple of eminent theologians have succinctly put it, 'Honour Mary and let the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be worshipped' (S. Epiphanius, Panagion 79.7). 'Who will not honour the Mother? Who will not venerate the House of God' (S. Ambrose of Milan, Exhortation of Virgins 27). 'My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.' Our Lady now in heaven perpetually magnifies the Lord and rejoices in her Saviour as we with jubilant hearts honour Mary, the one chosen uniquely by God to become His own Mother in the Incarnation of the Word.

Devotion to the Virgin Mother can never properly be separated from devotion to her Son, for any veneration that it is offered to her is ultimately offered to Him, Who lovingly and gladly accepts the praise of the Mother He has so highly exalted. Being a masterpiece of God's grace, the Virgin Mary only desires to magnify the Lord. Any honour given to her redounds to the glory of the One who made her what she is. Certainly the Lord Jesus, who fulfilled the Law perfectly, continually keeps the commandment, 'honour thy father and thy mother.' He who honoured his Mother desires that we do the same, that we honour our parents... and His earthly Mother.

Hence, Christians have in every age and clime happily fulfilled the prophecy of the Theotokos: 'All generations shall call be blessed' (S. Luke 1.48). 'Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb' (S. Luke 1.42). In being blessed, Mary blesses the Lord. All true Marian devotion is Christocentric, Christ-centered.

In short, 'fear not Mary.' There is nothing to fear, but much to love and for which to be eternally thankful. The ancient orthodox Christian tradition does not neglect the role and person of the humble handmaid of the Lord; neither does it exaggerate claims concerning her beyond the realm of Scriptural teaching. Here, in yet another instance, the intuition of Anglicanism's via media takes over. Only that which can be proven by Scripture and authenticated by the catholic consensus of the undivided Church suffices when it comes to the honour deserved by and given to the Blessed Mother of our Lord.

The Anglican Church, in common with the rest of Catholic Christianity, has ever held to the following truths concerning the life of Jesus Christ. Take these truths and ponder them in your hearts in this season of joy, as Mary took the mystery of Christ and pondered Him in her heart (S. Luke 2.19). May these beautiful aspects of the Gospel give us a new appreciation for the awesome mystery initiated for our sakes in Bethlehem of Judea...and fulfilled at the Cross and empty Tomb of old Jerusalem.

1) Mary is the unique agent of the Incarnation, chosen by Jesus Christ Himself.
2) Mary freely obeyed and freely chose to accept her role as the Mother of God.
3) Mary represented the human race by her choice, becoming the Second Eve.
4) Mary gave her whole life and obedience to Jesus Christ and loved Him utterly.
5) Mary reversed the curse of Eve by giving God a human nature by which to save us.
6) Mary is Mother of Him who is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
7) Mary is the greatest member of the Church, and one with us in Emmanuel.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, our Risen Head and King, the true God born of Mary, bless and keep you during the celebration of His victorious triumph over sin, Satan, and death.