Ephrem (306-379)
“Mary and Eve, two people without guilt, two simple people, wereidentical. Later, however, one became the cause of our death, theother the cause of our life.”
“Thou and thy mother are the only ones who are totally beautiful in every respect; for in thee, O Lord, there is no spot, and in thy Mother no stain.”[1]
Romanos the Melodist (sixth century)
“Then the tribes of Israel heard that Anne had conceived the immaculate [female] (éteken Ánna tên áchranton). 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.[2]
Sophronius (560-638)
“Nobody is ‘blessed’ as you, nobody is ‘sanctified’ as you; nobody is ‘magnified’ as you, nobody is ‘prepurified’ as you; nobody is ‘beaming’ as you, nobody is ‘brilliant’ as you!”[3]
“The Holy Spirit comes down upon you, the stainless woman; It is going to make you more pure and It is going to provide for you a fructiferous power.”[4]
Third Council of Constantinople (680-681)
“We confess […] the Only-Begotten Son […] who descended from the heavens, i.e., who emptied himself in willful humility in the womb of the immaculate virgin and Theotokos Mary (after she was prepurified with respect to soul and body). He made his dwelling via the Holy Spirit and from her holy and blameless flesh.”[5]
John Damascene (675-749)
“O most blessed loins of Joachim from which came forth a spotless seed! O glorious womb of Anne in which a most holy offspring grew.”[6]
Photius (810-893)
“It was necessary that such a Mother be preordained for the Creator—a Mother that preserved from the very swaddling clothes her body pure, her soul pure, pure also the thoughts and not only the words.”[7]
Gregory Palamas (1296-1357)
“Since the little girl possesses the deiform grace above all men, it was necessary too that she enjoy greater things than the others and she dwell within the Holy of Holies, and that men be persuaded by such a happening to love so great marvels. All the while God was accompanying [her] with aid and had set [her] apart for Himself and there was at that place an ineffable food brought by means of an angel from on high, who was sent to the Virgin dwelling there, by means of which she better strengthened her constitution, and she was both preserved and fulfilled as far as her body, which was purer and higher than the bodiless creatures. For she was accustomed to the heavenly ministers of a spring; she was not once only in the habit of entering into the Holy of Holies, but used to dwell there familiarly.”[8]
Mark of Ephesus (1392-1444)
“Nevertheless, let one remove every rational account with respect to that which concerns the Theotokos, who alone is the most supernatural marvel among supernaturals realized from eternity, who is also higher than all rational discourse; for in a true way God wished His own omnipotence to be manifested in this woman.”[9]
[1] https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2016/05/church-fathers-mary-is-sinless.html
[3] Fr. Christiaan W. Kappes, The Immaculate Conception: Why Thomas Aquinas Denied, While John Duns Scotus, Gregory Palamas, & Mark Eugenicus Professed the Absolute Immaculate Existence of Mary (New Bedford: Academy of the Immaculate, 2014), 31.
[4] Ibid, 32.
[5] Ibid, 37-38.
[6] https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2016/05/church-fathers-mary-is-sinless.html
[7] Manoussakis, John Panteleimon. For the Unity of All: Contributions to the Theological Dialogue between East and West (p. 12). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
[8] Kappes, 78-79.
[9] Ibid, 128.
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