CHAT: Theotokos (was: Ave Maria)

At 3:03 pm -0400 29/6/00, bjm10@CORNELL.EDU wrote:
>On Thu, 29 Jun 2000, Padraic Brown wrote:
>
>> God mother has connotations in English that "Mother of God"
>> doesn't: i.e., baptismal sponsor. Might make for a better
>> translation of Bogoroditsa / Theotokos.
>
>"Godmother" is most certainly NOT an appropriate translation for
>Theotokos.  She is not a mere "sponsor".
Agree 100% (and more :)

>In Orthodox Mariology she truly is
>the mother of Jesus, who is the Divine Logos made man.
And so also in Catholic Mariology.  The English standard translation is
"Mother of God".

I quote from the official English version of the post-Vatican II
"Cathechism of the Catholic Church":
"Called in the Gospels 'the mother of Jesus', Mary is acclaimed by
Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her
son, as 'mother of my Lord'.  In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by
the Holy Spirit, who truly became her son according to the flesh, was none
other than the Father's Eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly '_Mother of God_'
(_Theotokos_)."

Thus not only is the Greek title 'Theotokos' directly quoted, it is also
explicitly stated that this means: "Mother of God".

Ray.



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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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