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T h e F a t h e r s K n o w B e s t
Is Mary Really God’s Mother?
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This Rock
Volume 2, Number 5
 October 1991 
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Irenaeus
"The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God" (Against Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 180]).
Alexander of Alexandria
"We acknowledge the resurrection of the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the firstling; he bore a body not in appearance but in truth derived from Mary the Mother of God" (Encyclical Letter to All Non-Egyptian Bishops 12 [A.D.324]).
Ephraim
"Though still a virgin she carried a Child in her womb, and the handmaid and work of his wisdom became the Mother of God" (Songs of Praise 1:20 [A.D. 338-373]).
Athanasius
"The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly, and eternally is he that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God" (On the Incarnation of the Word of God 8 [A.D. 365]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"The Father bears witness from heaven to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. The Archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing the good tidings to Mary. The Virgin Mother of God bears witness (Cat-echetical Lectures 10:19 [A.D.350]).
Gregory of Nazianz
"If anyone does not agree that Holy Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead. If anyone asserts that Christ passed through the Virgin as through a channel and was not shaped in her both divinely and humanly, divinely because without man and humanly because in accord with the law of gestation, he is likewise godless" (Epistle to Cledonius the Priest 101 [A.D. 382]).
Epiphanius
"For this is the Holy Savior who came down from heaven, who deigned to fashion for our salvation in a virginal workshop . . . who did not change his nature when he took on humanity along with his divinity . . . who took on human flesh and soul. Being perfect at the side of the Father and incarnate among us, not in appearance but in truth, he reshaped man to perfection in himself from Mary the Mother of God through the Holy Spirit" (The Man Well-Anchored 75 [A.D. 374]).
Theodore of Mopsuestia
"When, therefore, they ask, `Is Mary mother of man or Mother of God?’ we answer, `Both!’ The one by the very nature of what was done and the other by relation. Mother of man because it was a man who was in the womb of Mary and who came forth from there, and the Mother of God because God was in the man who was born, not in him in a circumscribable way according to nature, but existing in him by intention of will" (On the Incarnation 15 [A.D. 390]).
Jerome
"Do not marvel at the novelty of the thing, if a Virgin gives birth to God" (Commentaries on Isaiah 3:7:15 [A.D. 408-410]).
John Cassian
"Now, you heretic, you say, whoever you are who deny that God was born of the Virgin, that Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be called Theotokos, that is, the Mother of God, but Christotokos, that is, the Mother only of Christ [the man] and not of God. For no one, you say, gives birth to one older than herself. And of this utterly stupid argument, wherein you suppose that the birth of God [at the Incarnation] can be understood by a carnal intellect and believe that the mystery of his majesty can be resolved by human reasoning, we will, if God permits, offer a refutation later on. In the meantime, however, let us prove by divine testimonies both that Christ is God and that Mary is the Mother of God" (On the Incarnation of Christ Against Nestorius 2:2 [A.D.429]).
Cyril of Alexandria
"I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the Holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the Holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God?" (Epistle to the Monks of Egypt 1 [A.D. 423-431]).
Cyril of Alexandria
"In accord with this understanding of the unconfused union [of Christ’s divine and human natures] we confess that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God" (Epistle to John, Bishop of Antioch 39 [A.D. 433]).
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