Manges, Ernest Berkey

2018-05-22T12:44:35Z

2018-05-22T12:44:35Z

2000

This thesis is an examination of the relationship between the practice of ascetic virginity and the virginity of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Ante-Nicene Church beginning with Ignatius of Antioch through to Origen of Alexandria. The results of this study reveal that the two virginities have no contact in these documents and writers with the exception of two figures: Tertullian and Origen. A third witness, the Protevangelium ofJames, is sometimes considered to connect the virginity of Mary with asceticism. However, the Protevangelium is no such witness because it is not an ascetic document.

For the most part the Ante-Nicene Church did not consider the Virgin Mary to be an imitative example for virgins and other sexual ascetics. Without a doubt Mary later on is widely perceived as a model for those who have renounced the sexual life. Augustine presents Mary as such a model, and as early as 377, Ambrose exhorts, 'Let, then, the life of Mary be as it were virginity itself, set forth in a likeness, from which, as from a mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form of virtue is reflected. From this you may take your pattern of life.' (de virginibus 2.2.6).

In the course of this study a new tool is applied to the analysis of the witnesses selected. This is a more nuanced definition of asceticism. Renunciation has been considered the essential element by which to identify ascetic thought. Recent reexamination of the nature of asceticism now defines it less as a rejection of the world and more as a positive assertion of the hope of the transformation of the self. A leading voice in this new perspective is Peter Brown. More pertinent to this project is a specification by Richard Valantasis: 'asceticism may be defined as performances within a dominant social environment intended to inaugurate a new subjectivity, different social relations, and an alternative symbolic universe.' Asceticism can be analyzed in three aspects: performance, intention and novelty. All ascetic activity is a performance before the world, the church, God or oneself. Asceticism is intentional, directed towards the goal of self-transformation. Repudiation of the world is a means toward the goal of transformation, not the essence per se of asceticism. Asceticism is novel as it creates both a new individual and new groups. ('Constructions of Power in Asceticism', JAAR 63 (1995), 797-800).

This study has applied this newer perspective on asceticism to the examination of each of the following witnesses of the Ante-Nicene Church: Ignatius, Justin Martyr, the Protevangelium ofJames, Irenaeus, Melito, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Sibylline Oracles, the Odes ofSolomon, the Gospel of Philip and Origen. Each witness has been analyzed to discover what is affirmed in two areas: concerning Mary and her virginity and regarding the practice of asceticism, especially sexual renunciation, among the faithful.

The true physical birth of Jesus from a virginal mother is universally affirmed in these witnesses. Often the real birth is asserted in reply to docetism. The virginal conception is viewed by nearly all of these witnesses as a fulfillment of OT prophecy. Mary's inpartu virginity appears in several early apocryphal witnesses. Her postpartum virginity is discussed by only two writers: Tertullian, who denies it, and Origen, who affirms it. A parallel between Mary and Eve is developed by Justin and Irenaeus..

Nearly all of these documents and writers are aware of and approve ascetic practice. Application of the newer perspective on asceticism has helped to outline more of the ascetic thought of figures like Irenaeus, who otherwise have little to say about renunciation. Applying this newer approach to the Protevangelium ofJames reveals that Mary is exalted in this document as a individual who enjoys a state of heightened ritual purity but she is not an ascetic figure. The Syrian church, known for asceticism, is the probable source of two witnesses: the Odes ofSolomon and the Protevangelium. Both affirm the virginity in partu but neither employs the Virgin Mary as a model of virginity.

Tertullian is the first to present Mary as a model for virgins. As the mother who is 'at once virginal and monogamous' she is an example for both virgins and married women (mon. 8). Origen also sets out Mary as an example for physical virginity. But his real innovation is his use of Mary as an ascetic symbol for the spiritual ascent of the soul. The individual believer's soul is transformed as it ascends in maturity until it brings forth Christ in spirit, as Mary brought him forth in the flesh. Origen also parallels her physical virginity to a virginity (purity) of the soul. These readings are congruent with his entire approach of taking all historical events of the Bible as figures of a spiritual reality. With Origen we have moved away from earlier witnesses who confined their consideration of Mary to her role in the incarnation and a great deal closer to the emerging fourth century view of her as the paragon of virginity.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/30440

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2018 Block 19

Already catalogued

Asceticism and Mary: the function of Mary's virginity in the Early Fathers from Ignatius to Origen

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy