www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Holy Spirit as Mary's spouse?

Dear friends,

Here is a question that has been puzzling me. I have read that many Latin theologians regard our Lady as the "Spouse of the Holy Spirit." For example, I know that St Louis do Monfort and St Maximilian Kolbe taught this.

Does Eastern theology also teach this? If you are familiar with this idea, would you please explain it to me?

in Christ,
Marshall

There is an excellent document on line which fully explains St. Maximilian Kolbe's understanding of Mary as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. The link is: http://www.transporter.com/fatherpeffley/files/Mary_HS.pdf
It is well worth the read.
Only blessings +
Silouan

Dear Marshall,

Yes, the East also regards the Mother of God as such.

St John of Kronstadt in his "My Life In Christ" frequently invokes the Mother of God as "Spouse of the Holy Spirit" or "Raduisia, Nevistyu Svyatago Ducha!"

Who was that poet who wrote:

What honour to that Woman be done,

Who had God for Father, Spouse and Son?

Alex

Dear Silouan,

Thanks.

Dear Alex,

That's very interesting. So if I was speaking to, say, and OCA priest and referred to the Spirit as "the spouse of Mary" he wouldn't object? Not knowing Catholic theology well enough, I wonder if even some traditional RC priests would object. Any more info would be helpful. Thanks.

in Christ,
Marshall

PS: Alex, how the heck do you know what all these saints said and taught. You must read like a maniac! I'm glad the Spirit cultivates members of Christ body like yourself.

Mary as the spouse of the Holy Spirit? Does this fit in with the movement to make Mary the fourth person of the Quadinity?

Dear Marshall,

As Cantor Joe rightly raised, these terms are not "exact" terms when applied to the Mother of God.

The Virgin Mary is the first Daughter of God the Father, first in holiness and honour owing to her exalted role in the salvation of each and every one of us. But we are all called to be sons and daughters of God in Christ by the Spirit - although, try as we might, we'll never be like Her!

She is also the Mother of God the Son Incarnate. Some in history have objected to the title "Mother of God" saying this elevates Mary to Divine status. John Calvin, for example, agreed with the theology behind this term, but believed it led to the making of the Virgin Mary into a "goddess" or fourth Person of the Trinity (!) so he didn't like using it.

In fact, that is entire nonsense. Our own parents had NOTHING to do with the creation of the souls of their children - that was and is God's domain.

Yet, they are OUR parents, not "parents of our human nature only."

The same goes for the term "Spouse of the Holy Spirit."

It is a relative term because it was by the Spirit that the Virgin Mary conceived God the Word Incarnate.

She was and is truly the "Unwedded Bride" of God, as the Akathist sings!

And it is through her that we are all called to a life in which Christ Himself comes to live in ourselves, in our hearts and grows to fruition throughout our lives lived in intimate union in Him by means of the Spirit.

We too are called to be "God-Bearers."

St John of Kronstadt frequently invoked the Virgin Mary in this way: "Rejoice, Daughter of God the Father, Mother of God the Son, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit!"

If you use these phrases to an Orthodox priest and if, perchance, he should raise his eyebrows, just tell him you are quoting the words of St John of Kronstadt.

But you could likewise be quoting the words of St Louis de Montfort as well . . .

Alex

Dear Joe,

I got a smile on my face from your reference to a "quadinity". It brought back memories when I was a pre-theologian studying at seminary. There was this HUGE fiberglass crucifix [and I use the term loosely!] which had the standard corpus of Christ being held up from the top by an very anthropomorphic God the Father - i.e. old man w/ long beard & papal tiara, and supported from below by the Virgin Mary. In the midst of all these figures was the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove (which was in reality quite defromed appearing to be some sort of goose or duck) holding a crown over Mary's head.

What a monstrosity! I suppose the artist had the best intentions, but man was that thing both ugly and theologically messed up! All of us seminarians commented about it to our instructors who were surprisingly of the "Vatican II" minimalist/iconoclast mindset. When asked why it was not removed and replaced with something more noble, the response was that it was a gift by a big donor - therefore it couldn't be touched! :rolleyes:

BTW the seminary was called Holy Trinity!

PAX

Dear Benedictine,

One thing I have noticed about "minimalists" is that they seem to think that Christ became Man without the medium of a Mother Who is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and the first Daughter of God the Father.

As with all religious art, what is "good" is what is well executed.

The theology behind the art you describe is what the Eastern traditions teach me.

If Vatican II teaches differently, and I don't know, then . . . I'll stick with the Eastern tradition.

One theologian wrote that the only real icon of the Holy Spirit is the icon of All Saints, headed by the Mother of God.

The Saints are His Temples and the way in which the Spirit makes Himself present in the world.

He did that to a "super-abundant degree" (there, are your Latin sensibilities satisfied? ) with the Most Holy Theotokos.

Alex

Alex,

I hope you did not misunderstand me, I am not saying that the Blessed Mother should not be pictured in art - quite the contrary we at our Abbey have a beautiful painting of the Immaculate One is the apse of our Church.
What I was getting at was the inclusion of Mary, in a decidedly Trinitarian depiction including figures representing the other 3 Persons. It would lead one to think there are "4" members of the Godhead.

Also, a Byzantine priest once told me that God the Father is never pictured in Eastern iconography as an old man because Jesus is the image of the Father. Instead some other device like the hand of God is used to denote His presence. Is this true? I do know that the famous icon of the Trinity uses angels to represent all 3 persons, but does the East picture God as an aged man? Same question for the Holy Spirit - other than the dove, what else is used to represent him?

PAX

PAX on your house, Benedictine!

O.K., I guess I did misunderstand you!

Forgive me a sinner . . .

It was the Russian Council of 100 Chapters ("Stoglav") that expressly forbade the depiction of God the Father as the "Ancient of Days" or of the Holy Spirit as a Dove. Only Christ may be depicted as He is the only Person of the Trinity that became Incarnate and visible to us.

Other Eastern traditions have been more or less tolerant of these depictions. The depiction of the Spirit as a Dove is much more widespread in the East than the depiction of the Father as the Ancient of Days.

In addition, as we have in one of our Churches, there is the special Dove that is suspended above the altar.

The only universal icons of the Trinity agreed upon by all Eastern Churches include the icons of: the Baptism in the river Jordan, Pentecost, Transfiguration and the Old Testament Trinity.

I have Eastern three bar Crosses that depict the Ancient of Days or else the Hand of God the Father with fingers gathered for an ecclesial blessing.

Alex

Dear Alex,

Great point, "Bride Unbrided" of the Akathist does seem to infer that she has a mysterious bridal union with God. Her unity to God is manifest in her soul but her body bears the beauty of virginity since she if fully "intact."

So is the Akathist saying that she is "brided" with respect to her soul to God, and "unbrided" with repsect to her virginal body?

St Maximilian Kolbe seems to teach that Mary has a unique union with the Holy Spirit because of her unique conception in St Anne and because of her unique conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

Since Mary was full of grace at her conception, she was thus full of the Holy Spirit in the most perfect way. Their union is complete. Kolbe even says that Mary is the "quasi-incarnation" of the Holy Spirit. Of course it is quasi because it does not involve two natures into one person (as with Jesus), but two persons into one relationship. He says that this union means that they always operate in sync. This is how Kolbe justifies Mary's title as "Mediatrix of all graces." The Spirit applies all graces and thus Mary is involved in each action.

I still don't know how I feel about this. Any comments from the Byzantine perspective?

in Christ,
Marshall

Dear Marshall,

Yes, most certainly, the invocation refers to the Mother of God as the Bride (or Spouse) of the Holy Spirit who was, at one and the same time, a Virgin before, during and after the Birth of Christ.

From the rich liturgical veneration of the Mother of God in the East, we see that there are other occasions on which the Mother of God is celebrated as being anointed by the Spirit.

She is overshadowed by the Spirit at her Annunciation, of course, and at Pentecost.

This special Spouse of the Spirit is in a very dynamic relationship to the Spirit of Truth, the Consoler, Who proceeds from the Father and rests on the Son!

The liturgical veneration of the Mother of God in the East leave no doubt but that she is the holiest person in heaven, above the angels themselves, and only God Himself is above her.

That same tradition sees her being in a special and continual relationship to the Body of Christ that is the Church, given her relationship to Her Son.

Christ came to us in His Humanity through her and we go to Him through her as well, being nourished on her intercession and care for our souls as we can expect from our Mother - another benefit of our adopted sonship in Christ.

As we see at the Wedding at Cana in Galilee, she intercedes on our behalf with her Son, Who does not refuse her - He even "reschedules" His plans to fulfill her prayer on our behalf!

And she never takes "no" for an answer. For her part, she tell us to do what her Son tells us, fulfill His Will - and truly great miracles will happen in our lives.

She is the Temple of the Holy Trinity - another title used by St John of Kronstadt.

And as our Mother, she forms us into the image of her Son making us into temples of the Holy Trinity as well.

As one poet once wrote, the Mother of God is "our tainted nature's solitary boast!"

She was actively involved both with her faith and her body in the Incarnation of the Word of God.

It is that same role that continues to inform her ongoing role as our spiritual Mother in our lives in Christ.

"Mediatrix of all Graces?" Not a title we would use. But it is ultimately and closely linked with her role as Mother of God and our Mother.

Most Holy Mother of God, save us!

Alex

Would someone PLLLLLLLEASE tell me how to properly open a .pdf file from the Internet?

When I click upon the file, it "opens" and then a drop down screen asks me what format I want to open it in.

And I don't have a CLUE!!!!

Help.

Please.

Thank you.

Brother Ed

Benedictine,

Flashback: Our seminary chapel was known as the chapel of Our Lady of the Frozen Tundra. There were beautiful stainglassed windows that had shutters that were occasionally shut. On the Marian feasts, they would shut only Mary's window and sing no Marian hymns. It was just as well. She would have been embarrassed to see what we ... err, they did to her son's liturgy!

Between that and "creative prayer" on Thursdays, I began to drift.

Riddle: Is Mary a human being?