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Question:
Both the Roman Catholic and
Orthodox Churches hold the Mother of God in high esteem yet
conflict in regard to the "Immaculate Conception." Why is that?
I know this has a basis, in part,
with regard to the Roman dogma of "Papal Infallibility" which
the Orthodox do not subscribe to, since it was through a Dogma,
based on long tradition, that the Immaculate Conception was
defined in 1854.
Also, what is the Orthodox view
on the Dogma of the Assumption? |
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Answer:
Dr. Alexander Roman
alex@unicorne.org
Actually, the disagreement between the Roman
Catholic and Orthodox Churches over the Western dogma of the Immaculate
Conception has nothing to do with papal infallibility - and everything to
do with differing views on Original Sin.
The Orthodox Church never subscribed to the extreme Augustinian view of
"inherited guilt" with respect to Original Sin.
According to this view, we not only inherit the "effects" of Original Sin
on our nature e.g. death, concupiscence and so on, but also the guilt of
the personal sin of disobedience committed by Adam.
The Orthodox Church, following the Fathers of both East and West, affirms
that Original Sin is experienced by us in our weakened natures, in the
fact of death and the like - we cannot be held accountable, however, for
the sin committed by someone else.
If, therefore, the Mother of God physically died, and the tradition and
liturgical prayers both affirm that she experienced a blessed repose in
her dying, a "Dormition" or falling asleep, then the Mother of God
inherited the effects of Original Sin.
However, the Orthodox Church has always affirmed that the Mother of God
was sanctified by the Holy Spirit even at her Conception in the womb of
her mother, St Anne - and this is owing, of course, to her high calling as
the Mother of God the Word Incarnate, our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus
Christ.
So for the Orthodox Church, "Original Sin" doesn't mean an actual
inherited stain of sin. To say that the Mother of God was somehow exempt
from Original Sin, as does the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception would, for the Orthodox Church, be the same as saying she did
not die.
Does this mean that the Orthodox Church considers the Mother of God to be
less holy than the Roman Catholic Church?
Not at all!
Since only the feasts of Saints can be kept, the fact that the East has a
long, long tradition of honouring the Virgin Mary's Conception (December
22 Old Calendar) already demonstrates that the Orthodox Church glorifies
the Mother of God as All-Holy and Ever-Holy from the first moment of her
existence.
The Mother of God, as the liturgical texts sing, felt no pain in giving
birth to Christ and felt no pain in falling asleep upon her death. In
other words, the effects of Original Sin that we ourselves experience in
our lives were highly mitigated in the life of the Most Holy Mother of God
because of her great holiness and sanctification by the Spirit of God.
For the Orthodox Church, then, the Roman Catholic Marian doctrines are
completely unnecessary since the Ever-Virgin Mary's total holiness and
glorification in heaven in both body and soul have always been affirmed
and believed. In addition, the extreme Augustinian view of Original Sin is
outrightly rejected by the Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church, as you know, really outstrips the West in its
veneration of the Most Holy Mother of God in its frequent daily and annual
liturgical commemorations, its great celebrations of her feasts and in the
veneration to the thousands of miraculous Icons that are honoured
throughout the Orthodox Church.
In fact, when the seer of Lourdes, St Bernadette, saw the miraculous
Byzantine Icon of Our Lady of Cambrai, venerated in France, she said that
that Icon best represented the way in which the Mother of God appeared to
her in the grotto at Lourdes. She insisted that that icon be enshrined at
Lourdes, but a statue was enshrined instead. A copy of that icon can be
viewed on the Marian site of the University of Dayton.
Please see
summary of articles on the
Mother of God on this site.
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