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101-832: Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: Theotokos ( Greek : Θεοτόκος ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus , used especially in Eastern Christianity . The usual Latin translations are Dei Genitrix or Deipara (approximately "parent (fem.) of God "). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer" – but these both have different literal equivalents in Ancient Greek : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ , and Θεοφόρος respectively. The title has been in use since

202-623: A stress accent system , and the monophthongization of several diphthongs: The Koine-period Greek in the table is taken from a reconstruction by Benjamin Kantor of New Testament Judeo-Palestinian Koine Greek. The realizations of most phonemes reflect general changes around the Greek-speaking world, including vowel isochrony and monophthongization, but certain sound values differ from other Koine varieties such as Attic, Egyptian and Anatolian. More general Koine phonological developments include

303-559: A Mother Letter, and every word uttered by Him Who is the Well Spring of Divine Revelation is a Mother Word, and His Tablet a Mother Tablet." There is difference of opinion between the academic and the popular conception of the term Mother goddess . The popular view is mainly driven by the Goddess movement and reads that primitive societies initially were matriarchal , worshipping a sovereign, nurturing, motherly earth goddess . This

404-517: A Western illuminated manuscript of the Madonna and Child comes from the Book of Kells of about 800 (there is a similar carved image on the lid of St Cuthbert's coffin of 698). The oldest Russian icons were imports from Byzantium, beginning in the 11th century. Russian icons Koine Greek Koine Greek included styles ranging from conservative literary forms to the spoken vernaculars of

505-408: A female-dominated one). That this form of society ever existed was supposedly supported by many figurines that were found. In academic circles, this prehistoric matriarchy is considered unlikely. Firstly, worshiping a mother goddess does not necessarily mean that women ruled society. In addition, the figurines can also portray ordinary women or goddesses, and it is unclear whether there really ever

606-450: A more open pronunciation than other Koine dialects, distinguished as open-mid /ɛ/ vs. close-mid /e/ , rather than as true-mid /e̞/ vs. close-mid /e̝/ as has been suggested for other varieties such as Egyptian. This is evidenced on the basis of Hebrew transcriptions of ε with pataḥ/qamets /a/ and not tsere/segol /e/ . Additionally, it is posited that α perhaps had a back vowel pronunciation as /ɑ/ , dragged backwards due to

707-755: A parallel in calling Mary "Our Mother" and the Almighty Yahweh as "Our Father". In contrast to the Pagan notion of a fertility goddess , Mary is both the Perpetual Virgin and the Mother of God at the same time, she is not considered the "Heavenly Mother" in reference to God the Father or the "Heavenly Father" as her consort . St Mary has never been referred to as a goddess in the Gospel 's accounts of

808-489: A part of the collective unconscious of all humans; various adherents of Jung, most notably Erich Neumann and Ernst Whitmont , have argued that such an archetype underpins many of its own mythologies and may even precede the image of the paternal "father." Such speculations help explain the universality of such mother goddess imagery around the world. The Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines have been sometimes explained as depictions of an Earth Goddess similar to Gaia. In

909-451: A unity of dignity and authority... nor do we name separately Christ the Word from God, and in similar fashion, separately, another Christ from the woman, but we know only one Christ, the Word from God the Father with his own flesh... But we do not say that the Word from God dwelt as in an ordinary human born of the holy virgin... we understand that, when he became flesh, not in the same way as he

1010-460: A very important source of information on the ancient Koine is the modern Greek language with all its dialects and its own Koine form, which have preserved some of the ancient language's oral linguistic details which the written tradition has lost. For example, Pontic and Cappadocian Greek preserved the ancient pronunciation of η as ε ( νύφε, συνέλικος, τίμεσον, πεγάδι for standard Modern Greek νύφη, συνήλικος, τίμησον, πηγάδι etc.), while

1111-606: Is Bogoroditsa (Russian/Serbian/Bulgarian Богородица ). The full title of Mary in Slavic Orthodox tradition is Прест҃а́ѧ влⷣчица на́ша бцⷣа и҆ прⷭ҇нод҃ва мр҃і́а (Russian Пресвятая Владычица наша Богородица и Приснодева Мария ), from Greek Ὑπεραγία δέσποινα ἡμῶν Θεοτόκος καὶ ἀειπάρθενος Μαρία "Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary". German has the translation Gottesgebärerin (lit. "bearer of God"). In Arabic , there are two main terms which are widely used at

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1212-706: Is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, but also from other dialects. The degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic world. In that respect, the varieties of Koine spoken in the Ionian colonies of Anatolia (e.g. Pontus , cf. Pontic Greek ) would have more intense Ionic characteristics than others and those of Laconia and Cyprus would preserve some Doric and Arcadocypriot characteristics, respectively. The literary Koine of

1313-499: Is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, and/or the life-giving bounties thereof in a maternal relation with humanity or other gods. When equated in this lattermost function with the earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as

1414-593: Is a medieval Polish hymn, possibly composed by Adalbert of Prague (d. 997). The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is a Roman Catholic feast day introduced in 1969, based on older traditions associating 1 January with the motherhood of Mary. One of the two earliest known depictions of the Virgin Mary is found in the Catacomb of Priscilla (3rd century) showing the adoration of the Magi. Recent conservation work at

1515-520: Is a term used for present tense verbs that are used in some narrative sections of the New Testament to describe events that are in the past with respect to the speaker. This is seen more in works attributed to Mark and John than Luke . It is used 151 times in the Gospel of Mark in passages where a reader might expect a past tense verb. Scholars have presented various explanations for this; in

1616-472: Is acknowledged as indispensable. For this reason, it is formally defined as official dogma . The only other Mariological teaching so defined is that of her virginity. Both of these teachings have a bearing on the identity of Jesus Christ. By contrast, certain other Marian beliefs which do not bear directly on the doctrine concerning the person of Jesus (for example, her sinlessness, the circumstances surrounding her conception and birth , her Presentation in

1717-766: Is also now recognized as yet another Roman matron with accompanying figure and not the Virgin Mary. Recently another third-century image of the Virgin Mary was identified at the eastern Syrian site of Dura Europos in the baptistry room of the earliest known Christian Church. The scene shows the Annunciation to the Virgin. The tradition of Marian veneration was greatly expanded only with the affirmation of her status as Theotokos in 431. The mosaics in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, dating from 432 to 40, just after

1818-620: Is derived from the Koine Greek term ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος ( hē koinḕ diálektos ), meaning "the common dialect". The Greek word κοινή ( koinḗ ) itself means "common". The word is pronounced / k ɔɪ ˈ n eɪ / , / ˈ k ɔɪ n eɪ / , or / k iː ˈ n iː / in US English and / ˈ k ɔɪ n iː / in UK English. The pronunciation of the word koine itself gradually changed from [koinéː] (close to

1919-584: Is evidently the Christotokos (bearer of Christ), it could be misleading to describe her as the "bearer of God". At issue is the interpretation of the Incarnation , and the nature of the hypostatic union of Christ's human and divine natures between Christ's conception and birth . Within the Orthodox doctrinal teaching on the economy of salvation, Mary's identity, role, and status as Theotokos

2020-458: Is found on Eastern icons, where it is used to identify Mary. The Russian term is Матерь Божия (also Богома́терь ). Variant forms are the compounds The theological dispute over the term concerned the term Θεός "God" vs. Χριστός " Christ ", and not τόκος ( genitrix , "bearer") vs. μήτηρ ( mater , "mother"), and the two terms have been used as synonyms throughout Christian tradition. Both terms are known to have existed alongside one another since

2121-458: Is highly unlikely that such a civilization ever existed. For a long time, feminist authors claimed that these peaceful, matriarchal agrarian societies were exterminated or subjugated by nomadic, patriarchal warrior tribes. An important contribution to this was that of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas . Her work in this field has been questioned. Among feminist archaeologists this vision is nowadays also considered highly controversial. Since

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2222-649: Is most often used in English , largely due to the lack of a satisfactory equivalent of the Greek τόκος. For the same reason, the title is often left untranslated, as "Theotokos", in Eastern liturgical usage of other languages. Theotokos is also used as the term for an Eastern icon , or type of icon, of the Mother with Child (typically called a Madonna in western tradition), as in "the Theotokos of Vladimir " both for

2323-420: Is often cited as the earliest author to use theotokos for Mary (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History 7.32 ( PG 67, 812 B) citing Origen's Commentary on Romans ), but the surviving texts do not contain it. It is also claimed that the term was used c. 250 by Dionysius of Alexandria , in an epistle to Paul of Samosata , but the epistle is a forgery of the 6th century. The oldest preserved extant hymn dedicated to

2424-664: Is often used in hymns to Mary in the Eastern Orthodox , Eastern Catholic and Oriental Orthodox churches. The most common is Axion Estin ( It is truly meet ), which is used in nearly every service. Other examples include Sub tuum praesidium , the Hail Mary in its Eastern form, and All creation rejoices , which replaces Axion Estin at the Divine Liturgy on the Sundays of Great Lent . Bogurodzica

2525-511: Is rendered in a reconstructed pronunciation representing a hypothetical conservative variety of mainland Greek Koiné in the early Roman period. The transcription shows raising of η to /eː/ , partial (pre-consonantal/word-final) raising of ῃ and ει to /iː/ , retention of pitch accent, and retention of word-initial /h/ (the rough breathing ). περὶ peri ὧν hoːn Θισ[β]εῖς tʰizbîːs λόγους lóɡuːs ἐποιήσαντο· epojéːsanto; Mother Goddess A mother goddess

2626-446: Is said to dwell among the saints do we distinguish the manner of the indwelling; but he was united by nature and not turned into flesh... There is, then, one Christ and Son and Lord, not with the sort of conjunction that a human being might have with God as in a unity of dignity or authority; for equality of honor does not unite natures. For Peter and John were equal to each other in honor, both of them being apostles and holy disciples, but

2727-425: Is said to have been begotten according to the flesh" (Cyril's second letter to Nestorius). Explaining his rejection of Nestorius' preferred title for Mary ( Christotokos ), Cyril wrote: Confessing the Word to be united with the flesh according to the hypostasis, we worship one Son and Lord, Jesus Christ. We do not divide him into parts and separate man and God as though they were united with each other [only] through

2828-560: Is sometimes called "Mother" because she bore stars and Sun god . Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine. In Kongo religion , the Sky Mother , Nzambici , was the female counterpart of the Sky Father and Solar god , Nzambi Mpungu . Originally, they were seen as one spirit with one half male and the other half female. After the introduction of Christianity to Central Africa ,

2929-834: Is sometimes used for the Greek written by the Greek Church Fathers , the Early Christian theologians in late antiquity. Christian writers in the earliest time tended to use a simple register of Koiné, relatively close to the spoken language of their time, following the model of the Bible. After the 4th century, when Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire , more learned registers of Koiné also came to be used. Koine period Greek differs from Classical Greek in many ways: grammar , word formation , vocabulary and phonology (sound system). During

3030-473: Is the divine ground of all being, the "world soul". This masculine potential is actualized by feminine dynamism, embodied in multitudinous goddesses who are ultimately all manifestations of the one great mother. Shakti, herself, can free the individual from demons of ego, ignorance, and desire that bind the soul in maya (illusion) . Practitioners of the Tantric tradition focus on Shakti to free themselves from

3131-562: Is well developed by the early medieval period . The tradition of Luke the Evangelist being the first to have painted Mary is established by the 8th century. An early icon of the Virgin as queen is in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, datable to 705-707 by the kneeling figure of Pope John VII , a notable promoter of the cult of the Virgin, to whom the infant Christ reaches his hand. The earliest surviving image in

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3232-787: The Annunciation , Wedding at Cana , or the Magnificat . Since the Apostolic age the church has believed that Mary entered heaven alive after her death and subsequent resurrection , known as the Assumption in the west and the Dormition in the east. As the foremost saint , some Christians believe she continues to supernaturally intervene in the world through Marian apparitions ( Our Lady of Velankanni ), Marian shrines ( Our Lady of Zeitoun ) and Marian devotions ( Our Lady of

3333-709: The Assyrian Church of the East Mar Dinkha IV signed an ecumenical declaration, mutually recognizing the legitimacy of the titles "Mother of God" and "Mother of Christ." The declaration reiterates the Christological formulations of the Council of Chalcedon as a theological expression of the faith shared by both Churches, at the same time respecting the preference of each Church in using these titles in their liturgical life and piety. Theotokos

3434-621: The Baháʼí Faith , Baha'u'llah uses the Mother as an attribute of God: "And when He Who is well-grounded in all knowledge, He Who is the Mother, the Soul, the Secret, and the Essence thereof, revealeth that which is the least contrary to their desire, they bitterly oppose Him and shamelessly deny Him.". Baha'u'llah further writes that "Every single letter proceeding out of the mouth of God is indeed

3535-577: The Church Fathers . In this context, Koine Greek is also known as "Biblical", "New Testament", "ecclesiastical", or "patristic" Greek. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his private thoughts in Koine Greek in a work that is now known as Meditations . Koine Greek continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church and in some Greek Catholic churches . The English-language name Koine

3636-591: The Classical Attic pronunciation [koi̯.nɛ̌ː] ) to [cyˈni] (close to the Modern Greek [ciˈni] ). In Modern Greek, the language is referred to as Ελληνιστική Κοινή , "Hellenistic Koiné", in the sense of "Hellenistic supraregional language "). Ancient scholars used the term koine in several different senses. Scholars such as Apollonius Dyscolus (second century AD) and Aelius Herodianus (second century AD) maintained

3737-594: The Formula of Concord (1577), accepted by the Lutheran World Federation . Whilst Calvin believed that Mary was theologically speaking rightly qualified as "the mother of God", he rejected common use of this as a title , saying, "I cannot think such language either right, or becoming, or suitable. ... To call the Virgin Mary the mother of God can only serve to confirm the ignorant in their superstitions." In 1994, Pope John Paul II and Patriarch of

3838-716: The Latter Day Saint denomination . Some believe in multiple Heavenly Mothers married to one Heavenly Father in a polygynous relationship. Zahng Gil-jah is a South Korean woman, by the World Mission Society Church of God believed to be “God the Mother” ( Korean :  어머니 하나님 ; RR :  Eomeoni Hananim ; Korean pronunciation: [ʌmʌɲi hanaɲim] ). Church members may also call her “ New Jerusalem Mother”, “Mother Jerusalem”, or “Heavenly Mother”. In Theosophy ,

3939-595: The Mother Earth or Earth Mother , deity in various animistic or pantheistic religions. The earth goddess is archetypally the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky Father or Father Heaven , particularly in theologies derived from the Proto-Indo-European sphere (i.e. from Dheghom and Dyeus ). In some polytheistic cultures, such as the Ancient Egyptian religion which narrates

4040-501: The Nestorian Schism . Cyril of Alexandria wrote, "I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave [Him] birth, not [ Theotokos ]?" (Epistle 1, to the monks of Egypt; PG 77:13B). But the argument of Nestorius was that divine and human natures of Christ were distinct, and while Mary

4141-528: The Stanford Figurines Project that examined the figurines of Çatalhöyük. This team came to different conclusions than Gimbutas and Mellaart. Only a few of the figurines were identified as female and these figurines were found not so much in sacred spaces, but seemed to have been discarded randomly, sometimes in garbage heaps. This rendered a cult of the mother goddess in this location as unlikely. In Egyptian mythology , sky goddess Nut

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4242-541: The Tsakonian language preserved the long α instead of η ( ἁμέρα, ἀστραπά, λίμνα, χοά etc.) and the other local characteristics of Doric Greek . Dialects from the southern part of the Greek-speaking regions ( Dodecanese , Cyprus , etc.), preserve the pronunciation of the double similar consonants ( ἄλ-λος, Ἑλ-λάδα, θάλασ-σα ), while others pronounce in many words υ as ου or preserve ancient double forms ( κρόμμυον – κρεμ-μυον, ράξ – ρώξ etc.). Linguistic phenomena like

4343-678: The cosmic egg myth, the sky is instead seen as the Heavenly Mother or Sky Mother as in Nut and Hathor , and the earth god is regarded as the male, paternal, and terrestrial partner, as in Osiris or Geb who hatched out of the maternal cosmic egg . Between 1961 and 1965 James Mellaart led a series of excavations at Çatalhöyük , north of the Taurus Mountains in a fertile agricultural region of South- Anatolia . Striking were

4444-407: The cosmos . The Shakti sect is strongly associated with Samkhya , and Tantra Hindu philosophies and ultimately, is monist . The primordial feminine creative-preservative-destructive energy, Shakti , is considered to be the motive force behind all action and existence in the phenomenal cosmos. The cosmos itself is purusha , the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality that

4545-780: The papyri , for being two kinds of texts which have authentic content and can be studied directly. Other significant sources are the Septuagint , the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible , and the Greek New Testament . The teaching of these texts was aimed at the most common people, and for that reason, they use the most popular language of the era. Other sources can be based on random findings such as inscriptions on vases written by popular painters, mistakes made by Atticists due to their imperfect knowledge of Attic Greek or even some surviving Greco-Latin glossaries of

4646-409: The 1960s, especially in popular culture , the alleged worship of the mother goddess and the social position that women in prehistoric societies supposedly assumed, were linked. This made the debate a political one. According to the goddess movement, the current male-dominated society should return to the egalitarian matriarchy of earlier times (though a matriarchy is not an egalitarian society, but

4747-814: The 3rd century, in the Syriac tradition (as Classical Syriac : ܝܠܕܬ ܐܠܗܐ , romanized:  Yāldath Alāhā/Yoldath Aloho ) in the Liturgy of Mari and Addai (3rd century) and the Liturgy of St James (4th century). The Council of Ephesus in AD 431 decreed that Mary is the Theotokos because Her Son Jesus is both God and man : one divine person from two natures (divine and human) intimately and hypostatically united . The title of Mother of God (Greek: Μήτηρ (τοῦ) Θεοῦ ) or Mother of Incarnate God , abbreviated ΜΡ ΘΥ (the first and last letter of main two words in Greek),

4848-473: The Catacombs of Priscilla revealed that what had been identified for decades as the earliest image of the Virgin and Child was actually a traditional funerary image of a Roman matron; the pointing figure with her, formerly identified as a prophet, was shown to have had its arm position adjusted and the star he was supposedly pointing to was painted in at a later date. The putative Annunciation scene at Priscilla

4949-582: The Collyridians as heretics, holding that Mary was only to be honoured, and not to be worshipped like the God-man of Christianity . In the Latter Day Saint movement , particularly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , many adherents believe in a Heavenly Mother as the wife of God the Father. They are collectively referred to as Heavenly Parents . The theology varies, however, according to

5050-692: The Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the Hellenistic period , most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, " ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων συνεστῶσα " (the composition of the Four). This view was supported in the early twentieth century by Paul Kretschmer in his book Die Entstehung der Koine (1901), while Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and Antoine Meillet , based on

5151-657: The Creatress of all life. She is associated with the full moon and stars, the Earth , and the sea. In Wicca , the Earth Goddess is sometimes called Gaia . The name of the mother goddess varies depending on the Wiccan tradition. English historian Ronald Hutton, however, has forcefully stated that any use of the term "Mother-Goddess" can be accounted for, and disregarded, as the scholars and mythographers' own projection of

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5252-428: The Earth goddess is called the " Planetary Logos of Earth ". The Mother Goddess, or Great Goddess , is a composite of various feminine deities from past and present world cultures, worshiped by modern Wicca and others broadly known as Neopagans. She is considered sometimes identified as a Triple Goddess , who takes the form of Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypes . She is described as Mother Earth, Mother Nature, or

5353-517: The Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, and disregard Protestant objections to Marian devotion . She is regarded as "Our Mother", the Blessed Mother , or the Holy Mother as she gave birth to Jesus Christ , since Christians alike refer to themselves as " Brothers and Sisters in Christ ". There is a Pater Noster but no equivalent Mater Nostra , however the Hail Mary and the Sub Tuum Praesidium have been popular forms of prayer and praise to Virgin Mary for many centuries. Some may perceive

5454-466: The Father — but only with reference to the birth of Jesus , that is, the Incarnation . To make it explicit, it is sometimes translated Mother of God Incarnate . (cf. the topic of Christology , and the titles of God the Son and Son of man ). The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 affirmed the Christian faith on "one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds (æons)", that "came down from heaven, and

5555-453: The Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is often mentioned as Common Attic . The first scholars who studied Koine, both in Alexandrian and Early Modern times, were classicists whose prototype had been the literary Attic Greek of the Classical period and frowned upon any other variety of Ancient Greek . Koine Greek was therefore considered a decayed form of Greek which was not worthy of attention. The reconsideration on

5656-440: The New Testament , W.F. Howard argues that the heavy use of the historical present in Herodotus and Thucydides , compared with the relatively infrequent usage by Polybius and Xenophon was evidence that heavy use of this verb tense is a feature of vernacular Koine, but other scholars have argued that the historical present can be a literary form to "denote semantic shifts to more prominent material." The term patristic Greek

5757-449: The Roman period, e.g.: Καλήμερον, ἦλθες; Bono die, venisti? Good day, you came? Ἐὰν θέλεις, ἐλθὲ μεθ' ἡμῶν. Si vis, veni mecum . If you want, come with us. Ποῦ; Ubi? Where? Πρὸς φίλον ἡμέτερον Λύκιον. Ad amicum nostrum Lucium. To our friend Lucius. Τί γὰρ ἔχει; Quid enim habet? Indeed, what does he have? What is it with him? Ἀρρωστεῖ. Aegrotat. He's sick. Finally,

5858-421: The Rosary ). According to Mariology and Scholasticism branches of study, though Mary is venerated as the foremost saint, she is still a creature and never viewed as an equal of the Triune God who is the Creator . In pre-Islamic Arabia , Collyridians were an unorthodox Christian denomination who reportedly worshipped Virgin Mary by making burnt offerings of dough to her. Ancient Christians viewed

5959-450: The Temple , her continuing virginity following the birth of Jesus, and her death ), which are taught and believed by the Orthodox Church (being expressed in the Church's liturgy and patristic writings), are not formally defined by the Church. The term was certainly in use by the 4th century. Athanasius of Alexandria in 330, Gregory the Theologian in 370, John Chrysostom in 400, and Augustine all used theotokos . Origen (d. 254)

6060-400: The Virgin Mary onto the evidence and source data. More recently Hutton was criticized in a review for ignoring the evidence of numerous goddesses identified as either mothers or both virgin and mother in pre-Christian antiquity, in addition to providing no evidence or secondary citations with which to substantiate his own position. Carl Gustav Jung suggested that the archetypal mother was

6161-442: The Virgin Mary, Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν (English: "Beneath thy Compassion," Latin: Sub tuum praesidium ,) has been continually prayed and sung for at least sixteen centuries, in the original Koine Greek vocative, as ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕ. The oldest record of this hymn is a papyrus found in Egypt, mostly dated to after 450, but according to a suggestion by de Villiers (2011) possibly older, dating to the mid-3rd century. The use of Theotokos

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6262-509: The above imply that those characteristics survived within Koine, which in turn had countless variations in the Greek-speaking world. Biblical Koine refers to the varieties of Koine Greek used in Bible translations into Greek and related texts. Its main sources are: There has been some debate to what degree Biblical Greek represents the mainstream of contemporary spoken Koine and to what extent it contains specifically Semitic substratum features. These could have been induced either through

6363-400: The council documents, Cyril explained his doctrine. He noted that "the holy fathers... have ventured to call the holy Virgin Theotokos , not as though the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of their existence from the holy Virgin, but because from her was born his holy body, rationally endowed with a soul, with which the Word was united according to the hypostasis , and

6464-499: The council, does not yet show her with a halo . The iconographic tradition of the Theotokos or Madonna (Our Lady) , showing the Virgin enthroned carrying the infant Christ, is established by the following century, as attested by a very small number of surviving icons, including one at Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai , and Salus Populi Romani , a 5th or 6th-century Byzantine icon preserved in Rome. This type of depiction, with subtly changing differences of emphasis, has remained

6565-399: The cycle of karma . The worship of the mother deity can be traced back to early Vedic culture. The Rigveda calls the divine female power Mahimata (R.V. 1.164.33) which means "great mother". Although no Mother Goddess exists in Christianity, both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church revere Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, a rendering of Theotokos and Deipara since

6666-401: The day-to-day vernacular . Others chose to refer to Koine as "the dialect of Alexandria " or "Alexandrian dialect" ( ἡ Ἀλεξανδρέων διάλεκτος ), or even the universal dialect of its time. Modern classicists have often used the former sense. Koine Greek arose as a common dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great . Under the leadership of Macedon , their newly formed common variety

6767-468: The description of Nzambi changed to Creator God and Nzambici to his wife, "God the essence, the god on earth, the great princess, the mother of all the animals, and the mystery of the Earth." In Hinduism , Saraswati , Lakshmi , Radha , Parvati , Durga and other goddesses represents both the feminine aspect and the shakti (power) of the supreme being known as the Brahman . The divine mother goddess, manifests herself in various forms, representing

6868-420: The early 20th century some scholars argued that the use of the historical present tense in Mark was due to the influence of Aramaic , but this theory fell out of favor in the 1960s. Another group of scholars believed the historical present tense was used to heighten the dramatic effect, and this interpretation was favored in the New American Bible translation. In Volume II of the 1929 edition of A Grammar of

6969-453: The early church, but it has been argued, even in modern times, that the term "Mother of God" is unduly suggestive of Godhead having its origin in Mary, imparting to Mary the role of a Mother Goddess . But this is an exact reiteration of the objection by Nestorius , resolved in the 5th century, to the effect that the term "Mother" expresses exactly the relation of Mary to the incarnate Son ascribed to Mary in Christian theology. Theologically,

7070-552: The general level, first one is: " Walidatu-liilahi" ( Arabic : وَالِدَةُ ٱلْإِلَـٰهِ , lit.   'Birther of God') and "Ùmmu-'llahi" or "Ùmmu-l'iilahi" ( Arabic : أُمُّ ٱللهِ or أُمُّ ٱلْإِلَـٰهِ, lit. 'Mother of God'). "Mother of God" is the literal translation of a distinct title in Greek, Μήτηρ τοῦ Θεοῦ (translit. Mētēr tou Theou ), a term which has an established usage of its own in traditional Orthodox and Catholic theological writing, hymnography, and iconography. In an abbreviated form, ΜΡ ΘΥ ( М҃Р Ѳ҃Ѵ ), it often

7171-407: The historical and linguistic importance of Koine Greek began only in the early 19th century, where renowned scholars conducted a series of studies on the evolution of Koine throughout the entire Hellenistic period and Roman Empire . The sources used on the studies of Koine have been numerous and of unequal reliability. The most significant ones are the inscriptions of the post-Classical periods and

7272-673: The holy virgin is Theotokos (for she bore in a fleshly manner the Word from God become flesh), let him be anathema. (Cyril's third letter to Nestorius) The Nestorian Church, known as the Church of the East within the Syrian tradition, rejected the decision of the Council of Ephesus and its confirmation at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. This was the church of the Sasanian Empire during

7373-588: The human who was Son of Mary, and the divine who was not. To them, this was unacceptable since by destroying the perfect union of the divine and human natures in Christ, it sabotaged the fullness of the Incarnation and, by extension, the salvation of humanity. The council accepted Cyril's reasoning, affirmed the title Theotokos for Mary, and anathematized Nestorius' view as heresy . (See Nestorianism ) In letters to Nestorius which were afterwards included among

7474-442: The hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh. The competing view, advocated by Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, was that Mary should be called Christotokos , meaning "Birth-giver of Christ," to restrict her role to the mother of Christ's humanity only and not his divine nature. Nestorius' opponents, led by Cyril of Alexandria , viewed this as dividing Jesus into two distinct persons,

7575-625: The imagination. There was also a large number of sexless figurines, which Mellaart regarded as typical for a society dominated by women: Emphasis on sex in art is invariably connected with male impulse and desire. The idea that there could have been a matriarchy and a cult of the mother goddess was supported by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas . This gave rise to a modern cult of the Mother Goddess with annual pilgrimages being organized at Çatalhöyük. Since 1993, excavations were resumed, now headed by Ian Hodder with Lynn Meskell as head of

7676-509: The initial stage in the fortition of the second element in the αυ/ευ diphthongs) and the loss of vowel-timing distinctions are carried through. On the other hand, Kantor argues for certain vowel qualities differing from the rest of the Koine in the Judean dialect. Although it is impossible to know the exact realizations of vowels, it is tentatively argued that the mid-vowels ε / αι and η had

7777-477: The intense Ionic elements of the Koine – σσ instead of ττ and ρσ instead of ρρ ( θάλασσα – θάλαττα , 'sea'; ἀρσενικός – ἀρρενικός , 'potent, virile') – considered Koine to be a simplified form of Ionic . The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist Georgios Hatzidakis , who showed that despite the "composition of the Four", the "stable nucleus" of Koine Greek

7878-508: The label of "Nestorian" continued to be applied even though it was technically no longer correct. Modern research suggests that also the Church of the East in China did not teach a doctrine of two distinct natures of Christ." Lutheran tradition retained the title of "Mother of God" (German Mutter Gottes , Gottesmutter ), a term already embraced by Martin Luther ; and officially confessed in

7979-549: The language. The passage into the next period, known as Medieval Greek , is sometimes dated from the foundation of Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 330 AD, but often only from the end of late antiquity . The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic and Roman eras of history until the start of the Middle Ages. The linguistic roots of

8080-406: The late 5th and early 6th centuries. The schism ended in 544, when patriarch Aba I ratified the decision of Chalcedon. After this, there was no longer technically any "Nestorian Church", i.e. a church following the doctrine of Nestorianism , although legends persisted that still further to the east such a church was still in existence (associated in particular with the figure of Prester John ), and

8181-711: The main of the Greek language. S. J. Thackeray, in A Grammar of the Old Testament in Greek According to the Septuagint (1909), wrote that only the five books of the Pentateuch , parts of the Book of Joshua and the Book of Isaiah may be considered "good Koine". One issue debated by scholars is whether and how much the translation of the Pentateuch influenced the rest of the Septuagint, including

8282-507: The mainstay of depictions of Mary to the present day. The roughly half-dozen varied icons of the Virgin and Child in Rome from the 6th to 8th centuries form the majority of the representations surviving from this period, as most early Byzantine icons were destroyed in the Byzantine Iconoclasm of the 8th and 9th century, notable exceptions being the 7th-century Blachernitissa and Agiosoritissa . The iconographic tradition

8383-460: The many statues found here, which Mellaart suggested represented a Great goddess, who headed the pantheon of an essentially matriarchal culture. A seated female figure, flanked by what Mellaart describes as lionesses , was found in a grain-bin; she may have intended to protect the harvest and grain. He considered the sites as shrines , with especially the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük capturing

8484-426: The notion of meeting and gathering of men, without any particular character. Therefore, etymologizing this word could be needless, or even misleading, when it could guide to false meanings, for example that ἐκκλησία is a name used for the people of God, Israel. The authors of the New Testament follow the Septuagint translations for over half their quotations from the Old Testament. The " historical present " tense

8585-457: The opening of ε . Influence of the Aramaic substrate could have also caused confusion between α and ο , providing further evidence for the back vowel realization. The following texts show differences from Attic Greek in all aspects – grammar, morphology, vocabulary and can be inferred to show differences in phonology. The following comments illustrate the phonological development within

8686-450: The original 12th-century icon and for icons that are copies or imitate its composition. Theotokos is an adjectival compound of two Greek words Θεός "God" and τόκος "childbirth, parturition; offspring". A close paraphrase would be "[she] whose offspring is God" or "[she] who gave birth to one who was God". The usual English translation is simply "Mother of God"; Latin uses Deipara or Dei Genitrix . The Church Slavonic translation

8787-399: The period generally designated as Koine Greek, a great deal of phonological change occurred. At the start of the period, the pronunciation was virtually identical to Ancient Greek phonology , whereas in the end, it had much more in common with Modern Greek phonology . The three most significant changes were the loss of vowel length distinction, the replacement of the pitch accent system by

8888-534: The period of Koine. The phonetic transcriptions are tentative and are intended to illustrate two different stages in the reconstructed development, an early conservative variety still relatively close to Classical Attic, and a somewhat later, more progressive variety approaching Modern Greek in some respects. The following excerpt, from a decree of the Roman Senate to the town of Thisbae in Boeotia in 170 BC,

8989-505: The practice of translating closely from Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic originals, or through the influence of the regional non-standard Greek spoken by originally Aramaic-speaking Hellenized Jews . Some of the features discussed in this context are the Septuagint's normative absence of the particles μέν and δέ , and the use of ἐγένετο to denote "it came to pass". Some features of Biblical Greek which are thought to have originally been non-standard elements eventually found their way into

9090-429: The spirantization of Γ , with palatal allophone before front-vowels and a plosive allophone after nasals, and β . φ, θ and χ still preserve their ancient aspirated plosive values, while the unaspirated stops π, τ, κ have perhaps begun to develop voiced allophones after nasals. Initial aspiration has also likely become an optional sound for many speakers of the popular variety. Monophthongization (including

9191-460: The term koine to refer to the Proto-Greek language , while others used it to refer to any vernacular form of Greek speech which differed somewhat from the literary language. When Koine Greek became a language of literature by the first century BC, some people distinguished two forms: written as the literary post-classical form (which should not be confused with Atticism ), and vernacular as

9292-426: The terms "Mother of God", "Mother of Incarnate God" (and its variants) should not be taken to imply that Mary is the source of the divine nature of Jesus, who Christians believe existed with the Father from all eternity. Within the Orthodox and Catholic tradition, Mother of God has not been understood, nor been intended to be understood, as referring to Mary as Mother of God from eternity — that is, as Mother of God

9393-622: The time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek , which then turned into Modern Greek . Literary Koine was the medium of much post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch and Polybius . Koine is also the language of the Septuagint (the 3rd century BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible ), the Christian New Testament , and of most early Christian theological writing by

9494-480: The translation of Isaiah. Another point that scholars have debated is the use of ἐκκλησία ekklēsía as a translation for the Hebrew קָהָל qāhāl . Old Testament scholar James Barr has been critical of etymological arguments that ekklēsía refers to "the community called by God to constitute his People". Kyriakoula Papademetriou explains: He maintains that ἐκκλησία is merely used for designating

9595-454: The two were not one. Nor do we understand the manner of conjunction to be one of juxtaposition, for this is insufficient in regard to natural union.... Rather we reject the term 'conjunction' as being inadequate to express the union... [T]he holy virgin gave birth in the flesh to God united with the flesh according to hypostasis, for that reason we call her Theotokos ... If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is, in truth, God, and therefore that

9696-453: The universal creative force . She becomes Mother Nature (Mula Prakriti), who gives birth to all life forms and nourishes them through her body. Ultimately she re-absorbs all life forms back into herself, or "devours" them to sustain herself as the power of death feeding on life to produce new life. She also gives rise to Maya (the illusory world) and to prakriti , the force that galvanizes the divine ground of existence into self-projection as

9797-438: Was a topic of theological dispute in the 4th and 5th centuries and was the subject of the decree of the Council of Ephesus of 431 to the effect that, in opposition to those who denied Mary the title Theotokos ("the one who gives birth to God") but called her Christotokos ("the one who gives birth to Christ"), Mary is Theotokos because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human. This decree created

9898-460: Was based upon the nineteenth-century ideas of unilineal evolution of Johann Jakob Bachofen . According to the academic view, however, both Bachofen and the modern Goddess theories are a projection of contemporary world views on ancient myths, rather than attempting to understand the mentalité of that time. Often this is accompanied by a desire for a lost civilization from a bygone era that would have been just, peaceful, and wise. However, it

9999-556: Was formally affirmed at the Third Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in 431. It proclaimed that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to

10100-567: Was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man". Since that time, the expression "Mother of God" referred to the Dyophysite doctrine of the hypostatic union , about the uniqueness with the twofold nature of Jesus Christ God, which is both human and divine (nature distincted, but not separable nor mixed). Since that time, Jesus was affirmed as true Man and true God from all eternity. The status of Mary as Theotokos

10201-628: Was spoken from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia . It replaced existing ancient Greek dialects with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand. Though elements of Koine Greek took shape in Classical Greece , the post-Classical period of Greek is defined as beginning with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, when cultures under Greek sway in turn began to influence

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