Mary is Sinless, Ever-Virgin and Queen of Heaven

A case against the Protestant slander of the Theotokos

Widespread Protestant opposition to ancient Mariology is perhaps the strongest testament to their 500 year old revolutionary movement being in a perpetual state of reform.

As evidenced by the high regard the Reformers held of Mary, the Protestant movement innovates new doctrines arguably even more aggressively than the Catholics they are protesting against. 

“The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart.”(Martin Luther, Sermon, September 1, 1522)

Luther himself even preached of Mary being exalted to the position of Spiritual Mother for all Christians, during a Christmas sermon in 1529.

“Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees . . . If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother.” (Sermon, Christmas, 1529)

Martin Luther also maintained the Church’s position on the Mother of God being an Ever-Virgin, criticizing those who falsely believed the brothers of Jesus were the biological sons of Mary:

“Christ . . . was the only Son of Mary, and the Virgin Mary bore no children besides Him . . . I am inclined to agree with those who declare that 'brothers' really mean 'cousins' here, for Holy Writ and the Jews always call cousins brothers.”¹

As did John Calvin:

“Helvidius displayed excessive ignorance in concluding that Mary must have had many sons, because Christ's 'brothers' are sometimes mentioned.”²

“Under the word 'brethren' the Hebrews include all cousins and other relations, whatever may be the degree of affinity.”³

And Huldreich Zwingli:

“I have never thought, still less taught, or declared publicly, anything concerning the subject of the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of our salvation, which could be considered dishonourable, impious, unworthy or evil . . . I believe with all my heart according to the word of holy gospel that this pure virgin bore for us the Son of God and that she remained, in the birth and after it, a pure and unsullied virgin, for eternity.”⁴

So how did the Protestants deviate so far from the Mariology of the Reformers, which bore more resemblance to that of the Roman Catholic Church? St. John Maximovich writes of the “new dogma” that emerged in the teaching of the immaculate conception found in Catholic Mariology which evolved into a gradual deification of the Mother of God. 

At first, this new dogma of immaculate conception was rejected by Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux. On December 8th, 1854, Pope Pius IX dogmatized the immaculate conception.

“This striving towards the deification of the Mother of God is to be observed primarily in the West, where at the same time, on the other hand, various sects of a Protestant character are having great success, together with the chief branches of Protestantism, Lutheranism and Calvinism, which in general deny the veneration of the Mother of God and the calling upon Her in prayer.”⁵

In the spirit of revolution, Protestant dogma also innovated in opposition to the distortion of the teachings of the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures and tradition of the True Church. It is   perhaps as much to the detriment of the Roman Catholic deification of Mary as it is to the Protestant denial of Mary’s sinlessness and ever-virginity, which ultimately leads to the Nestorian heresy.

The Orthodox Church, highly exalting the Mother of God in its hymns of praise, does not dare to ascribe to Her that which has not been communicated about Her by Sacred Scripture or Tradition. "Truth is foreign to all overstatements as well as to all understatements. It gives to everything a fitting measure and fitting place" (Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov).⁶

As a result, rejection of the Queenship of Mary has also become one of these commonly held doctrinal revolts in modern Protestant theology. The modern Protestant claim is that since it is not explicitly stated anywhere in Scriptures, it must be a Roman Catholic innovation.

One cannot proclaim Christ is King on one hand and reject the Queenship of Mary on the other. The precedence for Queenship in ancient Israel was that the king's mother became queen, not his wife. If Christ is the King from the Davidic lineage, the position of Queen must also be fulfilled. To say otherwise is to deny the true Kingship of Christ.

The queen mother is depicted in Jeremiah 13:18 wearing a crown, as a royal member of the court, in sharing the king's reign and as a trusted counselor.

Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves; Sit down, For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”

The cities of the South shall be shut up, And no one shall open them; Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it; It shall be wholly carried away captive.

Lift up your eyes and see Those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, Your beautiful sheep?
Jeremiah 13:18-20 - NKJV

Bathsheba became the Queen Mother to her son, King Solomon, as he took his throne. When she entered the royal chamber while King David was her husband, she bowed to the ground and honored him. After David's death, Bathsheba became the queen and was given royal treatment as she entered the court. King Solomon bowed to her, gave her a crown and a throne at the his right hand, in a position of authority.

A Messianic psalm on the veneration of the Theotokos as Queen:

Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.
Psalm 44:10 NKJV

Ancient Prayers of the Saints declaring Mary as Queen of Heaven

St. Athanasius (d. 373):

It is becoming for you, O Mary, to be mindful of us, as you stand near Him who bestowed upon you all graces, for you are the Mother of God and our Queen. Come to our aid for the sake of the King, the Lord God and Master Who was born of you. For this reason you are called “full of grace.”

Be mindful of us, most holy Virgin, and bestow on us gifts from the riches of your graces, O Virgin, full of grace.⁷

St. Ephrem the Syrian (306-373):

O Immaculate and wholly-pure Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Queen of the world, hope of those who are in despair: You are the joy of the saints; you are the peacemaker between sinners and God; you are the advocate of the abandoned, the secure haven of those who are on the sea of the world; you are the consolation of the world, the ransom of slaves, the comfortress of the afflicted....O great Queen, we take refuge in your protection.

After God, you are all my hope. We bear the name of your servants; allow not the enemy to drag us to hell. I salute you, O great mediatress of peace between men and God, Mother of Jesus our Lord, who is the love of all men and of God, to whom be honor and benediction with the Father and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.⁸

Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, pray for us sinners.

1. Luther's Works, eds. Jaroslav Pelikan (vols. 1-30) & Helmut T. Lehmann (vols. 31-55), St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House (vols. 1-30); Philadelphia: Fortress Press (vols. 31-55), 1955, v.22:23 / Sermons on John, chaps. 1-4 (1539)

2. Calvin's Commentaries, tr. William Pringle, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1949, p.215; on Matthew 13:55

3. Pringle, ibid., vol. I, p. 283 / Commentary on John, (7:3)

4. G. R. Potter, Zwingli, London: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1976, pp.88-9,395 / The Perpetual Virginity of Mary . . ., Sep. 17, 1522

5. Maximovitch, St John. 2012. The Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God. Edited by Fr Seraphim Rose. 4th edition. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood.

6. Ibid.

7. The Greatest Marian Prayers: Their History, Meaning, and Usage, Anthony M. Buono, New York: Alba House, c1999, BX2160.2 .B86 1999, (p. 111)

8. A Marian Prayer Book: A Treasury of Prayers, Hymns, and Meditations, edited by Pamela Moran, Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, c1991, BX2160.2 .M37 1991, (p. 226)