The main symbol of Christianity from the very beginning, of course, was the Holy Trinity - God the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. Inseparable and not merged, as the church doctrine said. Mary, the mother of Jesus, took a place in the church no less significant than the Trinity. But in the early centuries of the new faith, there were serious controversies around it.
Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, of course, did not belong to the goddesses in any way. According to Christian teaching, she was a completely ordinary woman, whom God chose for her sincere faith and chastity to incarnate himself in an earthly body. By and large, such incarnations of gods in a human body among pagan peoples were not uncommon. The Greeks thus entered the world of heroes - the children of the gods, for example Hercules. So the Jewish God chose an earthly woman for himself. Mary, being a kind of "vessel", could not claim any of the highest places in the heavenly hierarchy. In the canonical Gospels, there is no basis for such claims.
Egyptian roots
However, Christianity did not emerge from scratch. Around there were many developed and fully formed cults of goddesses who gave birth to gods. The most widespread was the cult of the ancient Egyptian Isis. As you know, one of the most powerful theological schools of early Christianity was located just in Egyptian Alexandria. And as much as the Alexandrian theologians rejected Isis, the worship of this goddess influenced early Christianity. The role of the mother of Jesus seemed to Christians special and important, if only because the Son of God came out of her womb.
Starting in the 3rd century, Roman Christians began to show special signs of attention to Mary, the Mother of God. At the same time, throughout the Roman Empire, there were a huge number of Isis sanctuaries. The Romans treated foreign gods well and willingly included them in their pantheon. Isis was there in a special place. Probably not least thanks to the mysteries. And since there were more and more Roman citizens among Christians, they associated Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, with Isis, who gave birth to Horus.
During the time of Emperor Constantine the Great, Christianity became the state religion. On the site of the pagan sanctuaries, Christian churches began to be erected. The holy fathers acted simply - they redesigned the pagan temple and gave it a new name. The sanctuaries of Isis instantly turned into temples dedicated to Our Lady. It soon turned out that there are more of them than temples dedicated to the Trinity or Christ! It was urgently necessary to determine the position of the church towards the mother of Jesus: who is she - the woman who gave birth to a child, or the woman who gave birth to God?
The majority stood up for Mary, recognizing her right to be the mother of the Son of God, without going into the subtleties, whether the Holy Spirit descended on her at the moment of conception, or whether it descended only later on the newborn Jesus. Thus, the veneration of Mary was approved by the highest church authorities. At one of the first councils, the question was also raised: how did conception affect Mary physically - that is, was her chastity broken or not? We decided that communication with the Holy Spirit did not harm chastity. Moreover, the birth of Jesus did not crush him either - Mary, as she was a virgin, remained her. So Mary was declared the Eternal Virgin (in Orthodoxy it is called the Ever-Virgin).
Promotional video:
The Church has done a good deed in some way: the position of women in the late antique and early medieval society was difficult. The veneration of Mary as the Mother of Jesus and the Chaste Virgin has strengthened the position of women from different walks of life. Husbands began to treat their wives more humanely, and children - to respect their mothers more. Iconographic signs of veneration were gradually formed - Mary began to be depicted more and more often with the baby Jesus. But that was not the end of the struggle.
The kindest
In the XI-XIII centuries, Catholic Europe completely rethought its attitude towards the Mother of God. She began to be considered even more kind and merciful to the human race than Jesus crucified for its sins. It was then that most of the prayers appeared, addressed specifically to her, Mary, and not to the Heavenly Father or his Son.
There was even such a medieval legend about the Son. A young man named Theophilus, who served with the bishop, sold his soul to the devil in order to gain fame and fortune for himself. As usual, he made a treaty with the enemy of the human race, signing with his own blood. And he soon made a good career. But the thought of what he had done tormented Theophilus. He vividly imagined what a nightmare awaits him after death, when the devil demands to fulfill the contract. And then he saw two ladders descending from the sky. On top of one stood Jesus, on top of the other - the Mother of God. Theophilus rushed to the stairs where Jesus was and began to climb. But the face of Jesus was distorted with disgust, and he threw the unfortunate man to the ground. Then Theophilus began to climb another staircase, begging for forgiveness. And Jesus' mother did not reject him. She extended her hand to Theophilus and led him into the Kingdom of Heaven. And a receipt,which almost killed Theophilus, took it away from the devil. This touching story is depicted in high reliefs in the most famous cathedral dedicated to Mary - Notre Dame de Paris.
In the same medieval Europe, many images of Mary (except for Mary and the baby itself) spread with characteristic names: "Virgin Mary covering the suffering with a cloak", "Virgin Mary seated on a throne", "Virgin Mary immaculately conceived", "Virgin Mary in suffering "," Virgin Mary and the Unicorn "…
The last Mary is special. The unicorn in Christian symbolism was considered the embodiment of chastity. But he also symbolized Jesus Christ. Therefore, Mary was portrayed with a unicorn crouching to her chest. Gradually, the veneration of Mary was transferred to any woman. This is how the knightly cult of the Beautiful Lady appeared. This deification of woman as such raised the veneration of Mary herself higher. She has become practically the fourth hypostasis of God.
And there are several times more prayers addressed to Mary than prayers addressed to the Son or God the Father. In the Latin version, this is the Ave Maria, the rosary (a cycle of prayers, the full circle of which includes 150 Ave Maria), "Angel of the Lord", Loretanian prayer (or litany), and so on. Even some types of rosary in Catholicism are divided by larger beads according to the number of prayers to the Virgin Mary - it is on them that the rosary is read. In addition, there are numerous Catholic chants and chorales performed during divine services and dedicated to the Mother of God. The most famous are Magnificat and Stabat Mater.
Hut from Palestine
The veneration of Mary has left a remarkable imprint on all European poetry, painting and sculpture. A huge number of frescoes and paintings dedicated to her were created, especially during the Renaissance. Some forms of Mary worship are very peculiar. For example, in the Italian town of Loreto there is a "house of Mary", according to legend, transferred from Palestine by angels after the crusaders were defeated by the Saracens in the Holy Land. This small structure, also known as the Holy Hut, measures only 8.5 meters long, 3.8 meters wide and 4.1 meters high. In reality, he was most likely actually transported from Palestine - at the expense of the ruler of the Epirus kingdom
Nicephorus I. True, the house was originally transported to Dalmatia, and from there, by an unknown method, it got to Loreto, where a basilica was built around it. The popes have several times confirmed the authenticity of the Holy Hut with their bulls. And in the late Middle Ages in Europe it was fashionable to build copies of this house, which, like the original, became a place of pilgrimage. It is to the sculpture of Mary in the Holy Hut that the famous Loretan prayer is addressed.
In Orthodoxy, Mary also occupies a quite worthy place, but she is revered only as the mother of Jesus and intercessor for all the offended. In Orthodoxy, although she is Ever-Virgin, this has never played a special role. Another thing is Catholic countries, where often it was virginity that became the main sign of holiness, as in the case of Joan of Arc, who began or ended her messages with two names standing next to each other: Jesus + Mary.
There is no such veneration of the Virgin Mary in the churches that have been set aside from Catholicism. Moreover, many Protestants deny a prayer appeal to the mother of Jesus, as well as her special role. Even Muslims treat Mary (in the Qur'an - Maryam) with much greater reverence, considering her the mother of their prophet Isa.
Nikolay Kotomkin