Study Of The History Of The Virgin Mary Worship

This present study deals with origin and development of Marian Devotion, its cultural and psychological connotation and its influence to Catholicism and Orthodox Eastern Church.Besides the preface and the conclusion, it consists of four chapters.Chapter one is concerned with the textual basis of Marian Devotion. Mary is starts to appear in the New Testament, but compared with Jesus and his disciples, she is a less important person. Only through the prophecy of the Savior in the Old Testament is her theological significance shown. However, the real foundation of Marian Devotion is a series of pesudographies, which describe Mary's whole life and then become the basis of Marian ceremonies and holidays.Chapter two is about the cultural and psychological origins. The cult of the Virgin Mary is a Christian manifestation of worshipping the Old Great Goddess in Near-East. Patriarchy has suppressed and changed the latter, but it can not erase the power and the influence of human beings' collective unconsciousness. This contradiction leads to many paradoxes in Marian Devotion.Chapter three illustrates the cult of the Virgin in the East Church (first in Byzantine Church, then in Russian Orthodox Church). Mariology is the by-product of Christology. It comes from the comparison and analysis between Mary and Eve done by the early Fathers. The council of Ephsus in 431 summed up the development of Mariology and made the Virgin Mary as "Theotokos". This council symbolized the beginning of upsurge to the Blessed Mary in Byzantine Empire. To the eighth Century, the upsurge reached to its climax. Russian Orthodox Church inherits and develops this Byzantine heritage and makes it the most special part of Russian culture.Chapter four deals with Marian Devotion in Catholic Church. For a long time, the cult of the Virgin in West has influenced by the East, but three Latin Doctors' works on the Virgin established the keynote of devotion in Catholicism. With the social revivification in Europe from 11th Century, the cult of the Virgin also developed and arrived its climax in the High Middle Ages. The Reformation tore Europe into two parts. There is no place for the Blessed Mary in Protestantism, but Anti- Reformation pushed the devotion to another extreme, it led to Mariolatry, which is criticized by rationalists. Several Apparitions in 19th and 20th Century caused new upsurge to devoting the Virgin. Vatican also established the "Immaculate Conception" (in 1854) and the "Assumption" (in 1950) as dogma. However, the Catholic Church denies Mary as "mediator" and "co-redeemer". The contemporary Marian Devotion reflects modern people's dissatisfaction and retrospect of the social problems appeared in industrialized society, and embodies their desire for affection and love.