We hardly see anything regarding Mary in the first few centuries other then when she is mentioned with Christ. It’s not until the 4th and 5th centuries that these beliefs became more prominent. No early church father from the 1st or 2nd century comments on Mary’s sinless nature. If they do then show it to me. I’d genuinely be interested in reading it. PEACE
“There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; ‘both’ of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Ignatius of Antioch, ‘To the Ephesians’ (c.A.D. 110)
Ignatius alludes to Mary as both the Mother of God and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit in her role as the New Eve, most blessed among all women. The old Eve was sinful. Yet Mary’s divine maternity in cooperation with the Holy Spirit is the primary reason why Catholics have traditionally believed that the mother of our Lord was sinless.
And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” {Luke 1, 35}
The angel Gabriel speaks of a holy child, both of a sinless mother “full of grace”] and of God.
“He became man by the Virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy…And by her has He been born.”
Justin Martyr, ‘Dialogue With Trypho’ (A.D. 155)
Like his successor, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr ascribes to Mary and her faithful obedience an active share in the redemption of mankind. Man had died in Adam, but Eve played a part in the sin that brought about the Fall. Thus, as all men were saved by Christ (the New Adam), Mary (the New Eve) had participated in our salvation by freely accepting God’s will. Justin Martyr could not have believed that a sinful woman who shares common ground with Eve should play an active role in completely reversing the Fall. The New Eve was regarded as being totally opposed to the old Eve. Eve was “undefiled” before she sinned against God. Mary remained undefiled after she accepted the word of God.
“He was born of Mary, the fair Ewe [New Eve].”
Melito de Sardo, ‘Easter Homily’ (A.D. 177)
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.” He (she) will strike at your head, while you strike at his (her) heel." {Genesis 3, 15}
“Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, ‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient; and when ‘yet a virgin’, she did not obey…having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race…Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the virgin Mary loosed through faith.”
Irenaeus ‘Against Heresies’ (A.D. 180)
Ireneaus uses “virginity” as a sign of sinlessness. He presents Mary as being sinless just as Eve was sinless before the Fall. And since Mary had played an active role in the Father’s plan as the New Eve in undoing the consequence of Eve’s sinfulness [disobedience against God], the Blessed Virgin remained sinless throughout her entire life. Unlike Eve, she never believed what the devil would tell her. Her faith and trust in God was perfect. The tradition of Mary’s sinlessness was already there by this time. It’s not until the turn of the next century that we find writings which are more explicit concerning the Church’s traditional belief in Mary’s sinlessness.
Hyppolytus describes Mary as holy.
“For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon Himself the ‘holy’ flesh by the ‘holy’ Virgin’, and prepared a robe which he wove for Himself like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our mortal body, and by mixing the incorruptible with the corruptible, and the strong with the weak, He might save perishing man.”
Hyppolytus, ‘Treatise on Christ and antiChrist’ (A.D. 200)
Mary is invoked as the “holy Virgin” showing the connection between virginity and sinlessness. The Church has always known from the beginning that Mary was perpetually a virgin (Lk 1, 34). Having preserved her virginity, she remained sinless in the eyes of the Church. By the grace of God she was sinless, for she was chosen to be the mother of our Lord.
And Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” {Luke 1, 42}
Obviously both mother and child share something extraordinary in common: virginity, sinlessness, holiness. Mary’s blessing from God is compared to the blessing that rests on her divine Son. Jesus was blessed in his humanity by being sinless (Heb 4, 15). Mary was blessed by God as the mother of His Son and in her freedom from the stain of original sin.
Pax vobiscum
Good Fella
