I’m sorry but that was a cop out and didn’t answer my question. Someone’s got to know.
Your question is simplistic but not unanswerable. You are asking in the mindset of a post-Enlightenment, post-literacy, post-printing press 21st century person. Most historians will tell you just because something does not appear in “print” does not mean it the words or the concept did not exist prior.
The ancient world was a world dominated by oral tradition and communication. Reading and writing were rare. You also have to take into account the different languages of the ancient world and the Greek language, which had a word for every shade of gray.
Nevertheless, the term Mother of God appears very early on, here are some referances:
Irenaeus
The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would **bear God **(Against Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]).
Hippolytus
[T]o all generations they [the prophets] have pictured forth the grandest subjects for contemplation and for action. Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, his advent by the spotless and
God-bearing (theotokos) Mary in the way of birth and growth, and the manner of his life and conversation with men, and his manifestation by baptism, and the new birth that was to be to all men, and the regeneration by the laver [of baptism] (Discourse on the End of the World 1 [A.D. 217]).
Gregory the Wonderworker
For Luke, in the inspired Gospel narratives, delivers a testimony not to Joseph only, but also to
Mary, the Mother of God, and gives this account with reference to the very family and house of David (Four Homilies 1 [A.D. 262]).
It is our duty to present to God, like sacrifices, all the festivals and hymnal celebrations; and first of all, [the feast of] the Annunciation to the holy Mother of God, to wit, the salutation made to her by the angel, “Hail, full of grace!” (ibid., 2).
Peter of Alexandria
They came to the church of the most blessed **Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, **which, as we began to say, he had constructed in the western quarter, in a suburb, for a cemetery of the martyrs (The Genuine Acts of Peter of Alexandria [A.D. 305]).
Methodius
Hail to you forever, you virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return. . . . Hail, you fount of the Son’s love for man. . . . Wherefore, we pray you, the most excellent among women, who boast in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate your memory, which will ever live, and never fade away (Oration on Simeon and Anna 7 [A.D. 305]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
The Father bears witness from heaven to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. The archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing the good tidings to Mary. The Virgin Mother of God bears witness (Catechetical Lectures 10:19 [A.D. 350]).
Kliska
