Wednesday 15 June 2011

David Meconi: Theotokos and Theosis in Alexandria and Antioch

This short communication argues that the Christology of Nestorius and those following him downplay the role of Mary's womb, reducing it simply to a place of no real importance.  Theologians working out of the Alexandrian tradition, however, see Mary's womb as the place of humanity's theosis, thus specifying and localizing this "space" as the “temple”, the “workshop”, or the “marketplace” of divine and human union.  This essay thus contends that the Virgin's womb becomes an important image in arguing for both Mary as Theotokos but also for the theosis of human nature.  By focusing on the rhetoric in and around the Council of Ephesus (especially Proclus of Constantinople’s celebrated homilies), this paper shows how one understands the event within Mary's womb determines both how her divine maternity is understood as well as how humanity's deification in Christ is realized.

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