The Sinlessness of Mary

I would like to offer this small paper on the belief held by many that Mary, the Blessed Theotokos, was sinless. First, it helps to understand that the Roman Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox, and all other churches that were in the early catholic church currently believe that Mary was without sin – however there are differences in the details of the belief. This will be explained more in a bit.

Like all beliefs, there was a time in the early church that this belief was debated. The same can be stated for all the beliefs held by these same churches. For example, the articles of the Nicene Creed and every decision of a council were debated just as it was when the Apostles met in the Book of Acts when Peter was professing his personal belief on the necessity of following the Jewish laws and Paul disagreed. It was the church in council guided by the Holy Spirit that made the final decision. This is the model that has been used since that time in the Book of Acts when a question of faith needed to be defined and decreed to clarify or to maintain unity. The church has met in council many times to discern the true Apostolic Doctrine and Interpretation of Scripture. It was even the church in council guided by the Holy Spirit that selected which books of the New Testament that were inspired, and which were not.

The question about the sinlessness of Mary arises as this teaching was not set forth in any Ecumenical Council prior to the schism of the churches. However, as with all doctrine this teaching was debated, and it eventually became accepted as doctrine by both the Orthodox Churches of the East and the Roman Church. An acceptance like this is as close to full council as we can come until such time the churches reunite in communion. However, as I stated previously there are differences in their understanding of Mary as sinless and we will look at that now.

To the modern Roman Church Mary is believed to have been conceived sinless (Immaculate Conception) meaning she was free of original sin as defined by the Roman Church and as such preserved from all sin for her entire life. In essence she had no free will. This is their dogma and not ours. This dogma was rejected by the founders of Old Catholicism and is rejected by the entire Orthodox Church.

To the rest of the church Mary was born with original / ancestral sin and yet was chosen to be the vessel of the incarnation and as such had to be pure. This meant when she by her free will accepted God’s will (The Annunciation and fiat) she was made immaculate. So, at that time, like us she was forgiven her state of original / ancestral sin and made immaculate by the very indwelling of the Spirit to be the most holy and pure Ark of the New Covenant. Mary, being filled with grace, by the strength of her faith and her free will chose not to commit personal sin. She did make mistakes, but none that constituted sin. So yes, all have sinned for all are born with original sin. But only one human has risen to such a level of Sainthood, and by her free will lived a life free from personal sin - the Holy Theotokos. You will find below a link to one of many Orthodox Churches that say this as well.

But what about the OCCNA and Old Catholics? In the end, the belief of a sinless Mary is not found in any early Council so should we embrace this belief or not? Let’s consider a different example to help arrive at an answer. If you do some research, you will not find any sacrament other than baptism decreed in a council, yet we know they had sacraments. In fact, there were as many as 12 sacramental rites in the Early Church. It wasn’t until the 17th century that the number of sacraments was finally fixed at seven by both the East and the West. So, we also accept and profess seven sacraments as this is the belief of the “Universal Church”. Likewise, then, we accept Mary as sinless as does the “Universal Church”, in that all agree Mary was free of personal sin, however our belief is the same as the Eastern Orthodox, that this is due to her free will choice and not due to being immaculately conceived.  

A good litmus test on discerning a belief when not clearly stated in a council is to apply the rule of Saint Vincent of Lerins regarding the beliefs held in common by the Early Church. It has been argued that this rule should only apply to matters of faith when the Saint was alive. If we do this then we would not have to accept the decrees of the 5th, 6th, and 7th councils as these councils were called after the Saint’s death. So, applying the Rule of Saint Vincent of Lerins today, we affirm that Mary lived without sin after the Annunciation, as this is the common belief of the entire Church. However, her being immaculately conceived and free of original sin is not a common belief. So, the rule justifies our acceptance of the Orthodox position.

The final justification of our acceptance is found in the attached document “Road to Unity A collection of agreed statements of the joint Old Catholic - Orthodox Theological Commission” on pages 184 and 185 where it states,

“ Accordingly the Church venerates in a very special way the Virgin Mother of God, though "not as divine but as Mother of God according to the flesh" (John of Damascus, imag. 2.5 – PG 94.1357). If, because of the redemption in Christ and its blessings, the Church glorifies God above all and offers him the worship of true adoration due to the divine nature alone, at the same time it venerates the Mother of God as chosen vessel of the work of salvation, as she who accepted the word of God in faith, humility and obedience, as gateway through which God entered the world. It calls her the Blessed One, the first of the Saints and the pure handmaid of the Lord,' and thereby ascribes to her a relative sinlessness by grace,”

In the view of the Joint Orthodox–Old Catholic Theological Commission, the above text on "The Mother of God" represents the teaching of the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches. Chambésy/ Geneva, August 27, 1977

So, as you can see this is not a belief that we, as clergy or laity, should embrace based on one’s personal discernment, nor is its acceptance or rejection subject to discernment of a cleric or even a House of Bishops. The sinlessness by grace of the Virgin Mary is a doctrine embraced by the entire church catholic which includes Old Catholics and as such not subject to personal piety for discernment.

Blessings,

++ Michael