Miguel Garcia Jr.

Dr. Cutsinger
RELG 332
5th December 2014
Hymnography and the Mythological Significance of the Virgin
What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she
whom Glory Itself chose?
-Ambrose of Milan (The Virgins 2:2)
Despite intellectually accepting the fact that the Virgin Mary held an elevated
status in the minds of early Christians, and that she still does for present day
Catholics (East and West)1, I was bothered when I first read Alan Watts
chapter on Advent. After reading his description of the Virgin as uncreated
and divine, being simply the female aspect of the Godhead, I responded the
same way he anticipates official theology would, by denouncing it as
blasphemy and heresy2. I felt as if he had pushed doctrinal boundaries to a
point where he was completely misrepresenting and skewing the Christian
faith. Whatever Watts was espousing, it wasnt Christian and I wanted to stay
away from it lest I be sucked into a snare of the enemy and give undue glory
to a created being. His talk of the Mother Goddess and my felt
inappropriate in a class on Christian theology. That being said, I still
maintained, intellectually, that the Virgin was due veneration. What Watts
was describing was far beyond that and, for me, it was too close to worship3.
1 Anytime I use the term Catholic in this paper it refers to Roman Catholic and Eastern
Orthodox Christians
2 Myth and Ritual in Christianity pg. 64. Pagination comes from the edited version found on
Blackboard
3 Worship hear meaning latria, that honor due to God alone

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These assumptions, despite how strongly I felt, were severely challenged

when I heard the hymns and prayers sung at the Vespers service prior to the
Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. I had heard Orthodox
prayers to Mary before, things like Remembering our All Holy, Immaculate,
Most Blessed Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, but what I heard that night
was quite different. The language used to describe the Theotokos was more
powerful than anything I had heard prior to that evening. As the choir
hymned O spotless and undefiled Mother of God, glorified in heaven and on
earth, save the human race!, my eyes met the large icon of the Virgin of the
Sign behind the iconostasis, and I realized that what Watts was describing in
Myth and Ritual was an accurate depiction of Her place in the Church4. It was
present in the Tradition () of the Church; tucked away to be sure,
but nevertheless present. This epiphany caused me to begin researching (to
use that term loosely) what other Christians, Orthodox and non-Orthodox,
have to say regarding the Virgin. While the typical Protestant treatment of
Mary as a vessel for God was troubling enough5, I was perhaps more
disturbed by the Catholic responses to degrading comments such as that. I
say this because I noticed that there was a disconnect between the actual
veneration of Mary that I was experiencing and Catholic justifications for that
veneration. Though the authors of the Catholic literature I was reading had
taken upon themselves the noble task of defending Orthodoxy, what they
4 Taken from Hymns for the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple on the
Orthodox Church in Americas website, under the section entitled Texts for Liturgical
Services
5 I spoke with one person who confessed that he was taught that Marys relationship to
Christ was analogous to a Tupperware containers relationship with food!

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actually ended up doing was demoting the Virgin to a place of average

sainthood. Their attempts to rationalize and prove that the veneration of
Mary was, and is, logical and Scriptural was causing their oratio (prayer), in
which the Virgin is being elevated above all creation, to be inconsistent with
their ratio (reasoning) about that prayer. This ratio was unintentionally
lowering Her status by claiming that phrases sung to Her, such as O Most
Holy Theotokos save us, could, in fact, be said of any average Christian. In
this paper I will argue that when a believer attempts to rationalize and justify
the hyperdulia6 given to the Virgin, it will result in this disservice to the
Blessed Mother. I will also show that the liturgical tradition () of the
Church corroborates Watts metaphysical claim that the Virgin is the Prima
Materia of creation, and that, instead of rationalizing his veneration of Mary,
the believer should seek to contemplate Her through the prayers and hymns
that hint at Her true metaphysical identity. While some would suggest that
the mythology presented in Myth and Ritual could hurt the believer and
cause unwarranted worship of Mary, I maintain that Watts exposition of the
Virgins role in the Christic myth actually keeps the Christian more faithful to
the essence of the faith by upholding the mystery of the Virgin7.
Watts Metaphysics in Traditional Hymns to the Virgin

6 As opposed to the latria due to God alone; though Watts does claim that she should be
elevated higher than Catholic theology currently allows and describes the inevitable
dogma that she should be given latria as a victory, she is still [only] either associated
with the Logos or the Spirit in Myth and Ritual. He never suggests that she is associated in
any way with God the Father
7 I apologize for the two-page introduction and its personal tone. I felt it was necessary
though to fully explain my reactions to Myth and Ritual.

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I will address my claim that the liturgical Tradition corroborates Watts

metaphysics first, so that I may better highlight the issues with justifying
Marian veneration. I must clarify what I mean by that claim before I continue
though. I am in no way asserting that Watts is a friend of popular theology,
nor do I think he would consider himself orthodox in a theological sense.
Rather, I am claiming that his understanding of the mythological significance
of the Virgin in consistent with the Churchs liturgical prayers and hymns to
Her. The mythological significance that I am referring to is the idea that she
is Prima Materia, the Womb of Creation, and Mystical Rose of Heaven. She is
also mythologically significant insofar as she typifies everything signified by
My in Hinduism and Buddhism8. These claims are admittedly shocking
and Watts intends them to be; he wants the Church to recognize the
significance of the language used to describe Her and to stop lowering Her
status by theologizing about it. So to what liturgical language am I referring?9
The corpus of Orthodox liturgical books is filled with canons, akathists,
troparions, and various other hymns to the Theotokos. (The question really
should be: where will I begin?) Two of the most common liturgical pieces
written to Mary are Her Supplicatory Canon () and her Akathist
hymn. These can be found in most standard Orthodox prayer books and are
often recited during the various feasts of the Theotokos. Both of these
liturgical texts mirror Watts language10, though they do not contain the
8 Myth and Ritual pg. 63
9 I will be primarily referencing Orthodox liturgical prayers and hymns during the course of
this paper, since I am more familiar with them. However, I will note if I make use of Roman
Catholic liturgical elements.
10 Or rather his language mirrors that of the liturgy

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explicit metaphysical explanations he gives for the myth. Still, there is more
going on in these hymns than simply acknowledging Her humility and service
to God, traits any two Christians could agree on. To begin, the Sixth Ode of
the Supplicatory Canon reads as follows:
We have acquired thee as a wall of refuge, and the perfect salvation
of our souls, and a relief in afflictions, O Maiden, and we ever rejoice in
thy light. O Sovereign Lady, do thou also now save us from passions
and dangers.11
That passage itself, independent of interpretation, is a potent statement. The
phrase perfect salvation jumps out at the reader and he begins to
recognize as he prays the pivotal role the Virgin plays in his salvation. Being
the Mother of God, she is the means by which Christ enters the world to
redeem mankind. As Watts says, She is that without which there would be
no Christ12. That is not to say that she is just a means for the Incarnation.
Neither Watts nor the liturgical language stops after recognizing Marys role
in salvation. Shortly after the above passage, in the Sticheron of the
Supplicatory Canon, the faithful sing, O Sovereign Lady of creation, hope
and protection of the faithful; turn not away from my supplication, do that
which will profit me. As this Sticheron illustrates, Mary is often referred to as
the first among creation 13, signaling to the prayerfully attentive that she
should be contemplated on a deeper level. These lines begin to unveil the
mythological significance of the Virgin by acknowledging her association with
the creation of the world. It is not an unfathomable leap to make from
11 All quotations from the Supplicatory Canon and the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos
come from the Jordanville Prayer Book 4th edition, produced by Holy Trinity Monastery
12 Myth and Ritual pg. 59
13 Most notably in the Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos contained in Her Akathist Hymn

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declaring that the Theotokos is the Sovereign Lady of creation to Watts

idea that she is that Prima Materia, whose division made possible the world
of the Many as we usually experience it14. As I mentioned earlier, he also
claims that the Virgin is everything signified by my, the female consort of
God. Though the term is usually translated as illusion, Watts elaborates on
this and claims that my is that no-thing, which, when measured or
divided, becomes things. When I read this line I was reminded of a phrase
used by the instructor in his lecture on the doctrine of creation. It was
determined in that class meeting that the doctrine of creation ex nihilo must
mean something other than creation from actual nothingness. If
Parmenides is right that ex nihilo nihil fit, then creation ex nihilo must truly
mean creation from nothing-other-than-that-no-thing-which-is-God. In other
words, God must, in some sense, divide Himself to make the multiplicity of
things that exist.15 That being said, if all things come from God, one expects
that all natural phenomena would, in one way or another, be a reflection of
the Logos, by whom all things were made16. C. S. Lewis proposes this same
idea in his work Miracles when he says that the patterns of descent and reascension in vegetable life and sexual reproduction exist in Nature because

14 Myth and Ritual pg. 63

15 This is also because of His Infinitude, which necessitates that He permeates all things. If
God truly is Infinite, and not just in a spatio-temporal sense, then there would be no way for
Him to create anything that is not from Himself.
16 Watts agrees with this sentiment and on pg. 36 he claims, the Logoswas the ideal
pattern after which the creation was modeled. I am here borrowing language from the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed to show the universality of this opinion. It is also important
to note that I will now refer to the Logos as the agent in Gods act of creating, since this is
the traditional understanding.

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they were first there in God17. In like manner, we see the celestial bodies
rise and fall from the sky as the day fades into night and then comes back
again, reflecting the Death and Resurrection of Christ. If it is true that all
things reflect the Logos, then we should expect the Logos to have a feminine
counterpart in His creation of the world, since the creation of human and
animal life is only possible when the male impregnates the female and, in a
sense, divides her by causing her to lose a part of herself in childbirth.
The Virgin is this feminine counterpart and the Church recognized this early
in its history, as the Sticheron of the Supplicatory Canon illustrates by calling
Her the Sovereign Lady of creation18. She is sovereign over all creation
because it was from Her that creation received its form. The parallel between
creation and the historical Incarnation is unmistakable. The way in which the
Logos divided Her so that He might assume flesh when He took the form of
Jesus of Nazareth, recapitulates His eternal dividing act whereby God
creates all things. Just as she is that without which there would be no
Christ, she is simultaneously that without which there would be no creation.
In addition to Her role as the Prima Materia, the hymns of the Church testify
to Her role as the Rosa Mundi, or the Rose of the World. Ekos 3 of the
Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos is a good example of such a hymn, as it is
itself blooming with flower imagery. In the course of seven lines Mary is
referred to as the Unfading Sprout, Immortal Fruit, a Cornland yielding a
17 A Reader in Christian Theology pg. 97
18 The Small Supplicatory Canon to the Theotokos is generally attributed to Theosterictus
the Monk, who lived in the 9th Century. It is undoubtedly rooted in earlier prayers to the
Theotokos that may have existed centuries before.

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crop of mercies, and the one who makest bloom the garden of delight. So,
Watts is not innovating when he refers to Her as that Mystic Rose which
makes up the Centre of Heaven19. Once one recognizes Her role in the
creation of things, both in Heaven and on Earth, then this is simply the
logical conclusion.
Despite the presence of these hymns, and the mythological and
metaphysical place of the Virgin that they imply, many Catholics (both East
and West) inadvertently demote the Virgin to a place equal to that of an
ordinary saint20. They do this by attempting to rationalize their prayers and
hymns, typically in discussions with non-Catholic Christians. While they are
most likely just trying to defend their Catholicity against attack, or perhaps
clarify it to an interested party, they are actually doing a disservice to the
faith by misrepresenting, as Watts says, the second most important figure in
the Christian myth21.
Displacing the Virgin
I do not wish to sound too critical of these attempts. The veneration shown to
the Virgin Mary in the Catholic traditions is perhaps the most difficult practice
for potential Protestant converts to accept, and most Catholics have good
intentions when they justify it. Even without the mythological understanding
of the Virgin outlined above, the reverence and devotion shown to her in the
form of icon adoration, the Rosary prayer, and the numerous hymns are

19 Myth and Ritual pg. 157

20 I say that recognizing that the phrase ordinary saint is oxymoronic
21 Myth and Ritual pg. 59

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difficult for a sola scriptura Protestant to accept. A phrase such as Oh Most

Holy Theotokos Save Us, which is said repeatedly in many Orthodox
Christian services, does not mix well with the Protestant desire to keep Jesus
of Nazareth at the center of all things. Wishing to justify themselves, many
Catholics, again both East and West, become apologetic in their devotion to
the Blessed Virgin and attempt to make rationalizing arguments from Holy
Scripture and Holy Tradition to justify their beliefs and practices. For
example, many will respond to those critical of the Theotokian mentioned
above by citing passages in 1st Timothy and James that claim people can be
saved through the help or intercession of others. Since it occurs in these
Biblical texts, the Catholic argues, it is acceptable to apply this phrasing to
the Mother of God. However, this response, though certainly intended to
show Protestant Christians that the hyperdulia of Mary is founded in Holy
Tradition and not simply an arbitrary belief, tends to create a dissonance
between what the Catholic Christian believes about the hyperdulia he shows
to the Virgin and his actual practice of it. If the Theotokian I mentioned can
be used for any garden-variety saint, then the Virgin is thus demoted from
Her place as the Queen of Heaven to the status of an ordinary saint22. Now,
mind you, there is nothing bad about being an ordinary saint, and I dont
know of any Christian who would disagree with me on that point. But, the
one without whom there would be no Christ or creation is no ordinary
22 I recognize that salvific language is used with reference to other saints, such as asking
for their intercession before Christ, but the frequency of the Marian hymns and the strong
language used in those hymns shows that Her place ought to be elevated above normal
saints. The moniker, Sovereign Lady of creation should be enough to illustrate my point.

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saint; She is much more. By saying that the work the Theotokos does is
normative, in the sense that all saints can perform it, the Christian lessens
Her value, even on the theological level, not to mention the metaphysical. If
the law of prayer truly is the law of belief (lex orandi lex credendi), then the
truth must be contained in the way the Church prays to Mary, and the hymns
proclaim Her identity as the Sovereign of creation. The metaphysical truth
contained in the hymns that are sung may not always be apparent to the one
saying those prayers, but it does not follow from that ignorance that the
metaphysical truth is diminished in any way23. The truth is that the Blessed
Virgin is the Panagia (), or Most Holy One, and she is treated as such
in the hymns I mentioned above. To rationalize the hyperdulia shown to Her,
by making it commonplace, is to take away part of its value, much the same
way Watts claims theologizing about the myth deadens it24.
Embracing the Mystery
If rationalizing about the veneration of the Virgin deadens Her significance,
then how does the Catholic Christian speak to others about his devotion? Is
he to simply remain silent, or must he give a defense of the faith as St. Peter
says? When I came to this point myself, after realizing that rationalizing the
veneration of Mary was a disservice to Her, I was at a loss. I understood that
the principle of lex orandi lex credendi forbids me from justifying Her
veneration, thus demoting Her to ordinary status, yet I still wished to say
23 Ignorance here is not meant in any derogatory sense; not everyone is able to study
metaphysics
24 Myth and Ritual pg. 59. Here the page number corresponds to the printed paperback
edition and not the edited class version.

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something about the way She is hymned in the Church that did not require a
course in metaphysics to understand. I was listening to some podcasts from
Ancient Faith radio and I came across an episode from Father Thomas
Hopkos podcast, Speaking the Truth in Love, in which he discusses the Feast
of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. In that podcast, he quotes
Vladimir Lossky, who said that the Virgin is not a part of the preaching of the
Christian faith25. This was initially puzzling, but what he means by this, as
Father Hopko went on to explain, is that Mary is not able to be preached
everywhere, like the message of the Gospel is. She is instead a part of the
inner life of the Church, a mysterion, meant to be contemplated once one
has entered the faith. Unless one is involved in the inner life of the Church,
the Virgin will be incomprehensible to you says Lossky. She will always
remain a mysterion, but this mysterion can only be properly contemplated in
the context of the liturgical life of the Church, which includes the hymns that
subtly reveal Her mythological and metaphysical significance. Father Hopko
does not go on to say this, but by recognizing this inability to contemplate
the Virgin outside of the inner life of the Church, one can actually protect Her
from being rationalized. To see Her as the mysteria that she truly is and
embracing Her without whom there would be no creation (i.e. you), She
retains Her place as the Primal Mother and She no longer requires an
explanation. Earlier I made a distinction between the oratio offered up to
25 I summarize and paraphrase the ideas from that particular episode of Speaking the Truth
in Love. The episode is transcribed here:
http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hopko/the_entrance_of_the_theotokos_into_the_templ
e

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Mary and the ratio employed by those wishing to explain that prayer. It is
significant to point out, as you can probably see, that you create ratio when
you remove the o from oratio. Removing this o alters the meaning of the
word so much so that the essence of oratio is forgotten. Similarly, one cannot
move from praying to the Virgin to reasoning about that prayer without
losing an essential element of what it means to venerate Her. Theologizing
about the Virgin can never compare to Her living myth that is retold and remembered () every time the Liturgy is celebrated. The most
appropriate course of action is to contemplate and participate in the mystery
and invite others to do the same, for only then will the Virgin shine forth in
Her true light.