The Life of the Virgin

The Life of the Virgin by St. Maximus the Confessor

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I was in the middle of an internet discussion with a Baptist philosophy professor when I came across this book. My interest in getting this book was to get a sense of relatively early church teachings on Marian doctrine. This book is rather late for the purpose of documenting the earliest church teachings since his period of teaching was in the seventh century. On the other hand, there has been something of a St. Maximus revival recently, although we should probably bracket the provenance of this book with some scepticism. The translator, Stephen J. Shoemaker, and others seem convinced that this text was written by the saint, but I get the feeling that this attribution remains controversial.

Nonetheless, as a survey of seventh-century Marian teaching, this is a valuable text in many ways. St. Maximus affirms the accepted Marian doctrines, but his writings go much further in exalting Mary's position than people who think that such an exalted view is a medieval invention. There is this passage for example:

“And childbirth was established with pain and affliction because of the original disobedience (cf. Gen 3.16a):1 as the prophet bears witness, “as when the pain of childbirth arrives at the time of birth, she cries out from the pain” (Isa 26.17). In this way, then, there was no end to the servitude and pain and affliction of women. But when the archangel said to the holy Virgin, “the Lord is with you,” all the debts of affliction were erased. “The lord is with you,” and there is no longer the lordship of man over you, nor the pain of childbirth, for truly she alone is a virgin exalted above all virgins, a virgin ever immaculate: before birth, in birth, and after birth. And not only was the grace of perpetual virginity given to her, but from that time forward she became the foundation of virginity for other women, and by her the ability was given to women who wish to be virgins. Before this, women were not able to be virgins, but the beloved and most-blessed, ever-virgin Theotokos Mary became the foundation and cause of virginity for women who desire it, for in fact she also became the cause and source of every good thing for men and women, the glorious and all-holy mother of the Lord and God and our savior Jesus Christ, the ornament of human nature, the song and joy of the angels, intercessor for humanity and aid to all the faithful.”

Saying that the Theotokos was the “foundation and cause of virginity” would be an anathema to most modern Christians.

In the tradition that St. Maximus followed, Joseph was 70 years old with children from a prior marriage who had been entrusted with the care of a young woman who had taken a vow of perpetual virginity:

“23But consider the wisdom of the blessed and all-holy Virgin and her excessive love of virginity. She believed the archangel's message but was astonished by the matter. That is why she answered and said, “How can this be, for I have not known a man (Luke 1.34), nor is this possible, because I have been consecrated immaculately to God, and without a man conception is not possible.”

St. Maximus also held to the often-forgotten belief that Mary was spared birthing pains:

“Behold the economy of divine activities and the transformation of natures, for the wondrous son did not make known to the immaculate mother the knowledge of his birth, and in an instant he was inexplicably found outside her womb and settled in her lap, so that just as her conception took place without seed and without awareness, so also the birth took place without corruption and without awareness. The dew on the fleece (cf. Judg 6.36–40) was a symbol of the glorious and wondrous Nativity,12 but the reality was more exalted than the symbol, for although the dew came upon the fleece silently and of its own, it was not of its own squeezed out from the fleece but only by hand. But the divine dew, which gives life to all, just as he entered into the Virgin's holy womb silently and painlessly, so he did not make known his ineffable coming forth to the immaculate mother, but he put on human flesh from her, and so he went forth easily and supernaturally, the one who did not make his birth known, not only to others but even to his own mother.”

These beliefs were based on scripture:

“And not only was the holy womb opened by his birth, but it remained closed, as Ezekiel, the seer of invisible things, said, “This gate will be closed, and it will not be opened, and no one will go forth through it, but the Lord God of Israel alone will enter in and come out through it, and the gate will be closed” (Ezek 44.2). Truly, then, in both cases it remained closed and sealed, before the conception and at the conception, and after the conception and after the birth.”

St. Maximus depicts Mary as Christ's chief disciple:

“From that time on the holy mother was a disciple of her sweet son, truly the mother of Wisdom and a daughter of Wisdom, for she no longer saw him as a human or as a mere human being, but32 she served him reverently as God and received his words as the words of God. That is why she did not forget any of his words or deeds, as the evangelist says, “And his mother kept all these sayings in her heart” (Luke 2.51), and she awaited the time33 of their clear manifestation.”

And:

“76This solitary virgin woman was unaccustomed to a throng of people, especially of such people as thieves and troops of armed soldiers, but she went everywhere fearlessly. And she was not separated from her beloved Lord and dear son, not even for a single moment, because she was bound to him in soul and body. Thus from the beginning of the arrest until the end of the Passion she remained near him. She saw everything and heard his words.”

And:

“74But let us return to the beginning of this topic. As we said, she was always inseparable from her Lord and king and son. And she held authority: as the Lord did over the twelve disciples and then the seventy, so did the holy mother over the other women who accompanied him. As the holy gospel says, “There were many women who followed Jesus from Galilee and provided for him” (Matt 27.55). The holy Theotokos was the leader and director of them all. For this reason, when the mysterious and glorious supper took place, and he sacrificed himself as a priest and was sacrificed, he offered and was offered,1 at that time the Lord Jesus took care of the twelve disciples and whomever else he wished, and he gave them the exalted mysteries, the signs of the divine Passover.


After the Resurrection, Mary is the field marshall of the disciples:

“96She sent forth the other disciples to preach to those far and near. Nevertheless, while she herself remained in the royal city of Zion, she once again endured alone more afflictions and attacks on account of her son. For his sake she opposed and fought against the adversaries, the wicked Jews, and once again she was an intercessor and mediator with him on behalf of all, not only on behalf of the believers, but also on behalf of the enemies, that he might have mercy on them and they would be brought to knowledge and repentance, for this she had also learned from her gracious son, when he said on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23.34). And she herself was also gracious and merciful, and she desired that all humanity would be saved and arrive at knowledge of the truth.”

Feminists often appeal Mary Magdelene as their feminist hero - the “apostle to the apostles.” They couldn't find a more dominating feminist icon than the Mother of God.

St. Maximus contends that Mary was the first witness ot the resurrection. He also holds to a belief in the “dormition” and the assumption. In the dormition, Just as Mary was spared pain the birth of her son, she was also spared pain in her death:

“As she escaped the pains of childbirth in the ineffable Nativity, so the pains of death did not come upon her at the time of her Dormition, for both then and now the king and Lord of natures altered the course of nature. Then the host of angels invisibly applauded the sendoff of her holy soul. The house and the surrounding area were filled by a waft of indescribable perfume, and unapproachable light (cf. 1 Tim 6.16) spread forth over the holy body. And in this way the master and the disciples, and heaven and earth led forth20 the holy Virgin: the gracious and glorious Lord and master led away the holy soul of his immaculate mother to heaven; the disciples took care of her immaculate body on earth, anointing it with myrrh and tending to the things that she had planned. And after a little while, her son and God wished to translate the body to Paradise or somewhere.21 The holy apostles encircled22 the bed on which lay the holy Theotokos' body, wider than heaven.”

According to St. Maximus, Mary's body was entombed, but it was subsequently taken to Heaven:

“117Nevertheless, we have learned something else from truthful and reliable informants, and it has been written about before us and is trustworthy and reliable: that in the assembly of the holy apostles for the Dormition of the queen, one of the apostles was providentially not able to arrive with the others. And the holy apostles were expecting him, so that he perchance would also receive a blessing from the blessed and beloved body. Nevertheless, on the third day that apostle also arrived, and he found his other comrades singing in front of the holy tomb, and he also heard the clear and sweet sound of the angels singing. And he besought the holy apostles to open the venerable tomb so that he could embrace the all-holy body of the glorious Theotokos. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the blessed apostles heard their brother's plea and opened the holy tomb with fear. But when they opened it, they did not find the glorious body of the holy mother of Christ, for it had been translated wherever32 her son and God wished. For as he himself was placed in a tomb when he endured death in the flesh for the sake of our salvation and gloriously arose on the third day, so it also seemed fitting to place the immaculate body of his mother in a tomb and likewise to translate it into eternal incorruptibility as he wished, either so that both elements were again united with each other, for so the creator of all things was pleased to honor the one who gave him birth, or in some other way that the king of glory and the lord of life and death alone knows.33 So then the tomb was found empty. They found only the burial wrappings and the shroud in which they had laid her to rest, and the body of the immaculate Virgin was not there, but it had been raised up to her son and God so that she will live and reign with him completely, and thus our nature was raised up to heaven in the eternal kingdom not only by her son but also by the immaculate mother.”

This is not an overly long text. It is historically significant in outlining Christian beliefs during the lifetime of St. Maximus.