Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of which are mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Methodist churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. The Church of the East historically regarded her as Christotokos, a term still used in the liturgy of the Assyrian Church of the East. She has the highest position in Islam among all women and is mentioned numerous times in the Quran, including in a chapter (surah) named after her. She is also revered in the Baháʼí and Druze faiths. uses the Greek , "virgin", whereas only the Hebrew of Isaiah 7:14, from which the New Testament ostensibly quotes, as – "young maiden". See article on in Bauercc/(Arndt)/Gingrich/Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. who was chosen by God to conceive Jesus through the Holy Spirit. After giving birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, she and her husband Joseph raised him in the city of Nazareth in Galilee, and she was in Jerusalem at his crucifixion and with the apostles after his ascension. Although her later life is not accounted in the Bible, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Protestant traditions believe that her body was raised into heaven at the end of her earthly life, which is known in Western Christianity as the Assumption of Mary and in Eastern Christianity as the Dormition of the Mother of God.
Mary has been venerated since early Christianity, and is often considered to be the holiest and greatest saint. There is a certain diversity in the Mariology and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Catholic Church and some Oriental Orthodox Churches hold distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her Immaculate Conception and her bodily assumption into heaven. Many Protestants hold various views of Mary's role that they perceive as being in accordance with the Scriptures. The English name Mary comes from the Greek , a shortened form of the name . Both and appear in the New Testament.
In Christianity
In Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that the Holy Spirit impregnated her, thereby conceiving her first-born son Jesus miraculously, without sexual relations with her betrothed Joseph, "until her son [Jesus] was born". The word "until" has inspired considerable analysis on whether Joseph and Mary produced siblings after the birth of Jesus or not. Among her many other names and titles are the Blessed Virgin Mary (often abbreviated to "BVM" after the Latin ), Saint Mary (occasionally), the Mother of God (primarily in Western Christianity), the (primarily in Eastern Christianity), Our Lady (Medieval ), and Queen of Heaven (; see also here). The title "queen of heaven" had previously been used as an epithet for a number of goddesses, such as Isis, or Ishtar.
Titles in use vary among Anglicans, Lutherans and other Protestants, as well as Mormons, Catholics, Orthodox and other Christians.
The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are ( or "God-bearer"), () which means ever-virgin, as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, and () meaning "all-holy". The direct equivalents of title in Latin are and , although the phrase is more often loosely translated into Latin as ("Mother of God"), with similar patterns for other languages used in the Latin Church. However, this same phrase in Greek (), in the abbreviated form , is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers "did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God".
Some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title "Queen Mother" has been given to Mary, as she was the mother of Jesus, sometimes referred to as the "King of Kings" due to his ancestral descent from King David. This is also based on the Hebrew tradition of the "Queen-Mother", the Gebirah or "Great Lady". Other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals, or occasions for calling on Mary.
In Islam
thumb|Virgin Mary depicted by Muslim painter [[Hossein Nuri#Virgin Mary painting|Hossein Nuri]]
In Islam, Mary is known as Maryam (), mother of Isa (, , ). She is often referred to by the honorific title , meaning "Our Lady"; this title is in parallel to ("Our Lord"), used for the prophets. A related term of endearment is , meaning "she who confirms the truth" and "she who believes sincerely completely". Another title for Mary is , which signifies both constant submission to God and absorption in prayer and invocation in Islam. She is also called , meaning "one who has been purified" and representing her status as one of two humans in creation to not be touched by Satan at any point, the other being Jesus. In the Quran, she is described both as "the daughter of Imran" and "the sister of Aaron" and Moses, alluding to Miriam from the Hebrew Bible. However, the title of "the sister of Aaron" is confirmed to be metaphorical (which is a common figure of speech in Arabic) as per a Hadith from the Islamic prophet Muhammad explaining Mary was indeed named after Miriam.
Life in ancient sources
thumb|right|[[Annunciation|The Annunciation by Eustache Le Sueur, an example of 17th century Marian art. The Angel Gabriel announces to Mary her pregnancy with Jesus and offers her white lilies.]]
New Testament
The canonical Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are the primary sources of historical information about Mary.
The earliest New Testament account of Mary is in the epistle to the Galatians, which was written before the gospels. She is referred to as "a woman" and is not named: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4).
Mary is mentioned several times in the canonical Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles:
- The Gospel of Luke mentions Mary the most often, identifying her by name twelve times, all of these in the infancy narrative (Luke 1:27–2:34).
- The Gospel of Matthew mentions her by name five times, four of these (1:16, 18, 20; 2:11) in the infancy narrative and once (Matthew 13:55) outside the infancy narrative.
- The Gospel of Mark names her once (Mark 6:3) and mentions Jesus' mother without naming her in Mark 3:31–32.
- The Gospel of John refers to the mother of Jesus twice, but never mentions her name. She is first seen at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1–12). The second reference has her standing near the cross of Jesus together with Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas (or Cleophas), and her own sister (possibly the same as Mary of Clopas; the wording is semantically ambiguous), along with the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 19:25–26). John 2:1–12 Accordingly, some versions of the Bible translate it as "Dear woman".
- In the Acts of the Apostles, Mary and the brothers of Jesus are mentioned in the company of the eleven apostles who are gathered in the upper room after the Ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:14).
In the Book of Revelation, also part of the New Testament, the "woman clothed with the sun" (Revelation 12:1, 12:5–6) is sometimes identified as Mary.
Genealogy
thumb|The Virgin's first seven steps, mosaic from [[Chora Church, ]]
The New Testament tells little of Mary's early history. The Gospel of Matthew gives a genealogy for Jesus by his father's paternal line, only identifying Mary as the wife of Joseph. John 19:25 states that Mary had a sister; semantically it is unclear if this sister is the same as Mary of Clopas, or if she is left unnamed. Jerome identifies Mary of Clopas as the sister of Mary, mother of Jesus. According to the early 2nd century historian Hegesippus, Mary of Clopas was likely Mary's sister-in-law, understanding Clopas (Cleophas) to have been Joseph's brother.
According to the writer of Luke, Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah, who was herself part of the lineage of Aaron and so of the Tribe of Levi. Some of those who believe that the relationship with Elizabeth was on the maternal side, believe that Mary, like Joseph, was of the royal Davidic line and so of the Tribe of Judah, and that the genealogy of Jesus presented in Luke 3 from Nathan, is in fact the genealogy of Mary, while the genealogy from Solomon given in Matthew 1 is that of Joseph. (Aaron's wife Elisheba was of the tribe of Judah, so all their descendants are from both Levi and Judah.)
Annunciation
Mary resided in "her own house" in Nazareth in Galilee, possibly with her parents, and during her betrothal—the first stage of a Jewish marriage. Jewish girls were considered marriageable at the age of twelve years and six months, though the actual age of the bride varied with circumstances. The marriage was preceded by the betrothal, after which the bride legally belonged to the bridegroom, though she did not live with him till about a year later, when the marriage was celebrated.
The angel Gabriel announced to her that she was to be the mother of the promised Messiah by conceiving him through the Holy Spirit, and, after initially expressing incredulity at the announcement, she responded, "I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to your word." Joseph planned to quietly divorce her, but was told her conception was by the Holy Spirit in a dream by "an angel of the Lord"; the angel told him to not hesitate to take her as his wife, which Joseph did, thereby formally completing the wedding rites.
Since the angel Gabriel had told Mary that Elizabeth—having previously been barren—was then miraculously pregnant, Mary hurried to see Elizabeth, who was living with her husband Zechariah in "the hill country..., [in] a city of Juda". Mary arrived at the house and greeted Elizabeth who called Mary "the mother of my Lord", and Mary spoke the words of praise that later became known as the from her first word in the Latin version. After about three months, Mary returned to her own house.
Birth of Jesus
thumb|The adoration of the shepherds, a [[nativity scene in France]]
According to the gospel of Luke, a decree of the Roman Emperor Augustus required that Joseph return to his hometown of Bethlehem to register for a Roman census. While he was there with Mary, she gave birth to Jesus; but because there was no place for them in the inn, she used a manger as a cradle. It is not told how old Mary was at the time of the Nativity, while according to Amram Tropper, Jewish females generally married later in Palestine and the Western Diaspora than in Babylonia. Some scholars hold the view that among them it typically happened between their mid and late teen years or late teens and early twenties.
After Mary continued in the "blood of her purifying" another 33 days, for a total of 40 days, she brought her burnt offering and sin offering to the Temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:22), so the priest could make atonement for her. They also presented Jesus"As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord" (Luke 2:23; Exodus 13:2; 23:12–15; 22:29; 34:19–20; Numbers 3:13; 18:15). After the prophecies of Simeon and the prophetess Anna in Luke 2:25–38, the family "returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth".
According to the gospel of Matthew, magi coming from Eastern regions arrived at Bethlehem where Jesus and his family were living, and worshiped him. Joseph was then warned in a dream that King Herod wanted to murder the infant, and the family fled by night to Egypt and stayed there for some time. After Herod's death in 4 BC, they returned to Nazareth in Galilee, rather than Bethlehem, because Herod's son Archelaus was the ruler of Judaea.
Mary is involved in the only event in Jesus' adolescent life that is recorded in the New Testament. At the age of 12, Jesus, having become separated from his parents on their return journey from the Passover celebration in Jerusalem, was found in the Temple among the religious teachers.
Ministry of Jesus
thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[Stabat Mater (art)|Stabat Mater by Gabriel Wuger, 1868]]
Mary was present when, at her suggestion, Jesus worked his first miracle during a wedding at Cana by turning water into wine. Subsequently, there are events when Mary is mentioned along with the Jesus' brothers. According to Epiphanius, Origen and Eusebius, these "brothers" would be sons of Joseph from a previous marriage. This view is still the official position of the Eastern Orthodox churches. Following Jerome, those would be actually Jesus' cousins, children of Mary's sister. This remains the official Roman Catholic position. For Helvidius, those would be full siblings of Jesus, born to Mary and Joseph after the firstborn Jesus. This has been the most common Protestant position.
The hagiography of Mary and the Holy Family can be contrasted with other material in the Gospels. These references include an incident which can be interpreted as Jesus rejecting his family in the New Testament: "And his mother and his brothers arrived, and standing outside, they sent in a message asking for him ... And looking at those who sat in a circle around him, Jesus said, 'These are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother'."
Mary is also depicted as being present in a group of women at the crucifixion standing near the disciple whom Jesus loved along with Mary of Clopas and Mary Magdalene, adds "the mother of the sons of Zebedee", presumably the Salome mentioned in Mark 15:40.
After the Ascension of Jesus
In Acts 1:12–26, especially verse 14, Mary is the only one other than the eleven apostles to be mentioned by name who abode in the upper room, when they returned from Mount Olivet. Her presence with the apostles during the Pentecost is not explicit, although it has been held as a fact by Christian tradition.
From this time, she disappears from the biblical accounts, although it is held by Catholics that she is again portrayed as the heavenly woman in the Book of Revelation.
Her death is not recorded in the scriptures, but Orthodox tradition, tolerated also by Catholics, has her first dying a natural death, known as the Dormition of Mary, and then, soon after, her body itself also being assumed (taken bodily) into Heaven. Belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is a dogma of the Catholic Church, in the Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches alike, and is believed as well by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglican movement.
Apocryphal accounts and later writings
Some apocryphal texts add further narrative elements to the story of Mary, although scholars generally consider such texts to be historically mainly unreliable. According to the Gospel of James, Mary was the daughter of Joachim and Anne. Before Mary's conception, Anne had been barren and was far advanced in years. Mary was given to service as a consecrated virgin in the Temple in Jerusalem when she was three years old. This event is commemorated by some Christian churches as a liturgical feast, the Presentation of Mary, even though its premise conflicts with common understandings of Jewish culture and temple customs. The Gospel of James also states that Mary was 12–14 years old at the time of her betrothal to Joseph and that she was 16–17 during her pregnancy, according to most manuscripts. According to ancient Jewish custom, Mary could have been betrothed at 12, but some scholars hold the view that in Judea betrothal typically happened later. The text underlines that the relationship between Mary and Joseph was a non-sexual social arrangement, and that Mary was dedicated to God. It emphasizes holiness of Mary and the virginal nature of her pregnancy.
Although the canonical gospels contain no account of Mary's life after the resurrection, texts written centuries later provide some embellishment. The origin and authenticity of these details are unknown. The earliest extant biographical writing on Mary is Life of the Virgin, attributed to the 7th-century saint Maximus the Confessor, which portrays her as a key element of the early Christian Church after the death of Jesus. Hyppolitus of Thebes, writing in the 7th or 8th century, says that Mary lived for 11 years after the death of her son, dying in 41 AD.