Early sources describing Mary’s death in Jerusalem include: De Orbitu S.Dominae, Transitus Mariae and Liber Requiei Mariae.
Authorship of the prototype of these writings has been ascribed to Leucius Charinus a disciple of the apostle John. The writings dating from the 2nd century appear to be liturgies used at the Tomb of Our Lady.
Devotion to Mary started by the 3rd century in Egypt with the title Theotokos meaning Mother of God or Bearer of God, and a Marian prayer Sub tuum praesidium or Beneath Thy Protection written on a papyrus dated to 270 AD.
The Council of Ephesus in 431 AD brought the first official Marian liturgy. Also, churches started to be dedicated to Mary such as the 5th century Church of Mary in Ephesus which was a cathedral. It was also called Church of the Councils as two church councils took place there.
One of the earliest churches dedicated to Mary was the Church of the Seat of Mary or Ecclesia Kathismatis = Church of the Seat, built in 456 AD and financed by a weathy widow named Ikelia. It was located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in a place where Mary was alleged to have sat down and rested on the road to Bethlehem.
It was an octagonal church and monastery dedicated to the ‘Birth Giver of God’ or Theotokos. Ikelia introduced a candle lit procession to mark the purification of the Virgin Mary in the Temple 40 days after the birth of Jesus. This festival became ‘Candlemas’ and spread to churches both in the East and West.
The earliest Marian feast of Mary as Mother of God took place at Church of the Seat on the 15th August, inaugurated by Bishop Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem. The feast was later changed to the 13th August because the feast of the Assumption was fixed on the 15th August.
The 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption was made a public holiday in England by King Alfred the Great in the 9th century. It remains a holiday today, although in the UK the day has become August Bank Holiday Monday.
Church of St. Mary of Blachernae
The Empress Aelia Pulcheria began the construction of a church near a spring of holy water near Constantinople in 450 AD. It was completed by her husband Emperor Marcian after she died. It hosted the Holy Reliquary containing the mantle and robe of the Virgin brought from the Holy Land in 473.
The imperial Palace of Blachernae, the residence of Roman emperors, was constructed beside the church. This proximity made the church one of the most important sanctuaries of the Byzantine Empire. The church housed the icon of Our Lady of Blachernae which was reputed to be powerful as a protection against invading armies and brought out when sieges were threatened.
The early history of devotion to Mary seems to especially figure Jerusalem and Ephesus, with Leucius, a disciple of the apostle John playing a pivotal role. Constantinople with its church dedicated to St. Mary beside the palace of Roman emperors also promoted this devotion.
Ephesus, the centre for the worship of the virgin goddess Artemis in her grand temple appears as the background to the veneration of Mary which grew up in the 5th and 6th centuries.
Collyris Cakes
Epiphanius of Salamis wrote about and opposed a heretical sect that arose in Arabia in 300 AD. It consisted of women who worshipped the Virgin Mary as a mother goddess. The women performed rituals and made bread cakes called ‘collyris’ to place on Mary’s alter.
Epiphanius wrote about this sect in Panarion published in 376 AD. The sect was condemned as heretical by the Church.
It appears that the adherents may have considered that Mary was part of the Holy Trinity as God the Father, Mary the Mother and Jesus the Son. Some verses of the Qur’an imply that Muhammad believed that Christians believed this about the Trinity at the time he was writing the Qur’an in 632 AD.
The Trinity in Christianity is God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The story of this sect of devotees to Mary indicates that devotion to Mary can lead to a distorted understanding of basic Christian doctrine. It also indicates that this happened early on.
Merry and True 