It is also the Church’s teaching, following the scripture, that Mary remained a virgin all of her life. She never knew a man. And she never had any other children besides the Lord Jesus. Once again, this conviction is not only defended on the basis of the biblical record, but it is also understood to be a theological truth inspired by the Holy Spirit which is mystically proper and spiritually evident to those with “the mind of, Christ” (1 Cor 2: 16).
The Bible never mentions Mary having any children but Jesus. There is no text that even remotely indicates such a thing. Jesus’ “brothers and sisters” are mentioned, but there is no explicit statement that these are Mary’s children. The traditional interpretation from the earliest times in the Church is that these are either cousins of Jesus or children of Joseph by another marriage.5 It is known that Joseph was much older than Mary, and that he died before Jesus began to preach. When hanging on the Cross, Jesus formally commended HIS mother to the beloved disciple John, which would have been a meaningless act if his “brethren” were in fact Mary’s own children (Jn 19:26-27).
The spiritual evidence and mystical meaning of Mary’s ever-virginity, which was witnessed as Church dogma by the fifth ecumenical council in 553 and is endlessly repeated in the Church’s liturgical worship, is overpowering to the minds and hearts of believers. It is simply inconceivable to the saints that the woman who gave birth by the Holy Spirit to God’s divine Son, His Word and Wisdom, His Express Image and the Radiance of His Glory, should then proceed normally to mother more children in the usual manner. There is no depreciation of childbirth here, and certainly no disgust for the sexual union.6
There is rather the clear understanding of the uniqueness of Mary, the one “blessed among women,” whom “all generations will call…blessed,” given to the Church as the living image of all those who are saved because they “hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 1:42, 48; 11:28). The place of Mary in God’s plan of salvation affirms her ever-virginity more than any particular biblical text or any specific scriptural reference for those who have come to know her in the mystical life of the Church.
Behold, the Virgin, as was said of old,
Has conceived in her womb
And has brought .forth God as a man,
Yet she remains still a virgin.
Being reconciled to God through her,
Let us sinners sing her praises,
For truly she is Theotokos.7
How is He contained in a womb
Whom nothing can contain?
How can He be held in the arms of His mother
Who remains forever in the bosom of His Father?
It is according to “His good will,
As He knows and as He desires!
For being without flesh,
He of His own good will has been made flesh;
And HE WHO IS has for our sake become what
He was not.
He has shared our nature without departing from His own.
Desiring to fill the world on high with citizens,
Christ has undergone a twofold birth!8
He who before the morning star
Was begotten of the Father without a mother,
Is made flesh on earth today without a father from you.
A star announces the glad tidings to the wise men,
While angels with shepherds sing the praises of your
child-bearing without corruption,
You who are full of grace!9
~Adapted from Thomas Hopko, The Winter Pascha: Readings for the Christmas-Epiphany Season
4 The text in Saint Matthew’s gospel that Joseph “knew her not until she had borne a son” (Mt 1:2) is considered to be a semitic idiom which in no way implies that he “knew her” after the son was born. Saint John Chrysostom, himself from Antioch, presents other such idioms from the Bible which illustrate this point. See Chrysostom, On Mathew, homily V, 5-6.
5 The Church solemnly affirms that Jesus had “brothers and sisters,” calling James, who is liturgically celebrated on the Sunday after the Nativity, “the brother of the Lord.”
6 See above, pp. 41-43.
7 Matins of the feast of the Nativity.
8 Matins of the feast of the Nativity and sung again at matins on the third day of Christmas, the feast of Saint Stephen, the first martyr. The HE WHO IS in the hymn is a reference to God’s Name which was revealed to Moses (see Ex 3:14).
9 Kontakion of the second day of the Nativity, the feast of the synaxis (or assembly) of the Theotokos, written by Saint Romanos the Hymnographer.
