The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary expresses the Virgin Mary's "real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to Jesus the Son of God made Man". According to the doctrine, Mary was ever-virgin (Ancient Greek: ἀειπαρθένος aeiparthenos) for the whole of her life, making Jesus her only biological son, whose conception and birth are held to be miraculous.
By the fourth century, the doctrine had been widely supported by the Church Fathers, and by the seventh century it had been affirmed in a number of ecumenical councils. The doctrine is part of the teaching of Catholicism and Anglo-Catholics, as well as Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, as expressed in their liturgies, in which they repeatedly refer to Mary as "ever virgin".
Some early Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther supported the doctrine. However, later Reformed teaching largely abandoned it. The doctrine of perpetual virginity is, however, currently maintained by some Anglican and Lutheran theologians.
Read more about Perpetual Virginity Of Mary: Doctrine and Representations, Protestant Reformation, Scripture, Islamic Perspective
Famous quotes containing the words perpetual, virginity and/or mary:
“Constancy in love is a perpetual inconstancy which fixes our hearts successively to all the qualities of the person loved—sometimes admiring one and sometimes another above all the rest—so that this constancy roves as far as it can, and is no better than inconstancy, confined within the compass of one person.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“An isolated outbreak of virginity ... is a rash on the face of society. It arouses only pity from the married, and embarrassment from the single.”
—Charlotte Bingham (b. 1942)
“Soaked by the sparkling waters of America.”
—Hawaiian saying no. 2740, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)