The Assumption of Mary: The Mortalist and Immortalist Traditions in the Early Church and the Dogma Debate From 1944 to 2021

Date of Award

8-1-2024

Degree Name

M.A. in Theological Studies

Department

Department of Religious Studies

Advisor/Chair

Goria Dodd

Abstract

Pope Pius XII did not define the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary in his 1950 Apostolic Constitution, Munificentissimus Deus. Theologians have debated her death since then in the context of Munificentissimus Deus. The question of the death of Mary has been seriously debated between the Mortalists and Immortalists of the Roman Catholic Church and the Mortalists of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The aim of this thesis was to find the theological differences between two Mortalists and four Immortalists of the Roman Catholic Church and four Mortalists of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. There are two major theological differences that separate them: 1. The Immortalists of the Roman Catholic Church understand the unity of body and soul differently from the Mortalists of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. 2. The Immortalists of the Roman Catholic Church also argue for their position from the perspective that Mary did not have Original Sin. The theologians from the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches approach the question differently. The theologians of the Roman Catholic Church rely on the Magisterium. The theologians of the Eastern Orthodox Church do not believe in formal definitions and so rely on the experience of the Divine Liturgy and the Tradition of the early Church. This thesis therefore looked at the question of the death of Mary in the early Church and found that the records on the topic date back to the second century in the Dormition Apocrypha. The Dormition Apocrypha were narratives that detail the end of the life of Mary. The narratives describe her dying before being assumed body and soul to heaven. Nine Church Fathers who wrote in Greek and came from the East are shown to be Mortalist and the early Byzantine Liturgy is also shown to be Mortalist. Notable exceptions to the majority Mortalist opinion include Saint Epiphanius of Salamis and Saint Modestus of Jerusalem, who both say that only God knows where the Blessed Virgin Mary resides now. Timothy of Jerusalem and possibly Theoteknos of Livias are Immortalist and do not believe that Mary died. Four Church Fathers who wrote in Latin and came from the West are Mortalist. Nine Church Fathers and early medieval theologians did not write about what happened to Mary at the end of her life. The Church Fathers and early writings that were chosen flourished before and during the year 866, the year that Pope Nicholas I wrote a letter to Bulgarians, since this was a major split in relations between the Byzantine Church and Latin Church. This thesis finds that the Immortalists used only one Church Father, Timothy of Jerusalem, in their arguments for their position. This thesis could not find use of the early Church Fathers in the arguments of the Mortalists of the Roman Catholic Church. The Mortalists of the Eastern Orthodox Churches cite the Church Fathers and the Divine Liturgy in their defense of their position. Further research can be done from the findings in this thesis.

Keywords

Assumption of Mary; Dormition; Mortalist; Immortalist; Dogma Debate; Early Church; Church Fathers; Roman Catholic; Eastern Orthodox; Blessed Virgin Mary

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2024, author.

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