{{Short description|Doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, chose not to sin}} thumb|A fresco of ''The Marriage of the Virgin'' {{Mariology}} The '''sinlessness of Mary''' refers to the doctrine in which Mary, Mother of God chose not to sin.<ref name="Pavlatos2013"/><ref name="Divozzo2019"/> It is upheld by the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, as well as by high church Lutherans.<ref name="OCA2020">{{cite web |title=Sinlessness of Mary – Questions & Answers |url=https://www.oca.org/questions/saints/sinlessness-of-mary |publisher=Orthodox Church in America |access-date=21 January 2020 |language=English |quote=I can say, in short, that the Orthodox Church believes that Mary, as a human being, could indeed have sinned, but chose not to.}}</ref><ref name="Divozzo2019"/>
==Early Church== Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Cyril of Jerusalem developed the idea of Mary as the New Eve. So too, Ephrem the Syrian said she was as innocent as Eve before the Fall. Ambrose says she is incorrupt, a virgin immune through grace from every stain of sin. It was John Damascene's opinion that the supernatural influence of God at the generation of Mary was so comprehensive that it extended also to her parents. He says of them that, during the generation, they were filled and purified by the Holy Spirit, and freed from sexual concupiscence. Consequently, according to Damascene, even the human element of her origin, the material of which she was formed, was pure and holy. This opinion of an immaculate active generation and the sanctity of the "conceptio carnis" was taken up by some Western authors.<ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Immaculate Conception}}</ref> Many Greek and Byzantine Fathers asserted that Mary remained without sin throughout her entire life.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception: History and Significance |last=Dvornik |first=Francis |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |year=1958 |isbn=9780268000820 |pages=87–112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvSAAAAMAAJ |editor-last=O'Connor |editor-first=Edward D. |chapter=The Byzantine Church and the Immaculate Conception}}</ref>
By the 4th century the sinlessness of Mary was a common belief.<ref>{{Cite book |title = Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion |last = Shoemaker |first = Stephen J. |publisher = Yale University Press |year = 2016 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Fa8ODAAAQBAJ |isbn = 978-0-300-21953-1 |page=119}}</ref> Augustine in the 5th century upheld that Mary had no personal sin, but Augustine did not clearly affirm that she was free from original sin.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Haffner|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-yQbSmHMFwC&dq=Augustine+sinlessness+of+Mary&pg=PA77|title=The Mystery of Mary|date=2004|publisher=Gracewing Publishing|isbn=978-0-85244-650-8|language=en}}</ref> Ambrose also held similar views as Augustine concerning the sinlessness of Mary.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kreitzer|first1=Assistant Professor of History Beth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHs8DwAAQBAJ&dq=sinlessness+of+Mary&pg=PA40|title=Reforming Mary: Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Sermons of the Sixteenth Century|last2=Kreitzer|first2=Beth|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-516654-5|language=en}}</ref>
Protestant apologist, James White has argued that many Greek Fathers denied the sinlessness of Mary, this includes John Chrysostom,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Siker|first=Jeffrey S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XaNrCgAAQBAJ&dq=John+CHrysostom+sinlessness+of+Mary&pg=PA270|title=Jesus, Sin, and Perfection in Early Christianity|date=2015-08-31|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-40466-9|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=White|first=James|title=Mary--Another Redeemer?|publisher=Bethany House Publishers|year=1998}}</ref> Origen,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Longenecker|first1=Dwight|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqJ9hi4epJYC&dq=sinlessness+of+Mary+early+church&pg=PA103|title=Mary: A Catholic Evangelical Debate|last2=Gustafson|first2=David|date=2003|publisher=Gracewing Publishing|isbn=978-0-85244-582-2|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Basil, and Cyril of Alexandria.<ref name=":0" /> J.N.D. Kelly also argued that Tertullian and Hilary of Poitiers believed that Mary had imperfections.<ref name=":0" /><ref>N.B. White cites Ludwig Ott, a Roman Catholic theologian White, James (1998). ''Mary--Another Redeemer?''. Bethany House Publishers. page 203; See in White, Mary another Redemer, page 32 (ePub ed.)</ref>
=== Origen of Alexandria === In Origen's Homilies on Luke xvii.6 he states:
<blockquote>Thereupon Simeon says, "a sword will pierce your very soul" (Lk 2.35). Which sword is this that pierced not only others' hearts, but even Mary's? Scripture clearly records that, at the time of the Passion, all the apostles were scandalized. The Lord himself said, "This night you will all be scandalized" (Mk 14.27). Thus, they were all so scandalized that Peter too, the leader of the apostles, denied him three times. Why do we think that the mother of the Lord was immune from scandal when the apostles were scandalized? If she did not suffer scandal at the Lord's Passion, then Jesus did not die for her sins. But, if "all have sinned and lack God's glory, but are justified by his grace and redeemed" (Rom 3.23) then Mary too was scandalized at that time."<ref> Origen., and Joseph T. Lienhard. Homilies on Luke Fragments on Luke. Washington, D.C: Catholic University of America Press, 1996.; page 73</ref></blockquote>
== Christian denominations teaching the sinlessness of Mary == === Eastern Orthodoxy === The Eastern Orthodox Churches teach that while Mary "inherited the same fallen nature, prone to sin" as with other humans, "she did not consent to sin through her free will."<ref name="Pavlatos2013">{{cite web |last1=Pavlatos |first1=Timothy |title=The Sinlessness of Mary the Mother of God |url=https://stjohngoc.org/the-sinlessness-of-mary-the-mother-of-god |publisher=St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church |access-date=21 January 2020 |language=English |date=18 July 2013}}</ref> Due to being conceived in ancestral sin, Mary still needed "to be delivered by our Savior, her Son" according to Eastern Orthodox teaching.<ref name="Pavlatos2013"/> Mary is also, according to the Eastern Orthodox teaching, ''Aeiparthenos'', which means "ever-virgin".
=== Oriental Orthodoxy === There is no official doctrine in the Pan-Oriental Orthodox Church regarding the Immaculate Conception. However, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Eritrean Orthodox Church believe that Mary did not contract ancestral sin at her conception. For Ethiopians, this is attested by the Council of Scholar and approved by the Holy Synod.
=== Lutheranism === {{further|Lutheran Mariology}} Martin Luther taught the lifelong sinlessness of Mary, a doctrine inherited by certain adherents of the high church Lutheran tradition.<ref name="Divozzo2019">{{cite book |last1=Divozzo |first1=R. |title=Mary for Protestants |date=2019 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-5326-7585-0 |language=English}}</ref> The Smalcald Articles, a Lutheran confession of faith, declare "that the Son became man in this manner: he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, without the cooperation of man, and was born of the pure, holy, and ever-virgin Mary."<ref>Chapman, Mark E. (1997) "A Lutheran Response to the Theme of the Virgin Mary as Mother of God, Icon of the Church and Spiritual Mother of Intercession," Marian Studies: Vol. 48, Article 12. Page 4.</ref> The theologian Kristofer Carlson, in explicating the Book of Concord, writes that "When Lutherans confess Mary as pure & holy, it is a reference to the chastity and sinlessness of Mary."<ref name="Carlson2014">{{cite book |last1=Carlson |first1=Kristofer J. |title=Why Mary Matters: Protestants and the Virgin Mary |date=2014 |publisher=Dormition Press |language=English}}</ref> Certain Lutheran denominations, such as the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, however, assert that "Jesus Christ, came to save people from their sins, including Mary."<ref>{{cite web |title=Lutheran view of Mary |url=https://wels.net/faq/lutheran-view-of-mary/ |publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |access-date=5 September 2025 |date=23 January 2019}}</ref>
== Comparison with Catholic doctrine == {{further|Catholic Mariology}} The Catholic Church teaches the Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception, that Mary was conceived without original sin. <ref name="Baker2016">{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Kenneth |title=Fundamentals of Catholicism, Vol. 2 |date=2016 |publisher=Ignatius Press |isbn=978-1-68149-732-7 |language=English}}</ref>
Outside of dogma, there is a common belief that Mary was also sinless personally. Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical ''Mystici corporis Christi'' from holds that Mary, was "free from all sin, original or personal".<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi_en.html Encyclical ''Mystici Corporis'', 110] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317235459/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi_en.html |date=March 17, 2009 }}</ref>
Kenneth Baker writes that: {{blockquote|Two special factors rendered Mary impeccable or unable to sin. The first was her constant awareness of God, living always in His presence, and the second was her reception of special and extraordinary graces. These special graces made it possible for Mary to maintain a perfect harmony in her mind, will and emotions and to recognize always what was the right thing to do and then to do it.<ref name="Baker2016"/>}}
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that by the grace of God "Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1K.HTM|access-date=2021-07-12|website=www.vatican.va}}</ref>
== References == {{Wikiquote}} {{reflist}}
Category:Mariology Category:Eastern Orthodox Mariology Category:Lutheran theology Category:Protestant views on Mary