Additae Salvator: On the Eastern Orthodox Doctrine of Mary as Another Savior

Gregory Palamas teaches of the blessed virgin Mary: “She alone forms the boundary between created and uncreated nature, and no one can come to God except through her and the mediator born of her, and none of God’s gifts can be bestowed on angels or men except through her. As in the case with lamps on earth constructed of glass or some other transparent material, it is impossible to look at the light or enjoy its rays except through the lamp, so it is beyond the reach of all to look upwards to God or be helped by Him to make progress in any direction, except through the Ever-Virgin, this God-bearing lamp who is truly radiant with divine brightness.” (The Homilies, "On the Entrance into the Temple," 53.37, pg 431; cf. Homily 37.15, 17, 18, pgs 296-297)

The relevant portion of Homily 37, "On the Dormition," 37.15 reads: “She alone stands at the border between the created and uncreated nature, and no one can come to God unless he is truly illumined by her, the true lamp of divine radiance.”

The relevant portion of Homily 37.17 reads: “... from now on for endless eternity all progress towards the manifestation of divine light, every revelation of divine mysteries, and all forms of spiritual gifts are beyond everyone’s grasp without her.”

The relevant portion of Homily 37.18 reads: “So as many as will share in God will do so through her… She is the cause of what preceded her, the protectress of what comes after her, and she procures eternity.”

If someone cannot see that the EO has turned Mary into an eternal co-savior and gatekeeper to Jesus, then it is a great wonder, for “no one can come to God unless he is truly illumined by her.” It is not merely "flowery language." The Flowery Language Defense will not work. It is rather purposeful and meant with all sobriety and gravity.

The theological notion of her help is also clearly opposed to being reduced to any kind of merely historical sense. She then and now "forms" and "stands at the boundary," and "no one can [presently] come to God unless he is truly illumined by her," and this is so "from now on for endless eternity." Therefore, in the EO conception, apart from her present help no one can approach God, who is Himself the divine light. Without Mary dispensing Christ, one cannot have eternal life, for "she is both the treasury and the treasurer of the riches of the Godhead" (The Homilies, 53.39, pg 432), and it is she who "procures eternity" for you, according to the EO.

For more on Palamas, see here.

-The Reformed Ninja


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