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mariologydogmati00pohl - Carmel Apologetics

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MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD n<br />

Mary did not bring forth the Godhead as such, but<br />

merely a Divine Person, she is truly the Mother<br />

of God. The fact that she conceived and gave<br />

birth to the body but not to the spiritual soul<br />

of her son in no way derogates from her mother-<br />

hood. "No one will say of Elizabeth," observes<br />

St. Cyril to Nestorius, "that she is the mother of<br />

St. John's flesh, but not of his soul; for she gave<br />

birth to the person of the Baptist, L e., a, human<br />

being composed of body and soul." 31<br />

Mary not only gave birth to the Divine Logos, she<br />

also conceived Him. If it could be shown that she con-<br />

ceived a mere man, even though this man was subsequently,<br />

before his birth, transformed into a Godman,<br />

Nestorius would have been justified in denying her the<br />

title of deoroKos, for in that hypothesis she would indeed<br />

have been a mere avOpwiroroKos, since motherhood is<br />

founded on the act of conception. It was with a view<br />

to safeguard the dogma of the Hypostatic Union that the<br />

Church dogmatically defined the temporal coincidence of<br />

Christ's conception with the Hypostatic Union. 32<br />

The conception of Christ includes three simultaneous<br />

events: (i) the formation of His human body from<br />

the maternal ovum; (2) the creation and infusion into<br />

that body of a spiritual soul; and (3) the Hypostatic<br />

Union of body and soul, per modum unius, with the<br />

Divine Person of the Logos. When Mary said : " Be-<br />

hold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me accord-<br />

31 Epist. ad Monach.<br />

32 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Christology, pp. 166 sqq.

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