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Also See Mary Who?
Mary's appeal is a growing phenomenon that has spread far beyond the traditional borders of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. With many more shrines dedicated to her than even Christ, she is rapidly becoming the "queen of ecumenism" someone whom diverse religions can honor, rally around and even worship without offending their respective theologies. The Los Angeles Times reported that "A growing number of Americans from all Christian denominations are reaching out to the Virgin Mary as a comforting conduit of spirituality and a symbol of peace in troubled times ...It's not just Catholics who are interested in Mary and following the apparitions.
And
The Real Mary of The Bible
We know the Mary of the Bible was obedient to God's call to the point she was willing to risk her life as well as her future marriage and be the topic of slanderous gossip. She had faith to believe the impossible, pointed people away from herself to the teachings and directives of Jesus and mourned at the foot of the cross. She was also one of the over one hundred people who waited in the upper room for the Holy Spirit. In spite of all the above there is much more information in Scripture about other servants of God such as Moses, Abraham, the apostle Paul, etc. Additionally, She did not author any of the Bible nor was she martyred for her faith...
ON THIS PAGE
Emphasis Mine In Bible Verses
The Recurring Tendency Of Mankind To Worship A Mother-Goddess
The Mother Goddesses
Perhaps because motherhood is a universal reality mankind seems to have a deep seated need for the Eternal Feminine. Thus virtually every culture features primary female deities - mother goddesses who embody the concepts of motherhood, fertility, and creation who are often viewed as the life-giving source of all existence including gods and humans.
The worship of mother goddesses has come down from early prehistoric fertility cults to sophisticated organized religions and remains a significant part of modern Pagan beliefs. Although they are too numerous to count, some of the best known examples are
Cybele known as Great Idaean Mother of the Gods whose cult seems to have originated in Phrygia, a kingdom in Asia Minor (now in west-central Turkey) but spread to Greece and eventually became a major cult of the Roman Empire. In Homeric Hymn 14 she is "the Mother of all gods and all human beings." She was readily assimilated with several Greek goddesses, especially Rhea whose raucous, ecstatic rites she may have acquired. As an exemplar of devoted motherhood, she was partly assimilated with Demeter. Below
Egyptian Isis who represented maternal strength was considered the most powerful magician among the deities. Although she originated in Egypt, her cult spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.
Incidentally The Daughters of Isis is an organization that serves as the female auxiliary to the Prince Hall Shriners. HERE
Demeter was the Greek goddess of agriculture, grain and bread who presided over the foremost of the Mystery Cults which promised its initiates the path to a blessed afterlife
Hestia who swore to an eternal virginity was worshipped as a virgin goddess.
One of the oldest examples was the goddess Ninhursag, who was said to have given birth to both gods and humans.
The Sumerians also worshipped the fertility goddess Inanna, who was later called Ishtar by the Babylonians.' [01]
Very often these 'goddesses were adopted' by local cultures and took on the characteristics of local deities. In Mary's case she is seen as the protector and nourisher of a divine child (and by extension of all humanity) thus is frequently depicted in iconography as holding a child in her arms.
Pagan Goddess Worship Transferred to Mary
The societies of the time of the first apostles were
... steeped in a world of gods and semi-divine human beings. Doubtless for many converts to Christianity, the old ways of thinking could not have been easily shed, even after Baptism... the loss of the feminine element in Western Christianity created a "Goddess-shaped gap." The Virgin Mary was the obvious candidate to fill that gap". [02]
From Artemis/Diana of Ephesus to Mary
Artemis (known to the Romans as Diana) the chief goddess of Ephesus was the most influential goddess of the time - her magnificent temple constructed entirely of marble was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and attracted pilgrims from across the Mediterranean.
Worshiped as a mother, protector, and healer her roots were so deeply embedded in the community and culture that "even when facing the onslaught of early Christianity, she could not be deposed. Instead, she survived the conquering of this new religion under the guise of Mary, Mother of Jesus." [03]
In 431 AD, at the Council of Ephesus, the Virgin Mary was officially proclaimed Theotokos (Mother of God) which some argue acted as a functional replacement for the titles given to Artemis. Many scholars believe this was more than a theological debate - it was a cultural shift. The reverence once given to Artemis as Queen of Heaven was now transferred to Mary in Ephesus.
Footnote I - How the original meaning of Theotokos was misunderstood then changed
And The Council of Ephesus... The Third Ecumenical Council in 431 AD
Reverence for her was as so deeply entrenched in the community of this city, that after her temple was destroyed, and Christian churches were built on top of her sacred places, her citizens brought forward the only female character in the new ruling religion of Christianity, the Virgin Mary, and re-named her Theotokos, Mother of God, within its city walls.
The fundamental position of this work is that a fusion took place between the ancient worship of Artemis in Ephesus, and the elevation of Mary to Theotokos, and that this fusion is not a result of the church-initiated action to convert the Ephesians, but rather the Ephesians forcing the early church to accommodate their traditions of Artemis by re-shaping and re-interpreting the authority and responsibilities of the Virgin Mary. [04]
The memory of Artemis/Diana lived on even after her temple was destroyed making it very likely that it influenced how Ephesians later understood the Virgin Mary. In other words, existing local practices were adapted to Christian beliefs - Artemis/Diana's position as an object of worship and queen of heaven was replaced by the Virgin Mary and genuinely participated and
Mary became the "Queen of Heaven"
After all
if Eve sinned and humanity was doomed through the error a woman, how can humanity saved without the faithfulness of a woman? We need a Mary that genuinely participated in the story of salvation to reverse the damage that was done during the fall. [05]
The Book of Revelation addresses Ephesus with the words:
"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first" (Revelation. 2:4).
Some interpretations suggest this may also refer to the shift from worship of God to a devotion to Mary that resembled the old cult of Artemis.
Also See The City of Ephesus... From Diana To Mary
Footnote I "Mother of God" vs. Theotokos
There is a subtle but important difference between the title "Mother of God" and the word Theotokos
"Mother of God" implies that Mary was the originator of God thus predated Him. This is clearly unbiblical as God is eternal - nothing and no one predated Him.
On the other hand
"Theotokos" simply implies that Mary carried God in her womb and gave birth to Him in His human form.
In other words, Mary contributed to the development of Jesus' human not divine nature. She was the human agent through whom the Son of God took on a human body and a human nature and entered the world, thus it is not wrong to say that Mary carried God in her womb - she was the "God-bearer"
And that is exactly how the Council of Ephesus used the word to express the Incarnation. However, as said in an article on Pulpit and Pen,
Even though the term Theotokos was originally used to help explain the Incarnation, many people today use the term, or the related mother of God, to communicate something different. Through the years, many legends accumulated around the person of Mary, and she became an object of worship in her own right. About 350 years after the Council of Ephesus used the term Theotokos in reference to Mary, the Second Council of Nicaea declared, "We honor and salute and reverently venerate . . . the image of . . . our spotless Lady the all-holy mother of God."
This shows the trend within the Roman Church to move from a focus on the Incarnation of God to a veneration of the "Mother of God," even to the point of honoring her images and praying to her as the "Queen of Heaven," "Benefactress," and "Mediatrix." The necessity of such veneration is not implied by the term Theotokos, but some people wrongly infer it. [06] {PLACE IN TEXT}
End Notes - Chapter 4
[01] [Mother goddess. EBSCO Information Services, Inc.
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/mother-goddess
[02] Miriam Lambouras .The Marian Apparitions: Divine Intervention or Delusion?
http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/marian_apparitions.aspx
[03] The Enduring Goddess: Artemis and Mary, Mother of Jesus
https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/items/c1098527-4ba6-4061-a8cb-13b51d78aa20
[04] ibid.
[05] The History of Mary Veneration: A Protestant Perspective
https://classictheology.org/2021/11/29/the-history-of-mary-veneration-a-protestant-prospective/
[06] Why calling Mary "Mother of God" at Christmas Time is Not Helpful
https://pulpitandpen.org/2018/12/22/why-calling-mary-mother-of-god-at-christmas-time-is-not-helpful/
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