"Born of the Virgin Mary ... " According to St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Justin Martyr and St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Abstract

Saint Ignatius of Antioch' s declaration in his Letter to the Ephesians that: "The virginity of Mary, and her giving birth were hidden from the Prince of this world, as was also the death of the Lord. Three great mysteries which were wrought in the stillness of God", reveals how much some second century Fathers of the Church and early Christian writers, felt at a loss of precise and orthodox formulas to express in writing some solid formulas of the Christian Faith. Not that they personally hesitated in any way to adhere to them in all faith, and to defend with them with their lives, if the necessity arose; in some cases, they believed that they must have been divinely transmitted truths, as proof, for instance, for the belief, in the case of the above, in the complete divinity and complete humanity of the Person of Christ. His real descent on earth, though a truly humble one indeed, was yet, at the same time, one which so admirably expressed His fully perfect human appearance. In face of these seemingly low-keyed declarations of such an august mystery, one must not forget, however, the extent to which second century theology, was, after all, so deeply aware and at times influenced also by the encounters with early Gnosis, Christian, as well as unorthodox.