On the Lord's Genealogy and on the Holy Theotokos

IN THE preceding discussions we have, to a limited extent, discussed the holy, supremely praiseworthy, ever-virgin Mary, the Theotokos, setting out the most important point, namely, that she is literally and truly Theotokos and is called such. Now let us complete what still remains to be said. For she was predetermined by the eternal foreknowing will of God, and was symbolized and proclaimed in advance through the Spirit by the various images and words of the prophets, and so at the predetermined time sprouted from the rock of David in accordance with the promises made to him. “For the Lord,” it says, “swore to David in truth and will not set it aside. From the fruit of your belly I shall set one upon your throne” (Ps. 131:11)). And again: His line shall continue forever, and his throne shall be before me like the sun and like the moon that is established forever, and the witness in the sky is trustworthy” (Ps. 88:36-38). And Isaiah: “A shoot shall come forth out of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from the root” (Is. 11:1).

That Joseph descended from the tribe of David is stated explicitly by both Matthew and Luke, the most holy evangelists (Mt. 1:1-16; Lk 3:23-38). But Matthew traces his descent from David through Solomon, whereas Luke has him descended from Nathan. Both of them are silent about the birth of the holy Virgin.

One needs to know that it was not a custom among the Hebrews or in holy Scripture for the genealogy of the female line to be given. But there was a law that one tribe should not marry into another (Num 36:6-9). And since Joseph, who was a descendent of the tribe of David, was a righteous man (for this is testified about him by the divine gospel [Mt. 1:19]), he would not have taken the holy Virgin in marriage, unless she were descended from the same tribe. It was therefore sufficient to have shown the descent of Joseph.

One also needs to know the following. It was the law that when a man died without issue, his brother was to marry the wife of the deceased and raise up offspring for his brother. The child thus born belonged by nature to the second, that is to say, to the one that had begotten it, but by law to the deceased (Deut. 25:5-6).

So from the line of Nathan the son of David, Levi was the father of Melchi and Panther. Panther was the father of Barpanther, so called. This Barpanther was the father of Joachim, and Joachim was the father of the holy Theotokos. From the line of Solomon the son of David, Matthan took a wife by whom he begot Jacob. When Mathan died, Melchi of the tribe of Nathan, son of Levi and brother of Panther, married Matthan’s wife, the mother of Jacob, and by her had Heli. There were therefore two brothers from the same mother, Jacob and Heli, but Jacob was the tribe of Solomon, whereas Heli was of the tribe of Nathan. Now Heli, the one who was of the tribe of Nathan, died childless. And Jacob, his brother of the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and begot Joseph. Therefore Joseph, although by nature son of Jacob and descended from Solomon, was by law son of Heli descended from Nathan.

Then Joachim married the modest and praiseworthy Anna. But just as the earlier Ann was barren but through prayer and a promise gave birth to Samuel (1 Kg. 1:9-20), so this Anna, too, as a result of intercession and a promise, received the Theotokos from God, that even in this matter she might not fall short of any of her eminent predecessors. Grace, then (for this is the translation of Anna) gave birth to the Lady (for this is what the name Mary means, for she truly became Lady of all creatures, since she was called mother of the Creator). She was born in Joachim’s house at the Sheepgate and was brought to the Temple. Then planted in the House of God and tended by the Holy Spirit, she became, “like a fruitful olive tree” (Ps. 51:10), the abode of every virtue, having put out of her mind every worldly and carnal desire, and thus keeping her soul virginal as well as her body, as was fitting for one who was to receive God in her womb. For since God is holy, he reposes in holy people. She thus shared in holiness and proved worthily to be a holy and wonderful temple of the God Most High.

The enemy of our salvation kept virgins under observation on account of Isaiah’s prophecy. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb,” he says, “and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us’” (Mt. 1:23; cf. Is. 7:14). Because of this, so that “he who catches the wise in their craftiness” (1 Cor. 3:19; cf. Job 5:12-13) might deceive him who prides himself on his wisdom, the young woman was given by the priests to Joseph in betrothal, as the new book to one who is learned (fn. 16: The scholarly image of “the new book” is a biblical allusion, Isaiah, the prophet of the coming of Christ, was commanded to take a ”new book” and write in it – Is. 8:1, LXX). The betrothal was a protection for the Virgin, and a ruse to lead astray him who kept virgins under observation. “But when the fullness of time had come” (Gal. 4:4), an angel of the Lord was sent to her to announce the conception of the Lord. And it was thus that she conceived the Son of God, the enhypostatic power of the Father, “not by the will of the flesh, or by the will of a man” (Jn 1:13), that is to say, by sexual union and procreation, but by the good will of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. She furnished the Creator with the means of being created, and the Fashioner with the means of being fashioned, and the Son of God and God with the means of being enfleshed and becoming human from her pure and undeviled flesh and blood, thus paying the debt of the first mother. For just as the latter was fashioned from the side of Adam without sexual union, so too did the former bring forth the new Adam by the law of conception and of a birth that transcended nature. For He who was from a Father without a mother was brought forth from a woman without a father. And because He was brought forth from a woman, it was by the law of conception, but because this occurred without a father, it was by a birth that transcended nature. And because this occurred at the normal time (for he was born at the end of the nine-month period and had entered on the tenth month) it was by the law of conception. But because it was without pain, it was a birth beyond the law of birth. For as it had not been preceded by pleasure, it was not followed by pain, in accordance with the prophet who said: “Before she was in labor she gave birth” (Is. 66:7), and again: “Before the time of labor came upon her, she escaped and delivered a male” (Ibid.).

And so the Son of God was born from her and became God made flesh, not a God-bearing man, but God enfleshed, not as a prophet anointed by [external] operation but by the presence of the whole of the anointer, so that the anointer became man and the anointed became God, not by a change of nature but by hypostatic union. For the same was both the anointer and the anointed, as God anointing Himself as man. How, then, was she who gave birth to God incarnate from her own person not Theotokos? In reality she is literally and truly Theotokos and Lady and Mistress of all created beings, since she has been called handmaid and mother of the Creator. When He was conceived, He kept her who had conceived Him a virgin. In the same way, when He was born He kept her shut. The conception took place through the sense of hearing but the birth took place through the usual passage through which children are born, even if some invent tales of His being born from the side of the Mother of God. For it was not impossible that He should pass through the gate without breaking its seals.

Thus the Ever-Virgin remained a virgin even after giving birth and in no way had any association with a man until her death. Even if it is written: “he did not know her until she had given birth to her first-born son” (Mt. 1:25; Lk 2:7), one should know that “first-born” is the first to be born even if it is the only child. To be born first does not necessarily imply the birth of others. The word “until” indicates the interval up to the appointed time; it does not exclude the time after it. For the Lord says, “Behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age” (Mt. 28:30), not implying that He will be separated from us after the end of the age. It is thus that the Apostle says: “And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:17), meaning after the general resurrection.

For how could she who had given birth to God and been aware of the miracle from subsequent experience have accepted sexual union with a man? Perish the thought! The thinking of such things does not belong to chaste thought, let alone putting them into practice.

Nevertheless, at the time of the Passion this blessed woman, who was considered worthy of gifts that transcended nature, suffered the pains that she had escaped while giving birth. Out of material love she endured heart-rending pain, and seeing the one whom she knew by the manner of His birth to be God put to death as a criminal, she was torn apart in her thoughts as if by a sword. This is the meaning of “and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Lk. 2:35). But her grief was transformed by the joy of the resurrection that proclaimed the one who had died in the flesh to be God.

St John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith, trans. Norman Russell (Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2022), pp. 254-258. Available for purchase at Eighth Day Books.