Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Chapter 42 of the Panarion by Epiphanius vs. the Bodily Assumption of Mary

In chapter 42 of his Panarion ("Against Marcionites"), Epiphanius wrote of his hope that Mary will inherit/enter the Kingdom of Heaven in the then-future, further providing evidence he did not believe in her bodily assumption:

 

But let me make the point with other proofs as well. For Paul says, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”181 How can the holy Mary not inherit the kingdom of heaven, flesh and all, when she did not commit fornication or uncleanness or adultery or do any of the intolerable deeds of the flesh, but remained undefiled? (f ) Therefore Paul does not mean that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, but means carnal men who do evil with the flesh—fornication, idolatry and the like. (g) And your villainy has been exposed by every method, you misguided Marcion, since the truth has anticipated you everywhere, and safeguards the trustworthiness of the message of life. (The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis Book 1 (Sects 1-46) [2d ed.; Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Volume 63; trans. Frank Williams; Leiden: Brill, 2009], 341)

 

Further Reading


Refuting Taylor Marshall on the Bodily Assumption of Mary


Stephen J. Shoemaker, Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption