Much has been made of P.Ryl. III 470, which
preserves an early witness to the antiphon Sub tuum praesidium, a prayer
for protection addressed directly to the Theotokos. But it is less
certain now that this papyrus should be assigned to the fourth century, let
alone the third century; it probably belongs to the sixth or seventh
century, or even later, though scholars of the cult of Mary have been
either unaware of, or slow to accept, recent paleographical examinations of the
papyrus. The most common name for churches or other sites dedicated to Mary in
Egypt is “holy Mary,” an expression that appears from the fifth century onward.
Considerably fewer sites are dedicated to the Theotokos, a name that
first appears in the sixth century. In fact, the predominance of “holy Mary,” a
form of regard used for other saints as well, has prompted the suggestion that
Mary was revered as one saint among many others in Egypt. Indeed, at
Oxyrhynchus in the early sixth century, liturgies were celebrated either more
frequently or as frequently at churches dedicated to several other saints than
at the church dedicated to Mary. (Theodore De Bruyn, “Appeals
to the Intercessions of Mary in Greek Liturgical and Paraliturgical Texts from
Egypt,” in Presbeia Theotokou: The Intercessory Role of Mary across
Times and Places in Byzantium (4th–9th Century), ed. Leena Mari Peltomaa,
Andreas Külzer, and Pauline Allen [Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademia
der Wissenschaften, 2015], 116-17, emphasis in bold added)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift
card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift
Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
