Did Mary remain a virgin all her life?
a passage states it a passage rules it out
Common ground
These are affirmed by more than one position, so a passage saying only this counts for none of them.
- Mary conceived Jesus as a virgin (virginal conception)
- Mary is called 'the Virgin' as a title in connection with Christ's birth
Perpetual virginity
Catholic OrthodoxThe deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man.Catechism of the Catholic Church, 499
What sets it apart: The passage says Mary stayed a virgin after Jesus' birth, or calls her ever-virgin, or says the Lord's brothers were not her children.
Formally defined: 'Ever-virgin' at the Second Council of Constantinople (553); Lateran Synod (649)
Earliest statement: Cyril of Alexandria, c. 444
Every deciding passage, earliest first
Cyril of Alexandria, c. 444
From Luke. “And it came to pass while they were there that the days were fulfilled for her to give birth, and she bore her son, the firstborn, and wrapped him and laid him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the lodging.” (Luke 2:6–7) The holy virgin has borne one and only son, Emmanuel. How then does it say “her son, the firstborn” (Romans 8:29)? For others have not come to be after him, and she has remained a virgin. So it is marked from the God-breathed scripture: the Only-begotten Word of God has been named firstborn. For he has shared blood and flesh and similarly to us …
- States: Perpetual virginity
- Rules out: Mary had other children
Translation in progress
Hesychius of Jerusalem, c. 450
The Virgin Mary kept her breasts untouched and nursed a child without knowing the child's father. She became a mother without becoming a bride, a remarkable and unprecedented event. A son was being raised, and yet, a father was not found. The field was bearing fruit, but the fruit had no farmer to tend to it. The beast gave birth, but it did not receive seed. A river was flowing, and its source was closed from everywhere, signifying that Mary had become a mother without suffering the things that mothers normally experience. She gave birth like a woman, but she was not corrupted like a woman. H…
- States: Perpetual virginity
- Rules out: Mary had other children