Hi I am new to the forums and Anglicanism (I received Baptism this past Sunday). I am hoping to grow into orthodoxy and I was wondering if devotion to Mary is or is not considered Anglican and if so to what extent. I will talk to my priest about this but since he is busy and for the sake of a thread i thought i would ask here. Thanks in advance.
Welcome aboard newsoul! May God richly bless your time here. And congratulations on your baptism my friend, wherein you were grafted into the Church, given the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and adopted as a child of God by the Holy Ghost. I think the answer to your question is that it depends. What does your devotion consist of? Do you pray to her? Do you say the Rosary? Anglicans thank God for the witness, ministry, and life of the BVM Mary, and her unique place in God's salvation story. Some do ask the BVM to pray for them, and some pray the Ave Maria, Angelus, and/or Rosary. In England the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is a frequently visited site for Anglo-Catholics or so I'm told.
Thank you for your gracious welcome I personally have not taken up any particular devotional practice, but i feel a very strong affinity to Mary; something I cannot quite put into words and so I wonder if there are any devotions to Her within proper Anglicanism. I would not want to do so if the Church considers it a waste of time or even heresy. Anyway it is probably just my impatience I am very excited as a new Christian and hope I will always be.
Making the recitation of the Magnificat a daily practice is a great way to honor her. Perhaps reading to collect from her feast day too.
You want to think carefully about what Mariology or any kind of non-Anglican devotion to the saints involves. Notice, you are diverting your pious gaze from God, and putting it on something or someone else. Instead of meditating on our Lord, you would be meditating on Mary. Instead of meditating on God the Father and the omnipotence under which the World is governed, you would be focused on Mary, again, a frail and mortal woman. This is the basic and essential danger with any kinds of 'devotions'. If they are not devotions to God and to God alone, it shows that God is not sufficiently interesting to you; he can't captivate you fully and so you turn to creatures like yourself. Whether you intend to or not, even if you rationalize that 'they pray on your behalf', you would make them objects of worship. It's one of the most common sins of mankind. There are two things we do really well: commit the sins of the flesh, and the sins of idolatry. We are ever-ready to commit pelvic sins, and ever-ready to pray and 'devote' ourselves to something other than God in all his majesty and variety. The orthodox Anglican sense excludes devotions to the saints. That being said I would encourage you to study Mary, pondering her choices (only one choice, really), and imitating that. The Magnificat is a wonderful devotion, but it is not a Marian devotion to Mary, it is a devotion to God (from Mary's lips). I would encourage you to study the saints, historically, not devotionally; they are remarkable cases of the true Christian prayer and devotion to God. As peter just said in the other thread,
*i haven't figured out how to reply to specific posts* Stalwart that is a very sound answer and exactly what I was looking for. Idolatry is so easy to slip into. Thanks all for your replies.
Ad Jesum per Mariam. Walsingham is also a pilgrimage site for Roman Catholics. By asking Our Blessed Mother to intercede for us , one is aware that no one will refuse their mother. As Our Blessed Mother is also Christs mother, this makes the Lord our brother. IMHO, the Blessed Mother as theotokis was the first and most perfect tabernacle as Christ was within her
Anglicanism preserved a place for the commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The 1662 BCP has in its calendar: Purification of Mary the Blessed Virgin, Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or Annunciation), Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as a black letter (minor) feast for her mother St. Anne/a. Additionally, my jurisdiction celebrates dormition (15 August).
From an Anglican perspective, Mariology is a difficult construct, simply because everything about Mary leads us to Jesus. John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ How you approach Mary will help shape your Christology. If, like some of the brethren you wish to write her out of the story, your Christology may become hard and legalistic, and you entire understanding of Jesus will be built in terms of atonement, sacrifice and offering. If you hold Mary entral to the story, then you will embrace the humanity of Christ and your Christology will be kinder, affirming and redemptive. If you only see the woman and fail to recognise the child in her arms, then you have missed who she is about, and all that he has to offer. I heard a sermon from Bishop Graham Leonard when he was Bishop of Truro, and I remember what he said to this day very clearly, and I share it now, as I feel it has helped me, and maybe it might help some of you. I have sometimes called it the sticky tape sermon as at the time there was a leading brand called 3M. Mary Matter Much Mass Matters More Mission Matters Most
This sets up an interesting question for me personally..at my last confession, my priest told me to consider how i have failed to honor my mother and father and i wonder exactly what it means to honor them, does it mean to do whatever they ask wrong or right? The fact that Christ has a mother is in itself beautiful.
I believe my church is using the most recent BCP but i was considering buying a 1662 edition but is it considered obsolete?
If youd like it would be nice to know what you mean by Mission. I was just reading a book by Thomas Merton where he said God's mission is our internal transformation or something to that effect. What do you think.
Obviously, since the Oxford movement, many Anglicans invoke saints, but this would have been considered idolatrous by the early Anglican divines. I suggest anyone who subscribes to the Anglican formularies take a good look not only at the 39 Articles but the homilies they enjoin and the actions of the bishops in the early days.
There is a saying in the East God became man that man might become God. I have always shied away from the expression, whilst acknowledging some of it's thrust. Jesus is indeed the mission in the flesh, the absolute reconciliation of God and humankind. That finds expression in the work of the Church embracing and welcoming new souls into the Kingdom, and also finds expression in the slow work of sanctification where on an going basis we submit ourselves to be more like Christ.
In practice, it is on its last legs. In theory, it is the base from which most English BCPs develope. The exception has been our American books and certain of the Canadian editions, which essentially paralleled our books. The Americans were more heavily influenced by the Scots, it is said, as a condition of +Samuel Seabury's consecration. But the most recent editions, especially "A New Zealand Prayer Book," have very little in common with the 1662. To study the 1662 is to get a taste of the consensus among the Caroline divines.