The Description, "Blessed Among Women," in the Angelic Address

Reading through the writing of one of the Latin speaking fathers, I encountered a point that I had not previously considered in terms of the testimony of the Scripture regarding Mary, the mother of my Lord.  If I recall correctly, the author was considering the question of why does Paul say, "made of a woman," rather than "made of a virgin."  I disagreed with the author's answer to the question, but it got me thinking about a similar issue in Luke 1. 

Recall that in Luke 1, after the stage is set (vss. 26-27), the angel initially greets Mary (vs. 28), she was troubled (but apparently only in her mind, not in her words, vs. 29), and then the angel clarifies his statement (vss. 30-33), and Mary politely challenges the statement on the basis of her virginity (vs. 34).  Finally, the angel clarifies and offers a further sign in confirmation (vss. 35-37).  Mary acknowledges her instructions and task and the angel leaves (vs. 38).

Looking at the individual parts:

Luke 1:26-28 - And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin (παρθένον) espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's (παρθένου) name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, [thou that art] highly favoured, the Lord [is] with thee: blessed [art] thou among women (γυναιξίν).

Notice that the angel does not say "blessed art thou among virgins," nor "blessed art thou amongst maidens," but "blessed art thou among women." Notice as well that the angel says "the Lord is with thee" and refers to her as "highly favored" (perfect passive participle).  Finally (yet first), "Hail," is literally "Rejoice" (present active imperative).

Blessed Among Women

What does it mean to be blessed among women?  While other passages may be relevant (such as Genesis 49:25 and Deuteronomy 7:13), the first woman individually referred to as blessed is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite.  

In context, the blessing of Jael stands in opposition to the curse of Meroz:

Judges 5:23-24 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

Nevertheless, the nature of the curse and of the blessing is not spelled out.  Perhaps the only intention is that they will be respectively cursed with infamy and blessed with fame. 

Is it an interesting coincidence that Heber the Kenite lived near Kedesh:

Judges 4:11 - Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

Moreover, this Kedesh was a city of refuge, and its location was Galilee:

Joshua 20:7 - And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.

Moreover, note that Mary was at this time in Nazareth, which is also in Galilee.  Perhaps just a coincidence, but an interesting one.

Another woman to be individually blessed is Hannah:

1 Samuel 2:18-21 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home.

In this case, the nature of the blessing is that woman will have babies.  This is consistent with other Old Testament blessing of women.  For example:

Genesis 24:60 - And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

Genesis 30:13 - And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

While the text doesn't say "bless," the same concept is used with respect to the Egyptians midwives:

Exodus 1:20-21 - Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

The exception seems to be David's blessing of Abigail:

1Samuel 25:32-33 And David said to Abigail, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.

Although David went on shortly thereafter to take Abigail (then widow) to be his wife (1 Samuel 25:42) and to bear him a son named Daniel (1 Chronicles 3:1).

Wisdom literature has two references as well that, while they have some connection to fertility could just be more general blessings: 

Proverbs 31:28 - Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

Song of Songs 6:9 - My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

The Apocrypha are not inspired Scripture.  Nevertheless, I have also considered their usage.  Tobit contains one blessing of a woman, which is in the context of a marriage between Sara and Tobias (Tobit 7:13).  The blessing seems to have (at least implicitly) included a blessing of children (cf. Tobit 9:6 & Tobit 10:12) although it may have been a general blessing as in Tobit 11:1 of Raguel and his wife and in 11:17 of Sara his daughter-in-law once again.

Chapters 13-15 of Judith recount blessings given to Judith:

Judith 13:18-20 Then said Ozias unto her, O daughter, blessed art thou of the most high God above all the women upon the earth; and blessed be the Lord God, which hath created the heavens and the earth, which hath directed thee to the cutting off of the head of the chief of our enemies. For this thy confidence shall not depart from the heart of men, which remember the power of God for ever. And God turn these things to thee for a perpetual praise, to visit thee in good things because thou hast not spared thy life for the affliction of our nation, but hast revenged our ruin, walking a straight way before our God. And all the people said; So be it, so be it.

Judith 14:6-7 Then they called Achior out of the house of Ozias; and when he was come, and saw the head of Holofernes in a man's hand in the assembly of the people, he fell down on his face, and his spirit failed. But when they had recovered him, he fell at Judith's feet, and reverenced her, and said, Blessed art thou in all the tabernacles of Juda, and in all nations, which hearing thy name shall be astonished.

Judith 14:9-13 And when they came unto her, they blessed her with one accord, and said unto her, Thou art the exaltation of Jerusalem, thou art the great glory of Israel, thou art the great rejoicing of our nation: Thou hast done all these things by thine hand: thou hast done much good to Israel, and God is pleased therewith: blessed be thou of the Almighty Lord for evermore. And all the people said, So be it. And the people spoiled the camp the space of thirty days: and they gave unto Judith Holofernes his tent, and all his plate, and beds, and vessels, and all his stuff: and she took it and laid it on her mule; and made ready her carts, and laid them thereon. Then all the women of Israel ran together to see her, and blessed her, and made a dance among them for her: and she took branches in her hand, and gave also to the women that were with her. And they put a garland of olive upon her and her maid that was with her, and she went before all the people in the dance, leading all the women: and all the men of Israel followed in their armour with garlands, and with songs in their mouths.

While some of these are reminiscent of the blessing of Jael, they do not seem to have anything directly to do with fertility.  Indeed, the author of Judith seems to suggest that Judith lived as a chaste (and chased) widow:

Judith 16:22 And many desired her, but none knew her all the days of her life, after that Manasses her husband was dead, and was gathered to his people.

Wisdom of Solomon has some curiously subversive expressions, which seem (in their satire) to point to the usual understanding:

Wisdom 3:10-19 But the ungodly shall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the righteous, and forsaken the Lord. For whoso despiseth wisdom and nurture, he is miserable, and their hope is vain, their labours unfruitful, and their works unprofitable: Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked: Their offspring is cursed. Wherefore blessed is the barren that is undefiled, which hath not known the sinful bed: she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls. And blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands hath wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for unto him shall be given the special gift of faith, and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord more acceptable to his mind. For glorious is the fruit of good labours: and the root of wisdom shall never fall away. As for the children of adulterers, they shall not come to their perfection, and the seed of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted out. For though they live long, yet shall they be nothing regarded: and their last age shall be without honour. Or, if they die quickly, they have no hope, neither comfort in the day of trial. For horrible is the end of the unrighteous generation.

This curse on the wicked creates a distortion of the usual.  Usually, children and fertility are blessing, but not for the wicked.

The remainder of the Apocrypha did not seem to have any particularly relevant material.  

What then, is the most natural understanding of "blessed (perfect passive participle) among women"? The most natural understanding is: "Congratulations, you're pregnant!" That is a very odd greeting for Mary, though, considering that she is a virgin.  The difference between a virgin and a woman is usually intercourse, but Mary had not had that yet.  Therefore, the greeting was confusing at best.

In fairness, if it was just "thou art blessed" it might still be confusing, or if Mary thought it should be understood in a Jael-Judith sense of being blessed for some great deed she had done, as she hadn't done anything especially remarkable yet.  It would be confusing for the same reason as the next statement we will consider, "highly favored."

The "Highly favored" (perfect passive participle) is also potentially a confusing statement to Mary.  She was engaged to marry Joseph, a carpenter - of noble lineage, but not particularly wealthy or powerful. Why does the angel consider her to have been highly favored (already in the past, with some continuing effect, just like the "blessed")?

Once again, the only context clue seems to lie either in the "among women" (i.e. pregnancy) or perhaps in another phrase of the address: "Lord [is] with thee."  This phrase could have two senses.  One sense is the more obvious and the other the more prophetic.

The more obvious sense is the sense as used in Genesis 26:28, Judges 6:12 (by an angel), 1 Samuel 17:37, 1 Samuel 20:13, 2 Samuel 7:3, and 1 Chronicles 22:16, where the phrase carries the sense of wishing that God would be or saying that God is on the person's side, as in the familiar English farewell ("goodbye" from God be with you). 

The more prophetic sense seems to be harking back to the prophecy of the Messiah's birth:

Isaiah 7:14 - Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Recall that Immanuel means "God with us."  Indeed, this was later explained to Joseph by an angel in a dream:

Matthew 1:20-23 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Moreover, pregnancy is frequently described as being "with child" (Genesis 16:11, Genesis 19:36, Genesis 38:25, Exodus 21:22, 1 Samuel 4:19, 2 Samuel 11:5, 2 Kings 8:12, 2 Kings 15:16, Ecclesiastes 11:5, Isaiah 26:17-18, Isaiah 54:1, Jeremiah 30:6, Jeremiah 31:8, Hosea 13:16, and Amos 1:13).

Finally, note that the address starts with "Rejoice!" This imperative verb in this conjugation is always translated as "Hail" in the KJV, namely in the phrases "Hail, master ..." or "Hail, King of the Jews."  It certainly can serve this purpose.  We don't use "Cheers" in precisely the same way, but most English speakers will recognize that "Cheers!" has a specific rhetorical meaning, that is not necessarily about cheerfulness.

While there is good reason to translate it in this way from the fact that it is part of a salutation, the literal meaning of "rejoice" is also pertinent.  In the immediately preceding angelic message (to Zacharias about John the Baptist), this same verb had been used to describe the joy at the birth of John:

Luke 1:14 - And thou shalt have joy (χαρά) and gladness; and many shall rejoice (χαρήσονται) at his birth.

 So, when we read the angelic greeting:

Luke 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, [thou that art] highly favoured, the Lord [is] with thee: blessed art thou among women.

We can understand why Mary's initial response was this:

Luke 1:29 - And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

We then see the angelic interpretation of the angel's own words:

Luke 1:30-33 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

This may be easier to visualize as a chart:

Original Statement (v. 28)	Clarification (vss. 30-33)	Commentary
Hail/Rejoice	Fear not, Mary	As in Luke 2:10 "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy (χαρὰν), which shall be to all people."
Highly Favored (κεχαριτωμένη)	thou hast found favor (χάριν) with God.	As in Acts 7:46 - Who found favour (χάριν) before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
the Lord [is] with thee	He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.	As in Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
blessed [art] thou among women. (εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν)	behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.	As in Luke 1:42 blessed [art] thou among women (εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν), and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Likewise, Luke 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Moreover, we are not left with this clarification, because Mary responded by asking how this will happen, as she hasn't had intercourse ("How shall this be, seeing I know not a man").

The angel clarified:

Luke 1:35 ... The Holy Ghost shall come (ἐπελεύσεται) upon thee, and the power (δύναμις) of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing (ἅγιον) which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The first phrases remind us of Jesus' words in Acts:

Act 1:8 - But ye shall receive power (δύναμιν), after that the Holy Ghost is come (ἐπελθόντος) upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The point is that the birth is special miracle of God, like the so-called charismatic gifts.

Moreover, the angel confirms his word by pointing to a lesser but related miracle that has happened to Elisabeth:

Luke 1:36-37 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also (καὶ) conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.

I pause to note the copulative kai translated as "also" here.  In what way is Elisabeth "also"? In that she has conceived a son.  This seems to imply that Mary has also begun to conceive.  

For the ancients, conception was not necessarily a point act but the process of formation or what we today would refer to as the early stages of gestation (i.e. the germinal and embryonic stages before the fetal stage or even any time before quickening).  

For example, in Genesis 30:38-41 Jacob manipulates (or at least attempts to manipulate) the fetal development of the sheep by placing patterned wood in front of the eyes of the sheep. 

As another example, in 2 Samuel 11:5 Bathsheba is described as conceiving after she returned to her house.

In Job, conceive is used essentially as a synonym with gestate:

Job 3:3 - Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Job 15:35 - They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

Similarly, David uses the phrase as synonymous with gestation:

Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

The English term is also used of the formation of ideas, as in KJV Acts:

Acts 5:4 - Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

It should be noted that, of course, the Greek word in Acts 5:4 is a conjugation of τίθημι not the noun κοίτην as in Romans 9:10 nor a conjugation of the verb συλλαμβάνω used in Luke 1:24, 31, and 36.

However, James uses that same verb:

James 1:15 - Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

In that context, as in some of the others, it seems to refer to the overall process of gestation.

The idea that Mary has only begun to conceive, but has not fully conceived is further supported by Luke 2:

Luke 2:21 - And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

We should also consider Elisabeth's and Mary's explanations respectively provided to us at Luke 1:42-45 and Luke 1:46-55.

Luke 1:42-45 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed [art] thou among women, and blessed [is] the fruit of thy womb. And whence [is] this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy (ἀγαλλιάσει). And blessed [is] she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Notice the reiteration of the same themes.  The babe is said to have leaped in Elisabeth's womb for joy, using an even more intense word for joy than earlier: the same word used as a synonym in Luke 1:14 regarding John's birth:

Luke 1:14 - And thou shalt have joy (χαρά) and gladness (ἀγαλλίασις); and many shall rejoice at his birth.

Moreover, the "fruit of the womb" is a Hebraism to refer to children, describing fertility in terms of forming children in the womb analogous to the way plants produce fruits/grains (Genesis 30:2; Deuteronomy 7:13; Psalm 127:3; Isaiah 13:18; and Hosea 9:16). 

Likewise being "blessed ... among women" is reiterated in identical words to the angel.  Elisabeth immediately explains this blessing in terms of Mary's pregnancy and not just any pregnancy but having the Lord within her.  Moreover, it is interesting to note the Elisabeth does not connect any of this to Mary's works or intrinsic holiness, but only refers to Mary as having believed.  This explains Mary's words: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word," (Luke 1:38) as indicating Mary's faith.

Mary's own explanation then follows:

Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify (Μεγαλύνει) the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced (ἠγαλλίασεν) in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy (ἅγιον) [is] his name. And his mercy [is] on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from [their] seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of [his] mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Mary expresses her joy and refers to God as her Savior (which is the meaning of the name JESUS).  Moreover, she reiterates her low estate as a handmaid (literally the female form of servant or slave).  Nevertheless, she echoes the words of Leah:

Genesis 30:12-13 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son. And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

Notice that she not only refers to Jesus as Savior, but also as "Holy," tracking the description provided by the angel. Ultimately, and unsurprisingly, Mary is rejoicing not only about her pregnancy in general, but also about the aid being given to the people of Israel by God through Jesus.

I would conclude by pointing out that this close association between blessing of women and pregnancy is further illustrated by a pair of verses in Luke:

Luke 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

Luke 23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

The second verse overturns the usual expectation.  The former seems to have been a stylized way of praising a person by praising their mother.  In the former case, however, recall that Jesus disparaged a focus on genetic connection and instead prioritized a union by faith.

Some people will say that Mary cannot have been pregnant already when the angel arrived, because the conception is expressed in the future ("thou shalt conceive" Luke 1:31) and because the angel is said to have named Jesus before he was conceived (Luke 2::21).  This tension is resolved when we consider that conception is not a point event for the ancients, but rather a taking hold of seed in the fertile soil of the womb of the mother, eventually bringing forth as fruit, a child.  We tend to think of conception in terms of fertilization, but naturally the precise mechanisms at the cellular level were unknown at the time (Ecclesiastes 11:5 - As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.)

Nevertheless, even if we were to impose a modern "point of fertilization in a fallopian tube" or similarly the moment a dioplid zygote is formed, we should still understand "blessed ... among women" as referring to Mary's forthcoming pregnancy.  Granted that "blessed" and "favored" are perfect participles, but as Elisabeth declared (Luke 1:45): "there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord."  Thus, it is not unusual to refer to future events as though they were past when they are being guaranteed by God.  

Furthermore, even setting aside a prophetic past usage, the angel's announcement is provided as a fait accompli to Mary.  Like Zacharias earlier in the same chapter, and like Joseph in Matthew 1, Mary is not offered options except (at least implicitly) the option to believe or not.  We can understand from Elisabeth's commendation that Mary did believe, like her husband Joseph, and unlike Zacharias her cousin's husband.

In short, "blessed ... among women," "the Lord is with thee," and "highly favored" are all about Mary's pregnancy with the Son of God.  They are not about some previous actions to or on Mary, and any such suggestion (as sometimes offered by proponents of the immaculate conception) is foreign to the text.

While we can and should reject the interpretation of the immaculists, the understanding that the angel was saying, (paraphrase), "Congratulations, God has blessed you with a pregnancy!" most easily explains Mary's initial confusion as well as her comment about still being a virgin (especially as understood as being distinct from a woman).  

Hippolytus on the Woman of Revelation of 12

Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235), On Christ and Antichrist, Sections 61-62, states: 

60. Now, concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary, John also speaks thus: And I saw a great and wondrous sign in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cries, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child, who is to rule all the nations: and the child was caught up unto God and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has the place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And then when the dragon saw it, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man- child. And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast (out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast) out of his mouth. And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the saints of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus.

61. By the woman then clothed with the sun, he meant most manifestly the Church, endued with the Father's word, whose brightness is above the sun. And by the moon under her feet he referred to her being adorned, like the moon, with heavenly glory. And the words, upon her head a crown of twelve stars, refer to the twelve apostles by whom the Church was founded. And those, she, being with child, cries, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered, mean that the Church will not cease to bear from her heart the Word that is persecuted by the unbelieving in the world. And she brought forth, he says, a man-child, who is to rule all the nations; by which is meant that the Church, always bringing forth Christ, the perfect man-child of God, who is declared to be God and man, becomes the instructor of all the nations. And the words, her child was caught up unto God and to His throne, signify that he who is always born of her is a heavenly king, and not an earthly; even as David also declared of old when he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool. And the dragon, he says, saw and persecuted the woman which brought forth the man- child. And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church, which flees from city to city, and seeks conceal-meat in the wilderness among the mountains, possessed of no other defense than the two wings of the great eagle, that is to say, the faith of Jesus Christ, who, in stretching forth His holy hands on the holy tree, unfolded two wings, the right and the left, and called to Him all who believed upon Him, and covered them as a hen her chickens. For by the mouth of Malachi also He speaks thus: And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.

There's Something about ... Luigi Gambero

 Luigi Gambero is one of the leading Mariologists of our time.  His book, "Mary and the Fathers of the Church," (Ignatius Press, 1999 based on the Italian original of 1991) is one of the more exhaustive treatments of the subject that one can find from a Roman Catholic perspective.  Sorry to my younger readers for whom the 1990s are not "our time."  Gambero's work received cover endorsements from folks like Peter Stravinskas.  He's not some random guy who happens to be Roman Catholic.

The subject matter index of his book (p. 428), however, reveals a paucity of citations on the topic of the immaculate conception.  Only six authors are identified.  I have rearranged the list from alphabetical order to appearance order in the book (which is also approximately chronological order of birth of the various authors):
1. Ephrem the Syrian (c. A.D. 306-73) p. 110
Gambero writes:

Ephrem's insistence on Mary's spiritual beauty and holiness, and on her freedom from any stain of sin, has led some scholars to hold that he was aware of the privilege of the Immaculate Conception and to point to him as a witness to the dogma. Yet it does not appear that our author was familiar with the problem, at least not in the terms in which it was made clear by later tradition and the dogmatic definition of 1854. In one passage he even uses the term "baptized" to indicate her Son's saving intervention in her regard:

Handmaid and daughter of blood and water [am I] whom You redeemed and baptized.

(Hymns on the Nativity 16, 10)

There's not much to respond to here.  I agree that Ephrem represents one of the earlier examples of high views of Mary.  I also agree that Ephrem did not know of the idea of an immaculate conception of Mary.  Terms like "redeemed" and "baptized" imply that Mary was not always pure, but became so.  As such, while Ephrem does not represent a "Protestant" position, He also does not reflect a view of accepting Mary as always sinless, even with respect to her conception.
I would add that "redeemed" is poetically paired with "blood" and "baptized" with "water."  So, we are not talking about redemption in some other sense than the sacrifice of Christ, and - of course - the Baptism is a baptism related to the forgiveness of sins.

2. Gregory Nazianzen (c. A.D. 329-90) pp. 162-63
Gambero writes:

In the mystery of the Incarnation, the bishop of Nazianzus discerns a wondrous exchange between God and Mary. She offered him the gift of her undiminished virginity, while the Lord, for his part, intervened in an extraordinary manner to bring about her purification, in advance. He empowered her human abilities, to make her worthy of the unique event of the Incarnation:

He was conceived by the Virgin, who had first been purified by the Spirit in soul and body; for, as it was fitting that childbearing should receive its share of honor, so it was necessary that virginity should receive even greater honor.[fn3]

From this doctrine of Mary's purification before the conception of Christ emerges an intuition of the truth which, in 1854, the Church would define as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

[fn3: Sermon 38, 13; PG 36, 325B]

The sense in which Gambero's claim that from Gregory's sermon "emerges an intuition of ..." the Immaculate Conception, is that the Immaculate Conception goes far beyond what Gregory claims.  For Gregory, Mary is in need of purification, body and soul, and she receives it prior to Christ's conception.  The dogma of the Immaculate Conception goes much further.  That dogma does not teach that Mary was purified from original sin, but that she was preserved from original.  Gregory's elevation of Mary to being specially purified is a step in the wrong direction toward the immaculate conception, perhaps, but it is still fundamentally inconsistent with the immaculate conception.  So is every author, patristic or otherwise, that takes the position that Mary was purified from something that she had, rather than taking the position that Mary was preserved from ever having original sin the in the first place.

3. Augustine of Hippo(A.D. 354-430) p. 226 (and 226 n. 25)

There seems no doubt that Augustine considered Mary's exemption from sin to be a great grace. But what sins does he mean? Undoubtedly he excludes any personal sin from Mary. Is it possible to hypothesize that Augustine also intended to exclude original sin? Some scholars think so and make him a forerunner of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. A full treatment of the question would call for a lengthy discussion. To us it seems safer to adopt the contrary position, which held by many experts and appears more in accord with numerous Augustinian texts. [fn25]

I would disagree with Gambero's contention that Augustine was saying that Mary was exempt from personal sin.  That said, as Gambero correctly concedes, Augustine nowhere teaches that Mary was exempt from original sin, rather he held the contrary view.  Perhaps in another post, we will consider the question of the famous place where Augustine says he will not discuss the sins of Mary.

4. Romanos the Melodist (Late 5th century to late 6th century) pp. 328-29 (and 329 n. 8)
Gambero has a section entitled, "The Birth of Mary." Gambero writes:

Romans' hymn on the birth of the Virgin may serve as an ancient witness to the introduction of the feast (September 8) in the Church of Constantinople, under the emperor Justinian. The poet sings of this event as a triumph of grace over the weakness and failings of human nature, as revealed in the sterility of Mary's aged parents:

The prayers of Joachim and Anna and the weeping of sterility reached the ears of God and were well received. Thus they gave a life-giving fruit to the world. For while he [Joachim] was praying on the mountain, she [Anna] hid her mortification in the garden. But the barren woman then joyfully brings to light the Mother of God, the nourisher of life.[FN: On the Birth of Mary 1.]

Considering the future mission of Mary, her birth to barren parents is considered a reason for great rejoicing, which the people of Israel already share by anticipation, unwittingly:

Then the tribes of Israel heard that Anna had conceived the immaculate one. So everyone took part in the rejoicing. Joachim gave a banquet, and great was the merriment in the garden. He invited the priests and Levites to prayer; then he called Mary into the center of the crowd, that she might be magnified. [FN: Ibid. 4.]

In this hymn, Romanos recalls two important moments of Mary's infancy and youth: the years she spent in the Temple and  her betrothal to Joseph. Apparently Romanos takes his inspiration from the apocrypha, in particular from the Protoevangelium of James. Later on, addressing Anna directly, the poet weaves a marvelous praise of her extraordinary little daughter:

Your birth is worthy of veneration, O holy woman, because you brought to light the joy of the world, the powerful mediatrix of graces for men. Indeed she is the rampart, the defense, and the haven of whoever trusts in her. Every Christian finds in her, in your fruit, a protector, a defense, and the hope of salvation [FN: Ibid., 10.]

I certainly agree that literary source of this ode is the heretical forgery, the Protoevangelium of James.  Romanos does have a song on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.  It's listed as hymn 35 in Maas' and Trypanis' edition (they also note it is 28 in Krumbacher's).  Based on a quick check, I think this is the same one quoted by Gambero.

The song does seem to be the first hint in history of any Christians celebrating the Birth of Mary.  Later, with Andrew of Crete and John of Damascus, we see that the practice apparently begun in the 6th century had caught on more widely in the 7th and 8th centuries.  Note, however, that this is the feast of the Birth of Mary, not her Conception.  There is a reason that Bernard of Clairvaux expressed concerns over the idea of celebrating such a feast, centuries later.

Of the presented material, the phrase, "ἒτεκεν τὴν ἄχραντον," translated by Gambero (or his source or his translator from Italian to English) as "had conceived the immaculate one" is the more obviously interesting.  The first issue with this translation is that ἒτεκεν means to give birth, not to conceive.  The second issue is that while ἄχραντον, which means "undefiled," can reasonably be translated here as "immaculate," it does not necessarily have anything to do with Mary's connection to original sin (or not).  That's only an issue for folks who are eager to see her as immaculately conceived and who forget that she was also viewed as an immaculate virgin.  

Moreover, while the text says that Anna gave birth to the Immaculate, this is not a commentary on when Mary became (in Romanos' understanding) Immaculate.  For example, in the first stanza we see: "But the barren woman then joyfully brings to light the Mother of God."  Surely no one would be so foolish as to think that Mary was born already a mother.  So, if one does not assume that, one should be careful what one assumes about the title, Immaculate.  

So, while Romanos is an example of relatively high Mariology, particularly for his century, he still falls short of knowing of the immaculate conception.

5. Andrew of Crete (A.D. 650-740) pp. 392-95
In a section entitled, "Mary, Spotless Creature," Gambero writes:

Andrew's witness to the Church's faith in the exceptional holiness of the Mother of the Lord is absolutely remarkable. He affirms more than once that the Blessed Virgin lived her whole life without being contaminated by any moral sin. The insistence with which the bishop of Crete returns to this point is so strong that some have seen him as an exponent of the Immaculate Conception. Even if we cannot accept this thesis without hesitation, we must at least recognize that Andrew had a highly elevated concept of the Virgin's sinlessness and holiness. We cite one of the numerous texts:

It was right, then, that the admirable Joachim and his spouse, Anna, inspired by divine thoughts, did obtain her as the fruit of their prayer, her, I say, the queen of nature, the firstfruits of our race, whose birthday we celebrate, whose swaddling clothes we honor, and whom we venerate as the source of the restoration of our fallen race. [FN: Homily 3 on Mary's Nativity, PG 97, 860 B-C]

This text presents Mary as the firstfruits of the human race; that is, the first creature who received the gift of salvation. But Andrew explains it even more clearly:

This Mary the Theotokos, the common refuge of all Christians, the first to be liberated from the original fall of our first parents. [FN: Homily 4 on Mary's Nativity, PG 97, 880 C]

We could present many more passages in which Andrew expresses this concept. However, when our author speaks of Mary as the first person to be redeemed, or as the first to be liberated from original sin, he does not define the nature of the intervention God wrought in her. Hence we would not be justified to attribute to him the concept of preservation from original sin as we understand the concept today, precisely as the solemn Magisterium of the Church has defined it. It is true that Andrew is mentioned in the bull Ineffabilis Deus as being among the witnesses to the Immaculate Conception. More than anything else, however, his testimony witness to the development of the faith of the Christian people, on their journey toward a light that would illuminate the mystery ever more clearly.

I interrupt the section here to comment.  Mary being "liberated from the original fall" seems to imply that she was under it and then subsequently freed, not preserved from it.  While Andrew's excessively high view of Mary is definitely a step in the direction that ultimately became the error of the Immaculate Conception, the evidence of him adopting such a view is not there. 

Gambero continues:

Also, we have to keep in mind that the bishop of Crete did not share the notion of original sin that the Latin theologians had already formed. Therefore, it is understandable that he could speak in these terms without considering the problem of the presence or absence of original sin in Mary.

Instead, Andrew appears to have believed that God prepared the holy Virgin in advance, on both the moral and personal level, to make her worthy and capable of being God's Mother:

A place had to be prepared before the King's arrival. The royal garments had to be woven before they could receive the royal Child at his birth. Finally, the clay had to be prepared before the Potter's arrival.[FN: Homily 3 on the Nativity, PG 97, 860 B]

We have already seen, in more than one place, how this concept of Mary's purification at the moment of the Annunciation was shared by other Fathers of the Church in preceding centuries.

This acknowledges the key point: one of the early stages of the increasing Marian devotion was to say that Mary was purified at the Annunciation, namely just before Christ's conception.  This view is inconsistent with the doctrine of the immaculate conception.  While people can certainly speculate a notion of Mary being already perfectly pure and just getting more "grace" infused into her, it is hard to conceptualize the purification of something already perfectly pure.  

6. John Damascene (c. A.D. 675 - c. A.D. 749) pp. 401-02
Gambero writes:

John Damascene often speaks of Mary as a sublime creature, filled with spiritual treasures. Accordingly, his homily on the Nativity, for example, goes so far as to make clear and explicit allusions--unprecedented in previous centuries--to the mystery of the Immaculate Conception. Naturally, it is necessary to keep in mind the different view of original sin that already divided Byzantine theology from Western thought.

For John, both the Virgin Mary's conception and her birth took place completely under the influence of divine grace. These two events also shaped the role played by her parents, Joachim and Anna. Their previous sterility is explained thus:

Because it would come to pass that the Virgin Theotokos would be born of Anna, nature did not dare anticipate the seed of grace but remained unfruitful until grace bore fruit.[FN: Homily on the Nativity 2, PG 96, 664A]

Anna's sterility was, therefore, a condition previously arranged in the divine plan, so that the role of grace would appear fully predominant. This is why Damascene always names the Virgin's parents with profound respect: they would offer themselves as the passive instruments of God's miraculous intervention:

O blessed loins of Joachim, whence the all-pure seed was poured out! O glorious womb of Anna, in which the most holy fetus grew and was formed, silently increasing! O womb in which was conceived the living heaven, wider than the wideness of the heavens [FN: Ibid., 2, PG 96, 664B]

It is worth noting here that even at the very end of the Patristic era, one must look to the very high Marian views of John of Damascus to find something approaching the Immaculate Conception.  This is not the actual doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, because of John of Damascus different view on original sin, but it is at least close.

You may recall from other discussions that for most of the fathers, Mary was not an exception because was generated the usual way: from a physical relationship between her parents.  John of Damascus finds a way around this by naming and claiming the immaculate ejaculate of Joachim.  Thankfully, that's not a dogma that Rome adopted.  If it was ever considered in Western thought, I would speculate that they would realize that this escape clause would eliminate the original need for Mary's virginity.  If Jesus could be born of Joseph's seed, some how immaculate-d beforehand, and if that would have resolved the issue, there would not have been a need for Jesus to be born of a virgin in the first place.  

We have now completed this particular survey.  Consider how little there was to review, and how far it was from demonstrating a continuous belief in the immaculate conception in the church from the time of the apostles onward.

-TurretinFan