Life of the Virgin (Maximus)

Icon of Maximus the Confessor.

The Life of the Virgin is the earliest known biographical work on the Virgin Mary. Its only extant copy is in a Georgian translation attributed to the seventh-century saint, Maximus the Confessor, although the attribution remains less than certain.[1][2]

Maximus (or Pseudo-Maximus[a]) states that he compiled the biography by merging information from multiple sources available to him.[1][3]

Maximus presents Mary as a constant companion in Jesus' mission, and as a leader of the early Christian Church after the death of Jesus.[3] He also states that Mary was the source of many of the accounts of the life of Jesus in the Gospels.[3]

Maximus also portrays Mary as the counselor and guide to the many women disciples who followed Jesus during his life and as their source of spiritual guidance after the death of Jesus.[3]

  1. ^ a b Stephen J. Shoemaker, “Early Christian Apocryphal Literature.” In The Oxford handbook of early Christian studies by Susan Ashbrook Harvey, David G. Hunter 2008 ISBN 978-0-19-927156-6 page 527
  2. ^ Stephen J. Shoemaker, “Between Scripture and Tradition: The Marian Apocrypha of Early Christianity.” In The reception and interpretation of the Bible in late antiquity by Lorenzo DiTommaso, Lucian Turcescu 2008 ISBN 90-04-16715-3 page 507
  3. ^ a b c d Stephen J. Shoemaker, “The Virgin Mary in the Ministry of Jesus and the Early Church according to the Earliest Life of the Virgin.” Harvard Theological Review 98 (2005): 441-67; Maximus's Mary, by Sally Cuneen, Commonweal Magazine, December 04, 2009


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