The Theotokos

The Virgin Mary's oldest title, a confession about her Son as much as about her.

Theotokos is the Orthodox title of the Virgin Mary. It is Greek for "God-bearer" or "Birth-giver to God". The Third Ecumenical Council, at Ephesus in 431, upheld the title against Nestorius, who wanted her called only "Christotokos", mother of Christ. Calling her Theotokos confesses that the child she bore is truly God made man.

Theotokos is the name the Orthodox Church gives the Virgin Mary above every other. It means God-bearer, the one who gave birth to God. The title was in use in the Church's prayer long before any council defined it.

In the fifth century Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, taught that Mary should be called Christotokos, mother of Christ, but not mother of God, as though her Son's humanity and divinity could be divided. The Third Ecumenical Council, meeting at Ephesus in 431, rejected this and upheld the title Theotokos. The question was about Christ: the one born of Mary is one Person, truly God and truly man.

So the title guards the faith in the Incarnation, and the Church honours her with it in every service. Her life is kept in the feasts of the Church year: her Nativity, her Entry into the Temple, the Annunciation, and her Dormition. The Church also calls her Ever-Virgin, and sees in her the first and fullest example of a human life given wholly to God.

Questions about the Theotokos

What does Theotokos mean?

God-bearer, or Birth-giver to God. It is the Greek title the Orthodox Church gives the Virgin Mary.

What is the difference between Theotokos and Christotokos?

Christotokos, mother of Christ, was the title Nestorius proposed so as not to call Mary mother of God. The Council of Ephesus in 431 rejected it, because it divided Christ, and upheld Theotokos.

What are the feasts of the Theotokos?

Four of the Twelve Great Feasts are hers: her Nativity (September 8), her Entry into the Temple (November 21), the Annunciation (March 25), and her Dormition (August 15). On the Old Calendar each falls thirteen days later.

More questions about the Orthodox Church, answered ›

“And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Luke 1:43, Elizabeth's greeting (King James Version, public domain)

In Orthros

The feasts of the Theotokos stand in the Orthros calendar with their hymns and catechesis, and her icons appear whole and framed, as they would in a church.