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The Case/Rome

The Immaculate Conception

Orthodoxy venerates the Theotokos as all-holy and ever-virgin, but does not receive the 1854 dogma or its inherited-guilt assumptions.

Rival Claim

The Roman claim

Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception, and this is a dogma binding on all Christians.

01

All-holy Theotokos, not a later universal definition

Orthodoxy confesses Mary as Theotokos, ever-virgin, and all-holy. She is the highest honor of the human race because she freely receives the Word and becomes the Mother of God according to the flesh.

The Orthodox objection is not a lowering of Mary. It is that the 1854 definition depends on a Latin account of inherited guilt and was promulgated by papal authority after the schism. The Church honors Mary's holiness liturgically and dogmatically without receiving that later framework as an ecumenical dogma.

  • Luke 1:28
  • Luke 1:43
  • Ephesus (431)
  • Ineffabilis Deus (1854)