© Parish of Hawley 2011

Registered Charity No. 1130589

No saint has more days allocated to them than does Our lady. In modern times she has an extra day on January 1st dedicated to her Motherhood. It is highly appropriate that she be honoured on the first day of a new year, for she is first among humans after her son. But is she Mother of God?

The council of Ephesus in AD431 was the third General Council of the Church. It decided that Our Lady would be called Theotokos, rather than Christotokos - Mother of God, rather than Mother of Christ.

Certainly Mary is the Mother of the Christ Child. But to deny her the title of Mother of God is to deny her Son his divinity - for where the Son is there must be The Father and the Holy Spirit. A reminder of this is in the designation of many English Cathedrals. For example the one at Ely is dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. This title is also the full title of our Parish Church in Hawley.