The Shepherd, September 2007
BOOK REVIEW
THE LOST GOSPEL OF MARY
By Frederica Matthewes-Green
published by Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts,
ISBN 13: 978-1-55725-536-5, hardback, 160 pages, US$19.95
KHOURIA FREDERICA has published a number of books which are instructive and helpful for Orthodox Christians, and this latest volume is dedicated to the memory of her spiritual father, the renowned Romanian priest, Father George Calciu. One suspects that the title of the book was devised as a marketing measure, to raise interest in the subject, in the light of the prevalence today of a whole series “Lost Gospel” and “secret code” books, most of which are completely spurious. If this is the case, it is something of a pity, because Khouria’s book is certainly not of that ilk. The book is also obviously directed to the attention of Christians who are not necessarily Orthodox, and therefore Khouria does not always speak of the Theotokos in terms that Orthodox Christians would normally use, and some, who are Orthodox, might find this rather distracting. However, these quibbles should not deter the Orthodox reader from studying the present work. It has much that is profitable in it. She begins with a short introduction, in which she touches upon the deviations from an Orthodox understanding of the Theotokos, which occurred in both the Roman Catholic, and later, the Protestant West. The next section introduces “The Gospel of Mary,” which is in fact known to Orthodox Christians as the “Protevangelium of James.” This is a book which is often quoted in Orthodox sources, especially in elucidating the teaching and the hymography concerning the Mother of God, but it is a work which few, except specialists, will have had ready access to. Khouria Frederica has provided a valuable service in making the work available to the general reader. In the next section, she turns her attention to a papyrus dating from the mid-third century which contains a prayer to the Mother of God, still in daily use in the Orthodox Church today, and from this she confirms the antiquity of prayer in the Church addressing the Virgin Mother and the Saints. Then she turns to the beautiful Akathist Hymn, which we chant on the first five Fridays of the Great Lent, and, after setting it in its historical context and giving some explanation of the text, she includes a translation of this, one of the most beautiful hymns of the thousands that are used in Orthodox churches to this day. In the view of the present writer, the translation with which she concludes her work is not the best, but that is simply a matter of personal preference. All in all, this is a book which can help many, both Orthodox Christians (who perhaps know little about their faith) and non-Orthodox as well, come to a deeper understanding of the place of the Theotokos in Orthodoxy and of the antiquity of our love and devotion of her.
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