R: [SEELANGS] Coredemptrix

[Luciano Di Cocco]

Although Roman Catholics have a vision of Mary that other Christians may find problematic, nor standard dogma nor (as far as I know) folk religion consider her a deity. In R.C. theology she shares a unique character with the Son, being preserved from sin but not from the suffering derived from sin. Which I find a beautiful poetic character, but other may disagree. Personally I'm an atheist, so I'm not speaking from any kind of faith.

The standard definition of R.C. theology can be found here:
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p6.htm

Even in folk religion she is not considered a deity. As for the saints her intercessionary role is often forgotten, but she is not considered a deity.

Nor in the case of Mary any true identification (apart from obvious iconic ones as a mother) with pagan deity is supported by facts.
Very often Gnosticism is cited, but even in their peculiar form of Christianity her divinity is never asserted. In Gnosticism Jesus was often considered a different deity from God the Father, and often a distinction was made between New Testament and Old Testament God. No reference to Mary as a deity is attested, as far as I know.

There are indeed in Italian folk religion some association from Christanity and pre-christian cults. On this point I am curious of parallels in the Slavic world.
Especially in central Italy it used to be strong the figure of the Befana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befana), probably a corruption of the name "Epiphany". Clearly a good witch, maybe connected with the Sabinian goddess Strina. In the local form (Tuscany) as a child there was a tradition on the Epiphany night to leave a glass of wine for the Befana, some hay for her donkey (our Befana didn't fly) and some flour on the floor to reveal the Befana steps (which looked remarkably similar to that of the mother).
Is there something similar in the Slavic world. I'm just curious.

In northern Italy instead gift for children were taken on Christmas night, and the child addressed their wish list to Baby Jesus (in Tuscany we addressed the Befana). There is a joke from an Italian Comedian referring to "Those who think that Santa Claus is Baby Jesus grown up".

Is there any parallel in Slavic culture? There is a sense in which many Italian children perceived Baby Jesus as a different entity from Jesus the Redemptor syudied at Sunday School (which in Italy tended not to be only on Sunday). Did Orthodox children risk similar strange misconceptions?

By the way, Befana tradition was very widespread in the Church State in central Italy, and as far as I know never really contrasted by the papacy.

Luciano Di Cocco

> With regard to the original word which gave rise to this
> correspondence,
> "coredemptrix", it is a descriptive appellation which has not yet been
> subjected to the Western scholastic passion for definition, which the
> Orthodox tend to resist, and is not an article of faith for Catholics,
> though many would like it to be. Personally I hope it will remain as no
> more than one of the many poetic appellations of Mary in the litanies
> (who would want to define "Star of the Sea"?) and will never be
> dogmatically defined because although the underlying belief is not new
> or startling, the hopelessly neo-Latin term itself gives rise to both
> honest misunderstanding and deliberate misrepresentation.

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