There are many types and titles for the Virgin in Marian theology. Did any of the early works on the Virgin Mary actually make the interpretation of Jesus words that he was talking about his mother? Is the Virgin Mary ever called the Queen of Heaven based on New Testament authority - reading the ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν passages as if βασιλεία were proparoxytone?
That’s a good question. I am not familiar with any such passage. My initial reaction was that βασίλισσα would have been the more natural form in the Koine period, but, of course, the church fathers could easily have regarded βασιλεια in a Greek-midrashic sort of way as you seem to suggest.
Would be interested if anyone finds anything.
(Let me start by disclosing complete ignorance of Hebrew and extremely limited knowledge of theology.)
To begin with the concrete: the TLG gives the phrase “βασίλεια τῶν οὐρανῶν” as coming up a (very) few times in early(-ish) Byzantine Greek theologians, but each that I checked simply got the accent wrong and actually meant to write βασιλεία. (I’m not sure how confident we can be in each case that this mistake is the text of the autograph, vs a scribal corruption that now represents the manuscript consensus, vs a typographical mistake in the TLG or in the edition it used.)
This just doesn’t strike me as the kind of mistake a learned Greek would make. My statement about “intermediate students” doesn’t cross-over here; a (would-be Atticizing) Byzantine theologian may often seen to be less successful syntactically or especially in word-selection than many modern intermediate students of Attic would, but from reading manuscripts my impression is that the Greeks retained pretty good knowledge of basic Attic accentuation, right through to mid/late Byzantium.
Maybe somebody who knows some Hebrew can point to anything that might be going on there? מלכת השמים (“Malkuth haShamayim”) - is there any way this could have led to a misreading “Queen of Heaven”?
Queen of Heaven?
See hard copy of Lampe p. 293. Two forms used for Mary as Queen are: βασίλισσα and βασιλὶς.
Not about Mary, βασίλισσα οὐρανοῦ Patristic Commentary quoting Jeremiah:
Theodoretus Interpretatio in Jeremiam
καὶ ἐν διόδοις Ἱερουσαλήμ.
»Βασίλισσαν οὐρανοῦ» τὴν Ἀφροδίτην καλοῦσι,
Epiphanius
φιμούσθωσαν ὑπὸ Ἰερεμίου αἱ τοιαῦται γυναῖκες, καὶ
μὴ θροείτωσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην. μὴ λεγέτωσαν· «τιμῶμεν τὴν βασίλισσαν
τοῦ οὐρανοῦ»Joannes Chrysostomus Fragmenta in Jeremiam
Ὁ λόγος ὃν ἐλάλησε.
Αὕτη βασίλισσα οὐρανοῦ, εἰπέ μοι; Θεὸς ποιήσας
τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ τὴν γῆν, ἀεὶ ἀκούεις, συνεχῶς·
καὶ ταύτην βασίλισσαν καλεῖς, τὴν σελήνην; Καὶ
καλῶς ἦν ὑμῖν. Πόθεν οὖν ὁ λιμὸς, εἰπέ μοι; πόθεν
ὁ θάνατος; Ὢ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας! Διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοὺς
ἀναμιμνήσκει.
βασίλισσα and βασιλὶς used in reference to Mary:
*(spurious) Athanasius Sermo in annuntiationem deiparae
Καὶ ἐπεὶ αὐτὸς βασιλεύς ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου γεννηθεὶς, καὶ αὐτὸς Κύριος ὁ Θεός. Δι’ αὐτὸν καὶ ἡ τεκοῦσα αὐτὸν βασίλισσα, καὶ Κυρία καὶ Θεοτόκος, κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς δογματίζεται.»Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ.» Πρέσβευε, Κυρία, καὶ δέσποινα, βασίλισσά τε καὶ Μήτηρ Θεοῦ, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· ὅτι ἐξ ἡμῶν σύ τε καὶ ὁ ἐκ σοῦ τεχθεὶς σαρκοφόρος Θεὸς ἡμῶν· ᾧ πρέπει ἡ δόξα καὶ ἡ μεγαλοπρέπεια, πᾶσά τε τιμὴ καὶ προςκύνησις καὶ εὐχαριστία, σὺν τῷ ἀνάρχῳ αὐτοῦ Πατρὶ, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ, καὶ ἀγαθῷ, καὶ ζωοποιῷ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
Lampe also cites occurrences in sermons of (spurious) John of Damascus and works of Andreas of Caesarea. Could not track these down. Andreas of Caesarea in his notes on the Apocalypse has a golden opportunity to address this at the opening of Chap. 12 of Revelation, the classic proof text for Mary Queen of Heaven. He begins by mentioning that some consider the woman clothed in the sun to be the Θεοτόκος and then goes down a different road.
Καὶ σημεῖον μέγα ὤφθη.
Ταύτην τινὲς δι’ ὅλου τὴν θεοτόκον νενοήκασι, πρὶν ἢ γνωσθῆναι αὐτῇ τὸν θεῖον τόκον, παθοῦσαν τὰ ἐχόμενα. ἄλλος δὲ εἰς τὴν Εκκλησίαν τοῦτο ἐξέλαβεν, ἀνάρμοστα τῇ γεννήσει τῇ δεσποτικῇ τὰ περὶ αὐτῆς ἡγησάμενος, διὰ τὸ ἤδη πρὸ πολλοῦ τετέχθαι τὸν Κύριον. γυνὴ οὖν ἡ περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιόν ἐστιν ἡ Ἐκκλησία, ὃ δὲ ἡμῖν ἐσθὴς, τοῦτο ἐκείνῃ τὸ φῶς· ὃ δὲ ἡμῖν χρυσὸς ἢ λίθος διαφανὴς, τοῦτο ἐκείνῃ τὰ ἄστρα. ἐπιβέβηκε δὲ ἐπὶ σελήνης· σελήνη τροπικῶς ἡ πίστις τῷ τῶν ἀποκαθαιρομένων τὴν φθορὰν τὸ ἐκ τῆς σελήνης ἠρτῆσθαι τὴν ὑγρὰν ὠδίνουσαν καὶ ἀναγεννῶσαν τοὺς ψυχικοὺς εἰς πνευματικοὺς, καὶ τὴν καθ’ ὁμοίωσιν ἰδέαν αὐτοὺς καὶ μόρφωσιν μορφοῦσαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ὥστε ἐν ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν γεννᾶσθαι τὸν Χριστὸν νοητῶς. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἡ Ἐκκλησία σπαργανοῖ καὶ ὠδίνει, ἄχρις ἃν μορφωθῇ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅπως ἕκαστος τῷ μετέχειν Χριστοῦ, Χριστὸς γένηται. ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοίνυν τὸν ἥλιονh τῆς δικαιοσύνης περιβέβληται καὶ τὸ νομικὸν φῶς τῆς νυκτοφαοῦς σελήνης, καὶ τὴν ὡς σελήνην ἀλλοιουμένην κοσμικὴν ζωὴν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας κέκτηται, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸν τῶν ἀποστολικῶν δογμάτων τε καὶ ἀρετῶν περίκειται στέφανον. ὠδίνει i δὲ καθ’ ἕκαστον τῶν ἀναγεννωμένων δι’ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος ἡ Ἐκκλησία, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν αὐτοῖς, διὰ τὸ ἀμβλώματα εἶναι τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς Χριστοῦ ἐκπίπτοντας, καὶ σύνδρομον τῇ ζωῇ τὸν διὰ ἀπιστίας ὑπομένοντας θάνατον.
Catenae (Novum Testamentum), Commentarius In Apocalypsin (Pseudo-Oecumenii) (E Cod. Coislin.
Commentarius In Apocalypsin (Pseudo-Oecumenii) (E Cod. Coislin.https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg4102.tlgX03.opp-grc1:12:1
I saw one article of dubious authority making vague references to 7th century sources using βασίλισ* οὐρανοῦ of Mary. In regards to dates it would be worth locating someone who knows what their talking about.