Life of the Virgin Mary

"John Geometres's Life of the Virgin is the most outstanding example of several biographies and literary treatments of the Mother of God written in the middle Byzantine period. Biographies of the Virgin were without precedent in the early Byzantine tradition, and Epiphanios is often considered the creator of the genre. Geometres gave the new genre its fully realized form, combining biblical texts, apocryphal literature, and material from patristic homilies in a monumental synthesis of two vast literary and liturgical cycles, namely, the cycle of Mary's birth and childhood, and the cycle of her death, burial, and translation in divine glory to heaven. The Life of the Virgin is an elaborate farewell discourse delivered on the annual commemoration of the Virgin's death (or "Dormition") celebrated on August 15, an occasion which provided Geometres with the opportunity to recount in detail his subject's entire life. The material is presented in chronological order and organized largely around the Marian feasts of the Byzantine ecclesiastical year (as well as the feasts of Christ at which the Virgin was historically present, for example, the Nativity and the Crucifixion). Geometres begins his discourse with the history and genealogy of Mary's parents, after which he describes her upbringing in the temple, followed by the events recorded in the Gospels (her betrothal to Joseph, the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, the Meeting with Simeon, the Wedding at Cana, and so on), bringing the main narrative to a close with an extended treatment of the Dormition. After this, he briefly recounts the transfer of the Virgin's garments to Constantinople during the reign of Leo I (ruled 457-474) and then concludes with elaborate praises and prayers of thanksgiving to the Mother of God and her son."--
The first complete, modern translation of one of the most important Byzantine works of Marian doctrine and devotion.John Geometres (ca. 935–ca. 1000) was one of the most highly esteemed poets and authors in Byzantium; yet his most important text, the Life of the Virgin Mary, remains largely unknown today. This literary and rhetorical masterpiece stands as a work of outstanding theological sophistication, animated by deeply felt devotion to the Mother of God. Geometres’s distinctive and idiosyncratic narrative offers a comprehensive biography, from Mary’s ancestry to her death and beyond, with special emphasis on her direction of Christ’s female disciples, her active participation in the passion and resurrection, and her leadership of the nascent Church. The Life has been rightly considered a critical missing piece in a larger puzzle connecting early Marian writings with later works. Based on a completely new edition of the Byzantine Greek text, this is the first complete translation of Life of the Virgin Mary into a modern language.
John Geometres’s Life of the Virgin Mary, a work of outstanding theological sophistication animated by deeply felt devotion to the Mother of God, remains largely unknown today. This new edition of the Byzantine Greek text and the first complete translation in a modern language presents a masterpiece of early Marian writing to new audiences.