Mary, Mother of Jesus, was portrayed in art and in the extra canonical gospels in the early centuries of Christianity as an arms-raised liturgical leader, not a silent woman with hands folded and head-bowed in submission that we are familiar with in our times. This image of Maria on gold glass, Rome, (Perret, Catacombes, pl. 4:32, 101) is in a scholarly book by A. Kateusz, entitled Mary and the Early Christian Women, Hidden Leadership. It contains many examples of evidence of Mary's priesthood, episcopacy and leadership in the apostolic tradition. One example : the oldest depiction in art of a male bishop wearing a pallium in the sixth century is the same time that there are depictions of Mary wearing a pallium. Five mosaics in 3 basilicas depict people wearing this pallium. Two portray male bishops. two portray Mary and one portrays Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist. All are in the altar apse, where the Eucharist was celebrated. See p. 83 Euphrasiana Basilica ca. 550., Porec, Croatia. Mary wears episcopal pallium. p.83, |
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