Is the Church the Body that our Lord took from St. Mary?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

A careful distinction must be made between the Physical Body of Christ and His Mystical Body (the Church), while maintaining the organic connection between the two.

1. The Distinction Between the Two Realities

While they are inseparable in the economy of salvation, we must distinguish them to avoid confusion:

• The Physical/Individual Body: This is the specific human nature that the Word of God took from the flesh of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. As St. Cyril of Alexandria emphasizes, He "took it from us... by the Virgin Mary" to make it His own. This is the body that was born in Bethlehem, crucified on Golgotha, and rose from the dead.
• The Mystical Body (the Church): This is the "Fullness of Christ", consisting of all the faithful who are baptized into Him.

2. The Relationship Between Them

While the Church is not "the body of Mary" in a biological sense, it is the Body of Christ in a real, ontological sense for several reasons:

• The Root of the Incarnation: The only reason the Church can be called the Body of Christ is that Christ first took a real human body from the Virgin Mary. Without the flesh He took from her, there would be no "Body" for us to be joined to. St. Hilary and the Alexandrian Fathers teach that because the Word became flesh, He "contains" the whole of humanity within Himself potentially.
• The Eucharistic Link: In the Divine Liturgy, the bread and wine become the very same Body that was born of the Virgin Mary and was hung on the Cross. When the faithful consume the Eucharist, they are united to that specific, glorified Body. Therefore, the Church becomes the Body of Christ by partaking of the Body He took from St. Mary.
• Organic Union: St. Cyril of Alexandria teaches that Christ, through His own flesh (taken from Mary), hallows and unites the faithful to Himself. By receiving His Holy Body in the Eucharist, we become "concorporeal" (of the same body) with Him.

3. Rejecting Heresy

• We reject the views of heretics like Eutyches, who claimed Christ’s body was not consubstantial with ours but was "heavenly" or absorbed by the divinity.
• We also reject those mentioned in the writings of John of Damascus who suggested the Word did not take His body from a created body (Mary).

The Coptic Orthodox Faith is clear: Christ took a real, human body from St. Mary—a body "consubstantial with us according to His humanity." Because that body is now glorified and united to the Godhead (without mingling, confusion, or alteration), it has the power to encompass the Church.

Summary

The Church is not the body taken from St. Mary in a historical sense (the Church was not born in the manger), but the Church is the Body taken from St. Mary in a sacramental sense. Through the Eucharist, the specific flesh Christ received from the Virgin Mary becomes the "glue" that binds all the faithful into one Body, making the Church truly His extension in the world.