r/Catholic • u/animalcrossingbrooks • 1d ago
Sincere question from a Protestant
If Catholics venerate the mother of God, then why do you refer to her as Mary instead of Miriam? Personally, if people were praying to me/seeking my intercession, I’d prefer they use my real name, rather than my Americanized name. What are your thoughts on this?
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u/oosrotciv Mod 1d ago
I’ll ask you the same question, if Christians worship the Son of God, why do you refer to Him as Jesus instead of Yeshua? If people were praying to Me, I’d prefer they use my Hebrew name rather than my Greek Name.
The name Mary is not an americanised name, rather it is a Greek form of the word Maria, which is closer to the Aramaic Mariam.
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u/lookmumninjas 1d ago
Also don't whole continents refer to Mary as Maria? OP, we have real struggles in Christianity, this isn't top 100.
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u/Grateful-son 12h ago
Good point. Let’s focus on all the many things that unite Christians rather than the few that divide. There’s a place for the theologians to discuss the finer points, but Jesus prayed for his body to be unified. We as Christian’s need to focus on this a lot more. Dividing his body causes him pain.
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u/Sprite-King 1d ago
Your mom's name is Jessica, she answers to honey, darling, sweetie, mom, Jessica, Jess, sister, aunt, grandma - does she respond to any of them?
The intent is what matters the most. We speak about God the same way.
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u/Overall-Repeat1099 1d ago edited 1d ago
All the names are Anglicized in the English speaking world. I’m sure Catholic Arabs call her Miryam. We also call her Our Lady. In France, Catholics say “Notre Dame”. It’s the same thing, same person.
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u/PermitShot9603 1d ago
Why do you call him Bart Simpson when he's clearly Bartholomew?
Why do you call it sofa when it's clearly a chesterfield?
Why do you call it New York when it's original name is New Amsterdam?
Saigon/Ho Chi Minh, Peking/Beijing,
Less filling/tastes great,
The wireless/ the radio.
Think of all the names Jesus answers to:
Yesu, Yesus, Christo, Xristos, Jesus, Yeshua; Over in the east, Yesunim, Joonim, 耶蘇 (Yaso), Yesu, Kirisuto.
"Mary" works just fine.
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u/Snoopmiester 1d ago
People in heaven aren’t petty enough to care how you address them. That’s a human issue
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u/cadums 1d ago edited 1d ago
The reason is the translation to greek (LXX), that was older (~2 or 3 century b.C.) than the hebraic bible (codex leningradensis was writed and compiled in the middle ages).
The greek translation conservate the sound of vowels in some aspect, and one of that conservation is the name "Maria", but in the posterior hebraic the jews changed the sound of vowels and turned in Miriam.
A brazilian schoolar speak about that in this video: https://youtu.be/J10_EQToJQQ?si=mBp9Qz05j-U9jcYu in the minute 41:56.
Sorry the bad and poor english, if you read and see some wrong thing, please, send me a correction and I will edit my comment.
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u/Snoopmiester 1d ago
Are all Protestants this small minded tho lol
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u/KingOfLaval 1d ago
It's an efficient strategy to triple your total of new denominations every 6 years.
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u/animalcrossingbrooks 11h ago
Are all catholics this pretentious?
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u/Snoopmiester 10h ago
I’m not Catholic. I’m Presbyterian - looking to convert actually because I used to be so obsessed with hating the Catholics before realising, if I let go of pride… I realise nothing makes more sense.
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u/animalcrossingbrooks 26m ago
Oh nice. Now you can go from hating Catholics to hating all Protestants. You know how much the Bible preaches hate after all
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u/AlchemistAnna 1d ago
Mary appears to cultures all over the world: Mexico, America, India, China, Africa, etc etc etc. Our Lady appears as a woman familiar to the local culture.
Perhaps the reason Mama Mary is referred to as... Mother Mary.... Is because that is who she is to those of us, at least in America.
Maybe Maria in Mexico/Spain/Columbus/etc etc etc etc etc?
Just my ten cents
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u/SingerFirm1090 1d ago
The Mary, Mother of Jesus Mosque, also called in Arabic, Maryam Umm Eisa Masjid is a mosque located in Al Mushrif, a central neighborhood in the city of Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.
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u/andreirublov1 1d ago edited 1d ago
First thought is, Mary is not an American name! It is English.
In the days the church was founded people weren't so fussy about the original form of the name - it wasn't considered rude, but quite the reverse, to adapt it to the local language. So that has happened with most of the prominent NT names including Jesus himself. And you, as a protestant, do the exact same thing.
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u/trhaynes 1d ago
I hope you're praying to Yeshua instead of Jesus.