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The Church continued to call the Theotokos the "Virgin" even after the time when she supposedly would have had other children, as some say. It would be a rather odd thing to keep calling a woman "the Virgin" and even "Ever-Virgin" when one was standing next to her other offspring in Church.
Additionally, throughout the earliest liturgies of the Church, she is continually called "Ever-Virgin." One can also find references to her ever-virginity in the [[Church Fathers|Fathers]]' writings, such as in those of [[Peter of Alexandria]], [[Epiphanius]], Athanasius, [[Didymus the Blind]], Jerome, [[Cyril of Alexandria]], Leo, [[Sophronius I of Jerusalem]], [[John of Damascus]], [[John Cassian]], [[Ephrem the Syrian|Ephrem of Syria]], and the capitula of the [[Fifth Ecumenical Council|II Council of Constantinople]] in 553 A.D. (In short, nearly everywhere.) One such example is in St. [[Ambrose of Milan]] (4th century): "The virgin did not seek the consolation of bearing another child" (See Letter 63; ''NPNF'' v. 10, p. 473). There are many other such quotations. Anyone familiar with the writings of the Church Fathers will see her being called "the Virgin" and "Ever-Virgin" frequently.
[[Hippolytus]] was a scholar, [[bishop]], and [[martyr]], who lived in or near Rome and wrote in Greek; he was martyred in A.D. 235. He is considered to be one of the most important witnesses as to how the early church worshipped.
