The Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary
“For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:48)
From Genesis through the Gospels, the Holy Virgin Mary is a central figure in God’s plan for mankind’s redemption. After Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Paradise, God pronounces on the serpent: “And I will put enmity, between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen 3:15). The woman referenced is Mary, from whose Seed the Son of God would come to crush the serpent. This verse is the first insight into the one who generations later would be greeted by the Archangel Gabriel in a spectacular manner: “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:28). This was a very strange greeting, as it acknowledged Mary as the most unique woman in history. By humbly accepting the awesome call to supernaturally give birth to the Word of God (from which she receives the honorary title of Theotokos in Greek, or “God-bearer”), she accepted God’s will for her life, and in so doing, reversed the course of human history. She gave her life to Christ, thus becoming the first Christian. About 700 years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah had foretold: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14).
The Virgin Mary exemplified a pure life as she had been preserved by the Holy Spirit to deliver the Eternal Word without being consumed, for His glory is a consuming fire (Exodus 24:17, Deuteronomy 9:3). She is depicted by the Church as the burning bush which contained God’s glory but remained unburnt. The Holy Spirit overshadowed her, and she lived her life as a perfect example of Christian humility. Her faith could move mountains, as in the case of the wedding at Cana, at which she asked Jesus to perform a mighty act when the wine jugs went dry. Although Jesus told her that the time had not yet come for His miracle-working ministry, she nevertheless instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus told them, resulting in His first public miracle of transforming water into wine. Such was her love for the married couple, and her faith in her Son. For this reason, we regularly ask her to intercede on our behalf to her Son for our salvation. Thanks to the Virgin Mary, who witnessed many of the events of Jesus and kept them in her heart, she later recounted them to the Evangelist Luke, who recorded them in the gospel (Luke 2:51). Mary was always there for Jesus, even during His suffering on the cross, while the rest of the disciples, except for John, had disappeared for fear of the Jewish authorities.
The Old Testament prefigured the Mother of God (as she is rightfully called in the Holy Orthodox Church) in many powerful symbols. The worship of God in the temple at Jerusalem was centered around the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the rod of Aaron the priest, and the golden jar of manna that had rained down from heaven to feed the Israelites in the wilderness. Each of these objects depicted Christ: He is the Lawgiver Who thundered the Commandments to Moses; He is the High Priest after the priestly order of Melchizedek; and He is the Bread of life from heaven Who feeds us. The Church recognizes that if the objects in the Ark represented Christ, then the Ark which contained them represented Mary, who contained Christ. And just as the Ark was in the section of the Temple called the Holy of Holies, The Church also refers to the Holy Virgin as Panagia in Greek, or “All Holy.” Other Old Testament symbols for Mary include Jacob’s ladder, which pictures the one through whom God descended to earth. As a result of Christ’s descent to earth via the Virgin birth, Christians may ascend to heaven. She is also symbolized by: the cloud of Elias, the closed gate, the sealed fountain, the rose of Jericho, and the cedar of Lebanon. Clearly, the Virgin Mary is acknowledged throughout Scripture for her crucial role in in mankind’s redemption.
After the Virgin conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, she traveled to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the outskirts of Jerusalem. St. Elizabeth received her with great honor, referring to her as the Mother of her Lord. Mary is then inspired by the Holy Spirit to prophecy: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:46-48). Today, this prophecy continues being fulfilled in The Church, where she is always venerated in our prayers as “all blessed and all pure.”
Throughout human civilization, great honor and distinction is given to the king’s or emperor’s mother. How much more, the Queen mother of our Savior, Who is King of kings and Lord of lords!
The Life of the Virgin Mary
Most of what we know about our Most Holy Lady comes from the Holy Scriptures and ancient writings, such as the Protoevangelium of St. James (stepbrother of Jesus). She was a miracle child born to very pious Jewish parents. Barren and in their old age, Joachim and Anna’s prayers for a child they could dedicate to God were heard by the Lord. At the age of three, she was taken to the Temple at Jerusalem, and left under the care of the temple virgins. There, she would grow up learning the Old Testament Scriptures while conducting routine labors such as cleaning and sewing the priest’s vestments. Reaching child-bearing age, the temple virgins were required to leave the Temple to avoid any possible impropriety, and return to their families to prepare themselves for marriage. It was unheard of, and unpopular in Jewish society for a woman to remain in virginity through adulthood. However, Mary’s parents had already reposed, and she remained steadfast in her singular devotion to God. This presented a dilemma for the Temple priests. To resolve this, they called for the pious, unmarried and widowed men to present themselves to the Temple to find a suitable candidate for Mary. Among them was Joseph the Carpenter, who had widowed just one year earlier, and had several children (including James, Salome and Jude). The Lord revealed miraculously, through a budding rod, that Joseph would be entrusted with Mary’s care. At the age of 16, Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but she remained a virgin all her life. After Jesus’ crucifixion, the Apostle John cared for Mary, as Joseph had already reposed. The Jewish authorities sought to kill her, perceiving her as a threat due to her popularity among the disciples following Jesus’ ascension to heaven. Luke the Evangelist places special honor on Mary by distinguishing her from the other women disciples meeting in the upper room: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” (Acts 1:14)
Jesus’ ascension had left the disciples feeling desolate and orphaned prior to Pentecost, but Mary was the source of much consolation and encouragement to them. After Pentecost, John traveled with her to Ephesus and later returned to Jerusalem, where she remained until her repose. It was divinely revealed to Our Lady when she would give up her pure soul to her beloved Son, and shortly before this came to pass, the holy apostles who were in various lands spreading the gospel were miraculously translated to Jerusalem to pay their final respects to their beloved Mother in the Lord. For generations since, Our Lady has kept her promise of praying to her Son and interceding on our behalf. To this day, the Church has witnessed countless miracles attributed to her intercessory prayers.
Click on the above Iveron Icon of Hawaii to learn of its miracle
“To Thee The Champion Leader”
In the 7th century, while the Emperor of Byzantium Heracleios was on an expedition to fight the aggression of the Persians on their own grounds, there appeared outside the walls of Constantinople barbaric hordes, mostly Avars. The siege lasted a few months, and it was apparent that the outnumbered troops of the Queen City were reaching desperation. However as history records, the faith of the people worked the impossible. The Venerable Patriarch Sergius with the Clergy and the Official of Byzantium Vonos, endlessly marched along the great walls of Constantinople with an Icon of the Theotokos in hand, and bolstered the faith of the defenders of freedom. The miracle came soon after. Unexpectedly, as the chronicler narrates, a great storm with huge tidal waves destroyed most of the fleet of the enemy, and full retreat ensued. The faithful of Constantinople spontaneously filled the Church of the Theotokos at Vlachernae on the Golden Horn, and with the Patriarch Sergius officiating, they prayed all night singing praises to the Virgin Mary without sitting. Hence the title of the Hymn “Akathistos”, in Greek meaning ‘not seated’.
The Akathist Hymn is chanted in all Orthodox Churches throughout the world during the five Fridays in the Great Lent, and constitutes a very concrete spiritual preparation for the Holy Week and Easter Services; a ‘staff’ to help us ascend the spiritual steps of the lengthy Lenten period, to finally reach the peak with our Lord’s Glorious Resurrection.
