The veneration of the
Theotokos according to the Bible
By Archim. Cleopa Iilie
Testimonies of the Holy Bible for the special veneration of the Mother of the Lord.
Why we honour the Mother of the Lord.
We, Orthodox Christians honour the
Theotokos Mary more than all the saints and angels of heaven for she was found
worthy to give birth to Christ, the Saviour of the world by the overshadowing
of the Holy Spirit. The honour we render to the Mother of the Lord is
exceptional, most honourable and most revered, for she is not only "a friend of
His" same as the other Saints but she is Most Holy (Panagia) above all the
saints and all the angels.
For this the angels as much as the people
venerate and honour her with prayers, hymns, church services and eulogies. Similarly
the Archangel Gabriel greeted her at the annunciation (Luke 1:28-29) as well as
Saint Elizabeth, the mother of Saint John the Baptist (Luke 1:40-43).
The Most Holy Virgin herself prophesied
through the Holy Spirit "for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call
me blessed; for He that is mighty has done to me great things ..... (Luke
1:48-49). From these words we understand the exceptional honour accorded to the
Mother of the Lord is intentional and appointed by God Himself. This
exceptional honour that is accorded by the Orthodox Church to the Ever Virgin
Mary forms the veneration of the Mother of the Lord.
In the framework of the veneration of
the Most Holy Theotokos, we firstly mention the great feasts of the Mother of
God, which are: The birth of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Entry, the
Annunciation, and the Dormition of the Theotokos. Then the services done in the
Churches and the monasteries in her honour, the salutations, the canons of
supplications, the hagiographic icons decorated so beautifully, especially the
miraculous ones, and many other prayers through which we ask the help of the
Mother of the Lord every day of our lives.
We honour the Mother of God because she
is the mother who gave birth to the Son of God and the first one who intercedes
for the world in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity. She helps us much more
in the conquest of salvation by her holy prayers.
However in the long history, there
appear some whom we call heretics or followers of other confessions
(neoprotestants) who blasphemed her as much as they do the Saviour and His
Bible.
The holy Apostle Paul in his epistles
indicates that in the latter days will appear people who cannot tolerate the
teaching of the true faith, but will place teachers agreeable to their works,
the come close to fairy tales. Namely, while they see the true faith, they will
deny her power, always preaching and not being able to reach the true faith;
"Now, as Jannes and Jambes opposed Moses, so do these also resist the truth:
men of corrupt minds and reprobate of faith. But evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2Tim 3:8, 13).
We, since the creation of this nation
that is how we are known, Romians and Orthodox Christians. That is how we were
born and we are duty bound to maintain pure and complete whatever we inherited
from our ancestors as from God Himself. For the Apostle Paul says: "therefore
brethren stand fast and keep the traditions which you have been taught whether
by word or our epistle" (2 Thess 2:15).
The Protestants and with them the
heretic neoprotestants - followers of other
contemporary confessions- of our day, the so called "the repented ones" among
their many mind confusions and their false preaching, blaspheme far more the
Most Holy Theotokos and the Ever Virgin Mary. These blasphemers of the Mother
of the Lord say that we should not accord her great honour because her Son,
Jesus Christ Himself did not render her any honour. Apparently from the words
of the Saviour who said: "The one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy
brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said
unto him that told him, who is my mother? And who is my brethren? And He
stretched forth his hand toward the disciples and said, Behold My mother and My
brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of the Father which is in heaven, the
same is My brother and sister and mother" (Matt 12:47-50).The fact then that
the Virgin Mary was His mother had no significance to Him, His blood
relationship or physical relation had no value or preference against His
spiritual relationships with those who do the will of the Father, whosoever
they may be.
Furthermore, they add that this is
obvious from the way the Lord addressed her and during some other occasions He
called her woman, which means she was married, namely not a virgin, for in this
way the word of the Bible is verified "When Jesus therefore saw His mother and
the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman,
behold thy son" (John 19:26). Moreover He contemptuously calls her at the
wedding in Cana of Galilee, "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do
with thee? .... (John 2:4). Thus therefore in such a case we cannot consider
her above all (Most Holy) and we cannot accord her a special veneration.
However, it is not like this as all those
deceived of the truth believe, which they interpret according to their sick
mind, full of egoism, for in the first instance it concerns something else and specifically,
apart from the physical relationship, there is another relationship with
Christ, much greater and important, which is the spiritual relationship, which
involves doing of the will of God. This relationship however, does not cancel
or diminish the physical one. The difference consists on the fact that the spiritual
relationship anyone can acquire by doing the will of God. Relationship means
not only the physical relationship but also a relationship of love and
spiritual union. The one that does the will of God becomes a spiritual relative
of God. Similarly through the above, the Saviour not only did not set aside His
physical relationship with His Mother, nor did He diminish the honour that is
due to a mother from her son but He only tried to stress the other relationship
with Him. The spiritual, although of great value, can even be achieved by any
faithful.
Consequently it was an instigating and
encouraging saying towards the crowd and not contemptuous towards His Mother.
Our Saviour Jesus Christ as long as He was with His Mother on earth, He always
listened to her, loved her and submitted to her (Luke 2:51) and when she would
ask for something He never disobeyed her. Thus at the wedding in Cana of
Galilee, on the request of His Mother, He did the first miracle, turning the
water into wine (John 2:3-10). Then He cared greatly for His Mother and even
while He hang upon the Cross, he acted with care and gave her to His most
beloved among His disciples - Saint John the Evangelist- to be taken care of,
according to the scriptures: "When Jesus therefore saw His Mother and the
disciple standing by, whom He loved, he saith unto His Mother, Woman behold thy
son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that
disciple took her unto his own home" (John 19:26-27). Do you see here how the
Saviour even during the time of His great ordeal on the Cross, He did not
neglect to show care towards the person of His Mother, who gave birth to Him
and brought Him up. And how could it be possible to neglect His Mother, when
God Himself commanded us to honour our parents as it is written: "Honour your
father and your mother.... (Deut 5:16)
Secondly there is no cause for scorn but
instead, it appears that He looked after her by trusting her in the care of the
Apostle John- knowing that He would no longer be on earth to care for her to
the end of her life, as we showed above. This fact is not dishonesty but truly,
a great honour and respect towards the person of His Mother, whom even during
His torments upon the Cross, He did not forget to care for her, showing the
great love He had on the person of His Mother. If He however calls her "woman",
under no circumstance does it have the meaning of a married woman or for the
purpose of scorning her, but only with the meaning of her sex. For in the same
way the two angels at the tomb also addressed Mary Magdalene, "Woman, why do
you weep?" (John 20: 12-13). While the two men who were present during the
Ascension of the Lord to Heaven, said to the Apostles: "Men of Galilee why do
you stand looking at the heavens?" (Acts 1:11). Neither the angels nor the two
men used the words "woman" or "men" contemptuously but in the contrary in a
flattering manner.
They even ask us, where in the Holy
Bible it says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was Virgin and Ever Virgin, as we
call her. That she gave birth being virgin, our Holy Bible shows it this way:
When the Archangel Gabriel was sent to Nazareth and announced to her that she
will bear the Son of God (Luke 1:35) coming to her he called her "full of
grace" and "blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28). It appears that the
Archangel venerated (honoured) the Virgin Mary, calling her "full of grace" and
"blessed are you among women" and that she received great grace from God, that
the power of the Almighty had overshadowed her, and that she conceived through
the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the Son of God. Even though she was a Virgin,
not having known a man, the angel of the Lord did not tell her "blessed are you
among the virgins" but blessed are you among "women" and through this he does
not show contempt towards the Most Holy Theotokos who is "full of grace" but
reveals an old mystery: "the crashing of the head of the snake by the woman"
(Gen 3:15) and that she will be the mystical and spiritual Eve who will bear
the new Adam, Christ, who will bring life to the world.
The Godbearing Fathers of the church
tell us that Christ was called the seed of a woman (Gen 3:15) as he was not
born of the seed of a man but of the Holy Spirit and the undefiled blood of the
Most Holy Virgin and received Body.
On the day of the great judgment (2nd
coming) this Queen and Virgin Mary, will be sitting to the right of the throne
of her Son, in great and indescribable glory, as the psalm indicates by saying:
".......Upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir" (Ps 45:9). Because
the Archangel Gabriel also called her woman, when he said: "blessed are you
among women" does it mean that the Virgin Mary was a married woman?
Why then did she respond to the greeting
of the angel "I know not a man" (namely I am a Virgin)?
Or when God created Eve from the side of
Adam (Gen 2:21-22) and he brought her toward him and he called he called her
"woman" was it perhaps that Eve was a married woman, since Adam called her
woman? Is it possible that Eve was not created virgin from the side of the pure
Adam who had not known a woman?
Consequently if Eve was created by God
and while God Himself with Adam, called this virgin "woman" and would they later
call her woman with the meaning of a married woman? - How falsely do all these
neoprotestants and heretics understand? For as Eve was a virgin, then when he
called her woman, likewise, the mystical and spiritual Eve, the immaculate
Virgin Mary who gave birth to the New Adam, Christ , is Virgin for ever and
ever, even though the Holy Bible calls her woman, while referring only to her
sex, the feminine sex.
Then Adam through the energy of God bore
from his virgin body, without a woman (namely, without having knowledge of a
woman), while during the fulfillment of time, the feminine nature by the
energies of the Holy Spirit, gave birth to a man without a man, in virginity
she gave birth and remained virgin as in the beginning Adam gave birth while a
virgin. So God was pleased, as through the Virgin Mary to lend the nature of
the Old Adam through the New Adam who was born of the Virgin and who came to
the world and wore our nature through His infinite mercy and kindness, to save
the Old Adam with all his descendents from the sentence of death. For as
through Adam we all died, through Christ all are resurrected (Rom 6:5; John
3:16; 5:24 etc)
Therefore consider, deceived man -you
and your likes- that the Holy Bible does not call the Mother of God "woman"
meaning married as you understand but through the word "woman" the Holy Bible
refers only to the feminine sex of the Holy Virgin Mary and at the same time it
shows in a shadowy and mystical way that it is the woman whose descendent
(Christ) will crash the head of the snake and through Him will come salvation
to the people.
To the above we should add:
- Being the Mother of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary was accorded the highest honour that any creature can have.
- By Conceiving the Saviour through the Holy Spirit, she was cleansed completely from sin more than any other human, no matter how holy he/she may have been.
- Because her exceptional honour was pre-accorded - like no other honour on a person- the Most Holy Virgin Mary must be considered the first among the saints, just like Saint John the Baptist is considered the greatest among the prophets (Malachi 3, Isaiah 40:3).
For all these the Most Holy Virgin Mary
is worthy of an honour greater than the other Saints (exceptional honour)
because she is the queen and the crown of all the Saints. For how after the
birth she remained virgin, read and observe the prophesied sayings of the
prophet Ezekiel (44:1-3).
The deceived ones moreover add that we
should not give too much honour to the Virgin Mary and not even call her "Ever
Virgin", for she had more children, which were named in the Holy Bible
"brothers and sisters" of Jesus while Jesus is called "first born" (Matt 1:35)
which then follows that she later had other children.
It is true that the Holy Bible talks
about some brothers of the Lord as well as sisters of His, and from the words
of the Jews, who amazed by the miraculous person of the Lord said: "Is He not
the son of the carpenter? Is His mother not called Mariam and His brothers
James and Joses and Simon and Judas? And His sisters...." (Matt 13:55-56; Mark
6:3). However in this instance by the phrase "first born" does not mean that we
have to presume the existence of other born later (second, third....etc). This
was a way of speech in the Old Testament "first born" is called the one who
opens the womb first, independent if he has other brothers or not (Exodus13:2)
and where many times the absolute numbering (1,2,3,....) is substituted or used
mixed together with the tactical way (first, second ..etc).
This Judaism entered use in the language
of the New Testament. At present "first born" means "single born" with the
meaning the "only one born". Any other meaning is declined because if it were
true that Jesus had other blood brothers (children of Mary) he would not have
left His Mother in the care of some Apostle but in the care of one of her sons.
To the second point an argument is made
about the "brothers" of the Lord. The brothers are mentioned even by name and
are four, while the sisters must have been at least two. They however under no
circumstances could be natural brothers/sisters of Jesus Christ and children of
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, because:
-According to an old and accepted
tradition, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, remained virgin after the birth according
the way she appeared in the vision of Prophet Ezekiel (44:1-3).
-The mother of those so called
brothers/sisters of the Lord is another person from that of the Virgin Mary,
because in the Holy Bible she is called "Mary" or "the other Mary" or "the
sister of His mother, Mary of Klopa" being mentioned even at the side of the
Mother of the Lord and near her (Matt27:55-56; 28:1; Mark 15:40-47; John
19:25).
- The "brothers of the Lord not even
they are called brothers but "slaves" (James 1:1) and "slaves-servants" (Jud
1:1) of the Lord, the authors of the two universal epistles or there they are
called "slaves" (James 1:1; Jude1:1) of the Lord and not brothers.
-If they were His brothers, Christ would
have made them apostles. Even though some suggest that these two of the
"brothers of the Lord", called James and Judas, are the same to the apostles
who bear the name (James indeed is the same with the younger "brother of the
Lord"
- in all the listings of the Apostles - while Judas "the brother of the
Lord" is perhaps Judas Taddeus). All the same, this is a simple case, an
adequately founded one, especially that they do not call themselves apostles as
they also do not call themselves "brothers of the Lord". About James
- "the
brother of God" we know only that he was the first bishop of Jerusalem and
enjoyed the greatest honour of the faithful as well as the apostles (Acts
12:17; 15:13) since James Zebedeous was
murdered (Acts 12:2).
- Christ would have trusted the
Virgin Mary in his care, and not of the apostle John, who would certainly have
been more distant than a son or a daughter of hers.
- Taking into consideration the
fact that in all the East, and especially in Judea the meaning "brother" is
used in a broader sense, for a cousin or other relatives both close and distant
ones as for example in Genesis (13:8) where Abraham calls Lot brother even
though he was his nephew, son of his brother (Gen 11:27) we must accept that
"brothers of the Lord" were cousins of Jesus. But not first cousins, for even
if their mother is called sister of the Mother of the Lord (John 19:25) she
could not have been sister from the same father because she had the same name
Mary but the word sister, here must have the meaning of sister-in-law for the
Virgin Mary was a single child. It could have meant sister-in-law by Joseph,
who is not excluded from having some sister who was married. In this case her
boys, called the brothers of the Lord, could have been at most second cousins
of Jesus Christ.
As if they had nothing to add (to say)
on the virginity of the Mother of God and after the birth, they add even this
passage of the Holy Bible: "And knew her not until she had brought forth her
firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus" (Matt 1:25) explaining it that
after the birth Virgin Mary could have other children.
Let us take into consideration and
understand that in the Holy Bible the phrase "until then" means eternity.
Because the Lord said "......And lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the
century" (Matt 28:20). Is it possible this means that He will depart from us
after the end of that century?" Doesn't the divine Apostle Paul say ".... And so (after
the common resurrection) shall we ever be with the Lord" (1Thess 4:17). At
another passage of the Holy Bible it is written "The Lord said to my Lord sit
thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool (Ps 110:1). Does
this perhaps mean that after this our Saviour Jesus Christ will not sit at the
right of His Father to govern with Him through the ages, even though we know
very well that "...... and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:33).
Again in another passage of the Holy
Bible it is said that Noah sent the crow and the crow did not return until the
earth dried from the water (Gen 8:7), does this mean that it returned to the
ship sometime later?
Again it is written in the Holy Bible
that Melhol, the daughter of Saul, the wife of David did not bear a child
"until the day she die" (2Sam: 6:23). Does this perhaps mean that she bore
children after she died, since it says "until the..."?
Therefore, let them open the eyes of
their souls all these blasphemers of truth, against these testimonies that most
were taken from the Holy Bible and understand the phrase "until the" in the
Holy Bible means eternity as the Saviour will exist eternally with the apostles
and with all these that fulfill His commandments, as He will also eternally be
seated at the right of the Father reigning in His Kingdom which has no end,
like the crow never returned to Noah's ark, and as Melhol, the daughter of Saul
eternally never bore children after the day of her death and in the same way
the righteous and God- fearing Joseph, eternally did not come to know her, who
was virgin before the birth, the Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary,
Theotokos and Mother of Light, the queen of the angels and of the people remained
virgin during birth and for ever after birth.
After all this the hostile leaning
persons against the Mother of God say that we should not direct our prayers to
her with the supplications: "not having other protection- we have no other
helper but you" and "Most holy Theotokos save us", being a great mistake
because we place the Mother of God at par with the Saviour, as mediatrix to our
salvation, since one is our mediator, Jesus Christ.
Regarding our supplication to the Mother
of God in the following way: "not having other protection" through this we do
not deny the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the mediator of our objective
salvation, but neither do we neglect the benefit of every help for our
subjective salvation. The significance of this supplication is the following:
"You can give us the greatest help to our subjective salvation, for any other
greater help we cannot find in any saint or we do not have anyone else who can
help us as much as you can help us, being the Mother of our Saviour". While the
words of our supplication that we direct at her, "Most Holy Theotokos, save us"
mean "Intercede to your Son to save us" or "redeem us". In the Greek language
in which almost all the books of the New Testament were written, such as the
books of the Orthodox worship, the verb "to save" also means "to redeem"
(deliver, absolve etc) from the evil, from temptation, from sins, from worry,
from financial difficulties. So: "Most Holy Theotokos save us" means "help us
with your supplications to be redeemed from evil, upset, from the activities of
the devil, from our passions".
At the same time through the "save us"
we do not mean "forgive our sins" but "intercede to your Son for our
salvation". It is impossible to sadden her Son because through the devotion
(meaning rendering honour) of the Mother of God, for in this way the worship
owing to Him is not diminished in any way but to the contrary, all the great
devotion "particularly" to the Mother of God passes over to her Son, who chose
her and sanctified her to become His Mother.
Concerning what was said, we showed
through testimonies from the Holy Bible, the honour, the glory and the gifts
that God gave to His Most Holy Mother, because:
God, one more time since the fall of Adam and
Eve, foretold about the Mother of God that she will be that woman - virgin who
shall through her Son crash the head of the snake (Gen 3:15). Later, it was
prophesied about her that will be the Virgin who will be the intercessor for
the entry to the world of the Saviour Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 31:2-23), to her
the Archangel Gabriel came to honour and called her "full of grace" and
"blessed among women" and "Mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:40-45), blessed her womb
and breasts for they held and fed the Saviour of the world, Christ (Luke
11:27-28). The Saviour as her Son, obeyed her and submitted to her (Luke 2:51),
the first miracle the Saviour made was at the wedding at Cana of Galilee
through her supplication (John 2:3-10), the Saviour took care of her even then
when He suffered excruciating pains on the Cross, trusting to His most beloved
of all His Apostles the care of His Mother, and herself through the Holy Spirit
prophesied that all the generations will call her blessed and will sing in
glory that God made her worthy due to her humility (Luke 1:48-49), while the
same name of the Mother of God in the Hebrew language is translated as "Lady
Virgin".
This Lady and Virgin Queen will sit to
the right of the throne of her Son on the day of the Second Appearance (Ps
45:9). She conceived and gave birth by the Holy Spirit to the Son of God (Luke
1:35) having been overshadowed by the power of the Almighty and remained virgin
even after the birth (Ezekiel 44:13) she is most honourable than the Cherubim
and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, having no other children
but only Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. The mother of the so called
"brothers" of the Lord is not the Theotokos but Mary Klopa (Matt 27:55-56; Mark
15:40-47; John 19:25) while the "brothers" of the Lord are just relatives of Him
and not His natural brothers, for in the early years to the Hebrews, the close
relatives were called "brothers" (Gen 13:8). The mother of the brothers of the
Lord, Mary Klopa, is called sister of the Mother of the Lord, according to the
meaning of being close relatives (John 19:25 etc).
Having seen testimonies of the Holy
Bible for these truths that refer to the mother of the Lord, if you had a clear
mind from the darkness of heresies and sins, you would have been able to
understand very clearly (enlightened) why we Orthodox Christians of the Church
of Christ accord the Super-devotion (exceptional honour) to the Most Holy
Theotokos Mary. By asking her, we set her as intercessor to her Son and our
God, to help us through her intercessory mediations which she always presents
to God for the whole human race and especially for the devout Christians.
Why don't you honour the Mother of the
Lord when the Holy Bible itself reveals to you that the Archangel Gabriel
honoured her with the greeting (Luke 1:29).
What is the reason you do not honour the
Mother of the Lord, who according to the testimony of the Holy Bible and of the
evangelist Archangel Gabriel, she is "full of grace"? (Luke 1:28-30). Why are
you so hard hearted and blind that you do not comprehend you do not honour the Mother of the Lord even
though by the grace of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth confessed that she was the
Mother of the Lord and blessed among women? (Luke 1:40-43).
If you say that you believe in the
writing of the Holy Bible, why then don't you honour and respect the Mother of
the Lord, when the Bible reveals to you she will be blessed by all generations,
for the honour that God granted her?
What is the reason you reached such
great ignorance, where instead of you honouring and respecting the Mother of
the Lord, you blaspheme her and in your disorder (foolishness) you consider her
as a common woman? The Holy Spirit has presented her in the psalms as queen of
the angels and of all creation, sitting to the right of her Son, clothed in
gold and adorned (Ps 45:13) and you name her as a common woman like all the
rest?
The Holy Spirit reveals in the Holy
Bible that she will be commemorated from generation to generation and all the
nations will hymn her incessantly through the ages (Ps 45:17) while you do not
want to glorify and honour the Mother of the Lord. The Holy Spirit reveals the
"King's daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold (Ps
45:13). By the inner glory it shows that it is a temple of the Holy Spirit,
immaculate, while you blaspheme the Mother of the Lord and do not honour her.
The Mother of the Lord is that Virgin
who gave birth to Emmanuel God (Isaiah 7:14) and you say she is any woman as
all the other women. The Holy Spirit through the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel
depicts the Mother of the Lord as "a closed gate" through which no one will
enter but only the God of Israel and after the passage, she will remain closed
(Ezekiel 44:13), namely she will be virgin before the birth, during the birth
and ever virgin she will remain after the birth, and you say that the Mother of
the Lord had other children apart from the Son of God, whom she bore.
It would be better to hang a rock round
your neck and jump in the sea (Matt 18:6-7; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:1-2) than
scandalize the souls of innocent Christians with your lies and your satanic and
cursed blasphemies. How could the just and God fearing Joseph (Matt 1:19) dare
to touch the Most Holy Virgin after the birth, especially after he received the
revelation - by the angel "for in her will be born by the Holy Spirit, is Holy
(Matt 1:20) and the conceived by the grace of the Holy Spirit will be the
Saviour of the world, Christ (Matt 1:21).
Would perhaps the righteous and God
fearing Joseph -to whom God revealed that the Virgin Mary, his betrothed,
conceived by the Holy Spirit and understood that through her God would work the
salvation of the human race, by crashing the head of the snake (Gen 3:15) and
that she is the Virgin, prophesied by the Holy Spirit through the Prophet
Isaiah, who will give birth to Emmanuel, God and Saviour of the world (Isaiah
7:14)- be capable of entertaining human thoughts on her? Exactly because of
this the righteous and God fearing Joseph proved to be such a zealot and
obedient and served with such toil the divine Child, from birth to escape to
Egypt and then return (Luke 2:4-5; Matt 2:13; 20:21-23) as well as the rest of
the time of his life, until the age of the Saviour of 30 years, for he could
understand completely the calling to serve the Most Holy Virgin through whom
God came to the world, to redeem the human race.
Therefore, let the mouths of all the
heretics and neoprotestants remain silent, from blaspheming against the Queen
of the angels and Mother of God and of the righteous and God fearing Joseph
concerning the evil and foolish thoughts that the Most Holy and Immaculate
Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, the "full of grace" could have other children.
Denying all the dumb blasphemies of the
heretics, we, the children of the Church of Christ, let us always have the
Mother of God our continuous supplicator and intercessor for our salvation in
front of God. Let us incessantly honour her name as Mother of the Son of God.
Let the virgins glorify her as an Ever Virgin mother. The priest and the
monastics as the mother of the Great Arch-Priest Jesus Christ, while we, the
pious Christians, together with the angels and the saints let us sing daily the
Akathist and the canon of the Paraclete to the Mother of God, repeating all together
the holy hymn (obedience): "Rejoice, Bride, Unwedded".
Atlanta 13-10-1991
Introduction- translation
George Dem. Apostolou
Theologian
From the Journal: "Orthodox Filotheos
Martyria"
Publication: "Orthodox Kypseli" Thessaloniki.
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