People
who do not go to church have been perplexed by the veneration of the Most Holy
Mother of God for centuries. Many of them accuse the Orthodox Christians of
some kind of idolatry. Some denominations, such as Evangelicals, refuse to
honor the Blessed Virgin Mary altogether. What does the Church have to answer
to her opponents? Why does She call upon the Theotokos in prayer so often?
Here is
how Saint Ignatius Bryanchaninov (1807–1867) who was one of the most famous
theologians and saints of the 19th century, addressed many of these issues.
He even
wrote a very detailed treatise on Church veneration of the Virgin Mary because
Pope Pius IX had announced a new doctrine of Immaculate Conception of the
Mother of God. Another reason for writing that treatise were the requests of
his contemporaries to provide a definitive rebuttal of the Protestant and
secular arguments against the said veneration.
Why Do Christians Venerate Theotokos So Much?
It is
because Virgin Mary gave birth to God himself. She was the only person in the
world in whom the Creator of the world dwelt. Other great righteous men and
women received Divine inspiration thanks to the Holy Spirit, of course, but the
Mother of God was the only person who received the Logos so that He could
become incarnate.
Saint
Ignatius Bryanchaninov writes, “This kind of receiving God is obviously the
once-in-history, exceptional, unparalleled phenomenon, unreachable for holy men
and for holy angels, and appropriate solely for the Mother of God. The God-man
replaced Adam and became the originator of the tribe of the elect; likewise,
the Mother of God replaced Eve and became their mother. The God-man is the King
of Heaven, of all men and angels; likewise, the Mother of God is the Queen of
Heaven, the Queen of all men and angels.”
Why Is Theotokos Honored More Than All
Saints?
The high
status of the Theotokos is due not only to the fact that She became the mother
of the God-man but also to the fact that She was the only person who stayed in
close contact with God for such a long time, as Saint Ignatius writes, “The
Ever-Virgin is higher than all holy men both because She became the Mother of
the God-man and thanks to the fact that She was the most persevering and the
most attentive learner of the doctrine that the God-man preached. The first of
this qualities was bolstered by the second one, and thus the status of the
Mother of God became the most exalted one. This is what the Holy Gospel points
out with regard to the Mother of God, ‘Mary kept all these things, and pondered
them in her heart’ (Luke 2:19).”
What Is The Greatest Contribution of the
Theotokos?
The main
contribution of the Blessed Virgin was that She made herself ready for carrying
the Savior. It was her personal and voluntary act of self-sacrifice. Her
chastity, profound love, complete self-denial, and absolute loyalty to God set
her apart from all righteous men and women of the Old Testament.
Saint
Ignatius writes: “What the greatest God’s servants aspired to accomplish, the
Mother of God actually accomplished, thanks to the God-sent Divine grace. How
did she carry it out? At first, her heart and womb were overcome with the Holy
Spirit. Then her womb became the Temple of the Incarnate Lord: the spiritual
joy pouring from the presence of the Lord engulfed her entirely, according to
her own words. As a rule, holy joy engulfs those humans who had been lucky to
feel the power of the Holy Spirit, so it is natural that the Theotokos was
filled with the divine joy.
As soon
as the God-man was born, She was the closest person to him. It was in her lap
and in her arms that He spent his early childhood; He was inseparable with her
not only during his adolescence but also in his youth and as an adult — up
until the beginning of his public ministry, which lasted for three and a half
years. There wasn’t anyone who heard the word of God for so long and so closely.
There wasn’t anyone who followed the words and actions of the God-man with
equally deep and permanent attention and preserved them so meticulously and
lovingly."
Why is Virgin Mary Called Mother of God? How
Can Anyone Give Birth to the Eternal God?
Jesus
Christ born by Virgin Mary is fully God and fully human at the same time.
According to the doctrine officially proclaimed at the 4th Ecumenical Council,
his two natures — human and divine — are manifest in him unconfusedly,
unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably.
Saint
Ignatius writes: “The Virgin, having conceived and delivered God and man in the
same person, became the Mother of God in the exact sense of this word because
her offspring was God, while at the same time being a human being. St. John of
Damascus exclaims, ‘Having given birth to God who was incarnated through her,
how isn’t She the Mother of God?’ The Virgin who became the Mother of God
naturally becomes the Lady, the Queen, and the Domina of all sentient beings,
on earth and in heaven alike; but at the same time She continues to be a God’s
creature and her Son’s and God’s handmaid. By giving birth to the Sacrifice for
the sins of the whole humankind, She gave birth to the Sacrifice for her own
sins as well, for She is part of the human race, too. Her Son is God, the
Creator, the Lord, the Redeemer, and the Savior.”
Why Does The Orthodox Church Refuse to
Believe in the Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary?
Pope Pius
IX of Rome issued an edict on December 8, 1854, which promulgated the doctrine
of the Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary as an official teaching of the
Roman Catholic Church. According to the doctrine, the Mother of God was born
without the original sin, i.e., She was absolutely sin-free. The Orthodox
Church rejects this doctrine and believes that it contradicts the soteriology
(doctrine of salvation) shaped in the age of Ecumenical Councils. In fact,
Theotokos herself professes Jesus Christ as her Savior in the Gospel according
to Luke.
This is
what Saint Ignatius writes: “The graceful Ever-Virgin claims that the God She
brought into this world is her Savior. The Papists ascribe sinlessness to Her
and by virtue of this claim demonstrate their disbelief in God’s omnipotence.
On the contrary, the Orthodox Church praises God’s omnipotence and supreme
power that made a female conceived and born in sin incomparably greater than
the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim who have never
known sin and who remain steadfast in holiness. My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour (Luke 1:43), the Blessed Virgin
said in response to Elisabeth when the latter, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
spoke out in the loud voice that the Ever-Virgin was the Mother of God.”
Why Do Christians Address Theotokos As
Mother?
During
his Passion, the Lord declared Apostle John the Theologian, who was standing by
his Cross, an adopted son of Jesus’s Mother, and therefore all members of the
Church are also her children. We read in the Gospel, “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).
“When the
Lord had already redeemed the human race,” Saint Ignatius writes, “and was
about to seal the act of redemption with his voluntary death on the Cross,
there was the Mother of God together with his beloved disciple, Apostle John,
standing nearby. The Lord suddenly speaks to the Theotokos who was taking part
in his redemptive agony. He entitles her to certain rights concerning the
humankind; the rights that She receives from the God-man having earned them for
her attitude and relationship with the God-man. He declares her the mother of
the beloved disciple, and through him—the Mother of the entire renewed human
race, according to the opinion and exegesis of the Fathers.”
Why Does The Church Pray to the Theotokos So
Often?
Christians
believe that the Mother of God rose from the dead and that God took her into
the Heavenly Kingdom after her death. She became our main intercessor and
supplicant for the whole Church. It is for this reason that there have never
been any kind of relics of the Theotokos in the Church anywhere, even though
parts of her robe and belt are considered sacred.
Saint
Ignatius writes: “The Mother of God rose from the dead on the third day after
her blissful Dormition. She now dwells in the Heaven both spiritually and
physically. Not only does She dwell in the Heaven but She even reigns in the
Heaven. Being the Mother of the King of Heaven, She carries the title of the
Queen of Heaven, the Queen of holy Angels and holy men. She received special
powers and special courage to intercede for the human race before God. The Holy
Church asks all greatest servants of God, all Angels and Archangels, to ‘pray
to God for us’ but asks the Mother of God to ‘save us’.”
By Tikhon Sisoyev
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
Source: https://foma.ru/pochemu-bogoroditsa-pochitaetsya-tserkovyu-vyishe-chem-vse-svyatyie.html
CONVERSATION