👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Restoration of Human #Character Through Our Mother: The #Virgin, the #Ladder, and the #Light
Dear beloved in Christ, let us ascend the heights of spiritual reflection and descend with holy tears of gratitude, as we contemplate a mystery revealed through Scripture, Tradition, and the radiant witness of the Holy Virgin. This teaching, drawn from the well of ancient truth and illumined by the light of the Orthodox faith, sets before us a vision of our character, our fall, and our restoration through Our Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Image of God in Man: A Mystery of Nature and Spirit
The sacred Scripture declares, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). These divine words are not mere poetry but thunder from the throne of heaven. They reveal that man is not a beast of the field, nor a mere particle of dust, but a creature shaped by the very hand of God, bearing within him the imprint of divinity.
Man is composed of four physical elements:
Water - the symbol of cleansing and life.
Fire - the image of zeal and divine light.
Wind - the breath of the Spirit.
Earth - the foundation of humility and mortality.
And within him dwell three spiritual qualities, divine treasures bestowed from above:
Intelligence (Understanding) – the eye of the soul, able to know God.
Perception (Speaking) – the word-bearing faculty that reflects the eternal Logos.
Life (Living Forever) – the breath of eternity, an immortal essence breathed into clay.
These seven elements four of the body and three of the soul are united into one sublime nature: the human being. This union forms what we call character, for character is not merely behavior, but the outward revelation of an inward composition.
The Fall of Character: A Wound in the Nature of Man
This nature, though fashioned in beauty, was wounded by sin. Adam and Eve, our first parents, were endowed with free will, a divine gift allowing them to choose good or evil. But through their transgression, they severed human nature from the holiness and purity in which it was created.
Thus, the human nature:
Became miserable and afflicted.
Lost its childlike innocence.
Surrendered its freedom and vitality.
Fell into the cold grip of death.
As the Apostle Paul writes, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, for all sinned…But death reigned from Adam to Moses” (Romans 5:12-14). This was the sin of the flesh, an inheritance of corruption that tainted all who came from Adam’s loins.
The character of man became distorted not lost, but marred awaiting redemption, groaning for the restoration of what once was whole.
The Longing for Restoration: The Cry of the Ancient Fathers
Throughout the ages, Adam and his children lifted their prayers to heaven, yearning for deliverance. They awaited the fulfillment of the divine promise, a promise not made in vain. God, in His mercy, prepared a bridge, a way back from corruption to incorruption, from death to life.
That bridge is the Virgin Mary, the Mother of our salvation, the support of our character.
Why do we call her thus? Because in her was preserved what was lost in Eve:
Holiness instead of defilement,
Purity of mouth, soul, and body instead of corruption,
Obedience instead of rebellion.
She bore within her womb the One through whom human nature is lifted back to its ancient beauty.
Continues👇🏾