👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Mystery of #Friday #Praise of the Virgin Mary
Beloved in the Lord, children of the Orthodox faith, today we gather in spirit upon the blessed day that our fathers have called the fifth day of thanksgiving, the sixth day of creation. Upon this day, the heavens themselves seem to widen, the air is suffused with light, the throne of glory is exalted, and from the courts of heaven descends the Virgin full of grace, robed in humility more splendid than the sun.
Mary as the Second Eve
For as once through a woman came the wound, so through a woman has come the healing. The serpent whispered to Eve, and death entered the world; but the Archangel spoke to Mary, and the Author of life entered the womb. The first Eve tasted pride and brought forth the bitter harvest of sin; the second Eve received the message of God with faith unshaken and bore the fruit of salvation for all mankind (Lk. 1:28). As Bede the wise has taught: “Since death entered through a woman, it was fitting that life should enter through a woman.”
The fruit of Mary’s womb
The fruit of Mary’s womb is Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man divinity veiled in blessed flesh, soul unblemished. St. Ambrose declares that Mary conceived in her heart before she conceived in her womb, for she believed without doubting. Therefore, blessed are all who, imitating her, believe the word of God and bring forth the Word in their lives (Lk. 1:45–47).
From her came forth the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, who by His birth renews our nature, cleansing us from the yoke of sin, making us new creatures by the Holy Spirit, as St. John the Baptist and the blessed Tadros Malaty proclaim. Angels rejoiced at this work how wondrous that dust should be raised to the company of angels!
O Theotokos! Mother of the Light that never sets, we glorify you with mouth, heart, body, and soul. You are exalted above angels and archangels, beyond the comprehension of every mind. The One enthroned upon the cherubim dwelt in your womb; He who holds creation in the hollow of His hand was nourished at your breast.
St. Yohannes Afework explains your support of virgins:
1. As Eve was formed without a mother, so Christ was born of you without a father balancing the scales of creation.
2. Where once women were denied inheritance because of Eve’s transgression, in you, womanhood was exalted to equality with man, fulfilling the Apostle’s word: “There is neither male nor female in Christ” (Gal. 3:28).
3. Your virginity is the crown and inspiration of all virgins, for He who was before all worlds became man through you, making us sharers in His divine life (Phil. 3:10–11).
You are the holy city of God, in whom the Most High chose to dwell. The Creator who feeds all things with His word nursed from you, His creature. In you the curse is broken; the paradise lost through Adam is restored through your Son.
Mary as Mother of God
Some of the remaining Nestorians claim that the Virgin Mary is not the Mother of God but only the Mother of Man. Yet Saint Cyril, the hammer of heretics, especially of Nestorius who denied her divine motherhood, upheld and praised the honor given to her, saying: “If you are so stubborn, then know this the Holy Virgin is truly the Mother of God. How can you deny such a great dignity to her who bore God Himself? The Virgin Mary is indeed the Mother of God.”
Mary and St. Joseph
When Joseph saw her with child, he was perplexed, but the angel revealed to him that the conception was of the Holy Spirit. As St. Ephrem explains, this was to prevent pagans from imagining the birth as some shameful myth of their gods. Christ entered her womb without corrupting her virginity.
Joseph became her guardian, not her husband. He bore witness to the divine conception. The “brothers” of Jesus mentioned in Scripture were not her children, but kinsmen. For at the Cross, Christ entrusted His Mother not to them but to John, the beloved disciple, proving her perpetual virginity.
Continues 👇🏾