THE SACREDNESS OF MOTHERHOOD IN THE PERSON OF THE THEOTOKOS AND EVER VIRGIN MARY

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE SACREDNESS OF MOTHERHOOD IN THE PERSON
OF THE THEOTOKOS AND EVER VIRGIN MARY.

"To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain
and groaning, and in pain you shall bring forth children"
[Genesis 3:16].

"Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and
bore Cain, and said, ‘I have acquired a man through
God…" [Genesis 4:1].

"Naked I came from mother’s womb, and naked I
shall return" [Job 1:21].

God brings every human being into existence in the womb of the mother at the moment of conception. His creative activity is simultaneous with conception. Everything is accomplished by the will of God, including the blessing to conceive and bear children. Motherhood, therefore, is sacred and noble. It is a commandment of God Himself to "Honor your father and mother that it may be well with you, and your days may be long upon the good land the Lord your God is giving you" [Exodus 20:12]. To honor one’s father and mother is the first commandment in the Ten to promise a reward, namely a long and spiritually prosperous life on earth. The holy Apostle Paul writes, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" [Ephesians 6:1-2]. The meaning of the Greek word for obey [hupakouo] begins with the idea of listening attentively.

There have been a number of holy women in the Old Testament who were blessed by God to bear holy children but none can compare to the Ever-Virgin Mary who was chosen by God to give birth to His Only-begotten Son Jusus Christ. The Theotokos taught humanity that motherhood is honorable indeed and that is far more than a biological act but divine and mystical. We, humanity, are truly united with the Divine through the Theotokos and her Son and Lord Jesus Christ. With the dogma of the Son of God, becoming man is closely bound up with the naming of the Most Holy Virgin as THEOTOKOS [Birth-giver of God]. "God was joined to Man from the very instant of His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and that He, being perfect Man, is also perfect God."

The Ever-Virgin Mary’s womb became "more spacious than the heavens” [Gk. Platytera ton Ouranon"]. The Thetokos contained the uncontainable God in her sacred womb. Her blessed womb was transformed into the Holy of Holies. " God was made manifest in the flesh" [1 Timothy 3:16]: the flesh was woven for God the Logos/Word by the Most Holy Virgin Mary. The Apostolic Fathers taught "Our God Jesus Christ as in the womb of Mary"; "God took flesh of the Virgin Mary" [Saint Ignatius the God bearer, Saint Irenaeus]. The Third Ecumenical Council states: "If anyone will not confess that Immanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is Theotokos, inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Logos/Word of God made flesh: LET HIM BE ANATHEMA"

By God’s actions womanhood, virginity, and motherhood, was exalted. "The Most Holy Virgin Mary was prepared by the best part of mankind as a worthy vessel for the Descent of God the Logos/Word to earth. The coming down of the Holy Spirit ("the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee") totally SANCTIFIED THE WOMB OF THE VIRGIN MARY FOR THE RECEPTION OF GOD THE LOGOS/WORD." The understanding of womanhood, virginity, and motherhood was changed by the divine words of the Archangel Gabriel who said: "Rejoice, full of grace! the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women!…The Angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you will call his name ‘Jesus.’ [Luke 1:30-31]. Panagia (All-Holy) was a young woman, a virgin, and the Mother of God’s Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. All three stations, womanhood, virginity and motherhood; were bestowed the grace of God and exalted never to be the same again.

Tragically, however, this 21st century has revealed a most alarming, perverse, corrupt, distorted, and sinister attempt to rebel outright against our very God the Creator and Great Fashioner of all. This ugly society can only produce ugliness and darkness. The dark (evil) powers of this age, attempting to alter and corrupt God’s creation is foolish and will lead to its own demise. Nothing that God has created "good" can be revised or reversed by an evil power. People who have fallen prey to this sinister indoctrination, deception and falsehood are to be pitied. "Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass, bearing seed according to its kind and likeness…Thus the earth brought forth the herb of grass, bearing seed according to its kind and likeness" [Genesis 1:11-12]. The same applies to the man and the woman. "Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image,
and according to Our likeness" [Genesis 1:26]. "And God brought a trance upon Adam and he slept; andHe took one of his ribs, and filled up the flesh in its place. Then the Lord God built the rib He took from Adam into A WOMAN and brought her to him. So Adam said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called WOMAN because she was TAKEN OUT OF MAN" [Genesis 2:21-23].

Orthodox Christians must not be diverted from God’s plan, commandments, and path but remain obedient to His Divine will. Mankind’s propensity to commit sin reveals that in the Fall, the image of God in man is also fallen. Christ, by His Death and Resurrection, CONQUERED THE DEVIL AND DEATH, FREEING MANKIND FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH [Hebrews 2:14-15] and making possible a more complete communion between God and man than was ever possible before. This COMMUNION allows people to become "partakers of the Divine nature" [2 Peter 1:4], to TRANSCEND DEATH AND, ULTIMATELY, ALL THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. The Son of God came to the world in order to open the path to mankind in its entirety for the personal salvation of each of us…and "to give help, to give power on the path of salvation of the acquisition of spiritual purity and sanctity." The first of these has been accomplished by Christ entirely. The second depends upon ourselves, although it is accomplished by the activity of the Grace of Christ in the Holy Spirit." [Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology].

_________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia [Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George