Mary the Mother of God

(in Hebrew, Miriam, “exalted, lifted up”) (Matt 1:16; Mark 3:31; Luke 1:26-56; John 19:24; Acts 1:12-14). The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, daughter of the righteous ancestors of God Joachim and Anna, came from the royal line of David through Nathan. From earliest childhood She was dedicated by Her devout parents to God and solemnly brought into the temple at Jerusalem to be raised there. Here, as tradition tells us, She spent all Her time in handiwork, the reading of holy books, and prayer, and was especially distinguished by the loftiest virtues — the deepest humility and the most perfect devotion to the will of God. At the age of fourteen, when Her parents were no longer living, She resolved to dedicate Herself wholly to God, with a vow to remain in virginity all Her life (Luke 1:34).

She was then betrothed to the elder Joseph, a carpenter by trade, who likewise came from the royal line of David, through Solomon. He became Her guardian and provider (Luke 1:27). They lived in the small and obscure Galilean town of Nazareth, earning their living by their labor. The Gospel narrative of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary by the archangel Gabriel, concerning the wondrous conception and birth from Her of the Savior of the world, is in the highest degree touching and moving (Luke 1:26-38).

“Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women!” said the angel who appeared to her. It is no wonder that Mary was troubled at this unusual greeting; but She hears with a feeling of silent, humble wonder and joy as the heavenly messenger unfolds before Her the mystery of the most glorious incarnation of the Son of God — that He would be born of Her, would take on human nature apart from sin, would be called the Son of the Most High, and that She would name Him Jesus (Savior).

“How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” She asks the angel in silent wonder. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee,” the heavenly messenger answers Her, “therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Then, with the deepest faith and devotion to the will of God, and with humility, She exclaimed: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word!” And the angel departed from Her. After this extraordinary event, Mary went into the hill country, to a city of Judah, to the house of Zacharias, and there received confirmation of the archangel’s annunciation.

No sooner had Elisabeth, the wife of Zacharias, heard the greeting of the Most Holy Virgin, than, filled with the Holy Spirit, she cried out with a loud voice, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb! And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43). In answer to this the Most Holy Virgin poured out Her devout feelings in the majestic, solemn, prophetic hymn: “My soul doth magnify the Lord”… a hymn we hear daily at Matins.

This solemn, exalted hymn indeed bears no small resemblance to the song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. After this, Mary returned to Her own home at Nazareth and remained there until the time when Joseph had to go with Her to their ancestral city of Bethlehem, on account of the census of the people, according to the decree of Caesar Augustus. In this city, which on this occasion was crowded with a multitude of people because of the census, no other lodging could be found for Her who bore the Lord of glory than a cave, nor any cradle for Her Son, the Divine Infant Jesus, but a manger.

It was then night, and lo, a wondrous vision was revealed to the shepherds of Bethlehem, who were keeping watch over their flock: an angel of the Lord appeared to them and announced to them the birth of the Savior, and suddenly with the angel there appeared a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”… A bright heavenly star pointed to the humble cave, and the wise men from the east, guided by it, came with gifts to worship the Divine Infant Jesus.

On the eighth day the Mother of God and Joseph circumcised the Infant, according to the requirement of the Law, and gave Him the name Jesus. Then, when the days of purification were fulfilled, they brought Him to the temple at Jerusalem, to present Him before the Lord and, according to the Law, to offer a sacrifice. The aged elder Simeon, who had long awaited the Consolation of Israel and had come then by inspiration into the temple, took the Divine Infant into his arms, blessed God, and prophetically uttered the highly inspired prayer so often heard by us now at church services, namely: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word”… In this wondrously inspired hymn of the God-receiving Simeon there is also heard a prophetic word to the Most Holy Mother of God concerning the sorrows and soul-anguish that awaited Her. “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,” he said, turning to the Most Holy Virgin (Luke 2:29-35).

“And Joseph and his mother,” notes the holy evangelist Luke on this occasion, “marvelled at those things which were spoken of him” (v. 33). It is impossible to express with certainty the feelings and thoughts that filled the soul of the Most Blessed One on this and the preceding occasions. The Gospel says only: “But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart” (v. 51). During the sojourn of the Mother of God and Joseph in Bethlehem, the ambitious and bloodthirsty Herod, having heard from the wise men of the birth of the King of the Jews, whose origin and birthplace were unknown to him, resolved to slaughter all the male infants of Bethlehem up to two years of age.

Word of this bloody design compelled Joseph and Mary, by God’s command, to flee into Egypt. After Herod’s death they returned, but settled to live in Nazareth, fearing violence from Archelaus, Herod’s son, who had succeeded to the throne after his father’s death. The Gospels give us little further information about the subsequent life of the Mother of God. We know, for instance, that on one occasion, when the Mother of God and Joseph had gone with the twelve-year-old boy Jesus, as was their custom, to Jerusalem for the feast, upon setting out on the return journey, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem.

The Mother of God and Joseph anxiously sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances, until after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?” said the Mother of God to Him, “behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” “How is it that ye sought me?” answered the boy Jesus, “wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:48-49).

Further, we know from the Gospel that the Mother of God was present at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, at the first miracle performed by Her divine Son — the wondrous turning of water into wine. There She interceded with the Lord on account of the shortage of wine and said to Him, “They have no wine.” The Lord answered that His hour had not yet come, but afterward fulfilled the intercession of His Mother, miraculously turning water into wine (John 2:1-11). In the Gospel of Luke (8:19) we read that the Mother of God once came to Jesus together with others during His preaching.

“Thy mother and thy brethren,” it was said to Jesus on this occasion, “stand without, desiring to see thee.” In answer to this He said to them: “My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it” (v. 21). Finally, we again see the Mother of God at the cross of the Savior, when He pointed Her to His beloved disciple John and entrusted Her to his filial care (John 19:26-27). “Woman, behold thy son,” said the suffering Savior to His Mother from the cross, pointing to His beloved disciple, and then, turning to the disciple, added, “Behold thy mother.” “And from that hour,” notes the evangelist, “that disciple took her unto his own home.” In the sufferings of the cross, the prophecy of Simeon once addressed to Her — “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also” — was fulfilled in its fullest force.

And indeed, who could describe the fierce sorrow and soul-anguish She endured at this unspeakably terrible sight! From the book of Acts we see that after the Lord’s ascension into heaven, She, together with the apostles and the other women, continued unceasingly in prayer, awaiting the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit (1:12-14), and afterward, until Her own dormition, lived in Gethsemane, in the house of John (John 19:28[?]). There, according to tradition, She reposed and was buried in Gethsemane.

Soon afterward Her most pure body was taken up into heaven, that She might be the Most Blessed Intercessor for the whole world, and especially for the faithful who pray to Her and call upon Her for help. According to a tradition that has also come down to us through Eusebius, the dormition of the Mother of God took place in the fifteenth year after the Lord’s ascension, or in the forty-eighth year after Christ. The tradition of the taking up of the body of the Mother of God into heaven goes back to the earliest times of Christianity.

It is attested by Dionysius the Areopagite, Meliton, bishop of Sardis, and others. The chief feasts on which the most important events of the earthly life of the Mother of God are commemorated are the following: Her Nativity (September 8), the Entry into the Temple (November 21), the Annunciation (March 25), the Nativity from Her of the Lord Jesus (December 25), and finally Her Dormition (August 15). In the Orthodox Church there are, besides these, many feasts dedicated to the reverent veneration of the miraculous and wonder-working icons of the Mother of God (of Jerusalem, of Kazan, of Bogolyubovo, of Iveron, and others), through which the heavenly Sovereign Lady does not cease, even to this day, to bestow abundant blessings on those who with faith have recourse to Her. The most ancient icon of the Mother of God is considered to be the icon painted, according to tradition, by St. Luke, brought from Greece to Russia, to the ancient capital of Kiev, from Kiev to Vladimir, and from there in 1395 to Moscow, where it remains to this day in the Dormition Cathedral and is known by the name of the Vladimir Icon.