Life of the Holy Mother of God. Little-known facts of the earthly and heavenly life of the Virgin
Holy Mother of God occupies one of the leading positions in Orthodox Church. She is also important for Catholics, who prefer to call her the Virgin Mary. On many icons, the Mother of God is most often present and occupies one of the central positions there. The biography of the Mother of God of the Virgin Mary perfectly shows the central role of the Mother of God in the entire Christian culture.
But how many believers know who the Most Holy Theotokos is? To understand how important it is in Orthodoxy, you need to know its history.
History of the Virgin Mary
Important events from the early and late life of the Virgin Mary are narrated by the Apostle Luke, who was closely acquainted with her and even painted her icon, which became the original for all subsequent images.
It is known that Mary was the daughter of Joachim and his wife Anna, who were pious people, but did not have children until old age. They were known throughout the city of Nazareth, where they lived for their meekness and humility. Joachim came from the family of King David and knew that according to the prophecies, the Messiah should be born in his family. Therefore, they tirelessly prayed for the child and made a vow to give him to the service of the Lord.
Blessed Virgin Mary
The Lord heard them and sent them a daughter, Mary. At the age of three, the girl, serving her parents' dinner, was given to serve in the temple and lived there with the rest of the pious virgins, studying the Law of God.
When she was 14 years old, the priest betrothed her to the carpenter Joseph, who was also from the family of David. Maria's parents had died by that time. Some time after the betrothal, the archangel Gabriel brought joyful news to Mary - she would become the Mother of God.
Mary, remaining a Virgin, conceived a Son. Her sister Elizabeth was carrying a child at the same time, the future John the Baptist. And she, as soon as Mary visited her, realized that she was honored to become the Mother of the Messiah.
Anyone can read the story of the birth of Christ, the flight to Egypt in the Gospels. Mary and Joseph experienced a lot in the first days of the life of Jesus Christ, but with humility they accepted the role of the earthly parents of the Savior himself.
The very first miracle of Christ, during the wedding in Cana of Galilee, shows the compassion and caring of Mary, because it was she who asked Christ to help. Thanks to her request, the Messiah performed the first miracle there. When reading the Gospels, one can see Mary coming to the place where Christ taught. She was on Calvary, at the foot of the cross, where her Son was crucified. After the death of Jesus, John the Evangelist became her son.
The whole life of the Virgin Mary is humility. She was given to the service of the Lord by her parents and fulfilled the obligation with dignity. The Lord saw her meekness and humility and despised her, giving her an important role - to be the Mother of the Messiah himself. Bear and give birth to the Savior of this sinful world.
Assumption of the Virgin
The legends of the elders, in addition to the described miracles of the Mother of God, report that after the death of Jesus Christ, she lived for about 20 years. The Apostle John the Theologian accepted her into his house, as Christ commanded him, and took care of her as of his mother.
There is a legend according to which, before her death, the Mother of God prayed on the Mount of Olives and saw an angel who said that she had no more than 3 days left to live. In the hands of the angel was a date branch. It so happened that at that time all the apostles, except for Thomas, were in Jerusalem, where the woman lived. They came to her on the day of her death and saw a wonderful picture: the room was filled with bright light, Christ appeared with a host of angels and received the soul of his Mother.
The icon “Assumption of the Virgin” was painted on this topic, where you can see all the participants in that action.
About other Mother of God icons:
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The apostles buried the body of the Ever-Virgin in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ prayed on his last free night, in the tomb of her parents and Joseph, her husband. During her burial, numerous miracles took place, the blind received their sight and the lame began to walk upright.
Important! During her lifetime, the Lady of Heaven was a symbol of meekness before the Lord and strictly carried out His words and accepted them. Therefore, after her death, she was honored to help believers and hear their prayers, as well as to intercede with the Lord for believers and those who ask.
Our spiritual mother
Why do Orthodox believers venerate the Mother of God? Because it has a basis set forth in the Gospels.
When the Virgin became pregnant and talked to her sister Elizabeth, she said: “For from now on all generations will please Me” (Luke 1:48). This is not about simple respect, because respect implies a polite attitude. The Mother of God speaks of gratification, which includes prayer. That is why Catholics and Orthodox have a prayerful veneration of the Most Pure, embedded in worship.
Virgin and Child
Virgo is distinguished by her meekness before God. She not only carried out the order, she wanted to fulfill it and agreed, voluntarily, to endure and give birth to a child, although this threatened her with death. Indeed, earlier, in Israel, a girl who married already pregnant, and the Mother of God had just become engaged to Joseph, was stoned to death. That is, Mary voluntarily takes the risk of losing her life for the sake of fulfilling the Lord's words.
Jesus Christ could not be born through the violence of man's good will. The full consent and acceptance of the girl was necessary. However, in reverence it is easy to fall into sin.
Important! The veneration of the Virgin should not, in the eyes of the faithful, equate her with the Lord. Because that would be blasphemy.
There was a sect in the 80s of the last century "Mother of God Center", whose members had communion not only with the Blood and Flesh of Christ, but with the tears of the Mother of God. This is heresy and blasphemy. These people, members of the sect, did not know the Scriptures and the commands of the Lord. They compared a woman, albeit blameless, but a woman, with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is unacceptable. The Lord says in the book of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 42: “I will not give My glory to another,” and the Reverend said to herself: “Behold, the servant of the Lord.”
The Mother of God is the prayer book and the spiritual Mother of all people. If through Eve all were born into the world, then through Mary all were born spiritually. There are many testimonies about the Mother of God when she answered prayers and prayed to the Lord for believers.
Prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos:
Almost every icon of hers is known for great miracles. The tears of a mother who prays for her child will never go unanswered, so can the prayer of the Lady of Heaven, the spiritual Mother of all people, go unanswered? Of course not.
The Blessed Virgin gives us a testament
—Your Beatitude, what is the main purpose of establishing the feast of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos by the Church?
- The Blessed Virgin Mary - the Mother of God - was honored with the great honor to contain the Incomprehensible God in Herself. It was from Her flesh and blood that the Savior of the world took His Flesh and Blood, Who came to earth in order to sanctify, purify and save man. The Holy Fathers call the Mother of God the Ark of the Covenant, because through Her the Lawgiver came to earth, they also call Her the Rod of Aaron, which once blossomed, being dry, because the withered tree of the human race through the Mother of God again gave saving fruit for eternal life. The Blessed Virgin Mary is called the Vessel in which the Manna of Life, Christ, was kept. He fit into the Blessed Virgin Mary as into a kind of stamen, into a kind of vessel. The Son of God, who became the Son of Man, as a man treated his Mother with reverence and tenderness, and how God resurrected Her and took Her alive to Heaven. And it is today's holiday that testifies to the love of Christ for His Mother, and in Her person - for the whole human race, for whom She also became a loving Mother.
– The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus, enduring the suffering on the Cross, entrusts his Mother to the care of his beloved disciple John. What do we know about the life of the Mother of God and about Her participation in the affirmation of the young Christian Church, in the acts of the apostles?
– The apostles were in awe of the Mother of God. When She was not among them, they left for Her in one place a plate, a glass, a piece of bread, and then, after the meal, they broke the bread and distributed it to everyone as a blessing. Mother of God. To this day, in the monasteries, the Chin of Panagia (translated from Greek - All-Holy) is performed: after the meal, the vicar distributes the consecrated bread to all the brethren piece by piece in honor of the Mother of God. When the Lord took Her body to Heaven, She told the apostles: "I will be among you." Indeed, the Mother of God, although she is in Heaven in body and soul, often leaves the heavenly abodes and visits our earth to help the grieving, the sick, deprived of human attention. hard to describe human words, as it happens, but She actually comes to us, hears our prayers and fulfills requests, especially if they are reasonable and have the main goal of saving the soul.
– Is it true that many of those who did not believe in the teachings of Christ made an attempt on the life of the Mother of God? They say that she went out of the house to the church only accompanied by relatives.
– The Mother of God strongly desired to leave the earth and move to Heaven. This desire was the subject of Her constant prayer. She loved to go to places connected with the earthly life of the Savior, in particular, to the Life-Giving Sepulcher in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Lord prayed and loved to retire. Some evil Jews, having learned that the Mother of God visits this shrine, complained to the chiefs, and they set up guards to prevent Her from entering. There was even a command to kill the Lady. But every time the Mother of God came to pray, the grace of the Lord hid Her from the murderers. She remained unharmed and returned home safely.
– What did the palm branch symbolize, which the Archangel Gabriel presented to the Theotokos when he appeared to Her? Tell us about it, please.
- Once, when the Mother of God was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Her and said: “Your prayer has been heard, and in three days the Lord will take you to the heavenly abodes.” As evidence of the truth of his words, the Archangel Gabriel gave the Mother of God a palm branch, which shone with wondrous radiance. The Mother of God returned to Her house (She lived in the house of John the Theologian) and began to prepare for the Dormition. The palm branch symbolizes the purity of the soul of the Mother of God and Her readiness to move to the Heavenly chambers.
- In Ukraine and other lands of Rus', the feast of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, as well as the miraculous icons of the Assumption, have always been especially revered. Why?
– Ancient historians, describing the Mother of God, speak of different aspects of the personality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. All of them are united in that She was so filled with Divine light, so kind and humble that no one could compare with Her in this. The Mother of God was distinguished by medium height, light blond hair of a golden hue. Her face was oblong, the color of ripe wheat, her eyes were the color of olives, her fingers were long. Filled with meekness, She spoke unhurriedly, spoke a little, rarely, but always these were the right words. Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, who was vouchsafed to see the Blessed Virgin Mary, writes in a letter to his teacher: “I was vouchsafed to see the Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ. I saw such a light emanating from Her, such a strong grace that I was exhausted in my heart. If I did not know God, then I would consider the Mother of God for the Divine. Therefore, in Kievan Rus, the image of the Mother of God immediately became the personification of purity, holiness and goodness, many icons of the Mother of God showed miraculous power over time and to this day exude us the Grace and Mercy of the Lord, which we cannot always achieve with our labors and prayers.
"The Earthly Life of the Most Holy Theotokos" ("The Image of the Most Holy Theotokos - a prototype of a woman-mother")
Goals :
1. Give students information about the earthly life of the Mother of God, about the miracles revealed through prayers to the Mother of God and Her icons, about the history of icon painting.
2. To instill in the souls of students the confidence in the need to revive the veneration of the Mother of God in our time.
3. Raise the love and respect of students for their mothers.
H O D A N I T I A
I. GREETING. Introduction by the teacher.
Hello guys. Today's class hour will be held in the form of a round table. Specialists, researchers of earthly life and the iconography of the Mother of God and, of course, you guys will take part in the work. (The role of specialists is performed by trained students of the class). I would like to start our round table with a question addressed to all of you:
To whom do you turn with grief?
Who will always protect in trouble, comfort, reassure?
Of course, in sorrows and joys, various difficulties, a beloved and loving mother is the closest and right person. The child grows up, becomes an adult, and the attitude towards the mother remains invariably reverent.
A mother's love for her child is a special sacrificial love. A mother is ready to give her life for her own child. God considers such love to be the highest.
Today we will talk about the most Great Mother in the history of mankind - the Virgin Mary.
Listen to the story of the earthly life of the Virgin. (In the course, icons of the twelfth feasts dedicated to the Mother of God are illustrated and students' attention is drawn to the list of holidays.)
II. STORY ABOUT THE EARTHLY LIFE OF THE MOTHER OF GOD.
1. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated by the Holy Orthodox Church on September 21st.
Student:
The events of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos took place in the small town of Nazareth, where Her elderly parents lived. Joachim and Anna loved the Lord with all their hearts. They were very kind, modest, elderly people who could rightfully be held in high esteem by people if they had children... But barrenness conflicted with God's command "Be fruitful and multiply!" It was considered a great misfortune in Israel. People saw a heavenly blessing in numerous offspring.
The old people were accustomed to ridicule and found solace in the Temple. But one day, on a feast, Joachim was not allowed to go to the altar: “You should not accept gifts from you, because you have no heirs, which means that the Lord is punishing you; Perhaps you have some secret sins that you do not want to repent of.
From grief, shame, resentment, he went to a deserted place, to the shepherds, ashamed to return to the house and hoping to beg forgiveness from God. Poor Anna blamed herself for everything. She cried, prayed and promised that if a miracle happened and the reproach was removed from her, she would dedicate the child to God.
According to ancient legend, Joachim in the desert, and Anna in the upper room, received joyful news from an angel that their prayer had been heard. Early in the morning they hurried with gratitude to the Temple and met at the Golden Gate.
And nine months later they had a girl - Maria. She was destined to be the first step in saving the human race from sin, damnation and death.
2. The Entry into the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated by the Holy Orthodox Church on December 4th.
Student:
The entrance into the temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place, according to Church tradition, as follows. When the Blessed Virgin was three years old, the holy parents decided to fulfill their promise. Gathering relatives and friends, dressing the Blessed Mary in the best clothes, singing sacred songs, with lighted candles in her hands, they led her to the Jerusalem temple. There the High Priest met the Mother of God with many priests. A staircase of fifteen high steps led to the temple. Mary, as soon as she was placed on the first step, strengthened by the power of God, quickly overcame the rest of the steps and ascended to the top. Then the High Priest Zechariah, by inspiration from above, led the Blessed Virgin into the holy of holies, where of all the people only once a year the high priest entered with the cleansing sacrificial blood. All those present in the temple marveled at the extraordinary event.
Righteous Joachim and Anna, having handed over the Child to the will of the Heavenly Father, returned home.
During the stay of the Blessed Virgin in the Temple of Jerusalem, she was brought up in the company of pious virgins, diligently read Holy Bible, was engaged in needlework, constantly prayed and grew in love for God.
3. The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated by the Holy Orthodox Church on April 7th.
Student:
Until the age of 14, the Blessed Virgin was brought up in the temple, and then, according to the law, she had to leave the temple, as she had reached the age of majority, and either return to her parents or get married. The priests wanted to marry her, but Mary announced to them her promise to God - to remain forever a Virgin. Then the priests betrothed Her distant relative, the 80-year-old Elder Joseph, to take care of Her and protect Her virginity. Living in the Galilean city of Nazareth, in the house of Joseph, the Blessed Virgin Mary led the same modest and secluded life as in the temple.
Four months after the betrothal, an angel appeared to Mary when She was reading the Holy Scriptures and, going in to Her, said: "Hail, Gracious! (that is, full of the grace of God - the gifts of the Holy Spirit). The Lord is with You! Blessed are You among women." Archangel Gabriel announced to Her that She had found the greatest grace from God - to be the Mother of the Son of God.
Mary, perplexed, asked the Angel how a son could be born to one who does not know her husband. And then the Archangel revealed to Her the truth that he brought from Almighty God: “The Holy Spirit will find on You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; Therefore, the Holy One who is being born will be called the Son of God. Having comprehended the will of God and completely surrendering herself to it, the Most Holy Virgin answered: “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word."
Through the archangel Gabriel, the Lord asks the consent of Mary. And only after her consent, the Word becomes flesh.
Teacher:
After the birth of Jesus Christ, Mary raised and raised Him together with Joseph, experienced the difficulties of fleeing to Egypt in order to save the Divine Infant from the execution of King Herod. All the time She was next to Christ and also stood at the Cross during his Crucifixion, enduring great maternal suffering. Then she experienced the great joy of the Resurrection of the Son and His Ascension.
4. The Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos is celebrated by the Holy Orthodox Church August 28.
Student:
According to legend, the Virgin Mary spent the last years of her earthly life in the house of John the Theologian on Mount Zion and often visited places memorable for Her, consecrated by the presence of Jesus Christ, she came to pray both on Golgotha and on the Mount of Olives. Serving the apostles, serving God together with them, she was no longer on earth as part of her soul, striving for Heaven, for union with the Son. And so, one day, the Archangel Gabriel informed Her of the approaching hour of Her departure from the world, which was to take place in three days. To verify the truth of this announcement, He gave Her a paradise branch, which remained in Her hands when the phenomenon ended. For the Virgin Mary, this was joyful, long-awaited news. She saw that the foundation and organization of the Church on earth had been completed, and she was ready to move into the Kingdom of Heaven with a sense of peace for the disciples of Christ.
Before her death, She promised the apostles gathered in the house of John the Theologian not to leave the world in orphanage and to give help to all who resort to Her in prayer, and bequeathed to transfer Her body to Gethsemane, where Her Son spent his last night before the suffering of the Cross. Painless, peaceful was Her release from earthly bonds. Her eyes already saw God, and Her last words were a joyful greeting, as in her youth, when She received the good news about the forthcoming birth of the Savior from Her: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and My spirit rejoices in God my Savior…”.
Hundreds of people joined the Church in those days in Jerusalem, even former persecutors of Christians. When Her body was transferred to Gethsemane, healings and miracles were performed. So, in front of everyone, the Jewish priest Athos, who blasphemed Her, was punished, who immediately received healing, after sincere repentance, and joined the ranks of the disciples. Merciful during her lifetime, She did not want to grieve anyone in her dormition, forgiving even her enemies according to the commandment.
Just a few days later, the apostles witnessed another miracle. Her body disappeared from the coffin, only fragrant veils remained, and during the common evening meal they suddenly saw the Virgin Mary in the air, surrounded by angels, as if woven from light, shining and beautiful. She greeted them with the words: “Rejoice! I am with you all the days."
Since then, the Church has been celebrating this event. Everything in it is a remembrance of the earthly life of the Mother of God, sadness and joy, because this is also Her birthday for eternal life, where She is placed higher. angelic ranks, the day of testimony that the promises of the Lord are immutable, about life and about the miracle of the Resurrection ...
III. IMAGE OF THE MOTHER OF GOD IN ICON PAINTING.
Teacher:
Please tell me the name of the Virgin Mary Orthodox people? (Mother of God, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Mistress, All-Merciful, Patroness, Zealous Intercessor).
Many miraculous icons of the Virgin
How do you understand the meaning of the word "miraculous"? What miraculous icons of the Mother of God do you know?
- "Kazan Icon of the Mother of God" (from external enemies)
-"Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God"
-"Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God"
- "Inexhaustible Chalice" (helps in getting rid of alcoholism and drug addiction)
- "Grieving Mother of God" (from diseases)
- "Burning Bush" (from fires)
- “Bread Conqueror” (from crop failure)
Each of the Virgins, and there are about 300 of them, has a special miraculous grace. This versatility of the image of the Virgin Mary allows us to consider Her the center of life.
Consider icons. What is common in the image of the Virgin? (beauty, sad eyes)
Why are there sad, mournful eyes in the image? (The Mother of God knew that she must go through the torments of maternal suffering, she knew that she must lose her Son in the name of saving mankind from sins).
With what sadness and mercy She looks at us! In these eyes there is a great prayer: "People, be kinder!"
The Son, not yet knowing the true cause of the Mother's grief, tries with all his childish strength to console Her. He clung to the Mother, peered into Her eyes and seemed to say: “Mom, I am with you! I won't let you get hurt."
All contemporaries, who were honored with the happiness of seeing the Most Holy Theotokos during Her earthly life, certify that her appearance shone with wondrous beauty. Her clothes were always alien to luxury and modest; the step is majestic and firm, the look is serious and pleasant; short speech.
All the beauty of Her Divine soul was imprinted on Her face. In every deed She is filled with meek majesty and chastity.
It was to her that Maximilian Voloshin dedicated his lines.
Student: Not on the throne - on Her hand,
Left hand hugging the neck, -
Eye to eye, cheek to cheek,
Relentlessly demands ... Numb -
There is no strength, no words in the language ...
She is worried and sad
Looking through the swell of the future
Into the world's glowing distances,
Where the sunset is surrounded by fires
And such a mournful excitement
In pure girlish features that Lik
In the flame of prayer every moment
How alive changes expression.
. . .
Does not tremble from the bronze buzz
The ancient Kremlin, and flowers do not bloom:
There is no more dazzling miracle in the world
Revelations of eternal Beauty!
(excerpt from the poem "Vladimir Mother of God")
Teacher:
Countless miracles were performed through prayers before the miraculous icons of the Mother of God.
IV. MIRACLES OF GOD BY PRAYER TO THE MOTHER OF GOD.
Student:
Archpriest Vasily Shvets in the book "Miracles from the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God" writes: "Just before the start of the Great Patriotic War (1941), one elder of the Valaam Monastery had three visions during a service in the temple:
1. He saw the Mother of God, John the Baptist, St. Nicholas and a host of saints who prayed to the Savior that He would not leave Russia. The Savior answered that in Russia the abomination of desolation is so great that it is impossible to endure these iniquities. All these saints with the Mother of God continued to pray to Him with tears, and, finally, the Savior said: "I will not leave Russia."
2. The Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist stand before the throne of the Savior and pray to Him for the salvation of Russia. He replied: "I will not leave Russia."
3. The Mother of God alone stands before her Son and with tears prays to Him for the salvation of Russia. She said, "Remember, My Son, how I stood at Your Cross and wanted to kneel before Him." The Savior said: "Don't, I know how much You love Russia, and for the sake of Your words I won't leave it. I'll punish it, but I'll keep it...".
Student:
It was the winter of 1941. The Germans were rushing towards Moscow. The country was on the verge of a catastrophe, and in those days many did not believe in victory, there was panic, fear, and despondency. Russia had very few true friends.
At that time, a monk from the fraternal Church, the Metropolitan of the mountains of Lebanon Elijah, became the providence of God, a friend of Russia and a prayer book. He descended into a stone dungeon, where not a single sound could be heard from the earth, where there was nothing (except for the icon of the Mother of God). Vladyka shut himself up there, not eating, did not drink, did not sleep, but only, on his knees, prayed before the icon of the Mother of God with a lamp. Every morning, Vladyka received reports from the front about the number of those killed and where the enemy had gone. After three days of vigil, the Mother of God Herself appeared to him in a pillar of fire and announced that he had been chosen in order to convey God's determination for the country and the Russian people. If everything that is determined is not fulfilled, Russia will perish.
For the salvation of Russia, “temples, monasteries, theological seminaries and academies must be opened throughout the country. Priests returned from the fronts and released from prisons must begin to serve. The city on the Neva cannot be rented out. To save him, let them take him out of Vladimir Cathedral the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and encircle it procession around the city, then no enemy will set foot on its holy ground. Before the Kazan icon, a prayer service should also be served in Moscow. Then she should be in Stalingrad, which also cannot be handed over to the enemy. The Kazan icon should go with the troops to the borders of Russia, and when the war is over, Metropolitan Elijah will come to Russia and tell how she was saved.
The blockade of Leningrad was broken.
Student
By a miracle, manifested by the prayers and intercession of the Mother of God, Moscow was also saved. The Germans fled in panic, driven by terror, abandoned equipment was lying on the road, and none of the German and our generals could understand how and why this happened. The Volokolamsk highway was free and nothing prevented the Germans from entering Moscow.
Then the Kazan icon was transported to Stalingrad. There, before her, there was an unceasing service - prayers and commemoration of the fallen soldiers. The icon stood among our troops on the right bank of the Volga. and the Germans could not cross the river, no matter how hard they tried. There was a moment when the defenders of the city remained on a small patch of land near the Volga, but the Germans could not push our soldiers, because there was the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The Germans fled in panic. Abandoned vehicles littered the roads.
Great difficulties stood in the way of our soldiers during the liberation of the old German stronghold - Königsberg. Here is what an officer who was in the very center of the battle for the city says: “Our troops were already completely exhausted, and the Germans were still strong. Suddenly we see: the commander of the front arrived, the officers, with them - the priests with the icon.
The priests served a prayer service and went - with an icon - to the front line. We looked in bewilderment: where are they going? They will all be killed! But they calmly walked into the fire.
Suddenly, the shooting stopped from the German side simultaneously along the entire front. Then a signal was given, our troops began to storm the fortress city from land and from the sea. The Germans died by the thousands. The prisoners later said that before the Russian assault, the Madonna appeared in the sky, which was visible to the entire German army, and absolutely everyone’s weapons failed. At that moment, our troops broke the resistance of the enemy and took the city. Seeing the appearance of the Mother of God, the Germans fell to their knees; many of them understood Who is helping the Russians.”
V. HISTORY OF THE VLADIMIR ICON.
Student:
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is a great, cherished shrine of the Russian land. According to legend, it was written by St. Evangelist Luke on a board from the table on which Jesus Christ ate with His Most Pure Mother and Joseph.
The icon remained in Jerusalem until 450, when under Emperor Theodosius the Younger it was transferred to Constantinople. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Patriarch of Constantinople Luka Khrisoverg sent her to Kyiv to the Grand Duke Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky. Here she was placed in the maiden monastery of Kyiv Vyshgorod, which once belonged to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, where she glorified herself with great miracles. In 1155, Vyshgorod became the inheritance of Yuri's son, Prince Andrei. Once the clergy of the Vyshgorod monastery saw that the icon had left its place and was standing in the middle of the church in the air. They put the icon in a new place, but soon saw it again standing in the air. Then everyone understood that the icon wanted to be moved to another place. The rumor about this reached Prince Andrei, and, going to his new inheritance, to the north, to the land of Suzdal, he, secretly from his father, took the icon with him. Not reaching a few miles to Vladimir, on the banks of the Klyazma, the horses carrying the icon stopped and could not go further. At night, in a miraculous apparition, the Mother of God revealed her will to Prince Andrei so that the icon would remain in Vladimir, and a holy monastery was built on the site of the apparition. Having built in Vladimir a magnificent temple in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God, Prince Andrei transferred to it miraculous icon and adorned it with gold, silver, precious stones and pearls so richly that more than 30 hryvnias, that is, about 12 kg, were consumed alone. Since then, the icon of the Mother of God began to be called Vladimirskaya, and Prince Andrei received the nickname Bogolyubsky, like the monastery he founded on the site of the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God.
Student:
15 years have passed since the Battle of Kulikovo. It was the year 1395, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily I, reigned in Rus'. A terrible thunderstorm was coming. Tamerlane went to crush Rus', avenge the defeat on the Kulikovo field and restore the dominance of the Tatar-Mongols. Many strong warriors died on the Kulikovo field, and new ones have not yet been born, have not grown up, have not matured.
A hastily assembled weak militia stood behind Kolomna. Tamerlane was already within the current Oryol region and moved up the bank of the Don, but stopped along the way. Moscow experienced terrible torments. In this grief, they waited for salvation only from God: they sent to Vladimir for the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, already glorious for working miracles. By repentance and fasting, the people of Moscow prepared themselves for the acceptance of the shrine. The icon is approaching. On August 26, the people of Moscow went far beyond the city to meet her.
It was a solemn hour. The suffering people with loud sobs met the miraculous face of the Intercessor of Christians; there was no man who did not weep in repentance for his sins. Falling down on their faces, uniting in one prayer, the people cried out: “Mother of God, save the Russian land!” - and then suddenly everyone was seized by a premonition of salvation - people were already thanking heaven.
On the same day, Tamerlane from the Ryazan land suddenly got up and took to flight. What was the reason for the flight of the Tatars? At the hour of the meeting of the icon in Moscow, Tamerlane was resting and had a startling dream. There was the highest mountain, and saints with golden wands in their hands walked towards him from the mountain, terrifying him. And now, above the saints in the air, a Woman in crimson robes rose up, with a multitude of hosts, cruelly threatening him. And suddenly he shuddered, jumped up from his bed, and, shaking and trembling, exclaimed:
Oh what is it?
The princes and governors Tamerlanov questioned him to find out what had happened. For a long time he could not come to his senses. When he told his vision, he ordered to turn back his countless army and fled, driven by God's wrath and the power of the Most Pure Virgin. After that, the icon of Vladimir was arranged in a temple erected on purpose, at the Vladimir Gates, and then forever placed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin for the intercession and protection of the reigning city.
On the site of the meeting of the icon stands the Sretensky Monastery, where a religious procession takes place every year on August 26.
VI. THE MOTHER OF GOD ALWAYS PROTECTS AND PARTS.
Teacher:
The Mother of God saved a lot of people in trouble and helped them through difficult difficulties.
And will save and help you when needed. Address Her from the heart, as to your own mother, church prayers or in your own words.
In this regard, one of the people said poetically:
Will unreasonable sadness embrace me,
Will life weary me here with the struggle,
I go straight to You, Blessed One,
With my feeble sinful prayer...
You know everything, Helper of salvation,
Our infirmities and the malice of enemies;
For the sinners of the poor, Holy Intercessor,
You are their hope, and power, and cover.
VII. WORKING WITH A PHOTO STAND.
"Mother is the name of God"
(The poster contains photographs of mothers with a child in their arms)
Look at your moms. How much love, tenderness, care in their eyes.
Happy is the person for whom mother prays. A mother's prayer for her children is the strongest in the world.
Student: The word "mom" is expensive, mom needs to be cherished,
With her kindness and care, it is easier for us to live in the world.
If your mother is still alive, happy are you on earth
There is someone, worrying, to pray for you.
Remember, you were still a baby, and she was in the stillness of the night,
Like an angel, guarding your peace by the bed.
Do you remember when you were a child and did not know how hard it is to live
Mother worked to have something to feed and drink.
And, left alone, in the heart of jealousy of grief,
To Christ with a prayer deep mother asked for you.
VIII. FINAL WORD OF THE TEACHER.
Remember God's fifth commandment:
“Honor your father and your mother, that you may be well and that you may prolong your days on earth.”
Yes, Mother is a sacred word.
Love for father and mother is the law of life, the guarantee of moral and physical health person and nation. Health to you all, peace and love in your families.
And may the Mother of God help us all - our zealous intercessor and our guide.
The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the Mother of God.
Rejoice, height, inconvenient for human thoughts.
Before the world existed, the Virgin Mary was predestined in the eternal council of the Most Holy Trinity to minister to the salvation of the human race.
Like the dawn of redemption, the Most Pure Virgin shone at a time when our forefathers, transgressing the commandment of their Creator, listened in fear and trembling to the formidable sentence of the Just Judge; already in this sentence, the grace-filled promise of His goodness to the fallen creatures shone forth: “The seed of the Woman will wipe out the head of the serpent,” and this first of all Divine promises was revealed in all subsequent events of the transforming time, and with increasing accuracy, as the predetermined time approached.
The Lord repeated this promise many times to prepare the people to receive the promised Savior of the world; it has not been erased from the memory of people even after their scattering over the face of the earth; beyond the distant mountains and seas, they carried with them this gratifying, though distant, hope.
Centuries passed after centuries, peoples disappeared, new countries appeared, decrees and customs changed, but faith in the Savior coming from the Blessed Virgin remained unshakable. Five millennia passed in anticipation, and, finally, at the time determined by the fate of God, all the prophecies were fulfilled, the shadows of the Old Testament disappeared, and the Guiding Star appeared on the horizon of the universe to lead perishing humanity to a saving pier.
All the events of the Old Testament represent, as it were, a shadow or a prefiguration of New Testament persons and events and have as their subject, mainly, the Savior of the world - our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Blessed Virgin.
Primitive, virgin land, not cultivated by human labor, not watered by rain, grew all the diversity and splendor of plant nature and served to create the body of the first man: this, according to the Holy Fathers, is the first indication of the Virgin Mary, from whom God the Word was pleased to incarnate. The Most Pure Virgin, like an animated paradise, manifested in Herself the wondrous fruits of virtues, had the Lord in Herself - “the tree of life, planted by the most divine, womb-bearing and giving birth”, - and in Him she gave people deliverance from eternal death and gave eternal life, as He Himself about The Lord Jesus Christ said to himself: "Eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." From Eve, the first woman who sinned, the whole human race came to earth, born in suffering and for suffering; the fall of Eve introduced death into the world and man was expelled from paradise.
The Virgin Mary brought eternal life to the world in the God-man born by Her and returned eternal bliss to people. Patriarch Noah built an ark from a non-decaying tree for a hundred years, and in this ark he escaped with his family from the global flood; in this one can see a clear prefiguration of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, from whom Christ is born, offering true salvation to all who believe in Him and who flee under the sovereign protection of His Most Pure Mother. The post-Flood world was populated by Noah and his children; Christians, children of the New Testament, have their origin in Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. The dove, released by Noah from the ark and bringing him an olive branch, represents the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to the Savior of the world from the flood of sin and her birth heralded the end of God's wrath and perfect world on the ground.
Patriarch Jacob had a mysterious vision in which he was shown a ladder with its base fixed on the earth, its top reaching to heaven; The Holy Church calls the Virgin Mary the spiritual ladder, born from the earth and uniting the earth with heaven; through Her, as through a ladder, God descended to earth and opened the entrance to the kingdom of heaven to all his faithful followers, resorting to the protection of the Mother of God the Most High.
Moses saw the image of the Mother of God in a bush that burned and did not burn. What was foreshadowed by the flame and the bush was clearly revealed in the mystery of the Virgin: the bush burns and does not burn out, the Virgin gives birth to Light and remains incorruptible. For this reason, the Holy Church burning bush calls the Mother of God, and often She is depicted surrounded by a fiery radiance.
The pillar of cloud, which overshadowed the Israelites during the day and illuminated them at night with fiery light, brought out of Egypt by Moses, is an indication of the Ever-Virgin Mary, as a luminous cloud that carried God, leading people into the land of promise, into the kingdom of heaven, pouring out on them the life-giving source of God's mercy and grace. In the Red Sea, which let the Israelites pass through the dry bottom and drowned the Pharaoh with his hordes, we see the image of the Unsophisticated Bride, Who, through the immaculate birth of Jesus Christ, became the sea of death for the mental, proud Pharaoh and the waters of salvation, an invincible wall for the faithful, meekly carrying their cross for Her Divine Son.
When the Israelites, wandering through the waterless desert, were thirsty from lack of water, Moses, at the command of God, struck a stone mountain with a rod - and water flowed out from there, quenching the thirsty; The Blessed Virgin, through the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ from Her, was a source of grace that quenches the thirst for eternal life.
Fruitful was the land of Canaan, which was promised to the Israelites; she boiled with milk and honey, according to the expression of Holy Scripture. The Blessed Virgin, who has grown the bread of life for us, is the true promised land, from which honey and milk flow.
The Israelites had, according to the commandment of God, separate cities in which unintentional murderers could have a safe haven. The Blessed Virgin is for the believing souls the "city of salvation", a refuge, a fence, an affirmation and a sacred refuge.
God fed the Jews with manna that fell from heaven; in the ark of the covenant was placed a golden vessel filled with this heavenly bread, and in this the Holy Church sees the image of the Mother of God. “Christ, for thou hast carried,” the Holy Church sings to Her, “the manna of the mind that has waited for all those who honor Thee.” The Ever-Virgin Mary contained the manna of life, Christ, who came into the world, to save sinners and saturate the souls of believers with the bread of immortality.
The tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon were filled with the glory of the Lord as soon as they were consecrated: the Blessed Virgin is the most pure temple of the Savior and the sacred treasure of the glory of God, the receptacle of God the uncontainable.
The place where the ark of the covenant was located was called the Holy of Holies and was accessible to one high priest, and only once a year, when he entered there to sprinkle sacrificial blood: a clear prefiguration of the Mother of God, as the receptacle of the incarnate Word of God. “Hail, great Holy of Holies,” the Church sings to Her. In the casket of the covenant, covered with gold outside and inside, the tablets of the law were contained: from the casket of the shrine of the Most Pure Virgin, gilded with the Holy Spirit, the Lord Himself, the Legislator, appeared.
The dry rod of Aaron flourished and was laid in the ark as a memory to future nations: the Most Holy Virgin descended from barren parents and truly is a secret rod, an unfading color...
The burning of incense before the Lord means the offering of prayer to the throne of the Most High, and therefore the golden censer, which was behind the second curtain of the tabernacle, represents the image of the Blessed Virgin. “Rejoice, censer, golden vessel, rejoice, pleasant prayer censer,” the Holy Church sings to Her, teaching us to resort to the Theotokos as our zealous intercessor, indefatigable prayer book for the satisfaction of our sorrows.
The lampstand with seven inextinguishable lamps, which was in the tabernacle, again forms Blessed Virgin who gave birth to the True Light, which enlightens every person who comes into the world, and illuminates with eternal life those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.
The table of undecaying wood, which was in the tabernacle for laying twelve loaves of bread on it as a sacrifice to God, is a prefiguration of the Ever-Virgin, who contained in Herself the bread that came down from heaven - Christ - who feeds us for eternal life.
The copper washbasin, arranged in the courtyard of the tabernacle for the washing of the priests, represents the Most Pure Virgin, from whom the Lord Jesus Christ was born, who opened access to St. baptism, in which believers are washed from spiritual impurity. “Rejoice, bath, washing conscience,” the Church sings to the Mother of God.
The Israelites, at the direction of Moses, sacrificed to God animals without physical defects; The Blessed Virgin, as a three-year-old baby, was brought by her parents to the temple, as a pure and all-blameless sacrifice. When the angel announced to Gideon, the judge of Israel, the will of God to choose him for the salvation of the people from the power of the Gentiles, then Gideon wished to receive a certificate that there was a blessing of God, and he himself chose a sign for this: if on the fleece, which he laid on the threshing floor, at night the dew will come down, and the earth around him will be dry, which means that his election is pleasing to God - this was fulfilled.
The next night, at his own request, the fleece remained dry, and the earth was covered with dew all around. The fleece, irrigated with dew, represents the Most Pure Virgin, irrigated with heavenly and divine rain that descended on Her. “Your most pure womb is Gideon, Virgin Pure, in tenderness, like rain, the Word descended incarnate by the Divine Spirit,” sings the Holy Church. The fleece of Gideon was dry, and the earth was wet with dew, and the Virgin Mary, after the birth of the Lord, remained a Virgin, while the earth was moistened with the dew of true faith in Christ the Savior.
The three youths - Ananias, Azariah and Misail - were not afraid of the wrath of the king of Babylon and did not bow to the creature instead of the Creator, for which they were cast into a fiery furnace and remained unharmed by the power of the Most High: this represents the Virgin, who conceived the Creator of the world and was not scorched from the fire of the Deity. Just as the fiery furnace for the youths served not as an instrument of destruction, but of life and renewal, so through the Blessed Virgin the world achieved its renewal.
The Word dwelt in the Virgin and, having taken flesh, preserved Her incorruptible, and this is prefigured by the prophet Jonah, preserved unharmed in the womb of the whale.
Everything hidden in the transformations of the Old Testament is revealed with greater clarity in the prophecies. The first prediction about the Mother of God is the promise of a Redeemer given in Paradise, following the fall of our forefathers: "The seed of the woman will wipe out the head of the serpent." This seed is our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.
As the time approaches when the Redeemer of the world was to appear on earth, the prophecies about this phenomenon are uttered with greater clarity. The royal prophet David proclaimed many accurate predictions: "Rise, Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and Thy holiest shrine..." Singing the glory of the Messiah, he prophesies about the Most Pure Virgin in this way: "All the glory of the Tsar's daughter is inside! The Queen appears at Your right hand, in robes of gilded robes, full of dots. All glory to the Tsareva's daughter is inside! The virgins will be brought to the King in the wake of Her, sincerely Her will be brought to Thee.
All the Old Testament prophets proclaimed a great event coming into the world through the Most Pure Virgin.
The greatest of the prophets, Isaiah, exclaimed about Her: "Behold the Virgin in the womb will receive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Emmanuel, if we say: God is with us."
The Old Testament clearly states that the Mother of God will come from the lineage of David, give birth to a son without a husband, and after His birth will remain a Virgin, that She will be adorned with all the virtues and glorified. With a deeply believing soul, let us bow before the majesty of the Most Pure Virgin, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ! Let us call on Her to help our infirmities: we, due to our impotence, do not find words to worthily glorify the Mother of our God, the Intercessor zealous for us sinners.
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, wrote down from the words of the Holy Virgin Mary several important events relating to early years Her life.
Earthly life of the Virgin
Being a doctor and an artist, he also painted Her portrait-Icon, from which later icon painters made copies.
When the time approached for the birth of the Savior of the world, in the Galilean city of Nazareth lived a descendant of King David, Joachim, with his wife Anna. Being pious people, they were known for their humility and mercy. Saints Joachim and Anna lived to a ripe old age, but had no children. This made them very sad, because at that time not having children was considered God's punishment for sins. Childlessness was especially difficult for Joachim, since according to the prophecies, the Messiah-Christ was to be born in his family. But, despite their old age, the couple did not stop asking God to send them a child and made a vow (promise): if they have a baby, dedicate it to the service of God. For patience and faith, the Lord sent Joachim and Anna great joy: finally, their daughter was born. She was given the name Mary, which means in Hebrew “Lady, Hope.”
When the Virgin Mary was three years old, her pious parents prepared to fulfill their vow: they took Her to the Temple in Jerusalem to be consecrated to God. Mary stayed at the church. There She, along with other girls, studied the Law of God and needlework, prayed and read the Holy Scriptures. At the temple of God, the Blessed Mary lived for about eleven years and grew up deeply pious, submissive to God in everything, unusually modest and industrious. Wishing to serve only God, She made a promise not to marry and to remain a Virgin forever.
The elderly Joachim and Anna died, and the Virgin Mary was left an orphan. When She was fourteen years old, according to the law, She could no longer stay at the temple, but had to get married. The high priest, knowing her promise, but in order not to violate the law on matrimony, formally betrothed Her to a distant relative, a widowed 80-year-old elder Joseph, who pledged to take care of Her and protect Her virginity. Joseph lived in the city of Nazareth, and although he also came from the royal family of David, he was not rich and worked as a carpenter. From his first marriage, Joseph had children Judah, Joses, Simon, and James, who are called “brothers” of Jesus in the Gospels. The Blessed Virgin Mary led the same modest and solitary life in Joseph's house as she did in the church.
Six months have passed since the appearance of Archangel Gabriel to Zechariah with the news of the birth of his son, the future Prophet and Baptist of the Lord John. And now the Archangel Gabriel was again sent by God, but already to the city of Nazareth to the Blessed Virgin Mary with the joyful news that the Lord had chosen Her to be the Mother of the Savior of the world. The angel came and said to her: Rejoice, Blessed One! (that is, full of grace) The Lord is with you! Blessed are You among women.” Mary was confused by the words of the Angel and thought: “What does this greeting mean?” The angel continued to speak to her: Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace with God. And behold, You will bear a Son and call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the son of the Most High, and His Kingdom will have no end.”
Mary asked the Angel in bewilderment: “ How will it be when I don’t know my husband?” The angel answered Her that this would be done by the power of the almighty God: “ The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Behold, your relative, Elizabeth, who did not have children until a ripe old age, will soon give birth to a son; for with God no word will remain powerless.” Then Mary humbly said: I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” And the Archangel Gabriel departed from Her.
The Blessed Virgin Mary, having learned from an angel that Her relative Elizabeth, the wife of the priest Zacharias, would soon have a son, hurried to visit her. Entering the house, She greeted Elizabeth. Hearing this greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and realized that Mary was worthy to be the Mother of God. She exclaimed loudly and said: Blessed are You among women, and blessed is the fruit of Your womb! And where does this come from to me (such joy) that the mother of my Lord came to me?” The Blessed Virgin Mary, in response to the words of Elizabeth, glorified God with the words: “ magnifies (glorifies) my soul of the Lord, and my spirit rejoiced in God my Savior, because he (paid gracious attention) to the humility of His servant; from now on they will please (glorify) me all sorts (all human tribes). Thus did the Mighty One do me greatness, and holy is His name; and His mercy from generation to generation to those who fear Him.” The Virgin Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months, and then returned home to Nazareth.
God also announced to the righteous elder Joseph about the imminent birth of the Savior from the Blessed Virgin Mary. An angel of God, appearing to him in a dream, revealed that a Son would be born to Mary, by the action of the Holy Spirit, as the Lord God announced through the Prophet Isaiah (7:14) and commanded to give Him the name “Jesus”, which means Savior (according to Hebrew), "because He will save people from their sins."
Further gospel narratives mention the Blessed Virgin Mary in connection with events in the life of Her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. So, they talk about Her in connection with Merry Christmas in Bethlehem, Then - circumcision, the adoration of the Magi, the sacrifice to the temple on the 40th day, the flight to Egypt, the settlement in Nazareth, the journey to Jerusalem on the feast of Passover, when He was 12 years old.
The first miracle performed by Jesus Christ at the marriage (wedding) in Cana of Galilee gives us a vivid image of the Virgin Mary as the Intercessor before her Son for all people in difficult circumstances. Noticing the lack of wine at the wedding feast, the Virgin Mary drew the attention of Her Son to this, and although the Lord answered Her evasively: “ What about me and you, Zheno? My hour has not yet come, - She was not embarrassed by this half-refusal, being sure that the Son would not leave Her requests without attention, and said to the attendants: “ Whatever He tells you, do it." .
How visible in this warning of the servants is the compassionate care of the Mother of God that the work begun by Her be brought to a favorable end! Indeed, Her intercession did not remain without fruit, and the Lord Jesus Christ performed His first miracle here, leading poor people out of a difficult situation, after which “ His disciples believed in Him" (John 2:11.).
The Mother of God, who followed Her Son in His wanderings, was in constant anxiety for Him. She tried to help Him in various difficult cases, she took care of arranging His home rest and rest, which He never agreed to.
Finally, we see Her standing in indescribable sorrow at the cross of Her Crucified Son, hearing His last words and testaments, who entrusted Her to the care of His beloved disciple. Not a single word of reproach or despair leaves Her lips. She submits everything to the will of God.
50 days after Light Christ's Resurrection The Holy Spirit descended on Her and on the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues on the day of Pentecost.
After that, according to legend, She lived for another 10-20 years. The Apostle John the Theologian, according to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, took Her into his house and with great love, like his own son, took care of Her until Her death. When the Christian faith spread to other countries, many Christians came from distant countries to see and listen to Her. Since then, the Blessed Virgin Mary has become for all the disciples of Christ the common Mother and a high example to follow.
Once, when the Blessed Mary was praying on the Mount of Olives (near Jerusalem), the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Her with a heavenly date branch in her hands and told Her that in three days Her earthly life and the Lord will take her to Himself. The Lord so arranged that by this time the Apostles from different countries gathered in Jerusalem.
At the hour of death, an extraordinary light illuminated the room where the Virgin Mary lay. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, surrounded by angels, appeared and received Her most pure soul.
The apostles buried the most pure body of the Mother of God, according to Her desire, at the foot of the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane, in a cave where the bodies of Her parents and the righteous Joseph were buried. Many miracles happened during the burial. From touching the bed of the Mother of God, the blind received their sight, demons were cast out, and every disease was healed.
Three days after the burial of the Mother of God, the Apostle Thomas, who was late for the burial, arrived in Jerusalem. He was very sad that he did not say goodbye to the Mother of God and with all his soul he wanted to bow to Her most pure body. When they opened the cave where the Virgin Mary was buried, they did not find Her body in it, but only one funeral sheet. The astonished Apostles returned to the house. In the evening, during prayer, they heard angelic singing, and looking up, they saw the Virgin Mary in the air, surrounded by Angels, in the radiance of heavenly glory. She told the Apostles: Rejoice! I am with you all the days!”
For Her great love and all-powerful help, Christians from ancient times honor Her and turn to her for help.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is also a great example to follow. Beginning in the early centuries, many Christians began to spend their virginal lives in prayer, fasting, and contemplation. This is how monasticism arose and established itself. Unfortunately, the modern non-Orthodox world does not appreciate and even ridicules the feat of virginity.
The Blessed Virgin Mary revealed all the power and beauty of Her virtues, showing complete self-control, both at the moment of Her greatest glory, chosen to become the Mother of the Savior of the world, and at the time of Her greatest grief at the foot of the Cross.
That is why we, Orthodox, honor Her so highly and try to imitate Her. 
Queen of Heaven and Earth
The Holy Church lives a mysterious and incomprehensible life, where heavenly and earthly things are wonderfully intertwined. Special place in it belongs to the Most Holy Theotokos. She is for all of us - spiritual source from which divine grace is given to believers.
The Mother of God has become the center of all Church life, for the Mother's heart is open to everyone. She became for all Christians life-giving source blessed consolation.
The Most Holy Mother of God is especially close to those who strive for holiness, for Christian perfection, who want to imitate Her angelic life. Such people make up a special “kind of the Mother of God”, a kind of monastics.
To this day, the lot of the Most Holy Theotokos, Mount Athos, has been preserved intact, where, under the special protection of the Mother Virgin, there is an entire monastic republic.
Way of the Cross of Our Lady
Behind the external events of the life of the Mother of God, we often miss the inner content of Her life. She has given herself over to the will of God. Her life consisted of silent, great suffering turning into martyrdom, which could not find consolation in the sympathy and compassion of people.
The Holy Virgin has chosen for Herself to suffer in silence for the rest of her life. And Her whole life is an endless deepening of the heart into enduring torment, an eternal procession of invisible martyr's blood. She silently suffered under the suspicions of Righteous Joseph, Her "married thinking."
She was silent, assuming the King of the Universe in a manger and having no place to lay her head. The Virgin Mother suffered in silence when "searching for the souls" of Her Infant and when fear for His life made the holy family flee from their native country to Egypt.
She silently and patiently bore the miserable labor share of Her life. In moments of the joys of motherhood, when every mother, looking at her child, soars with a dream of his bright future in life, promising her, mother, comfort, joy and support, the Blessed Virgin Mother saw in the Son the Lamb of God who came into the world so that take on the sins of the world. Raised in the Temple of God, She knew the Scriptures and understood why the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin appeared in this world.
And with what trepidation she saw His growing up, and with it the approach of that great and humanly terrible hour. And every minute of joy about the Son was inevitably reflected in Her heart with unceasing suffering. And Her Son, similar to people in everything, except for sin, never upset or saddened His Mother with human sinful weakness, but He left Her, moved away with adulthood, starting to serve humanity.
And already at the age of twelve, the Child Christ with all decisiveness pronounces the first open recognition of Himself as the Son of God, and with it the first direct indication of His Mother that He no longer belongs to Her. The Blessed Virgin Mother, having found the Servant Jesus who had fallen behind his relatives in the Temple of Jerusalem, hears Her gentle reproach: “ Why did you have to look for me? Or did you not know that I must be in that which belongs to my Father?” (Luke 2:49). These words plunged into the heart of the Mother with pain, clearly revealing to Her the future of the Son. And again the Blessed Virgin silently bowed before the will of the Most High.
She departs into obscurity in order to return to Him with the rights of a Mother only in His terrible Calvary hour, when everyone will leave Him. Even God the Father will depart, giving place to the fullness of the feat of Christ, the fullness of His Divine exhaustion. And the Virgin Mother, and at that moment silent, mournful in all her depths, but courageous, faithful and fearless, stood at the Cross, with Her love supporting the Son in His great feat. Silently She stood in a daze, compassionate to Her Son. And what was going on in Her heart, only God and Her Son could see. How She wanted to die right there, at the same moment, together with the Son, so that these incredible sufferings would stop. “ Here I will die and be buried with Him.”- the cry of the soul of the Mother of God sounds.
From the Cross of the Divine Sufferer of Christ to the torn heart of the Mother sounds encouragement, and a testament, and the enthronement of the Queen Mother of heaven and earth: “ Geno! behold, thy son" (John 19:26). And now, not just one Son, but the sons and daughters of the entire human race, Her tormented heart must contain Her love. It must take into itself those who took away Her joy - the only Son. And again, as in all difficult moments of life, Her answer to God the Father and God the Son sounds: “ Behold the servant of the Lord, wake me according to thy word.”
Fifteen years of life in labors unknown to the world to build the Church - the Bride of Christ on earth, in prayers to the Son for the human race, in loving, patient intercession for those who did not yet know God. No, She did not go out to preach along with the Apostles, although it was She who could tell about Her Son more than anyone else, because Her sensitive heart matured God in Him from His very birth. She again in silence bears the feat of motherhood and the feat of faith, and only the Apostles flow to Her, worshiping and eating from the innermost depths of Her spirit, deified by the feat of life. The Most Holy Theotokos was the first Christian woman on earth.
The Blessed Virgin Mother of God has come to the end of Her earthly life. Wishing to be freed from the bonds of life, She again humbly prayed to Her Son and God for the coming terrible hour of death, when the dark region has the power and authority to frighten those departing from the earth. And again the Archangel Gabriel appeared and announced the fulfillment of Her prayer, gave Her a shining branch of Paradise as a sign of victory over evil spirits and the bonds of the flesh, and said that in three days Her Dormition would follow.
At the moment of Her Dormition, Christ took into His Divine hands the soul of His Mother in order to carry it to His Father.
And three days after the burial, the Apostles, having rolled away the stone from the burial cave, found only Her funeral sheets. The Lady Mother of God resurrected with her Son and God. And having risen, the Mother of God became the Mother Christendom, the unstoppable Hope of the unreliable, the dead Requisitioner, the sinful Savior.
From faith, suffering and love, the Divine strength and power of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos were woven. And by them She received the power and the right to understand, sympathize and love all the weak, burdened by the hardships of life and the bonds of sin. She herself was tempted by them, and now she can help those who are tempted.
Appearance of the Mother of God
“The glory about Her swept through us that this Virgin and Mother of God is full of grace and all virtues.
Many women among us wish to visit the Blessed Virgin. They say that She is always cheerful in persecutions and troubles; in need and poverty does not grieve; not only does he not get angry at those who offend her, but even does them good; in the well-being of the meek; she is merciful to the poor and helps them in any way she can; firmly stands for the faith against her enemies, and is herself filled with humility. Her patience is inexhaustible when the Jewish teachers and Pharisees mock Her.
People worthy of all trust told us that by Her holiness one can see how in Her the nature of the Angels was united with the human. And most of all I want to see it heavenly miracle and such amazing holiness, causing everyone to wonder, revere and love.
Saint Ignatius the God-bearer
“She was a Virgin not only in body, but also in soul, humble in heart, circumspect in words, prudent, reticent, a lover of reading, industrious, chaste in speech. Her rule was not to offend anyone, to be kind to everyone, to honor elders, not to envy equals, to avoid boasting, to be sane, to love virtue.
She had nothing stern in her eyes, nothing imprudent in words, nothing indecent in her actions: her body movements were modest, her tread was quiet, her voice was even; So bodily appearance Her was the expression of the soul, the personification of purity. She turned all Her days into fasting: she indulged in sleep only at the request of need, but even then, as Her body rested, She was awake in spirit, repeating what she had read in a dream. She left the house only to go to church, and then accompanied by relatives.
Saint Ambrose of Milan
“The Mother of God was somewhat more than average in height; golden hair; eyes quick, with pupils as if the color of olives; the eyebrows are arched and moderately black, the nose is oblong, the lips are flowering, full of sweet speeches; the face is neither round nor pointed, but somewhat oblong; her hands and fingers are long... In conversation with others, she maintained decency, did not laugh, did not get indignant, and especially did not get angry; completely artless, simple. She did not think in the least about herself and, far from effeminacy, she was distinguished by complete humility.
Historian Nikephoros Kallistos
