The Virgin Mary in the Doctrine of the Church (2)
The Greatness of the Virgin… God Magnifies His Saints
The Virgin, the Mother of Light. The Virgin, the Mother of God. The Mother of the Savior. The Mother of Emmanuel. The Mother of the Incarnate Word.
“We magnify you, O Mother of Light”:
Thus we say at the beginning of the Creed.
And the magnification of the saints is a divine, biblical teaching.
For John the Baptist, who leapt in his mother’s womb when he heard the Virgin’s greeting, was described by Scripture as: “He will be great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:15), and again: “Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).
If John was thus great, how much more the Virgin, to whom the angel said: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
And God magnifies His children in the eyes of others.
The Lord said to Joshua: “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you” (Joshua 3:7).
“The Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life” (Joshua 4:14). Likewise, the Lord magnified our father Abraham and said to him: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).
How much more then the Virgin, of whom the Mighty One has done great things (Luke 1:49), and whose intercession brought about the first miracle (John 2).
The Virgin, who was worthy to be the Mother of God, is the one of whom the divine revelation said that all generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:48).
Many have received greatness in their generation, but she is blessed by all generations.
The Lord magnified the faith of the Canaanite woman, who was of a cursed race (Genesis 9:25), and said to her: “O woman, great is your faith!” (Matthew 15:28). How much more then the Virgin, who “believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).
The Lord exalted the humble, saying: “Whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4). How much more then she who is the “Mother of the Lord,” who said: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord” (Luke 1:38).
And if the Lord magnified Nineveh, that sinful and repentant city, how much more fittingly would He exalt her of whom the Psalm says: “Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God” (Psalm 87:3).
God magnified the vessel in which the Lord dwelt. In her greatness He called her the Mother of the Apostles.
From the cross, He said to Saint John the Apostle concerning the Virgin: “Behold your mother” (John 19:27).
If she became the mother of that great Apostle, our father, then she is the mother of us all. And since the Scripture commands: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12), we, as her spiritual children, honor her.
The Mother of True Light
The Virgin is the Mother of Christ, who was called “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). Therefore, she is the Mother of the True Light.
In the same manner, we speak of the Virgin in relation to all the names and titles of Christ.
The Mother of God: Since Christ is God (John 1:1; Romans 9:5; John 20:28), the Virgin is the Mother of God.
This title was confirmed by the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, against the Nestorian heresy.
By this title Saint Elizabeth greeted her, saying: “But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43).
She is also the Mother of the Holy One (Luke 1:35), the Mother of Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23), the Mother of the Savior (Luke 2:11).
She is the Mother of the Incarnate Word.
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – El-Keraza Magazine – Year 10 – Issue 22 – June 1, 1979
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