The Virgin Mary in the Doctrine of the Church (3)
The Virgin – the True Vine
The Church calls the Virgin the True Vine in whom the cluster of life was found.
What does this title mean? And does it contradict the title of Christ, “I am the true vine” (John 15:1)?
Two Introductions
First: The Lord Jesus grants us some of His titles.
a) The Lord Jesus says that He is the Shepherd (John 10:11, 12). This title was used by David for the Lord in the Old Testament (Psalm 23:1), and it is also used for the Lord in the book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:15).
Nevertheless, God also calls some of His children shepherds, even though He spoke of the one Shepherd (John 10:16; Ezekiel 34:23). He said, “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart” (Jeremiah 3:15), and to Peter He said, “Feed My sheep, feed My lambs” (John 21:15–16).
Thus, the title shepherd became specific to the bishops, successors of the apostles: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28); “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you” (1 Peter 5:2).
b) The Lord Jesus calls Himself the Light, saying, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5). Yet He says to His disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16).
c) It is said of Christ that He is the Bishop: “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). Yet the successors of the apostles are also called bishops (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7; Philippians 1:1).
d) It is said of Christ that He is the Priest: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6).
And there are many verses about priests, especially about the great high priest, those whom the Lord gave “an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations” (Exodus 40:15), “Your priests shall clothe themselves with righteousness” (Psalm 132:9, 16). The Lord sanctified the priests (Leviticus 8:12) and clothed them with holy garments for glory and beauty (Exodus 28:2).
e) It is said of Christ that He is the Son: “The Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). And yet it is said of us that we are “children of God” (1 John 3:1; Matthew 5:45).
f) The titles of the Lord Jesus that He has granted to us are many; this is not the place to list them all.
Second: The titles have one meaning for us, and another for Christ.
He is the Son by essence, of the same nature and divinity as the Father; hence He is called the Only Begotten Son (John 3:16). Our sonship, however, is a form of adoption and love (1 John 3:1).
Christ is the Priest who offered Himself as a sacrifice, while human priests are servants and stewards of divine mysteries.
He is the True Light, while we are light in the sense that we have received from His fullness (John 1:16) and shine with His light to others.
He is the Shepherd of all, even of those He appoints as shepherds among men. The qualities given to us are limited, while the attributes of God are limitless.
In this same sense, it is not strange that Christ is called the Vine in one meaning, and the Virgin is called the Vine in another.
The Title of the Vine
This title is given to the Lord, to the Church, to the whole people, to the Virgin, and even to any holy person.
It is given to the Lord in His saying: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1). It is given to the Church (the people) in the Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1–7), where the Lord says: “Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard: what more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?” And He says: “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:7).
The same meaning applies to the parable of the vineyard and the vinedressers spoken by the Lord (Matthew 21:33–41). In that parable, the vineyard is the Church, the vinedressers are the shepherds, and God is the owner of the vineyard.
We also describe the Church as the vineyard when we say to the Lord in our hymns: “Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine, and the vineyard which Your right hand has planted” (Psalm 80:14–15).
Is describing the Church as the vine a robbery of God’s glory—when this is the very title Christ Himself gave her? And is calling the people the vine a theft of divine glory—when this is the teaching of Scripture itself?
Or is it simply a desire to attack the Church, of which the Scripture says: “Sing to the beloved vineyard. I, the Lord, keep it; I water it every moment” (Isaiah 27:2–3).
The title vine is even given to every blessed mother: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house” (Psalm 128:3).
And God, in this sense, says to Israel: “Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters; she was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters. She had strong branches” (Ezekiel 19:10–11).
Is it too much, then, that the title vine be given to the Virgin as a mother?
The Letter Kills
Those who cling to only one verse—“I am the vine, and My Father is the vinedresser”—and use it to attack the Virgin, overlook the rest of Scripture and fail to speak the biblical truth. The truth is clear in these verses and in many others.
As the Apostle said, “the letter kills” (2 Corinthians 3:6). Let us therefore enter into the spirit of the Scripture and understand its meaning, that we may live.
The Bible is not a single verse—it is a whole book. The title vine carries many meanings; it is wrong to confine it to one narrow interpretation and then claim, “This is the biblical truth!”
As the Psalm says: “I have seen an end of all perfection, but Your commandment is exceedingly broad” (Psalm 119:96).
If the Vine is Christ, then the Father is the Vinedresser.
If the Vine is the Church, then the Father is the Owner of the vineyard, and the vinedressers are the shepherds—without robbing God of His title as Vinedresser in its divine sense.
And if the Vine is the Virgin, then Christ is the Cluster of Life born from her.
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – El-Keraza Magazine – Year 10 – Issue No. 23 – June 8, 1979
