A New Chapter About the Virgin Mary
3. Is the Virgin… a Bride?
Question:
I read a severe criticism by one of the Protestants of our calling the Virgin “the Bride,” saying that the Church is the Bride and not the Virgin. We ask for clarification…
Answer:
Indeed, the Church was called the Bride, as John the Baptist said, but every human soul is also a bride of the Lord…
And from the totality of these brides, the greater Bride is formed. In the same way and with the same meaning, the Church was called a virgin, as the Apostle Paul said: “For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2)
Here, the Church is a virgin, the Bride of Christ. At the same time, Scripture speaks of every soul as a virgin of Christ, saying: “Therefore the virgins love you” (Song 1:3).
The fact that the Church is a virgin, the Bride of Christ, does not prevent every soul from being a virgin, a bride of Christ, as the Holy Bible teaches us…
The Lord Christ Himself gives this teaching, saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like ten virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom, and they were ready, so they entered with him into the wedding feast.
These wise virgins are a symbol of every soul that is a bride of Christ.
The Scripture did not say that there was one chaste virgin betrothed to Christ who was waiting for Him and entered with Him into the wedding feast, to enjoy her Bridegroom. Rather, it said “virgins,” meaning every soul individually.
What is applied to the Church here is therefore applied to every soul.
Therefore, every girl who consecrates herself to the Lord calls herself a bride of Christ.
Likewise, every soul that loves Him, whether male or female, is a bride of Christ, waiting for Him to enter with Him into His heavenly wedding feast. We cannot offend any soul in its love for the Lord and say that the Bride is one, and that she is the Church.
The Book of the Song of Songs presents this truth with the greatest clarity.
We cannot deprive any soul of contemplating the Book of the Song of Songs and say that it is specific to the Church and not to individuals.
Rather, in this book there are expressions that cannot be applied to the Church, while applying them to individuals is more appropriate and fitting, such as the bride’s saying in the Song: “I sleep, but my heart is awake,” “My beloved has turned and gone,” “I sought him, but I did not find him” (Song 5).
For it is difficult to describe the Church as sleeping, or as refusing to open to the Lord, and that the Lord turned away from her and passed by,
or: “I sought him, but I did not find him,” and she called him but he did not answer her. Rather, this speech is fitting for individuals who may be described as being spiritually lukewarm and falling.
The expression “bride” is very familiar in the Book of the Song of Songs.
“How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride,” “Your lips, O bride, drip honey,” “A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (Song 4:8–12).
We notice in these verses the use of the two expressions “the bride” and “bride” without distinction; together they convey one meaning.
The words of the book may at times mean the Church, or very often they may mean any human soul.
It is difficult to find the words of Scripture confined within our own particular understanding.
It is difficult to draw a narrow boundary around them and say: This is the only meaning of an expression whose contemplation may be without limits.
For example, the seven letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation are sometimes taken as letters to particular churches in the time of Saint John; they are also taken as letters to any church in any age in which the same condition exists; and they are also taken as letters to every human soul.
The word of God cannot be limited. David the Prophet was right when he said:
“I have seen the consummation of all perfection, but Your commandment is exceedingly broad” (Ps. 119:96). If the word “bride” can be applied to any human soul, why should it not be applied even more appropriately to the Virgin?
What error is there in this, that a person becomes enthusiastic and attacks? And wastes his time writing, and the time of others responding to him!! And raises doubts in some people! Are there not more essential matters that need a response and a defense of Scripture, especially when the whole Bible is accused of distortion and forgery?!
And is it really a problem if the question arises: Is this speaking about a person or about the Church? Is not the person himself a church?
Did the Scripture not say: “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17)? Therefore, man is a small church, and from the totality of these churches the universal Church is formed. He is a bride of Christ. And the totality of these brides constitutes the greater Bride, which is the Church, the Body of Christ.
It is right for us to address every pure soul, and not only the Virgin, and say to her: “You have found grace, O bride.”
How much more so the Virgin who is full of grace?
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III — in Al-Keraza Magazine — Tenth Year (Issue Thirty-Eight), 21/9/1979.
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