His Holiness Pope Shenouda III gives a lecture highlighting the greatness of the Virgin Mary from a Coptic Orthodox doctrinal and liturgical perspective, explaining her special place in the history of salvation and her central role in the union of divinity and humanity and in worship and church rite.

Main Ideas

1. The Virgin is mentioned in the texts of faith and church hymns (the doxology, the psalm, the salutations) and is given titles such as “Mother of Light” and “Queen” that express her distinctive status.

2. The angel’s salutation and Elizabeth’s visit show the greatness of the Virgin; the greeting “full of grace” and the fetus’s leap in Elizabeth’s womb confirm the effect of her spiritual presence and the particularity of God’s choice of her.

3. God’s choice of the Virgin was distinguished among the women of the world; she was chosen from the beginning and is considered mother of the Church and of the faithful because she is the mother of Christ.

4. The Virgin’s companionship with the apostles and her presence at the coming of the Holy Spirit and events like her repose and the ascent of her body to heaven are presented as part of the miracles and liturgical facts that highlight her holiness.

Scriptural and Liturgical References
The lecturer refers to the psalms, the Gospel (the angel’s salutation, the visit of Elizabeth, Christ’s saying to John “this is your mother”), and to Old Testament images (the bush that was not burned, Aaron’s rod, the Ark of the Covenant, Ezekiel’s gate) to show that the Virgin is likened to sacred instruments that bore the Word of God and the salvific mystery.

Images and Symbolic Titles
The lecturer emphasizes several analogies for the Virgin’s titles: the Ark of the Covenant (bearing the tablets and the rod and the manna), the bush burning without burning (the event of the Eucharist and the union of divinity with humanity), the second heaven or the city of God, the dome (the tabernacle of meeting), the cloud, the dove, the vine — all expressions that reveal her purity and her salvific function.

Spiritual Dimension and Practical Edification
The address calls for reverence of the Virgin in worship and rites, and recognition of her role in salvation history as a means to raise the believer’s spiritual thought toward the mystery of divine-human union and to deepen the Orthodox understanding of the Marian mystery.

Concise Summary
The Virgin in our tradition is not merely a historical figure but a doctrinal and liturgical symbol linking the Old Testament to the New Testament; she embodies the union of divinity and humanity and is honored with titles and images that highlight her sanctity and role as Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.

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