Types of Mothers
Types of Mothers
1- A Type of Mother Who Did Not Become a Mother Except After Long Patience in Barrenness:
- Such as Hannah, the mother of Samuel, whose rival Peninnah provoked her to the point of making her weep… and finally God gave her a son. When he grew up, she herself offered him to God, to serve in the temple…
Was it easy for such a mother to offer her son to the service of the Lord?! She is a lesson to many. - Another example of her, in a different manner, is Elizabeth, who grew old while barren. Then God gave her a son, and death threatened him from Herod, so the child was carried to the wilderness and lived there away from his mother until the age of thirty, when he appeared to carry out a mission, and the Lord said of him that he is the greatest of those born of women.
Each of these lived without a son, then lived far from her son. And each of them, her son became great while she was far from him.
Sarah also did not become a mother except at the age of ninety, then she bore Isaac. And God asked for Isaac to be offered by his father as a burnt offering.
Rachel also remained barren for a period, while her sister competed with her in bearing sons. Then she bore Joseph… and died before she saw him great.
2- Types of Mothers Who Raised Their Children in Faith, and Had the Merit of Upbringing:
- We mention among these Jochebed, the mother of Moses, who raised her son in his childhood in the faith in which he remained steadfast throughout his stay in Pharaoh’s palace, and which continued with him until he became a prophet and one of the men and leaders of faith.
- We also mention the mother of Saint Timothy, the disciple of the Apostle Paul, who said of him: “When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice” (2 Tim 1:5).
- Can we mention in this category Saint Julitta, who raised her son Cyricus in the faith to the degree that he advanced to martyrdom while still a child?
3- Here We Reach a Third Type of Mothers Who Encouraged Their Children to Martyrdom:
Such as Saint Sophia, who encouraged her three young daughters (Agape, Elpis, and Pistis) to accept martyrdom, and they were all put to death…
We mention here the mother Rebecca of Senbât, and the mother Dolagi of Esna, and other mothers.
We mention the saint whose five sons were slaughtered by the pagans on her lap while she was encouraging them to martyrdom and to meet the Lord in eternity.
It is a long history that requires a special study.
4- Another Type Is the Mothers of the Shepherd Fathers:
At the forefront of these we place Saint Emmelia, who gave birth to Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia, and his brother Saint Gregory, Bishop of Sebaste, and their sister Saint Macrina, who became a spiritual guide and an abbess.
Behind the history of the great saints among the patriarchal fathers, bishops, and great teachers of the Church, there are saintly mothers whose history needs clarification and whose lives need to be highlighted.
We also mention Saint Mary, the mother of Saint Mark the Apostle, whose house became the first church.
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