Arabic original here.
Mary
Mary is the Mother of God. She gives birth to Christ God into the world (the Third Ecumenical Council, Ephesus 431).
Mary was the house of God. She is the servant of the divine mystery, "the mystery hidden for ages and unknown to the angels."
Mary is both mother and virgin-- a virgin, that is, the bride of God, consecrated to Him and to no one else. "Rejoice, O bride unwedded." At the same time, she is our mother in giving spiritual love. "Behold, your mother," says the Lord Jesus upon the cross to the disciple John whom He loved (cf. John 19:26-27).
We read in the Gospel passage for the Dormition (Luke 10:38-42), "Mary (the sister of Lazarus) sat at Jesus' feet and listened to His words... one thing is needful" (cf. Luke 10:39 and 42).
This is how the Virgin Mary was. When His mother and brothers came to Him and they said to Him, "Your mother and brothers want to see You," He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who listen to the word of God and do it" (Luke 8:21). There is listening and obedience.
In the Epistle for the Dormition (Philippians 2:5-11) it says, "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).
"Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).
Mary is the image of every pure person. The pure person is the one who only accepts into their heart God's seed, the divine word, not a corrupt human word.
They do not place anything within their soul alongside Christ-- not money, not station (that is, authority or vainglory), not the body (and the pleasure of the body). They worship only God. "You cannot worship two masters, God and money." Christ alone is the bridegroom of the soul. Mary is the bride of God.
Death is participation in the faulty human nature that we have all received. The Virgin received this fragile nature, but she remained impervious to willfully falling and so she was glorified and became a model for us.
Why does she have obedience to God? Because He is her Creator, the one who continuously glorifies our nature and our life. He is all of existence. Without Him I do not exist.
The Lord rewarded her at the end of her life, since she was transported to Him and glorified in the body above the angels, like Elijah.
+Ephrem
Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies
Mary
Mary is the Mother of God. She gives birth to Christ God into the world (the Third Ecumenical Council, Ephesus 431).
Mary was the house of God. She is the servant of the divine mystery, "the mystery hidden for ages and unknown to the angels."
Mary is both mother and virgin-- a virgin, that is, the bride of God, consecrated to Him and to no one else. "Rejoice, O bride unwedded." At the same time, she is our mother in giving spiritual love. "Behold, your mother," says the Lord Jesus upon the cross to the disciple John whom He loved (cf. John 19:26-27).
We read in the Gospel passage for the Dormition (Luke 10:38-42), "Mary (the sister of Lazarus) sat at Jesus' feet and listened to His words... one thing is needful" (cf. Luke 10:39 and 42).
This is how the Virgin Mary was. When His mother and brothers came to Him and they said to Him, "Your mother and brothers want to see You," He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who listen to the word of God and do it" (Luke 8:21). There is listening and obedience.
In the Epistle for the Dormition (Philippians 2:5-11) it says, "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).
"Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).
Mary is the image of every pure person. The pure person is the one who only accepts into their heart God's seed, the divine word, not a corrupt human word.
They do not place anything within their soul alongside Christ-- not money, not station (that is, authority or vainglory), not the body (and the pleasure of the body). They worship only God. "You cannot worship two masters, God and money." Christ alone is the bridegroom of the soul. Mary is the bride of God.
Death is participation in the faulty human nature that we have all received. The Virgin received this fragile nature, but she remained impervious to willfully falling and so she was glorified and became a model for us.
Why does she have obedience to God? Because He is her Creator, the one who continuously glorifies our nature and our life. He is all of existence. Without Him I do not exist.
The Lord rewarded her at the end of her life, since she was transported to Him and glorified in the body above the angels, like Elijah.
+Ephrem
Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies
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