Met Ephrem (Kyriakos): The Fast of Our Lady and the Marian Spirit

Arabic original here.

The Fast of Our Lady and the Marian Spirit

Fasting in general is the emptying of the soul and the body of everything that comes to them from sin. Emptying the stomach of food is an image of liberating the soul from passions and lusts.

The Fast of Our Lady is tied to Great Lent, that is, the Fast of Our Lord.

The Lord Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights and after that He confronted the devil and defeated him by the power of the word. This is also what Our Lady the Virgin Mary did when she listened to the word of God, pondering it in her heart and acting according to it (cf. Luke 2:19, 8:21 and 10:39).

The Fast of Our Lady is an apostolic institution. Saint Theodore the Studite calls it the Holy Fast of the Mother of God. Believers who love Our Lady and her virtues practice it just as they practice Great Lent. Some zealous ones even from fire! In any case, those who love the Mother of God, Mary, love the Lord Jesus, her son and her God, and study His word, keep it in their heart and act according to it in their life.

The Fast of Our Lady is tied to the Marian spirit, the virginal spirit attached to God and His word. It is the pure, unblemished spirit.

Mary is both mother and virgin. Mary the mother is the model for every pure human, in whom Christ is begotten and from whom He goes out into the world. Purity is that we do not accept within ourselves anything other than the divine seed.

The fast is accompanied by a special prayer to Our Lady that is called the Paraklisis. It is a special supplication addressed to Our Lady and from her to the Lord by virtue of a mother's boldness to her son and her God.

The Church is the mystical body of Christ. In this body, the Mother of God still practices the intercession that she performed on earth, as at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. She is the unfailing intercessor.

In the service of the Small Paraklisis we say, "Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty" (Psalm 44/45:10-11).

+Ephrem
Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies

Met Ephrem (Kyriakos): Mary

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

Met Ephrem (Kyriakos) on the Immaculate Conception

Arabic original here.

The Immaculate Conception

The Orthodox Church especially honors the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and chants to her at every Divine Liturgy, "More honorable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, who without corruption gave birth to God the Word, true Theotokos we magnify thee." Our Church also teaches that the First Woman, Eve, formed disobedience for the human race, while the New Eve, the Virgin Mary, formed salvation-- that is, our God and Savior Christ-- for the human race. Thus she became a mother for every Christian, who is a brother to our Lord and Savior Jesus.

The Virgin Mary received divinity into her body without losing her human nature, which was united to the divine nature. She is the one who "without corruption gave birth to God the Word." She became the first woman who embodied the words of the Apostle Peter, "that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature" (1 Peter 1:4). And so humanity's divinization was achieved in the person of the Virgin Mary.

It is said that a young monk was praying before an icon of the Theotokos on the Holy Mountain and an angel appeared to him and started teaching him how best to magnify the Virgin Mother of God, telling him as follows: "It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure and the mother of our God..." This icon that is known as "It is Meet (Axion Estin)" is kept until today in the chief church on the Holy Mountain.

This exceedingly great honor for the Theotokos did not prevent us Orthodox Christians from rejecting the decision issued by the Vatican in 1854 known as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This decision claims that at the moment of her conception in the womb of her mother Anne, she was exempt from any stain of ancestral sin, as a gift from God Almighty.

The decision declares that it is a dogma announced by God and that all the faithful most hold to it.

It is our duty as right-believing Orthodox Christians to declare in turn that this dogma does not honor the Virgin Mary, but rather, to the contrary, it degrades her honor by making her into a sort of superwoman, has though she had magically become a demigod. This decision distorts the personality of the Virgin, the magnitude of her love for God, and her freedom to not accept any sin in her human struggle. Like every human, she inherited the results of original sin, especially the experience of pain and death, as Christ Himself tasted them. Like her Son and Creator, she bore the fullness of human nature without attachment to sin.

All this does not mean that we Orthodox do not confess Mary's virginity, which was declared at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553, which declared that she is a virgin before begetting, in the act of begetting, and after begetting. The sign of this appears on her icon in the form of three stars: one on her brow and one on each of her shoulders.

In the Orthodox Church, we never diminish the holiness of the Virgin Mary, but at the same time we do not make exaggerated claims that she is exempt from ancestral sin and its consequences, which strips her of the virtue of her human struggle that made her immune to falling into sin, so that she may remain ever pure. We refuse to regard her as a total partner in salvation in the manner of the Holy Trinity, which alone is Creator and is completely distinct from creation, which includes the nature of Mary, our mother and first intercessor and the holiest of all the saints.

+Ephrem
Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies

Fr Georges Massouh: "Behold the Maidservant of the Lord"

Arabic original here.

"Behold the Maidservant of the Lord"

 There is a fundamental difference between the account of the annunciation to Mary in the Gospels and the annunciation to her in the Qur'an. The holy apostle Luke closes his account of the annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary with her accepting to give birth to Jesus, the Lord, the "Son of the Most High". When Mary heard God's call to her, she did not hesitate for even a single moment, but rather accepted this divine calling and said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord, may it be for me as you say" (Luke 1:38). Mary's response is not forced. It springs from responsible human freedom. Mary's freedom is safeguarded even before the power of the Most High. Instead of requiring her to give birth to Christ, God respected her freedom which He Himself gave her. God waited for Mary to say yes and it was within her power to say no, but she said yes. Her begins Mary's story with holiness.

As for Surat Maryam, it does not mention the response to the angel when he brought her tidings of "a son most pure" from God. Before Mary who wondered "How can I have a son when no man has touched me nor am I an adulteress?" the angel could find nothing else to say to her but "Thus did your Lord speak: 'It is a matter easy for Me. We shall make him a wonder to mankind and a mercy from Us - a decree ordained'" (Surat Maryam 19-21). Mary's response is missing and God's response is present in force: "a decree ordained" meaning "Jesus' creation was a decree foreordained in eternity and in the knowledge of God, may He be exalted," according to one exegete.

Here lies the fundamental difference between the view of the Gospel and the view of the Qur'an toward the figure of Mary and her free will in accepting and rejecting God's words to her. Where the Qur'an is silent about Mary's response, the Gospel considers Mary's response as something that deserves being mentioned because it is a central response that expresses Mary's obedience and her acceptance, in the fullness of her will and her freedom, to carry out God's will. At the same time, Mary's response expresses God's respect for His creatures and his not compelling them to do something that they do not want to commit to doing.

Therefore, patristic tradition interprets the verse from the Bible that says "God created man in His image and likeness" (Genesis 1:26) such that what is meant by "image" is not corporeal image, but rather the freedom that distinguishes man from all the other creatures. In His exceedingly great love for humankind, God gave man His image-- that is, His freedom. The proof of God's love for man was nothing other than this supreme freedom. However, with this very freedom man chose to depart from God, who is the highest good, and fell into evil. God did not seize this freedom from humankind after their fall, despite their sins, because He remains faithful to the way in which He created them. Ever since He established the human race on earth, He has remained faithful to the freedom that He gave them.

The freedom of Adam and Eve, who symbolize every human being, brought man into perdition, because it deviated from the love that God desired there to be between humans. Freedom came to mean someone doing what he desires and what seems good to him, imagining that he can put himself in God's place. Is this not precisely the temptation that the serpent, the symbol of evil, used when it said to Eve, "On the day that you eat [from the tree] your eyes will open and you will become like gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5)?

Mary, the New Eve, came to return freedom to its proper path. In place of Eve who in her disobedience to God wanted to be a god, Mary said, "I am the maidservant of God" and obeyed God's word. The irony lies in the fall of the one who wanted to be a god and the elevation to heaven of the one who affirmed that she is "the maidservant of the Lord". The first eve was in paradise and fell. She was not protected by the fact that she was in paradise. Mary, however, was in the world and the fact that she was in the world did not prevent her from preserving herself from its stain. Thus we see that Mary's reply in nothing other than a direct response to Eve's answer to the serpent. For this reason, it is fundamental that Mary was free, just as Eve was free. Just as the first Eve's freedom led to her fall, the second's freedom led to life.

Mary's response, "Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, may it be for me as you say," is what made Mary's identity. Mary's response is Mary herself.

Met Georges Khodr on the Intercession of the Saints

Arabic original here.


Mary

Traditional Christians, that is Orthodox and Catholics, do not make Mary into a god. This is a false accusation without any historical basis. No one has equated her with Christ. He is the sole mediator between God and man and it is through Him that salvation is realized. If we say that she is an intercessor, we do not attach any meaning to this beyond that she prays for us. There is nothing in our belief that detracts from the fact that we believe that Christ alone mediates salvation. Our belief that Christ alone is the savior of the world does not detract from our belief that those whom God has glorified stand praying in His presence.


We have never said that the saints work salvation. They received it, just like everyone, and have added nothing to it. Mary saw herself as nothing other than the servant of the Lord. Do those who reject our calling upon the saints for intercession really think that we are lacking in our faith that we are detracting from our faith that the Lord Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man? Is it true that those who do not seek the intercession of the saints love the Lord Jesus more? It is clear in our actual practices that our valuing the saints does not detract from Christ.

When we seek the intercession of the saints, we mean that we speak to them as the living speak to one another because everyone in the Church prays for each other, whether they remain in this world or have reached the kingdom. Those who die have passed through death into life, on account of the Savior's resurrection. Mary has passed through death into heaven before the general resurrection.

We speak to Mary because she has passed through death. The fact that we speak to the saints is based on the fact that they are alive with God on account of the Savior's resurrection. It is true that you call upon Christ, but it is also true that you call upon those who loved Him because they are alive in Him. This in no way diminishes the fact that He is unique. For those who love Him, they add nothing to Him. In our calling upon them, we confess that they are with Him.

There is no one in the churches of tradition-- I mean that Orthodox and the Catholics-- who has ever said that the saints add something to Christ. We say that they are with Christ and therefore we speak to them. You do not love Him in isolation from His companions and if you love them, you do not make them equal to Him. If you understand that the saints do not add anything to Christ and that they are in His company, then you have no excuse for lecturing us about them.

What do you have against us if we love Him and we love them together? Who has examined what we say about Mary and can claim that we make her into a god? What do we say about her that makes her into a god? The beautiful words about her are a form of poetry. They in no way imply that we raise her above the station of humans. We say to you that we love her because she loved Jesus. Do you have an objection to this?

I do not know where the myth that we make Mary into a god comes from. This is either said out of ignorance or by the the slander of liars. No one has ever made Mary into  a god. She remains a creature when we say that she is the greatest of creatures.

as-Safir: Residents of Saydnaya Remain Resilient

This originally appeared in Arabic here and was translated for Al-Monitor by Sahar Ghassoub, here.

Residents of historic Syrian town remain resilient in face of war

by Carmen Jokhadar

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (John 15:13) There is nothing more accurate than these words by Jesus Christ for the people of Saidnaya, Syria.

[...]

The city rings its bells whenever danger is imminent, as was the case when mortar shells hit the Cherubim Monastery and the Convent of Our Lady of Saidnaya during the fourth attack [against the city] on Jan. 19. The city’s citizens are now “wanted” by armed militants.

Being from Saidnaya is enough reason to be killed by the militants who have suffered heavy defeats there, the most recent of which was the fourth attack. What’s more, the city’s people are also guilty of being nasara, a derogatory term used by armed groups to refer to Christians.

The city’s people boasted about the latest battle. “They are all dead. No one is left to tell the story,” they say about the insurgents, ignoring the shells showering them every day.
They cling to their faith in the Virgin Mary and her son, turning a deaf ear toward the promises of car bombs or more direct threats: “You will be next, after Maaloula,” recounts one of the city’s dignitaries.

[...]

During the latest crisis, the convent has been heavily bombed by dozens of mortar shells, causing significant damage. The latest shell went through the convent’s stone roof, cracking it in half, before settling in the room without exploding.

“Mortar bombs have failed to hit the citizens. The Virgin Mary is protecting the village and the people,” says one of the area residents.

[...]

In the church, you pray and light a candle and suddenly you are overwhelmed by an exceptional feeling of peace and humility. A nun would rush to ask you, “Did you take some incense and oil? How many blessed threads do you want?”

“Where are you from?” she would also ask. If you tell her you are from Lebanon, she would launch into a long narrative about Lebanese worshipers visiting the convent who never stopped pouring in, especially on St. Mary’s day. She would express her longing for those days.

“We never thought that we would suffer as we are today. Our faith in God and the Virgin Mary is great,” she’d say. If your tears betrayed you in the face of this injustice plaguing our land, she would hand you a handkerchief to dry them up, holding your hand and saying, “Do not be afraid. I am with you until the end of time.” (It's a saying by Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew.)

In the warm hall where photos of the Virgin Mary, patriarchs and prioresses are hung, the assistant prioress receives you to learn of the reason behind your being there. If it is a mere visit, Prioress Mother Verona Nabhan is ready to welcome the guests. When it comes to journalists, however, Nabhan now refuses to meet with them.

The assistant prioress asks about the reason behind the requested meeting. After answering, she smiles and calls on the prioress, who begins by saying, “The media has gotten to a point where it offends the people and the cause. It is adding fuel to the fire.”

Nabhan noted in her interview with As-Safir that bombs are continuously fired on the monastery. The sisters confront the cannon through daily prayers for the sake of “the homeland and the army, and to preserve our dignity and the sovereignty of our land so as not to be affected by demons.”

Nabhan adds that the “princesses of the Virgin Mary” — the girls who live in the orphanage — follow the traces of mortar bombs and investigate the damages. She affirmed that "[The girls] should understand and know what is going on. It is our responsibly and the parents' to not hide the plight of the country from them. They are part of the future of this planet.”

Nabhan refuses to talk about her communication with the Maaloula nuns, saying only, “This should not have happened. In any way, violating the town must have been thwarted. God be merciful. Oh, Virgin Mary, the soldier, the savior.” Nabhan called on Mary to protect the region.

On another level, a military source in the region says, “A stranger cannot lay a foot on this land at a time when even elderly people exceeding 70 years old are fighting.” The source noted that the region has been subject to bombardment for a year. Clashes have escalated as militants are trying to achieve a “presumed victory” and take control of Saidnaya after Maaloula.

One of the residents recounts, “The area has sacrificed 22 martyrs during the battles in the monastery and throughout Syria.” He reminds us, “Philip Ahmar died during the fourth attack after he insisted to head to the Cherubim monastery. After the death of Elias, his brother was on his own. Therefore, he engaged in the fighting, while Joseph and his two brothers stood at checkpoints.”

The 60-year-old resident looks at me with blue eyes filled with confidence, pride and determination, saying, “We are impatiently waiting for the response of militants and their return to our land.” He continues, “Do you see the guy standing at the checkpoint?" He points at a man belonging to the National Defense Force. "God and the Virgin Mary saved him. He cheated death.” The man was transporting the wounded during the latest attacks against the monastery. Militants set up an ambush and hid behind the rocks. Then, they opened fire on the car, wounding everyone but him, and he was able to deliver the wounded people and the martyr. The car stopped at the checkpoint of al-Jana restaurant at the entrance to the area.

One of the residents recounts that a monk bore a weapon and was ready to support the Syrian forces in their fight against extremists. Christian clerics in the area support the Syrian army and the National Defense Force, saying, “You did not die, but haven’t you seen those who did?”

Muslim clerics in Saidnaya supported the war on extremism, saying that attacks were equally targeting Christians and Muslims and distorting the image of Islam. They also opened their eyes to the fact that the practices of armed groups in the areas of their influence that do not abide by Islamic rules explicitly violate the principle of freedom of religion. In Saidnaya, women have played a leading role in the events. They served as a pillar of support. Women cooked, weaved wool, received first-aid training and encouraged the men of the village to fight against the fierce campaign aiming to displace the residents and take control over the historical village.

A while ago, Jabhat al-Nusra disseminated a video in which they addressed Christians, saying: “Over the two years we have been fighting, you supported the tyrant of Damascus and his thugs. You were uninvolved, and we protected you. Now, you have turned your churches and sanctities into military barracks for that tyrant, and God forbids that we accept this.” Jabhat al-Nusra warned: “God willing, the unsheathed swords of Islam will be raised on your necks in your own houses. God bear witness to what we say.”

The report shows the bombardment of the monastery coupled with a song that goes: “We tear apart the tyrant and apostasy with a great determination and a will that knows no defeat. We will color the dawn with our blood. The night of polytheism and atheism will be long gone.”
The residents face the failed attempts of terrorists with further resistance, determination and a smile. Saidnaya, in which Noah planted the first vine — as legends have it — is offering sacrifices on the altar of Syria’s salvation.

Read the entire article here!

 

Met. Ephrem's Sermon for Annunciation 2012

The Arabic original, given at the parish in Mina, Tripoli can be found here.


In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

On this blessed feast, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, by the Angel Gabriel, we repeat and chant, "announce the good news, from day to day, of our God's salvation." Beloved, where does this joy come from on this feast? We have to understand the meaning of our feasts through our hymns. We say in the hymn for the feast, "Today is the cornerstone of our salvation and the declaration of the mystery from before the ages, for the Son of God becomes the son of the Virgin and through grace Gabriel brings good news."

Today is the cornerstone of our salvation. That means, it is the beginning of our salvation. Our salvation comes from God who came down to us, from heaven to earth, in order to save us from all our sins, from everything we fear-- and the greatest thing we fear is death. People commit many sins because of their fear of death. So says the Apostle Paul in his Epistle for today, "He came to us to save us, we who are enslaved out of fear of death." Joy comes because the Lord comes to us from heaven. He seeks us out by way of this angel who brings good news to this pure woman, Mary. Our Church puts an emphasis on calling the Virgin Mary "Mother of God" because she gave birth to Christ our God. Thus, the "Feast of the Nativity" is the feast celebrating the appearance of the Lord Jesus as a child, while the "Feast of the Annunciation" is the feast most specifically celebrating the Divine Incarnation. This is what distinguishes us Christians, that our God became flesh. He came in the body and shared our nature in order to teach us how we must live.

We might ask, "Who is the model for a holy person?" The model is the Virgin Mary who was distinguished by her purity, by her humility, by her obedience to Christ, to the Word of God and not to the word of the world. The Christian obeys Christ's word. This is our faith and it was embodied by the Virgin Mary. This is why we celebrate this feast and take pride in this Virgin who teaches us purity, who teaches us truthfulness not lies, who teaches us obedience to God and humility. She is the one who said, "Here I am, the handmaiden of God. May it be to me according to your word."

If we come to resemble the Virgin Mary, what happens? The following happens: The angel came to her and said, "Rejoice! Peace be upon you O full of Grace, the Lord is with you." So if we come to resemble-- men and women-- the Virgin Mary, we also in turn acquire this message from heaven that says to us: Rejoice and be filled with grace from God who will save you, who will give you peace, who will give you true joy, not as the world today gives it. True joy comes from God and so we are joyous in this Great Fast which prepares us to receive with joy Christ's passions and resurrection, amen.

Met. Ephrem on the Nativity of the Theotokos

The Arabic original can be found here. This sermon was given in Tripoli on September 8, 2011.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, we are still at the beginning of the Church year, since the year begins for the Church in September. The first great feast is the one that we celebrate today, the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos. You notice that on all the feasts of Our Lady Mary, her Nativity, her Dormition, her Entrance into the Temple, this passage from the Gospel is read and along with it this passage from the Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians. This Epistle says that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming like a human, and humbled himself to the point of death, death on the cross. Why do you think that the Church chooses this Epistle for the feasts of Our Lady Mary? And what is the intimate bond between the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary? And what is the importance of the Virgin Mary in the economy of salvation?

This Epistle is connected to the mystery of the Incarnation. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God who was incarnate and became man in order to suffer, to rise, and to save us from the weight of death and sin. And so he came down! This divine self-abasement is what the Apostle Paul is expressing when he says “He emptied himself”. This is the mystery of the divine plan, how the God empties himself , “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming like a human, and humbled himself to the point of death, death on the cross.” But what did the Virgin do? The Virgin is a human like us, but in her purity, faith, and obedience she did more than any person on the earth in the past, present, or future, and resembled the Lord Jesus in self-abasement, obedience, humility, and self-emptying. The Bible describes this human person as the divine ladder, Jacob’s ladder, that connects earth to heaven and also connects us to heaven because by the grace of God she did what Christ did, but in the opposite direction, since she began as a human person and was elevated and divinized by God’s grace. This is the teaching of the Church, that this woman “the Virgin Mary” was divinized and elevated from earth to heaven and thus by God’s grace became a divinized person.

This is the way that we must look at Mary. We must come to resemble her, that is, be obedient. The Gospel says that she is blessed through all generations, but the Lord says is today’s Gospel passage, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” This means that the Virgin Marry is blessed because she heard the word of God and kept it. She was obedient to God’s word and to the Gospel and his is what gave her patience, love, and obedience and this is why she said “behold I am the handmaiden of the Lord”—the word ‘handmaiden’ means ‘servant’. That is, she came to resemble Christ who became a servant in order to save us. How lovely it would be if we had this grace to be humble and to heed the word of God, to keep it, and to apply it in our life. Amen.

Met. Georges Khodr on the Dormition

The Arabic original can be found here.




The Feast of the Dormition


In Christian terminology, it is the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and "dormition" is the eastern term for death. In the language of worship, the dead are called those asleep, in order to indicate Christ's victory over death. Their death is because they are embraced by God before the Resurrection on the last day. The origins of the feast are eastern. It was established in the sixth century in Jerusalem where her church stood in Gethsemane. The Emperor Maurice made the feast general throughout the empire. Pope Sergius I, who died at the beginning of the seventh century adopted the feast, and Pope Pius XII announced that the transport of the Virgin to heaven in body and soul is a dogma.

The Orthodox Church has not defined the transport of Mary into heaven as a dogma. Orthodox theologians are divided between those who believe in the assumption of her body and those who do not, since where there is not a synodally-defined dogma, the matter is left to freedom of interpretation. However, the services for the feast are clear in stating that she was transported ("You were transported to life, being the Mother of Life", that is of Christ). Also in the prayer for the feast we say "You arose after your death to be with your Son eternally" and even more clearly "God... preserved your body in the tomb and your glory is with Him in your divine transport."

The question that poses itself to eastern Christians is 'are the texts of the feast binding as dogma?' The general, basic answer is that worship services reveal a dogmatic position in general, but this does not mean that we are able to extrapolate a binding dogmatic position from the worship services, and so we remain with critical freedom as long as a clear definition is not issued at an ecumenical council made up of all the Orthodox churches.

Taking stock of both the Orthodox and the Catholic positions, we can say that Mary anticipated the Resurrection, that she will not be subject to trial or judgment, and that she abides in glory, that is the state in which we will be after the final resurrection. This is what Saint John of Damascus realized in the eighth century when he addressed her in one of the two sermons he wrote about the Dormition. He said, "I will not call your holy departure death, but rather a dormition or a journey but the best way to call it is an abiding. In leaving the realm of the body, you entered a more excellent realm."

I said that she abides in the divine glory and that she is not like us, subject to divine judgment on the last day. This is why we greatly magnify her. She is our ambassador to heaven.

She is full of grace, as the angel Gabriel told her at the moment of the Annunciation. That is, that she was free from all sin, submitting to God alone and prepared to accept every word from Him. This is what the angel meant when he said, "The Lord is with you, blessed among women." These words were the beginning of her path to glory. The beginning of the path is that from her and from the Holy Spirit the Word of God, who existed in the beginning, became incarnate. The angel's greeting makes it clear to Mary: "The Holy Spirit will rest upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." There is no doubt that the angel Gabriel's use of the word "overshadow" points to the cloud that accompanied the People of God of old and which later became the temple in Jerusalem. The idea, then, is that Mary is the new temple of God or the first church for Christ and there is no church unless she dwells within it. In the first church, which gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem, where the disciples gathered "continuing with one accord in prayers and Mary the mother of Jesus was with them" (Acts 1:14). So when the Holy Spirit rested upon them, it also rested upon Mary, just as it had rested upon her at the Annunciation in order for the Word to be made flesh. This Spirit accompanied her until the end of her life on earth. This is the life in glory before her being transported to the heavenly abodes.

There is no further talk about Mary after this in the Gospel, since it goes on to talk about the Holy Spirit's formation of the Church. The Virgin is an inherent part of the Church since she said, "From this moment all generations shall call me blessed" (Luke 1:48). Thus the words of the Gospel show that the humanity that relies on the Gospel as its scripture turns to the Virgin, through whom the Mighty One worked wonders (Luke 1:49). Those who know of the place of Mary in glory address her, seeking her intercession.

The author of the Book of Revelation looked at her as an image of the Church. He said, "There appeared a great sign in heaven: a woman robed in the sun and the moon is under her feet and upon her head is a crown of twelve stars" (Revelation 1:12). Byzantine art has a pattern by which she is drawn with the Child. She relies on Him for all her splendor. She has no power on her own. She is given what we receive from the Lord. If you love the Lord and go for all His splendors, then He is great in His saints and among them she is the first. Knowledge of Mary is a part of knowledge of Christ.

Perhaps this feast is an occasion for me to say that what is called the intercession or the entreaties or the meditations of the saints are words that do not cancel the single mediation of Christ. Salvation was achieved a single time in the person of the Savior. No one can add anything to that, since there is no power outside this salvation.

We Orthodox do not accept the view of Mary as a partner is salvation. No human can save humans. However, we believe that those in heaven pray, just like the people on earth, because Christ's Resurrection is active from this moment and by it Christ has trampled down the death of those who have tasted it. Those who have been transported to glory stand in prayer and are not mere bones and ashes. They are alive with their Lord, that is they speak to Him and we speak to them. We accompany them and they accompany us in the vale of tears in which we live. The Church in heaven and the Church on earth is one. Heaven is chanting after divine kindness in the saints. Is it right for you to say that those in heaven are silent and that Mary is absent from the glory of her Son and of her brothers and sisters in righteousness?! She is a word, after the Word dwelt within her and after He gave those invited to the wedding at Cana wine to enjoy.

What does it mean when some say "Can God not respond to us directly?" If you entrust grace with Mary, supplicate her, and receive an outpouring from her, is the Savior not working within you directly? In the Kingdom of Love above, what is direct and what is indirect? Are we not, with those great ones who preceded us in arriving at God's mercy, the single body of Christ, living together in the Holy Spirit?

Our Lady of the Wind

The Arabic original, by Jirji Sassine can be found here.

Our Lady of the Wind

Patron of the Church of Our Lady of the Wind, Enfeh al-Koura

The nuns of Our Lady of Kaftoun painted this icon in December 2001, at the request of the parish of Enfeh, and after having shown preliminary designs to fathers and theologians who gave their blessing. It is an offering from Michel Faiz Touma, for his parents the reposed Faiz and Nejmeh. It measures 90cm by 60cm and it was consecrated by Fr. Zakhour Nimeh, the parish priest of blessed memory. The feast of Our Lady of the Wind is the Feast of the Annunciation, where it takes the place of the icon of the Annunciation, and below it most of the image is the sea and fish (the Feast of the Annunciation is connected to permission to eat fish despite the fast).

An explanation of the icon “O Virgin, calm the tumult of our passions and quiet the storm of our sins…” (from the Paraklisis to the Theotokos).

This is the message of the icon of the Theotokos, Our Lady of the Wind and what is written underneath it. She is lifting up the prayers of the faithful who are drowning in the sea of sorrows and the tempest of temptations to the Lord Jesus who is always present and watching from heaven, which is represented by the sky-blue circles amidst the golden background. He blesses with both His hands in response to the intercession of His mother the sailors who struggle amidst the waves that toss about the fishing boat (and the boat is a symbol of the Church). He leads them to the shore, the place “below the wind” north of Ras Qal’at Enfeh where the church of Our Lady stands. They seek refuge under her serene protection, far from the storms and whirlwinds coming from the sea (a symbol of death and the world of darkness where the dragon plays (the psalm of vespers). The whirlpool which appears along our coasts in the winter is still called “the dragon” by local fishermen and this is reflected in the icon by depicting the storm in this form), from the southwest across from the cliff, but the Theotokos Our Lady of the Wind is standing next to her church, lifting up her left hand in supplication to her divine Son to preserve her children, while with her right hand she repels from them the storm coming from afar.

The icon goes from nature to the site of the church of Our Lady where the bay “below the wind”, which during most of the days of the year is protected from the southwesterly winds which cause storms and batter the cliff. The icon goes from the calm bay which forms a natural harbor for fishermen to the spiritual reality where Our Lady takes those who seek her intercession under her protection.

In the details, the waves appear as a spiral of the colors of the sea and the sky, and this is in imitation of the style of the extant mural icons in the church of Our Lady of the Wind, which probably go back to the twelfth century. They reflect the ambiance of the local sea and among them are fish, so often mentioned in the tradition of the Church.

Likewise palm trees, which decorate the coastline since Phoenician times, are mystically connected to the Virgin (in the Song of Songs and the Akathist) surround the church.

She is the Virgin Lady, the Theotokos who is honored by the faithful in the village and the surrounding region. And here are the ancient churches forming a ring around her church: from the right St. Simeon, St. Michael, and St. Katrina and from the left St. George and the Monastery of St. John the Baptist. Likewise she is surrounded by her monasteries: Deir al-Nouriyyeh drawn at the top of the cliff in the background along with the site of the ancient monastery in the middle of the mountain where Abd al-Masih al-Enfawi practiced asceticism and from which the light of the Virgin shined forth, according to the tradition of the monastery’s name. At the end of the peak is the church of St. Simeon the Stylite. As for the monasteries and shrines to Our Lady in the region for which there was not room to draw in the icon, they are present in a hidden way, and to complete the list they are: Our Lady of the Seas in Batroun, the Horshiyyeh Cave in Hamat, the shrine of al-Rihaniyyeh in Hari, al-Za’tariyyeh in Shaka, al-Zurou’ in Kfarhazim, Sayyidat Fi’, Our Lady of the Spring (al-Na’oura), Sayyidat al-Bazizat (the Nursing), Sayyidat al-Qutrubiyyeh in Enfeh, Sayyidat al-Khazaib in al-Harisha, the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, and Deir Sayyidat Natour, where the perspective of one looking at the icon stands.

She is the Virgin who herself saves through her intercessions all those sailing through the storms and waves on the sea of life.

She is the Lady of all places—land, sea, and air and is constantly present and protecting all who honor her. Through her intercessions, O Lord, have mercy on us and save us, amen.

Kaftoun

Also from the NOCTOC blog, an article about the women's monastery in Kaftoun and it's wonderworking 13th century icon of the Theotokos..... (I'm going to comb the archives of this blog to see what more I can find... it seems the author takes a strong interest in the Church in Lebanon, and he has a lot of good pictures!)

The link: http://noctoc-noctoc.blogspot.com/2009/03/greek-orthodox-monastery-of-theotokos.html

Our Lady of Babushta

For July 24 in Forgotten Saints:

The Commemoration of the Theotokos Our Lady of Babushta

This annual commemoration is of the occurrence of a great wonder in the village called Babushta [I have no idea how to properly vocalize this Syriac place-name. I’m simply following the analogy of the similar-sounding village Kakhushta.] near Antioch, at a spring. Unclean spirits lived in that place, stirring up dread among the people to the point that no one would dare to go there after dark. There appeared in that place an icon of the Theotokos Mary with great light and it cleansed it of what had been there. When the people of the village of Babushta saw this great image and that radiant light and realized that the unclean spirits were driven away by its power, they sent to the people of the surrounding villages and announced the news. So people brought them the sick, the deaf, the blind, and the lame. When they looked upon the radiant image, the evil spirits immediately left from the possessed among them, the sick were healed, the ears of the deaf were opened, sight returned to the eyes of the blind, and the legs of the lame were made hale. They praised the Lord of the Worlds [an Islamic expression- rabb al-’alamin] who had given them His grace through this image.

Then the people sent to the great City of God, Antioch and informed the Patriarch, Saint John [Fr. Touma speculates that this refers to either Patriarch John V in the ninth century, or John VII in the eleventh century] and all the clergy about the matter of this great divine image not made by human hands, sent as a gift by God. The patriarch gathered the clergy, the priests, the monks, the deacons and the archons with all the people of the city and told them the news that he had received. Then they went out with pomp to that great sight. They arrived at the village of Babushta and found the matter as they had been told. They praised the Lord of the Worlds and counted it as a mercy from the Merciful Lord [also an Islamic expression, al-rabb al-rahim]. Then they began to give thanks with praise and psalms, repeating ‘Lord have mercy!’ On that day God worked through the icon great signs. When the patriarch approached the spring the divine image leapt from the water and landed in front of him.

Then the patriarch took the icon and he and those with him brought it to the great church in the great City of God, Antioch, singing praises to the Theotokos and to our Savior, Jesus Christ. The image to our own day [that is, according to the 12th and 13th century manuscripts] works dazzling wonders and famous signs. Who is the man who can count its signs and miracles at every time and hour? For this reason, we ask our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the Lover of Man to have mercy on us by the intercession of his Mother the Lady of Babushta and of all the saints, amen.

For the above account, Fr. Touma relies on three 12th and 13th century Arabic manuscripts now at Mount Sinai but copied in Syria. Their language, like much Christian Arabic of the medieval period, is flavored with many Syriacisms and it is possible that they have a Syriac vorlage. The account is also interesting for the picture it possibly gives of church life not long before the destruction of Antioch and the massacre of its Christian population by the Mamluks in 1268. Because of those events, we have no way of knowing in this life how this wonder-working image of the Mother of God, sent from heaven, actually looked. For pre-modern posts on this blog, do not take a lack of images as a sign of laziness, but rather as another testimony to what has been lost under the Muslim yoke.

Forgotten Saints for July 9th

The Appearance of the Theotokos at Dafni in Antioch

This feast goes back to an ancient Syrian tradition in which the Theotokos appeared to Saints Peter and John at a spring of water in the area of Dafni, which is one of the suburbs of Antioch. This happened after the Spirit of the Lord carried the two apostles from Sion, Mother of the Churches, and placed them in the region of the City of God, Antioch.

The Restoration of the Temple of the Three Saints Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael.


We have no details about this feast.


For these two commemorations, Fr. Touma relies on three Syriac manuscripts of Orthodox provenance. According to his view, the Temple of the Three Holy Youths was likely in the region of Antioch, as it is only mentioned immediately following the celebration of the Appearance of the Theotokos in Dafni and seems to have been connected to it in some way.