St. Mary
The Mother of God
“For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him."
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St. Cyril the Great - 5th Century
St. Cyril the Great, addressing the fathers in the council of Ephesus, said: [Blessed is Mary, mother of God, the royal treasure of the whole world; the unquenched lamp; the crown of virginity; the scepter of Orthodoxy; the unperceivable temple; the unlimited dwelling place; the mother and virgin. Blessed are you, who bore the Infinite in your holy womb].
Unique Greeting
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!' ”
The following is a comment made by St. Ambrose on the angel's unique greeting:
She was the only one called “highly favored one” (full of grace), on account of having got the grace, not acquired by anyone else; having been filled with the talents of grace.
The Song of Saint Mary
"And Mary said: 'My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.' ”
According to St. Ambrose:
She described herself as the maidservant of the Lord, even though she was chosen to become His mother; namely the divine promise did not make her fall into pride.
Fr. Tadros Malaty explains:
St. Mary perceived the greatness of the gift given to her. She enjoyed carrying in her womb the Grantor of gifts Himself. Henceforth, all generations (all believers along the eras) will call her blessed for the sake of what God has done for her. And behold, the liturgy of the Church is loaded with her blessing, proclaiming the work of God in her, by the incarnation of the Word of the Savior of the world from her. We call her blessed along the generations, not because she lived and died a virgin, but as a virgin in whom the salvific work of God was transfigured. Just as St. Mary by faith enjoyed being the mother of Our Lord Christ, carrying Him incarnate in her womb, so every soul that enjoys fellowship with God enjoys a kind of motherhood as well.
According to Father Methodeus, “the church is in a state of labor until Christ is conformed and delivered in us. Every saint who enjoys fellowship with Christ is as though Christ is born anew in him.”
According to the scholar Origen:
A question may arise: How could my soul magnify the Lord, who is unchangeable, and does not receive any increase or decrease?! How could Mary say: “My soul magnifies the Lord”?!
Origen explains that the more magnificent and splendid the image of my soul spiritually becomes by my good works, thoughts, and words, the more I magnify the image of God. And just as the image of God becomes more splendid in us, if we sin, this image becomes smaller and fades out. Then Origen goes on to proclaim our commitment, as it is stated in the book of Deuteronomy, not to make an image of man or beast; namely our commitment to have the image of God inside us, and not that of any other, saying:
When we are deep in evil pleasure, we wear on our face the mask of a goat.