The Life of the Virgin Mary: Her Story According to Orthodox Tradition

Foreword

“I opened my mouth and drew in my breath” (Psalm 119:131).

Open and purify the mouth of your soul, that is, your mind. Receive the Holy Spirit, and you will be able to speak rightly about the Virgin Mary. As we chant in the Church, “I shall open my mouth, and it shall be filled with the Spirit, and I shall pour forth words unto the Mother and Queen.”

We are not saints. We have simply gathered the teachings concerning the Mother of the Lord that have been handed down to us by the Holy Fathers and the hymnographers of the Church. These teachings were published by Archangels Publications in 2020 under the title Highly Favored One: The Life of Mariam.

The material presented in this column consists of adapted excerpts from the aforementioned publication.

Main Sources

1. The Holy Bible, New King James Version, NKJV.
2. The Protoevangelium of James, a second century text. Although it is classified as a pseudepigraphal work, that is, as noncanonical and inauthentic, this does not mean that everything it contains is false, as many of its elements have been accurately preserved.

The feasts of the Virgin Mary, namely, Her Conception in the womb of Her mother, Saint Anna, on December 9, Her Nativity, on September 8, and Her Entrance into the Temple, on November 21, as well as the hymns of these feasts and even certain hymns of the Great Hours of Christmas Eve, are based on this text.

3. Oktoechos, Paraklitike.
4. Menaia, Monthly Service Books, September, November, December, March, and August.
5. The Service of the Salutations to the Theotokos, Akathist Hymn.
6. Sancti Melitonis De Transitu Mariae, PG 6:1231 to 1240.
7. Saint John Damascene, Homilies on the Annunciation, Nativity, and Dormition of the Theotokos, PG 96:648 to 761.
8. Saint Maximus the Confessor, The Life of Our Most Blessed Lady, the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary, Holy Cell of Saint Nicholas Bourazeri, Mount Athos, second edition, 2013.
9. Saint Andrew of Crete, Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos, PG 97:1046 to 1110.
10. Saint Germanus I of Constantinople, Homilies on the Entrance, Annunciation, and Dormition of the Theotokos, PG 98:292 to 364.
11. Epiphanius the Monk and Priest, Homily on the Life of the Most Holy Theotokos and Her Times, PG 120:186 to 216.
12. Saint Gregory Palamas, Homilies on the Annunciation, Dormition, and Entrance of the Theotokos, PG 150 to 160, Thessaloniki editions, 1986.
13. Saint Demetrius of Rostov, The Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary, Orthodox Life, November and December 1968, from the Menaion of Saint Demetrius of Rostov.

Paraphrasing the words of a sacred hymn of the Church, we may therefore pray:

“O Theotokos, living and inexhaustible fountain,
strengthen those who ponder the writings presented herein,
and, in Thy divine glory, vouchsafe unto them
crowns of everlasting glory.”

Amen.

Next in this series: Saints Joachim and Anna: The Sorrow of Childlessness