The Mother of.... Who?

The one thing that most protestants have trouble with when they walk into an Orthodox Church has to be Mary.  It doesn't help when one sees a huge icon of her with arms outstretched above the altar area, with a smaller figure of Jesus either in her lap or appearing to be peering  out from within her womb.   The general consensus is that we Orthodox worship Mary, especially when we have such large icons of her, and since we actually call her the "Mother of God".  I'll admit that I had my reservations about Mary.  But, the reservations went away as I came to understand what is meant by the large icon over the altar, the title Theotokos, or Mother of God, or the God Bearer, or any of the other things that are associated with Mary in the Church.

Mary is viewed as the preeminent Christian.  She was the one person in the history of the world who was deemed worthy to carry within her womb the second Person of the Trinity.  In the Old Testament the primary place of God's habitation  was the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple.  The high priest entered the Holy of Holies once per year on the Day of Atonement with a rope tied to his leg.  If he was deemed to be unworthy his fellow priests would drag his dead body out of the sanctuary.  How much more holy is the space that holds God Himself for nine months?  That is why we often sing:

Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and greater beyond compare than the Seraphim

You without corruption gave birth to God the Word

and are truly Theotokos, you do we magnify.

During the early years of the church many false ideas arose concerning the nature of Christ.  Some said that He was man who became God, some said he was part God, and part man.  When the Church Fathers in their wisdom, and in ecumenical council gave Mary the title Theotokos, the One Who Bore God, or loosely translated "Mother of God" this was more about who Jesus was than who Mary was.  It was a declaration that Christ was fully God and fully man.  

We sing during St. Basil's Liturgy:

In you, O full of grace,  all of creation rejoices, the angelic hosts, and the race of men.

O hallowed temple and supersensual paradise, glory of Virgins,

of whom God was incarnate and became a little child,

even our God who is before all the ages,

for He made your womb a throne, and your body more spacious than the heavens.

In you rejoices, O full of grace, all creation, glory to you.

Or,

O holy tabernacle,

when Gabriel cried out to you:

Rejoice, O Virgin, full of grace,

the Lord of all became incarnate of you,

as the righteous David had foretold.

In bearing your Creator

you have shown yourself

to surpass the vastness of the heavens.

We, therefore, cry out:

Glory to Him who dwelt in you!

Glory to Him who came forth from you!

Glory to Him who has set us free

through your life giving birth!

Mary bore God Himself, the God who would live as a man and die on the cross for our sins.     So, when one walks into the church and sees the huge icon of Mary over the altar with Christ in front of her it is an acknowledgement and a reminder to all  that Christ is God, and Christ is Man, and that He came into the world within and through the body of a virgin.  

And so we sing:

You are supremely blessed, O Virgin Theotokos. 

 For thru Him who from you became incarnate, was Hades taken prisoner,

 and Adam has been summoned back, 

and the curse has been neutralized, 

and Eve has been liberated;

death has been put to death, and we have been brought to life.  

Therefore extolling we cry out: 

O Christ our God, You are blessed, for so was Your good please. Glory to You. 

Or:

In very generation we pronounce you blessed, the only Theotokos.  

In you the laws of nature are defeated, O undefiled Virgin pure.  

In virginity childbirth was accomplished and death introduces life.  

You after bearing are virgin, and after dying are living. 

Because she was deemed worthy to bear the God Man, because she lived a virtuous life as a witness of her Son, it is obvious that she would be respected and help us as the greatest example of Christian obedience.  Christians believe that we should ask each other to pray for our needs.  The Orthodox Church teaches that we should ask the living and the departed, and especially those who are considered righteous (as the Bible says "the prayers of a righteous man accomplish much").  This first among all Christians receives a great many prayer request.  Mary prompted Jesus to perform his first public miracle, turning water to wine at the wedding at Cana.    Those who pray to her hope that she can encourage her Son to perform other miracles.

And so we sing:

Amazed was the  universe by your divine magnificence 

For while never consumating  wedlock you held, O Virgin 

the God of all in your womb and gave birth unto a timeless Son 

Who awards salvation to all who chant  hymns of praise to you.  

Let us possessed of a godly mind observing this divine and all venerable feast 

in honor of the Theotokos come clap our  hands while glorifying God who was truly born of her.

Or,

All you born on earth with festival lamps in hand  in spirit leap for joy 

heavenly intelligences of incorporeal Angels celebrate and honor 

thus the sacred feast of the Mother of God crying loudly 

O rejoice all blessed one ever virgin and pure who gave birth to God.

Don't let your preconceived notions get in the way of understanding what the Church teaches about Mary.  Attend a service.  Ask a priest.  Have your misconceptions cleared up.