THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY

THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY

Our Lady Virgin Mary is of Juda's tribe and the descendant of King David. She was born in 14 B.C. and was her pious parent's, Yovagim and Hane, the only daughter. When she was three years old, her parents took her to the temple of God as a vowed to Him and they died.

The priests and pious women brought her up. They taught her the worship, the virtuous deeds, the Hebrew language, the Old Testament, spinning wool, and weaving linen and silk until she was fourteen. Then she was espoused to a veracious man called Joseph the son of Jacob, who was a relative of her.

The chief of angels, Gabriel announced to her the descent of the Holy Ghost on her and the birth of Jesus the Redeemer of the world by her. She was pregnant and gave birth to Him while she was virgin in a heavenly miracle which astonished the world. She brought Him up in the house of His foster father Joseph. where He lived. She glanced His first miracle, heard Him preaching His gospel and saw His crucifixion and death in flesh. She believed in His resurrection and witnessed along with the apostles His ascension to heaven and the descending of the Divine Spirit on the day of Pentecost. She lived in the house of St. John the apostle to whom our Lord Christ entrusted her when He was crucified. He took care of her and she persisted on worship and meditation in the heavenly mysteries until she died. The holy apostles conducted the funeral service with a great pomp and her virteous body was buried in Jessemany Village outside of Jerusalem. Afterwards God carried her to His heavenly paradise. This was around 56 A.D. in the sounder novals, after she had lived most probably 70 years.

Our Lady The Virgin Mary's status in Christendom

Our Lady the holy Virgin Mary, the Bearer of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Incarnated God, has a lofty position in Christendom higher than that of the angels, prophets, apostles, martyrs and doctors of the Church, because God has chosen, purified, sanctified and preferred to her to all women of earth. She is the diadem of the virgins and the crown of the Christians. Elizabeth the aged mother of St. John the Baptist called her 'Mother of God' (St. Luke 1:43).

St. Mary is the mediator for all grace and advocate for all the devotees before God. The historians and narrators have registered the different graces and miracles that the believers had won through her. Millions honour her with sweetest songs and seek refuge in her intercession.

The Syriac Orthodox Church calls Mary, 'Mother of God' ('Theotokos'), because she gave birth to Christ, God truly incarnate. She is revered as perpetual virgin and mother of God; and she is first among the saints. However the concept of Immaculate Conception for St. Mary is not accepted. According to the teachings of the Church, God is pleased to respond to petitions offered to Him routed through the intercession of St. Mary the Virgin Mother. This was the constant teaching of the holy fathers since the beginning of the Christian Church.

The Syrian Church opens her daily worship by glorifying the Almighty God. After that She uses special invocations in which she praises our Lady the Virgin, and seeks her meditation, in the night, morning, and evening prayers except the most of the lent days. Besides, she recites in her festivals, prose invocations and chants wonderful hymns in which she describes her high virtues and everlasting merits, in a way that captivates the minds and delights the ears. In the sacramental services and prayers of the Church from the early periods, the mediation of St. Mary was an integral part. The altars of the churches are sanctified invariably with the name of St. Mary over and above the other saints.

In our common prayers the Lord’s prayer beginning “Our Father which are in Heaven etc” is generally followed by a repetition of the message of angel Gabriel - St. Luke 1:28- Hail Mary etc and the words of praise of Elizabeth - St. Luke 1:42 - “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your words.” We finish it with an appeal for her mediation on our behalf for ever before Almighty even at the moment of our death.

In the Syrian Orthodox Church, along with the Holy Mass a textual prayer service in the name of St. Mary is generally conducted at the request of devotees for St. Mary’s intercession. The text for this can be seen in the book of ‘Qurbana Kramam’. In Malankara it was first published in Syriac by St. Gregorios of Parumala at the behest of Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. Among all the churches of Kerala, the St. Mary's Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church at Manarcad near Kottayam has a very special place. Millions visit this church seeking her intercession, more particularly on the 8 day-lent period in September, commemorating her birth. May God accept her mediation for the world, Amen.

The famous Icon of Virgin Mary with Infant Jesus in the Altar of the Morth Mariam Jacobite Syrian church, Manarcad (India)

source: http://www.syrianchurch.org/doc/HolyVirginMary.htm

THE HOLY RELICS OF HOLY VIRGIN MARY WITH THE SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

THE HOLY RELICS OF HOLY VIRGIN MARY WITH

THE SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

Soonoro (Holy Girdle) of Our Lady Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, in the Syrian Orthodox Church of Homs - Syria {Photo: Sharjah Church web site}

The Church has the rare privilege to have with her the Girdle of St. Mary. The Girdle of Virgin Mary was handed over to Apostle St. Thomas, during her assumption to heaven. St. Thomas carried this precious treasure of Virgin Mary with him to India where he died a martyr. In 394 A.D. together with the coffin of St.Thomas, this valuable Girdle of Holy Virgin Mary was also moved from India to Raha and was established in a Church. (In the Syriac history of Raha, it is mentioned that in Aug 22, 705 Greek era they brought the coffin of St. Thomas the apostle to his large church in the days of Mar Kora, the bishop of Raha. Ref: The Orien Biblio of Assimaany, Volume I, page 399). This Church where the Girdle of Virgin Mary was established came to be known as the "The Church of Girdle". In those days this was erected a small and simple church as a cellar under the ground because of the violence of paganism on Christianity in the first three centuries, and some forefathers consigned in it the valuable girdle of St. Mary as a precious treasure to the believers. But over a period of time, the church had lost track of the girdle.

In mid April 1953, while scrutinizing some manuscripts, a Garshunian book containing stories and speeches was noticed by the supreme head of the church, Patriarch His Holiness Ignatius Aphrem - sent by the people of Homs in 1852, to the believers in Mardin. It appeared to be bound with many papers piled up over each other and was very old. In it was fourty six letters in Garshunian and Arabic concerning the diocese of Homs and environs written a few centuries ago by the notables of the archdiocese of Syria to the notables of the city of Mardin (Turkey) close to Za'fran Monastery, the Patriarchal See, implying the conditions of their archdiocese. They included that while wrecking their church called in the name of the Virgin the Lady of the girdle in Homs for the purpose of enlarging and renewing it due to its oldness, smallness and its wooden ceiling, by the order of His Eminence the Archbishop Peter Mousally (later Patriarch Ignatius Peter IV), they found the girdle of our Lady the Virgin put in a vessel in the middle of the holy table in the altar. They were comprised with happiness and blessed by it. According to these information's, on the 20th July 1953 A.D., in the presence of His Lordship Alexandros the Greek Orthodox bishop of Homs and other prominent persons, Patriarch Aphrem I opened the Holy Sanctum and was discovered that in a marble plate it was written that ‘This church was built in the time of the preacher called Malaya, [Elijah] in AD 59”. They also found a stone vessel and a silver vessel and in it was found the Holy Girdle wrapped on itself inside a vessel which broke due to its oldness. Together with it was also found a thin metal pipe in the upper part of the vessel containing a hollow bone that seemed to embody a piece of parchment or thick paper which was left as it was. The Greek Archbishop and other prominent persons who were present witnessed this fact and attested to it.

The Sacred Girdle in the Font when discovered from the 'Church of Girdle'- Homs (Syria) in 1953

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As the news spread, researchers questioned its authenticity. They examined it and were unanimous in their opinion about its genuineness and about the age of the girdle. Now it is kept in this church which is from very earlier times known as "The Church of girdle" or "The Church of the Lady of the Girdle". Multitudes of Syrian believers and people from different Christian denominations and of all over Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and other countries, come to enjoy the sight of this sacred relic and seek its blessings with Christian desire and piety. In 1982, during the Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas's Holy Apostolic visit to Malankara, His Holiness brought a portion of the girdle and was established in many churches in Malankara, all attained special importance henceforth. The famous Morth Mariam church at Manarcad, Soonoro church at Cochin etc. are some of the prominent churches in Malankara where the Girdle of Our Lady Virgin Mary is established and people pay due respect.

The Girdle spread out to Demonstrate its Measurements

Antiquities Committee examining the Holy Girdle on rediscovery

[iv] THE HAIL MARY IN SYRIAC PRONUNCIATION

(Source - http://www.flash.net/%7Emalel/ )

	In Syriac

Hail O Virgin Mary,	Shlom lekh bthoolto Mariam
Full of grace	Maliath taibootho
The Lord is with thee	Moran a’amekh
Blessed art thou among women	Mbarakhto at Bneshey
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus	Wambarakhoo feero dabkharsekh yeshue
Holy Mary	O qadeeshto Mariam
Mother of God	Yoldath aloho
Pray for us sinners	Saloy hlofain hatoyeh
Now and at the hour of our death	Hosho wabsho’ath mawtan
Amen	Amin

Icon of Holy Virgin Mary in the Syrian Orthodox Church, Aleppo -Syria

source: http://www.syrianchurch.org/doc/HolyVirginMary.htm

Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
Fr. George Pulikkottil D. Th.

Some people do not like to refer to Mary as the Mother of God. They believe it elevates Mary too much. They say Mary is only the Mother of Jesus. The Bible never calls Mary the Mother of God for a very simple reason: God has no mother. As someone has rightly said, just as Christ’s human nature had no father, so His divine nature had no mother. However nice this may sound, it is nonsense. By calling Mary the Mother of God, we make it clear that Jesus is fully divine, and so this actually elevates Jesus rather than Mary. The fact alone that God has chosen a woman to bear his only son, who is divine, already elevates Mary to a status that no human being could transgress by venerating her. After all, Jesus drew his humanity from Mary. Christ was a real son of Mary; he was her child! Jesus Christ is God. Women who bear people are called mothers. If the person a woman bears is God, then, consequently, the woman is the Mother of God. It’s that simple. The one born of Mary “shall be called the son of God” (Lk.1:35), and “God sent his son, made of a woman” (Gal 4:4).

Now, there is another argument that the titles "God-bearer" (theotokos) and "Mother of God" (meter theou) are not the same and imply something different. Let us see what the early Church says on this:

Council of Ephesus (431) "We confess, then, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man, of a rational soul and a body, begotten before all ages from the Father in his Godhead, the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation, born of Mary the Virgin according to his humanity, one and the same consubstantial with the Father in Godhead and consubstantial with us in humanity, for a union of two natures took place. Therefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. According to this understanding of the unconfused union, we confess the holy Virgin to be the Mother of God because God the Word took flesh and became man and from his very conception united to himself the temple he took from her" (Formula of Union [A.D. 431]).

Council of Chalcedon (451) "We all teach that with one accord we confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ... indeed born of the Father before the ages according to divine nature, but in the last days the same born of the virgin Mary, Mother of God according to human nature...."

Second Council of Constantinople(553) Canon 6: "If anyone says that the holy glorious ever-virgin Mary is falsely but not truly the Mother of God...let such a one be anathema"

All these above mentioned canons say it very clearly that Mary should known and be called as Mother of God (Meter Theou). In addition with that the Church Fathers witness their lively recognition of the sacred truth and great gift of divine maternity that was bestowed upon Mary. Let me include few of them; however they use both expressions, namely Theotokos and Meter Theou, but all in one meaning that the Virgin Mary gave birth to God.

Irenaeus: "The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God" (Against Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]).

Gregory the Wonderworker: "For Luke, in the inspired Gospel narratives, delivers a testimony not to Joseph only, but also to Mary, the Mother of God, and gives this account with reference to the very family and house of David" (Four Homilies 1 [A.D. 262])."It is our duty to present to God, like sacrifices, all the festivals and hymnal celebrations; and first of all, [the feast of] the Annunciation to the holy Mother of God, to wit, the salutation made to her by the angel, ‘Hail, full of grace!’"(ibid: 2).

Peter of Alexandria: "They came to the church of the most blessed Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, which, as we began to say, he had constructed in the western quarter, in a suburb, for a cemetery of the martyrs" (The Genuine Acts of Peter of Alexandria [A.D. 305]). "We acknowledge the resurrection of the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the firstling; he bore a body not in appearance but in truth derived from Mary the Mother of God" (Letter to All Non-Egyptian Bishops 12 [A.D. 324]).

Methodius: "While the old man [Simeon] was thus exultant, and rejoicing with exceeding great and holy joy, that which had before been spoken of in a figure by the prophet Isaiah, the holy Mother of God now manifestly fulfilled" (Oration on Simeon and Anna 7 [A.D. 305]).

Cyril of Jerusalem: "The Father bears witness from heaven to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. The archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing the good tidings to Mary. The Virgin Mother of God bears witness" (Catechetical Lectures 10:19 [A.D. 350]).

Athanasius: "The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly, and eternally, is he that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God" (The Incarnation of the Word of God 8 [A.D. 365]).

Ambrose of Milan: "The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose?" (The Virgins 2:2[7] [A.D. 377]).

Gregory of Nazianz: "If anyone does not agree that holy Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead" (Letter to Cledonius the Priest 101 [A.D. 382]).

Theodore of Mopsuestia: "When, therefore, they ask, ‘Is Mary mother of man or Mother of God?’ we answer, ‘Both!’ (The Incarnation 15 [A.D. 405]).

Cyril of Alexandria: "I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God?" (Letter to the Monks of Egypt 1 [A.D. 427])."This expression, however, ‘the Word was made flesh’ [John 1:14], can mean nothing else but that he partook of flesh and blood like to us; he made our body his own, and came forth man from a woman, not casting off his existence as God, or his generation of God the Father, but even in taking to himself flesh remaining what he was. This was the sentiment of the holy Fathers; therefore they ventured to call the holy Virgin ‘the Mother of God,’ not as if the nature of the Word or his divinity had its beginning from the holy Virgin, but because of her was born that holy body with a rational soul, to which the Word, being personally united, is said to be born according to the flesh" (First Letter to Nestorius [A.D. 430])."And since the holy Virgin corporeally brought forth God made one with flesh according to nature, for this reason we also call her Mother of God, not as if the nature of the Word had the beginning of its existence from the flesh" (Third Letter to Nestorius [A.D. 430]).

So let us also join to say the fact with our Fathers: "If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the holy Virgin is the Mother of God, inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [John 1:14]: let him/she be anathema." (canon1, council of Ephesus)

source: http://www.1church.org/articles/stmary.htm

8 day Lent in The Month of September

8 day Lent in he Month of September
Shlomo Thomas Daniel.

The 8 day lent observed in Malankara is associated with the birth of
St. Mary. The practice originated at the ancient St. Mary's Church,
Manarcaud, near Kottayam. The tradition of congregations fasting from
the first of the month until the feast day of the patron saint of
their church was common practice in the past. The fast in connection
with St. Mary's Assumption (Shunoyo) from Aug 1-15 is a prescribed
fast of the Church universally. It was at the St. Mary's Church at
Manarcaud that the tradition of fasting prior to St. Mary's birth
date in Malankara began. Due to the influence of this ancient church,
other churches in Malankara also adopted this practice. It is by no
means a prescribed fast of the Church.

However, the Church does celebrate the birth of St. Mary universally.
In the calendars of the Church in the Middle-East and the diaspora,
the date is Sep 7th; in Malankara, for some reason, it is 8th. The
fact that the Church celebrates St. Mary's birthday does not suggest
even remotely that the Church accepts the Roman Catholic dogma of
Immaculate Conception. We are merely celebrating her birth; we are
not making any dogmatic statements regarding the nature of her birth.

It is fashionable for critics to deride the now common Malankara
Syriac Orthodox practice of fasting prior to St. Mary's birthday
claiming that this is a Roman Catholic influence. There is no truth
to this; the fast at Manarcaud is not a recent innovation. I hope
that these false arguments do not dissuade anyone who wishes to set
apart a few days for fasting and prayer.

In the love of our Lord,
Thomas Joseph

source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOR-Forum/message/26