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by His Holiness Pope Shenouda
III
The Greatness of the Virgin
The greatness of the Virgin has been decreed in the sacred ecumenical council of Ephesus, which was assembled in 431 AD. Two
hundred bishops from the world were present. They formulated the
prelude to the creed of the Christian Faith, in which it is cited: "We
venerate you, O mother of the true Light, and we glorify you, O Saint
Virgin Mother of God, because you gave birth for us to the Saviour of
the world, who has come and delivered our souls". What are the
foundations upon which the ecumenical council formulated this
prelude? That is what we shall explain now:
The Virgin is the blessed saint, whose blessing is continuous
throughout the generations, as it has been mentioned in her hymn:
"For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed"
(Luke 1:46).
The Church calls the Virgin by the surname of "the queen". This
was mentioned by the psalm, about her: "At Your right hand stands the queen" (Ps. 45:9). That is why, many artists, when they draw the pictures of the Virgin,
they put a crown on her head, and she appears in the image, on the right
side of the Lord Christ.
The reverence of the Virgin appears in the salutation of the
archangel Gabriel to her:"Peace to you, O you full of grace, "the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28). That is, with a special blessing, to
which also Saint Elizabeth gave testimony. "Then she spoke out with a
loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and Blessed is the
fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42)
Saint Elizabeth found herself small in front of the greatness of the
Virgin, and she spoke with the feeling that she was not deserving,
although she knew that her son "will be great in the sight of the Lord",
and that "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah"
(Luke 1: 15-17). She said:"But why is it granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should
come to me?" (Luke 1:43).
Probably the most evident proof of the greatness of the Virgin, and
of her position in the sight of the Lord, is that when her mere greeting
arrived to Elizabeth, the latter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and her
babe felt it and leaped in her womb for joy. The divine Intuition says in
that:"And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that
the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Spirit" (Luke 1:41).
It is really an amazing greatness, that her mere greeting makes Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit! Who is he among the saints, whose
greeting caused another to be filled with the Holy Spirit?! But here is
Elizabeth testifying and saying: "For indeed, as soon as the voice of your
greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy" (Luke
1:44). Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, by the greeting of Mary,
and she also obtained the gift of prophecy and revelation:
She then knew that this is the mother of her Lord, and that she
believed " those things which were told her from the Lord", and she also
knew that the leaping of the babe was "for joy". This joy, of course, was
because of the Blessed One who was in the womb of the Virgin, "blessed
is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1: 41-45).
The majesty of the Virgin shines brilliantly in the choice of her by
the Lord, from among all the women of the world.......
The only human being for whom the divine providence waited
thousands of years, till He found her, and judged that she deserved that
immense honor which the angel Gabriel explained saying: "The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow
you; therefore also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the
Son of God" (Luke 1:35).
The Virgin excels all women in her eminence:
For that reason, the divine Intuition said about her: "Many
daughters have done well, but you excel them all" (Prov. 31:29). It is
probably from this divine text, that the song of the Church was taken :"Many women have obtained honors, but no one of them obtained like
you".........
This Saint Virgin, was in the thought and in the providence of
God, since the beginning.
He said to our first parents, in the salvation which He promised
them, that the Seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent
(Genesis 3:15). This woman is the Virgin, and her Seed is Christ, who has
crushed the head of the serpent on the Cross.......
(Signed)
Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
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