Taken from: THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHEDO CHURCH FAITH, ORDER OF WORSHIP AND ECUMENICAL RELATIONS
The holiness, virginity, covenant and intercession given to Our Holy Lady, the Virgin Mary is quite widely taught and deeply rooted in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Holiness
Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, who conceived and gave birth to Jesus Christ in virginity is free from the original sin derived from the descendants of Adam, clean from any sins of the flesh or soul; embedded in the conscience of God before the time of her birth, free and protected from human desires and frailties, and the choicest from among the chosen. Such is the Virgin Mary – Pure and Holy of Holies (Songs 4:7)
She
is graced and honored by the Saint Angles as indicated in Luke 1:28-30.
Here it is written that the angel said to her, “Greetings, you who are
highly favored the Lord is with you.”Our Lady, who is blessed in body, spirit and flesh, was chosen by God to be the abode of His Son and the dwelling of the Spirit (Heryacos Liturgy 45; Psalm 132:13).
Purity of the flesh, purity of the soul and purity of the heart all belong and reside in Our Lady.
Virginity
One of the distinctive attributes of the Virgin Mary that makes her the select among the select and the honored among the honored is the fact that she conceived and gave birth to Christ in virginity (Matthew 1:18-20). Our Lady the Virgin Mary is virgin before she conceived the Lord, during her period of conception, after conception, before delivery, during delivery and after delivery. Our Lady, apart from all women is pure and virgin in thought, word and deed (Tewodotos 53:22). The word virgin rightfully denotes her sanctity and purity. No female, either past or present, has combined virginity with motherhood; as well as motherhood with virginity as Our Lady St. Mary.
Our Lady is a virgin in perpetuity (The Liturgy of Basil 73; Ezekiel 44:3; Song 4:15) and the Evangelist Luke says, “God sent the angel Gabriel…to a virgin… The virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1:27). Ephraim also says that Our Lady is the pride of all virgins (Ephraim 6:3).
Honor of the Virgin
Our
Lady, the Virgin St. Mary, is the most prominent from all angels. She
is pre-eminent in honor and intercession from all saints. Other ladies
are honored for having given birth to prophets, saints and martyrs. But
Our Lady is honored as the Mother of God. Hence, the honor accorded to
the Virgin Mary is below the Creator but above His Creatures. She is,
therefore, revered as such (John Chrysostomos, The Faith of the Fathers,
Chapter 28:36-39). St. Luke in 1:30 says, “…Mary, you have found favor
with God.”Devotion
Several prophecies have been written about the honor and high esteem of Our Lady. Prophets have told about the virgin giving birth to Christ (Psalms 132:13; Isaiah 7:14; Ezekiel 44:3).
Church fathers, have through the centuries glorified her guided by the Holy Spirit, about her ever sanctity and purity; and have also praised her in their writings and songs. Fathers such as St. Ephraim, Abba Heriakos, St. John Chrysostoms and Abba Giorgis of Gascha have venerated her greatly. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church reveres her by speaking and writing on her sanctity and purity. The life of Our Lady is associated with God’s act of redemption.
As Noah’s Ark became the cause for saving the lives of his family as well as himself and thus saving the human race from extinction; Our Lady, the Virgin St. Mary, is also God’s trusted repository for being the cause for God’s act of redemption by giving birth to the Savior Messiah. According to the doctrine and faith of our Church, the Virgin Mary is venerated as being above God’s creatures but below God.
In our hymns and liturgy, we recite Mary’s praise right after reciting the Holy Trinity’s.
The sacrifices that Christ paid for the human race for himself becoming man: when we think of this in conjunction with the trials He went through, i.e. the fact that He was born in the manger, that He was shrouded in a rug, that He was banished, driven away from place to place, His suffering, His crucifixion and death; we cannot separate the Holy Virgin Mary from these travails.
Who
else, outside of Mary has been honored thus, “Greetings, you who are
highly favored…you have found favor with God…the Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” (Luke
1:28-35)From among her relatives, St. Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!”. Besides, she bore witness to the fact that Mary is the Mother God by exclaiming, “But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me!” (Luke 1:43). She thus confirmed that what was said by God about Mary would be accomplished and that she would believe in and carry out God’s Will.
When St. Elizabeth heard Mary’s greetings, the baby leaped in her womb (St. John) and St. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Thus was it confirmed that He who was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary was God, the Son of God. Our Lady has herself said that, “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:48; Psalm 45:17). On this basis, all Christians who believe in Her Son regard her as the basis of their purity, as a pride of their virginity, and a cause for their salvation.
The Covenant of Intercession
Our
Church teaches about the covenant of intercession given to Our Lady
with Biblical truth and absolute Apostolic tradition. Our Lady, the
Virgin Mary has obtained the honor of motherhood and the covenant of
intercession from her Son, Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ performed
the first miracle through the intercession of Our Lady, by changing
water into wine at a wedding at Cana of Galilee (Feast of the First
Miracle, John 2:1-5).When the Lord was on the Cross, He said, “Dear woman, here is your son,” (John 19:26), when He saw Our Lady the Virgin Mary standing there; and He also said, “here is your mother,” to His Disciple and thus gave her to the custody of the Church. She received an irreversible word from Jesus that all who beg for mercy and forgiveness in her name believing that she is the mother of Christ shall have their supplications answered.
Hence the Church, preserving the word of her Son, Jesus Christ, reveres St. Mary as:
· The abode for the Holy Spirit· The Mother of God
· The Eternal Virgin
· The Holy of Holies
And since the Holy Bible attests to these honors of hers, and since Holy Angels and the sons of Adam revere her, the Church therefore honors, thanks, and implores in her name (Liturgy of Jacob of Serough 99)
Our Lady, the Virgin St. Mary, departed on January 21 (Eth. Calen), aged 64, according to the tradition (Tewfit) that has been passed on from the Apostles. Angels carried her body to paradise and placed it under the plant of life in paradise.
Having thus been there in paradise till Nehase (August) 14 of that same
year, angels carried and gave her body back to the Apostles and they
laid it to rest at Gethsemani. On the third day of her burial, on the
16th of Nehase (August), she rose from the dead and her Assumption to
heaven in glory took place. Thus is what the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church believes and teaches about the death, resurrection and
Assumption of the Virgin St. Mary. Nehase 16th (August) of every year is
thus commemorated with great ceremony by the Church (Synaxrium, August
16th Eth. Calen). 
No comments:
Post a Comment