Words and teachings for the feasts of the Mother of God

Contents Homily on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Homily on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Homily on the day of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary Homily on the day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary Homily on the day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary Homily on the day of the Kazan Mother of God Homily on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary The sacrament that took place on this day amazes not only human, but also all angelic, high minds. They are also perplexed, how God, without beginning, immense, unapproachable, descended to the form of a slave and became a man, without ceasing to be God and without in the least diminishing the glory of the Divine? How could the Virgin contain the unbearable fire of the Divine in her most pure womb and remain unharmed and remain forever the Mother of God incarnate? So great, so wonderful, so filled with Divine wisdom is this sacrament of the Annunciation by the Archangel to the Blessed Virgin and the incarnation of the Son of God from Her! Rejoice, ye earthly beings, rejoice, especially faithful Christian souls, but rejoice with trembling before the greatness of the sacrament, as if you were covered with the filth of sin; rejoice, but immediately with sincere and living, deep repentance, cleanse yourself by the grace of God from the filth of sin. Exalt with pure hearts and lips the Mother of God, exalted and exalted above all creatures, Angels and men, exalted by God Himself, the Creator of every creature, and remember that the mystery of the incarnation and incarnation of the Son of God took place for our salvation from sin, the curse righteously pronounced on us in the beginning from God for sins, and from temporary and eternal death. With fear and joy, accept the Lord who is coming to us to establish on earth, in our hearts and souls, the Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 4:17) - and hate God-hating sin, malice, impurity, intemperance, pride, hard-heartedness, unmercifulness, selfishness, carnality, all unrighteousness. Christ came to earth for this purpose, so that he would lead us to heaven 1 . And so we, nailed to the earth by worldly passions, will lift up our heads and lift the eyes of our hearts to heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ wants to take us all. Woe of the heart! We are full of crawling with our thoughts and hearts on the earth, like worms. It is true that we are insignificant worms because of our sins, although our souls are created in the image of God, which we have distorted with our sins, and which we absolutely need to restore through true repentance while we are alive; It is necessary for this image of God to shine in us like the sun, as in the beginning, when Adam and Eve were just created. This is why life is given to us; That is why its flow continues; That is why we are numbered among the Church of God and participate in its services, sacraments and fasts. Look how the image of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God shines! What wondrous virtues and perfections! But She is also a human... What raised Her to such an incomparable height, made Her so glorious and great, higher than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim? The three greatest virtues: humility, purity and fiery love for God, alien to any earthly, material love. She herself confesses that the Lord looked upon the humility of His servant (Luke 1:48). Love and deeply plant in your heart, Christian, God-loving humility; Acquire purity of heart through all-out efforts throughout your life - through fasting, prayers, contemplation of God, tears, and especially through frequent and worthy communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ; love God, your Creator and Savior, with all your heart and do not prefer anything in the world to His holy love; Always meditate on Him and on His wonderful deeds; Live and breathe it; Feed your soul with it; put on Him; With it, be cleansed, enlightened, sanctified, strengthened, adorned, boasted, comforted; With it, defeat the temptations and slander of enemies visible and invisible; whatever you do, do everything with the thought of Him and for His sake; Wherever you are, be with Him everywhere, just as He is always with us, He is everywhere and fulfills everything 2. If you love the Lord in this way, then the Lord will be magnified in you, and the Lord will magnify you, as St. Church: I will glorify those who glorify Me 3. Hate, Christian, abase yourself, destroy all sin, and the Lord of glory will be magnified in you, and you will be great before God and people; love humility and the Lord will exalt you. Amen. Sermon for the Day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Since time immemorial the mystery has been revealed today, and the Son of God, the Son of man, is born; man is God, so that he can make Adam God (Verse on praise, voice 2). A wondrous mystery, unimaginable by the minds of mortals, is remembered and celebrated today by the Holy Church: the incarnation and incarnation of the Creator of centuries and worlds - the Son of God. The incontainable God is contained in the pure womb of the Virgin Mary; the ethereal incarnates; the beginningless begins; the impregnable becomes approachable; The Word perceives the flesh; the infinitely great is diminished, and the boundless is defined; God merges with people and is not ashamed to call them names among the brethren (Heb. 2:11). Thus, from the ages, from the beginning, a mystery hidden and unknown to the angels is now revealed, and the Son of God becomes the Son of man, so that having received the worst, i.e. our nature, to give us incomparably better things - sanctification, renewal and deification. It is time to exclaim in delight: let creation rejoice, let all nature celebrate joyfully, i.e. both the entire human race, awarded such honor from God, and all creation, heaven and earth, seeing God, who, out of immeasurable compassion, descended to the creature and took upon Himself the nature of the creature, for the sake of its salvation. Oh, an incomprehensible mystery, a joyful mystery that delights every spiritually aware soul, but at the same time a terrible mystery! For the reason for such condescension, such exhaustion, is our sins. Only the all-good, all-wise and all-powerful God could invent such an extraordinary means for the salvation of a lost person and humiliate Himself in such a way in order to heal us by His example from pride and all sins and teach us humility and obedience and all virtue. A mystery, I say, joyful and delightful to the soul! How we are all, brothers and sisters, honored by the incarnation of the Son of God from the Most Pure Virgin, exalted, joyful, comforted! God is with us: He became our Intercessor, Redeemer, Savior; The Mother of God became our Mother by grace, Intercessor, Intercessor, Protector. Imagine what would happen to people if the Son of God had not condescended so wondrously and so kindly to us, darkened sinners, thousands of times ill-fated because of sin and enmity with God! How poor, pitiful, joyless, inconsolable humanity would be in the face of its countless misfortunes! And now, what an everlasting consolation for believers and those who repent in the Son of God incarnate for our sake! He is the hope, purification, sanctification and salvation of all repentant sinners; protection of the offended; comfort to all those who mourn; encouragement to the discouraged; peace for the weary and burdened; the reward of those who struggle, the light of those who are darkened; strength of the weak; Helper in good works; Companion in spiritual warfare; the joy of all the righteous; eternal life for all who believe in Him; Believe in Me, even if you die, you will live (John 11:25), says the Lord. But the incarnation of the Son of God is both a terrible and instructive mystery, if we think about what reduced the Son of God to such self-exhaustion and to which we, people, are called and committed by the incarnation of the Son of God. On the part of God, the reason for the incarnation was infinite love for us, His creatures, the love of the Prototype for His living, verbal image, fallen, perishing, for we are His image; and on our side - our sins, our terrible fall, our inevitable eternal death. And so, what is required of us by the incarnation of the Son of God? Immediate, sincere, unfeigned and firm repentance of all sins, correction of the heart and a righteous, holy life. Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God (Lev. 19:2). Depart from the midst of the corrupt and separate yourself, and do not touch uncleanness: and I will receive you, and I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty (2 Cor. 6:17-18). What exactly is this that the Lord Jesus Christ requires of us, i.e. holiness and truth, you can be convinced of this every day by the very prayer of the Lord, Our Father, in which He, the Lord, teaches us first of all to pray that we should live holy and righteously, according to the will of God, and not according to our own: Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth (Luke 11:2-4; Matt. 6:9–10). And so, this is the indispensable duty that the incarnation of the Son of God imposes on us, brothers and sisters: to live righteously and holy, reverently and honestly, and to shun all sin, all unrighteousness and impurity. Otherwise, we will be unworthy of the Son of God and His kingdom and will prepare ourselves for the gravest condemnation both here and in eternity. Amen. Word on the Day of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary I will sing the rejoicing of Toya’s Dormition (Irmos, canto 1). Brethren, what does it mean that the Church calls the death of the Mother of God not death, as we usually call the death of people, but dormition, or that it is all the same - tranquility or peaceful sleep, and not only does not grieve or cry at Her grave, but on the contrary sings joyful, solemn songs of Her exodus? The fact that the most blessed Mother of the Lord did not really die, as people usually die, but seemed to fall asleep for a short time in a peaceful sleep after the grave sorrows of life, and that Her tomb, which was for Her the door to the heavenly kingdom, hides in itself a lot of joy for a Christian; from this tomb, as from the tomb of the risen Lord, heavenly incorruption blows on us, or better to say, this tomb immutably promises us immortality in the soul and incorruptibility in the body, destroying the fear of death in us. Glory to the Conqueror of death, the Lord Jesus! Before His coming, death was very terrible for man because it stole its spoils irrevocably, and there were no means of getting rid of it, since sin, with which death was strong, spread like a flood of the sea and nothing was able to stop this flood; Meanwhile, they knew that people abducted by death were kept as captives where they usually went after death. There were, however, two or three examples where two of the people did not experience death at all, and one, through prayer and tears, received a reprieve from her when she had already raised her murderous hand against him and she was not ordered to touch him for another fifteen years. But what did these two or three examples mean in comparison with the millions of people who died? The same as a drop in the ocean. Moreover, the last example was not entirely comforting for people because King Hezekiah could not completely get rid of death, but only begged for a reprieve from it, and the first two - Enoch and Elijah were considered inimitable in the holiness of life, for which they were taken to heaven alive. What do we see now, after the appearance of the Lord in our flesh and after the victory He won over sin and death? All the horror of death has disappeared; it became like a peaceful sleep, after which the joyful morning of the general resurrection will come. As each of us overcomes the sin that still lives in us - and now we have been given all the means to overcome it (2 Pet. 1:3) - the fear of death also disappears so that the triumphant conquerors of sin joyfully greet the bed of death and no longer die, but as if fall asleep in a peaceful sleep. “Now,” says St. Chrysostom, - The Lord crushed the gates of hell and destroyed the very face of death. But what am I saying: the face of death? He even changed the very name of death: for it is now called no longer death, but tranquility and sleep.” We see the most obvious example of triumph over death in the Most Pure Mother of the Lord. She bowed down in the grave only for a brief rest of the flesh. We say, for the sake of brevity, because, according to legend, on the third day after Her death, Her most pure body was no longer found in the tomb; it was resurrected and taken to heaven, where, together with its soul, it began to enjoy heavenly bliss. Behind the Divine Matter we see the apostles and martyrs who meet death with joy, as the greatest friend who, in return for the fleeting blessings of the present world, or in return for its troubles and sorrows, gives them the eternal joys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Behind them we see all the saints who also looked at death with joy, seeing in it the end of earthly labors and the beginning of heavenly glory. The Holy Church tries to instill in us the same fearlessness towards death, admonishing us to drive away the fear of it by gradually eradicating sins in ourselves, and now she does not call her dead anything other than deceased, i.e. as if asleep, because immortal life in the next century is now so undoubted for us and our right to it is so true that we cannot or should not look at death otherwise than as a dream. Glory to the infinitely good God! Previously, they wept over the dead for a long time and inconsolably, and it was even commanded to shed tears directly over the dead: child, says the God-enlightened sage, over the dead man, shed tears, and as one who suffers evil, begin to weep... Create a bitter cry, and a warm sob, and create a lamentation, as it deserves (Sir. 38:16-17); and now, instead of a funeral lament, we sing a song: hallelujah or praise God, praising the Divine wisdom and goodness, which made death a transition to immortality. Brethren! title of heavenly communicant, you saw in the icon of the all-honorable and glorious Dormition of the Mother of God how She rests peacefully: what calmness and reflection of heavenly joy on Her face! It’s like a dream, a short transition from earth to heaven. Let us ourselves learn to make our death a peaceful sleep through zeal for virtue and contempt for vice. As long as sin reigns in us, so long will death be terrible for us, because, for sure, the death of sinners is cruel (Ps. 33:22). Sin is the cause of death: the patterns of sin, it is said, are death (Rom. 6:23). Let us overcome sin within ourselves as much as we can, as the cause of death. It is only very difficult to defeat it at first, but then it will be easy and sweet, since as the suffering caused by the fight against sin increases, the consolation of Christ (2 Cor. 1:5) in us will increase, and the Lord, who said that His yoke is good and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30), will surely make the labors of ascetics light and life-giving. Given that what is obtained through labor is valued more highly and we enjoy it more. We were created for work, not for bliss and inaction. Yes, heavenly glory, which has no end, is without a doubt worth the hard work of a lifetime. This incomparable bliss, this kingdom of glory is not given for nothing. The kingdom of heaven, it is said, needs, i.e. it is acquired by force, and the needy takes it away (Matthew 11:12). Is it because we are so lazy to conquer our passions and evil inclinations because we have little faith in the life of the next century? But it is as undoubted as our real life. Will not the One who gave us the firstfruits of life here on earth give us full, perfect life in heaven? Yes, this must inevitably be, and it is more difficult not to be than to be. And the true word of God assures us of this: all who are in the tombs, it says, will hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, they will live, and they will come out, having done good, to the resurrection of life, and having done evil, to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29). Brethren! eternal life beyond the grave is beyond any doubt. But there is also not the slightest doubt that it can be twofold: for the righteous it is blissful, and for hardened sinners it is painful. Death is the limit, the boundary between present and future life, and we do not know how far or close it is from us. Let us always be ready to stand on this formidable border between two lives. Amen. Homily on the Day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Virgin stands today in church and from the faces of the saints invisibly prays to God for us At the beginning of the tenth century, in 910 A.D., under the Greek Emperor Leo the Wise and Patriarch Tarasius, in the Blachernae Church of Constantinople, during the all-night vigil, the Mother of God once appeared to the eyes of the chosen people with the faces of Angels and Saints. Covering the coming people with Her honest omophorion, She prayed to Her Son and God for their salvation from enemies who threatened the capital with destruction, and the people with slavery and death. Through the intercession of the heavenly Intercessor, the enemy was driven out and the city was saved. In memory of the merciful patronage of the Mother of the Lord and our fatherland, the Orthodox Russian Church, from ancient times, established the annual celebration of the Intercession of the Mother of God. The Russian kingdom has existed for over a thousand years and it is difficult to list how many times the heavenly Intercessor covered it from troubles with Her prayerful intercession with the Lord Almighty. But, having so much patronized the whole fatherland and people, She extends Her sovereign cover to cities and towns and to private individuals. Every Orthodox Christian knows this, because the cities, villages and lives of many pious Christians are full of examples of Her protection and intercession. In honor of the holiday and for your and our edification, let us talk, brothers, about how necessary for us is the prayerful intercession of the Mother of God for us. We are far, far from understanding, brethren, how necessary the prayers for us of the Most Pure Mother of the Lord are, and in order to see this necessity, we need an eye or mind much purer and brighter than ours. Only our most tender mother, pure in meaning, the Holy Church, sees in the whole world how necessary it is for us to intercede for us before God, and therefore, every time she begins to pray to God with us, she certainly calls on Her, chosen among wives, higher than the creatures of heaven and earth, and at Her intercession asks either to grant us some good, or to save us from some misfortune, so that it is difficult to find a prayer without the name of the Most Pure One. Mother of God. And fair enough! Being the Mother of God the Word, therefore, being closest to the throne of the Divine, She, naturally, can do a lot to benevolent or to propitiate the Master. We are sinners and unclean, but She is Most Pure; How can we not have mercy on us unclean people for Her prayers, if only we wish to be cleansed and do not add sins to sins again? We are proud with our impurities, but She is so humble with all Her virtues, with all Her greatness; how, looking at Her humble prayers, cannot she have mercy on us proud and stiff-necked people if we humble ourselves before God and before Her! Our Lady is exactly like an indestructible wall between God and people; She deflects most of the thunder of heavenly justice, ready to punish ungrateful sinners. Only behind such a wall are we often safe, while we think that our safety is a consequence of the ordinary order of things. But let us come closer to the position of man on earth in order to see more clearly how necessary the prayerful intercession of the Mother of God is for him. From the time when man lost his innocence, bliss and immortality, until now he presents a terrifying picture of the calamities tormenting him, internal and external, mental and physical, so that it is impossible for anyone not to see that some kind of yoke lies heavily on all the sons of Adamlich, from the day of their departure from the womb of their mother until the day of burial in the mother of all (Sir. 40:1), i.e. into the ground. Having long ago lost his blissful state, man now weakly believes in the heavenly bliss promised to him, does not want to understand that real life is not life in the proper sense, because it is nothing more than preparation for life in heaven - and therefore gives himself complete freedom here, often making his life a disgrace of violent passions; he plays with it like a toy, not being curious to know what will happen to it when it breaks, in general - he does not use it as the common sense of everyone prescribes, which says that the life of a rational being must certainly have a reasonable, spiritual goal. On the other hand, living for the most part in illnesses, sorrows, in troubles, in exhausting, but useless worries for the soul, one is often overwhelmed by their burden, not finding relief and consolation for oneself. How necessary and how gratifying it would be in such a pitiful situation to find in heaven a person who would have the most sincere, tender love for us, would have great power with God and through his intercession would help us, through our prayer, through the illumination of our minds with heavenly light, to tear ourselves away little by little from the earth, guide us to salvation, prevent temptations and temptations, or help overcome them and soften the cruelty of our sorrows, illnesses and other misfortunes! Christians have such a bright face - the Mother of God. The most chosen of all the wives of the world, wherever and whenever there were, She naturally sympathizes with people, as subservient to them, sympathizes more not only with each person individually, but more than all people together, because not a single human heart is capable of loving all people with the kind of love with which the Mother of God loves us. Only the purest heart can love all people, and no one had a purer heart than Mary. Sometimes we love some unfortunate person, but we cannot help him. In this case, the illness of compassion is accompanied by a new painful feeling: the inability to help the unfortunate. This cannot happen with the Mother of God. If She wants to help the unfortunate person who turns to Her intercession with living faith, then she cannot help but help him. As the Mother of the omnipotent Son and God, She is, in some way, omnipotent Herself. God determined to have mercy on us infinitely for Her prayers, more than for the prayers of all other saints, according to the very height of Her service to the sacrament of redemption, and therefore He listens to every prayer of His Most Pure Mother, since every prayer of Her is holy and pleasing to Him. And so, whether you want to save your souls from eternal destruction, free yourself from slavery to passions, complacently and easily endure the illnesses, sorrows and misfortunes of life, turn all yourselves, brethren, with prayer to the Mother of God, ask yourself for Her high assistance, Her consolations, ask fervently, persistently, as if you saw Her before your eyes in Her divine glory - and you will surely receive Her help; She will surely overshadow you with Her cover. You will see it yourself, feel it, touch it, it will be so easy for you, so peaceful, so fun. And if you don’t get it, blame yourself; it means you prayed insincerely, unworthily. Who, brethren, should intercede for us more, who should listen to our prayers more, if not the Mother of God? Although She is now in heaven, in all heavenly glory, She is from us, from our sinful earth; she lived here like us, and also experienced a lot of sorrows; How could She not listen from there and stand up for Her own? Just don’t, brothers, you should never forget that She is the Most Holy One and does not love lawlessness. Therefore, asking God in our prayers for Her intercession for us, let us try to be far from all sin, as uncleanness, which turns away from us both the eyes and ears of the heavenly Intercessor and brings heavenly wrath upon us. With a pure heart, let us all run to Her sovereign protection in our misfortunes, sorrows and illnesses and place undoubted hope in Her. In the midst of the disasters of life, let us prepare for a place where there are no troubles, where there is eternal joy and eternal peace, and the Queen of Heaven will be pleased to save and cover us from troubles and guide us to the ever-quiet heavenly haven. Cover us, O Lady, with Your honorable cover, and deliver us from all evil, praying to Your Son, Christ our God, to save our souls. Amen. Word for the Day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary For the Mighty One has done great things for Me (Luke 1:49). We celebrate today, beloved brethren, the Protection of the Mother of God. This holiday was established by the Holy Church of Russia for the solemn, grateful remembrance and glorification of the benefits of the Mother of God, miraculously provided to the Orthodox Christians of Constantinople at the beginning of the 10th century after the Nativity of Christ, in 910, under the Greek Emperor Leo the Wise. Then it was a difficult time for the Greeks: the Saracens with large forces attacked the unarmed capital of Greece and threatened it with complete destruction. Seeing no help from anywhere, the inhabitants of the capital flocked in large numbers to the Blachernae Church, in which the robe of the Mother of God was kept, and fervently prayed to God and the Mother of God. In the church there were, by the way, two saints of God - St. Andrew, the holy fool for Christ's sake, and Epiphanius, his disciple. Suddenly St. Andrew had a wondrous, divine vision: he saw under the very arches of the majestic church the Queen of heaven and earth, with many Angels and saints, standing in the air, shining like the sun, with an omophorion in her hands, also shining, and praying to Her Son and God for the whole world and for the salvation of the city and those living in it. The viewer of the vision pointed out to his disciple this divine spectacle and said to him: “Do you see, brother, the Queen of the world, praying for people?” - He answered: “I see, father, and I am horrified.” This vision was immediately reported to the king and patriarch; the news soon spread throughout the entire church, everyone rejoiced and were filled with great hope for the help of the Mother of God. A prayer of thanksgiving was immediately offered to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother, first in the church, and then by many in other places. The next day the enemies were scattered without any bloodshed and the Greeks won complete victory through the intercession of the Mother of God. This is the miraculous intercession that St. The Church, and with it we, its children. May all Christians, of every age and gender, simple and noble, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, know about the great intercession of the Mother of God, not only about the past and now celebrated, but also about Her intercession continuously continuing in all times and generations, everywhere where Her holy name is faithfully and constantly venerated, and let everyone resort to Her intercession with zeal, with repentance and faith. For general edification, let us now talk about the divine greatness of the Mother of God, about the greatness of Her humility, love and mercy for the human race, especially for the Christian race; Her incomparable - according to God - holiness and truth; about Her boldness before God; Her Divine power, Her knowledge of the heart and wisdom. Contemplation of all these wondrous qualities in Her should increase in us reverence and love for Her, trust in prayers, piety and fear of God in all our lives, mutual love, mercy, humility, patience, obedience and other Christian virtues. How great Her humility can be judged by the height and greatness of Her divine calling, for by the greatness of Her humility the Lord raises the elect to the height of greatness. It was primarily for humility that She became the Mother of God: look upon the humility of Her servant (Luke 1:48), She said to Elizabeth by the Holy Spirit. This humility was in Her, one might say, the seed of all Her highest virtues, all divine beauty, the most ardent love for God, gratitude and unceasing devotion to God, Her patience, uncomplaining enduring of sorrows, Her incomparable purity, unparalleled condescension towards people who sin. How great is Her love and mercy for the human race, especially for the Christian race, is evidenced by all the centuries of Christianity that have passed before us. The history of the Church throughout almost the 19th century conveys to us numerous, very touching, touching examples of Her intercession and protection of sinners, worthy of the great wrath of God, but pardoned only through Her prayerful intercession. Not to mention many other examples of Her intercession, let us at least say how many times Constantinople, during the reign of the Greek emperors, was saved by Her obvious intercession; how many invaluable blessings the Mother of God showed - to Russia, as in the beginning, during the planting of the Christian faith in Russia and especially during the construction of the Church of St. Sofia in Kyiv, and then - during the rule of the Tatars over Russia and after the overthrow of their yoke to this day - it is impossible to list. The brevity of time does not now allow us to go into detail describing many of Her mercies to our fatherland, to various places and people in our fatherland. The many different names given to the miraculous icons of the Mother of God at the place where Her mercies appeared only partially testify to Her many benefits to our Fatherland; but all Her blessings, like the stars in the sky and like sand on the seashore, are absolutely innumerable. Glory to Russia—glorify every faithful son of the Church, Your heavenly Intercessor, the Mother of God, for Her mother’s continuous mercies to Russia and to you. Only through Her intercession is Russia hitherto intact, powerful, and glorious. We can safely say that if Russia always strictly adhered to piety, if all Russians were firmly devoted to their faith and the Orthodox Church, its greatness and prosperity would increase from year to year, and its peace would have no limit, according to the word of scripture: and His peace has no limit (Is. 9:7). Why should we be afraid then, having such an Intercessor, whose love and power have no limits? But our sins, our passions, our infidelity, our wickedness, often make us unworthy of Her holy protection, and we become exhausted, weakened by our own passions and untruths. She, all-holy and all-righteous, cannot patronize lawlessness and lawless people, but patronizes only sincerely repentant sinners and those who live piously. Oh, if we could vividly imagine the greatest holiness of the Mother of God and the Queen, how we would fear and beware of sin, which She hates immensely! How we would care about virtue! Let us present here an image of Her holiness and divine fragrance in the description of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, an apostolic disciple, who was honored to see Her in Jerusalem, three years after his conversion to Christianity. “When I was introduced into the presence of the god-like, most radiant Virgin, such a great and immeasurable divine light enveloped me from without and inside, and such a wondrous fragrance of various aromas spread around me that neither my weak body nor my spirit itself was able to endure such great and abundant signs and the firstfruits of eternal bliss and glory. My heart fainted, my spirit fainted from Her glory and divine grace. The human mind cannot imagine any glory and honor higher than the bliss that I tasted then, unworthy, but honored by mercy and blessed beyond all understanding! This is what holiness, what glory dwelled in the Mother of God even on earth, before Her relocation to heaven! Let us more often imagine Her immeasurable holiness, and we ourselves will try to live holy, as the Lord God requires of us: be holy, as the Lord your God is holy (Lev. 19:2). What can we say about the boldness before God of the Most Pure Mother of God? If the boldness of Moses before God was great, the boldness of Samuel and Elijah the prophets, or the New Testament saints of God - the Forerunners, apostles, martyrs, hierarchs and especially St. Nicholas, then the boldness of the Mother of God is incomparably greater. Standing face to face with Her Son and Her God, as the Mother and Queen of heaven and earth, She always intercedes for the entire Christian race, and Her intercession is never in vain, for it is always favorable to God. And so let us, Christians, always sincerely, in repentance, with good hope, turn to the intercession of the Mother of God for us sinners, as the Church does every day. – As for Her strength and power, She, as the Mother of the Creator of heaven and earth, can do everything, and there is no limit to Her power, for She is fully invested with divine power. Finally, let us not remain silent about the greatness of Her wisdom and knowledge of the heart! As always, forever and ever, clothed in the Sun of truth - Christ God, who knows all the secrets of human hearts - and She knows the hearts of all; and Her knowledge is limitless, just as God’s knowledge is limitless; and Her wisdom, enlightened by divine wisdom, embraces all things, sees all saving goals and all the wisest means to goals. Let us all, with a pure heart, always resort to the protection of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, so that through Her we may receive from God all the blessings and the final goal of all blessings - eternal life in God and with God. Amen. Teaching on the day of the Kazan Mother of God O zealous intercessor... for all pray to Thy Son, Christ our God, and cause all to be saved, to those who seek refuge in Thy sovereign protection... (Troparion of the Kazan Mother of God). Do you all, beloved brothers, always fervently pray to the Mother of God? If any of you does not pray to Her, or does not pray with all your heart, I beg those from this very day to begin to pray to Her with all zeal, for the Lady is the speedy Intercessor for all Christians who resort with faith to Her protection and intercession - She does not shy away from anyone, does not neglect anyone; In order to be worthy of Her intercession, you only need firm faith in the power of Her prayer and humble, sincere prayer. What misfortune has befallen you, or spiritual sorrow: hurry quickly to prayer to the Lady, and do not seek consolation in some earthly consolation - in theaters, circuses, evenings, all the less - do not resort to wine to ease your grief, to forget the misfortune, as many do. Theaters, circuses, entertainment with wine or other things are new misfortunes, but they are not noticeable at first, because they are seductive. Sins or passions torment you, or bad habits control you - resort to the most merciful Mother of all - the Queen Theotokos; pray to Her like this: all-powerful, Lady Theotokos, I am possessed by such and such passions and sins, You can do everything, Your prayer is omnipotent with Your Son and God, protect me, protect me from myself, from my sinful passions and habits; - with all my heart I wish for correction and salvation for myself, - but without help from above, without intercession from above, I can’t do anything: I’ll take a step forward, and then retreat ten whole times, and the power of the enemy pushes me away from the Lord. I am wretched, poor and poor and blind and naked spiritually; help me, cursed and poor and blind, I pray to You with all my soul. I believe that You hear every sigh of my heart, every word that comes from my heart, and You graciously intercede for all who diligently seek Your help and who are not ultimately deceived by sinful flattery. Intercede, save and have mercy on me, a sinner. So let us pray to the most merciful Queen Theotokos - and we will certainly be worthy of Her protection and intercession. Amen. Akathist to the Mother of God, kontakion 8. Epistle of Tarasius, Patr. Constantinople to Pope Adrian of Rome, Helmsman 1 part ch. 36. Ed. 1787 You might be interested in: