There are three ways of looking at the honor due to Virgin Mary.

The first is theological. The Theotokos or Birthgiver-of-God embodies the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation. St. John’s gospel says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” According to an ancient declaration known as the Athansian creed, “We believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.  God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.” It is a difficult teaching to grasp, which is why Mary is so important. We look at her icon and remember that Jesus had a human mother.

The second is way is more historical. God has worked an uncounted number of miracles through her prayers. God honors His saints by working miracles through them. The bones of the prophet Elisha raised a man from the dead (2 Kings 13:21). The shadow of St. Peter was believed to cause healings (Acts 5:15). The handkerchief of St. Paul did healed the sick (Acts 19:11).  

The Lord’s first public miracle, told in John 2 in the story of the wedding in Cana of Galilee, remembers how the Lord changed water into wine at His mother’s request. From that time on, miracle upon miracle has happened. The city of Constantinople was saved from invasion on several occasions by her intercessions. Mt. Athos, the center of Orthodox Christian monasticism, was founded upon her inspiration and protection. The island of Tinos has a famous shrine in her honor where miracles take place. I heard a story on my ancestral island of Sifnos of how in the early 20th century she saved the island from a plague of locusts. My point is that we honor her because God has honored her over the centuries.

The third way is perhaps the least remembered but equally important. The Virgin Mary is an example of Christian virtue. When the Archangel Gabriel first approached her to announce the coming birth of the Messiah, he spoke in amazing promises.

“You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).

Consider that she was a young woman, in her mid-teens, and that her parents were both deceased. She had been betrothed to an older man so that he might be her protector and she the lady of his house. Gabriel’s prophecy would threaten this arrangement, but she in faith and simplicity believed and responded, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” Her response was and is the model response to the challenges that God presents to us all, “Behold I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be according to His will.”

In every Divine Liturgy there are four times that we say these words: “Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.”  We say these words to remember their obedience, their perseverance, their faith, and with them in mind we commit ourselves to God. There is nothing in this world, no challenge or suffering or temptation that we undergo that they have not also undergone.  They remind us of St. Paul’s words, “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

It is necessary to remember the Theotokos as a symbol of the Lord’s humanity. It is good to remember that God has honored her in miracles. It is absolutely essential that we imitate her faith, her perseverance, and her life.