Mother of God, Virgin Mary, who gave birth to Jesus Christ: Life. Prayer of the Blessed Mary Mother of God

ANNA

01/20/2016 4,998 0 Jadaha

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According to the Gospels, Mary was a Jewish girl from Nazareth who gave birth to a child who became the founder of a new religion. For believers this is indisputable, but for atheists it is unrecognizable. But not all Christians have a cult of the Virgin. Some do not recognize her holiness.

As soon as she is not called - the Mother of God. Mother of God. Virgin Mary, Holy Virgin, Madonna... In fact, a simple Jewish girl from Nazareth named Miriam is one of the most revered saints. She is known not only in Christianity, but also in Islam under the name of Seide Mariam, even a separate sura No. 19 is dedicated to her.

Everything we know about Mary comes from the Bible, Koran, Talmud and other religious works. No historical data on the existence of this person has been preserved.

biography

Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, a priest of the Avian line, a descendant of Aaron, from the tribe of Levi. She resided in Nazareth in the Galilee, presumably with her parents.

Tradition speaks of Mary's upbringing in an atmosphere of special ritual purity and of "bringing her into the temple" when Mary was 3 years old: lit [lanterns] so that the Child does not turn back, and so that She loves the temple of the Lord in her heart.

In the Temple, Mary was met by the high priest (Orthodox tradition believes that it was Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist) with many priests. Parents put Mary on the first rung of the stairs that led to the entrance to the Temple. According to the gospel of pseudo-Matthew:

“... when She was placed in front of the temple of the Lord, She ran up fifteen steps, without looking back and without calling her parents, as children usually do. And all were filled with astonishment at the sight of this, and the priests of the temple were astonished.”

Then, according to legend, the high priest, by inspiration from above, introduced the Virgin Mary into the Holy of Holies - the inner part of the temple, in which the Ark of the Covenant was located. Of all the people, the high priest entered there only once a year.

At the temple, Mary lived and was brought up with other children, studied the Holy Scriptures, did needlework and prayed. However, upon reaching the age of majority (12 years old), she could not stay at the temple, and a husband was chosen for her by the traditional rite. Her husband was the carpenter Joseph. Then the Annunciation happened - the archangel Gabriel, sent by God, informed Mary about the impending immaculate birth of the Savior from her.

The Bible tells us that when Joseph found out about Mary's pregnancy, he almost broke off the engagement, but then an angel appeared to him in a dream and said to him: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take your wife Mary into your house, because she pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from sins.” After that, Joseph woke up and did as the angel told him. He took his wife to his house. completing the wedding ceremony.

Interestingly, Christian dogma says that Mary was virgin before, during and even after the birth of Christ. This doctrine, or "post partum", denied by Tertullian and Jovinian, was defended by later orthodoxies, as a result of which the term "Eternal Virgin" was developed, fixed at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople.

In the year of the birth of Jesus, at the behest of Emperor Augustus, a census was conducted in the country. For this, all residents had to return to their native places, where they had not lived by that time. Joseph and his family went to their hometown of Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, there was no room in the inn, and they had to stay in the cattle den where Jesus was born.

Eight days later, the baby was circumcised and given the name Jesus. When the days of their purification under the law of Moses ended, they brought the child to the temple of Jerusalem in accordance with the requirements for the firstborn prescribed in the law of Moses. Then they returned to Bethlehem, and after visiting the Magi, the whole family, fleeing persecution, fled to Egypt. They returned to Nazareth only after the death of King Herod.

When the evangelists describe the events of the life of Jesus Christ, the virgin Mary is mentioned as being present at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. For some time she was with her son in Capernaum.

The Bible is somewhat contradictory about the relationship between Mary and Jesus. On the one hand, they had to be good, but on the other hand, Jesus did not want to see her and did not help during one of his sermons: “And the Mother and His brothers came to Him, and could not come to Him because of the people. And let Him know: Your Mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see You. He answered and said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:19-21).

On Golgotha, the Mother of God stood near the cross. The dying Christ entrusted his mother to the apostle John. Only in these two gospel episodes (John 2:4; John 19:26) is Jesus' personal appeal to Mary, but he does not call her a mother, but a woman. He calls her mother only once, but not his own, but his disciple (John) in Jn. 19:27: “Then he says to the disciple: behold, your mother!”.

The Acts of the Holy Apostles does not indicate whether the Virgin Mary was even on the day of Pentecost among the apostles, when the Holy Spirit descended on them in the form of fiery tongues.

Orthodox theologians answer in the negative, believing that the Holy Spirit dwelt on the Virgin Mary before.

How her old age passed and where her life ended is not exactly known. It is believed that she died in Jerusalem or Ephesus 12 years after the ascension of Christ. According to Tradition, Mary left this world in 48. Tradition holds that the apostles managed to come to the deathbed of the Mother of God from all over the world, with the exception of the Apostle Thomas, who arrived three days later and did not find the Mother of God alive. At his request, her tomb was opened, but there were only fragrant shrouds. Christians believe that Mary's death was followed by her ascension, and Jesus himself appeared behind her soul at the time of death with a host of heavenly powers.

This is known from several apocrypha: “The Tale of the Assumption of the Virgin” by Pseudo-John the Theologian (originated in the middle of the 5th century or later), “On the Exodus of the Virgin Mary” by Pseudo-Meliton of Sardis (not earlier than the 4th century), the work of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, "Word of John, Archbishop of Thessalonica". All the listed apocrypha are rather late (5th-6th centuries) and differ from each other in content. Therefore, not all of their content was accepted by the Church, but only the main idea that the Virgin Mary reposed blissfully and her soul was received by Christ.

Reverence. Virgin Mary of the Early Christians

The cult of the Virgin did not arise immediately. Only a few centuries after her death do the first evidence of her veneration appear. The first such evidence is the presence of her images in the Roman catacombs, where Christians performed worship and hid from persecution. The first frescoes and images of the Virgin Mary were discovered in the catacombs (frescoes of Kimeterius Priscilla, “Prophet Balaam in front of Mary breastfeeding the baby”, “Adoration of the Magi” and others). These frescoes and images are still antique in nature.

Christians

The Orthodox veneration of the Mother of God originates from her Byzantine cult, the center of which was Constantinople. On May 11, 330, Constantine the Great officially moved the capital of the empire and dedicated New Rome to the Most Holy Theotokos. This dedication is reflected in the mosaic of the southern entrance to the Hagia Sophia, which depicts the Virgin on the throne with the Child in her arms, Constantine the Great and Justinian the Great are standing on both sides. The first dedicates Constantinople to Christ and the Mother of God, and the second the main church of the empire, the church of Hagia Sophia. The final decision on the veneration of the Mother of God was made in 431 by the Third Ecumenical Council.

In the Catholic world, the Mother of God, under the influence of folklore and some pagan traditions in the early and middle Middle Ages, is the personification of nature, the goddess of the mother, the first manifestation of paradise, transfigured nature. From here came the tradition of depicting the Madonna among nature: “Madonna of Humility”, where the Madonna sits on the ground among flowers, “Madonna in a strawberry patch”, etc.

The legend about Theophilus, which originated in the 13th century in the Byzantine Empire, but became especially popular in Western Europe, in particular in France, tells of a young man who was in the service of a bishop. He, tired of the hardships of life, sold his soul to the devil, and thus made a quick career, but repented and turned to Mary for help, who took Theophilus's receipt from the devil.

But not in all Christian churches there is a cult of the Virgin. Protestant churches believe that the veneration of the Virgin Mary is contrary to the main postulate of the Reformation - excluding any mediators between God and man. Nevertheless, Martin Luther still recognized the ever-virginity of Mary and even the possibility of her intercession before God. The veneration of some of the Mother of God holidays was preserved in Lutheranism until the Enlightenment. However, Ulrich Zwingli already rejected the possibility of praying to the Mother of God, but the most resolute opponent of her veneration was John Calvin, who considered it idolatry, so it died out quite quickly in the Swiss Reformation.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ and that she conceived him immaculately. Since they consider Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, but not Almighty God, therefore they do not consider Mary the Mother of God. They believe that Christians should only pray to God, not to Mary.

Mary in Islam

In Islam, Mary is regarded as the virgin mother of the prophet Isa. It is written about her in the Qur'an, in Surah Mariam. This is the only sura of the Qur'an named after a woman. It tells the story of Mary and Jesus according to the Islamic view.

To understand the Christian tradition and the very Divine image of the Mother of God, it is useful for every Christian to know the following truths: The Blessed Virgin Mary is in the literal sense the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the Mother of God; She remains the Ever-Virgin before the birth of Jesus Christ, at Christmas and after Christmas; The Mother of God follows the Savior as the highest power of all heavenly powers - the holy apostles and holy fathers of the church. The books of the Old and New Testaments, the very earthly life of the Mother of God, lead to such a generalization.

More than two thousand years separate us from the day when the Blessed Virgin appeared in the light of God. Today it is hard even to believe that She had an earthly life filled with human worries, joys and sufferings. We are accustomed to perceive Her as the Queen of Heaven, and She had her own earthly traits of character - a penchant for peace, thoughtfulness, as evidenced by Her contemporaries. The divine touching smile of the Virgin Mary was forever captured by icon painters, this is not even a smile, but an image of kindness itself.

Mary's mother's name was Anna, her father's name was Joachim, both family branches had respectable ancestors, among whom were patriarchs, high priests and rulers of the Jews from the branches of the wise Solomon and the powerful David. Joachim and Anna were not considered wealthy and noble, although they lived comfortably, breeding large herds of sheep. Only one sadness oppressed them: there were no children. The coming of the Messiah was already predetermined, and childless people obviously lost the hope of having the Messiah as their descendant, which every family secretly dreamed of. Among the Israelites at that time, even the clergy perceived the childless as punished from above. This confirms the fact from the life of Joachim. On the feast of the renewal of the Temple of Jerusalem, he, along with other residents, brought rich gifts for the Temple, but the priest refused to accept them - Joachim's childlessness was the reason for this. He endured his grief heavily, for some time even retired to the desert, where bitterly weeping repeatedly turned to God: "My tears will be my food, and the desert will be my home until the great and wise Lord hears my prayer." And then Joachim heard the words of the Angel of the Lord: "I have been sent to tell you that your prayer has been heard."

Your wife Anna will bear you a wonderful daughter, and You will name her Mary. Here is a confirmation of my words for you: entering Jerusalem, behind the Golden Gates you will meet your wife Anna, and she will also please you with joyful news. But remember that your daughter is the fruit of a divine gift."

An angel of the Lord also appeared to Anna and also told that she would give birth to a blessed daughter. The small southern town of Nazareth, where Joachim and Anna lived, was located three days from Jerusalem. From the very beginning of their life together, they walked from Nazareth in order to express their great request to God in the famous Jerusalem Temple: to have a child. And now the dream came true, their joy knew no bounds.

December 9 (Hereinafter in the biography, the dates are given in the old style.) The Orthodox Church celebrates the conception of the Blessed Virgin, and on September 8, Her birth. Three years old, Mary was brought into the Temple of Jerusalem. It was a very important moment, and it is no coincidence that the Orthodox Church celebrates such an event. It took place in a very solemn atmosphere: the procession was opened by girls of the same age as the Blessed Virgin, with lit candles in their hands, followed by Joachim and Anna, along with their blessed daughter, holding hands. They were followed by numerous relatives, among whom were very noble persons. Everyone's faces were lit up with joy. The virgins walked with the singing of spiritual songs, their voices merged with the singing of the Angels.

In the Temple of Jerusalem, the Blessed Virgin was destined to spend many years. That temple was a prototype of a monastic monastery. Within the walls of the Temple there were 90 separate spacious rooms-cells. A third of them were assigned to virgins who dedicated their lives to God, the rest of the rooms were occupied by widows who gave dinner to keep celibacy. The elders took care of the younger ones, taught them to read sacred books and needlework. The Blessed Virgin Mary immediately surprised everyone by the fact that she easily comprehended the most difficult parts of the sacred books, better than all adults who have studied these books all their lives.

After the birth of the desired child, the parents die very soon, first Joachim at the age of 80, followed by Anna. There was no one even to visit a small child staying in the Temple. Orphanhood and the consciousness of her loneliness turned Mary's heart even more strongly to God, in Him was contained Her whole destiny.

When Mary was fourteen years old, the high priests announced to her that it was time to get married. Mary replied that she wanted to consecrate her life to God and wanted to keep her virginity. How to be?

The angel of the Lord appeared to the high priest Zechariah and told him the advice of the Almighty: "Gather the unmarried men of the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of David, let them bring their staffs. And to whom the Lord will show a sign, you will hand over the Virgin to become the guardian of Her virginity."

It all happened. High Priest Zechariah gathered unmarried men near the temple and turned to God with a prayer: "Lord God, show me a man worthy to become the Virgin's betrothed." The staves of the invited husbands were left in the sanctuary. When they came for them, they immediately saw how one staff blossomed, and a dove sat on the branches that appeared. The owner of the staff turned out to be 80-year-old widower Joseph, who was engaged in carpentry. The dove, flying off the staff, began to circle over Joseph's head. And then Zechariah said: "You will receive the Virgin and you will keep Her." At first, Joseph objected, fearing that with adult sons who are older than Mary, he would become a laughingstock of people. Tradition says that Mary herself was very upset that she had to leave the Temple of God. But by the will of the Almighty, the betrothal happened, only Joseph became not the husband of Mary, in our usual understanding, but the guardian of holiness and caring servant of the Virgin Mary.

Not much is said about Joseph in Scripture, but still, bit by bit, a fairly clear image can be put together. The elder was a descendant of the kings David and Solomon, a man of firm and truthful disposition, modest, attentive, hardworking. From his first marriage to Solomiya, he had two daughters and four sons. Before his betrothal to Mary, he lived for many years in an honest widowhood.

Joseph brought the God-given girl to his home in Nazareth, and they plunged into their daily routine. Only Mary did not leave the premonition of a great accomplishment, something indescribable, extraordinary. All people were waiting for the coming of the Messiah, as the only deliverer from the numerous vices that entangled people like a cobweb.

Luxurious Rome, which conquered many countries, excelled in pleasures, mired in debauchery, perversions, fanaticism, forgetting about all the virtues. The catastrophe of the spirit always leads to the catastrophe of the body. Only the Almighty could be the healer of the spirit. And the Virgin Mary, as if instinctively, without realizing it, was preparing for the fulfillment of the greatest Divine plan. She comprehended with her soul the appearance of the Savior into the world, She did not yet know in what way God would send His Son to Earth, but Her soul was already preparing for this meeting. Thus, the Most Holy Virgin of things, by Her only essence, could unite the age-old foundations of the Old Testament with the new Christian laws of life.

For the gospel of His Divine plan, the Lord chose the archangel Gabriel, one of the very first angels. The icon "Annunciation" (celebration of March 25) reveals to us this great deed of the Lord. It depicts a quiet rally from heaven to Earth of an angel in the guise of a magnificent young man. He gives the Virgin Mary a heavenly flower - a lily and utters priceless words; "Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women!" The meaning of these heavenly words is that the Blessed Virgin conceives a Son whose kingdom will have no end. Before She read sacred books, in particular, the prophet Isaiah, that a certain Virgin will give birth to the Son of Man from God. She was ready to become a servant of That woman, and did not think about her own divine destiny.

Modern man can create doubt in his mind. The Immaculate Conception has been questioned throughout the ages. But the most surprising thing is that the heard Good News first of all doubted Mary herself. "How will it be with me when I don't know my husband?" were her first words.

The fact may indeed seem doubtful if comprehended by a cold mind. But it must be accepted not with the mind, but with the soul. The Immaculate Conception or ever-virginity of the Most Holy Theotokos is a union of the heavenly and the earthly, the spiritual and the material. That was the moment of the rebirth of a worldly person into Holiness, which people have been worshiping for two millennia.

Metropolitan of Moscow St. Philaret (1782-1867) speaks penetratingly and sublimely about this phenomenon: “The virgin is ready to become a mother, She bows before the Divine appointment, but does not want and cannot experience earthly marriage, this common path to birth on Earth .. "This heart trembles with Divine love alone. Everything - all thoughts, feelings, aspirations - are given to the invisible, impregnable God. He alone could be Her desired, Her imperishable bridegroom. And at that moment, as She was told about the Son, Her purest soul , frightened by the mere possibility of the thought of an earthly marriage, with strength rushed there, on high, to the only desired and awaited God. And then a mysterious, miraculous, immaculate conception happened ... "

Thus, the words of the archangel Gabriel were confirmed: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Child is holy, and will be called the Son of God."

Materialists cannot comprehend this miracle. Some accept only physics, others take a bolder step - into metaphysics. But how natural and logical to recognize the Divine principle! Although the concept of "beginning" is applicable to a specific phenomenon, and God is Eternity, which cannot have a beginning and an end. God is a force that maintains harmony in the universe.

The Annunciation icon helps a mortal person to accept this spiritual essence and connects us with the Divine world. In Nazareth, where the Archangel Gabriel proclaimed the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, a temple was erected in the 4th century in memory of the Annunciation. Inextinguishable lamps burn in the altar, throwing light on the words, which contain the essence of the greatest mystery: "Yic Verbum caro fuit" ("Here the word is flesh"). Above the throne is an image of the Annunciation and next to it are a vase with white lilies. The flower, which was in the hands of the Archangel Gabriel, symbolizes purity.

It is necessary to imagine the state of the Virgin Mary, who must explain to her husband the reason for the already visible fruiting. The sublime and the sinful stood on the same scales in her imagination. A most difficult drama was brewing in the soul of an earthly man. And what was the state of Joseph, who was in awe of Mary, but saw changes in Her figure and suffered from the questions that tormented him?! Of course, the Virgin Mary could tell Joseph everything as it was ... But will he believe that the Divine fruit is hidden in Her womb? And how to say about Yourself, as about Holiness? To all such supposed explanations, questions and answers, the Virgin Mary preferred silent suffering. After all, She was aware of the fact of the ascension of a mortal man to an unattainable height.

Righteous Joseph, not knowing the secret of the incarnation of the Lord, showed unusual kindness. After much torment, various assumptions and hesitation, he decides to secretly give the Virgin Mary a letter of divorce without indicating the reason for the divorce. St. John Chrysostom explains this act in the following way: "Joseph showed amazing wisdom in this case: he did not blame or reproach the Virgin, but thought only of letting her go." He really wanted to preserve the honor of the Virgin and save Her from the persecution of the law, thereby satisfying the demand of his conscience. And as soon as he decided to carry out his plan with a letter, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. All contradictions and omissions were resolved instantly by the Lord's revelation.

The most complete and diverse representation in spiritual literature, in icon painting is the Nativity of Christ and all of His further earthly life. For two millennia, such a number of books have been written about her that cannot be calculated with the usual circulations. There was no other similar life on Earth that would attract human souls with such unshakable force. Throughout a gigantic period of time (in the usual human sense) in honor of Jesus Christ on Earth, the burning of lamps and candles did not stop. If black forces blew up the temple of God, then a candle burned in some hut. If it went out in one part of the world, then it invariably shone with a flame before a pure image - in another. At all times, the great spiritual feat of Christ, which all people in the world must know about, remained the highest ideal of serving God the Father and serving God the Son to humanity. The life of Jesus Christ was a living example of the fulfillment of the two first biblical commandments: to love God and to love your neighbor.

Non-observance of these commandments by mankind leads him to destruction. Life has proven this many times. Evil, as it were, migrates across the planet in time. History records: the obscurantism of pagans of various stripes, the ferocity of the Herod dynasty, the cruelty of Nero, the fanaticism of the Jesuits, the harmful consequences of the doctrines of philosophers like Nietzsche, the deceit of false prophets and the fatal temptations of the new "kings" and the so-called democracy. Where the commandments of the Lord are not kept, evil invades, falsehood flourishes, and faith in God becomes false; where the commandments of Christ the Savior are not observed, bloodshed is constant, and love for one's neighbor is manifested only in words; where the commandments of the Almighty are not observed, there the power is in luxury, and the people are poor. Such a society is doomed to perish.

If we imagine that Jesus Christ would not have come to earth, then there would be no force at all in opposition to evil, and humanity would have ended its existence long ago. The Savior appeared on earth during the reign of King Herod. What people associate with this name is clear. At all times and to this day, the most vile rulers are called Herods. Whoever opposes them follows the precepts of Christ.

At all stages of the spiritual feat of Jesus Christ himself in the name of saving people, His Mother, the Most Holy Theotokos, stood next to Him. She carried Her cross with the greatest earthly dignity. On a cold night, She, having given birth to a son, could not shelter Him in Her house ("She bore Her firstborn son, and swaddled Him, and put Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in an inn) Luke 2:7". King Herod, who unjustly commanded the people, was very afraid of the coming of the Messiah, he in every possible way prevented the fulfillment of God's intentions. Having found out about the birth of Christ, he went on a terrible, barbaric atrocity - he ordered to kill all the babies in Bethlehem and its environs, hoping that among the dead would be the newborn King of the Jews - the Savior. 14,000 innocent children - boys - fell victim for Christ at the behest of King Herod. What fear did the Mother of God experience for the life of her Son?!

She lived every second of Jesus' life, from birth to crucifixion and ascension. And one must imagine Her grief, how it shuddered the soul when the ignorant crowd mocked Holiness, when the blood congealed on the forehead of Her Son from the crown of thorns, and when the most pure body of Jesus had to be taken down from the cross...

After the Ascension of Christ, the earthly path of the Mother of God was still quite long and fruitful.

She was destined, together with the apostles, to carry the teachings of Christ around the world. Rejoicing at the success of the disciples of the Son, the Mother of God herself almost never spoke before the people. However, there is one wonderful exception in the legends... More on that later. The Mother of God sought the essence of the Christian teaching not in words, but in life itself. By the way, this is the most effective method of teaching children by parents: you can say little and do a lot, then the children will definitely understand how to do and what to do. The Virgin Mary diligently served the poor, gave to the poor, cared for the sick, helped orphans and widows. She devoted a lot of time to prayers at the tomb of the Son. The Virgin Mary buried the betrothed Joseph when Jesus was a teenager. Joseph, too, modestly and nobly fulfilled his feat of life. It is a feat that should be the life of each of us, the essence of life lies in this, in order to fulfill with dignity the God-given destiny for each person. How to perform? Follow your conscience. Conscience should be the guide of life - presupposed by God, preserved by man. With her being, material and spiritual efforts, the Mother of God taught people to live, awakening Conscience in a person - the voice of God. Mother of God - the Mother of God, standing in front of the icon - Her image, a person opens his soul, trusts secrets, sends repentance for sins, hoping for Her mercy and mediation before God. And the Mother of God unites a particle of this Divine principle in man with the Almighty.

The laconic Virgin Mary once nevertheless had to speak to people with a most wonderful sermon, the legend of which has come down to our days. The Mother of God intended to visit Cyprus.

The ship crossed the Mediterranean Sea, and the desired island was about to appear. But suddenly a storm hit the ship, and it became uncontrollable, it was carried to the other side of the world, as if by the will of the heavenly Pilot. The ship ended up in the Aegean Sea, rushed between numerous islands and, by the will of the Almighty, stopped at the foot of Mount Athos. That area was literally teeming with idol temples with a huge temple of Apollo in the center, where various divination and pagan sorcery took place.

But then the Mother of God descended from the ship to earth, and from everywhere people began to flock to Her with questions: who is Christ and what did He bring to Earth? And then She had to tell people for a long time about the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, about the suffering that fell to His lot for the sins of people, about execution, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven.

She revealed to people the essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ - about repentance, forgiveness, love for God and neighbor - as about great values ​​that affirm goodness, justice and prosperity in the world.

After such a heartfelt sermon of the Mother of God, an extraordinary action took place. All who heard Her desired to be baptized. Leaving Athos, the Mother of God blessed the newly converted Christians and uttered a prophecy: “Let this place be my lot, given to me from My Son and My God. May My grace rest on those who live here with faith and piety and keep the commandments of My Son and God. in abundance and with little labor all that is necessary for earthly life, and the mercy of my Son will not fail to them.

The further history of Athos confirms to this day that Divine patronage has been felt and materialized over that place in all ages.

The blessings of the Mother of God, like those of Athos, are so endless that a whole chronicle can be made out of them. This is what many icons of the Mother of God are dedicated to. About them the story ahead. Toward the end of her earthly life, the Mother of God strove for Heaven with all her being. And one day, during a prayer, the archangel Gabriel appeared to Her again with a joyful and radiant face, just like decades ago, when he brought the Good News from the Almighty. This time, the news was that the Mother of God had only three days left to stay on Earth. She accepted this message with the same great joy, for there could be no greater happiness for Her than to forever contemplate the image of Her Divine Son. Archangel Gabriel gave Her a heavenly date branch, which radiated extraordinary light day and night. The Mother of God first told the Apostle John about the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel, who was almost never separated from the Mother of God.

Notifying all households of her forthcoming departure from the sinful Earth, the Mother of God commanded to prepare Her chambers accordingly: decorate the walls and bed, burn incense, light candles. She exhorted her loved ones not to cry, but rather to rejoice that, talking with Her Son, She would direct His goodness to all living on Earth, would visit and protect the distressed.

The apostles and disciples, alerted by the Holy Spirit, gathered miraculously from all over the world to see the Mother of God on her last journey. There were about seventy of them - the most devoted preachers of the teachings of Christ. On the evangelistic 15th day of August and the third hour from noon, everyone gathered in the temple, which had been specially prepared for the sacred unprecedented action. Many candles were burning, the Mother of God reclined on a magnificently decorated bed and prayed selflessly in anticipation of her exodus and the coming of her Son and Lord. According to legend, you can imagine an extraordinary picture.

At the appointed time, the entire temple was shone by no one and never before seen heavenly solemn light. As if the walls parted and the King of Glory Christ Himself ascended over the heads of people, surrounded by a host of angels, archangels and other incorporeal forces, with the righteous souls of the forefathers and prophets.

Rising from the bed, the Theotokos bowed to her Son and the Lord with the words: "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, as if looking at the humility of my servant! .. My heart is ready; wake me according to your word ..."

Looking at the bright face of the Lord, Her dearest Son, without the slightest bodily suffering, as if falling asleep sweetly, the Mother of God handed over Her bright and pure soul into His hands.

Metropolitan Saint Philaret of Moscow, in his letters on the veneration of the Most Holy Theotokos (M. 1844), explains to his compatriots this solemn moment of transition from earthly life to the life of the eternal Virgin Mary: “And since the Ever-Virgin carried the Son of God in her arms during His earthly infancy, then in recompense for this, the Son of God carries Her soul in His arms, at the beginning of Her heavenly life.

On the ground, the burial of the body of the Virgin Mary took place. Saints Peter and Paul with the Lord's brother Saint James and other apostles lifted the bed on their shoulders and carried it from Zion through Jerusalem to the village of Gethsemane. St. John the Theologian carried in front of the bed a heavenly date branch, handed over to the Virgin Mary by the archangel Gabriel. The branch shone with heavenly light. Over the entire crowded procession and the most pure body of the Mother of God, a certain cloudy circle suddenly appeared - a kind of crown. And the joyful singing of heavenly forces spilled into space. Radiance and Divine hymns accompanied the procession until the very burial.

Tradition testifies how the unbelieving inhabitants of Jerusalem, struck by the extraordinary grandeur of the funeral procession and embittered by the honors given to the Mother of Jesus Christ, reported what they had seen to the Pharisees. Their order followed: destroy the entire procession, and burn the coffin with the body of Mary! But a miracle happened: a shining crown - the Divine sphere, as a protective cap hid the procession. The soldiers heard the steps of people seeing off the Mother of God, they heard singing, but they could not see anyone. They bumped into each other, into houses and fences, they felt as if they were blind. Nothing could interfere with the solemn burial.

In Holy Scripture, we will not find anywhere a story about the death of the Virgin Mary. Death did not happen. Of course, in the same sense as it happens with an ordinary person, when the body is committed to the earth, and the soul to God. The Holy Orthodox Church calls the departure from the earthly life of the Mother of God the Dormition. And he sings of the Dormition of the Theotokos thus: “The laws of nature are defeated in Thee, Virgin, virginity is preserved in birth and life is combined with death: remaining a Virgin after birth and living after death, You will always save, Mother of God, Your inheritance.”

Dormition means that the Virgin Mary, after many years of heavy wakefulness, fell asleep with a sweet sleep, reposed at the eternal source of life, becoming the Mother of Life, delivering the souls of mortals from the torment and death of mortal souls with her prayers, instilling in them with her Dormition a living foreboding of eternal life.

The Apostle Thomas, as the legend says, arrived in Gethsemane only on the third day after the burial of the Most Holy Theotokos. He mourned and wept a lot about this and was very sorry that he was not awarded Her blessing. And then the other apostles allowed him to open the tomb to make the last farewell. The stone was rolled away, the coffin was opened, but... the body of the Virgin Mary was not there. The apostles began to pray to the Lord that He would reveal His secret to them.

Toward evening the holy apostles sat down to a meal. As was customary between them, they left one place unoccupied, and put a piece of bread in front of it, so that after the meal, giving thanks to the Lord, glorifying the name of the Holy Trinity, everyone could taste this piece of bread as a blessed gift with the prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ help us!" Everyone thought and talked at the meal only about the miraculous disappearance of the body of the Virgin. The meal was over, everyone got up and, as usual, raised the bread set aside in honor of the Lord ... Looking up, getting ready for prayer, everyone saw the Most Pure Virgin Mary, surrounded by many angels. And they heard from Her: "Rejoice! I am with you all the days!".

The entire earthly life of the Mother of God fits into a specific 72 years, this is evidenced by the calculations of the ancient holy fathers of the church (St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, St. Simeon Metaphrastus), authoritative church historians agree with them. But from the entire holy life of the Blessed Virgin, the Orthodox Church singled out four most important spiritual events celebrated by great holidays: the Nativity of the Virgin, the Entry into the Temple, the Annunciation and the Assumption. These holidays are ranked among the so-called Twelve and are equated with the great feasts of the Lord. There are twelve of them in total in a year. Behind every holiday there is a great spiritual event, the reflection of which is an infinite number of icons.

But at the same time, the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos themselves have a special life, a special history, they keep miracles and still have a beneficial effect on a person.

Before interpreting the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos, it will be interesting and useful to imagine Her earthly appearance according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses that have come down to us in sacred books. But the main feature of the Blessed Virgin, which determines all of Her spiritual content, St. Gregory of Neocaesarea thus defined: "She has a mind controlled by God and directed towards God alone." The impeccable spiritual qualities of the Mother of God are put to the fore by all Her contemporaries, without exception.

St. Ambrose, in the guise of the Mother of God, notices those features that can serve as the ideal of a person: “She was not long-winded, a lover of reading ... Her rule was not to offend anyone, to be well-disposed to everyone, to honor elders, not to envy equals, to avoid boasting, to be sensible, love virtue. When did She even offend her parents with her expression? When was she at odds with her relatives? When she was proud of a modest person, laughed at the weak, evaded the poor? She had nothing harsh in her eyes, nothing imprudent in words, nothing indecent in actions: her body movements are modest, her tread is quiet, her voice is even; so Her bodily appearance was an expression of the soul, the personification of purity.

Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, who three years after his conversion to Christianity, was honored to see the Blessed Virgin Mary face to face in Jerusalem, describes this meeting as follows: and such a wonderful fragrance of various aromas spread around me that neither my feeble body, nor my spirit itself, could bear such great and abundant signs and the beginnings of eternal bliss and glory.

Saint Ignatius the God-bearer surprisingly accurately defines the essence of the blessed influence of the Mother of God on ordinary mortal people: "In Her, the nature of the angels was combined with the human."

From the legends and memoirs of the contemporaries of the Blessed Virgin, a completely visible image emerges. The church historian Nicephorus Kallistos verbally described him as follows: “She was of medium height, golden-shaped hair, quick eyes, with pupils, as it were, the color of an olive tree, arched and moderately black eyebrows, an oblong nose, blooming lips, full of sweet speeches; her face was neither round nor sharp. , but somewhat oblong, arms and fingers long".

At all times, the holy fathers of the Church expressed their genuine admiration for the image of the Most Pure Theotokos of our Ever-Virgin Mary. For example, the great theologian of the Orthodox Church, St. John of Damascus (7th century) says: “God, the highest and purest light, loved her so much that through the invasion of the Holy Spirit he essentially united with Her, and was born from Her a perfect man, without changing or mixing properties ".

It is these properties, specifically defined and named by the venerable chroniclers of the church, the holy fathers and contemporaries of the Virgin Mary, that are present in every icon of the Mother of God, corresponding to one or another event in Her life, this or that feast of the Mother of God, this or that phenomenon associated with Her.

The first icon painter, who left the most accurate image of the Mother of God, was the disciple of the Apostle Paul and his assistant, the holy Evangelist Luke. Pious believers wished to see the face of the Mother of God. Saint Luke paints the image of the Virgin Mary and presents it directly to Her. She, seeing the first icon of the Mother of God, or rather her image, involuntarily said: "The grace of the one who was born from Me and Mine will be with this icon!" Her blessing made the icons of the Mother of God graceful - giving the believing person good, deliverance from vice, filling the soul with divine light.

The history of the first icon is unique. She spent many years in Antioch, where believers first called themselves Christians. Further, the holy image moves to Jerusalem, and then ends up in Constantinople to the holy empress Pulcheria (in the middle of the first millennium). Together with their husband, Emperor Marcian, they erect three magnificent churches in Constantinople in honor of the Mother of God - Chalkopratea, Hodegetria and Blachernae. An icon painted by the holy evangelist Luke is placed in the temple of Hodegetria.

The Mother of God in the fate of Russia is like a mother for a baby. There is a special mystery in the veneration of the Mother of God by the Russian people. It lies in the hope of all-powerful maternal intercession before God. After all, the Almighty is not only a great benefactor, but also a formidable judge. Among Russians, who have in their character such a most valuable trait as repentance, God-fearing has always coexisted with God-love. Like a mother, a God-fearing sinful person asks for the protection of the Mother of God, going to the judgment of the Lord. A person knows his sins, for this God has given him a conscience. It is the great Intercessor, Defender, Savior - the Mother of God - who helps to answer to God for sins. It seems to soften the punishment, but it exposes a person's conscience. When the poet says that "Russia cannot be understood with the mind," he means precisely Conscience. This vulnerable and completely non-material "structure" - the divine essence, the Russians entrusted to the Mother of God.

There is no more glorified name in Russia than the Most Holy Lady and Ever-Virgin Mary. From the very beginning of Russian history, the main cathedral churches have been dedicated to the Mother of God. Byzantine masters are erecting, at the command of the Mother of God herself, the Assumption Cathedral in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The desire of the Mother of God to stay in Russia is attested in the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. And since then, people in Russia began to consider their Fatherland - the House of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The veneration of the Mother of God is accomplished primarily through icons. Only in the church calendar there are about three hundred revered icons of the Mother of God. Each has its own name. There is almost no day in the year that this day is not illuminated by the celebration of one or another icon of the Mother of God.

The outcome of great historical events is associated with the miraculous influence of the icons of the Virgin. The Don Icon helped in the Battle of Kulikovo; in the salvation of Moscow from Tamerlane and during the great standing on the Ugra - Vladimirskaya; in the Time of Troubles, during the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow - Kazanskaya; with the approval of the ruling dynasty of the Romanovs - Feodorovskaya; in the Battle of Poltava - Kaplunovskaya. In 1917, on the day of the abdication of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II from the throne, it was as if the Mother of God Herself, appearing unexpectedly in the form of the Sovereign, took upon herself the succession of power of the Russian State. But many people have not preserved this holy image, they have not preserved themselves.

For a Russian person, the saving property of the Mother of God has always been revered, as the blessing of his own mother. The people entrusted their souls and all of themselves to the Theotokos. The icons of the Mother of God were treated as a living shrine, and therefore they were often given their own names, like a person.

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The Orthodox Jews of Jerusalem were implacable in their hostility to the teachings of Christ. Does this mean that Jesus was not a Jew? Is it ethical to question the Virgin Mary?

Jesus Christ often called himself the Son of Man. The nationality of the parents, according to the theologians, will shed light on the Savior's belonging to one or another ethnic group.

According to the Bible, all mankind descended from Adam. Later, people themselves divided themselves into races, nationalities. Yes, and Christ during his lifetime, given the gospels of the apostles, did not comment on his nationality.

Birth of Christ

The country of Judea, the Son of God, in those ancient times was a province of Rome. Emperor Augustus ordered to conduct He wanted to find out how many inhabitants in each of the cities of Judea.

Mary and Joseph, the parents of Christ, lived in the city of Nazareth. But they had to return to the homeland of their ancestors, to Bethlehem, in order to put their names on the lists. Once in Bethlehem, the couple could not find shelter - so many people came to the census. They decided to stop outside the city, in a cave that served as a shelter for shepherds during bad weather.

At night, Mary gave birth to a son. Wrapping the baby in diapers, she put him to sleep where they put the feed for livestock - in the manger.

Shepherds were the first to know about the birth of the Messiah. They were tending their flocks in the vicinity of Bethlehem when an angel appeared to them. He broadcast that the savior of mankind was born. This is a joy for all people, and the sign for the identification of the baby will be that he lies in the manger.

The shepherds immediately went to Bethlehem and came across a cave, in which they saw the future Savior. They told Mary and Joseph about the words of the angel. On the 8th day, the couple gave the child a name - Jesus, which means "savior" or "God saves."

Was Jesus Christ Jewish? Nationality by father or by mother was determined at that time?

star of bethlehem

On the very night that Christ was born, a bright, unusual star appeared in the sky. The Magi, who studied the movements of celestial bodies, went after her. They knew that the appearance of such a star speaks of the birth of the Messiah.

The Magi began their journey from an eastern country (Babylonia or Persia). The star, moving across the sky, showed the way to the sages.

Meanwhile, the numerous people who came to Bethlehem for the census dispersed. And the parents of Jesus returned to the city. Above the place where the baby was, the star stopped, and the Magi went into the house to present gifts to the future Messiah.

They offered gold as a tribute to the future king. They gave incense as a gift to God (even then incense was used in worship). And myrrh (scented oil, which was rubbed on the dead), as a mortal man.

King Herod

The local king, who obeyed Rome, knew about the great prophecy - a bright star in the sky marks the birth of a new king of the Jews. He called to himself the Magi, priests, soothsayers. Herod wanted to know where the baby Messiah was.

With false speeches, deceit, he tried to find out the whereabouts of Christ. Unable to get an answer, King Herod decided to exterminate all the babies in the area. 14,000 children under the age of 2 were killed in and around Bethlehem.

However, ancient historians, including do not mention this bloody event. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the number of children killed was much smaller.

It is believed that after such villainy, the wrath of God punished the king. He died a painful death, eaten alive by worms in his luxurious palace. After his terrible death, power passed to the three sons of Herod. The lands were also divided. The regions of Perea and Galilee went to Herod the Younger. Christ spent about 30 years in these lands.

Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, for the sake of his wife Herodias, beheaded The sons of Herod the Great did not receive the royal title. Judea was ruled by a Roman procurator. Herod Antipas and other local rulers obeyed him.

Mother of the Savior

The parents of the Virgin Mary were childless for a long time. At that time it was considered a sin, such a union was a sign of the wrath of God.

Joachim and Anna lived in the city of Nazareth. They prayed and believed that they would definitely have a child. Decades later, an angel appeared to them and announced that the couple would soon become parents.

According to legend, Virgin Mary Happy parents swore that this child would belong to God. Until the age of 14, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was brought up in the temple. From a young age, she saw angels. According to legend, the Archangel Gabriel took care of and guarded the future Mother of God.

Mary's parents had died by the time the Virgin had to leave the temple. The priests could not keep her. But they were sorry to let the orphan go. Then the priests betrothed her to the carpenter Joseph. He was more of a guardian of the Virgin than her husband. Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, remained a virgin.

What was the nationality of the Virgin? Her parents were natives of Galilee. This means that the Virgin Mary was not a Jew, but a Galilean. By confession, she belonged to the law of Moses. Her life in the temple also points to her upbringing in the faith of Moses. So who was Jesus Christ? The nationality of the mother, who lived in pagan Galilee, remains unknown. Scythians predominated in the mixed population of the region. It is possible that Christ inherited his appearance from his mother.

father of the savior

Theologians have long been arguing about whether Joseph should be considered the biological father of Christ? He had a fatherly attitude towards Mary, he knew that she was innocent. Therefore, the news of her pregnancy shocked the carpenter Joseph. The Law of Moses severely punished women for adultery. Joseph had to stone his young wife to death.

He prayed for a long time and decided to let Mary go, not to keep her near him. But an angel appeared to Joseph, announcing an ancient prophecy. The carpenter realized what a great responsibility lies on him for the safety of the mother and child.

Joseph is Jewish by nationality. Is it possible to consider him a biological father if Mary had an immaculate conception? Who is the father of Jesus Christ?

There is a version that the Roman soldier Pantira became the Messiah. In addition, there is a possibility that Christ had an Aramaic origin. This assumption is due to the fact that the Savior preached in Aramaic. However, at that time this language was common throughout the Middle East.

The Jews of Jerusalem had no doubt that the real father of Jesus Christ existed somewhere. But all versions are too doubtful to be true.

The face of Christ

The document of those times, describing the appearance of Christ, is called the "Message of Leptulus." This is a report to the Roman Senate, written by the proconsul of Palestine, Leptulus. He claims that Christ was of medium height with a noble face and a good figure. He has expressive blue-green eyes. Hair, the color of a ripe walnut, combed into a straight parting. The lines of the mouth and nose are impeccable. In conversation, he is serious and modest. Teaches softly, friendly. Terrible in anger. Sometimes he cries, but he never laughs. Face without wrinkles, calm and strong.

At the Seventh Ecumenical Council (VIII century), the official image of Jesus Christ was approved. The Savior should have been written on the icons in accordance with his human appearance. After the Council, painstaking work began. It consisted in the reconstruction of a verbal portrait, on the basis of which a recognizable image of Jesus Christ was created.

Anthropologists assure that the iconography uses not the Semitic, but the Greco-Syriac thin, straight nose and deep-set, large eyes.

In early Christian icon painting, they were able to accurately convey the individual, ethnic features of the portrait. The earliest depiction of Christ was found on an icon dated to the beginning of the 6th century. It is kept in Sinai, in the monastery of St. Catherine. The face of the icon is similar to the canonized image of the Savior. Apparently, the early Christians considered Christ to be of the European type.

Nationality of Christ

Until now, there are people who claim that Jesus Christ is a Jew. At the same time, a huge number of works have been published on the topic of the non-Jewish origin of the Savior.

At the beginning of the 1st century AD, as Hebraic scholars found out, Palestine broke up into 3 regions, which differed in their confessional and ethnic characteristics.

1. Judea, headed by the city of Jerusalem, was inhabited by Orthodox Jews. They obeyed the law of Moses.
2. Samaria was closer to the Mediterranean Sea. The Jews and Samaritans were old enemies. Even mixed marriages between them were forbidden. In Samaria there were no more than 15% of the Jews of the total number of inhabitants.
3. Galilee consisted of a mixed population, some of which remained faithful to Judaism.

Some theologians claim that the typical Jew was Jesus Christ. His nationality is not in doubt, since he did not deny the entire system of Judaism. And only he did not agree with some postulates of the Mosaic law. Then why did Christ react so calmly to the fact that the Jews of Jerusalem called him a Samaritan? This word was an insult to a true Jew.

God or man?

So who is right? Those who claim that Jesus Christ is God? But then what nationality can be demanded from God? He is out of ethnicity. If God is the basis of all things, including people, there is no need to talk about nationality at all.

What if Jesus Christ is a man? Who is his biological father? Why did he get the Greek name Christos, which means "anointed one"?

Jesus never claimed to be God. But he is not a man in the usual sense of the word. His dual nature was to acquire a human body and a divine essence within this body. Therefore, as a man, Christ could feel hunger, pain, anger. And as a vessel of God - to work miracles, filling the space around him with love. Christ said that he does not heal from himself, but only with the help of a divine gift.

Jesus worshiped and prayed to the Father. He completely submitted himself to His will in the last years of his life and called on the people to believe in the One God in heaven.

As the Son of Man, he was crucified in the name of saving people. As the Son of God, he resurrected and incarnated in the trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Miracles of Jesus Christ

About 40 miracles are described in the Gospels. The first happened in the city of Cana, where Christ, his mother and the apostles were invited to the wedding. He turned water into wine.

Christ performed the second miracle by curing the patient, whose illness lasted 38 years. The Jews of Jerusalem were angry with the Savior - he violated the Sabbath rule. It was on this day that Christ worked himself (healed the patient) and forced another to work (the patient himself carried his bed).

The Savior resurrected the dead girl, Lazarus and the widow's son. He healed the possessed and tamed the storm on the lake of Galilee. Christ fed the people with five loaves after the sermon - about 5 thousand of them gathered, not counting children and women. Walked on water, healed ten lepers and blind men of Jericho.

The miracles of Jesus Christ prove his divine nature. He had power over demons, sickness, death. But he never performed miracles for his glory or to collect offerings. Even during the interrogation of Herod, Christ did not show a sign as evidence of his strength. He did not try to defend himself, but only asked for sincere faith.

Resurrection of Jesus Christ

It was the resurrection of the Savior that became the basis for a new faith - Christianity. The facts about him are reliable: they appeared at a time when eyewitnesses of the events were still alive. All recorded episodes have slight discrepancies, but do not contradict each other as a whole.

The empty tomb of Christ testifies that the body was taken away (enemies, friends) or Jesus rose from the dead.

If the enemies took the body, they would not fail to mock the students, thus stopping the emerging new faith. Friends had little faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they were disappointed and depressed by his tragic death.

Honorary Roman citizen and Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus mentions the spread of Christianity in his book. He confirms that on the third day Christ appeared alive to his disciples.

Even modern scholars do not deny that Jesus appeared to some followers after death. But they attribute this to hallucinations or some other phenomenon without questioning the authenticity of the evidence.

The appearance of Christ after death, the empty tomb, the rapid development of the new faith are proof of his resurrection. There is not a single known fact that denies this information.

Appointment by God

Already from the first Ecumenical Councils, the Church unites the human and divine nature of the Savior. He is one of the 3 hypostases of the One God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This form of Christianity was recorded and declared the official version at the Council of Nicaea (in 325), Constantinople (in 381), Ephesus (in 431) and Chalcedon (in 451).

However, the controversy about the Savior did not stop. Some Christians claimed that Jesus Christ is God. Others claimed that he was only the Son of God and was completely subject to his will. The basic idea of ​​the trinity of God is often compared with paganism. Therefore, disputes about the essence of Christ, as well as about his nationality, do not subside to this day.

The cross of Jesus Christ is a symbol of martyrdom in the name of atonement for human sins. Does it make sense to discuss the nationality of the Savior, if faith in him is able to unite different ethnic groups? All people on the planet are children of God. The human nature of Christ stands above national characteristics and classifications.

The main female figure for Orthodox believers is the Virgin Mary, who was honored to become the Mother of the Lord. She led a righteous life and helped people cope with various troubles. After ascending to heaven, believers began to pray to the Mother of God, asking for help in various situations.

Virgin Mary in Orthodoxy

For believers, the Mother of God is the main intercessor before her Son and Lord. She is the woman who gave birth and raised the Savior. It is believed that nothing is impossible for the Mother of God, and people ask her for salvation for their souls. In Orthodoxy, the Virgin Mary is called the patroness of every person, since she, as a loving mother, worries about her children. More than once there was a phenomenon of the Virgin Mary, which was accompanied by miracles. There are many icons, temples and monasteries created in honor of the Mother of God.

Who is the Virgin Mary?

A lot of information is known about the life of the Virgin, which can be found in the apocrypha and in the memoirs of people who knew her during her earthly life. The following main facts can be distinguished:

1. The Holy Virgin Mary until the age of 12 was in a specialized school at the Jerusalem Temple. Her parents sent her there, who made a vow that their daughter would devote her life to the Lord.
2. The appearance of the Virgin is described by the church historian Nicephorus Callistus. She was of medium height, with golden hair and olive-colored eyes. The nose of the Virgin Mary is oblong and her face is round.
3. To feed her family, the Mother of God had to constantly work. It is known that she weaved well and independently created the red tunic that Jesus wore before the crucifixion.
4. The Virgin Mary constantly followed Jesus until the end of his earthly life. After the crucifixion and ascension of Christ, the Mother of God remained to live with John the Theologian. Further life is known to a greater extent from the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James.
5. The death of the Virgin Mary was recorded in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, where the Catholic Church is now located. According to the apocrypha, the apostles from different parts of the world arrived at their deathbed, but only Thomas was delayed, so at his request the tomb was not closed. On the same day, the body of the Virgin disappeared, so it is believed that the ascension of the Virgin Mary took place.

Symbols of the Virgin Mary

There are many symbols that are related to the Virgin:

1. Monogram composed of two letters "MR", which means Maria Regina - Mary, Queen of Heaven.
2. A common sign of the Virgin Mary is a winged heart, sometimes pierced by a saber and depicted on a shield. Such a picture is the coat of arms of the Virgin.
3. The crescent, cypress and olive tree are associated with the name of the Mother of God. The flower symbolizing the purity of the Virgin is a lily. Since the Virgin Mary is considered the queen of all saints, one of her symbols is called a white rose. They represent her with five petals, which is associated with the name Mary.

Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary

The sinlessness of the Mother of God did not immediately become a dogma, since the authors of the first Christian texts did not pay attention to this issue. Many do not know how the Virgin Mary became pregnant, and so, according to legend, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven to her, and an immaculate conception occurred, thanks to which original sin did not pass to Jesus Christ. In Orthodoxy, the Immaculate Conception is not accepted as a dogma, and it is believed that the Mother of God was freed from sin through contact with Divine grace.

How did the Virgin Mary give birth to Jesus?

It is not possible to find details regarding how the birth of the Virgin took place, but there is information that they were absolutely painless. This is explained by the fact that Christ appeared from the womb of the mother, without opening it and without expanding the paths, that is, the Mother of God the Virgin Mary remained a virgin. It is believed that Jesus was born when his mother was 14-15 years old. There were no midwives near the Mother of God, she herself took the child in her arms.

Prophecies of the Virgin Mary at Fatima

The most famous apparition of the Mother of God is the Miracle at Fatima. She came to three shepherd children and each of her appearances was accompanied by a number of inexplicable incidents, for example, the sun was observed to move erratically across the sky. During the conversation, the Mother of God revealed three secrets. The predictions of the Virgin Mary of Fatima have been revealed at different times:

1. At the first appearance, the Mother of God showed the children terrible visions of Hell. She said that the First World War would soon end, but if people did not stop sinning and offending God, then he would punish them with various disasters. A sign will be the appearance of a bright light at night, when it will be seen as in the daytime. According to some reports, before the start of World War II, northern lights were observed in Europe.
2. The second appearance of the Virgin Mary brought another prophecy and it says that when everything is illuminated with an unknown light at night, this will be a sign that God is going to punish the world. To prevent this from happening, the Mother of God will come to ask for the consecration of Russia, and also for holding the month of expiatory communions on every first Saturday. If people listen to her requests, then there will be peace, and if not, then wars and new cataclysms cannot be avoided. Many believe that this prophecy speaks of the spread of communism, which was accompanied by various clashes.
3. The third prophecy was received in 1917, but the Virgin Mary allowed it to be opened no earlier than 1960. The Pope, having read the prophecy, refused to disclose it, arguing that it did not concern his time. The text states that an assassination attempt will be made on the Pope, and this happened in May 1981. The Pope himself admitted that it is believed that the Virgin Mary protected him from death.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary

There are a huge number of prayer texts addressed to the Mother of God. She helps believers cope with various problems, as women who want to get pregnant and get married turn to her, ask her for healing and material benefits, pray to her for children, and so on. There are several rules regarding the pronunciation of prayer texts:

1. You can turn to the Mother of God in church and at home, the main thing is to have an icon in front of your eyes. It is recommended to light a candle nearby to make it easier to concentrate.
2. The prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary should be pronounced from a pure heart and with faith in her power. Any doubts are a block to help.
3. You can turn to the Mother of God at any time when the soul so desires.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary of Lourdes

In 1992, the Pope established a feast in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes. People turn to her for help in order to receive healing from diseases. During her lifetime, the Holy Virgin healed the suffering and after that became the savior of the sick. When she was a child, the Virgin Mary the Most Holy Theotokos began to appear to her and taught her the rules of prayer, called to repentance for sinful people and asked to build a church. She pointed out to the girl where the healing spring was. Bernadette was canonized only 10 years after her death.

Strong prayer to the Virgin Mary for help

In Christianity, a prayer appeal to the Mother of God is considered the most powerful and effective. They ask her for help in different situations, the main thing is that the request be serious, since it is better not to disturb the Higher Forces over trifles. Prayer to the Virgin Mary for help should be repeated daily and even up to several times a day. You can say it out loud and to yourself. The sacred text, when read regularly, inspires hope and gives strength not to give up in a difficult situation.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for well-being

Human life is filled with different situations that are not always positive. Women are the guardians of the family hearth, therefore, representatives of the fair sex should pray for the well-being of their relatives. The Blessed Virgin Mary will help reconcile people, and another will protect from quarrels and family destruction. With the help of the presented prayer, you can protect yourself and loved ones from various negative things from the outside.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for health

There is a huge amount of testimonies of believers who confirm that sincere prayer appeals to the Mother of God helped to heal from various ailments. A prayer to the Holy Virgin Mary can be said in the temple, but it is also recommended to put an image near the patient’s bed at home, light a candle and pray. You can say the text on, and then give the person with the disease a drink and wash it.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for marriage

Many girls who are in search of a soul mate turn to the Most Holy Theotokos so that she conveys petitions to the Lord and helps to improve their personal lives. She is considered the main intercessor of all women, helping them in love affairs. To find happiness and love, it is necessary to read a prayer to the Virgin Mary every day until the desired becomes real. Prayer petitions will not only increase the chances of meeting a worthy life partner, but will also save relationships from various problems and help build a happy family.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for children

The Mother of God is the main mother for all believers, since she gave the world a Savior. A huge number of people turn to her for help, asking for their children. The blessed Virgin Mary will help guide the child on the righteous path, drive him away from bad company and give inspiration to find himself in this world. Regular prayer of the mother will be a strong protection against diseases and various problems.