I promised to write no more, and I meant it. But there’s something important I forgot.
My dear cousin Jacklyn wrote to say she identified with the sufferings of the Virgin Mary, as surely have a million mothers who have suffered great loss. I wrote in an earlier Post of how the Theotokos * suffered like no one on earth has ever suffered, for not only had she lost her only Son, but because she alone knew for certain Who her Son was – and if Satan killed Him, it was the end of all hope.
- For any non-Orthodox readers: “Theotokos” is the title given her by the Fourth Ecumenical Council, to protect the truth that Christ was/is God, the Son of God. “Theotokos” literally means “the one who gave birth to God”, which is pretty awkward in English, so most Orthodox leave it in the Greek: the “Theotokos”. The difficulty with that is that most non-Orthodox have no idea who we’re talking about. Sometimes we translate it slightly insufficiently as “Mother of God”.
Back to the subject:
What I left unfinished is this: We left the Theotokos mourning for her Son. How did she come to know that He was risen?
Obviously she found out. It would seem “just right” if He came to her first, but there is no evidence for it. She was part of the Christian community in Jerusalem. Acts 1:14 Early tradition says she lived with her new “son” John in Ephesus, where she remained for some years * before returning to Jerusalem, where she died. Her only other Scriptural appearance was as the Woman clothed with the sun (Revelation 12), who “gave birth to a Child who was to rule the world” – a clear reference to the Theotokos, now glorified.
- Here is a strange story: Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), a bedridden Roman Catholic nun who never left Germany, had a vision that Mary’s abandoned house could be found near Ephesus, hidden in a grove of trees. She provided such minute detail about the place that officials searched for it, and there it was, and still is.
The only Scriptural possibility is this: Some believe she was the “other Mary” in Matthew 28:1-16. “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb… The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen.’”
That may be the source of Orthodox peoples’ favorite Paschal hymn about her (the Paschal Megalynarion), reflecting the enormous joy she must have felt, as do we all.
Chanted by Archangel Voices: Available, along with much more ffine Orthodox music at http://www.archangelvoices.com/
Now I’m done.
Next Post: This Friday: “We shall be like Him”.