Why do Christians refer to the Virgin Mary as Mother?
Because the Lord Himself, during His suffering on the cross, adopted the Apostle John the Theologian, who stood at the Cross, into His Mother, and in the person of the disciple, all the members of the Church. The Gospel says: “Jesus, seeing the Mother and the disciple standing here, whom he loved, said to His Mother: Woman! Behold, Your son. Then he says to the disciple: Behold, your Mother! And from that time this disciple took Her to himself (John 19:26-27)».
“ When the Lord accomplished the redemption of the human race,” writes St. Ignatius , “and already intended, hanging on the cross, to seal the redemptive feat with an arbitrary death, then with the Lord and at His cross stood the Mother of God with the Lord’s beloved disciple, John... The Lord suddenly turns to the one standing before Him The Mother of God, as a participant in His redemptive suffering for humanity, introduces her to her rights regarding humanity, to the rights granted to her by the God-Man and all her relations to the God-Man. He declares her the Mother of the beloved disciple, and in him of all renewed humanity, according to the understanding (that is, the opinion - Ed.) and the explanation of the fathers .”
Why is the Virgin Mary called “Theotokos”? Is it possible to “give birth” to the eternal God?
Because Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, is both God and Man. According to the dogmatic formula adopted at the IV Ecumenical Council, the divine and the human were united in Him unmerged, unchangeable, inseparable, inseparable.
Saint Ignatius writes: “ The Virgin, having conceived and given birth to God and man in one person, became the Mother of God in the exact sense, because the one born by her was God, although there was also a man at the same time. “What if not the Mother of God,” exclaims St. John of Damascus, “who gave birth to God incarnate from her?” The Virgin, having become the Mother of God, naturally became the Mistress, Queen and Mistress of all rational creation, earthly and heavenly; but at the same time she remains a creature (that is, what was created by God. - Ed.) and a servant of the Son and her God. Having given birth to a Sacrifice for all humanity, she gave birth to this Sacrifice for herself, as belonging to humanity. Her Son is God, Creator, Lord, Redeemer and Savior .”
Annunciation. 1262-1270; Italy. Sienna; XIII century; master: Guido da Siena (Italian: Guido da Siena).
