Theotokos

St. Mary is the Mother of God; Veneration of St. Mary as Theotokos; Role of St. Mary in Incarnation and salvation; Rejects the immaculate conception theory of St. Mary, First member of Holy Church, Without knowing Mary as Theotokos, we can't know Jesus Christ as God.

Teacher Training and Resources

Reference Materials

A reference is a referral to another's text or information and can refer to written sources (books, reports, articles), videos, Internet sites, images, etc. It can also refer to personal communication in the form of letters, e-mails or interviews. A reference is synonymous with a literary citation or citing a source.

The following materials are offered as sources for information and ideas but please remember to properly give credit if material is used in your writing! If you forget to use references, or your references are incomplete, your work can seem like an empty postulation or create suspicions of plagiarism.

Articles

  1. St. Mary the Mother of God by Dr.Yuhanon Mar Dimitrios Metropolitan (MOSC)
  2. Icons of the Mother of God, (A Reader’s Guide to Orthodox Icons)
  3. The Symbol of Faith:The Incarnation, by Fr. Thomas Hopko (OCA)
  4. List of Typology for the Theotokos
  5. Venerating the Virgin: Orthodox Christian Reflections for Protestants, Jodie Anna Boychuk (Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy Blog, AFR)
  6. Nativity of the Theotokos, Fr. Thomas Hopko (Church of the Mother Of God, Mays Landing, New Jersey)

Videos

  1. God's Mother, Our Mother, Steven Christoforou (Be The Bee, Greek Orthodox Church)
  2. The Ladder Episode 5 The Theotokos, Fr. Shawn Thomas (Northeast American Diocese)
  3. Qolo of Saturday, Evening | St Mary - The Burning Bush (Graphē)
  4. From Mary Back to Eve: Finding St. Mary in the Old Testament (Uhro)
  5. Mary, the Mother of God, Seminarian Pradeep Chacko (presented at St. Luke's Mission)

Podcasts

  1. The Gate Facing East, Fr. Thomas Hopko (Ancient Faith Radio)

Scripture

In order to help our children grow in the Orthodox Faith in North America, a decision was made to standardize all materials to the Orthodox Study Bible (DSWA Kalpana DSWA/C/016/2010, October 28, 2010). Please continue to pray and support the development of a fully approved translation based on the Peshitta, and our textbooks will educate on the various translations and historic development of Scripture.

  • [Isaiah 7:14]

    "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Immanuel."

  • [Luke 1:28]

    "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

  • [John 19:26–27]

    "When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home."

  • [Luke 1:42-43]

    "Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

  • [Luke 1:28-48]
  • [Matthew 7:15]
  • [Hebrews 12:1, James 5:16]
  • [Revelation 12:1-2, 16-17]
  • [Genesis 3:15]
  • [Hebrews 9:4, John 6:41]

Biblical Stories

Liturgical Resources

The Ministry of Liturgical Resource Development (LRD) was created in July of 2015 (DSWA Kalpana DSWA/C/10/2015, July 24,2015) to promote the translation, versification, and publication of vital English liturgical resources. Today most of our Sacramental offices are available and the "Service Book of the Holy Qurbono" and "Shehimo: Book of Common Prayer" are available in print. Wherever possible references will be made using LRD resources given the easy access to these materials to the faithful in North America.

Holy Qurbono

  • Nicene Creed
And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and became man;
  • Ma'nitho of Mor Severus (Service Book of the Holy Qurbono, pg. 158)
The Only-Begotten Son,
Word of the Father,
Immortal in His nature
And who by His grace
Descended for all mankind
To bring life and salvation
For our fallen human race;
Who did become incarnate
Of the pure Virgin,
The holy and glorious Theotokos;
He became man without change
  • Quqlion to the Theotokos, Qolo Option 3 (Service Book of the Holy Qurbono, pg. 482)
Virgin, chosen to
Be the Mother of God


Glory to the Pow'r
Who left the Cherubim
And the Seraphim,
Descending to dwell
In the Virgin's womb;
And He took flesh from her
To save Adam's son
From Death and Satan

Other Hymns

  • Qymotho - 6th Hour Qolo (Service Book of the Holy Qurbono, pg. 148)
Mount Sinai trembled - at Your presence, Lord
Yet the Bless'd Virgin
Carried You, Lord, who carries
All of the heights and the depths
She conceived You without man
And brought You forth wondrously
Magnify - her mem'ry, O Lord.
  • Sleeba - 3rd Hour (Service Book of the Holy Qurbono, pg. 464)
Bless'd is Mary the Mother
Who did bring forth God the Word

Other Prayers

  • Annunciation to the Theotokos - Concluding Hymn (Service Book of the Holy Qurbono, pg. 250)
The archangel
Announced to Mary, "Peace be with You,
The Lord is with You" (Lk 1:28)
O Mary, you
Carry in your womb Him Who carries
The whole creation
  • Dormition of the Theotokos - Post-Gospel Hymn (Service Book of the Holy Qurbono, pg. 273)
Heaven received your body
Which had carried Christ our God

Promeon and Sedro

  • Feast of the Nativity of our Lord - Promioum (Orders of the Prayers of the Major Feasts (MOSC), pg. 15)
The prophet Isaiah saw this holy child and cried out:
'Behold the Virgin shall conceive and hear a son
and He will be called Wonder', for He is God and man

Quotes

Patristic Quotes

  • [St. John of Damascus] “The burning bush is an image of God’s Mother . . . If, therefore, the ground where the image of the Theotokos was seen by Moses is holy ground, how much more holy is the image itself?”
  • [St. Ignatius of Antioch] "He who is devout to the Mother of God will certainly never be lost."
  • [St. Gregory of Nazianzus] "Anyone who does not admit that holy Mary is the Mother of God is out of touch with the Godhead. Equally remote from God is anyone who says that Christ passed through the Virgin as through a channel, without being formed in her in a manner at once divine and human - divine because without the agency of a man; human because following the normal process of gestation."
  • [St. Cyprian of Carthage] "You cannot have God for your Father unless you have the Church for your mother. If you could escape outside Noah's ark, you could escape outside the Church."
  • [St. Ireneaus of Lyons] "Becoming disobedient, Eve became the cause of death, both for herself and for the entire human race; but Mary, engaged to a man but still a virgin, yielded obedience and so became the cause of salvation, both for herself and for the whole human race .. This is also how the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by the obedience of Mary: what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief the Virgin Mary set free through Faith."

Other Quotes

  • [Fr. Alexander Schmemann] "The veneration of the Virgin Mary is a necessary component of our faith: The image of the Virgin Mary, the Virgin Mother, stands [as] the image of infinite humility and purity, filled with beauty and strength; the image of love and the victory of love. The Virgin Mary, the All-Pure Mother demands nothing and receives everything. She pursues nothing and possesses all. In the image of the Virgin Mary, we find compassion, tender-heartedness, care, trust, humility. We call her Our Lady and the Queen of Heaven and Earth, and yet she calls herself "the hand-maid of the Lord." .. Christ said, 'Do not be anxious. Seek first the Kingdom of God' (see Mt 6:33). Beholding this woman - Virgin Mother, Intercessor - we begin to sense, to know not with our mind, but with our heart, what it means to seek the Kingdom, to find it, and to live by it."
  • [Fr. Thomas Hopko] "She is, in every aspect of her life, as Father Alexander Schmemann so often said, not the great exception, but rather the great example. From her conception to her dormition, that is, her true and real death, she shows how all people must be when they are sanctified by the Holy Spirit as servants of God and imitators of Christ."

Lives of the Saints

Syriac and Greek Words

  • Yoldath aloho (Syriac) - "the one who is delivering God" or "God-bearer"

Icons

These icons are either approved for publication or the Curriculum Committee is in the process of gaining approval. If you do not see the icon you'd like to use for your writing, please submit the image to the Committee so that we can do the necessary follow-up.

Stephane Rene Theotokos.jpeg Mother-of-god-with-christ-child-icon-002723 39943.1541619817.jpg Theotokos the Burning Bush.jpeg

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