The Orthodox Church has many holidays as part of the Mother of God. First of all, twelve Great Holidays, and then many holidays in honor of miraculous icons. There are many holidays, but two of the twelve Great Feasts stand out with their meaning and solemnity: one is the bright spring holiday of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, and the other is the holiday from the end of summer and the beginning of autumn – the Assumption of the Mother of God.
The Feast of the Annunciation sharply divided the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin into two periods: until that event, she was almost completely unknown, she lived simply, like a pious Jewish girl. But when the archangel Gabriel stood before her, then Her future glory shone before Her, when he began to tell Her that Her Son would be called the Son of the Most High and His kingdom would have no end. And behold, She, encouraged by this, hurries to the righteous Elizabeth and listens to the beginning of future praise from her: (Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?) She hears this about herself and reveals Her future glory to Her and says to Herself: “From now on, all generations will call me blessed”.
Yet, She continues to live her life in which she has chosen the path of deepest humility. She is relatively little mentioned in the Gospels, and much more is said about her in the book of Acts. She is mentioned only once in the Gospel, and many times in the Acts of the Apostles.
We know from the history of the Church that She was the center of spiritual life for Orthodox Christians, starting with the holy apostles. But, undoubtedly according to her wish, and maybe, in fact, according to her order, the apostles did not write anything about her. Her earthly share was so modest! She lived and did not stand out in any way, like Her Divine Son, when He lived on earth. He lived as if he were nothing special, as if he did not stand out from others except, of course, according to His extraordinary teaching. So she was calm.
One church writer mentions a tradition preserved in church history, as he once wrote her the letter of St. Ignatius, who as a child was honored to be placed before the apostles by the Lord Jesus Christ himself and said, “If you are not like this child, you will not enter.” Kingdom of heaven”. When he wrote this letter, he was already a young man who converted to Christianity. After hearing a lot about the Virgin Mary and Her Divine Son from the Apostle John the Theologian, he wrote that letter to the Virgin Mary. The Orthodox, but still young Ignatius writes to her: “I have heard a lot about Your divine Son from the Apostle John.” He asks if he can see Her and writes: “It would be nice if You would make me worthy to meet You in person.” And here, the one who writes all this, says: isn’t it touching to think that the Virgin Mary, having received that letter, sat down at the table, maybe adjusting her clothes so that she wouldn’t be bothered, took a pen and started writing the answer. The answer to Ignatius, which she began with: “Humble obedient of Jesus Christ”. That is how She responded to his letter. Humble obedient She was!
But, soon, the archangel Gabriel appears to her and announces a new joy that she will soon move to her Son. She heard that and began to prepare for her outcome. Of course, everyone cried, the apostles themselves cried, because when a good person dies, everyone who knew her/him cries, but at the same time, their end is the transition to their new existence in divine glory. So it was with Her! She was taken care of by the apostles, and was solemnly buried.
The apostles had a pious custom. They, after the ascension of the Lord, when they gathered together for the table, remembering the words of the divine Master: “I am with you always, to the end of the age”, and firmly believing in His divine words, when they sat at the table, they left the place empty without any doubt that He dwells with them invisibly. So it was now.
When the apostles, addressing the Savior Who is invisibly present with: “Lord Jesus Christ, help us!”, Wanted to do so at the end of their table, they were suddenly illuminated by a miraculous light. In that light, they saw in glory, surrounded by angels and archangels and all the powers of heaven, piously bowing down to Her – the Virgin Mary, but not in the calm form in which she was before – but as the Queen of Heaven and Earth, shining in divine glory. . She gave them peace, the peace of Her Son, and said, “I am with you to the end of the age.” And since then, after the usual invocation of the Lord, they have said: “Most Holy Mother of God, help us!”
And here, the Church remembers that exclamation. What She told them, she told us all through them. It is not without reason that Her divine Son on the cross, through the Apostle John, adopted all her human race. She is truly a loving mother, who takes care of every human soul. And we know that a good mother loves all her children – both good and bad, and obedient and disobedient, and for the bad, her mother’s heart hurts even more. Thus, each of us can boldly turn to Her motherly love.
But we should also remember what I have already said. Recently, a Virgin Mary appeared to a man in glory, surrounded by a bright light, but he saw that Her pure face was tormented, that it was full of sorrow and anguish, and that tears were flowing down Her face. She told him, “Go back to earth and ask people when they will finally feel sorry for me? They torment me with their sins! I pray for them all the time before My Son, but their sins do not allow My prayer to pass to the throne of My Son. I struggled – let them have mercy on Me “. Let us remember that our life in sin tormented Her with our depravity in sins, and therefore let us straighten our hearts to live a full Christian life, in repentance and good works.
Metropolitan Filaret of the Ascension