Saint Mary the VirginMother of God
St. Mary Feasts in the Synaxarium | Pope Shenouda's Book on Virgin Mary | Her Life |Holy Virgin and her names | Honoring Her | St. Joseph the carpenter | Glorification | Ya M-R-Y-M Lyrics | Why apparitions in Zaytoun?The Holy Virgin St. Mary
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF
ALL THE PREDICATION OF SAINT MARK
(Translated from the Arabic edition of 1999)
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In the Name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
the One God,
Amen
In this pamphlet, you read about:
Our mother the Saint Holy Virgin
The greatness of the Virgin
The oldest churches in her name
A life which was surrounded by miracles
The Virgin's fast
Her feasts
The Vigin in the Faith
Her surnames and symbols
The Virgin's virtues
Blessing her. Her icons.
Pope Shenouda III
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OUR MOTHER THE SAINT VIRGIN
about whom the Holy Bible cared, like the Virgin Mary.......There are
numerous symbols about her in the Old Testament. In the New
Testament also, there are her biography, her praise, and the miracles.
How many are the glorifying expressions and the contemplations,
which were cited about the Virgin in the books of the fathers.........How
full of praise are the surnames by which the Church calls her, and which
are inspired from the Spirit of the Holy Bible.......!
She is the mother of all of us, the lady of all of us, the pride of our
kind, the queen at the right side of the King, the Virgin with perpetual
virginity, the pure, the filled with grace, the saint Mary, the powerful and
helpful compassionate mother, the mother of the Light, the mother of
mercy and salvation, the true vine.
This is the one whom the Church elevates over the rank of
archangels, so that we say about her in her hymns and songs:
O Mary, you have been raised above the cherubims, and have
become higher than the seraphims, O Mary.
Mary who was bred up in the temple, and lived the life of prayer and
contemplation since her childhood, and who was the sacred vessel whom
the Lord has chosen to come inside her.
Long generations waited for the birth of this Virgin, so that the
fullness of the time would become complete by her (Gal.4:4)........... She has removed the shame of Eva, and saved the reputation of
women after sin.
She is the mother of God, in perpetual virginity.
She is the Virgin who came to our country during the childhood of
Christ, and inhabited our land for years, during which she sanctified it,
and blessed it.........
She is the Virgin who appeared in Zeitoun 32 years ago, and
attracted to her the feelings of the crouds, with her light, her appearance,
and her visit to us.........
She is the Virgin who makes miracles in numerous places, where we
celebrate feasts for he. The stories of her miracles are innumerable.....
The Virgin is not a stranger to us; because she is profoundly
assimilated with the feelings of Copts that come out from faith to special
experience and emotion. How great an honor is it for our country and our
Church, to be visited in past times by our Lady the Virgin! How great an
honor is it that our Lady appeared on her domes many years ago!
There is not a human being whom christians have loved so much
as our Lady the Virgin Mary.
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The majority of churches in Egypt celebrate her feast.
In the rites, how many are the compliments, the songs, the
veneration, the psalms, the doxologies, (glorifying blessings), which are
dedicated to her, especially in the month of Kiahk! The catholics have a
month for her, which is called the Mary month.........
Among the monasteries of monks in Egypt, there are the monastery
of El Baramous, the monastery of El Sourian, the monastery of El
Moharrak, which are all dedicated to her name; they represent the quarter
of the number of present monasteries.
There is a monastery for nuns which is dedicated to her name, in
Haret Zuwalah in Cairo. How many are the monasteries and the schools
which are dedicated to her name in the Western Churches.
THE OLDEST CHURCHES
DEDICATED TO HER NAME
The oldest church which was built and dedicated to the name of
the Virgin in the apostolic times, is the church of Philippi. The oldest
church which was built and dedicated to her name in Egypt, was in the
times of the Pope Theonas, the 16 th patriarch (year 274 AD).
Among the most reknown of her churches, there is the church of
the monastery El Moharrak, which was inuagurated in the times of the
Pope Theophilus, (the 23 rd pope), at the beginning of the fifth century,
on the 6th of Hator.
Also the churches which were built in the places that she visited in
Egypt.
On this occasion, we have two churches in Europe w ith the name
of "The Virgin of Zeitoun"; one is in France, and the other is in
Vienna.
THE GREATNESS OF THE VIRGIN
The greatness of the Virgin has been decreed in the sacred
oecumenical council of Ephesus, which was assembled in 431 AD. Two
hundred bishops from the world were present. They formulated the
prelude to the creed of the Christian Faith, in which it is cited: "We
venerate you, O mother of the true Light, and we glorify you, O Saint
Virgin Mother of God, because you gave birth for us to the Saviour of
the world, who has come and delivered our souls". What are the
foundations upon which the oecumenical council formulated this
prelude? That is what we shall explain now:
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