Theotokos (The Birth of the Virgin Mary)

For the book : Theotokos (The Birth of the Virgin Mary)

In the first sermon of John of Damascus on the Nativity of the Theotokos, after expressing the joy of the world for the event that became the cause of the restoration of the human race, the Church’s faith in the person, life and role of the Virgin in the salvation of man is developed with poetic grace and deep theological reflection. For through her the Creator “transmuted himself into the whole nature of creation”. The sermon was delivered in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, where the saint remained for some time as a presbyter. In his second sermon, with an equally warm and poetic tone, he expresses the Church’s faith in the restoration of the human race with the intervention of the Theotokos, a fact that constitutes an occasion for celebrations, so that She who is the new heaven and the new earth may be duly honored, with praises and “rejoice”. Saint Nicholas of Kavasilas, in his sermon, also on the Nativity of the Virgin, after emphasizing the human character of the Virgin – praising Joachim and Anna – lays the foundations of his anthropological teaching, on which he bases the greatness of the Virgin. This greatness, in turn, reveals other aspects of Orthodox anthropology. He biblically and liturgically establishes the all-holiness of the Virgin. Thus, the teaching about man and the teaching about the Virgin are intertwined, to lead to the teaching about Jesus Christ, who, in addition to being God, is also the only true man. The Nativity of the Virgin is commemorated on September 8.