Comments on: Do the Greek Orthodox Worship Mary?

By: Gen

Gen — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:32:47 +0000

I am doing a project on Greece for school & I was curious as to how the Greeks typically celebrate this holiday. I know the Assumption of Mary is celebrated in places other than in Greece, but I want to know how it is celebrated in Greece specifically? I’ve been trying to look it up & I can’t seem to find anything, so I wanted to ask first-hand. I saw articles referring to “feast day”, but I don’t really comprehend it. I wanted to know some traditions for this holiday. For example, where I live, we open presents & decorate a tree for Christmas every year. Do the Greeks do anything special like that for the Assumption of Mary?

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 23:24:37 +0000

It would be a good idea to read Deut 18:9-14

9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 “For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. 13 “You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 “For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

By: Eddie Bromley

Eddie Bromley — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:10:57 +0000

Thank you for writing with such clarity. That was very helpful

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:33:38 +0000

My God….I am thinking about Mary. How is it possible that someone stained by sin could receive YOU?
You are the Holy of holies. Surely your abode is holiness. If YOU choose to make Mary holy to receive your son it is so. At the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11) Jesus was there and so were his disciples and his mother was there too. Now Here is the interpretation:- when the wine ran out (Wine symbolises the forgiving blood of Christ /as in the last supper) When the wine ran out - Mother asked her son “they have no wine - (That means they (We) have no means of forgiveness from their(our) sins) Mary would have told that literally without realising/knowing then that her words will echo in Christ thought about what would soon take place for Him (Dying on the cross ). And Jesus said “Woman, what is that to me and to you?(For Jesus its his crucifixion and shedding his blood and to Mary it is the sword that shall pierce into her soul (Luke 2:35 - If you see Luke 2- it began after Mary’s days of purification) In another way Jesus was asking “why are you asking for my blood?”) MY HOUR HAS NOT YET COME (The time for Christ to die on the cross and shed his blood for the forgiveness of many) Then Mary said do whatever he tells you (Listen to my son -so that humankind can be redeemed)This is one level: The other level Now there were six stone jars…. (for Jewish ceremonial PURIFICATION, SIX also marks the completion of Creation as God’s work,(in Christ Jesus) and hence the number is significant of secular COMPLETENESS.)The water turned to wine (The blood of Christ to purify human from sin)
John 17:1.. These things Jesus spoke: and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said: THE HOUR HAS COME. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 As you have given him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

John19: 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. 26 When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he says to his mother: Woman, behold your son. 27 After that, he says to the disciple: Behold your mother. And from that HOUR, the disciple took her to his own.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:43:13 +0000

Thank you for your very understanding article. As a Catholic, I know that the official position of the Church is that she was assumed body and soul into Heaven. We don’t take a position on whether she died or not. The earliest written traditions (in the 300’s) was that she did, and that after burial the apostles found her grave empty. She is recognized as human, with no power of her own, no supernatural knowledge of her own, no ANYTHING of her own - all that she had and did and continues to do is done through the grace of God her Savior. May that kind of grace follow us all, and may we follow her advice at that wedding long ago, “Whatsoever He shall say to you, do.”

By: Cath/Ortho Faith Defender

Cath/Ortho Faith Defender — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:20:05 +0000

Luke 15:7 “There is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents” this proves the dead are aware of what is going on on earth. Praying to Mary is biblical, a Protestant would need to show by the bible that the dead CANNOT be aware of what is going on here on earth. The verse said by Jesus himself proves otherwise. In fact, in Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Who are the cloud(s) of witnesses? the Saints.

By: howard

howard — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:31:32 +0000

This conversation is going no where. It’s lacking the place of a
good leader to head the things to come out on conclusion.
Healthy Living

By: Marisa

Marisa — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:00:45 +0000

Mariolatry is probably the most serious poison of the Roman system and it is a very important question about where Mary worship came from. Basically, it came out of the Counsel of Ephesus in 431 AD. It didn’t come out of scripture because it isn’t in scripture.

You see, the Catholic church teaches that there are two sources of truth, two sources of divine revelation. One is the holy scripture; two is the holy Catholic church. So, if the church says something is revelatory, it is. If the pope speaks ex cathedra, that’s like the voice of God and has equal weight with scripture. If a church counsel says this is revelation, it is. So, you’ll read a Catholic theology like Ott’s Theology, which I was reading this week, and you’ll read in there and it will say, “Such and such and such is true” and instead of giving you a scripture reference, it will just say “The Counsel of Ephesus, 431.” Or it will say, “Such and such and such and such,” and then it will give you “Pope Pius XII” because that’s equal revelation. Therein lies the conflict.

Whomever made this comment is particularly stupid, as, from the mouth of the Angel Gabriel, who is after all, a messenger of GOD!!!!, it was said, ‘Rejoice highly favoured one, the lord is with you; blessed are you amongst women (Luke 1.28) now, if she is blessed by god who the heck are you to deny that. Also, she was held in such high esteem by Jesus that he wished his Apostle Thomas take good care of her. Now, NOBODY ever said worship! Veneration is respect for someone esteemed by God himself! as the apostle and said are venerated. Your earthly feelings of sexism are on full show…why should respect for or venerate a women, right? I mean, we have respect for apostles, and even some recent leaders of the church are venerated so stop getting hung up on councils and get off your high horse and venerate the one whom GOD , not tradition, called ‘full of Grace’ you stupid man. It wont distract you from Jesus, I promise!

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:57:30 +0000

Comment # 7 and #9 your not getting the whole picture. As a former Evangelical I researched and discovered many flaws in Evangelicalism. The Orthodox Church is Christ’s body, that is why we worship here, get baptized here, fed his body (receive communion) here, have confession and fellowship here. In the church we are restored to communion (not relationship) with God and communion with others. You cannot be an individualistic Christian (just you and the bible). With only a few exceptions most of the New Testament was written to the Churches and not to individuals. The Bible was written by the Church and for the Church, you cannot come up with your own interpretations that differ from the early Fathers of the Church who in some instances were taught by the apostles themselves. Also if you are not a member of any church and just believe that all you need is the Bible and not Church (I knew a lot of those people), then you are not reading the Bible the way it was intended. The Bible is from the Church and for the Church as a member of Christ’s body which is the Orthodox Church. A lot of Evangelical practices today are a very modern idea, even if Martin Luther were alive today he would not recognize many of these practices done today. For example; Not baptizing infants, The Virgin Mary not being ever Virgin, Not accepting that the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ, Luther believed in all these things. If St. Paul were to be transported from his century to this century and visit an Evangelical Church he would not recognize most of these Church practices that are done today in the Evangelical Church. In the same scenario if he were to be transported to an Orthodox church he would have not recognized the fashion, but as for the Church, it would be similar to his times. Now in saying these things I must state that I know most Evangelicals are sincere about worshiping Christ, they truly are. All I am saying is that you can be sincere in your spirituality but wrong in your Theology. That is why modern day Evangelicalism is mostly American. Most of these Evangelical practices that are done were not even heard of in the first century church. If you were to conduct Church in the ways I have mentioned with alter calls and a Church service that mostly consists of a Pastor reading and interpreting Bible verses it would have been totally foreign to the early Church. Evangelicals whole stance is built on anti-Catholicism and anything that reminds them of that they attribute to Catholic innovation. One of the reasons for the Protestant Reformation was that Martin Luther watched the Pope accumulating personal wealth by selling indulgences for the forgiveness of the sins of the deceased. That is when he displayed his disagreement with the Pope and wrote his 95 theses on the church door. I think we have to acknowledge that the reformers were attempting to get back to the golden age of Christianity. There was an intention, a motivation on their parts, that was good and appropriate, because what they were seeing didn’t square with the gospel. And in fact, I think we would even argue that in many ways, it didn’t square with apostolic tradition. There were many things that had been added, through the Middle Ages, to the faith once for all delivered for the saints, that even as Orthodox Christians, we could not embrace today (Mary’s Immaculent Conception, Purgatory, The Pope, etc). But by returning to the Bible, they sought to divest Christianity of all the accretions, the additions, and return it to the pristine state of the early church. Now I want to say again that I know firsthand many Evangelicals want to glorify God above all else, as true Christians that is what were supposed to do, but how the Bible was formed and the intimate relationship between the Church and its Scriptures is vital. The truth is indeed in the written Word of God, but why does a modern church’s interpretation outweigh the wisdom of the Fathers, Councils and Creeds? That is an idolatrous confidence in someone’s own ability to understand the Bible. Our individual interpretations of the Bible are valuable, however when our individual interpretations conflict with the collective voice of the saints down through the ages (some were taught by the disciples themselves) then our individual interpretations are most likely wrong. This is precisely what the heretic Arius was doing in the early century of the church, when he denied the full divinity of the Son of God, he read the Bible in such a way as to deny the full divinity of Christ “It’s in the Bible, so forget about tradition!” That is where a lot of Evangelical Churches end up, whether they acknowledge it or not. They end up elevating their own mind over the mind of the church. In the end, the voice of the many (the Church) is to be preferred over the voice of one, regardless how sincere that one voice may be. I had heard many times when I was an Evangelical that the Bible is the pillar of truth. But the Bible does not say that, it says; “I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Evangelicals say you must be “Born Again”, yes this is true but listen to what the Lord says to Nicodemus in the Scriptures “ You must be born again” (John 3:17). Meaning the spiritual rebirth from divine grace. But by what means would it come and operate? Did he say perhaps, believe, open your mouth, and Divine Grace will come unto you and give you rebirth. Of course not, what our Lord said is “Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5). What else is this birth (born of water) other than Holy Baptism. This rebirth (and the spirit) enables our nature to receive and contain Divine Grace. By Divine Grace the faithful were saved and are being saved. It is not a one time deal, it is a constant Grace, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). This is why in many places in the epistles, Divine Grace remains and grows in each believer.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:48:45 +0000

I agree with Comment #9. Thank you Mr. Van Halteren for your humble yet powerful answer.
To the one who states “Mary is venerated, not worshipped as a goddess. Venerate: To regard with respect, reverence, or heartfelt deference. Worship: The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object. Ardent devotion; adoration. Two different things.” Don’t kid yourself. If you pray to her, you are according her the power to hear and grant prayer requests, how is this not assuming the role of a deity?
As far as her being sinless goes, Romans 3:23 states “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;” It does not state an exception for Mary. God doesn’t make mistakes when he authors something through man, but that man has to first be submitted to God in Christ Jesus in order to be correct. Here’s a measuring tool with which you can use to test the truth of a belief: If it lifts up anything other than Jesus, it is not from God. (See 1 John 1-6) Furthermore, Mary herself confessed she needed a savior in her magnificat (Luke 1:47), “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” There are many lessons in the New Testament warning against the praise of Mary. In Luke 11:27-28 Jesus Himself corrected a woman who fell into this thinking when she shouted to Him “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But Jesus said, “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.’”
My parents left the Catholic church for this very reason: They started to see for themselves that ONLY God’s Word is the truth and that “the church” much of the time contradicts God’s holy scriptures, this Maryology being a perfect exapmle. For “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for DOCTRINE, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.” Truly did Paul speak only verses later in 2 Timothy 4:3 when he said, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers, having itchy ears; And they shall turn away from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Isn’t this exactly what we’re talking about- fables vs. God’s Word? Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about how they regarded their traditions to be higher than God’s calling, saying, “Thus you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (see Mat 15:6 and Mk 7:13)
Please, see for yourself the depth of God’s Love for us by sending Jesus alone - God incarnate, to be the propitiation for our sins, the “justifier of him that believes in Jesus” (Rom.3:25-26) Don’t let the enemy steal the truth from you. Things don’t need to have an upside down star or horns on it to be from Satan. He wants to keep as many people in the dark about God’s Truth and Love for us. Because God’s truth sets us free from the bondage of sin and death. His truth brings life to us. Satan knows it and hates it. Don’t let Satan steal what is rightfully yours: Belief in the man Jesus Christ, that you may inherit life and life abundantly. I challenge you to read 1 John. The epistle not the gospel (although the gospel of John ain’t too shabby either!) and see what God reveals to you by His Spirit. “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” Psalm 34:8