Archbishop Elpidophoros of America delivered a homily during the Paraklesis Service at the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in West Nyack, New York, on August 10, 2023.
“For the Mother of God was the first to be raised to everlasting life, and to taste the fruits of her Son’s Glorious Resurrection. And in doing so, she demonstrated to every generation of Christians the evidence of the promise of God,” Archbishop of America said at the beginning of his homily.
“The mystery of God’s Mother is not revealed in its totality only on Christmas Day, just as our salvation is not accomplished solely by the Incarnation of the Word of God. There is a process to our salvation – the sinless life, ministry, and teaching lived by our Lord Jesus Christ, which culminated in His Passion, Death, Burial, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven,” he added.
“Therefore, she lives in Heaven as a guarantee, a promissory note that we will live there, too, because we share the human nature with her, that she shares with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,” the Archbishop stressed.
Finally, the Archbishop of America concluded that the Theotokos “is the confirmation of our own Resurrection, because she was raised up to manifest the love of God for all people” and urged the believers to “always run to her with eagerness and urgency, and ask her to supplicate her Son and God, for she is a mediator for the world.”
Read the full homily of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America:
Beloved in the Lord,
I rejoice praying with you and supplicating the Virgin Mother of God in this beautiful church. The Feast of the Dormition, to which we now draw near, is so important in understanding the meaning of our lives. For the Mother of God was the first to be raised to everlasting life, and to taste the fruits of her Son’s Glorious Resurrection. And in doing so, she demonstrated to every generation of Christians the evidence of the promise of God.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, it is meet and right that we honor her Holy Dormition with these days of fasting and prayer. And especially in our services of the Paraklesis. We chant the Supplicatory Canon to her, beseeching her intercessions and mercies, because she is a lively advocate on our behalf. Often, some of our ecumenical neighbors, in the Christian communities across our land, find it difficult to accept our devotion to the Virgin. Not so much our Roman Catholic brethren, but sometimes our Protestant friends. And they can be surprised by our intense reverence for the Theotokos.
Here is what I would say:
The mystery of God’s Mother is not revealed in its totality only on Christmas Day, just as our salvation is not accomplished solely by the Incarnation of the Word of God. There is a process to our salvation – the sinless life, ministry, and teaching lived by our Lord Jesus Christ, which culminated in His Passion, Death, Burial, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven.
But there was also a process for the Mother of God, who grew in her own understanding of the meaning of her Son. The last that we hear of the Virgin in the history of the New Testament is in the Book of Acts. On the Mount of Olives, she witnessed the Ascension of her Resurrected Son into Heaven, which was a foreshadowing of her own resurrection and assumption into the celestial mansions. Afterward, she returned to Jerusalem with the Disciples, and there, as the Scripture says:
With one accord they devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.*
This last mention of the Virgin Mary is important, for it shows that she had witnessed the complete salvation of the earthly life of her Son: from His Nativity to His Ascension. And she is with the company of the Apostles and other Disciples of the Lord who followed their Teacher from Galilee. With them, she is prepared to experience the miracle of Pentecost, and thus she receives the Holy Spirit in a second filling, after her Annunciation.
All of these things happened to the Theotokos, not only to prepare her to face her own eventual death, but also so that she would be ready to receive – first among all humanity – the Resurrection of the Flesh, and the entry into Life Eternal with God.
She is now completely enfolded in the life of God. She has fulfilled the promise of the Resurrection. That is why there is no relic of the Virgin’s physical form. It is all living in eternity, to show us that we will one day do the same as well. The only portion that remains is her sacred Ζώνη, plaited from her own hair, and enshrined today on the Holy Mountain of Athos.
Therefore, she lives in Heaven as a guarantee, a promissory note that we will live there, too, because we share the human nature with her, that she shares with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. She is the confirmation of our own Resurrection, because she was raised up to manifest the love of God for all people. So, let us always run to her with eagerness and urgency, and ask her to supplicate her Son and God, for she is a mediator for the world. As we chanted tonight:
Δέσποινα καὶ μήτηρ τοῦ Λυτρωτοῦ, δέξαι παρακλήσεις, ἀναξίων σῶν ἱκετῶν, ἵνα μεσιτεύσῃς πρὸς τὸν ἐκ σοῦ τεχθέντα. Ὦ Δέσποινα, τοῦ κόσμου γενοῦ μεσίτρια. Ἀμην.
O Lady and Mother of the Redeemer: receive the supplications of your unworthy petitioners, so that you may intercede with One Born from you. O Lady, be the Mediator for the world! Amen!
* Acts 1:14
Source and photo: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America