Because she’s the Mother of God. That’s not hyperbole or pious exaggeration. It’s what we actually believe happened in Nazareth two thousand years ago.
When the angel Gabriel appeared to a young Jewish girl and announced that she would bear a son, he wasn’t talking about an ordinary child who would later become divine. The Son of God himself took flesh in Mary’s womb. God became man in her. That changes everything about how we understand her.
The Title That Changes Everything
We call Mary “Theotokos.” It’s Greek for “God-bearer” or “birth-giver of God.” The Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431 AD made this official Church teaching, but Christians had been calling her this since the earliest days. The title isn’t really about Mary at all. It’s about Jesus.
Here’s why it matters. If Mary isn’t the Mother of God, then Jesus isn’t God. Some people back in the fifth century wanted to call her “Christotokos” (Christ-bearer) instead, thinking it sounded more modest. But the Church said no. That makes it sound like Mary gave birth to a human who was somehow connected to God, rather than to God himself in human flesh. One person, two natures. Fully God and fully man from the moment of conception.
So when we honor Mary, we’re protecting the truth about who Jesus is.
Veneration Isn’t Worship
I know this trips up a lot of folks coming from Baptist or non-denominational backgrounds here in Southeast Texas. You walk into an Orthodox church and see icons of Mary everywhere, hear her name in nearly every prayer, watch people kissing her icon. It looks like worship.
It’s not.
We have different words for different things. Worship (what the Church fathers called “latreia”) belongs to God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What we give to Mary and the saints is veneration or honor. We’re not praying to Mary as if she’s divine. We’re asking her to pray for us, the same way you’d ask your grandmother or your pastor to pray for you. Except Mary’s closer to Jesus than anyone. She’s his mother.
The distinction matters. We don’t offer Mary sacrifice. We don’t believe she answers prayers by her own power. We don’t think she’s omniscient or omnipresent. Those things belong to God alone.
But we do believe she hears us when we ask for her prayers, because she’s alive in Christ. Death didn’t end her relationship with her son or with us.
What the Bible Actually Says
Elizabeth got it right at the Visitation. When Mary came to visit her, Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43). Mother of my Lord. Elizabeth understood who this child was.
And Mary herself said, “From now on all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). We’re just doing what Scripture predicted we’d do.
The angel Gabriel called her “full of grace” or “highly favored.” God chose her for the most important task any human has ever been given. She said yes when she could have said no. Her obedience brought salvation into the world. That’s worth remembering.
How We’re Different from Catholics
People often assume Orthodox Marian devotion is just like Roman Catholic devotion. It’s not quite the same. We share a lot, we both call her Theotokos, we both ask her prayers, we both honor her above all other saints. But Rome has defined certain dogmas that Orthodoxy doesn’t accept.
The Immaculate Conception, for instance. That’s the idea that Mary herself was conceived without original sin. Rome made it official dogma in 1854. We honor Mary’s purity and holiness, but we don’t frame it that way. We also don’t accept the later developments around papal authority that often shape Catholic Marian teaching.
Our approach is older, more rooted in the liturgy and the Church fathers. We’re doing what Christians have always done, not adding new dogmas.
She’s Everywhere in Our Worship
You can’t attend an Orthodox service without encountering Mary. The Divine Liturgy includes an ancient hymn that begins, “It is truly meet to bless you, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God.” We sing it every Sunday. We ask her prayers at the end of nearly every petition. We celebrate multiple feast days in her honor throughout the year.
This isn’t innovation. It’s how Christians worshiped from the beginning. St. Irenaeus in the second century called her the “New Eve” whose obedience undid Eve’s disobedience. St. Ephrem the Syrian wrote hymns to her in the fourth century. The practice is ancient.
The Practical Part
If you’re visiting St. Michael for the first time and all this feels strange, that’s normal. Most people around here grew up hearing that Catholics worship Mary and that’s wrong. Then you walk into an Orthodox church and it seems like we’re doing the same thing.
Give it time. Listen to what we’re actually saying in the prayers. We’re not worshiping her. We’re honoring the woman God chose, asking her to pray for us, and marveling at what God did through her. She’s the first Christian, the first person to carry Christ in her body, the one who stood at the foot of the cross when almost everyone else ran away.
She’s our mother too. Jesus gave her to us from the cross when he told John, “Behold your mother” (John 19:27). The Church has always understood that as a gift to all of us.
If you want to understand this better, Fr. Thomas Hopko’s “The Winter Pascha” has a beautiful section on Mary that explains the Orthodox approach in plain language. Or just come to Vespers on a Saturday evening and listen to the hymns. They’ll teach you more than any explanation can.
