Saint Mary

Mariam314

\I recently had an argument with a protestant person about religions. He really got into the topic of Saint Mary and how we shouldn't honor her. More than that, he questioned her virginity. I was trying to explain to him how James and Judas were Jesus's cousins, not his brothers but he wanted references and sources. Also, the Bibles that I have are the ones that protestants altered so some of the verses are in his favor such as Luke 1:28- instead of full of grace it says highly favored one and thats wrong. If anyone knows anything that could help me out, it would really be appriciated.

younanme

Tell the ignorent protestant to give you references where it says that Judas and James were his brothers.

PrincessMary

Try to read ST. MARY IN THE OTHODOX CONCEPT by Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty, here r some parts and pieces from it:

-“1Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. 2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. 3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.” Ezekiel 44:1-3

-we say in the Sunday theotakia “Emmanuel, whom you had brought forth, preserved you in incorruption and your VIRGINITY IS SEALED”

-“Only Christ opened the closed gates of her virginal womb, and yet the gates remained unfailingly closed”- St. Jerome-

-“The womb of the holy virgin which ministered to an immaculate birth did not annul the virginity, nor did the virginity impede so great a birth”- St. Gregory of Nissa-

-“Just as the Lord made His entrance when the doors were closed, in the same way He did come forth from the Virgin’s womb, because the virgin really and truly gave birth without pain, her virginity remained safe and sound” -St. Ephriam the Syrian-

About Jesus’ “brothers”, during that time period the term brother only applied for : blood brotherhood, common nationality, close relatives, or friends, in this case it is close relatives. Abraham called his brother’s son, Lot, his brother (Gen 13:8), Laban called his son in law- “brother” (Gen 29:15). According to St. Jerome, the brothers of Jesus were probably the sons of St. Mary of Clopas, the wife of Alphaeus and the sister of the Virgin Mary (John 19:25)

PrincessMary

He really got into the topic of Saint Mary and how we shouldn't honor her

Saint Mary, the mother of God, is and should be honored among all nations, you know even the muslims honor her..so if we Christians dont..then theres something wrong....going on.

Saint Mary, the pure, full of glory, ever-virgin, holy theotokos, should be honored because from her womb came the savior of the whole world, Jesus Christ.

Saint Mary has touched all of our lives, she is our blessed mother, and whenever we call her name to intercede for us, she always listens. St. Mary has done so many miracles to so many people..christian and even non-christian. She has appeared to many, and she has appeared in many places of the world.

She should, for sure be honored!

mmatt95

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. (Luke 1)

sweetsecrets303

Hey Guys this is Mariam,
thanks for all your help i really really appriciate it. hos irof i just wanted to ask one question, for Luke 1:49, like i said before i have protestant altered Bibles and thats one of the verses that they altered... i was wondering if you knew where i could get one that wasnt..and if anyone knows anything else that could help me out right now, i would love to see it
God Bless,

mmatt95

the problems is that any symbol or verse that refers to St Mary seems to be altered, and they don't accept the sayings of the fathers on this topic either, so i think it's kinda useless trying to convince them. Did u talk to them about all the miracles and appearences of St Mary? The thing i dont get it how they can't understand how special a person must be to bare God in the Flesh, if they want to understand they will, and if not, then just let them think whatever they want :)

Unknown

i have so many problems like this with other ppl :'( everytime u try to tell them something they answer " How do u know that's true" or " Maybe someone just made it up" then u ask them if they beleive in God and THE HOLY SPIRIT and the answer of course i do! THEN HOW DO THEY NOT BELEIVE!!!! >:(

Magnoona4lyf

I think the whole idea of most protestans not understanding our ways of worship towards Saint Mary is because how they were brought up in that religion. I mean anyone who says she is not to be glorified, to us he is crazy, but in their mind they're 100% correct about what they're saying. So in most cases like this i think u have to make sure that the person is willing to understand your point of view from the beginning because if they're going about with such a subject with a closed mind then there is no purpose to convince them of anything because no matter what they'll still be right. So u kno, the person has to be willing to understand and has to have an open mind about it because a subject like this is very fragile especially when it comes to Coptic Orthodox and Protestants. Then i think if the person is really interested in finding out why and in what ways we glorify St. Mary then simply help them understand that she's the mother of GOD, the epitomy of meekness and obedience and out of ALL the bagazillion women on earth GOD himself trusted HER to carry the SAVIOUR of all nations u kno? In the mass during the prayer of the Synaxis the priest says "...ABOVE ALL the Holy Ever Virgin, the holy Theotokos Saint Mary.." and the number one thing is her purity....she is the first and last women that ever walked on this earth that ever had a child and still remained a virgin!

1) Long generations waited for the birth of this Virgin, so that the
fullness of the time would become complete by her (Gal.4:4)

2)For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed"
(Luke 1:46).

3)"At Your right hand stands the queen" (Ps. 45:9).

H.H Pope Shenoudas book on The holy Virgin Saint Mary is the best source because it goes into so much detail and breaks down why we everything the way we do towards Saint Mary


GOD BLESS ALL! :-*