Who is exalted above all in the triumphant Heavenly Church?
Among all the Angels and saints of God, the Mother of God is exalted and glorified above all. Therefore, Christians honor Her more than all and sing to Her: "We have no other help, we have no other hope, except for Thee, O Lady!" Christians express by this the thought that if the Mother of God does not help us with Her prayers, then among creation there is no one higher than Her, and we have no hope for intercession before Christ God.
Why do Christians call Her Theotokos (God-bearer)?
Because even the prophets foretold that She would give birth to God in the flesh. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign," said the prophet Isaiah. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Is. 7:14), "which is translated," explains the Apostle, "'God with us'" (Matt. 1:23). Also, Elizabeth, when she saw the Mother of God, exclaimed by the Spirit of God: "But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:43).
On what basis do Christians magnify the Mother of God, exalt Her above all creatures, and bless Her in every way?
The Mother of God Herself explained this to us when she spoke to righteous Elizabeth: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me" (Luke 1:46-49). It is clear that all generations of Christians bless the Mother of God and magnify Her because this greatness was granted to the Mother of God by God Himself.
Do the sectarians magnify with the Lord and bless the Mother of God?
No, they do not magnify or glorify Her, because they are not Christians, but heretics. The sectarians do not call the Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos; they call Her simply Mary and consider Her Joseph's wife. In this, they refer to the words of the Evangelist Matthew (Matt. 1:16, 20-21, 24-25), where Joseph is called Mary's husband, and She his wife.
Were they indeed husband and wife in the full sense of these words?
No, Joseph was only the supposed husband of the Mother of God, because people "supposed" that Christ was born of a fleshly father (Luke 3:23). In reality, the Mother of God conceived and gave birth to the Saviour without a husband, in a miraculous and virginal manner. When the Angel told the Ever-Virgin Mary that she would give birth to the Savior, who would be the Son of the Most High, the Mother of God "said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I do not know a man?' And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God'" (Luke 1:34-35).
Are the sectarians really not convinced by such words and do they not honor the Ever-Virgin Mary as the Mother of God?
The sectarians do not believe as Orthodox Christians do; they evidently cannot agree that "with God nothing will be impossible" (Luke 1:37).
Was there ever a time when Christians did not honor the Mother of God?
No, there was no such time. They honored the Mother of God during Her earthly life, and even more after Her glorious Dormition, when Her body was raised by the Lord and taken to heaven in glory.
What should be said to sectarians who do not believe that the most pure Mother of God has already been raised and glorified?
We must to ask the unfortunate sectarians show the body of the Mother of God. Christians preserved the relics of the saints of God, preserved the robe of the Mother of God—would they not have preserved the precious relics of the Mother of God, if She had not already been raised and glorified? Christians always highly honored the Mother of God: this is proved by the fact that already in the first century, Christians had many icons of the Ever-Virgin Mary. These icons are preserved to this day in the catacombs. This is proved even by scholars of heretical faiths who do not honor the Mother of God. And a good testimony from an enemy is the strongest proof.
On what basis do Christians ask for the prayers and intercession of the Mother of God?
On the basis that She is the Mother of the Savior. Even during Her life, She interceded with the Lord for others, and Christ fulfilled Her request. Thus She interceded for the poor people at whose wedding feast She and the Savior were, and the Lord satisfied Her request, turning water into wine when there was a shortage (John 2:1-11).
What should be explained to sectarians when they justify their non-veneration of the Mother of God by the fact that the Lord said: "whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother" (Mark 3:31-35)?
When the Savior was speaking to the people, His Mother and supposed brothers (step-brothers, sons of Joseph by his deceased wife) came to see Him. They wanted to distract the Savior from teaching the people for a while, to talk about domestic affairs, but the Lord placed the spiritual work above the domestic, and said that His relatives are all those who do the will of God.
As for the Mother of God, She is above all people, as the Holy Spirit explained through the Angel, who said to the Ever-Virgin Mary: "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women... you have found favor with God" (Luke 1:28, 30).
What to answer the sectarians when they slanderously say that the Mother of God supposedly had children after Christ the Lord?
It must be said that no one will ever prove that the Mother of God had children besides the Savior. The Mother of God remained Ever-Virgin, that is, She was a Virgin before the birth, at the time of the birth, and after the birth of the Lord. The prophet Ezekiel prophesied about this: "Then the Lord said to me, 'This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut'" (Ezek. 44:2).
On what basis do Christians call the Mother of God the Queen of Heaven?
Christ is the King of heaven and earth, and naturally His Mother is the Queen, and honor must be given to Her as the Mother of the King.
What should be explained to sectarians when they madly compare the Mother of God, whom we call the Queen of Heaven, with Ashtoreth, and say that the prophet Jeremiah supposedly rebukes our veneration of the Mother of God, to whom we bake little pies, i.e., prosphora (Jer. 44:15-19)?
We need to explain to the sectarians that the prophet Jeremiah rebuked the Jews living in Pathros, in the land of Egypt, for bowing down to Ashtoreth (an idol), calling her the "queen of heaven," burning incense, pouring out drink offerings, and baking cakes with her image. But that was then, when the Mother of God did not yet exist. Moreover, an idol's image cannot be compared to the Mother of God, because no Ashtoreth actually exists, while the Ever-Virgin Mary does exist; She gave birth by the Spirit of God to the Son of God, the King of Heaven, and it is therefore reasonable to call Her the Queen of Heaven.
Why do Christians pray to the Mother of God: "save us," since Christ saves, and not She?
The Mother of God saves us by Her prayers and the grace of Her Son. Even the Apostle Paul says: "if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them" (Rom. 11:14). Can the Mother of God not save much more?!
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