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in the Temple |
| From The Winter Pascha by Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, SVS Press |
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| See Also: |
| “Original Sin” and the Mother of God |
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| Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos |
For thus says the Lord God Almighty “...it shall be that a woman who bears a male child, on the eighth day shall circumcise the flesh of the foreskin. Then for thirty-three days she shall not enter into the house of the Lord to the priest until the days of her purification are fulfilled...And after this she shall bring to the Lord an unblemished Iamb one year old, and if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her and she shall be clean.” (Lev. 12)
We learn from the Church’s liturgy that Joseph and Mary were considered to be poor, since they did not offer a lamb, but rather the turtle doves, as is depicted on the icons of the feast. The Gospel of Saint Luke makes no mention of the possibility of offering a lamb. We learn as well that, although the accent of the liturgy is on the meeting, Mary did in fact come for purification as the law required. This means that her womb was opened and that the Christ child was born from her in the manner in which all children are born. In this sense, although the Church insists that Mary remains forever a virgin, the only miracle in regard to the Lord’s birth is the virginal conception. There is no teaching of any other sort of miracle in regard to His birth; certainly no idea that He came forth from His mother without opening her womb. But the question yet remains: What does it mean that Mary came for “purification”? It obviously cannot mean that there was any sin connected to her conceiving the Lord and giving Him birth as a man. This is especially so if it is automatically concluded, so to speak, that the act of sexual reproduction is always in some way a sin, since in Mary’s case the teaching of the Gospel and the Church tradition is clear. Mary had no act of sexual union. Her conception is without knowing a man. The Lord begins to grow in her by the power of the Holy Spirit. So what can be the meaning of her “purification”?
The answer to this question, which pertains also to the Church's custom of “churching women” on the fortieth day after childbirth, undoubtedly has to do with the biblical understanding of “purification.”(1) The scriptures teach that all people are sinful simply by being members of the human race. This does not mean that all people are personally guilty for “Adam's sin,” which Orthodox doctrine categorically denies. Nor does it mean that every person necessarily and inevitably sins in a personal manner, deliberately and consciously, which the Church tradition surely denies in the case of the Virgin Mary. It means rather that the entire human race, as an organic community of persons, is “missing the mark” (to sin literally mean to miss the mark) of its calling. Humanity as a whole is off the track, it is not moving toward its created goal, which is perfection of life in communion with God. It is mortal, misdirected, fragmented and fallen apart. It is, in modern terms, alienated from its true being and estranged from its true purpose. And the Virgin Mary, like all mere human beings, is caught up in this falleness and mortality by the mere fact of her being simply human.
In addition, the scriptures teach that all human beings, who are inevitably caught up in the falleness of the sinful world, are in need of “purification” when they come into direct contact with God, and especially when they are the objects of a direct divine action. God is always acting in our lives. But there are times when He acts directly, so to speak, and with particular purpose. These are the times of birth and death (and the times when we are in contact with those parts of our being which involve life and death, such as blood, menses and semen.) These are also times of worship, such as when the priests go into the Holy Place or when they touch the Holy Objects. Thus, according to the Mosaic law, mere human beings who were in direct touch with God through His concrete divine actions were required to offer signs of ritual “purification” to express the fact that being mere mortals and victims of sins (not to say sinners in their own right in virtually all cases) they had also been the objects of the holy actions of the Most High and Holy God.
If this is the proper understanding of the biblical teaching and practice of ritual “purification,” and it seems that it is, then it becomes clear why the Blessed Virgin Mary, of all people, came to be “purified,” and why all who follow in her example will do so as well. She came not because she had done anything sinful or wrong, certainly not in relation to her giving birth to the Savior. She came rather to show that she, being a mere mortal and in need of salvation along with the whole of creation, had been chosen to be the most active participant in the holiest act of God every accomplished in the world: the incarnation as a man of God’s very own Son! To be required to participate in such a “purification” is the act of greatest joy and thanksgiving. It is also an act which brings the greatest glory and honor to the one who is “purified.”
O Virgin Theotokos, Hope of all Christians!
Protect, preserve and save those who hope
in You.
We the faithful saw the figure in the shadow
of the law and in the scriptures.
Every male child that opened the womb
was Holy to God.
Therefore we honor the first-born Son
of the Unbegotten Father,
The first-born Son of the Unwedded Mother,
O Virgin Theotokos, Good Help of the world!
Protect and guard us from all necessity
and sorrow.
The people of old offered a pair of doves
and two young pigeons.
In their place the godly Elder and the
sober-spirited Prophetess,
Ministered and gave glory to the Virgin's
Child,
The only-begotten Son of the Father,
As He is brought into the temple of God.
O Pure Virgin Mother! That which was fulfilled
in You
Is beyond the understanding of angels
and mortal men.
You have committed to me the exceeding
great joy of Your salvation, O Christ!
Simeon cried: Take Your servant who is
weary of the shadow,
And make him a new preacher of the mystery
of grace,
As he magnifies You in praise!
The Pure Dove, the Mother Lamb without blemish,
Brings the Shepherd and Lamb into the temple of God.
Holy Anna, sober in spirit and venerable
in years,
Reverently confessed the Master freely and openly
in the temple,
And she proclaimed Mary the Theotokos,
Magnifying her in the presence of all.
O Maiden Mary! Enlighten my soul
Which is grievously darkened by the passions
of this life.