Beliefs and Tradition
Why does the Church honor St. Mary?
The Coptic Orthodox Church honors St. Mary because she is the Theotokos, the Mother of God, and because her life is inseparable from the mystery of the Incarnation. Honoring her protects the confession that the One born of her is truly God the Word made flesh.
Behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
Honor Rooted In Christ
St. Mary is honored because of Christ. She received the angelic message, gave her consent in humility, bore the Lord in her womb, stood with Him in His saving work, and remains the foremost example of faithful obedience.
The Church's love for St. Mary is not a distraction from Jesus. It is a confession that Jesus is truly God incarnate. When the Church calls her Theotokos, she is saying something first about Christ: the child born from Mary is God the Word in the flesh.
How The Church Honors Her
Coptic worship honors St. Mary in hymns, doxologies, feasts, icons, and intercessions. The month of Kiahk is especially rich in Marian praise because it prepares the Church for the Nativity and the Incarnation.
This honor is reverent and bold, but worship belongs to God alone. The Church asks St. Mary for her prayers because she is alive with Christ and because her intercession is motherly and beloved in the life of the Church.
What Her Honor Teaches
St. Mary teaches humility, obedience, purity, prayer, and trust. She shows what a human life looks like when it receives the word of God without resistance. The Church honors her so that the faithful learn to magnify the Lord with her.
- Holy Theotokos Saint Mary, St. Mary and St. Moses Abbey, SUSCopts. Monastic introduction to St. Mary as Theotokos and the Church's honor for her.
- Titles of the Holy Theotokos Saint Mary, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles. Diocesan article explaining major titles of St. Mary, including Theotokos.
- Saints and Intercession in the Liturgy, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer on commemorating saints and asking their intercessions.
- Christology, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Catechetical lecture on the Orthodox confession of Christ as true God and true man.
Orthodox: Right worship and right belief, naming the Church's received apostolic faith and the life of worship that preserves it.
Theotokos: A title for St. Mary meaning God-bearer or Mother of God, confessing that the One born from her is truly God the Word incarnate.
Mysteries: The Orthodox name for the sacraments, calling attention to God's grace given through visible rites such as Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, and the Eucharist.
Incarnation: The mystery that the eternal Word of God truly became man for our salvation while remaining fully divine.
Confession: The sacrament of repentance in which a person confesses sins before God in the presence of the priest and receives absolution and guidance.
Icon: A sacred image of Christ, St. Mary, an angel, a saint, or a holy event. In Coptic practice, church icons are consecrated with Holy Myron and are venerated, not worshiped.
Intercession: Prayer offered on behalf of another. The Church asks the saints to pray with and for us because they are alive in Christ.