Feast of St. Mary's Birth (Mawlodhe d'Yoldath Aloho Mariam) വി. ദൈവമാതാവിന്റെ ജനനപ്പെരുന്നാൾ .
In the Liturgical Calendar of the Syriac Orthodox Church, there are 9 feasts for the Virgin Mary. She & John the Baptist are the only two mortals whose nativity is celebrated by the Church. She is called the mother of God (Theotokos or Yoldath Aloho). In the Liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, countless hymns & prayers in her honour have been written by the Holy Fathers through divine inspiration. The commemoration of her nativity is celebrated in all Orthodox Churches.
In his article about the Holy Virgin Mary, the thrice blessed late Patriarch HH Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas of blessed memory states, "it is noteworthy to mention that the conception of Mary took place according to the natural law for she was of a man (Joachim) & a woman (Hanna)." Mary is the child of two once-barren persons, just like Isaac, Samuel & John the Baptist. St. Mary was born in the tribe of Judah, a descendant of King David through her father & she was a descendant of the priestly Levi tribe of Aaron through her mother. She is the descendant of priests, prophets & kings.
As St. Mary was born to her parents in their old age, at the age of 3 she was offered to the temple as fulfillment of their vow. The prayer from the book of daily offices (Sh'himo) on Friday morning reads, ”Mary became an orphan, for her parents passed away. She was left for the priests to take care of her. They took her to Jerusalem according to the command of Moses to be brought up there. The Lord of Prophets descended from high. He blessed and sanctified her. Hallelujah. May the prayer to her be a fence and protection to us”
Like all others who have come & left this world, the Virgin Mary was not born without sin. She inherited the ancestral sin of, as St. Athanasius the Great says, 'corrupted nature inherited in the body.' Thus the Orthodox Church doesn't agree with the Roman Catholic dogma of immaculate conception. In his commentary on St. Luke 11:27-28, St. Ephrem the Syrian says, “Blessed is the womb that bore you.” He took blessedness from the one who bore him and gave it to those who were worshiping him. It was with Mary for a certain time, but it would be with those who worshiped him for eternity. “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” Likewise, commenting on the same verse St. John Chrysostom writes, "In this answer He sought not to disown His mother, but to show that His birth would have profited her nothing, had she not been really fruitful in works and faith. But if it profited Mary nothing that Christ derived His birth from her, without the inward virtue of her heart, much less will it avail us to have a virtuous father, brother, or son, while we ourselves are strangers to virtue."
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Oh Virgin St. Mary the mother of God! Pray for us sinners, now & at all times & at the hour of our death (Morth Maryam bthulto emeh Daloho b‛oy ḥlofayn ḥaṭoyé hosho wabkhul ‛edon wabsho‛tho d-mawtan) Amen.
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