In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“Go therefore,” says the Lord,
and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age. Amen.
— Matthew 28:19–20
And we hear this, but we do not imagine “until the end of the age,” means at the completion of this world Christ will abandon us: “until” (ἕως) does not mean something will change; and yet many will try to say “he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son,” means that they went on to have other children. For, at the Cross, it would have been inappropriate for the Lord to entrust His Mother to the Beloved Disciple—“Woman, behold your son! … Behold your mother!” (John 19:26–27)—had she had other children.
The Theotokos, is for us, the very completion of the history of Israel, the one who in her humility magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God her Saviour (Luke 1:46–47).
“What shall we offer Thee, O Christ?” we shall sing this week,
For Thou hast appeared on earth as man for our sakes. Of all the creatures made by Thee, each offereth Thee thanksgiving. The Angels offer Thee the hymn; the Heavens, the star; the Magi, their gifts; the shepherds, their wonder; the earth, her cave; the wilderness, the manger; and we offer Thee a Virgin Mother. O God, Who wast before the ages, have mercy on us.
— ‘Lord I have Cried,’ Vespers of Christmas
We offer to Christ the very best of our race, the one through whom the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham would be accomplished. And He offers her back to us, not to replace Himself but to intercede on our behalf.
And now comes the time when Christ shall be born. Born in us, born in our hearts. Let us purify ourselves, as did the faithful remnant of Israel, that we may receive Him, let us cast out sin from our hearts that we make a worthy Throne for Him, that we welcome Him, that we put on Him and show ourselves to be “Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the Promise.” (Galatians 3:28)
And in all this, let us ask the prayers of each other, of the saints, of the blessed Theotokos who ever intercedes for us that we may be made worthy of her Son.
To our crucified and risen God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who offers to us His Mother as our intercessor, be all glory, honour and worship, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good, and Life-creating Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
— Hebrews 11:9–10, 32–40
The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
— Matthew 1:1–25