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March 25th: A double celebration for Greece 🇬🇷✨

Today we honor the heroes of the 1821 Greek Revolution and celebrate the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.

Freedom, faith, and history all in one day.

Happy Greek Independence Day, Greece! 🇬🇷✨

#GreekIndependenceDay #25March #Annunciation #GreekHistory #Freedom #JohnRoss7 #Mastodon

Quote of the day, 25 March: Blessed Marie-Eugène

Before the Annunciation, Mary was the daughter of God in prayer. Certainly, she didn’t yet know about her divine motherhood. She was aware of her grace, the treasure she possessed, the abundance of this grace; yet she remained unaware of herself in the sense that she didn’t recognize the superiority of this grace over ordinary and common grace.

The Virgin was concerned only with uniting herself to God. It was this self-forgetfulness, this purity, that allowed God to pour Himself into her. She continually sought Him, going to find Him in the Temple, and orienting herself toward Him like a child to her Father.

Let us not think that simplicity implies limited horizons. From a human perspective, Mary surely does not seek satisfaction for her faculties; no, she turns solely toward God, practicing in her external actions—required by this simple orientation—the virtue of obedience, like a child who does what is asked without seeking anything beyond it, without even becoming attached to the work itself.

We, on the other hand, are restless in our faculties; Mary is not. She finds this peace in faith. Everything else would be an unnecessary distraction, diverting her from her contact with God. For her, this contact is entirely simple, without ecstasies or raptures, for her faculties are flexible enough to receive and endure—without leaving a trace in her senses—the brilliance and anointing of the Divinity present within her.

What matters, in fact, is not strength but flexibility. The strong are inevitably broken; the flexible bend and endure. In the Virgin, simplicity and flexibility reach perfection. Nothing externalizes itself in her. “She is so simple that I fear she will not be recognized,” they said about Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. The same can be said of the Virgin at that moment.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

La Vierge Marie toute Mère (The Virgin Mary, All Mother)
Présence Maternelle: La prière de Marie (Maternal presence, Mary’s prayer)

de l’Enfant-Jésus, M 2019, La Vierge Marie Toute Mère, edited by Institut Notre-Dame de Vie, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured Image: This detail from The Annunciation by the Italian artist Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1623 for Charles Emmanuel I, the Duke of Savoy. It is one of the masterpieces found in the collections of the Musei Reali di Torino. Image credit: Adobe Stock (stock photo)

Mariology

This is the Christian theological study of Mary, mother of Jesus. Mariology looks to relate doctrine/dogma about Mary to other doctrines of faith, for example, concerning Jesus & ideas about redemption, intercession, & grace. Christian Marisolgy seeks to place the role of the historical Mary in the context of scripture, tradition, & the teachings of the Church of Mary.

In social history terms, Mariology may be broadly defined as the study of devotion to & thinking about Mary throughout the history of Christianity. There exists a range of Christian and non-Christian views from the veneration of Mary in Roman Catholicism to accusations of idolatry. The idolatry “accusation” includes certain Protestant objections to Marian devotion.

As a field of theology, the most significant developments in Mariology (& the founding of specific centers devoted to its study) in the more recent centuries have taken place within the Catholic Church.

Eastern Orthodox concepts & versions of Mary are integral to the rite as a whole, & are mostly expressed in liturgy. The veneration of Mary is said to permeate, in a way, the entire life of the Church as a dimension of dogma as well as piety, of Christology as well as of Ecclesiology.

While similar to the Roman Catholic view, barring some minor differences, the Orthodox don’t see a need for a separate academic discipline of Mariology. As the Mother of God is seen as the self-evident peak of God’s human creation.

Eastern Orthodoxy calls Mary “The Theotokos,” “God-bearer.” The virginal motherhood of Mary is at the center of Orthodox Mariology. The title Ever Virgin is often used. Virginal motherhood is also known as the perpetual virginity of Mary. The Orthodox approach of Mariology underscores the sublime holiness of Mary, her share in redemption, & her role as a mediator of grace.

Eastern Orthodox mariological thought goes back as far as St. John Damascene (a.k.a. our boy, John of Damascus). In the 8th century, John of Damascus wrote on the meditative role of Mary & on the Dormition of the Mother of God. In the 14th century, Orthodox Mariology began to flourish among Byzantine theologians.

They believed in a cosmic view of Mariology, putting Mary & Jesus together at the center of the cosmos & see them as the goal of world history. More recently, Eastern Orthodox Mariology achieved a renewal among 20th-century theologians in Russia, for whom Mary is the heart of the Church & the center of creation. Eastern Orthodox Mariology doesn’t hold to the belief of the Immaculate Conception of…Mary.

Protestant views on Mary vary significantly from 1 denomination to another. Generally, they focus on various interpretations of Mary in the Bible, the Apostles’ Creed (which professes the Virgin Birth), & the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431, which called Mary, the Mother of God.

Most Protestants don’t venerate Mary like Catholics or Eastern Orthodox do. Martin Luther’s, John Calvin’s, & Karl Barth’s views on Mary have contributed to modern Protestant views.

Anglican Marian theology varies. The Anglican Church formally celebrates 6 Marian feasts: Annunciation (Mar. 25), Visitation (May 31), Day of St. Mary (Assumption or Dormition, Aug. 15), Nativity of Mary (Sept. 8), Our Lady of Walsingham (Oct. 15), & Mary’s Conception (Dec. 8).

The Oriental Orthodox Churches regard Mary as the highest of saints & the Theotokos. It celebrates various Marian feast days.

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Today's pick: The Annunciation (c. 1435) - Jan van Eyck. #art #VanEyck #Annunciation

https://www.artbible.info/art/large/667.html

The #Annunciation, 1482 CE; Carlo #Crivelli (Venice, ca. 1430-1495). #Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland, Germany, Städler Museum. See alt text for more info.

#art #renaissance #angel

The Annunciation re-imagined 1850-1923

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://eclecticlight.co/2025/12/21/the-annunciation-re-imagined-1850-1923/

The Annunciation imaged 1430-1680

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://eclecticlight.co/2025/12/20/the-annunciation-imaged-1430-1680/

Today's pick: The Annunciation (c. 1435) - Jan van Eyck. #art #VanEyck #Annunciation

https://www.artbible.info/art/large/505.html