Against the Blasphemers of the Most Pure Mother of God
Venerable Maxim the Greek (16th Century)
St. Maxim the Greek was a prolific polemicist of the 16th century. He received a scholarly education in the multiple Catholic Italian cities, where he studied ancient languages and philosophy. On the island of Corfu, he also studied under John Moschos, from whom the beloved book “The Spiritual Meadow” comes, and settled as a monk in the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos before being sent to Russia to help in the translations of certain Greek works. He famously quipped that the Tsar’s library contained a multitude of Greek books that could not be found anywhere in Greece, which was later dubbed “The Golden Library”.
All God-inspired Scripture teaches and commands us to venerate and honor not only the most pure image of our Savior Jesus Christ and the Most Pure Mother of God, as well as the other revered saints, but also everything else that has been consecrated to Christ the Savior as an offering—whether they be sacred Church vessels used in worship or various coverings meant for the adornment and beauty of His most pure image or the holy altar. All of this must be venerated and honored as something that has become part of holiness. This is evident from what the Savior Himself said to the Pharisees, rebuking them: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged.’ Blind and foolish, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged. Blind and foolish, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?" (Matthew 23). And what is surprising about the fact that objects dedicated to God with good intention and according to the rules of the Church become partakers of holiness, when even the bronze censers of the 250 men who rebelled against the God-seer Moses and the priest Aaron—companions of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, some of whom were swallowed alive by the earth with their tents and all their possessions, while others were consumed by fire sent from God—when their censers, offered against God’s command, God ordered Moses and Eleazar the priest, Aaron’s son, to take and make plates to cover the altar, for, as it says, "they are holy, for they were brought before the Lord" (Numbers 16). This clearly and undeniably shows that every material object used in worship that has been dedicated to God becomes part of holiness and should be honored.
If this is so, how do some people, utterly devoid of chastity, not fear to reject the incomparable height of holiness and glory of the Most Pure and All-Praised Mother of God, who is higher than the heavens and all the heavenly hosts, daring to say that she was holy and glorious only when she bore Emmanuel in her most pure womb, but after she gave birth to and nursed Him, she was no different from other women? Oh, what blasphemous thoughts and words they have! Oh, what unparalleled madness and unbelief! Oh, what extreme ignorance and lack of knowledge of the God-inspired Scriptures! How do they not understand, the wretched ones, what was said about Her by Her forefather, concerning the incarnate Word of God who came from Her: "At your right hand stands the queen, adorned with gold from Ophir" (Psalm 44)? Who is this queen, adorned with gold-woven garments, O foolish and dull-hearted ones? And at whose right hand does she stand? Do you not know the exalted seat of the Only-Begotten, of whom His Father, who begot Him, said: "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand'; from the womb before the morning star I begot you" (Psalm 109)? His throne is like the sun before Me, and like the moon, it is established forever (Psalm 88). There, the Queen and Mistress of all stands at the right hand of the King of all, her Son and Creator, constantly praying to Him for the salvation of all who approach her with faith and firm hope, seeking from her help and deliverance from the troubles that afflict them. But hear, you deaf ones, what Her forefather says to Her: "Listen, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house, and the King will desire your beauty" (Psalm 44)—meaning her incomparable purity and chastity, and her immaculate virginity, because He is your Lord, that is, because He, her Creator and God, willed to become also her Son. Therefore, worship Him as God and your Son. And the daughter of Tyre—that is, the nations that were once idolatrous, for such was the city of Tyre, but later, through faith in Christ and the divine bath of regeneration, became the daughter of God—will seek Your favor with gifts, as the Most Pure Mother of their God. The wealthy among the people will entreat your favor with fear and love, bowing before Your most pure and venerable icon, which has been the practice not only of the Orthodox but also of the misguided heretics—the Latins and Armenians—from the very times of the apostles, when the divine Evangelist Luke painted Her honorable image and brought it to Her while She was still in this life. She, being pleased with this, as tradition tells us, said: "The grace that is in Me shall be with this image."
Let us listen further to this same prophecy, for it is excellent and true: "All the glory of the king’s daughter is within, her clothing is interwoven with gold" (Psalm 44). What other glory of the King’s daughter and Creator of all can we understand except her incomparable purity and angelic virginity? The gold-woven garments, corresponding to her purity, symbolize divine virtues such as humility, meekness, gentleness, innocence, goodwill, love for humanity, and other such virtues that adorn the person created in the image and likeness of God. With all these virtues, this all-praised Daughter of the heavenly King is adorned, surpassing all the daughters of Jerusalem, as the wise Solomon clearly says about her: "Many daughters have obtained riches, many have done valiantly, but You have surpassed them all. False is charm and vain is beauty, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (Proverbs 31). These wondrous praises of Solomon most fittingly belong to none other than the Most Pure and Immaculate Mother of God.
Though others before her, the daughters of men, obtained riches and performed great deeds—like Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, Miriam, Esther, Judith, Anna the prophetess, Susanna, Jael—none of them can compare to the Most Pure Ever-Virgin, the Mother of Emmanuel. In those, there was found false charm, that is, various external adornments of the body with garments and jewelry, and the anointing with perfumes and the like, which married women invented for the sake of their husbands. But with regard to the Most Pure Mother of God, none of these things were ever invented, for all the beauty of her goodness was inward, natural, and adorned with reverent and pleasing virtues. With such and so great a glory and divine holiness is the common Queen of all adorned in the God-inspired Scriptures.
May the senseless ones be ashamed, those who speak blasphemies against her, daring to diminish the incomparable height of her divine majesty and likening her, along with the iconoclast Copronymus, to a sack that, they say, has great value as long as it is filled with gold, but when the gold is poured out, it has no value or very little. These God-fighters say the same thing happened with the Most Pure Mother of God: as long as she bore the divine and worshipped Emmanuel in her womb, she was holy and glorious and had great dignity, but after giving birth to Him, she lost all of these qualities and became, they say, just like all other women. Oh, what madness and God-opposing slander from those who dare to say this! Do they not understand, the foolish ones, what was said: "I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High’" (Psalm 81)? And again: "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). And again: "God stands in the congregation of gods, He judges among the gods" (Psalm 81). If ordinary people who strive to please Him with every virtue and righteous deed, the Most High Himself calls gods and sons of the Most High, commanding them to hold fast to holiness and to be like Him in all purity of life, how could She who is higher than all the heavenly hosts, incomparably more honorable and glorious than they, who was wholly sanctified by the Holy Spirit who overshadowed her, as the divine Gabriel announced to her, how could she have lost her incomparable glory and majesty and divine holiness?
Let those who dare to speak such blasphemies stop if they wish to avoid the bitter torment that awaits Copronymus and all those who slander and oppose the Most Pure Mother of God, whose glory and majesty, and everything concerning her, is a divine and ineffable mystery, prefigured by various types in secret by the God-bearing prophets. Amen.