“The laws of nature are overcome...” the theological comprehension of the orthodox veneration of the Mother of God

The special place of the Ever-Virgin Mary in the life of Orthodox Christians is determined by her exceptional relatedness with the Second Divine Person, implied already by her proper names - the Mother of God and the Theotokos . In the Orthodox consciousness, the unconditional aspiration of the Ever-Virgin Mary to God means that she has attained the highest perfection possible for a human person. In turn, her perfection presupposes the fullness of personal freedom, leading to the transcendence of depersonalizing natural processes and especially vividly manifested in the events of the virgin Birth of Christ and the overcoming of the death in Dormition. The perfection of the Ever-Virgin Mary is also expressed in her mysterious personal embrace of the life content of all Christians, ultimately, of all humanity. At the same time, while Jesus Christ as the Second Divine Person, who perceived human nature, discloses to Christians the perfect way of being, the Ever-Virgin Mary, as the human person, reveals them the highest example of movement towards perfection...