How Should Christians Honor the Blessed Virgin Mary?
(copyright Jon Jacobson , revised 2 August 2002, 3 October 2006)

Perhaps no greater issue divides Evangelical Protestants from their Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic brothers and sisters than the question of how Christians should honor the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Most Christians agree that Mary should be honored and commemorated in some fashion (cf. Luke 1:48, Heb. 13:7). Yet most Evangelicals reject the Orthodox and Catholic veneration of the blessed Virgin, expressed in customs such as singing hymns in Mary's honor, kissing icons depicting Mary with her divine Child, and asking Mary to intercede for us. Because Evangelicals are committed to the supreme authority of Scripture, they cannot accept, without Scriptural testimony, the traditions of the Orthodox and Catholic churches regarding Mary and the Saints.

In this paper, I consider the reasons why Evangelical Protestants have rejected certain aspects of the veneration of the Theotokos (Greek for "she who conceived, carried, and gave birth to God"). I also examine the ways in which the Eastern Orthodox Tradition on Mary and the Saints differs from the current Roman Catholic teaching. I then present the support of Scripture, the writings of the early Church Fathers, and the writings of the original Protestant Reformers for the Orthodox view of the Theotokos and the rest of the Saints in Heaven.

1. Why did the Protestant Reformers reject the invocation of Mary and other Saints in Heaven?

Protestantism was born at a time of great spiritual abuses among Western European Christians, many of whom turned to the Virgin Mary for her intercessions because Christ was viewed to be a rather stern and unsympathetic Judge. Opposing the invocation of the Saints as practiced in the medieval Roman Church, the 16th Century Lutheran reformer, Philip Melancthon, wrote in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession 26 (A.D. 1531):

Granting that the blessed Mary prays for the Church, does she receive souls in death, does she conquer death, does she quicken [give life]? What does Christ do if the blessed Mary does these things? Although she is most worthy of the most ample honors, nevertheless she does not wish to be made equal to Christ, but rather wishes us to consider and follow her example. But the subject itself declares that in public opinion the blessed Virgin has succeeded altogether to the place of Christ. Men have invoked her, have trusted in her mercy, through her have desired to appease Christ, as though He were not a Propitiator, but only a dreadful judge and avenger. We believe, however, that we must not trust that the merits of the saints are applied to us, that on account of these God is reconciled to us, or accounts us just, or saves us. For we obtain remission of sins only by the merits of Christ, when we believe in Him. (1)

The Orthodox understanding of the invocation of saints is rather different than the medieval Roman practice against which the Reformers were rebelling. Writes the Greek Orthodox priest, Fr. Anthony Coniaris: 

Just as we pray for each other in this life so we continue to pray for one another in the other life. As Archbishop Paul of Finland writes, "Life continues after death. It would be strange to think that the prayers of a devout Christian reach God during his temporal life in this world, but not afterwards when he has 'departed and is with Christ' (Phil. 1:20)." Indeed, early inscriptions, as in the Roman catacombs, show that the first Christians prayed for those who had died, and also asked their prayers. Orthodox Christians do not ask for the prayers of Saints because they feel that they are more accessible to us, more human, more understanding, more merciful. This would be an insult to God's love and a denial of His Incarnation through which God emptied Himself and took on our human nature because He cared so much for us. Jesus is not some awesome Power in heaven Who looks down at us from a distance--too holy and too great to be approached. He is most approachable. Did He not say, "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"? (Matt. 11:28). And, " Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37)? And do we not read in Hebrews: "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need " (Hebrews 4:15-16)? No Saint can ever be more accessible or approachable than Jesus. (2)

It is important to emphasize that Orthodox devotion to the Virgin Mary, while intense and greater than the honor accorded any other creature, human or angelic, in no way calls into question the boundless mercy and love for mankind of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). For instance, the "Little Paraklesis to the Theotokos", which includes such exalted words towards the blessed Virgin as these--

Save your servants, from every danger, O Mother of God, for next after God we all fly for refuge to you as unbreachable wall and protection. Immaculate, who through a word gave birth to the Word beyond explanation in the last days, make intercession, as you have a mother's freedom to speak.

--nonetheless affirms the following of God Himself:

Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the sea; and show pity, show pity, Master, on our sins, and have mercy on us. For you, O God, are merciful and love mankind, and to you we give glory, to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages.(3)

2. What about the supposed merits of Mary and the other Saints in Heaven?

The Orthodox veneration of the Virgin Mary and other Saints is generally free of the Roman Catholic concept of the "merits of the Saints." Writes the Russian Orthodox priest Viktor Potapov:

According to [Roman] Catholic teaching, many of God's saints, especially the Most Holy Virgin Mary, in endeavoring to realize in their life not only God's law or the commandments, offered superabundant and supererogatory satisfaction to the divine justice and performed supererogatory good works. From them, a certain quantity still remains, as it were, of excess, supererogatory good works. This excess makes up the so-called treasury of supererogatory merits, which is at the full and unconditional disposal of the pope. Whoever does not have as many of his own deeds as are needed to satisfy God's justice for his sins, can, by the mercy of the pope, make use of the supererogatory merits of the saints in the church's treasury. This teaching was confirmed in 1343 by Pope Clement VI. This absurd and even blasphemous teaching is explained exclusively by the avarice of the popes and the Catholic clergy and entirely contradicts the clear teaching of Sacred Scripture on man's salvation. The ideal of Christian perfection is so high, so unattainable that not only can man never perform anything supererogatory, but he cannot even attain this ideal. The Lord said to His disciples: "When ye shall have done all these things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10). The Apostle Paul says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10). (4)

When the Russian Orthodox Church, during the 19th Century, revised and corrected the Tridentine Roman Mass for use in "Western-Rite" Orthodoxy (the so-called Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great), one of the key concepts removed from the order of worship was any reference to the "merits" of the Saints. In rejecting this concept of the merit of the Saints, many Orthodox teachers would agree with what Martin Luther wrote in A.D. 1521 regarding whether the Virgin Mary "merited" to be the Mother of God:

[Mary] became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man's understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her or to her... Mary also freely ascribes all to God's grace, not to her merit. For though she was without sin, yet that grace was too far great for her to deserve it in any way. How should a creature deserve to become the Mother of God? Though certain scribblers make much ado about her worthiness for such motherhood, I prefer to believe her rather than them. (5)

Luther's reference to Mary as "without sin" (elsewhere in his writings it is clear that he means without personal sin, not necessarily without original sin from her conception), raises the issue of the Roman Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, defined ex cathedra by Pope Pius IX in A.D. 1854.
 

3. What does the Orthodox Church think of the Roman dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary?

While confessing the blessed Virgin Mary to be "Immaculate", the Orthodox Church does not accept the Roman Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. As the Orthodox Saint and Bishop of Rome, Pope St. Leo the Great (d. A.D. 461), wrote:(6)

The Lord assumed His mother's nature without her faultiness . (Letter 28, the Tome viewed as an infallible, ex cathedra papal definition by most Roman Catholics, emphasis added)

Without male seed Christ was conceived of a Virgin, who was fecundated not by human intercourse but by the Holy Spirit. And whereas in all mothers conception does not take place without stain of sin [Psalm 51:5] , this one received purification from the Source of her conception. For no taint of sin penetrated, where no intercourse occurred. Her unsullied virginity knew no lust when it ministered the substance. The Lord took from His mother our nature, not our fault. (Sermon 22, emphasis added)

Only the Son of the blessed Virgin is born without transgression , not indeed outside the human race, but a stranger to sin so that of Adam's offspring one might exist in whom the devil had no share. (Sermon 64, emphasis added)

Because the Virgin Mary's own conception involved human intercourse, it was not without the "stain of [original] sin" to which St. Leo refers, and from which Christ alone was exempted. Yet the Orthodox do not understand this stain to involve any inherited guilt, but only the physical mortality and moral weakness that are universal since the Fall. Because Christ alone among men was free of both original and actual sin, He is confessed in Orthodox prayers to be “the only sinless One.” Most Orthodox agree with Sts. Leo, Ephraem the Syrian (d. A.D. 373), Ambrose of Milan (d. A.D. 397), and Augustine of Hippo (d. A.D. 430) that Mary, in Leo’s words, "received purification from the Source of her conception" after her own conception, and remained free from personal sins her entire life.(7)
 

4. What does the Orthodox Church think of the Roman dogma of the Assumption of Mary?

Regarding the Roman Catholic dogma of the Assumption of Mary (defined ex cathedra by the Pope in A.D. 1950), most Orthodox believe that, following her death, the Theotokos was assumed in body, soul, and spirit into Heaven. This belief, which St. Epiphanius of Salamis (d. A.D. 403) saw hinted at in Rev. 12:14, was certainly the conviction of Orthodox Saints such as John of Damascus (d. A.D. 750) and Gregory Palamas (d. A.D. 1359). Moreover, the absence of any bones claimed as relics of the Virgin Mary would seem to support the fact of her assumption. Belief in the Assumption of Mary is reflected in the liturgical texts used for the Dormition of the Theotokos, observed on the 15th of August. However, this belief has never been defined by an Ecumenical Council of the Orthodox Church.  Many Orthodox theologians do not believe such a definition is necessary.
 

5. What do the Orthodox think of calling Mary the "Mediatrix of All Graces" and "Co-Redemptrix"?

Orthodox theologians would be almost universally opposed to the proposed Roman Catholic definition of the Virgin Mary as the "Mediatrix of All Graces" and "Co-Redemptrix." While some Orthodox invocations of the Theotokos refer to her as "mediatrix", this is in the context of her intercessions for the Church, just as Moses was known as a "mediator" between God and His people (Gal. 3:19). The Orthodox know that there is only one Mediator of redemption between God and man, the man Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5-6), who is also God (John 1:1) and therefore our only Savior (Isaiah 43:11, Hosea 13:4, John 14:6, Acts 4:12). While the Theotokos cooperated with God in the beginning of the Incarnation, and her prayers can contribute to our salvation (cf. 1 Cor. 9:22, Phil. 1:19 1 Tim. 4:16, James 5:15-20, 1 John 5:16), she did not offer her life in redemption for the world (Matthew 20:28, John 6:51), nor does she, in the Orthodox understanding, have surplus "merits" that can be "transferred" from herself to the rest of the Church. Even the Roman Catholic Council of Trent (A.D. 1563) confessed that

It is good and useful suppliantly to invoke [the Saints], and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, [and] help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and Savior. (8)

Consequently, any ex cathedra definition of Mary as Co-Redemptrix would appear to contradict an earlier dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, just as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception contradicts the Tome and the sermons of Pope St. Leo the Great. The Orthodox Church's doctrines, in contrast, remain consistent across time.
 

6. What is the Biblical and theological basis for confessing Mary as the Mother of the Church?

Most Orthodox are willing to call Mary, the New Eve (Gen. 3:20), the "Mother of the Church." Her maternal status and honor (Exod. 20:12) is implied by our Lord's granting of her to St. John as his Mother (John 19:25-27). Since Orthodox describe many male Saints as "the Fathers of the Church", and many female Saints as "the Mothers of the Church", it is even more fitting to refer to the Theotokos as "Mother of the Church" of which she is (in St. Augustine's words) the "supereeminent member." (9)
 

7. What is the Biblical and theological basis for confessing Mary as the Mother of God?

St. Elizabeth described Mary as, "the Mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43), using the term that faithful Jews used to refer to God ("the LORD is God", Deuteronomy 4:5). Since Jesus Christ is our Lord and our God (John 20:28), it follows logically that His Mother is the Mother of our Lord and God, not according to His deity, but according to His humanity, that is, "according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3). God the Son was born of Mary (Gal. 4:4-5), and God the Son died on the Cross for our sins (Acts 20:28, 1 Cor. 15:3). Orthodox Christians can affirm enthusiastically the words of the classic Protestant hymns that declare, "Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God" (10) , and "Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?" (11)

The personal identity of Christ as God is precisely what the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) insisted upon when the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, claimed that the Virgin Mary was the Mother of Christ, but not the Mother of God. By denying that God was born of the Virgin, Nestorius divided Christ into two personal beings, one human and the other divine, united only by the unity of their will and the name, "Christ." This partition of the divine Christ from the human Christ robs our Lord's life and death of their power, for if the One who died was only human, how could that life redeem the world from bondage to sin, death, and the devil? For this reason, about fifty years before the Council of Ephesus, St. Gregory of Nazianzus (d. A.D. 390) wrote, "If anyone does not agree that holy Mary is Mother of God, he is cut off from the Deity" (Letter to Cledonius the Priest 101 [A.D. 382]).

St. Gregory of Nazianzus was no innovator when it came to the substance of Christian doctrine. Rather he insisted that "The faith which I was taught by the Holy Fathers, which I taught at all times without adjusting according to the times, this Faith I will never stop teaching; I was born with it and I live by it."(12) While the Council of Ephesus promoted the invocation of Mary as the Theotokos, Saints had applied this title to her for generations beforehand: (13)

The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly, and eternally, is He that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. (St. Athanasius of Alexandria, The Incarnation of the Word of God 8 [A.D. 365])

They came to the church of the most blessed Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, which, as we began to say, he had constructed in the western quarter, in a suburb, for a cemetery of the martyrs. (The Genuine Acts of St. Peter of Alexandria [A.D. 305])

Hail to you forever, you virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return... Hail, you fount of the Son's love for man Wherefore, we pray you, the most excellent among women, who boast in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate your memory, which will ever live, and never fade away. (St. Methodius of Olympus and Patara, Oration on Simeon and Anna , 14, [A.D. 305])

For Luke, in the inspired Gospel narratives, delivers a testimony not to Joseph only, but also to Mary, the Mother of God, and gives this account with reference to the very family and house of David... It is our duty to present to God, like sacrifices, all the festivals and hymnal celebrations; and first of all, [the feast of] the Annunciation to the holy Mother of God, to wit, the salutation made to her by the angel, "Hail, full of grace !" [Luke 1:28] (St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Four Homilies 1, 2 [A.D. 262])

To all generations [the prophets] have pictured forth the grandest subjects for contemplation and for action. Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, His advent by the spotless and God-bearing Mary in the way of birth and growth, and the manner of His life and conversation with men, and His manifestation by baptism, and the new birth that was to be to all men, and the regeneration by the laver [of baptism]. (St. Hippolytus of Rome, Discourse on the End of the World 1 [A.D. 217])

The Virgin Mary, being obedient to [God's] word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God. (St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies , 5:19:1 [A.D. 189])

It is significant that St. Irenaeus (d. A.D. 200) was a disciple of St. Polycarp (d. A.D. 156), who was himself the disciple of St. John the Apostle (d. A.D. 100?), who cared for the Mother of our Lord at the end of her life.

While many Protestants today embrace Nestorius' rejection of Mary as the Theotokos, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley each affirmed the ancient Christian teaching that Mary is the Mother of God. The following statements from Calvin's Institutes (A.D. 1559) and from the Lutheran Formula of Concord (A.D. 1577), will suffice:

We must put far from us the heresy of Nestorius, who, presuming to dissect rather than distinguish between the two natures, devised a double Christ. But we see the Scripture loudly protesting against this, when the name of the Son of God is given to Him who is born of a Virgin, and the Virgin herself is called the Mother of our Lord (Luke 1:32,43). Wherefore Nestorius has been justly condemned in the Council of Ephesus. (14)

On account of this personal union and communion of [Christ's divine and human] natures, Mary, the most blessed Virgin, did not conceive a mere, ordinary human being, but a human being who is truly the Son of the most high God, as the angel testifies. He demonstrated His divine majesty even in His Mother's womb in that He was born of a Virgin without violating her virginity. Therefore she is truly the Mother of God and yet remained a virgin. (15)

The latter, Lutheran statement indicates a belief in Mary's perpetual virginity, which we discuss below.
 

8. What is the Biblical and theological basis for confessing Mary as ever-virgin?

While the Bible speaks of the brothers and sisters of Jesus (Matthew 13:55-56), nowhere does it say that Mary had any other children other than her firstborn Son. The Greek word for "brothers" could refer to step-brothers, and to cousins, both of which have been suggested by the Church Fathers in the case of the relatives of Jesus. The Greek word usually translated as "until" in Matthew 1:25 ("and [Joseph] knew [Mary] not until she had given birth to a son") does not necessarily imply any subsequent union of Mary and Joseph. The same word is used in Matthew 28:20, where Christ promises to be with His disciples "to [until] the end of the age." Christ is not saying that He will abandon His Church once the present age has ended.

Almost every Father of the early Church believed in the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary. Tertullian, who died outside of Catholic communion in the Third Century, A.D., was the only clear exception. Origen, the most famous theologian and Bible scholar of the Third Century, wrote that "there is no child of Mary except Jesus, according to the opinion of those who think correctly about her."(16) St. Athanasius of Alexandria (d. A.D. 373), the defender of the Nicene Creed, and the first Church Father to list the books of the canonical New Testament in their entirety (A.D. 367), made a compelling Scriptural argument for Jesus being Mary's only child:

If [Mary] had had other children, the Savior would not have ignored them [cf. 1 Tim. 5:3-8] and entrusted His Mother to someone else; nor would she have become someone else's mother [John 19:25-27]. She would not have [abandoned her own] to live with others, knowing well that it ill becomes [a woman] to abandon her husband or children. But, since she was a virgin and was His Mother, He gave her as a mother to His disciple, even though she was not really John's mother, because of His great purity of understanding and because of her untouched virginity. (17)

So great was the consensus of the early Church regarding the perpetual virginity of Mary, that St. Epiphanius of Salamis and St. Augustine of Hippo listed as heretics those Christians who rejected this teaching. Mary's perpetual virginity was understood by the Fathers to fulfill the prophecy of Eze. 44:1-3 regarding the Gate of the Temple, and to safeguard the uniqueness and holiness of Christ as Emmanuel, "God with us." (Matt. 1:23)

Not only does the perpetual virginity of Mary represent the consensual teaching of the early Church Fathers, it was also the common teaching of the Protestant Reformers, including Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and Wesley. Wrote Johann Heinrich Bullinger (d A.D. 1575), author of the Second Helvitic Confession and Zwingli's successor at Zurich:

The Virgin Mary, completely sanctified by the grace and blood of her only Son and abundantly endowed by the gift of the Holy Spirit and preferred to all, now lives happily with Christ in Heaven and is called and remains ever-virgin and the Mother of God.(18)

The exaltation of the Virgin Mary in this statement of a Swiss Reformed theologian is striking, given the modern Protestant tendency to honor Mary no more (and often less) than prominent contemporary Christians. We turn next to the Orthodox and Catholic veneration of Mary above all other creatures (hyperdulia in Greek).
 

9. What is the Biblical and theological basis for honoring Mary above any other creature?

The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is the most frequently used Orthodox service for celebrating the Eucharist, and includes this hymn to the Theotokos:

It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, who art ever blessed and all-blameless, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, thou who without stain barest God the Word, and art truly Theotokos: we magnify thee. (19)

The hymn sung in some Protestant (especially Lutheran and Anglican) churches, "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones" by John Athelstan Laurie Riley, includes a similar stanza inspired by the Orthodox liturgy:

O higher than the Cherubim, more glorious than the Seraphim, lead their praises, Alleluia!
Thou bearer of the eternal Word, most gracious, magnify the Lord:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!(20)

This verse is omitted from some Protestant hymnals even if the hymn itself is included, since many Protestants find this language exaggerated, and perhaps even idolatrous. I myself felt the same way, until I realized that the Gospel of Luke presents Mary as the Ark of the (New) Covenant for the Church. The similarities between the Ark of the (Old) Covenant and Mary are striking. Both the Ark and Mary were overshadowed with the glory of God:

Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34-35, KJV)

And the angel answered and said unto [Mary], The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

Both the Ark and Mary were held in the greatest reverence by the People of God, as God's own throne:

And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? (2 Samuel 6:9)

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary... she spake out with a loud voice, and said, ...And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? (Luke 1:41,42,43)

Both the Ark and Mary were greeting with rejoicing by God's People:

And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. (2 Samuel 6:12-15)

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb... For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. (Luke 1:41-42, 44)

Both the Ark and Mary remained for three months in the home of one who was blessed by this presence:

And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his household. (2 Samuel 6:11)

And Mary abode with [Elizabeth] about three months, and returned to her own house. (Luke 1:56)

Writes the Roman Catholic scholar, Hilda Graef:

Compare [Mary's reception by Elizabeth] with the story of David taking the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem; the similarities between the two accounts are too obvious not to be intentional. Evidently the author of the narrative [St. Luke the Evangelist] meant to present Mary as both the true daughter of Zion and the living Ark of the Covenant, the perfect realization of the Old Testament types.(21)

The veneration of Mary as the holy Ark of God, "more honorable than the Cherubim",  was the clear teaching of the early Church, as these quotations from the 3rd Century Church Father Gregory the Wonderworker (d. A.D. 270) and the 4th Century Church Fathers St. Methodius of Olympus and Patara (d. A.D. 312) and St. Athanasius of Alexandria demonstrate:

The Holy Virgin is herself both an honourable temple of God and a shrine made pure, and a golden altar of whole burnt offerings. By reason of her surpassing purity [she is] the Divine incense of oblation ( = προθέσεως), and oil of the holy grace, and a precious vase bearing in itself the true nard; [yea and] the priestly diadem revealing the good pleasure of God, whom she alone approacheth holy in body and soul. [She is] the door which looks eastward [Ezek. 44:1-3], and by the comings in and goings forth the whole earth is illuminated. The fertile olive from which the Holy Spirit took the fleshly slip (or twig) of the Lord, and saved the suffering race of men. She is the boast of virgins, and the joy of mothers; the declaration of archangels, even as it was spoken: "Be thou glad and rejoice, the Lord with thee"; and again, "from thee"; in order that He may make new once more the dead through sin. Thou didst allow her to remain a virgin, and wast pleased, O Lord, to lie in the Virgin's womb, sending in advance the archangel to announce it [to her]. But he from above, from the ineffable hosts, came unto Mary, and first heralded to her the tidings: "Be thou glad and rejoice." And he also added, "The Lord with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." But she was in tumult, and pondered in her mind what sort of tidings was this. But then in seemly fashion, I ween, the grace chose out the Holy Virgin; for she was wise in all ways, nor was there her like among women of all nations. (22)

Tremendous, verily, is the mystery connected with the, O Virgin Mother, thou spiritual throne, glorified and made worthy of God.  For if to the Ark, which was the image and type of thy sanctity, such honor was paid of God that to no one but to the priestly order only was the access to open it [Num. 4:15, 1 Sam. 6:19], or ingress allowed to behold it, the veil separating it off, and keeping the vestibule as that of a queen, what sort of veneration is due to thee from us who are of creation the least, to thee who art indeed a queen; to thee, the living Ark of God, the Lawgiver; to thee, the heaven that contains Him who can be contained of none? (23)

O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all. O [Ark of the New] Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold [cf. Exod. 25:10-22]! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides [cf. Exod. 16:31-34, Heb. 9:1-5, John 6:48-51].  If I say that Heaven is exalted, yet it does not equal you, for it is written, " Heaven is my throne " [Isa. 66:1], while you are God's place of repose. If I say that the angels and archangels are great--but you are greater than them all, for the angels and archangels serve with trembling the One who dwells in your womb, and they dare not speak in His presence, while you speak to Him freely. If we say that the Cherubim are great, you are greater than they, for the Cherubim carry the throne of God [cf. Psalm 80:1, 99:1), while you hold God in your hands. If we say that the Seraphim are great, you are greater than them all, for the Seraphim cover their faces with their wings [Isa. 6:2], unable to look upon the perfect Glory, while you not only gaze upon His face but caress it and offer your breasts to His holy mouth. (24)

St. Epiphanius of Salamis echoed this teaching on the great honor due Mary, the "holy vessel":

Mary, the holy Virgin, is truly great before God and men. For how shall we not proclaim her great, who held within her the uncontainable One, whom neither heaven nor earth can contain? Whoever honors the Lord also honors the holy [vessel]; who instead dishonors the holy vessel also dishonors his Master. Mary herself is that holy Virgin, that is, the holy vessel. (25)

But St. Epiphanius also made it clear that God alone is to be given the supreme worship of adoration:

Yes, Mary's body was holy, but it was not God. Yes, the Virgin was surely a virgin and worthy of honor; however, she was not given us for us to adore her. She herself adored Him who was born of her flesh, having descended from Heaven and from the bosom of the Father. (26)

This teaching on the distinction between the supreme worship ( latria ) due God alone, and the relative, subordinate veneration (proskynesis or dulia) shown to the Saints, their icons, and their relics (Acts 5:14-16, 19:11-12), was defined by the Seventh Ecumenical Council (the 2nd Council of Nicea, A.D. 787). Yet this same distinction is also present in earlier Christian writings, such as the Martyrdom of Polycarp (A.D. 156). Scripture itself restricts the worship of adoration (latria ) to God alone (Matt. 4:10), but permits veneration (proskynesis ) to be shown legitimately to the Saints (Rev. 3:9) and objects associated with them (such as Joseph's staff in Heb. 11:21, quoting Gen. 47:31 from the LXX). And, as the above passages suggest, as far as the early Church Fathers were concerned, venerating Mary includes not only ascribing to her the honor due her; it also includes invoking her in prayer.

10. What is the Biblical and theological basis for asking Mary to pray with us and for us?

The Doxology sung by many Protestants as an offertory invokes the Saints in Heaven to join us in praising God: "Praise Him above, ye heavenly host." (27) This invocation imitates Psalm 103:20-22 and 148:1-2, where the psalmist calls on the angels in Heaven to join worshippers on earth in praising God. While some Protestants might dismiss these invocations as merely instances of apostrophe, it is significant that the Prophets (2 Kings 6:15-17), Apostles (1 Cor. 11:10, Heb. 12:1, 22-24), and Christ Himself (Matt. 18:10, Luke 15:7-10) describe the heavenly host as observing God's people on earth. Moreover, Christ describes the Patriarch Abraham as aware of events on earth following his departure, including the lives of Moses and the prophets, and the comparatively insignificant details of the lives of Lazarus and his relatives (Luke 16:19-31). From the perspective of the Saints in eternity, no detail of anyone's life will remain hidden (Luke 12:2-3). While this does not mean that the Saints in Heaven necessarily know fully as they shall at the Resurrection (1 Cor. 13:12), it does mean that they know everything they need to know in order to offer to God the prayers of His people on earth (Rev. 5:8, 8:3-4). God, who gave the Saints on earth supernatural knowledge of others' needs (Acts 16:9-10), will not cease to give them knowledge in Heaven, where they are not dead but alive (Luke 20:38) and "follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4).

Far from being a pagan tradition, the invocation of saints is rooted not only in the Psalmist's invocation of angels, but in the Jewish custom of invoking the Prophet Elijah. According to Jewish tradition, Elijah is invoked during the circumcision ceremony, when the Mohel--the man performing the circumcision--places the infant on the "Chair of Elijah" and says, "Elijah, angel of the Covenant, here is yours before you; stand at my right and support me." (28)