More Spacious Than the Heavens

This post follows in line with the previous post about the communion of saints. Mary holds a very high place- suspiciously high to many Protestants- within the Orthodox Church. What I write now is a meditation upon the "Axion Estin", a hymn to Mary that can be heard in almost all Orthodox services, as well as the Megalynarion for St. Basil's Liturgy.


The translation for "Axion Estin" I am most familiar with goes:
"It is truly meet to bless you,
      Oh Theotokos,
      ever-blessed, all-blameless,
      and mother of our God.
More honorable than the Cherubim,
     and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim;
     without corruption you gave birth to God the Word.
True Theotokos, we magnify thee."

The first thing we should note is "Theotokos". What does this word mean? In some translations it is simply rendered "Mother of God"(which makes the above hymn truly redundant), but the title of address means far more than that. "God-bearer" or "one who gives birth to God" is a more accurate, if unwieldy, translation. This word is loaded with Christological meaning, and its use was defended in the Council of Ephesus. The reason for giving this title to Mary is entirely based upon a proper theology of the Incarnation: Christ was from the beginning both fully God and fully Man. The Word certainly took the humanity of His mother, but He never ceased to be God in doing so- that is to say, while Mary might have only contributed to His human nature, what she bore in her womb was God.

Now, on to "It is truly meet", an archaic way of saying "it is certainly right". This is followed by "to bless you". This is a very biblical statement, following from Mary's own song in Luke: "Henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed! (Luke 1:48)" This directly contradicts those who would raise objection to the Orthodox use of titles such as "blessed Virgin" or "Blessed Theotokos" on the grounds of Luke 11:28, where in answer to a random cry from the audience of "Blessed is the womb that bore you...." Christ replies "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." Those who would further object that we cannot place a song from Mary in contradiction of Christ's own words are missing a few points: a) the Greek word translated "rather" is somewhat ambiguous, it can mean "more than that", "yes, but more", "yea rather", "yes rather", "on the contrary", etc; b) "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it"- even by this criteria, the Theotokos is most truly blessed, she heard the word of God and kept it and thus the Incarnation happens through her.

Next we come to "all-blameless". Regardless of whether or not one believes Mary was completely without sin (though I would add that even from the Orthodox perspective of Mary's being free from volitional sin, Mary is still just as in need of her Son's salvation, as found in Luke 1:47: "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior"), there is a sense that I think we can all agree on that this usage works. Mary is indeed "all blameless" when we consider that she is a virgin. The Virgin Birth is the cornerstone of Christian confession, the miracle which attests to the Incarnation, and it is important to realize in every meditation on our Savior's life that He had no human father.

Now, how can we call Mary "more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim" when we are told in Psalms 8:6 and again in Hebrews 2:7 that we are made "a little lower than the angels"? This requires a little digging into the Old Testament. On the ark of covenant the cherubim sat on the top, bearing the mercy seat. Again, in Psalms 18 and in several places in Ezekiel, God is depicted as riding upon the Cherubim. While never explicitly called such, beings like the Cherubim surround the throne in Revelation. In Isaiah we meet the Seraphim, also surrounding the throne. Mary can truly (in other words, "meet") be called more honorable and more glorious: the Cherubim only bear God upon their backs, the Seraphim only surround his throne. Mary bore the very Creator of All within her womb.

This idea is followed in the Megalynarion: "He made thy body into a throne, and thy womb more spacious than the heavens." The heavens cannot contain God (I Kings 8:27 Masoretic, II Chronicles 2:6), it takes two Cherubim just to bear his throne, four cherubim for him to ride upon, a multitude of seraphim to minister to him. Yet for nine months, one woman contained Him, one woman bore Him everywhere, and through one woman all His physical needs were met.

"Without corruption" takes us again to the Virgin birth. Like the bush that was aflame yet not consumed, so Mary gave birth without the touch of man.

"You gave birth to God the Word". We go now to John 1:1. Again, Mary gave birth not just to the man Jesus Christ, but to God the Word. The two cannot be separated, as this hymn reminds us again.

Then, with all this context, we return to the original idea, "True Theotokos, we magnify thee." How could we not? If God himself came into the world to bring us to glory (Hebrews 2:10), how can we not magnify this woman through whom God worked that greatest and most mysterious of his miracles, how can we not bless this woman from whom God took on Man, how can we not love her as we would our own mother, she who bore the Body to which we belong and is herself a part of that Body? Through Mary and in Mary is all the Old Testament prophecy fulfilled.

We sing the "Axion Estin" as a reminder of all the truth of the Incarnation, that Christ was fully God and fully Man. We exalt Mary because through her God became Man. We hold a high regard for Mary as we hold a high regard for all our saints, saving her a special place as becomes a mother, not just of a good Man, but of God. And in her comes the call to all of us to become Theotokos, to truly (if not as literally- though Sunday mornings can come pretty close) bear God.