The Mother of God is Our True Mother Elder Cleopas Ilie of Sihastria Monastery

 …God would have destroyed the world long ago, as the divine Fathers say, for the many sins with which men anger Him, but as the Mother of God wrapped Jesus Christ and swaddled Him in the manger, so now she binds the anger of God and stops Him from destroying mankind.For the Mother of mercy and grace does not want God to destroy the souls of men, for she knows that were the anger of God to wax hot, it would destroy the entire world that has become the abode of so much sin and evil.

We have a kind and merciful Mother there in Heaven.

She has gone there to ever look upon the needs of the poor, the prayers of widows, upon beggars, the imprisoned, the persecuted, the suffering, the sick. There she became a Mother helping everyone in trouble—all who are oppressed and all who love her and call upon her help with their whole hearts. We have a most blessed Mother in Heaven, the Mother of mercy and grace, who ever prays for the entire Church of Christ and every child of the Church of Christ individually.

Blessed and thrice blessed is every Christian who keeps an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in their house and reads an akathist, moleben, and other prayers to the Mother of God every day. There is none in Heaven nor on Earth more powerful, save the Holy Trinity, than the Mother of God, who is mighty in helping us.

Blessed are those Christians who, after the Holy Trinity, honor the Mother of God with all their hearts, and wherever they go, say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother and all Thy saints, have mercy upon me, a sinner.”

I’ll tell you one story so you see what a speedy helper the Mother of God is for those who have her as Mother and who venerate her as the Mother of God the Word, and how close she is to those who believe in her and ever call upon her for help.

There was a woman, a widow, whose husband died when she was still young, leaving her alone with two small children. The poor woman also had a farm. But she revered God and the Most Holy Theotokos, with an icon of her with the God-Child in her embrace. And she taught her children from an early age to bow before the icon, to pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and at least the shortest prayers to the Mother of God for a start. And the children would ask like babes—which they were:

“Mama, who is that on the icon?”

And she would tell them:
“It’s your Mama, your true Mama.”

“Aren’t you our mama?”

She would say:
“No, your true Mother is in Heaven, and she is called the Mother of God.”

“And Who is this Child she is holding in her arms?” they would ask.

“That is our Lord Jesus Christ, Who created us and was carried in the womb of the Mother of God. She gave birth to Him by the Holy Spirit, and He was both God and perfect man.”

Thus this poor mother taught her children who the Mother of God is, and she taught them with her whole heart that the Mother of God is their true Mother. Therefore, the children, rising in the morning, even before speaking with their mother, would run to the Mother of God, make several prostrations, pray the Lord’s Prayer and prayers to the Mother of God, honoring her according to the strength of their childish understanding.

One day this poor woman had to go work the harvest in the field, and there was no one to leave the children with. It was her custom to lock the children up in the house when she left them. She called the children, left them something to eat, and said:

“You stay home alone. I’m going to work—I have a lot to reap.”

And the children asked:
“Who are we staying with?”

“You’ll stay with our Mother,” she said, pointing to the icon of the Mother of God, before which a lampada was burning.

Then she said:
“Your Mother will be with you and protect you, and you be smart and pray if you get in trouble. Call out to her, for she will protect you!”

The children believed their mother that they wouldn’t be left alone, but with their Heavenly Mother, and the poor woman hastened off to her work in the field. The children prayed, but their minds went from one thing to another, without stopping on a single thought.

So they forgot their mother’s advice. They prayed for a while, then started playing games and started playing with fire. As I said, the mother locked them in the house so they wouldn’t go outside and get lost, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be home for at least half a day.

And when the children started playing with fire, the house itself caught fire. Seeing their household items catch fire—rugs and whatever else they had—and when they saw that the whole house was burning and that there was no one to come to put it out, since it was summer time and everyone was at work, they ran to the icon of the Mother of God, picked it up with their little hands, and shouted:

“Mama, don’t leave us!”

And—O, thy wonders, O Mother of God!—the entire house burned down, but the fire did not touch the wall where the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was hanging, with the children clinging to it!

Someone brought the woman news of it in the field.

“Oh, woman, your house has burned down!”

And this poor thing said:
“Oh, woe is me, I left my children at home!”

The one who told her didn’t know about the miracle that occurred with the children, but only told her: “Run—I heard it’s your house!”

Hearing this, and knowing that she locked her children in the house, she took off running, and her heart was about ready to leap out of her chest from running and from fright. And when she reached the outskirts, she asked:
“Did my house burn down?”

“Yes,” they answered her, “your house burned down. They saw a huge fire, and people ran to put it out, but the house had already burned down.”

And she cried out:
“Mother of God, how could you leave my children? I left them with you!”

Sobbing and wailing, she ran like a madwoman. When she arrived, she saw people standing and looking at the glorious miracle: The entire house had burned down, but the wall with the icon of the Theotokos stood untouched, and the children were holding the icon and crying, “Mama, Mama!”

Seeing this, the poor woman dashed through the fire to the icon of the Mother of God and fervently thanked the Mother of God that her babies, whom she had entrusted to her, were kept alive and healthy.[7]

 

I have told you this to show you that whoever venerates the Theotokos as their Mother and patroness enjoys her protection, as well as their children, and cattle, and all their possessions. Have this faith always, and may the Akathist and prayers to the Mother of God never cease in your home, and no matter what sorrows or misfortunes befall you, call upon the Mother of God with all your heart, and she will surely come with her speedy help, with her most holy and most powerful prayers.

Know that there isn’t a soul under Heaven that could place its hope in the Mother of God and be thoroughly put to shame. By her prayers, it will have peace, comfort, shelter, and refuge in this age, and at the moment of death, the mercy of the Mother of God will not leave it. And on the day of the Judgment, the Most Holy Mother will kneel before her Most Holy and Sweetest Son, our God Jesus Christ and say: “My Lord God and Son, this tormented soul, even if it has sinned, has always entreated me to pray to Thee. Forgive it, have mercy, and show it mercy.”

Thus, by the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, we will find mercy in this age, and at the hour of death, and on the day of the Judgment.
Amen!

 

From the book, Predici la Sărbătorile de peste an [Feast-day Homilies]. Editura Christiana, 2001.
Archimandrite Cleopa (Ilie)
Translated by Jesse Dominick