One thing I appreciate about the Orthodox church is that it seems to have read Romans 14...
” 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
12So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
We obviously don’t see eye to eye on the role of Mary, but God can and will deal with each of us on His schedule. I’d much rather say, “Forgive me, Lord, I was wrong!” than “Forgive me, Lord, I went against what I believed in order to satisfy men...”
So you will understand where we are coming from, here is a 13th Icon of Panagia Platytera from Yaroslavl. An almost identical 13th century one is in the Church of the Holy Apostles in my maternal village down in Greece:
The word "Platytera" is from the phrase "Platytera ton ouranon", "Broader that the heavens", meaning that her womb contained within it the Creator of the Universe, the "Being Who created being" as we say, which is graphically taught by this icon showing Christ within the Theotokos. Christ is True God and True Man. If one contemplates the Creator of Existence as having been quite literally contained within her, her exalted status among Orthodox and Latin Christians really isn't surprising. As for me, whenever I see this icon, especially standing in the church in my maternal village where my ancestors have worshiped God for 1000 years or so, I identify and relate to Panagia as my very own mother.
