ICON: "Theotokos of Vladimir" 1131 CE
A VERY MARY CHRISTMAS!
Part 1: Theotokos (God Bearer)
“The great festivals of the church have been almost taken over by supermarkets and sporting events. Easter is a time for bonnets and bunnies and chocolate eggs; Christmas, which starts at the end of Oct, is for reindeer, and mistletoe and mince pies. Nativity plays have come a long easy since St Francis first set up his crib. Either they are banned to satisfy the politically correct, or they are modern and have the \birth in a bus shelter, or they are sentimental and have squirrels and even sea creatures at the crib.
The original story is so much better. It has suffered from overfamiliarity, and the words are sometimes lost in a flurry of domestic distraction. REread and REpondered, the original story of the incarnation is one of the greatest treasures in the Bible.”
Margaret Barker, Preface, “Christmas, The Original Story”
Theotokos (Greek: Θεοτόκος, translit. Theotókos; Latin Deipara, Dei genetrix; Slavonic: Богородица translit. Bogoroditsa) is a title of Mary, the mother of Jesus, that is used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern traditions of the Catholic Church.
Theotokos is a compound of two Greek words, θεός "God" and τόκος "childbirth." Literally, this translates as "God-bearer" or "the one who gives birth to God.
PROTO-EVANGELIUM of JAMES
Greek prefix proto meaning "first" and euangelion meaning "gospel" or "good news."
“ I remember how he spoke of knowing JOhn and the others who had seen the Lord, how they repeated their words from memory...To these things I listened eagerly at the time...not committing them to writing but learning them by heart.” Eusebius, History 5.20.
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Numbers 6:24-26
“Yahweh bless you and keep/guard you. Show favor/grace/incline to(ward) you. And lift up his face/countenance upon you and give to you peace/completeness.” (My translation)
“The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke
“The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke