August 2020 Letter

Dear brethren,

August is the month of the fast of Virgin Mary. We would like to take this opportunity to learn from some of the sayings of our holy fathers about how the virgin St. Mary was a symbol and type of the church:

• Ambrose: “Well does the gospel say: married but a virgin, because she is the type of the church, which is also married but remains immaculate. The Virgin (Church) conceived us by the Holy Spirit and, as a virgin, gave birth to us without pain. And perhaps this is why holy Mary, married to one man (Joseph), is made fruitful by another (the Holy Spirit) , to show that the individual churches are filled with the Spirit and with grace, even as they are united to the person of a temporal priest”.
• Augustine: “How is it that you do not belong to the Virgin’s birth, if you are members of Christ? Mary gave birth to our Head; the church gave birth to you. Indeed, the church also is both virgin and mother, mother because of her womb of charity, virgin because of the integrity of her faith and piety”.
• Ephrem the Syrian: “The church gave us the living Bread, in place of the unleavened bread that Egypt had given. Mary gave us the refreshing bread, in place of the fatiguing bread that Eve had procured for us”.
• Epiphanius: “Notice, I pray you, how precise Scripture is. Of Adam, it is said that he is formed, while, in the case of Eve, it does not say that she was formed but rather that she was built up. He took – it says – one of his ribs and built it up into a woman (Gen 2: 21), to show that the Lord formed himself a body from Mary, but that the Church was built up from His side, when it was pierced and the mysteries of blood and water were poured out for our redemption”.
• Isidore: “Mary represents the church, which, being wedded to Christ, conceived us as a virgin by the Holy Spirit and as a virgin bore us”.

May the blessing of St. Mary and St. Mercurius be with us all. Amen.

Belleville, August 1, 2020

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