What other great title is there with which Orthodox Christians honor the Most Holy Virgin Mary?
The most commonly used and yet most exalted title given to the Virgin Mary is “Theotokos” (Θεοτόκος). “Theotokos” means “she who gave birth to [he who is] God”, although it is sometimes translated “Mother of God.” Strictly speaking, the Greek “Theotokos” is not identical with “Mētēr Theou [hēmōn]” (“Mother of [our] God,” abbreviated ΜР ΘУ on icons), though the two titles confess the same faith.
“Panagia” (Παναγία) is another beloved title of the Virgin Mary. It means “all-holy” or “most holy,” on account of her unique closeness to “the Holy One of God” (Joh 6:69). This title is used constantly in the litanies:
In Greek, the commemoration reads:
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Τῆς Παναγίας, ἀχράντου, ὑπερευλογημένης, ἐνδόξου, Δεσποίνης ἡμῶν Θεοτόκου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, μετὰ πάντων τῶν Ἁγίων μνημονεύσαντες, ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἀλλήλους καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν, Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ παραθώμεθα. |
Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God. |
In this single commemoration, repeated at every litany, the Church confesses in one breath the two great titles examined in this catechism.
The title Theotokos joins Joh 1:1 (Jesus as theos, “the Word was God”) with the angelic announcements of his birth, “she will bear (Greek texetai, from tiktein, ‘to give birth,’ whence –tokos) a son” (Mat 1:21; Luk 1:31; see Q083, Q130). She who gave birth (tokos) to him who is God (Theos) is, by strict scriptural logic, Theotokos.
As for the title “Mother of [our] God,” it rests on the fact that Mary is the mother of Jesus, who is our Lord and our God (Joh 20:28; see Q145, Q607).
The prophet Isaiah says: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means, ‘God with us’” (Isa 7:14 LXX; Mat 1:23; see Q014, Q033). She is the virgin through whom “God with us” came to dwell among us.
The righteous Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, calls the Most Holy Virgin “the mother of my Lord”, a title that deliberately echoes David’s awestruck exclamation before the Ark: “How can the ark of the LORD (YHWH) come to me?” (2Sa 6:9). Elizabeth’s greeting is therefore one in substance with “Mother of [my/our] God”, and the Theotokos is the living Ark of the new covenant, bearing within herself the Lord’s own presence (cf. Luk 1:39–56 alongside 2Sa 6, even to the three-month stay and the leaping before the Ark).
The text in St Luke reads: “Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luk 1:43; see Q137, Q402). Inasmuch as “Theotokos” is a precise dogmatic title, difficult to translate concisely, the traditional and recommended practice in English is to retain it untranslated.
