{"id":1394,"date":"2026-11-05T00:51:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T05:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/?post_type=question&#038;p=1394"},"modified":"2026-11-05T00:51:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T05:51:55","slug":"why-is-the-virgin-mary-called-the-theotokos","status":"publish","type":"question","link":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/questions\/why-is-the-virgin-mary-called-the-theotokos\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the Virgin Mary called the Theotokos?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Greek title <em>Theotokos<\/em> means &#8220;she who gave birth to [the one who is] God.&#8221; It was solemnly confirmed by the Third Ecumenical Council (Ephesus, 431), against the teaching of Nestorius, who would only call Mary &#8220;Christotokos,&#8221; the mother of Christ. The question was not first about Mary but about her Son. If Christ is truly one Person, the eternal Son of God who became man, then the child born of Mary is God incarnate, and his mother is truly the Theotokos.<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth already greeted Mary as &#8220;the mother of my Lord&#8221; (Luk 1:43). The Church honors her as the Ever-Virgin and as the <em>Panagia<\/em>, the &#8220;all-holy,&#8221; because of her unique closeness to the Holy One of God, while never confusing her with God. In the litanies, the Church prays: &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Every honor given to the Theotokos is, in the end, a confession of faith in her Son: she is the one through whom the Word took flesh, and she always points to him, as at Cana: &#8220;Whatever he tells you to do, do it&#8221; (Joh 2:5).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Theotokos&#8221; means &#8220;she who gave birth to God.&#8221; The title protects the truth about Christ: the one born of Mary is not a mere man but the eternal Son of God made flesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","audience":[],"liturgical_season":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1394","question","type-question","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/question"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1402,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1394\/revisions\/1402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"liturgical_season","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/liturgical_season?post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sr-latn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}