Grace and peace to all!
I truly, first of all, want to express my love for the Eastern Orthodox brethern in Christ! It is my frequent prayer that we WILL reunite because the separation is what pains the Lord greatly.
Now in regards to the Immaculate Conception, I had learned Mary was conceived without sin stems from the idea that Mary who carried in her womb the Savior of humanity for 9 months, in Spirit and in Body was the perfect Ark of the New Covenant. Now, the womb of the woman who carried the Incarnate Lord, could not have been tainted with sin, lest the Devil have a foothold on the Lord.
God says "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed." (Gen. 3:15)
The New Testament records that she first received the Holy Spirit when she conceived Jesus, thus making her the first recipient of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Gabriel announced that "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence the holy offspring to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). The language of this announcement is very similar to the image of "power of the Most High" overshadowing the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 40:34-35, or the Temple in 1 Kings 8:10. Through the power of the Spirit, Mary became the new Ark of the Covenant and the new Temple because God dwelt fully within her in Jesus.
The Gospel according to Luke alludes to several Old Testament passages in regards to the Ark of the Covenant:
Luke 1:39 / 2 Sam. 6:2 - Luke's conspicuous comparison's between Mary and the Ark described by Samuel underscores the reality of Mary as the undefiled and immaculate Ark of the New Covenant. In these verses, Mary (the Ark) arose and went / David arose and went to the Ark. There is a clear parallel between the Ark of the Old and the Ark of the New Covenant.
Luke 1:41 / 2 Sam. 6:16 - John the Baptist / King David leap for joy before Mary / Ark.
Luke 1:43 / 2 Sam. 6:9 - How can the Mother / Ark of the Lord come to me?
Luke 1:56 / 2 Sam. 6:11 and 1 Chron. 13:14 - Mary / the Ark remained in the house for about three months.
Rev 11:19 - at this point in history, the Ark of the Old Covenant was not seen for six centuries (see 2 Macc. 2:7), and now it is finally seen in heaven. The Jewish people would have been absolutely amazed at this. However, John immediately passes over this fact and describes the "woman" clothed with the sun in Rev. 12:1. John is emphasizing that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant and who, like the Old ark, is now worthy of veneration and praise. Also remember that Rev. 11:19 and Rev. 12:1 are tied together because there was no chapter and verse at the time these texts were written.
Many early Christian writers (such as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus) noted that God allowed this whole plan of salvation to hinge on Mary's free response to Gabriel's message. Because of her "yes" to God, Mary is the New Eve, reversing the first Eve's "no." By the disobedience of Eve, all mankind became immersed in the bondage of sin. Mary's obedience to God opened the way for the saving work of Jesus. As St Irenaeus explained late in the second century in his famous work "Against the Heresies": "
The knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the virgin Mary loosed through faith."
Indeed, the Virgin Mary is a great example of Faith. It should be noted that titles and and honors bestowed upon her (like "the Mother of God") all stemmed from the Church's valiant efforts to preserve sound doctrine against heresies in regards to Christ's dual nature, being both human and divine. Mary always comes up since it is uniquely from Mary that Jesus took His human flesh (Mary's "seed": cf. Genesis 3:15; Rev 12:17; Romans 16:20). So indirectly BECAUSE of her close association with our Savior and our salvation, she is indirectly given great honor through the merits of her Son Jesus Christ, and by her unshaken faith.
In this way, the Church has fulfilled Mary's spirit-filled prophecy: "From now on all generations will call me blessed" (Luke 1:48).
In Exodus 25:11-21, the ark of the Old Covenant was made of the purest gold for God's Word. If Mary is the ark of the New Covenant, carrying the true Word of God (John 1:3) it can be reasoned she would be the purest vessel for the Word of God made flesh.
In 2 Sam. 6:7 we see that the Ark is so holy and pure that when Uzzah touched it, the Lord slew him. 1 Chron. 13:9-10 shows another account of Uzzah and the Ark.
These verses show that the Ark is undefiled. Mary the Ark of the New Covenant is even more immaculate and undefiled, spared by God from original sin so that she could bear His eternal Word in her womb. For God to dwell within Mary the Ark, Mary had to be conceived without sin. For Catholics, to argue otherwise would be to say that God would let the finger of Satan touch His Son made flesh. This is incomprehensible.
In Luke 1:28, Gabriel greets Mary not with her name, but with the word/title "
kecharitomene," or "full of grace." It is the past participle of "
charitoo" and translates best as "made full of grace."
In Semitic usage, a name expresses the reality of the person/thing to which it refers.
This is a unique title given to Mary, and suggests a perfection of grace from a past event. Mary is not just "highly favored." She has been perfected in grace by God. "Full of grace" is only used to describe one other person - Jesus Christ in John 1:14. Paul also uses it to describe believers in Ephesians (I forget the verse
) to describe those who have been regenerated. But the fact that Gabriel addresses Mary as already "made full of grace" even before the conception of the Savior Jesus Christ, suggests she was redeemed beforehand through a special grace from God.
Now remember that grace is a gift from God (cf. Ephesians 2:8, 3:7), therefore it is not earned. Mary did not earn her honor, she was preserved solely by the "grace" of God, as we can see in the title "
kecharitomene." Her redemption came in a different way than did ours, yet she herself was saved by grace.
But I also heard that many Orthodox believe Mary was cleansed from all sin at the Annunciation, when she gave her
fiat to Gabriel. Is that accurate?
