She is our only Mediatress, the only Mother of Life, and the holy Fathers reserved the office of mediation for Christ and His mother only. Yes, we have other intercessors to God, but the Orthodox faith interposes neither saints nor angels as mediators and intercessors to her.
In the vast tradition of liturgy and piety of the Fathers, there is not a single request to angels or to saints for their intercession to the Mediatress on our behalf, not even in the hymns and services for angels and saints who were closest to her in this life, such as her parents Joachim and Anna, St. John the Evangelist, Archangel Gabriel, St. Joseph the Betrothed, her cousin St. Elizabeth, and others.
The Church asks the Lord to accept His mother’s intercessions on our behalf, but in all the services and feasts of the Theotokos, she is never asked to accept intercessions from other saints. To do so would be to make her into a deity or goddess approached through others.
While she has ever-abiding grace as our Mediatress, she ever remains a creature, and in this lies her great glory. The source of her grace and power is the Uncreated One alone. The plan, the will, and the uncreated divinizing power in the theosis of mankind originate from the eternal benevolence of the Creator alone and have no co-originator. In this sense, she could never be called co-redemptress. The Orthodox faith teaches that “every good gift and every perfect gift from above comes down from [Christ) the Father of lights”46 through the Mediatress.
Concluding the Small Compline Service, the Orthodox Church sings this much beloved verse: “My hope is the Father, my refuge the Son, my protection the Holy Spirit; O Holy Trinity, Glory to Thee.” Then we immediately add, “My entire hope I place in you, O Mother of God. Guard me under your protection.”
Superficially, it could seem to be a contradiction, but in fact it is not. We confess first that our whole faith is in the Holy Trinity. The only hope of mankind lies in the Father’s benevolence, which comes down through Christ the “Father of lights, “and He imparts “every good gift” to the world through His all-holy mother.
~Adapted from George S. Gabriel, Mary: The Untrodden Portal of God
46. Jas. 1:17
