At Thy right hand stood the queen (Ps. 44:8)

HOW SPEEDILY we recognised the Most Holy Virgin Mary in the prophetic depiction of the daughter of the King (Ps. 44:11), all of whose glory is within; for we must recognise her in this prophetic song and in the image of the Queen standing at the right hand of that King, Whose throne is for ever and ever,Who, being God, is by God anointed with the oil of gladness more than His fellows (vv. 5-6), even the Godman, our Lord Jesus Christ.

When and where did she stand before Him so ceremonially? Without doubt it was at the end of her earthly sojourn, in heaven, where He has with His Father the glory, which He had with Him before the world was (John 17:5).

She stands before Him just as a servant stands before a lord, because she is a servant according to her created nature; but she also stands as a Queen because she partakes of His glory and has a maternal boldness before Him.

And could we think that her standing before the King of glory is useless and inactive? If even on earth, when His glory and hers were veiled, she stood before Him as one interceding for help in our necessities, and that even with regard to things of little importance such as the provision of wine for the innocent celebration of a wedding, and that when His hour had not yet come for the working of beneficial miracles (John 2:1-9); then how much exceedingly more, now in heaven, when her love towards mankind and her boldness before her Son and God have been freed from all earthly restraints, does she stand before Him not oblivious to the earth-born but rather actively mediating for us, for gracefilled help in our necessities, in our woes and afflictions, mediating for the peace of the whole world, for the salvation of each individual soul, which sincerely seeks after salvation. And so the Queen (inasmuch as in heaven no name is without its significance, power and activity) herself has authority to help, to safeguard, munificently to grant mercies to those who flee unto her sovereign protection.

Thus we find in the prophetic words what we have in the teaching of the holy Church, what often is not just in letters but which we can read in the faces of the holy icons, what we joyously revere in the church festivals of the Theotokos; we find the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, having ascended to heaven after her dormition on earth, is the Queen in glory standing before the King of glory, interceding for us with grace and unto salvation.

Then rejoice, ye who are virgin: for virginity already reigns in heaven and from thence royally covers us with protection. Do not lose heart, ye who have given birth: although she did not experience the pangs of birthgiving in a childbirth which was without sin, the Mother of the Lord nonetheless deeply comprehends the afflictions of maternal love and care, and in a manner like unto her Divine Son she also suffered being tempted, and through His grace and in accord with her kindheartedness she desires and is able to succour others being tempted (see Heb. 2:16-18). Be glad, all ye that are born of women, for if the Son of God, on account of His incarnation, is not ashamed to call us brethren (Heb. 2:11), then of course His immaculate Mother is not ashamed to call us all children, and it is from a mother’s heart that she is kindhearted unto us all.