Derzhavnaya bogoroditsa?

[Olga Meerson]

Our Lady is something that is, more or less, shared as an apellation for the Mother of God, between Catholics and Orthodox believers. Interestingly, except for the Bogoroditse Devo, radujsia..." a common Orthodox prayer originating, nonetheless, in the Catholic Rosary, Mary is called EVER-Virgin in the Orthodox tradition (Prisnodeva). But all these things are not too important. It is just that the Orthodox tradition is more keen on Her Motherhood (in both the sense that She is the Temple of our God, and that She understands the sorrows of mothers, and is Mother to us all, who may otherwise feel completely orphaned in this world), while the Catholic, on Her Virginity (purity and all those things that somewhat remove Her from our fallen world). But even these are not absolute distinctions. What is interesting is that sometimes they are reflected in the respective iconographies themselves. One more reason to translate the names accurately, without cultural transposition, I thin!
 k.!
 So I agree with Michele, not the first time around, either.
o.m.

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