Pinned
The virgin mary was a celebrated figure beyond being the mother of Jesus Christ.
(This is the oldest version of her in Rome) She is considered the holiest and greatest saint. She is very revered in Islam, she had a chapter named after her in the Quran, was called βthe greatest woman to ever liveβ, held the title of al-Mustafia which means βthe chosenβ
She may have had a sister, Mary of Clopas. She is also the woman of the apocalypse or the "woman clothed with the sun".
Theonas of Alexandria consecrated one of the first places devoted to Mary but she had many more, such as The Church of the Seat of Mary. She was considered an intercessor in the the Byzantine Empire.
She was worshipped as a mother goddess in the Christian sect of Collyridianism. Ephesus is a cultic centre of Mary. It is the site of the first church dedicated to her and the rumoured place of her death and where she lived.
In the Orthodox, she is the most honored saints. She is considered "more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim". But she is not worshipped or considered βdivineβ. Despite this, she is seen as above all other creatures. Theologian Sergei Bulgakov wrote that the Orthodox view Mary as "superior to all created beings".
Our Lady of the Pillar is considered to be about her. She is often depicted in blue because it was considered the colour of an empress in Byzantine Empire.
The sad part is that she likely had Jesus as a teenager, possibly 12β14, and was likely still young when he died.
