Topic: Ukrainians, Russians, and appreciation of their culture Posted By: Michael Malloy Date: 06 Jun 1998 11:46 PM
I watched the first program tonight, with a careful eye because of the
criticism others expressed. I thoroughly enjoyed the program! The
images were breathtaking although the narration was somewhat
dissapointing when one considers the source. Dr. Billington sounded
sincerely appreciative but clearly out of his element when talking
about art and icons. As an Orthodox Christian, I found his constant
use of "Mary" when referring to the Mother of God annoying. The Greek
term Theotokos would have been a better choice, but I prefer
Bogoroditsa in this context myself.
Responses:
Subject: Mother of God From:Andrei Kokov Date: 07 Jul 1998 6:28 PM
What I'd like to add here, for a person aquaintanced with Christianity
on more serious basis than traditionsl Orthodoxy offers, it's a problem
to talk about mother of God (Bogoroditsa): while God is the Creator,
Who existed before anything came into being (including such categories
as time and space), the God can't have any mother. There is certain
difficulty to accept that mother of Jesus - the man who was son of God
and served as the Saviour - this Jewish woman known as Mary was not
mother of God. If we assume that God had Mother, we should serve the
Mother (as the supreme Goddess) rather than we serve the Lord. So it's
a serious thing, if you take it seriously: the Deity becames unclear.
And this doesn't go along with the religion doctrine based on the
primarity of the service of the Lord Jesus Christ.
