Why the Virgin Mary did became an orphan?
Why did the Virgin Mary become an orphan?
How was the Virgin Mary able to become the symbolic bush at such a young age – whose only support is God alone?
The life of the pure Virgin Mary is full of events that evoke our contemplation while God's wisdom and planning is very clear. She is the one from whom, the Lord Jesus obtained His physical body. He was nourished through her blood while concealing His divinity, and that is why she is an important character in God's plan for salvation
We can learn a lot from both the spiritual and moral lessons that embrace each stage in her life; in addition to the wisdom of being able to concentrate on the target goal.
When the Virgin Mary was born, her parents – Hannah and Joachim were very old. They were married for a number of years, but had no children, until the appropriate time assigned by God drew near. It was then that Angel Gabriel appeared to her parents announcing her conception and her role in the plan of salvation, which was assigned by God. This was the plan which God promised Adam, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born[a]of a woman…” (Galatians4:4).
However there is another important incident that draws attention to the life of the Virgin Mary:
The Virgin Mary’s parents vowed to God that if He were to grant them a child, they would dedicate this child to Him. This vow was made out of Hannah and Joachim’s own free will. Hence, Hannah prayed to God almighty in tears as she made an oath to Him: "O, Lord of warriors if thou had mercy on me bestowing thy Grace upon me, granting me a child, then that child will be allotted to you for life.”
Therefore, when Angel Gabriel appeared before Hannah while she was praying, he was clothed in heavenly light, and he said to her, “Hannah: God almighty has heard your pleas, and in response to your prayers, you will conceive and you will give birth to a blessed daughter who will be blessed throughout generations and all over the world. She will give birth to the one who will redeem Adam and his descendants – setting them free from slavery to Satan.
When this happened Hannah replied "Praise be to the living God, if I am given a child as you spoke, she will be offered to God almighty to serve His Holy Temple all the days of her life.”
Thus Hannah conceived, and 9 months later as pronounced by the angel, she gave birth to a blessed child whom she named Mary. Hannah fulfilled her oath to God when Mary was three years old, which concludes the suckling period, “…have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee such three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education…” (2 Macc7: 27) It was then that Hannah took Mary to serve God in His own House – the Temple of God.
Mary stayed in the partition assigned to the allotted children to serve the Lord, and her mother would visit her every now and then carrying food and clothing until the day when Mary was 8 years old. Eventually, Hannah passed away, leaving Mary an orphan, for her father had already passed away two years earlier when Mary was only 6 years old.
Mary stayed in the House of the Lord until she became 12 years old. As this is the age of puberty for girls, Mary had to leave the Temple of God, because at that age she was not allowed to touch anything in the sanctuary, and she was no longer allowed into the Holy Place.
Let us now pause and contemplate the critical situation and the difficulty of the decision that had to be taken concerning Mary’s destiny. This young lady, Virgin Mary, only 12 years old, where would she go after leaving the Lord’s house? She is an orphan. She has no family house to resort to, like other ladies with a similar case.
The priests of the temple had no idea about who would take responsibility for her? Undoubtedly, she herself had no idea where to go. Nevertheless, as our church fathers mentioned, as it is also mentioned in the Sunday Theotokia: God sent an angel from heaven to Zechariah in a vision, urging him to gather the staffs of the men who are kin to the Virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem. During that time, every man used to carry a staff to protect himself against animals and thieves.
So Zechariah gathered the staffs of the men both young and old, and he placed them as he was instructed by the angel at the Temple of God.
So it came to pass that the next day, the staff which belonged to Joseph the carpenter bloomed and yielded in the same way as Aaron's staff yielded blossoms, just as the rod of Aaron did in the past: “Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.” (Num17: 8) and “which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in whichwerethe golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded…”(Heb 9: 4)
For this reason Virgin Mary, in the rituals of the church, is called "Aaron's Rod". Moreover, a beautiful white dove settled down on Joseph's head. This was a second sign confirming the Heavenly choice of Joseph: called to be the one allotted to be in charge of the Virgin Mary. St. Joseph was over ninety years old at that time – According to Synaxarium Joseph passed away at the age of 111 years when Jesus was 11 years old (incarnated) (Synaxarium, 26 Abib). Therefore, St. Joseph must have been 93 or 94 years old when he took responsibility of the Virgin Mary in his home.
Being keen on St. Mary's reputation, the priests decided that there should be an official marriage contract binding St. Joseph & St. Mary.
This was very wise on the part of the priests at that time. For if the Virgin Mary became pregnant while at St. Joseph's house without any legal marriage contract to bind them – according to the law of she would be put to death. (Deut 22: 20, 21).
But the Gospel informs us that "Then Joseph her husband, being a justman,and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt1: 19, 20).
Hence, we now may ask: Since the Virgin Mary was assigned to be Mother of Christ, the Saviour, from whose body He decided to obtain His own physical Body, why is it that she was denied her childhood, for she stayed with her mother for only the first three years of her life. She did not enjoy the warmth of motherly relation, as she was taken to the Lord's House to serve Him, because her parents dedicated her to God Almighty. Later, at the age of 8 years she lost her mother by death, which is very hard, as she had already lost her father 2 years earlier. Moreover, she was only 12 years old when she had to leave the house of the Lord, and was allotted to Joseph who was over 90 then to shoulder her responsibility. Joseph was like her grandfather due to the great age difference.
All these incidents that Virgin Mary had experienced throughout her life, until she passed away peacefully, makes of her a living image of the ‘fiery brush’ that Moses witnessed in the wilderness when he was looking after the sheep of his father-in-law, ‘Jethro’. “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.2 And the Angel of theLordappeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bushwasnot consumed.3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” (Ex. 3:1-3)
As for the bush, it is a small tree that cannot stand alone – rather, it must learn to lean on its neighbouring trees for support. That’s why the church considered the Virgin Mary to be like the bush. She had no one to lean upon for support, as she lost both parents when still a child. She is similar to the bush witnessed by Moses, which although on fire was not burnt. So is the case with Virgin Mary, the word of God was conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit but she was not burnt, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:22) “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Isaiah 33:14)
Moreover, God called unto Moses from upon the fiery bush saying: “I have seen the affliction of my people…and have heard their cry… I know their sorrows and I am coming down to deliver them”. These Godly words served as an introduction and an announcement for the greatest descent of the incarnated God. Hence the ecclesiastical hymn about St. Virgin Mary states:
“Behold the fiery bush that was witnessed by Moses but never burnt, is but the Mother of Light who conceived the Divine one 9 months in her womb but remained forever virgin…”
Written by the late Bishop Gregory, Bishop of Divine Higher Studies, and Coptic Culture & Scientific Research.