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And Knew Her Not

Keraza Magazine issue 31-32, August 11, 2017

"And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son", (Matthew 1:25) is a verse that made many people confused and thus misusing it to raise doubts about the perpetual virginity of St. Mary. St. Cyril the great, who has a strong connection with St. Mary, has a marvelous comment on this verse in one of his Memoirs titled "Regarding the dormition of the Virgin". He says, "O Virgin, truly the holy evangelist said about you that Joseph knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn and he called His name Jesus. This means that he knew not the degree of your glory and honor, and the grace you possessed except after you gave birth to the glorified Lord, after he saw the angels going up and down praising the One born of you saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men', and after the Lord called you His beloved mother". This means that St. Cyril the great interpreted the word knew her in its simple meaning, that is to say, Joseph did not know the degree of her honor.

In fact, there is a marvelous passage in another Memoir titled "The Annunciation of Gabriel The Angel to the Virgin". This Memoir was found by Pope Cyril the Fifth in the Monastery of Elmeharak and published it in 1902 in a book titled "Memoirs and Wonders of The Virgin". This passage accurately describes the state of Joseph when he figured out she was pregnant saying, "When he saw her and found her pregnant, Joseph was astonished from this matter, fell into marvel, and was lost in the tides of thoughts hesitating between believing or denying. When he came back to himself and contemplated her, he found that she was already in an advanced stage of her pregnancy which was well clear to everybody. Therefore, he said to her, 'O Mary, I cannot stay here bearing the reproach from the sons of Israel, the priests, and the elders of the people'. He bitterly cried, mourned and grieved for his unfortunate situation saying, 'Owe to me, the miserable! How will things go and what can I say? Yes, I will become a mockery in Israel. How can I answer and how can I be justified for you are with me in my home and under my responsibility?"

Now, it is easy to put the two abovementioned passages side by side to realize that the apparition of the angel to Joseph in a dream to assure him regarding the Virgin was not enough to make him realize the degree of her honor. Only the birth of Christ of her, with its accompanying wonders, was the crucial event that enlightened the spiritual eyes of Joseph which were then opened to see the richness of St. Mary's honor and glory. Therefore, whoever tries to venerate St. Mary for her person and virtues away from connecting her honor to the birth of Christ of her, must then fall in the same doubt and confusion Joseph fell in. St. Mary likened Her Son, and was transformed into the same image of Him. As He, who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us, the pregnancy of her, who knew no man, became her cross upon which she was hanged without a sin from her part. And as the Lord Jesus Christ was glorified in the eyes of His disciples by His resurrection, the birth of Christ of the Virgin became a resurrection for her where she was glorified in the eyes of Joseph which were opened then and he "knew her". Hence, the title of the Mother of God is the glory of the resurrection of St. Mary!!

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States