Mary: The 'Well-Guarded Secret' (Introduction)

Schmemann Speaks

Fr Alexander says he speaks about Mary with "fear and trembling," not only because of the difficulty of the subject, but "I really feel that to speak about Mary is a tremendous test, first for theology itself..."
To speak about her is indeed a profound challenge. Apart from the term "Theotokos," we lack adequate theological terms to express the mystery of Mary in the Church, Schmemann argues. Furthermore, much of Mariology is distinctly non-biblical in character. How then, do we explain the Church's devotion of her? Is it mere "devotional exaggeration"?
In this introduction to a larger discussion about Mary, Fr Alexander says the time for a theological study of Mariology has come, for the Theotokos is key to an understanding of the world and of life itself.