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Part IV: Dogma and Ritual Questions · 54

You are the 'true Vine'

Faith Q&A › Many Years with People's Questions › Part IV

The question

The Lord Christ said, "I am the true vine" (John 15:1), so how can we say to the Virgin Mary in the prayers of the Agpia, 'You are the true vine that carries the fruit of life'? Are we to apply the same title to Mary as we do to Christ?

The answer

When the Lord Jesus Christ says, "I am the true vine", it has a different meaning from when we say that St Mary is a 'true vine'. The word 'vine' can also be applied to the Church, to the people and to the individual human soul, as the Bible itself makes clear.

The Bible gives the title of 'vine' to the Church and it says in the psalm: " Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine " (Ps. 80:14), and we use these words in the Church's hymns.

The Lord Himself gave this title to the Church when He said: "In that day - 'Sing about a fruitful vineyard: I, the Lord,

watch over it; I water it continually. ' " (Is. 27:2) and also: " And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes?" (Is. 5:3-4)

So we see here that the Lord gave the name of 'vine' even to His people who had done wrong and borne bad fruit!

We also see Him referring to Israel as: " 'Your mother was like a vine in your bloodline, Planted by the waters, Fruitful and full of branches Because of many waters. But she was plucked up in fury, She was cast down to the ground, And the east wind dried her fruit. Her strong branches were broken and withered; The fire consumed them." (Ezek. 19:10,12)

And in the Book of Joel He makes another reference to Israel when He says: "He has laid waste My vines and ruined My fig-trees. " (Joel 1:7)

When the Lord compared His people or the Church to a vine He said: " There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. " (Matt. 21:33)

Here the Lord likened the Church to a vine, and the vinedressers to the Father, saying: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. " (John 15:1) But of course when

the word vine is used of Christ it has a different meaning from when it is used to refer to the Church.

The Bible even uses the word vine to refer to women, when it says: "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table. " (Ps. 128:3)

So if the word 'vine' can be given to a woman or a wife, to the people of God, even when they have gone astray, and can be given to the Church as a whole, what is wrong with using it for the Virgin Mary, whom we also call the 'second heaven'?

We see many cases where God's titles are actually used for man and for nature.

The Lord said: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12), and said to His disciples: "You are the light of the world " thus using the same name, though in both cases it means different things, quite apart from the word 'light' when used to refer to real, physical. "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. " (Gen. 1:3)

And the word of God is also called a 'light': "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. " (Ps. 119:105)

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Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory

Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory, Many Years with People's Questions, Part IV: Dogma and Ritual Questions. Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. Translated by Mrs. Glynis Younan, London. Revised by Mrs. Wedad Abbas. First edition, August 1992. Revised COEPA 1997. ISBN 977-5319-0-2-1.