Română
In this recording, Archimandrite Athanasios Mytilinaios (1927-2006), answers the question: “It is said that the Theotokos is omnipresent. Yes, if not, then how does she perform so many miracles?” A: “Our Church believes that the Theotokos has risen with her body and she is in the kingdom of God. Of course, she is not omnipresent, but God, who is omnipresent, acts on her behalf and on behalf of the saints. Because God says, ‘I will glorify those who glorify me;”.
Audio source: “Answers to questions”, no. 301 (in Greek) https://arnion.gr/index.php/diafora-uemata/pantiseis-pori-n
Archimandrite Athanasios:
It is said that the Theotokos is omnipresent. Yes, if not, then how does she perform so many miracles? Well, it isn’t dated. As I’ve told you, she is just like the saints. We were recently discussing this. It seems to me that it’s very simple. I think we were discussing this recently, last Monday or yesterday, Sunday. That Paul performs miracles, namely God performs miracles through the hands of Paul. My beloved, the saints and the Theotokos are where they are, glorified and honored. The saints await the resurrection of the dead. Our Church believes that the Theotokos has risen with her body and she is in the kingdom of God. Of course, she is not omnipresent, but God, who is omnipresent, acts on her behalf and on behalf of the saints. Because God says, “I will glorify those who glorify me”. As I told you yesterday, it is written in 2 Kings: “those who glorify me, I will glorify”.
The Virgin Mary is exalted, as are the saints whom we invoke. They perform miracles. Miracles are always performed by God, but the saint we invoke or the Virgin Mary are exalted in order to be honored. That is all. In this way, neither the saints nor the Theotokos is omnipresent, nor do they perform miracles in that manner. We also know that the angels serve this entire enterprise. Angels carry our prayers upward. Remember what happened in the Acts of the Apostles with that centurion who became a Christian, Cornelius. He was praying in the afternoon when the angel told him: “Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial to heaven. So, send someone and call Peter, who is in Joppa” and so on.
You see, the saints even offer up our prayers. Revelation says that they carry incense burners, which are the prayers of the saints. The saints also pray for us, and the angels carry our prayers to heaven. All of this happens because angels are also liturgical spirits, that is, ministering. They serve humanity, and so the angels must proclaim the miracles performed by the Virgin Mary, Christ, and God on her behalf. The Virgin Mary and the saints, however, are made aware of these miracles, so they can honor and glorify God.
Because if they were not made aware, how would they know that God honors them? How can you know that you’ve been awarded a medal, if the medal is stored in the office drawer of the prefecture? Even if they told you “it has been awarded to you but it’s in the prefect’s office drawer”, you wouldn’t know for sure. You must be informed. Thus, in this situation they are made aware. And they are informed by the holy angels or by whatever means God deems and considers appropriate. These matters have to do with the spiritual realm, which we cannot fully comprehend. We only know that the spiritual world understands and is aware of all these things. Thank you for listening to me.
