On Mary, the New Ark of the Covenant:

“When [Mary] had completed her life’s voyage happily. . . The one who gave the Law on Sinai, and who administered it from Sion, our God, summoned his ark of sanctification to be brought home from Sion to himself, just as David, her ancestor, had said of her in a psalm, “Go up, O Lord, to the place of your rest, you and your ark of sanctification” (Ps 131:8). She is not carried like Moses’ ark of old, drawn by oxen, but she is escorted and surrounded by an army, heaven’s holy angels. She is not an ark made by hands, not plated with gold, but is God’s spiritual handiwork, resplendent all over with the radiance of the holy and life-giving Spirit, who descended upon her. She does not contain the vessel of manna and the tablets of the covenant, but the Lord who provided both the manna and the eternal blessings promised in the Old and the New Covenants, and who was born as her child- he who freed from the curse of the Law those who have faith in him. She does not contain the rod of Aaron, nor is she crowned with glorious cherubim, but rather the incomparably more glorious rod of Jesse, revealed by the prophet and overshadowed by the almighty power of the Father on high (Is 11:1; Lk 1:35). She does not move before the Hebrew people, like that former ark, but follows the God who has appeared on earth in flesh furnished by her; she is called blessed by angels and by men and women, for the glory of the one who magnified her above all ranks of heaven and earth, as she cries out her holy words, ‘My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.’ (Lk 1:40).” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 4

On Honoring the Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God & Queen of Heaven:

“The bright spiritual dawn of the sun of justice, then, has gone to dwell and to shine in his brilliance; she is called there by the one who rose from her, and who gives light to all things. Through her, that overwhelming radiance pours the rays of his sunshine upon us, in mercy and compassion, rekindling the souls of the faithful to imitate, as far as they can, his divine kindness and goodness. For Christ our God, who put on living and intelligent flesh, which he took from the ever-virgin and the Holy Spirit, has called her to himself and invested her with an incorruptibility touching all her corporeal frame; he has glorified her beyond all measure of glory, so that she, his holy Mother, might share his inheritance, as the Psalmist says: “The queen stands at your right hand, wrapped in a golden robe woven with jewels” (Ps 44:9 [LXX]). That precious, holy vessel, most sacred of all things, she who became Mother of God, has taken up her “pearl of great price” (Mt 13:46); she is glorified with the splendor of his supernatural beauty, to whom “silver and gold belong” (Hag 2:9) and through whom “kings have their royal power” (Prov 8:15) he who has shone forth from heaven in her, and who received a body from her virgin womb, while she was still being tossed in the great sea of this life; he who came forth [from her], to give himself as the world’s ransom from slavery.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 5

On Mary, the New Eve:

“So as soon she had completed the course of this temporal life, in a way far beyond the ordinary, she arrived at the true joy which lies at the heart of things, for she bore that joy in our nature in a way beyond our telling. This is that joy which is God by nature, begotten of God before the ages, the joy that has appeared on earth at the end of the ages from her, and which fills heaven and earth with its divine gladness, having finally banished the sadness of Eve.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 5

On the Dormition of Mary, Mother of God & Ever-Virgin:

“O most blessed dormition of the glorious Mother of God, of her who always remained a virgin, even after giving birth, and who did not experience corruption in that life-sheltering body of hers, even in the tomb! She is preserved [from it] by Christ the Savior, who came forth from her and who is mighty to do all things.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 7

On Honoring the Dormition of Mary, Mother of God:

“O most blessed dormition of the glorious Mother of God, through whom Christ, the divine light and light-giver, has shone forth, and the holy martyrs, conformed to his sufferings, are kindled from him like lamps shining in the world! Even with their blood, they confess her to be Mother of God, and receive from him the crown of righteousness. O most blessed dormition of the glorious Mother of God, for whose sake angels and archangels come down from on high, and divine apostles gather from the ends of the earth, in a way known to God alone, who leads them on the way and gathers them for the holy celebration of her dormition as Mother of God! In this our Lord, who is good above all others, fulfills the command which he gave to Moses long ago, “Honor your parents” (Ex 20:12), since he is by nature one who gladly shows honor.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 7

On the Predestination of Mary, Ever-Virgin & Mother of God:

Think of it! Holy angels were sent from God to his holy and glorious Mother, to one who is higher than they and all the powers of heaven, the one who had “found grace with God” (Lk 1:30); . . . not to announce the incomprehensible news that God has been conceived, as once the archangel Gabriel did, but to lead her towards the one she conceived, in his heavenly kingdom; not to proclaim her inconceivable childbirth to all the world by bringing good tidings to shepherds (Lk 2:9), but to receive her with everlasting glory and to let her enter into the ineffable joy of the Lord (Mt 25:21), who was born of her. For since they knew “the manifold wisdom of their Lord” (Eph 3:10), as it is written in the Church’s Scripture, it was reasonable that they should also be divinely eager to gaze on his glorious mother, on her whom they discovered to be most dearly desired and revered by the God who is by nature desirable and lovable, on her who was chosen from the beginnings of our race, “according to his foreknowledge” (Eph 3:10), to become, for the salvation of all the world, the ever-virgin Mother of God.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 8

“With prophetic eyes, her ancestor David foresaw that she would have this role, and said in the Psalms, ‘Listen, daughter, and see; incline your ear. Forget your people and your father’s house. The king yearns for your beauty, for he is your Lord; bow down to him” (Ps 44:11 (LXX]). They were eager to see and admire her divine beauty, shining with God’s glory, through which Christ our God, God’s only Son, made human nature fair with the loveliness and beauty of his Godhead, divinizing it in himself. They longed to see her form, so “full of grace” (Lk 1:28), from which he formed himself by the Holy Spirit and became, in truth, mortal in form while remaining what he was and “existing in the form of God” (Phil 2:6).” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 8

On Honoring Mary:

“And perhaps they were amazed to consider how this mortal being had come to be mother of the maker of mortals- to wonder who she might be, and how great are the personal qualities of the one who nurtured God. She contained the uncontainable one, she bore the fire of divinity without being singed, she gave birth to the maker of all, she cradled in her arms him who carries the universe in his hand, she fondled him ‘who looks down on the earth and makes it to tremble’ (Ps 103:32 ILXX]), she fed him “who gives food to all flesh” (Ps 135:25 (LXX]). So they wondered how they might sing her praises, and exalt her journey from this earth to the God who is beyond the universe.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 8

On Mary, Mother of God:

“Hail, holy Mother of God! The king of glory, the Lord Jesus, chose you to be his spiritual kingdom on earth, and through you he has bestowed on us his heavenly kingdom; there he has ordained that you became one body with him in incorruption, more glorious than all others, to the glory of his Father and the Spirit.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 10

On the Intercession of Mary, Mother of God:

“For he truly saves from all tribulation those who confess you to be Mother of God- the God who has initiated you into his mysteries, that you might be with him to intercede for us.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 10

On Venerating Mary, Mother of God:

“Hail, God-given treasury of the heavenly kingdom! In you, “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (Jn 1:29) was escorted into our midst, to call together a festival of heaven’s holy angels and the mortals on earth. You were foreordained to be the priceless jewel, stored up in the ‘Church of our ancestors’ (Heb 12:23) on high. Hail, holy Mother of God our Savior, who has come through you to be with us, and we to be in him! He it is who has judged you worthy to be celebrated and venerated by all devout people on earth, and now- even more- to be venerated in heaven by the holy angels as the revered mother of their Lord.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 10

On the Dual Natures of Christ:

“Hail, most holy virgin Mother, who have brought forth Christ, the Son of God, made flesh from you by the Holy Spirit! He is perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity; in two natures, two wills and two fields of operation, he wills and acts as God and wills and acts as a human being, and as one and the same subject he possesses full power in both realms, without confusion and without division.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 10

On the Intercession & Veneration of Immaculate Mary, Mother of God:

“Since you abide in his presence with full freedom of access, pray to him for his Church, that it may be preserved forever in this reverent state of mind. Hail, venerable, immaculate Mother of God! The Lord God came from on high to dwell in your womb as his earthly homeland, without being limited and without leaving heaven behind; now he deems you worthy to come from this earthly, temporal homeland into a better land in heaven, a place also given- through your mediation- to the saints as their longed-for goal.” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 10

On the Intercession of Mary:

“Hail, divine altar erected on God’s foundation! Through you the atoning and saving sacrifice for the whole world came forth, Christ our God. For from you, holy Mother of God, he put on that vestment of flesh prepared for him by the Holy Spirit, and came forth as “a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek’ (Ps 109:4 LXX]; cf. Heb 5:6), as Scripture says; and he has decreed that he will take you as his partner, in order to provide forever a propitiatory sacrifice for all humanity, as you intercede for them Hail, Mary, resplendent spiritual Paradise!” –Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, chap 10