Prologue in Sermons: December 30

To Wives Without Children

December 30
 
(From the Life of our Venerable Mother Theodora of Caesarea)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Wives who have husbands but no children are the most sorrowful of wives. Some have everything: a good husband, health, wealth, and public respect, but no children. Such wives weep, and a hopeless anguish gnaws at them, and they feel ashamed before others, and sometimes they are close to despair. How can we console them? This is how. 

We ask them: "Have you prayed to God to grant you children?"

They say: "We have prayed." 

"But to the Most Holy Theotokos? No? Well, then pray to Her, and your prayer, one can hope, will not be in vain."

The parents of Saint Theodora, whose memory the Holy Church celebrates on December 30th, were, it is said, of a bright and glorious lineage. But their grief was that, after many years of marriage, they had no children. What could they do? The grieving woman turned with fervent prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos and tearfully begged Her to ask God for a child. She wept and prayed, prayed and wept. And her prayer was not fruitless, and the childless parents had a daughter, whom they named Theodora. But one happiness, requested by the Most Holy Virgin, was followed by another. The newborn later became a great ascetic, a faster, a woman of prayer, and was canonized.

But here are some more examples.

The mother of Blessed Theophania, the empress and wife of Leo the Wise, desiring to bear fruit from her marriage, came daily with her husband to the temple of the Queen of Heaven and poured out her heart before Her in fervent prayer, saying, "O Lady of the world, may my barrenness be resolved by Your intercession, and may I receive childbearing from the Creator by Your mercy." And since she asked with faith, she received it. And by the grace of Her to whom she fervently prayed, she accepted the resolution of her barrenness and gave birth to a daughter, who in her time became famous for her great Christian deeds (Dec. 16).

The mother of the Holy Martyr and Confessor Stephen the New also prayed fervently to the Queen of Heaven, and her prayers were also heard. In the Church of Blachernae, the Most Holy Theotokos herself appeared to her and prophesied that she would bear a son, and the prophecy was fulfilled. The hitherto childless woman gave birth to a son, who later became a great defender of Orthodoxy and was awarded the crown of martyrdom (Nov. 28).

Therefore, childless wives, do not despair, but rather, with fervent prayer, run to the Lady, and She will console you. She herself was asked for through prayer, and from her own experience, She knows man's need for the highest help. Of Her mercy, there is no need to speak, and it is not without reason that She is called the Joy not only of some, but of all who grieve. Therefore, approach Her boldly, and She will resolve your barrenness.

O Virgin Theotokos! Hope of Christians! Protect, preserve, and save those who trust in you! Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.