Orthodox Devotion to Mary Examined
There is a misconception about the honors rendered to Mary by Orthodox Christians, with some suggestions that she is "almost elevated to a Goddess," or that she is worshipped. This popular misconception thrives but is simply not true, and that fact is clear to any person who does the most elementary investigation into the matter. To give some insight into the matter, I grabbed my "Little Red Prayer Book" from the Antiochian Orthodox Church. This is a popular pocket-sized book with Several sections: Daily prayers and spiritual helps Prayers and Devotions for Confession and Holy Communion The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom as used in the Antiochian Archdiocese Prayers for various occasions. Looking at the first section, Daily prayers and Spiritual Helps, the section used most often, we find 21 pages of personal/occasional prayers, with roughly 45 prayers to God. I say "roughly" because there are doxologies & repetitions that I skimmed...