As a Catholic faith religious order, we have great devotion to Mary the Mother of God. It is important to note, however, that we do not worship Mary. Veneration of the saints, including Mary, is not worship. We worship God alone.

Non-Catholics often find this difficult to understand or accept as scripture continuously tells us to pray to the Father through Jesus Christ. But Jesus, on the cross, gave us all over to the care of His mother when he said: "Woman, behold your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" He gave to us His Mother to be the mother of the whole world.

Scripture confirms the significance of Mary from the very first book of the Bible to the very last. In Genesis we read of the Promised Redeemer:

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." Gen 3:15

And in Saint John's Apocrypha, or Book of Revelations, we are told of his vision of the Woman and the Dragon: 

"And a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Rev: 12:1

As the Mother of God, Mary is our Mother too and, like any mother, is there for us as an advocate to Her Divine Son and our Heavenly Father with the Holy Spirit as our guide. The minute Mary said Yes to the Archangel Gabriel to become the Mother of God, the Tabernacle for Jesus, She became our Co-redemptrix. Christ was our Redeemer, Mary His Mother made it possible for God to allow the God-Man to come to earth for our sins. She became mediator on our behalf. So then, Mary is co-redemptrix, mediatrix, and advocate.

The Order of the Most Holy Mary Theotokos is dedicated to promoting devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her special Orthodox title:

Theotokos

Thee-ott-oh-kos (As pronounced in the West)

Thee-owe-/-toke-oss (As pronounced in the East)

We honor Mary under that title and seek to live her example of openness to the will of Almighty God and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Theotokos (Greek: Θεοτόκος, translit. Theotókos) is a title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God. It is transliterated in English as Theotocus. The Council of Ephesus decreed in 431, that Mary is Theotokos because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human.

Theotokos specifically excludes the understanding of Mary as Mother of God in the eternal sense. Christians believe that God is the cause of all, with neither origin nor source, and is therefore "without a mother." This stands in contrast to classical Greco-Roman religion in particular, where a number of divine female figures appear as "mothers" of other divinities, demi-gods, or heroes. For example, Juno was revered as the mother of Vulcan; Aphrodite, as the mother of Aeneas.

On the other hand, Christians believe God the Son is begotten of God the Father "from all eternity", but is born "in time" of Mary. Theotokos thus refers to the Incarnation, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on human nature in addition to his pre-existing divine nature, this being made possible through the cooperation of Mary.

Since mainstream Christians understand Jesus Christ as both fully God and fully human, they call Mary Theotokos to affirm the fullness of God's incarnation. The Council of Ephesus decreed, in opposition to those who denied Mary the title Theotokos ("the one who gives birth to God") but called her Christotokos ("the one who gives birth to Christ"), that Mary is Theotokos because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human. As Cyril of Alexandria wrote, "I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave [Him] birth, not [Theotokos]?" (Epistle 1, to the monks of Egypt; PG 77:13B). Thus the significance of Theotokos lies more in what it says about Jesus than any declaration about Mary.

Within the Orthodox doctrinal teaching on the economy of salvation, Mary's identity, role, and status as Theotokos is acknowledged as indispensable, and is for this reason formally defined as official dogma. The only other Mariological teaching so defined is that of her virginity. Both of these teachings have a bearing on the identity of Jesus Christ. By contrast, certain other Marian beliefs which do not bear directly on the doctrine concerning the person of Jesus (for example, her sinlessness, the circumstances surrounding her conception and birth, her Presentation in the Temple, her continuing virginity following the birth of Jesus, and her death), which are taught and believed by the Orthodox Church (being expressed in the Church's liturgy and patristic writings), are nonetheless not formally defined by the Church, and belief in them is not a precondition for baptism.

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The earliest known Marian prayer is the Sub tuum praesidium, or Beneath Thy Protection, dating from late 2nd century. A papyrus dated to c. 250 containing the prayer in Greek was discovered in Egypt in 1917, and is the earliest known reference to the title Theotokos, confirmed by the Council of Ephesus in 431:

Beneath your compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one.