Translation from the book:

Στεργίου Ν. Σάκκου, Μηνύματα ζωῆς Β΄, ἐκδ. «ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ, Θεσ/νίκη 2015, σσ. 195-197.

The Spiritual Champion

  The saints of our faith, like a great cloud, watch from heaven and help us in our struggles here on earth. The first and most glorified among them is the Virgin Mary. Her venerable person is a unique and distinct criterion in Orthodoxy. She attracts our thoughts and inspires our lives. In particular, August, the month of the Virgin Mary, with the daily Parakleses in her honour, her Assumption and the celebration of her “Apodosis”, brings her closer to us. This month draws our attention to her in order to listen to her message.
  There has never been a more worthy athlete or a more glorious Olympic champion in the history of the world than the Virgin Mary. What achievement and what record can be compared to her high jump which united the earth with heaven? She is the one who opened the way for God to come down into the world and become her Son, the God-Man. He raised His Virgin Mother to His own glory and made her the christified person, the first man-God!
  The ancient Olympians were honoured for life in their cities, but even today’s winners enjoy some special privileges in their home countries. But the honour and glory of the Virgin Mary is universal and eternal. She is blessed throughout “all generations” (Lk 1:48), as she herself prophesied. And no one can praise her as she deserves, for she is “the praise and glory of the human race”, as St Basil of Seleucia writes.
  There may be people who have honoured an Olympic champion by naming their child after him or her. Others are proud to display a photograph of an athlete in their home. Not only countless people, but also towns and villages, churches and chapels, monasteries and associations, are named after the Virgin Mary. There are many honourable surnames that characterise her. And her miraculous icons make her presence alive among us.
  From the glory of heaven, as a woman “clothed with the sun” (Rev 12:1) and crowned with the twelve-starred crown, the Virgin Mary nods to us all. As a type of the Church and of every redeemed soul, she is presented as a model and prototype, but also as a counsellor and coach for all those who desire the great victory of life, the victory that will be rewarded with the conquest of heaven.

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«ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ. Used by permission. All rights reserved.