At the symposium “The Presence of the Virgin Mary in the Life of the Church,” held on October 3, 2025, at the Sanctuary of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus, Fr. Andrew Hochstedler, OFM Conv, offered a profound exploration of “The Virgin Mary in the Syriac Tradition: Mary’s Faith-filled Debate at the Annunciation.” Drawing upon the rich theological and poetic heritage of the early Syriac Church Fathers—particularly St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jacob of Sarug—Fr. Hochstedler shed light on the deep spiritual dialogue between the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel. In the Syriac perspective, he explained, this exchange is not merely a moment of submission but a sacred conversation that reveals Mary’s discernment, intelligence, and courage. Her questioning of the angel is not an expression of doubt but of wisdom—a model for all believers in how to seek God’s will with both faith and reason.
Through examples from Syriac hymns, dialogue poems, and poetic homilies, Fr. Hochstedler illustrated how Mary’s encounter with the angel became a symbol of discernment and cooperation with divine grace. The Fathers of the Syriac tradition saw in her “yes” not a passive acceptance but an active participation in God’s plan—a union of love, freedom, and faith that invites every Christian to imitate her openness to the Holy Spirit. He concluded by linking the Annunciation to the mystery of the Eucharist: just as the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary to bring forth Christ, so too does the Spirit descend upon the gifts of bread and wine, and upon the hearts of believers, bringing Christ to life anew in the world.
The Virgin Mary in Syriac Tradition: Mary’s Faith-filled Debate at the Annunciation
Have you ever thought about details that are not written or explained in the Holy Bible? For example, what did Mary feel and think when the angel came to her and said, “You will have a child even though you are a virgin, and he will be the Messiah”? Or when the good thief who died on the cross beside Jesus went to heaven, how did the angels welcome him?
In this talk we will discuss these types of questions from a new different perspective. We will approach them with the help of the Syriac Christians who lived in these lands of Anatolia and established churches here during the first centuries of Christianity. In particular, we will look at how the Syriac Church Fathers understood the dialogue between the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation.
What will we learn from them? In short, we will see that the Virgin Mary is a model for us. In particular, she shows us how to win spiritual battles and to offer our free will to God.
Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ. It developed in the city of Edessa, known today as Urfa, during the 1st and 2nd centuries. After the people there became Christians, they spread their faith and language as far as Iraq, Iran, India, and China.
In the early centuries, Syria Christians used poetry to interpret the Bible, pray, and spread their faith. They even composed liturgical prayers, hymns, and sermons in creative poetic form. Today, we will discuss four genres that use poetic form: (1) catechetical (pedagogical) hymns (madroshe), (2) dialogue poems (sogyotho), (3) poetic sermons (memre), and (4) Eucharistic Prayers of Thanksgiving, which are full of poetic imagery.
Teaching Hymns
The most renowned author of catechetical hymns, Saint Ephrem, lived first in Nusaybin and then in Urfa in the fourth century. In Nusaybin, there were many different groups who identified themselves as Christians, but most held views about the faith and Scriptures that opposed the teachings of the universal church. The group Ephrem joined, however, adhered to the teachings of the universal church. Their bishop, Paul, participated in the First Council of Nicaea (325). Paul recognized Ephrem as a very talented and gifted young man and gave him the role of teacher/theologian in the church.
Ephrem began writing hymns to creatively combat religious ideas that opposed those of his church. He established choirs in the church to teach these hymns, especially their short, concise, and meaningful refrains. Both men and women were very active in Ephrem’s church, and he also established choirs composed of women. People may not have known very high theology, but they could learn Ephrem’s hymns with music in church and then sing them to their friends at home, on the street and in the market. In this way, Ephrem both developed the faith of his own church members and supported the spread of the Nicaean faith.
Efrem expresses great devotion for the Virgin Mary in his writings. Let us look at two lines from Efrem’s 46th teaching hymn On the Church, which compares the Virgin Mary and Eve.
Hymns on the Church 46 (10-11, 13a)
- Glorious Eve against the serpent, despised and weak,
did not desire to turn his words against him,
although his words were very debatable, and refutable in the furnace (of testing); although (Eve) possessed splendor, and (the serpent) possessed contempt.
- Let us wonder at Mary,
who demanded (an account) from the exalted angel without trembling,
without fear questioned.
Eve, did not want to question the footless contemptible serpent.
The maiden [Mary] talked back to Gabriel.
- The mother without prudence is the source of our griefs,
and the sister of discernment is the treasure of our joy.
Why does Ephrem compare Mary and Eve in this hymn? You may recall that Eve, despite the prohibition, trusted the serpent and together with Adam disobeyed God, eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—that is, the forbidden fruit—and thus bringing the first sin into the world (cf. Gen 3). The story of the Virgin Mary is different. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, “Jesus Christ will be born of you, and he will be a savior for all people,” Mary asked the angel a question: I don’t know a man, how can I have a child? The angel gave an explanation: It will be a miracle, by God, through the Holy Spirit. Finally, Mary accepted this word (cf. Luke 1:26-38). Church Fathers in all Christian traditions, beginning as early as Irenaeus of Lyon compare Mary and Eve.
Ephrem brings these two separate stories, two separate passages, two very different women together and compares them. What is the difference between them, in his view? He does not stop at a simplistic interpretation such as “one is obedient, one is disobedient.” He delves deeper.
Ephrem emphasizes Mary’s questioning of Gabriel, viewing this ‘holy’ questioning as a positive approach and he contrasts this with Eve’s interaction with the serpent. For Ephrem, Eve did not sufficiently question the spiritual being who approached her (the serpent, i.e. the devil), whereas Mary questioned the spiritual being who approached her (the Archangel Gabriel) sufficiently.
Dialogue Poems
What did Mary feel when the angel came to her? In an attempt to imagine Mary’s feelings, the Syriac Church Fathers wrote dialogue poems and used them as prayers in their liturgies. Dialogue poems normally contain a discussion or conversation between two people from the Holy Scriptures. In the poem these two people speak in turn for about 50 verses: one verse is the first person, the second verse is the second person, and so on. The verses are sung by two choirs during night prayers, especially in the weeks before Christmas and Easter, in the Syriac Orthodox tradition. A very practical aspect of these poems was that they could be effective for staying awake during prayer in the middle of the night.
But these poems were not used just to fill in the gaps in the Holy Scriptures. That is, they did not use the poems just to imagine what Mary and the other characters thought and felt. They also explained and taught important theological truths, and were used as communal prayers, bringing people closer to God.
We will read a few lines from a dialogue poem from the 5th century imagining the meeting between the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary.
11. ANGEL: To the Virgin the watcher says:
‘Peace be with you, O mother of my Lord,
blessed are you, young woman,
and blessed the Fruit that is within you’.
12. MARY: Says Mary, ‘Who are you, sir?
And what is this that you utter?
What you are saying is remote from me,
and what it means, I have no idea’.
13. ANGEL: O blessed of women, in you has it pleased
the Most High to reside; have no fear,
for in you has Grace bent down
to pour mercy upon the world.
14. MARY: I beg you, sir, do not upset me;
you are clothed with coals of fire: mind you don’t burn me.
What you are saying is alien to me
and I am unable to grasp what it means.
15. ANGEL: The Father has revealed to me, as I do so now to you,
this mystery which is shared
between Him and His Son, when He sent me to say
that from you will He shine out over the worlds.
16. MARY: You are made of flame, do not frighten me;
you are wrapped in coals of fire, do not terrify me.
O fiery being, why should I believe you
seeing that all you have spoken to me is utterly new?
17. ANGEL: It would be amazing in you if you were to
answer back,
annulling the message which I have brought to you
concerning the conception of the Most High,
whose will it is to reside in your womb.
18. MARY: I am afraid, sir, to accept you,
for when Eve my mother accepted
the serpent who spoke as a friend,
she was snatched away from her former glory.
[…]
35. ANGEL: From the Father was I sent
to bring you this message, for His love has compelled Him
so that His Son should reside in your womb,
and over you the Holy Spirit will reside.
36. MARY: In that case, O watcher, I will not answer back:
if the Holy Spirit shall come to me,
I am His maidservant, and He has authority
let it be to me, sir, in accordance with your word. (Brock 2011, 12-16, 20-22)
[…]
What can we see in this very short excerpt?
First, the author tries to imagine what Mary felt. He describes Mary’s very natural, human feelings of doubt, anxiety, and fear. He describes the feelings of a human being in the presence of a majestic angel.
But at the same time, as we see in Ephrem, the interpretive style of comparing Eve and Mary is also present here. It answers a very concrete question—why does the Virgin Mary ask the Angel a question?—Mary, unlike Eve, does not want to unwittingly accept the devil. Her feeling of doubt does not stem from unbelief. On the contrary, it stems from her capacity for discernment and wisdom. With her obedient spirit, she questions the Angel.
Ultimately, because dialogue is poetry, it teaches us discerning obedience. It has a beautiful pedagogy. By reading the lines of the Virgin Mary and praying, we identify with her. We establish a connection. We learn to listen to and question the messages and thoughts that come to us. We learn what questions to ask. For example, what answer calms the Virgin Mary? When the angel speaks of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. So, the key answer for the author of the dialogue poem and the congregation praying the poem is this: we must learn to listen to the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Poetic Homilies
The writings that best describe the encounter between the Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel are the poetic homilies by Jacob of Sarug. Jacob was a chorepiskopos (a rural bishop) and later the bishop of the Batnan region on the border between Turkey and Syria in the 5th and 6th centuries. He is said to have written over 700 poetic homilies, about 400 of which are still in existence. His sermons and interpretations of Scripture in poetic form were so beautiful that he was known as the Flute of the Holy Spirit. Both the Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholics (in particular Maronites) recognize him as a saint.
Jacob continued and developed the tradition of Saint Ephrem while using poetry to creatively describe the meeting between Mary and the Angel at the Annunciation. He particularly explains how the Virgin Mary is an example for us: The Mother of God shows us how to fight spiritual battles.
In one lengthy sermon on Christ’s Nativity, Jacob spends over 200 lines to describe and interpreting the meeting between the Virgin Mary and the Angel. As in the dialogue poems, this homily imaginatively develops the conversation between Mary and the Angel, and then interprets the Virgin’s reaction.
But there are major differences between the dialogue poem and Jacob’s sermon. The dialogue poem shows Mary in great fear, even though she argues with the Angel. However, in Jacob’s sermon he, like Ephrem, emphasizes Mary’s strength and capacity for argument and discernment, depicting her as a cunning debater. He then explains why this is a good thing.
As soon as the angel Gabriel arrives at Mary’s side, he says, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
In Jacob’s sermon, Mary focuses on the phrase “the Lord is with you” and tries to find out who this “Lord” is.
Tell me, o man, who is your Lord and which is his home?
You looked like a man to me, you, whose Lord I am not acquainted with.
Does he really know me or is this greeting of yours a sham?
Did he direct you to me, and when did he inform me that he would send (you) to me? (Kollamparampil, Nativity 1, ll. 177-180)
Mary is trying to learn not only the identity of the angel’s master, but also the angel Gabriel’s motivation. What does this man really want?
So she begins to flatter him.
If your face is a sun and [its] flame is fierce; not even the sun looks at your Lord, in that it blinds him (ll. 189-90)
Towards the end of her questioning, Mary even ventures to suggest that the messenger is not a messenger after all, but rather the Lord. “Are you a servant or perchance are you the lord of the servants? Do you really have a lord or are you a lord?” (ll. 203-204)
The angel Gabriel is surprised by Mary’s questions.
How can a human, a girl, question him?
But Mary defends her right to question.
As in Ephrem’s hymns, here too Mary recalls Eve’s dialogue with the serpent.
I am not hasty like my mother Eve who was beguiled;
She tasted death because she trusted a single phrase.
She did not interrogate her messenger about how it would happen;
that divinity could reach her from a tree.
If she had questioned, she would have conquered him, therefore allow me,
to approach you in debate, since it is not wearisome [to me].
(ll. 227-232)
The angel is amazed by Mary’s wisdom and begins to give her a profound answer. He focuses on the difference between his message and the message given by the serpent, emphasizing three differences.
(1) The serpent’s message encouraged Eve and Adam to take God’s place. But the angel, on the contrary, does not offer a similar message.
“[…] if you would understand the suggestion of my words, that would inform you. Do not exalt yourself over against your God, I am advising you.” (ll. 270-271)
(2) The angel is not blaspheming God, unlike the serpent’s message.
“I am magnifying my Lord, I am giving you his peace; Truly, I did not slander Him before you as in the case of [the serpent speaking to] your mother [Eve].” (ll. 272-274)
(3) The angel points to the results of his message, which does not seek to separate Mary and humanity from God, unlike the serpent’s message. One result of the serpent’s message was that Adam and Eve felt ashamed of their nakedness and hid from God, that is, they distanced themselves from Him.
“I am not stripping you of glory, as happened in the garden [of Eden]; I have brought a cloak (so that) you can cover your forefather [Adam] who was stripped bare.” (ll. 275-276)
Jacob’s listeners would have recognized this cloak, as a reference to baptism, which the Syriac Father’s spoke of the baptized receiving a robe of glory that Adam had lost when he disobeyed.
The Angel argues that he came to nullify the Serpent’s influence. The result of his message will be to give them glorious clothing again, the white clothing worn at baptism symbolizes this glorious clothing given in Christ Jesus.
After this, in Jacob’s sermon, the Angel tells Mary about Jesus’ birth, and Mary is convinced and finally accepts.
Jacob then continues to offer an interpretation for why Mary’s questioning of the angel was a good thing. It’s not just that she questioned more than Eve (as in Ephrem’s hymns). What matters is Mary’s motivation. Questioning can stem from both good and bad motivation. Let’s look at the interpretation Jacob offers, us, his listeners:
See, O prudent one, there is a (sort of) inquiry that is advantageous,
and there is questioning that generates harm by its doubt.
And there is someone who inquires,
yet he is not belittled because he is on the side of truth.
And there is another one who disputes,
and his discourse ends up in loss.
There are two aspects for the word when it is debated;
one that of contention and the other of love among discerning ones. (ll. 327-332)
From this we understand that we can ask the same questions with good motivation or bad motivation. According to Jacob, bad motivation is contention and divisiveness. Good motivation, on the other hand, is love.
By comparing Mary to other figures in the Holy Scriptures, Jacob illuminates the place of questioning in faith. He says that questioning has a place in true faith. In fact, questioning is essential.
Like Ephrem, Jacob also compares the Virgin Mary with Eve:
But with regard to Eve the lack of doubt produced death
for by the fact that she gave credence she was won over because she did not debate.
(ll. 343-344)
On the other hand, Jacob compares Mary to the Apostle Thomas. You will recall that after Christ’s resurrection, Thomas did not believe at first that he had appeared to the other apostles. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands […] I will not believe,” he said (John 20:25). A week later, Jesus appeared to Thomas, and Thomas believed.
Jacob refers to this in his poetic sermon:
Not having believed (at first), Thomas shone forth (later) in faith
for that womb of doubt too gave birth to the truth. (ll. 341-342)
This brief sentence contains a rich metaphor. Thomas’ doubt is referred to as a womb. Just as the emptiness of a womb allows new life to be born, so Tomas’s doubt makes space for the spread of the truth of Christ’s resurrection. And of course, in the background of this metaphor are both Mary’s questions and her virginal womb. Both lead to the birth of Christ Jesus, who is the truth itself.
Jacob continues to underscore how questioning is an important aspect of faith.
If the girl has not inquired, “How it will happen.”
the fiery one too might have neglected (giving) an explanation
Blessed is Mary who became an occasion for the hidden matter,
so that it might be said clearly by the angel.
Without a question explanation is mute and it is not told,
and without request not even the truth is able to demonstrate itself. (355-360)
From Jacob’s sermon, we understand that asking questions has two benefits:
1. To discern whether I am obeying the right person and the right thought.
2. The truths told to me will be told and published more beautifully for the benefit of others!
Since we are in a church setting, I would like to offer a pastoral reflection.
Jacob’s description of the encounter between Mary and the angel is a useful example for our faith lives. When a thought comes to mind, we also need to understand its origin. Does it come from God or from the Evil One? Like Mary did, we can question that thought or that word; we can debate it.
Jacob isn’t saying here to argue with each other. Ninety-nine percent of the arguments among us stem from doubt, divisiveness, jealousy, and resentment. Jacob hated arguments and theological debates among Christians.
Rather, his description of Mary and the Angel debating helps us to question the thoughts within us. Some thoughts may seem like a good thing, but are they really? We can use Mary’s questions and Gabriel’s responses to evaluate the ideas that come to us and the motivations within us. Let’s remember their criteria:
(1) If I follow this idea, will it lead me to put myself in God’s place in my life?
(2) Is this an idea that insults God and Jesus Christ?
(3) Will this idea lead me away from God?
But beyond this, we see a deeper truth in Jacobis description of Mary and Gabriel: asking questions is not a bad thing, rather it’s an essential part of faith. If we use our questions, even our doubts, to better understand God and His plan for us, they will grow and mature our faith. If our goal is to obey God, then my questions will be like a womb, giving birth to Him, i.e. His plan, in my life.
And in the same way, we don’t have to prevent others from asking questions. Sometimes we feel uncomfortable when others ask difficult questions. Sometimes we want to make them remain silent by giving them clear but superficial answers, because their questions make us nervous. Or their questions may seem easy or silly to us. But actually, they need to answer those questions themselves. Of course, we can open our metaphorical wombs to them by listening and patiently trying to understand their questions. We can offer them our advice, our opinions, or the truths taught by the Church. But for them to fully believe these truths, they need to grow in these individuals’ own metaphorical wombs.
I want to give both superficial and deeper examples of this from our catechism classes. At the superficial level, when studying the Bible with new believers, we first pray to the Holy Spirit, read a passage from the Bible, pause for a moment of silence, and then everyone shares their questions about the passage. Yes, after hearing the Word, we start with questions: what details in this passage seem absurd or meaningless or illogical or strange? Which ones touch my heart? And starting from these questions, we delve into the depth of the passage. Through questions, Christ Jesus descends from the Holy Scriptures into our hearts, takes root within us, and is born.
To give a more profound example, some new believers experience difficult family, work, or friendship situations. In such situations, they sometimes seek an “easy” solution from the Church or the priest: “Tell me what to do in this situation, and I’ll do it right away” they may tell us. Or maybe we want to offer certain easy solutions so that they can get out of the difficult situation quickly and easily. But when difficult events come back into their lives later, their discernment muscles (that is, their capacity for discernment) are very weak; they are not accustomed to making mature decisions. Sometimes it is necessary to help them remain in the midst of a difficult crisis, in order to work out for themselves which direction God is leading them, so that the maturity of Christ Jesus can slowly be born within.
Eucharistic Anaphoras
I would like to share with you one last connection from the Syriac Church Fathers regarding Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary: the Eucharist.
Just as in the Holy Scriptures, the angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit and the power of God would come upon her, and thus Christ Jesus would be conceived in her womb… similarly, during the Holy Liturgy, the celebrating priest asks the Holy Spirit to come upon the bread and wine to transform them into the body and blood of Christ.
You will recall that in Luke 1:35, the angel Gabriel makes this explanation: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
At every Holy Mass, the celebrating priest asks for the Holy Spirit to descend upon the bread and wine. This establishes a natural connection between the consecration of the Eucharist and the conception of Christ Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
Ephrem clearly explains this connection in a catechetical hymn.
In the womb that bore you are Fire and Spirit
Fire and Spirit are in the river where you were baptized,
Fire and Spirit are in our baptism too,
And in the Bread and Cup are Fire and Spirit.
(Hymns on Faith 10:17)
In many of the Syriac Orthodox Church’s Eucharistic Prayers, there is another connection between the consecration of the Eucharist and the Incarnation of Jesus. In the Syriac Orthodox Liturgy of St. James, the Celebrant prays for the Holy Spirit to overshadow the bread and wine. Thus, the words used by the Angel Gabriel to Mary are used for the consecration of the bread and wine.
“Have mercy upon us, God the Father almighty, and send upon us and upon these offerings […] your Holy Spirit […] so that overshadowing [ܟܰܕ ܡܰܓܶܢ] he may make this bread into the life-giving body, […] the Body of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Brock 1979, 51; Varghese 2004, 79)
In Luke 1:35, the words of the angel Gabriel, “The power of the Most High will overshadow you,” use the same word in the Syriac Peshitta: [ܢܰܓܢ ܥܰܠܝܰܟܝ]. The verb forms are different (the Eucharistic prayers contains a participle whereas Luke’s Gospel contains the verb in the imperfect form) but the word is the same.
The Syriac Church Fathers interpreted this connection accordingly. For example, Dionysius Bar Salibi emphasizes the similarity between the Annunciation and the consecration of the Eucharist as follows:
by the invocation of the Holy Spirit [during the Holy Mass] the priest symbolizes Gabriel’s standing before the Virgin and announcing the holy conception
(Dionysius bar Salibi, Comm.Liturg. (C.S.C.O. 13) p. 68)
Furthermore, returning to the vocabulary of overshadowing, the same verb appears in the Acts of the Apostles to describe the movement of the Holy Spirit descending upon new believers (Acts 10:44 and 11:15). Thus, this image is used both for the descent of God’s power upon Mary, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the new believers, and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Bread and Wine, transforming them into the body and blood of Christ.
This philological connection underscores a truth we already accept in our faith.
As the renowned Syriac theologian Sebastian Brock wrote:
“It is Mary’s receptivity there [at the Annunciation] which provides the model for cooperation between man and the Holy Spirit” (Brock 1979, 54).
Yet there is one way in which the parallelism between the Angel’s Annunciation to Mary and the consecration of the Bread and the Wine during Holy Mass remains incomplete. On the one hand, as we have discussed, God asks Mary to cooperate with him using her free will. On the other hand, the bread and the wine have no free will.
Rather, Mary’s free will and cooperation correspond to the free will and cooperation of the priest who invokes the Holy Spirit, and also to the free will and cooperation of believers who receive the Holy Eucharist with faith. While the bread and wine are truly transformed into the body and blood of Christ during the prayer of the priest, there sanctifying effect in the life of individual Christians awaits the consent and cooperation of those very Christians.
Once again, in the words of Brock, “at every communion, the Christian needs to make Mary’s reply to the angel his or her own.” (Brock 1979, 55)
The rich poetic and theological description of the Virgin Mary in the Syriac Church Fathers offers us model for our Christian life.
- We should ask questions in faith as we seek to discern the voice and the will of God in our daily lives.
- Questioning itself, motivated by love, is an essential part of our faith.
- Having identified the will of God, we are called to give our full cooperation to that will, especially in the intimacy of the Holy Eucharist.
- In this way Christ will take on flesh in new ways in our life.
