To save the very ones that justice can no longer save

St John Chrysostom (born in Antioch, Turkey, ca. 345 – d. near Comana, today’s Romania) was Archbishop of Constantinople (Turkey). This Father of the Greek Church had a deep Marian spirituality. Following are excerpts of his writings:

"You are predestined from all eternity to save by your mercy those whom the righteousness of your Son can no longer save," he wrote to the Virgin Mary. For him Mary isn’t of course more merciful than her Son, but she participates in a unique way in the divine mercy, as Mother of the Word incarnate.

"Just as he was born of the inviolate womb of the Virgin, so he rose from the closed tomb. In the same way that his birth did not cause the Virgin Mary to lose her virginity, so his resurrection did not break the seals of the sepulcher."

Saint John Chrysostom