August 22- Feast of St Mary; St Mary Prophecies, Types, and Figures

The Coptic Orthodox church celebrates the feast of St Mary Aug 22 every year.

Every Coptic Orthodox church will have a liturgy on this day.

Prophecies, types, and figures of St Mary

Prophesis:
1) Book of Genesis (3:15): “I will put enmities 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.”

2) Book of Isaiah 7:14:”The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.

3) Micah 5:2-3: “And thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall be come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel, and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Therefore will he give them up till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth, and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel.”

4) Jeremias 31:22; “The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: A woman shall compass a man”.

Types:
1) “the bush that was not burnt” (Exodus 3:2) a figure of Mary conceiving her Son without the loss of her virginity.
2) Gideon’s fleece wet with dew while all the ground beside had remained dry (Judges 6:37-38) a type of Mary receiving in her womb the Word Incarnate
3) Many passages concerning the spouse in the Song of Songs book
4) Concerning Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs 8:22-31 .
5) The application to Mary of a “garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up” mentioned in Canticles 4:12 is only a particular instance of what has been said above.

Figures:
Sara, Debbora, Judith, and Esther are variously used as figures of Mary; the ark of the Covenant, over which the presence of God manifested itself, is used as the figure of Mary carrying God Incarnate within her womb. But especially Eve, the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20), is considered as a type of Mary who is the mother of all the living in the order of grace

Reference: Catholic Encyclopedia

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm