Category talk:Theotokonymia

This site seems to be an excellent resource for fleshing out these articles. —magda (talk) 17:56, January 31, 2008 (PST)

Thanks I will keep it as a source when pulling these articles together. Just bare in mind, it takes time to bring the information into each article so the fact I have created them but they are blank does not mean I will leave them empty for long ... it will take about a week or so overall ... and then people editing should come in and 'add to' the articles. The other thing with the Antiochian site is that it lists the article but it does not show the original icon ... my aim is to locate the origin of the name with the original icon and then identify the copies that exist around the world. Another thing to keep in mind is that in iconography of the Theotokos ... it is more predominant to name the icon PANAGIA .... I notice that the Antiochian churches approach is Our Lady of .. or Virgin Mary ... or Theotokos ... I am repeating myself again but to start the articles in this way is technically not correct. The other thing is that Our Lady and Virgin Mary are third person and impersonal ...whereas articles or names of icons should preference Panagia firstly or Theotokos since these are personal and intimate and the way the Mother wants to be called. -- Vasiliki 18:15, January 31, 2008 (PST)

"Technically correct" is in the mind of the language, in this case! Greeks use Panagia all the time, but it is virtually absent outside that venue. This version of OrthodoxWiki is the English one, and Virgin of... or Theotokos of... generally predominate in the Anglophonic world. There's nothing wrong with any of these usages, though, including Panagia.... One of the issues that can be personally difficult in editing the wiki is doing honest research outside our own personal experience to discover what the predominant usages are. (I've known a number of Arabs who have never heard any other name than Madayeh for what is called the Akathist by most Anglophones, for instance.)

All of these terms, taken objectively, are technically "third person," anyway. Only I or You (or Thou) qualify as something else. Our liturgical services use all of these terms in referring directly to the Theotokos, however: "O Theotokos, thou art the true vine...", "O Virgin Mother...", "All-holy (Panagia) Lady Theotokos...", etc.

In any event, we generally encourage articles to be created with content. Remember that everything on the wiki is immediately visible, so that initial impression can be important. Better to have a redlink inviting an article to be created than an article which is little more than a definition. —Fr. Andrew ^talk contribs 18:29, January 31, 2008 (PST)