Fr Alexander says he speaks about Mary with "fear and trembling," not only because of the difficulty of the subject, but "I really feel that to speak about Mary is a tremendous test, first for theology itself..." 

To speak about her is indeed a profound challenge. Apart from the term "Theotokos," we lack adequate theological terms to express the mystery of Mary in the Church, Schmemann argues. Furthermore, much of Mariology is distinctly non-biblical in character. How then, do we explain the Church's devotion of her? Is it mere "devotional exaggeration"? 

In this introduction to a larger discussion about Mary, Fr Alexander says the time for a theological study of Mariology has come, for the Theotokos is key to an understanding of the world and of life itself.