Mary, Mother of Christians

I briefly read through some of Origen's commentaries on the scriptures several months ago, particularly On the Gospel of St. John, written in the early 3rd century and considered by many to be his chef d'oeuvre. Origen is a little shaky, especially to one as historically ignorant as myself, but I found some things that I didn't expect to find. In chapter 6 of the first book, Origen lays out what he considers to be essential in understanding this Gospel.

We may therefore make bold to say that the Gospels are the first fruits of all the Scriptures, but that of the Gospels that of John is the first fruits. No one can apprehend the meaning of it except he have lain on Jesus' breast and received from Jesus Mary to be his mother also. Such as one must he become who is to be another John, and to have shown to him, like John, by Jesus Himself, Jesus as He is. For if Mary, as those declare who with sound mind extol her, had no other son but Jesus, and yet Jesus says to His mother, "Woman, behold thy son," and not "Behold you have this son also," then He virtually said to her, "Lo, this is Jesus, whom thou didst bear." Is it not the case that every one who is perfect lives himself no longer, but Christ lives in him; and if Christ lives in him, then it is said of him to Mary, "Behold thy son, Christ."

- Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John: Book I, Chapter 6 (c. 232 AD)

So, according to Origen, to fully understand the Gospel of John, we must receive Mary from Jesus to be our Mother as John did. Origen here is dealing primarily with John, but in his argument concerning John, we might also extract Origen's fundamental premise that Mary is the Mother of all those in whom Christ lives, id est, Mary is the Mother of all who live in Christ.