the orthodox church does not teach immaculate conception in regards to the theotokos. one greek book (that causes much hilarity amoung teenagers reading it for the first time) mentioned that mary was created by joachim and anna through “the operation of love.” you can tell who read the footnotes by casual dropping of that phrase.
the orthodox church teaches that the theotokos can intercede on our behalf. she can help human causes through comfort, (joy of all who sorrow), protection in times of trouble, and reveal direction and answer prayers through visions.
the first recorded miracle of christ was a request by his mother.
as brothercadfael said “what good jewish boy isn’t going to listen to his mother?”
she is revered because she said yes to the message brought to her by gabriel. she did have a choice. she could have said no.
if she had said no, then the whole thing wouldn’t have happened at that time; and we might be discussing why abigail or susannah etc is so important to the church.
we don’t know how many times or what women may have had gabriel appear with a message. if you said no, that was it. no guts, no sorrow, no glory.
did not pass on to her the taint of original sin which they had inherited through being descendants of Adam and Eve, like the rest of us, though a special grace given by God. (Of course, this presupposes that you buy into the idea that conception involves the inherent transmission of original sin as a taint all people inherit that makes them unworthy of salvation except through the Atonement – and I know that Orthodox view of sin, salvation, and Atonement is a mite different from that.)