Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople

ANNO DOMINI DCCXV SAINT GERMANUS PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE NOTITIA

Germanus, formerly metropolitan of Cyzicus ^A, became Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 715. But because he steadfastly resisted the edicts promulgated by the Emperor Leo the Isaurian against holy images, he was deposed in the year 730, having Anastasius the iconoclast as his successor, and after being deprived of his see, he died in the year 740. After his death, he was struck with anathema by the iconoclasts who had gathered at Constantinople in the year 734 under Constantine Copronymus, along with George of Cyprus and John of Damascus. He is venerated by Greeks and Latins as a confessor on the 12th of May. See Henschenius in *Acta Sanctorum*, month of May, vol. III, p. 155 et seqq. His writings are:

I. *On the Six Synods* (Περὶ τῶν ἁγίων οἰκουμενικῶν συνόδων, πόσαι εἰσὶ, καὶ πότε, καὶ διὰ τί συνηθροίσθησαν), *On the Ecumenical Synods, how many they are, when, and why they were congregated*. Without the name of the author, and only up to the words on page 79, v. 12 of the edition of Stephanus le Moyne, ^B *ideo maiorem gnosis* (since it contains greater knowledge), it was edited in Greek and Latin by Christopher Justellus, Paris, 1615, 4to, with the Nomocanon of Photius; from whence this writing was reprinted in Henry Justellus’s *Bibliotheca Canonica*, p. 1161, and in the *Concilia* of Harduin, vol. V, p. 1485. However, a more complete version, attributed to the author Germanus, was published by the Benedictines of Saint-Maur in vol. IV of Cotelier’s *Monumenta*, p. 404, as well as an anonymous narrative concerning St. Germanus, which Combefis presents in Greek and Latin in his *Auctarium novum Bibliothecae Patrum*, p. 1462 et seqq., where it is said that he held the patriarchate of Constantinople for fourteen years and six months. FABR. Cf. supra in vol. X, p. 251. The *Life of Germanus*, in the Barocci codex 240, begins: "Oὗτος ὁ ἐν ἁγίοις πατὴρ ἡμῶν." Florence, in the Benedictine Library of St. Mary. See Montfaucon, *Bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptorum*, p. 414 A. In the letter of the Second Nicene Synod to the Church of Alexandria, edited in Greek and Latin by Montfaucon in *Bibliotheca Coisliniana*, p. 96 et seqq., twice at nn. 99 and 100, Germanus is praised. ^C See also Pagi, *Critica in Annales Baronii* at the year 714, 11, p. 255; a. 726, n. 4, p. 337; a. 750, 1-IV, p. 387 et seqq., vol. XII. G. Cave, *Historia litteraria SS. ecclesiasticorum*, vol. I, p. 621 et seqq. C. Oudin, *Commentarius de SS. ecclesiasticis*, vol. I, p. 1673 et seqq. at the year 720, contra Cave. Assemani, *Kalendarium Ecclesiae universae*, vol. VI, p. 541. Du Pin, *Histoire ecclésiastique*, vol. I, p. 92. Moller, *Homonymoscopus*, sect. II, cap. 3, § 51, p. 465 et seq. Le Quien, *Oriens Christianus*, vol. I, p. 235. R. Ceillier, *Histoire générale des auteurs ecclésiastiques*, vol. XVIII, p. 62. Hamberger, *Zuverlässige Nachrichten*, part II, p. 524 et seq. Saxius, *Onomasticon litterarium*, part II, p. 83 at the year 715. Walch, in *Historia haeresium*, etc., *Germanorum scripta*, vol. X, cap. 4, concerning the controversy that arose over the veneration of images, in several places, p. 98 et seqq., 166 et seqq., 186 et seqq. Regarding Baronius in the *Annales* at the year 726, § 1-10, etc. A narrative concerning this controversy, then p. 191 et seqq. from the work of Louis Maimbourg, *Histoire de l'hérésie des iconoclastes*, p. 35-113, part II, edition of the same *Histoires*, Paris, 1685, 4to. Thereafter the narratives of Natalis Alexander, Frid. Spanhemius, Jac. Basnage, Ant. Pagi, and Mosheim in his *Historia ecclesiastica* (translated by Schlegelius), part II, p. 55. The same Walch, p. 191 et seqq., collected more regarding Germanus and subjoined his own judgment. Furthermore, p. 238 et seqq., many things are handed down concerning him; they are sometimes examined. Schrœckh, *Historia ecclesiastica Christiana*, vol. XX, p. 155 et seq., regarding the sermons of Germanus (which are sometimes attributed to Germanus II, 12th century), in the *Praesentatio*, *Annuntiatio*, and *Dormitio* of St. Mary, and p. 526 et seqq. regarding the veneration of images, which was keenly and steadfastly approved and defended by him. Theophil. Sigefr. Bayer, in an epistle to de la Croze in the *Thesaurus epistolicus Lacrozii*, vol. I, p. 27, observes that *mar* is a word of honor, but more honorific than *Kyr*, the title of more recent Greeks; hence a certain Thomas, named emperor by the Patriarch of Antioch, but called *Marouma* by an uncertain continuator of Theophanes (fol. 296), a title surely argued to be one of power, accepted from the Syrians, from which Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, was called *Maroutan* by Pachymeres, for the Persians were accustomed to use this word in this way, just as titles are wont to be exchanged. HARL.

^D He is referred to in the acts of the Second Nicene Synod, action 6, where Germanus is defended and celebrated in these words: "Him who was nurtured in the holy scriptures, and who, like Samuel, was dedicated to God from infancy, and who was equal to the blessed Fathers, whose dialogues it is necessary to follow, his writings have been slandered throughout the whole world. For indeed, the praises of God are in his throat, and two-edged swords are in his hands, hurled against those who disobey the ecclesiastical tradition." FABR.

See Mansi, *Collectio conciliorum amplissima*, vol. XI, p. 203-565; Walch, *Historia haereseon*, vol. X, p. 306 et seq., and p. 397 et seqq. Coll. [Mansi], vol. IX, p. 448, 465, and 471, on Germanus, who for a time adhered to the sect of the Monothelites, but then deserted it; in vol. X, p. 598, the same discusses George of Cyprus and mentions Mansi, *Collectio*, vol. XIII, p. 557, and other learned men. HARL.

Stephanus le Moyne in volume I of the *Varia sacra*, Leiden 1685 and 1694, 4to, pp. 68-80. [Repeated thence in Galland, *Bibl. PP.* XIII, 230 sqq. BECK.] It begins: *Xpὴ πάντα Χριστιανὸν γινώσκειν ὅτι ἓξ εἰσιν ἅγιαι καὶ οἰκουμενικαὶ σύνοδοι* (4). Lemonius added, pp. 81-123, another account by a later writer, *De septem synodis œcumenicis*, which David Hoeschelius had published in Greek, though less full and complete, from a codex of the Augsburg library, and had dedicated to Theodorus Canterus, Augsburg 1593, 4to. It begins: *Xpὴ γινώσκειν πάντα Χριστιανὸν ὅτι ἑπτὰ ἅγιαι καὶ οἰκουμενικαὶ γεγόνασι σύνοδοι*. In Harduin’s *Concilia*, vol. V, p. 1492, note is made of a synodical booklet which D. Joannes Pappus first published in Greek and Latin at Strasbourg in 1601, 4to, and the royal French manuscript codex 2951, p. 219 (5), ascribes it to Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, whereas in Lemonius, p. 68, it is attributed to Germanus. But this is an error, for this synodical booklet, composed in the late ninth century, is not that one, but rather the *Synopsis of the six synods* which I mentioned is vindicated for Germanus by Lemonius. However, one does not read in this what Canisius published in Greek and Latin in *Antiqu. lect.*, vol. III, concerning the profession of faith of Gregory Thaumaturgus from the *Narration of S. Germanus, Œcumenical Patriarch, to the deacon Anthimus regarding the holy synods, and what heresies had arisen at any time against the apostolic preaching*. This short writing also exists in Latin in the Morellian *Supplementum Bibl. patrum*, Paris 1639, vol. I, p. 709; and in the *Bibl. Patrum*, Cologne 1618, vol. 8; and Lyon 1672, vol. XIII. FABR. Oudin, *loc. cit.*, contends that all things inscribed to Germanus I, whom he judges to have died about 728 A.D. or 729, belong to the younger Constantinopolitan, S. Germanus II, whom he sought to prove flourished at the beginning of the thirteenth century, 1222 and following. In the Coislin codex 211, there is Germanus’s *Enarratio de synodis, quæ celebratæ sunt*: it begins: *Σοφῶν ἀνδρῶν αἱ ἐρωτήσεις, μελέτης*; and in codex 296, some things *ex apostolicis constitutionibus et ex Germano CP.* are found. See Montfaucon, *Bibl. Coist.*, p. 269, and p. 413. Oxford, in the Barocci codex 185, *Germ. De sex synodis, etc.*; it begins: *Xpὴ πάντα Χριστιανὸν γινώσκειν*. In London, in the codex of Sion College 4, s. n. 4068, *Cat. mss. Angliæ, etc.* vol. II, 1, p. 106, *Germanus, Liber Ad Anthimum, etc.* In the codex of Thomas Gale, s. n. 5842, *Cat. cit.*, *Germani Enarratio de sanctis synodis deque hæresibus, quotquot a tempore SS. apostolorum subortæ sunt*. Dublin, in the codex of Trinity College 325, or n. 465, *Cat. cit.* II, 2, *Historia de synodis cum aliis fragmentis, etc.* According to Montfaucon in *Bibl. biblioth. mss.* II, p. 1319 A, in the Mazarin codex, *De septem synodis, ubi et quando et adversus quos celebratæ, sine nomine auctoris*. HARL. ^B

II. *Epistolæ tres ad Joannem episcopum Synadensem* (Synadon) in Phrygia Salutaris, to Constantinus of Nacolia, in the same Phrygia, and to Thomas of Claudiopolis: inserted in *Acta septimæ synodi*, celebrated at Nicaea in 787, act 4, vol. III of Binius, p. 577; vol. VII of Labbe, p. 289 sqq., and vol. IV of Harduin, p. 240, together with the Epistle of Pope Gregory I to Germanus given on p. 232. FABR. In Mansi’s *Ampliss. conciliorum Collectione* there are: 1.) vol. XIII, p. 91 sqq., Epistles of Gregory II to Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, without a year; II.) Germanus’s Epistle to Joannes of Synada, *ibid.* p. 99, without a year; III.) the same’s Epistle to Constantinus of Nacolia, *ibid.* p. 105, without a year; 4.) the same’s Epistle to Thomas of Claudiopolis, *ibid.* p. 107, according to Walch in *Hist. hæres.* vol. X, p. 98-106, who reviews those epistles more fully. Add. p. 171 sqq. HARL.

III. *Ἀνταποδοτικὸς ἢ ἀνθύπευτος*, retributorius et incorruptus, or *Apologia against the calumniators and corrupters of the writings of Gregory of Nyssa*, read once by Photius in codex 233 and today lost. See what I said in vol. IX, p. 488 [s. vol. X, p. 738, new ed.]. ^C

IV. *Sermones varii et hymni.* The author of the brief *Elogium* on Saint Germanus in Combefis, p. 1461: *Τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας καλὸν ὀρθοτομήσας λόγον, λόγους μὲν ἱκανοὺς πρὸς κοινὴν ὠφέλειαν ἔγραψε, τοὺς εὐσεβοῦντας εὐεργετῶν. Ὕμνους δὲ διαφόρους ἐξέθετο τοὺς ἁγίους ἐπαινῶν, καὶ ᾄσματα πρὸς δοξολογίαν τῶν θαυμασίων ἔργων τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὧν εἰς παντελῆ σωτηρίαν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐκπτώσεως ἐνήργησεν.* "Teaching the word of truth with right faith, he wrote many sermons for the common utility, by which he deserves well of the pious; but he also published various hymns in praise of the saints, and songs in glorification of the wonderful works of the grace of God, by which God repaired from nothing the ruin of the human race" (6). On the front of the *Triodion Græcorum*, printed at Venice in 1601, primarily HARL. ... Theoria and sermons; — in the Vatican codex, p. 497 C, *Sermones de processione Spiritus S.*; in Milan in the library of S. Ambrose, p. 1508 A, B, many works of both Germani, not indicated separately, — in the Mazarin codices, p. 1512 C. — In Mazar. codex 60, *Germani patriarchæ Cpol. Dioptra animi et carminis*, in political verses; that others composed political verses of the author from histories concerning the book of compunction is noted; Georg. Geloidam; but Montfaucon says the author is perhaps S. Germanus, not the senior but the junior and more hostile to the Latins. *Ibid.* p. 1042 C, in the Coislin codex, *Sermones slavice versi*. Florence, in the Laurentian codex X, n. 71, plut. 5, *Germani Versus alterni Christi et Mariæ, Scripti in eo templo, ubi a. 518 Patres congregati fuerunt*. V. Bandini, *Cat. codd. græc. Laur.* vol. I, p. 28. In the same volume, p. 78, in codex 40, n. 64, *tomus Germani De non diripiendis episcopatus bonis, post mortem episcopi*. It begins: *Ἀκούσατε ταῦτα, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη*; it is missing in ^D

the same volume, I remember noting above on page 132 that the image of Germanus appears immediately among the icons of the sacred Melodists placed before it. [Above, p. in this vol. in the *Catalogus Melodorum Græcorum*. HARL.]

The sermons of this Germanus are:

1.) ^A *Encomium on the holy Theotokos*, on the holy Deipara, when she was presented in the temple at three years of age and brought by her parents into the holy of holies. It begins: *Ἰδοὺ καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρα πανήγυρις*. Petrus Pantinus published it in Greek and Latin with certain others of John Chrysostom, Antiochus, and John Damascene, Antwerp 1601, 8vo. Whence it was reprinted in volume II of the *Auctarium Bibliothecæ Patrum* by Ducæus, p. 443, and in the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, Paris 1644, 1654, vol. XII, and from the revision of Franciscus Combefisius collated with two Royal codices and one Mazarin codex, with his own version in the *Novum Auctarium Bibl. Patrum*, vol. II, p. 1411-1462, Paris 1648, folio. In Latin, it appears from Pantinus’s version in volume VIII of the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, Cologne 1618, and from that of Joannes Matthæus Caryophilus in the *Mariale* of Hyppolytus Maraccius, Rome 1650, 8vo, and from Combefisius in volume XIII of the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, Lugdunum 1672. FABR. Consult below, vol. XII, p. 751, n. 8. However, this and the following sermons are still read in many manuscript codices. This, therefore, is the first in the Augustan codex at Vindelicia. See Reiser, *Index mss. Aug.*, p. 23, n. 16. In the Vindobonensis [Vienna] codex Cæsareus 151, n. 25. Lambecius IV, p. 298. Ibid. p. 358 etc., in codex 151, n. 16, Germanus is cited among the testimonies of various ancients concerning the *Dormitio Mariæ*. In vol. VII, p. 111; in codex 6, n. 3, *Oratio de Præsentatione Mariæ in templo*, etc., which codex Lambecius judges should be carefully collated with the edition of Combefisius on account of variant readings. The same ^B oration is in codex 40, n. 5. See Lambecius ibid. p. 823 etc., and above in vol. X, p. 240; and p. 279, ibid. p. 280, and p. 281. *Orationes in salutationem ab angelo factam*. Sermon 1 is also in the Coislin codices 105, n. 3; 274, 304, n. 306, n. 18, 21 Nov. See Montfaucon, *Bibl. Coislin.*, p. 178, 333, 418, and 422. Paris, in the public library: *Homilia in Præsentatione* in nineteen codices. See index to vol. II, *Catalogus*, under the word Germanus. Florence, in the Laurentian codices 31, n. 5, plut. 9; 31, n. 6, plut. 10; 15, n. 2, plut. 11; and 4, n. 17, plut 4. See Bandini, *Cat. cod. Gr. Laurent.*, vol. I, p. 442, 493, 510, and 521. Venice, in the Nanian codices 63, n. 41, 73, n. 19, 21 Nov.—308. See *Cat. codd. Nan.*, p. 106, 149, 522. Turin, in the Royal codices 70, 135, 148, and 166. See *Cat. codd. Gr. Taur.*, p. 167, 231, 239, and 254. In the Mazarin codices 73 and 75, *Oratio in obdormitionem Mariæ*, according to Montfaucon in *Bibl. Biblioth. mss.*, p. 1317 B and 1318 A. In the Sfortian library codices n. 19 and others; and in the Mazarin codex. See Montfaucon, *Bibl. Biblioth. mss.*, p. 696 C, and 701 C, and 1318. According to *Catal. mss. Angliæ, etc.* 1, in the Baroccian codex 132. Ibid. in the Selden codices 53, or n. 3383 and n. 3397, Harl. catalog.

2.) *On the holy Dormition of our all-holy Lady the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary*. It begins: *Παυσάσθωσαν τῶν αἱρετικῶν οἱ ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἐμβρόντητοι λόγοι*. With the version of Andreas Schottus, it exists in volume II of the *Auctarium Ducæanum*, p. 458, and in the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, Paris 1644, 1654, vol. XII, and with a new version by Franciscus Combefisius in his *Novum Auctarium Bibl. Patrum*, vol. II, p. 1455. The same version is in volume XIII of the *Bibl. Patrum Lugd.* and in the *Bibl. Combefisii Concionatoria*. FABR. Consult above, vol. X, p. 284; and Schroeckh, *Hist. eccles. Christ.*, vol. XX, p. 135. That oration was reprinted in Greek in Jo. Patusa, *Encyclopædia philologica*, Venice 1710, 8vo, vol. II, p. 332 etc. Manuscripts on the Dormition exist: in Paris, in the public library, eight codices. See the Index to vol. II of the *Catalogus*. But which of the three orations of the same subject is meant is nowhere noted. The same first oration, with the two following it, is in the Oxon. codex Baroccianus 199. In the Vindobonensis [Vienna] codex Cæsareus 31, n. 13, is a fabulous narrative, by an anonymous author, *Commentarius historicus de imagine S. Mariæ*, which Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople, in his *Itinerary to Jerusalem*, had painted on a certain panel from the archetype icon of the same Mary—not made by hands, but divinely impressed in living colors—etc.; regarding which narrative and image, and the miracles of this, which were commonly believed of old, Lambecius discourses at length, VIII, p. 692-713. Consult above, vol. X, p. 283 etc. The same Lambecius, ibid. p. 360 etc., fully illustrates and amends a certain passage of the oration in the Paris edition of the *Auctarium Bibl. Patrum Græco-Lat.*, 1648, vol. I, p. 1465. HARL.

3.) *On the same Dormition of S. Mary, another homily*, first published by the same Combefisius in the same second volume of the *Novum Auctarium*, p. 1443. It begins: *Ὁ χρεωστῶν πάντοτε τὸν ἴδιον εὐεργέτην ἀνυμνεῖ* (7). Georgius Pediasimus, in an unpublished history which Petrus Pantinus unwrapped, cites the homily *Eἰς τὴν κοίμησιν τῆς Θεοτόκου* of Germanus, who was driven into exile in the time of Leo the Isaurian for asserting the cult of images. The lacuna which exists in this latter homily in Combefisius, p. 1449, is to be filled up from the Cæsarean codex thus: *Οἱ μὲν ἄγγελοι καταβατικοὶ πρὸς τὴν συγκατάβασιν τῆς κάτω φημὶ κυήσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγονότες, οἱ δὲ ποιμένες ἀναβατικοὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ δεδοξασμένην ὑψωθέντες ἀξίαν*. See Lambecius VIII, p. 130. FABR. S. p. 278, but ed. Kollar from codex 14, n. 33. — Ibid. n. 34, is the same Germanus’s oration 2, beginning *Παυσάσθωσαν*; and n. 35, oration 3, beginning *Φήμη καλή*. ^C e. a. p. 282-410, it is excessive regarding the Assumption of Mary. — Ibid. p. 112, is our third [homily] in codex 5, n. 6. See above, in vol. X, p. 284. Also in the Baroccian codices 174, 199, along with the following oration and 234. In Moscow in the synodical codex 271, n. 69; and in the same codex n. 68 is the *λόγος α'* of Germanus, for the same feast day, i.e., on the Dormition of Mary, and it begins: *Τίς ὁ συναθροισμός*. HARL.

[alt-version omitted]

Leunclavius, *Jure Græc. Roman.* Political verses *De compunctione*, Paris in the public library codex 2748. It begins: *Ὁ πάλαι βλήσας νάματα*. Those verses in the Royal public library manuscript codex II, 547, are attributed to Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople in the XIII century, and are said to be as yet unpublished. In the Oxon. Baroccian codex 10, some hymns of Patriarch Germanus in political verses: it begins: *Τὸν πρῶτον σωτῆρα ἐν βροτοῖς*. Another homily of Germanus of Constantinople on the Holy Archangel Michael begins with the same words: *Ὁ χρεωστῶν πάντοτε τὸν ἴδιον εὐεργέτην ἀνυμνεῖ*. [See above, vol. X, p. 199. HARL.]

4.) On the same Dormition,

Εἰς τὴν πάνσεπτον κοίμησιν τῆς Θεομήτορος

5.)

Εἰς τὸν Εὐαγγελισμὸν τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου

6.)

Εἰς τὰ ἐγκαίνια τοῦ σεβασμίου ναοῦ, In encænia venerandæ ædis S. Mariæ, inque sanctas fascias Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et in depositionem atque adorationem zonæ S. Dei Genitricis

7.) The homily which exists under the name of Germanus, *In Nativitatem S. Mariæ*, in the second volume of the *Auctarium Ducæanum*, p. 450, with the version of Andreas Schott, and beginning: *Εἰ μετρεῖται γῆ σπιθαμῇ*, has Andrew of Crete as its author, not Germanus, nor George of Nicomedia, as I noted in this very volume, pp. 128, 610, 611. [old ed. add above, vol. X, p. 278. HARL.] Hippolytus Maraccius of Lucca published the majority of this Germanus's homilies in Latin with notes, Rome, 1650, 8; and inscribed it: *S. Germani Mariale*. Add Cave, l. c. II, p. 289, and note e therein. HARL.]

V. Richard Simon also attributes to this Germanus (8) the *Θεωρία ἐκκλησιαστικὴ καὶ μυσταγωγική*, or *Allegorical exposition of the liturgy*, which in other codices is referred to Saint Basil (9), in others to Athanasius or Cyril of Jerusalem or the Alexandrian, or to Chrysostom; in a ms. of the Coislin library (10) it is clearly attributed to James, the brother of the Lord, whereas it is of none of these, and, such as it appears, it does not possess the integrity of that Germanus's age, but has suffered many interpolations in more recent times, for which reason Fronto Ducæus and Leo Allatius preferred to attribute it to Germanus the Younger, who died around the year 1240. [Also Oudin, in the cited *Comm.*, vol. I, p. 1674 seq., with Gretser as the leader, in *Opp.* Ingolstad. 1616, fol., in three volumes, who in the notes to volume II on the Holy Cross, records the *Theoria* as being of another Germanus posterior in age, and Bellarmine, *De SS. ecclesiast.*, thinks and proves that others think differently. HARL.] Regarding its editions and the judgment of Richard Simon, who wished to provide a version more sincere and liberated from many interpolations by the aid of a ms. codex, I will not repeat what I said in volume VII, p. 548. [i.e. vol. VIII, p. 444 seq., n. 7. Add infra, in vol. XIII, p. 816, concerning the *Liturgies of the Holy Fathers*, Paris, by Guil. Morell, 1560, fol.: in which work, pp. 145-179, exists the *Ἱστορία ἐκκλησιαστικὴ καὶ μυστικὴ θεολογία περὶ τῶν ἱερουργημένων* of Germanus, archbp. of Constantinople. Beginning: *Ἐκκλησία ἐστὶ ναὸς Θεοῦ*. It is the same in Venice, in cod. Naniano 34, n. 2; and is asserted to be of Germanus, archbp. of Constantinople. See Cat. mss. Nan. Gr., p. 45; and in cod. Baroc. 42; also in cod. eccl. S. Petri at York, 50. See Cat. mss. Angl. etc., vol. II. Add infra in vol. XIII, p. 835, concerning Jac. Goar, who with the *Euchologion of the Greeks*, Paris, 1647, fol., p. 200 seqq., published the Liturgy from mss., and attributed it to Germanus of Constantinople in the notes, pp. 200 and 211; and exhibited another very brief and ancient copy of it from a Barberini ms. Paris, in the public library, codices 700, n. 9, 854, n. 13, the recorded exposition is ascribed to Basil; and in cod. 983, n. 16, there is an anonymous *Explication of the sacred liturgy*; and the same, says the compiler of the Catalogue of codices, ... [index: entries preserved]

NOTITIA

Regg. II, p. 196, almost identical with that which appeared under the name of Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople. Init. *Tò σήμαντρον αἰνίττεται*. HARL.] A Latin interpretation common in the *Bibliothecae Patrum* has Gentian Hervet as its author. [It is read in Greek and Latin in Gall. *Bibl. PP.* XIII, p. 203 sqq. B.] From this *Theoria* (Contemplation) is also derived that which is read in Latin under the name of Germanus in certain editions of the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, such as the Cologne edition, vol. VII, a. 1618. FABR. In the Laurentian codex X, no. 9, plut. 5, there are four sermons on the Lord's Prayer, that is to say, explanations divided into four sermons, with many scholia added in the margin. Bandini, however, in his *Catalogus codicum Graecorum*, vol. I, p. 23, left it for others to inquire whether the *Expositio* (Explanation) preserved in that codex is a part of the *Theoria rerum ecclesiasticarum*. HARL.

SECOND NOTITIA

Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, son of the patrician Justinian, had previously been Metropolitan of Cyzicus. Since he did not sufficiently comply with the decrees of Leo the Isaurian against the holy images, he was deposed from his see in the year 730, and leading a private life, gave way to his successor Anastasius, a man *εἰκονομαχωτάτῳ* (most hostile to images). Ten years after he had been deposed from the Constantinopolitan throne, he departed this life in his ancestral home on the 12th of May, at a sufficiently advanced age, inasmuch as he is said to have been made a eunuch in the year of the Lord 635, after the death of Constantine Pogonatus, by whom his parent Justinian had been put to death. By the pseudo-synod of Copronymus gathered at Constantinople in the year 754, he was subjected to anathema as being *διγνώμῳ* and *ξυλολάτρῃ*, that is, inconstant and double-tongued, and a wood-worshipper. His memory is celebrated in the 6th act of the Second Council of Nicaea, concerning which Photius expresses his judgment in *Codex* 233. He wrote many things, which bibliographers recount. Outstanding among others is the *Contemplation of Ecclesiastical Matters*, in which the rites and mysteries of the Mass of the Greeks are explained, which, however, some attribute to Germanus II. Yet Richard Simon among others argues for Germanus I. It must be admitted, however, that other things were inserted by others. Wherefore one can scarcely distinguish the genuine work of Germanus. Indeed, some things seem to suggest that our Germanus was its original author. For in the *Explanation of the Second Antiphon* he says that some wish the author of the *Troparium* to be the Emperor Justinian of holy memory. Since such words are wont to be used of a man who died not long before, they do not therefore smack of the 13th century, which was the age of Germanus II: whether those words are referred to Justinian I, who died in the year 565, or to the second, who died in the year 711. Furthermore, mentioning a certain rite used by the Greeks, he commemorates the Indians and the faithful inhabiting the Venetian islands. But as anyone can easily discern, these things fall better into the end of the 6th century, or even the beginning of the 7th, because of the youth and a certain Greekness of our city, than into the 13th century. Finally, he mentions throughout that Christ is one of the Trinity who became man, suffered, etc., which matters certainly smack of the 6th century rather than the 13th.

There is also attributed to our Germanus a short work *On the Six Synods*, which, *ἀδέσποτον* (anonymous) and without an author's name, was first published by Justellus, soon after by Le Moyne (3) in a more complete form, and has been reprinted here and there in the *Bibliothecae*. But I do not know whether Germanus I would have called Constantine *ἁγίῳ* (holy), and said that in the time of the First Council of Nicaea, Alexander was Patriarch of Constantinople. Consult the dissertation of the distinguished Peter de Marca on this very subject.

THE LIFE OF SAINT GERMANUS BY GODEFRIDUS HENSCHENIUS

CHAPTER I. — Sacred worship. Studies and virtues in youth.

1. The Catholic Church proposes to us this month of May two very bright lights of the Christian world, both of the same name: one on the 28th, whom we designate as bishop in the West at Paris; the other in the East, the patriarch of Constantinople, whom we have decided to treat on this 12th of May. Cardinal Baronius, in his annals for the year 730, no. 6, calls him "the bulwark of the Church of Constantinople, a burning and shining lamp of the Eastern Church," since he enlightened the entire East not only by his holy works and his defense of the Catholic faith, but also refreshed the Catholic Church itself with the light of his writings. Would that we possessed his illustrious Acts, written by some contemporary author! In the absence of these, we gather certain facts regarding his deeds from various writings, and we begin with his sacred cult; this is all the more appropriate because in the Office of this day among the Greeks, his lineage and the things he accomplished before receiving the episcopate are indicated with greater accuracy. Let the first eulogy be taken from the Menologium of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus. ^A

2. "Our holy Father Germanus, born under the reign of Heraclius, was the son of the patrician Justinian, whom the son of Heraclius (or rather, his grandson) killed out of envy, and caused Germanus himself to become a eunuch, and appointed him to the clergy of the Great Church. Then he first devoted himself to the study of the divine Scriptures, and gave himself entirely to contemplation and the acquisition of other virtues. Afterwards, having been initiated as bishop, he undertook the governance of the Church of Cyzicus. From there, transferring his see, he was elevated to the rule of the Church of Constantinople and elected patriarch. There he illuminated the people with his doctrine and expounded the deeper mysteries of the divine Scriptures, persisting in this office until the reign of Leo the Isaurian. When he saw him turned away from the veneration of the holy images, and could not turn him away from this heresy by arguments or exhortations, having laid his omophorion—that is, his patriarchal garment—upon the holy altar, he returned to his own house and led a quiet life, where he offered prayers assiduously to God until, a nonagenarian, he departed to the Lord." Up to this point is the Menologium of the Emperor Basil; exactly the same things are read in the new Anthologium edited by Antonius Arcudius by the authority of Pope Clement VIII. But that he died at the age of one hundred will be manifest below from the letter of Pope Gregory II. ^B

3. To this we subjoin another, somewhat fuller eulogy, excerpted from an ancient manuscript synaxary of the Constantinopolitan Church, which belongs to the Jesuit College in Paris. It has been translated into Latin as follows: "Born under the reign of Heraclius, he was the son of the patrician Justinian, a conspicuous and celebrated man, who held many public offices and was honored by the entire senate with great admiration and veneration because of his supreme piety. But because of emulation and envy, one who was a nephew of Heraclius, utterly unable to bear the fact that he had been consulted for the empire, killed him, and made the blessed Germanus a eunuch, and enrolled him in the clergy of the Great Church. Then he gave himself to the contemplation of the divine Scriptures, and by the quickness of his intellect and his assiduous labors, reached the greatest wisdom and knowledge of things. ^C When he had rightfully ordered his way of life, he was first ordained bishop of the Church of Cyzicus, not at once or by a leap, having accepted orders; but advancing by law and the accustomed statutes, he reached the summit of sacred honors. Then, since the Church required a man provident in administration and practiced in eloquence and experience in affairs, he was transferred from Cyzicus to the great see of the city of Constantinople, where he illuminated countless peoples with his doctrine, and by interpreting the deeper and more obscure passages of Scripture, and by frequent public addresses and encomiastic sermons, he exhilarated the Church; and he softened what is harsh and laborious in vigils with his own canticles and sweet hymns. He persisted in these exercises until the reign of Leo the Isaurian. When he saw that he abhorred the holy images and pursued them with a certain madness, he tried to persuade him, both with words of holy Scripture and with other exhortations, to turn his mind away from this heresy. But when he blasphemed God more, and heaped insults upon the sacrosanct images, Germanus placed his omophorion upon the sacred table, and having returned to his own house, he embraced quiet, and finally finished his life in a good old age, having attained ninety years of life. While his funeral was being carried out, it drove away various diseases from those who approached his relics; and after his burial, the faithful have obtained, and continue to obtain, the assiduous benefits of healings from his sacred remains, which abound." It is placed ^D

VITA

his body was placed in the holy monastery of Chora. His feast day is celebrated in the most holy Great Church. 4. Similar verses are read everywhere in various handwritten and printed Greek Menaia. In these, three short verses concerning Saint Germanus are contained, which, because they are about such a man, it is fitting to add. The first is: "Leonine mind, full of impiety, you bravely overcame it, O Germanus; for that miserable Leo denied the worship of the venerable images of Christ and all the saints: but by your sermons, O interpreter of the saints, he was confounded: and like a madman, he remained senseless." The second verse: "Leo, like an impious beast, odious to God and a precursor of Antichrist, because he suppressed the veneration of the image of Christ, was expelled from the lot of the faithful. Therefore we pray to you, Germanus, calm the present tumult with your divine prayers." Finally, the third verse: "You attained your desire, most prudent prelate of sacred things, long ago wished for, blessed Germanus. For you arrived with confidence at your Lord, as befits a holy man. When you are present to Him, enjoying the divinity, pray for peace for the world." The rest of the canon refers to Saint Epiphanius, whose Acts we have given above. In the Menology of Sirlet it is added: "that Leo burned the books composed by that holy man concerning the orthodox faith." Yet in the Menaia it is said simply: "books composed for the defense of holy images were burned," with no word added from which it might be understood that Germanus composed such books.

5. The place where his body was deposited is expressed in Greek: *Κατετέθη ἐν τῷ εὐαγεῖ μοναστηρίῳ τῆς Χώρας*, that is, "He was deposited in the holy monastery of Chora," which we said in the entry for January 8 on the Life of Saint Cyrus, Patriarch of Constantinople, its founder, was in Pontus; he, being driven from his see by Emperor Philippicus, finished his life there. However, the holy body did not remain in that place; for when we treated of Saint Remedius, Bishop of Gap, on February 3, we said that his body and that of Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, were preserved in Gaul. Regarding the translation of the latter, Saussay writes in the *Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology* for this day, May 12: "On this day is the passing of Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople. His sacred body was later carried into Aquitaine by the Franks, the conquerors of Constantinople, and enclosed in a silver chest in the borders of the Auvergne and Limousin in the town of Bort, [being] hidden away with the relics of Saint Remedius, Bishop of Gap, where it is still preserved with all reverence to this day." Bort is situated on the river Dordogne, or Duranius, where it, emerging from Auvergne, grazes the border of the Limousin territory before it is enlarged by receiving the Rua river; it is closer to the city of Tulle in the Limousin than to the metropolis of Clermont in Auvergne.

6. Finally, his holy memory is inscribed in today's tables of the Roman Martyrology with this formula: ^Ain Constantinople of Saint Germanus, Bishop, distinguished for his virtues and learning, who refuted with great confidence Leo the Isaurian, who was promulgating an edict against holy images. On this day, Antonius de Balinghem in his *Ephemeris* or *Calendar of the Most Holy Virgin Mary*, and Franciscus Marchesius in his *Sacred Diary*, celebrate him, and this on account of his singular affection toward the Mother of God the Virgin: for which reason Hippolytus Marraccius sought out and published at Rome in the year 1650 the *Mariology* of Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, in which all the works of the same Saint Germanus concerning Mary the Mother of God, which could be found, are contained, expressed in Latin and illustrated with notes. Finally, on the 12th day of January, his name is inserted in a manuscript *Florarium Sanctorum*.

CHAPTER II. Events up to the year 720. The Archbishopric of Cyzicus. The Patriarchate of Constantinople.

7. Emperor Heraclius (under whom the father of Saint Germanus lived and here [Germanus] grew up) died on March 11 in the year 641: after whom, when his sons Constantine and Heraclonas had reigned for a few months, the empire was transferred to Constans, his other son: who, after twenty-six years of imperial rule, was killed in a bath at Syracuse, and his son Constantine, nicknamed Pogonatus, was substituted in his place: ^Bhe, at the beginning of his reign, as is read in Theophanes, killed "Justinian the patrician, the father of Germanus, who was later patriarch; but Germanus, taking it [the event] more heavily [or *more resentfully*], he punished by emasculation." Which act we estimate [occurred] around the year 669. But of what authority he was then, even before Constantine himself, will be evident below from an epistle of Saint Pope Gregory II. Otherwise, "when the pious Emperor Constantine," says Theophanes, "had reigned seventeen years, his son Justinian received the empire, later nicknamed Rhinotmetus, because having been mutilated in his nose he remained in exile in Cherson, while Leontius for three years and Apsimar for seven years administered the empire. Then at last Justinian, having recovered the empire, reigned again until the year 711, ^Cwhen, together with Tiberius, he was killed by Philippicus: who then held the empire acquired by crime for about two years, and in the year 713 was removed, having had his eyes gouged out."

8. Saint Germanus flourished under the said emperors, having been enrolled in the clergy of the Great Church and put in charge of it, and from there, because of the splendor of his outstanding virtues and learning, he was ordained bishop of Cyzicus, the metropolis of the Hellespont: though exactly under which of them is not clear. That he administered the Cyzicene see under Philippicus is indicated by Nicephorus the Patriarch in his history, and Theophanes in his *Chronology*, ^Damong whom Germanus, along with John the pseudo-patriarch, who had intruded into the place of Saint Cyrus, is numbered among those who then favored the heresy of the Monothelites against the holy and ecumenical sixth synod.

It is entirely false, and excerpted from the deceitful scrolls of heretics. But rather, he is seen to have been driven from his see along with the holy Cyrus, and to have dwelt with him in the monastery of Chora, so that for this reason he wished to be buried there: and in Theophanes he is joined to the said holy Cyrus, though in a changed sense. How sincerely he always cherished the orthodox faith is testified by the three hundred and fifty bishops in the second Council of Nicaea, in the sixth session near the end, in these words: "Germanus shone as a light in the world, containing the word of life; who was nurtured in holy things, and even as Samuel from infancy was purified for God, and was proven to be of a like mind with the holy Fathers." That it is necessary to follow his disputations, his written works declare, which are celebrated throughout the entire world. For "the exaltations of God are in his throat, and two-edged swords in his hands," leveled against those who dissent from ecclesiastical tradition. Indeed, that the sixth synod was convoked against the Monothelites, and that Saint Germanus collaborated in it, will be established below.

9. Meanwhile, upon the casting out of Philippicus, Artemius was crowned emperor on the very feast of Pentecost in the year 714; and he is called Anastasius. He was highly accomplished in literature, and a supporter of the Catholic party: he having expelled the heretic John, translated Saint Germanus to Constantinople in the year of Christ 715. Regarding this translation, Theophanes writes: "In the second year of the reign of Artemius, who is also Anastasius, in the fifteenth indiction, on the eleventh day of the month of August, Germanus was translated from the metropolis of Cyzicus to Constantinople." The decree regarding this translation was promulgated as follows: ^B "By the suffrage and consent of the religious presbyters, deacons, and the entire holy clergy, and the sacred senate, and the entire Christ-loving populace of this God-guarded and queen of cities; divine grace, which always heals the infirm and fills what is lacking, translates the most holy Germanus, metropolitan and president of the metropolis of Cyzicus, to the episcopate of this God-guarded city and queen of cities." This translation was made in the presence of Michael, the most holy presbyter and apocrisiarius of the Apostolic See, and other priests and bishops who were present, while Artemius was emperor. Thus far those things which confirm the man to have been of the orthodox faith.

10. It pleases us to append here what is held in our Greek manuscript concerning the life of Saint Stephen the Younger, who was martyred under Constantine Copronymus for the sake of the holy images, the beginning of which is: «Θεῖόν τι χρῆμα ἡ ἀρετή», "Virtue is a certain divine thing." Leo Allatius in his *Diatribe on the writings of the Simeons* (p. 126) recognizes this Life as the genuine product of Simeon Metaphrastes, which Jacobus Billius appended to the works of Saint John of Damascus, and from which some have incorrectly attributed it to the latter. When the said Saint Stephen the Younger was still in his mother’s womb, these things are narrated to have occurred: "When the eminent man Germanus was about to ascend the patriarchal throne, the people in huge numbers ran to the great church of ^A Sophia, out of a desire to see him. For he was famous and illustrious by the name of virtue, and he was on everyone’s tongue, not without pleasure. Now, a married couple, illustrious among all, ran along with the crowd and had occupied a certain bench, from which they might be able to see him, whom they desired, from a higher place. When therefore he passed through the church, suddenly the woman (for her care for him whom she carried in her womb stirred her) began to cry out: 'Bless, Lord, that which is in my womb.' He, however, looking with the discerning eye of his soul at the child who was being carried in the womb, replied: 'May the Lord bless him through the intercessions of the protomartyr Stephen.' Furthermore, the woman affirmed to everyone that at that hour, when she heard this, she saw a fiery flame leaping forth from that divine mouth. Therefore, when he was brought into the light, they named him Stephen, even as the great Germanus had predicted. And since it was necessary that he also be illuminated by baptism, who had been illuminated even before he came into the light; they went to the baptistery of the Great Sophia. It was then the eve of the great Sabbath of the resurrection of Christ, and he is placed into the hands of that most illustrious Germanus: who immediately baptizes and anoints him; I say, him who was already about to be the spiritual ointment of the Church." Thus far these things, which are also, and indeed more fully, explained in another Greek manuscript, which we copied in Rome itself from the Vatican codex 808; and all these shall be used to illustrate the twenty-eighth day of November, the birthday of Saint Stephen the Younger.

11. To the Saint Stephen martyred for the protomartyr and called the Younger, we join another holy Stephen, the founder of the monastery τοῦ Χηνολάκκου, or "of the Goose Lake," as we explained on the fourteenth day of January, his birthday: regarding whom, in the Menæa of the Greeks, just as in the manuscript synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople, these things are read: "He came to Constantinople, received into hospitality by the most holy patriarch Germanus: with whom having stayed for some time, he learned many things from him, and received great fruit from thence, and in his affairs he aided him with saving counsel. Hence that monastery, which received its name from the Goose lake, was founded by him: in which he himself lived, and gathered a great number of monks." Thus far those things, to which is added in the Menology of Emperor Basil: "Received most kindly by Patriarch Germanus, and gifted with a small plot of land, in which he founded the monastery."

12. Anastasius was deposed, having been made emperor, as if in mockery, Artemius of Adramyttium: at the beginning of whose reign, Theophanes, Nicephorus the patriarch, and others write that the friends of Artemius were seized, and along with the Constantinopolitan prelate Germanus were deported to Nicaea. But Theodosius, having sought the opinion of Patriarch Germanus and the senate, is said to have received from Leo the Isaurian—who in this treaty had admitted the patriarch as a sequestrator—a guarantee of immunity and safety, and to have abdicated the throne and surrendered himself to Leo.

disse, it is said in the same Theophanes: who ^A continues, “The nefarious emperor,” he says, “insane against the right faith, having summoned the holy Germanus to himself with divinely inspired words (that is, with the Scriptures, but twisted to his own wicked meaning), began to ensnare him.” The blessed prelate therefore addressed him thus: “We have heard, indeed, of a future proscription of the holy images, but not, however, during your reign.” As he inquired more anxiously regarding the one in whose age or reign the matter was to be executed, Germanus replied, “In the time of Conon.” He said: “But my name is Conon, truly given to me in baptism itself.” The patriarch replied: “God forbid, master, that this evil should be perpetrated while you are emperor; for he who will fulfill this wickedness is a forerunner of the Antichrist, and a subverter and enemy of the divine incarnation, just as Herod once attacked the Precursor.” The patriarch recalled to his memory the guarantee of faith that had been offered before he assumed the empire; by which, to be sure, with God given as surety, he had promised that he would in no way innovate regarding anything apostolic and sanctioned by the holy Fathers concerning the Church of God itself. But so far was the miserable Leo from being ashamed of his undertaking, that he insisted on this, catching at the patriarch’s words and deceitfully mixing in others, so that he might convict him of the crime of lèse-majesté, and thus, as a seditious person and not as a confessor, depose him from the throne.

Regarding the third year of this Leo, of Christ 719, he writes: “In this year, to the irreligious emperor was born a son, superior in impiety and irreligion, a true forerunner of the Antichrist. On the twenty-first day of the month of October (or, as another manuscript has it, the twenty-fifth, which the author of the *Miscellanea* followed, writing the eighth day before the Kalends of January), his wife Maria received the companion of the crown in the *Augusteos* (which Balsamon calls with more integrity the *Augusteon*), and with a solemn retinue, without her husband, proceeded to the Great Church. Having offered prayers there, before entering to the great altar for the solemnities, she went to the great baptistery, while her husband, attended by a few domestics, betook himself to the same place. There, when Constantine, the heir of the empire and its malice, was being purified in the lustral water by the prelate Germanus, he gave a dire and foul sign of himself from infancy, voiding his bowels into the sacred font, as is reported by credible eyewitnesses; so that the most holy patriarch Germanus prophesied that a great evil for Christians and for the Church itself would come about through him.” Hence the nickname Copronymus clung to this Constantine. Then in the fourth year of Leo, the third indiction, on the very day of Pascha (it was the 31st of March), Constantine received the imperial crown from his father Leo in the tribunal of the Nineteen *Accubita*, with the blessed-memory patriarch Germanus performing the customary prayers.

CAP. III. Acts with Leo the Isaurian regarding the cult of images.

13. It is our pleasure to proceed from Theophanes, from whom we took the foregoing. “In the ninth year,” he says, “of the reign, the irreligious emperor Leo began the first treatment regarding the proscribing and deposing of sacred and venerable images; when the proposal of this was discovered, Pope Gregory of Rome, after having sent a decretal epistle to that same Leo warning him that it is not fitting for an emperor to decree anything concerning the faith or to innovate or overturn established rites of the Church confirmed by the holy Fathers, finally forbade the tributes of Italy and Rome from being given to him.” But, as is referred to the following year 726, that impious man was not only involved in error regarding the relative veneration of images, but also regarding the intercessions of the most holy Mother of God and all the saints; and the most wicked man abhorred their relics, after the manner of his Arab instructors. From that time, therefore, he imprudently began enmities with the blessed patriarch of Constantinople, condemning all his imperial predecessors, prelates, and Christian peoples as idolaters on account of the veneration of sacred and venerable images: since he, because of excessive incredulity and rusticity, was unable to grasp the reason and discourse concerning their relative worship.

14. Then, for the thirteenth year of Leo, which is for us the year of Christ 730, the same argument ^B continues. Indeed, he had found as an assistant and participant in this matter Anastasius, a disciple and syncellus of Germanus, promising him that he would be his successor in the see, as he was an emulator of his own sentiments and privy to everything. When the blessed one was not unaware that this man was perversely disposed against him, imitating his Lord, he warned him, as if he were another Iscariot, openly indeed, but gently, about his treachery. When, however, he perceived that he could not be recalled from his error, one day the patriarch himself said to this same Anastasius, who was stepping on the rear hem of his robe as he went to visit the emperor: “Do not be in a hurry, for you will enter the stadium of the circus sooner than you wish.” But neither was he disturbed by these words, nor did others understand the prophecy; which, however, fifteen years later, specifically in the third year of the persecutor Constantine, in the twelfth indiction, finally had its outcome, and it was proved to have been brought forth not without divine impulse. For, when Constantine had expelled his son-in-law Artabasdos, and had gained the empire alone, he ordered Anastasius, after having been beaten with rods along with his other enemies, then stripped naked and made to ride an ass facing backwards, to be led openly around the stadium of the circus: as he who, together with his enemies, had cast off the emperor’s gift and had been expelled from the empire and had crowned Artabasdos.

16. Moreover, that divine Germanus, defender of the true religion, flourished in Byzantium, fighting against Leo, who possessed a name according to his deeds, and his satellites, as if against wild beasts. Just as in ancient Rome a man in every way priestly and apostolic, successor to Peter the coryphaeus of the apostles, renowned for his erudition and glorious deeds,

^A Gregory, who withdrew Rome and all of Italy and the Occident from the obedience of Leo, both civil and ecclesiastical. But then John Chrysorrhoas, the priest and monk of Damascus, son of Mansur, a distinguished Doctor, shone forth by his sanctity of life as much as by his doctrine. Furthermore, he cast Germanus down from the patriarchal throne as one subject to his power. But Gregory, by the letters which everyone knows were addressed to him, took him to task; and finally John, together with the bishops of the whole East, bound the impious Leo with an anathema.

17. ^B On the seventeenth day of the month of January, in the thirteenth indiction, on the third day of the week, the irreligious Leo held a session in the council chamber of the nineteen couches against the holy and venerable images, calling upon the most holy patriarch Germanus to advocate for his position; for he thought he could persuade him to finally subscribe to his decree regarding the abolition of the holy images. But the stout servant of Christ, yielding in no way to the abominable counsel of Leo, but rather distributing the word of truth in its correct sense, resigned from his episcopate; and actually, voluntarily laying down his pontifical pallium, after a rather long sermon full of pure doctrine, he finally said: If I am Jonas, throw me into the sea. For, O emperor, I have no power to innovate anything concerning the faith without the authority of a universal council. Then, indeed, retiring to the place which is called Platanium, to his ancestral home, he spent the rest of his life in the greatest silence. He held the pontificate for fourteen years, five months, and six days.

18. ^C On the twenty-second day of the same month of January, they appointed as his successor Anastasius, a man of false name, the disciple and syncellus of the blessed Germanus himself; who, moved by the ambition of secular power, because he assented to the impiety of Leo, was created pseudo-bishop of Constantinople. But Gregory, the holy primate of Rome, as I have already stated, excommunicated Anastasius along with his encyclicals; and he refuted Leo himself, as irreligious, by means of letters; and he incited Rome together with all of Italy to defect from his empire. From which the tyrant, excited daily to greater fury, stirred up a persecution against the holy images: to such an extent that many clergy and monks and devout laymen, endangered for the decrees of the right faith, were redeemed by the crown of martyrdom.

19. Thus far Theophanes: in whose edition, owing to the carelessness of the copyists, some inaccuracies occur in the numbers. Hence, supra numb. 9, in Petavius’s *Rationarium temporum*, the fifteenth indiction is read: and rightly so, since the thirteenth indiction is printed erroneously. For in the year 715, the fifteenth indiction, the holy Germanus was transferred to the patriarchal see of Constantinople, and it is established that this indeed happened in the month of August, but the day is a matter for investigation. For it is expressed in the printed editions as the eleventh, and later it is said ^D "to have held the pontificate for fourteen years, five months, and three days," and to have abdicated in the thirteenth action, namely in the year 750, on the first day of January, the third day of the week: where, so that the number of the day and the day of the week may agree, in that year when the solar cycle 6 brought the Dominical letter A, for the seventh of January (which the author of the *Miscella* and Anastasius also found noted and wrote, "the seventh day before the Ides of January") the seventeenth should be read. But then it should be said that the saint sat for more than 14 years, 5 months, and 6 days: which I approve all the more, because the 11th of August in the year 715, when the saint had been installed in the Constantinopolitan see, with the solar cycle 24 and the Dominical letter F, was a Sunday, opportune for such an act according to the ancient custom of the churches; and therefore again in numb. 18, where it is said that Anastasius was substituted in the place of Saint Germanus on the seventh of January, an obvious error is to be corrected by placing the twenty-second day. The author of the *Miscella* and Anastasius in their history certainly had such a reading before their eyes when they wrote, "the eleventh day before the Kalends of February," which day was likewise a Sunday. But if it were established from elsewhere that only three days, not six, were to be counted for the pontificate of Germanus, then I would say that he was installed in the Constantinopolitan see on the solemn day of the Marian Assumption, August 15: for very easily *ta* could have crept into the Greek numerals instead of *te*; and this would square exceptionally well with the saint’s notable affection for the Theotokos. In the first *Exegesis* before the third volume of March, especially in chapter 5, we have pointed out and corrected several similar errors, sprinkled into Theophanes on account of the sloth of copyists; and his life, written by Saint Theodore the Studite, we provided on the 12th of March.

20.

The Life of Saint Germanus

was his supreme virtue, the worship of the venerable images, as they have clearly passed down to us. That I may not go far afield, after Christ’s ascension into heaven, that woman who suffered from a flow of blood, having been restored to health by Him, fashioned His image as a return for the benefit she had received. And before that, Christ Himself, the very image of the Father, had His face impressed upon the divine linen cloth and sent to Edessa at the request of the toparch Abgar. Finally, it was painted by the evangelist Luke. Furthermore, an image of the Virgin Mother of God was also sent from Jerusalem: and for this reason the divine and sacrosanct councils, assembled at various times and places, decreed not that these images should be trampled upon, but that they should be worshipped. I would therefore want you to know, Emperor, that if you have brought your mind to confirm and establish this unrighteous dogma, you will find me, in the first place, in no way assenting, but quick and ready to pour out my soul for the image of Christ, for whose sake He poured out His own blood so that He might restore my fallen and prostrate image. For it is plain that the ignominy and insult that is offered to the image of Christ recoils upon the prototype itself. Wherefore it must be done by us, who perform the duty of grateful servants, that we face danger for the honor of the Lord.

21. “Arrogant soul that he was, not even enduring to hear this free speech with his ears, so to speak, he sent soldiers girded with swords, who, having treated the holy man contemptuously and mangled him with blows, drove him from his throne. And so he immediately betook himself to a monastic and quiet manner of life.” These things are from the Acts of Saint Stephen the Younger, which are praised highly by Baronius, where, because in the Greek text of both Lives the years of 726 from the day of the divine Incarnation up to the day of this discourse are numbered—that year which among the Constantinopolitans of the common era was called 722, and among us 750—it seems accepted by a more accurate chronology, perhaps known at that time among the learned in Constantinople, even if not commonly used. This we have shown to rely upon the greatest consensus of almost all antiquity at the beginning of April in our Proem to the old Pontifical Catalog. And furthermore, those things that are related about the blows inflicted on Saint Germanus in that Life of Saint Stephen are confirmed by Saint John Damascene; whom Baronius, at this year 750, no. 8, asserts to have set out to write his discourses on the images “at these very days.” For here in his second oration on them, he says: “Jezebel persecuted Elijah, and pigs licked up her blood... Herod killed John, and he expired, consumed by worms. And now blessed Germanus has been struck with slaps and sent into exile, and many other Fathers, whose names we do not know. Is this not the work of robbers?” etc. In the same way Constantine the Pious, formerly bishop of Tius on the shore of the Euxine Sea, writes in his oration *On the Finding of the Relics of Saint Euphemia*, which we have transcribed in Greek from codex 820 of the Vatican library: “An impure,” he says, “and profane ^A Leo, from the race of those ill-fated Isaurians, began to bark against the Church of God and to break the venerable images. For which reason he cast out from his see the most holy Father our patriarch Germanus, who was resplendent in life and speech, having used impudence and scourges.” We omit many other authorities in this matter.

CAP. IV. Saint Germanus praised by the holy pope Gregory II. His name inscribed in the diptychs. Various books published by him.

22. The holy pope Gregory II presided over the Roman see during this turbulent time; he was elected on March 25 in the year 708 and died in the year 731, being laid to rest on February 13, for which we have illustrated his Acts. Saint Germanus seriously warned him about what the emperor Leo was planning. But Leo himself also sent his edict concerning the abolition of images to Rome, and in turn received two letters from Gregory, which Baronius published in Greek and Latin from the translation of Fronton du Duc at the year 726. In the former, these things are read about Saint Germanus: “You,” the pope addresses the emperor, “who have clearly persecuted those things which are known and viewed as light. The holy Fathers had clothed and adorned the Churches of God, but you have despoiled and stripped them, even though you had such a pontiff, nay, I say, a lord—Germanus, our brother and fellow-minister. You ought to have obeyed the counsels of this man, as of a Father and a teacher, and as one who is an elder and who possesses much experience in both ecclesiastical and civil matters. For that man today is in his ninety-fifth year, serving as an individual to patriarchs and emperors; and he was perpetually occupied, because he was marvelously useful and apt for managing both sorts of affairs. Neglecting, therefore, to join him to your side, you have listened to that wicked Ephesian and his like.” So it is there. Now, Theodosius, bishop of Ephesus, is indicated, who later was also of the councils for Constantine Copronymus, the son of Leo; and Theodosius, bishop of Ephesus, son of Apsimar, stood as president of the conventicle assembled for this in the 13th year of his reign, as Theophanes writes at the said year.

23. It is said above in the Menologium of the emperor Basil, and in the manuscript Synaxarium, that “Saint Germanus, a nonagenarian, migrated to the Lord.” But if he was in the ninth year of Leo, in the year of Christ 725, or at least at the beginning of the next, as is said above, “he spent his ninety-fifth year” (in Greek, *άγει σήμερον ἐννενήκοντα πέντε ἐνιαυτούς*), he seems to have lived to be about a hundred years old: which is also indicated by these words added in the said epistle of Saint Gregory: “When the Lord Germanus and the lord Gregory, who was patriarch at that time, had suggested and persuaded Constantine, the son of Constans, the father of Justinian, to write to us (that is, to the Roman pontiff then existing)—he wrote with such an oath interposed and dealt with us that we might send useful men to convene a universal synod. But I will not sit with them,” he says, “nor will I ^{B C D}

speak imperiously, but as one of them, and as the pontiffs have decreed, I will execute it; and those who speak rightly we will admit, and those who speak wrongly we will expel, and we will banish them into exile. If my father had perverted anything from the undefiled and pure faith, I myself would first anathematize him. Then, by the benevolence of God, we sent, and with peace the Sixth Synod was celebrated, namely at Constantinople from the month of November of the year 680 until September 16 of the following year, in which synod the heresy of the Monothelites was condemned. See in what authority Saint Germanus was then, even not yet a bishop, that he is placed in the first rank before the patriarch, he who suggested and persuaded the Emperor Constantine that he should seek to have said synod convened. ^B 24. Finally, I wish to add what the pontiff, through a certain irony, objects to Leo the Isaurian: “While the Churches of God,” he says, “were enjoying deep peace, you stirred up fights and hatreds and scandals. Cease and be quiet, and then there will be no need at all for a synod. Write to everyone, and to whatever regions of the world you have been a cause of offense, that Germanus the Patriarch of Constantinople and Gregory the Roman Pope have not sinned regarding images, and we will grant you quiet from this care, so that there may be no sin or any fall on your part, as you have received from God the power to loosen both celestial and terrestrial things.” The eminent Cardinal Baronius, at the year 727, num. 17, correctly calls Saint Germanus “the first leader, who raised the banner of confession in the East against the Iconoclasts:” which appears most clearly from that very letter of the said Pope Gregory to Saint Germanus, which is inserted in its entirety, Greek and Latin, into the fourth action of the Nicene Council held in the year of Christ 787, where at the beginning the holy pontiff uses these words: ^C “As you are fighting, O most holy one, against those who are without God and against God, are you not moved? Here you began the battle just as God Himself showed you, commanding you to preside over the camp of the kingdom of Christ, the truly glorious and noble labarum, that is, the life-giving cross, the great trophy of His magnitude against death (in which He circumscribed the ends of the world in four directions, distinguishing them with lines), then also the holy image of the Mistress of all and true Mother of God, whose face the rich of the people will entreat. For it is holy, as it seems to the Fathers, which, when honored piously by you in such a way, grants kindnesses in return. For honor of the image passes to the principal, according to Basil the Great.” And after many things excellently explained concerning sacred images, he adds:

26. “What need is there to extend the letter at length, and especially to a man chosen by God, who has obtained the grace of the Spirit, and who is able to look into the depths of divine dogmas, and with God as guide to consider the height of supreme knowledge. But let us return from here to the point. We admire the magnifications of your protectress, O most holy one, and of the Mistress of all Christians, and how you yourself have been shown, directed and saved in all things by her, and strengthened against enemies. They, moreover, who have for a long time behaved madly against her, have found an equal resister as they have found contradiction to themselves. And this is no wonder. For if Bethulia was saved through the hand of Judith the Israelite woman, whose work was the slaughter of Holofernes; and they who were there at the same time preached this savior of Israel; how was it not necessary for your most ample holiness, having used such a protectress, to attack the enemies of the faith, and to crown those subjected with victory? But through her supplications and those of all the saints, may our God, who is powerful in battle, strong and long-suffering, who led you as a sheep above Joseph, guard you, O most holy one, for long years, for the well-working conduct of the whole Christian people; and may He teach and incite all to obey the sacred canon, and to guard the deposit which we have received from the Fathers; converting those who for a little while did not understand, O our eternal joy, and ^D common utility and refreshment, O most holy one and beloved to all Christians.” These things [said] Saint Gregory the Pope.

27. Under the Iconoclasts there flourished the holy Nicetas, an illustrious confessor and abbot of the Mediciensis monastery in Bithynia, whose Acts, written in Greek by his disciple Theosterictus, we illustrated and rendered into Latin on the 3rd of April; where in chapter 4 is described the heresy of the Iconoclasts, which arose from Leo the Isaurian, who said that Christ ought not to be painted nor worshipped in His image. These things, he says, while they were happening, the great pontiff Germanus migrated from his throne; and the venerable swallow, which adorned the spring-like tranquility of the Church with sweet-sounding twittering, decorating the Lord’s feasts, fled its nest: and in his place was inducted a defor-

^Amed crow, gaping and croaking discordantly, while the Church lamented and sorrowfully groaned that it had been deprived of so great and so divine a prelate. This sadness lasted under Constantine Copronymus, especially when, in the 43rd year of his reign, as Theophanes relates, the emperor went forth to the forum on the twenty-seventh day of August, with the sacrilegious patriarch Constantine and the rest of the bishops, who all promulgated their wicked heresy before the entire populace: and they dared to strike with anathema the most holy Germanus, George the Cypriot, and John Chrysorrhoas, son of Mansur, holy men and venerable doctors. The very formula of his condemnation is inserted into the Council of Nicaea, where it is said in these words: "To Germanus, in a double sense a worshiper of wood, anathema." We dealt with Saint John Damascene on May 6th. But perhaps the Saint George is he who is venerated on August 24th, who, for opposing the breaking of images, was put to death by Leo the Isaurian, having his nose cut off and his head burned. Nor is it an obstacle that in the manuscript Constantinopolitan Synaxarion and the Menaea he is called Limniota, because he had come from the sea or Ocean, in which the island of Cyprus is situated, to Mount Olympus and Constantinople. However, these matters will be discussed more accurately at that time.

28. But how the honors were restored to Saint Germanus in the aforementioned Nicene Council is read in the Life of the chronicler Saint Theophanes, which we published from a Greek Sforza manuscript on March 12th, number 13, in these words: ^B "When Tarasius had been created patriarch of Constantinople, the most holy light of the true faith, and an ecumenical synod had been convoked, those things which had preceded him, the six holy synods, were confirmed; the aforementioned Constantine and his successor Nicetas, the heresiarch and fraudulent patriarch, were subjected to anathema; the most holy patriarch Germanus was inscribed in the diptychs; and the foolish error of the Iconoclasts was removed from the midst, and dissolved like a spider’s web." Hence his most honorable mention in the fourth session of the said Nicene synod, where he is repeatedly called *Agios-tatos*, *makariotatos*, *en agiois Pater hemon*, "Most holy, most blessed, holy Father of ours"; and his letters are produced, namely those concerning the holy images, most accurately written, to John Bishop of Synada, to Constantine Bishop of Natolia, to Thomas Bishop of Claudiopolis; and the former letter having been read, the most holy patriarch Tarasius said: "Our holy father Germanus agrees with the ^C most holy Fathers before him," who were listed in the same fourth session, namely Saint Basil, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory Nazianzen, Athanasius, Nilus, Anastasius, Sophronius, along with various Acts of the saints.

29. If some man learned in both Greek and Latin should devote his efforts to collecting the works of this Saint Germanus and at the same time bringing them to light, he would provide a most useful service to the Church, and then it would be easy to discern whether some treatises attributed to him should be ascribed to other authors, for instance to Andrew of Crete, or to some junior Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, for there were two learned men of the same name who presided in the eleventh century. Philippus Labbe, in his historical dissertation on ecclesiastical writers, accurately collected an index of those books and sermons which were either written by Saint Germanus or published under his name. Hippolytus Maraccius published the *Mariale* of Saint Germanus, in which, as we said above, are contained the works which pertain to the worship of the Mother of God, and the patriarchal effigy of this same Saint Germanus is presented, to whose right arm is attached ^D an icon representing the face of the Virgin Mother of God. Francis Combefis, in the *Auctarium* of the *Bibliotheca Graeco-Latina*, included several Orations about the Mother of God, and on page 1482, from a Greek Royal manuscript, adds an encomium of Saint Germanus, in which it is said that he taught the word of truth with right faith, and that he wrote very many sermons, by which he deserves to be honored; but also that he published various hymns for the praising of saints, and canticles for celebrating the admirable works of divine grace, by which He repaired from the beginning the ruin of the human race. Hence also Simon Wagnerechius, in his *Prolegomena* to the Marian piety of the Greeks (num. 21), observes that the name of the patriarch Saint Germanus shines among the noted hymnographers of the Menaea.

30. Photius has this in his *Bibliotheca*, chapter 233: "I have read a book by Germanus, who was first ordained for Cyzicus, and later was patriarch of Constantinople: which book is titled *Retribuens et Legitimus*, which is the same as if you said: 'Of true and legitimate retribution, regarding that which is repaid to men as they have lived.'" And this is the inscription of the title. Indeed he maintains that Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, and his writings are free from the error of Origen. And having related the ravings of the Origenists, he says: "Against whom Germanus, a champion of piety, drawing the sharp sword of truth, and leaving the enemies prostrate by his wound, established as victor and superior him whom the heretical rabble had ensnared and set traps for." His style in this work is pure and clear, felicitously seizing the tropes of words, with a style lovely and elegant, not tending toward coldness, sticking very much to the subject, equal to undertaking contentions, mixing nothing beyond necessity, omitting nothing that is necessary to say, both in construction and in epicheiremes and in enthymemes, and it is as it were a norm of sound doctrine. Thus, if anyone wishes to write vehement, clear, and pleasing orations that prefer spiritual doctrine for display, it is an excellent example and worthy of imitation. The books, however, which the heretics conspired to take by treachery, and which Germanus, the primary defender of the truth, saved unharmed from the assault of robbers, are the *Dialogue to Macrina his sister concerning the soul*, and the book *Catecheticus*, and that which contains the narrative of the perfect life. Thus Photius, by these words, hinting at which...

Nysseni books, interpolating ^A them in these matters, the heretics attempted to draw them to their own side, and Germanus contends for their defense, snatching them away. One may consult our Labbé on these points, who rightly observes with Casaubon that neither the great Catechetical Oration, so often cited by Theodoret in his Dialogues against the heretics—even if it contains certain flaws sprinkled in by the followers of Origen—should be called into doubt as to whether it is truly Nyssen’s, nor should ^B the Dialogues with the beings, together with the choir of angels, created according to those same Origenists, from whom Nicephorus Callistus (lib. 11, cap. 19) writes that he received certain heretical dogmas mixed into that work. In the same way, the little book *On Christian Perfection* addressed to Olympius must also be excused, which here appears to be noted by Photius: the whole matter, however, would be clearer if the very work of Saint Germanus composed for these purposes were brought to light.

From an Anonymous writer: On the Image called the Roman, from the Royal codex.

Germanus, a man distinguished in virtue, a man excellently cultivated in much legal erudition and much wisdom, and prepared for every good work, first at Cyzicus, then—because of that outstanding virtue and wisdom, and indeed because of the flowing riches of the gifts of the Spirit—adorned the throne of the city of Constantinople in the second year of the reign of Anastasius Artemius, constrained to agree to that translation of his see. For fourteen years and six months having acted in the patriarchal see, and teaching the word of truth with right faith, he wrote many sermons for the common benefit, by which he might win the favor of the pious; but he also published various hymns for the praising of the saints, and canticles for the celebrating of the admirable works of divine grace, by which it [grace] restored the ruin of the human race from the beginning. ^B Germanus, great in virtue, great in education in righteousness, having become great in wisdom, and prepared for every good work, [was] of Cyzicus at first; then, on account of a superabundance of virtue, and wisdom—or rather, also of the wealth of the gifts of the Spirit—he adorned the throne of Constantinople in the second year of the reign of Anastasius, son of Artemius, being compelled to accept the transfer. Having spent five months and fourteen years upon the patriarchal throne, and having rightly cut [straight] the word of truth, he wrote many discourses for the common benefit, benefiting those who are pious, and set forth various hymns praising the saints, and songs for the doxology of the wonderful works of the grace of God which he wrought for the complete salvation of the human race from its fall.

ANG. MAI’S NOTICE ON THE FOLLOWING LITTLE WORK OF SAINT GERMANUS.

Saint Germanus I, Patriarch of Constantinople, who arrived at that see in the year of Christ 715 and held it for fourteen years and some months, until, no longer enduring the attack of Leo the Isaurian, who was bringing a fierce war upon the holy images, he laid down his pontifical pallium and rested holily in his paternal home until extreme old age, presents to us in the little book now edited for the first time a neat compendium of ecclesiastical controversies up to his own time. Baronius, at the year 730, n. 6, calls him the bulwark of his Church, the lantern of the East, and a defender of the Catholic religion in his writings and deeds. Certainly, his orthodoxy—against a certain corrupted passage in Theophanes, where Germanus is placed with the Monothelites—is invincibly defended by a cloud of testimonies by the Bollandist Henschenius at the 12th of May, and then also by Boschius in his treatise *On the Patriarchs of Constantinople*. But now, whoever reads this little book will recognize how far Germanus is removed, by the whole span of heaven, from Monothelitism, as the author himself testifies. Another small work of his, on the end of life, had been mentioned as a manuscript in the aforementioned place by the same Baronius, which we have at last brought to light in the repeated edition of the first volume of the *Scriptores veteres*; for it is a very long Amphilochian question 169, as we said in *Script. vet.*, t. III, p. 682; in which question, since Germanus is almost entirely occupied with explaining biblical authorities, from this one understands

why the interpretations of his more profound and obscure passages of Holy Scripture are referred to in the Greek Synaxarion according to Henschenius. Furthermore, Baronius, ad an. 727, n. 7, says that Saint Germanus was the first leader to raise the standard of confession in the East against the Iconoclasts, God thus providing for the weary situation, so that while Germanus was attacking the heresy dominating in its stronghold in the Byzantine court, his contemporaries in the East did the same: John of Damascus, the *ho pantu*, whose orations on the holy images are extant; and at Rome, Pope Gregory II, both by letters written to the East and by synodical acts, of which we also presented a fragment in the previous volume, pref. p. xv. The writings of Germanus against that heresy were of such great dignity that the Second Nicene Ecumenical Synod, in its 4th act, praised his letters that were read there in the most ample terms. Hence, as the Menaea recount, the fury of the heretics burning those books; besides the fact that the Menologium of Cardinal Sirleti, as the same Henschenius reports, says generally that books of Germanus *On the Orthodox Faith* were ordered by Leo the Isaurian to be burned. Certainly the booklet which we are bringing forth defends the sum of the orthodox faith, and only touches upon the apology for the holy images in chapters 40, 41, and 42. From this, however, I suppose it happened that very few (not to say a single) copies of the booklet escaped destruction, as will be evident from what is to be said.

For I found this little gem of Germanus in a most noble codex, formerly Colonna, now Vatican, after the *Syntagma Canonum* of Photius, among other minor works which there is not time to list now. Certainly it appears nowhere else in the Vatican library, nor did Baronius, otherwise a curious examiner of the writings of Germanus, know of it ad an. 730, 6, because the Colonna codices, after all, only moved into the pontifical library in my own time. One person, as far as I know, Gerard Vossius, in his annotations to the *Revealed Faith* of Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, demonstrates that he read this little work in a manuscript codex; which Vossius, because he lived in Rome and said he had handled the Sirletian codices, perhaps chanced upon this very codex; for what was then by chance the Sirletian codex, it is possible that it became the Colonna codex later. Thus, therefore, Vossius: "This very revelation of faith is recounted in explicit words by Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, in his book *On Synods and the Origin of Heresies*, to the deacon Anthimus, where he has as follows: 'Then to our great father Gregory,' etc., up to the words 'He was learned and taught,'" as in our edition of chapter 12 exactly. From Vossius, the authors of the *Lyons Library of the Fathers*, vol. XIII, p. 62, borrowed this slender fragment of Germanus.

Thus far, therefore, we have clearly seen in the testimony of Vossius both the true title of the booklet, agreeing with our codex, and a genuine portion of the writing. It is a wonder, then, that the learned man Stephanus Moynius seized upon an opportunity for error from the said testimony of Vossius, for he thought he had discovered that the booklet or *Catalogue of Synods*—printed without the name of the author and with a different title, as was fitting, by Justellus, *Bib. can.*, vol. II, p. 1161 sqq., and other editors—was composed by Germanus, and that it was demonstrated to him by the words of Vossius. But Moynius had the fullest refutation of his own opinion in this very thing: that the passage concerning the Thaumaturgus mentioned by Vossius is entirely missing from the booklet *On Synods*, nor do the titles of the two works agree with each other. Furthermore, that booklet extends up to the synods of Photius and Pope John VIII, that is, it exceeds the life of Germanus by nearly one hundred and fifty years. That booklet must therefore be struck from the number of the writings of Germanus, under whose name it was nonetheless admitted by Gallandi, without checking the matter, into volume XIII of his *Library*. But enough of that *Catalogue of Synods*, which does not pertain to our business. Now let the readers receive the true little work of Germanus, which, so that it might benefit many, I have judged should be rendered by me in Latin as well, and illustrated from time to time with notes.

OF THE HOLY GERMANUS, ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH, TO ANTHIMUS THE DEACON: A NARRATIVE ACCOUNT CONCERNING THE HOLY SYNODS AND THE HERESIES WHICH HAVE FROM ANCIENT TIMES SPRANG UP AGAINST THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING

^A 1. The inquiries of wise men require study and no ordinary vigilance, in order that their solutions may be found in the Lord. For if, in the case of a fool who asks for wisdom, it is reckoned as wisdom, what, then, must one think of the inquiry of wise men, if it be not a grave and divinely inspired and altogether admirable investigation, shining forth in every direction with the rays of its thoughts, adorned with divine beauty, and by the loveliness of the meanings of the Scriptures, illuminating even those who are far off? I, for a long time, and even now, was sluggish in performing your commands; but having finally yielded to your persistent importunity, I am moved in the Lord to answer these inquiries.

2. Our Church, then, having been planted by our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and having cast off the foul impiety of diabolical error by the salt of the divine, and having been ^B thickly planted in His house and daily blooming in His courts, was advancing and growing into a beauty beyond description. But the wicked and deceitful dragon, having recently been driven from her, and bearing not his exile, taking his dogs with him, again attempted to trouble her, and to interpose himself against her excellent dogmas. For now, the Judaic hardness

^A having been wounded by prophetic arguments, and further, the Greek deceit having been refuted, he devised for himself to damage this very excellent struggle of ours, and he armed these children—who had cast off their own genuine nature and admitted the bastard—against their own mother.

3. Immediately, therefore, he raised up Simon Magus against her, who is wounded by the tongue of the great apostle Peter—or rather, by God speaking through him—and is sent away into the perfect abyss of destruction. For the wretch, appearing to be the great power of God, and a great god, is proven not even to possess the strength of beasts and creeping things, having been completely brought to nothing, ^B so that many of our faith would not even think that he had begun. After these, Cerinthus also arose, as well as those called Nicolaïtans, Basilides, and Carpocrates, and those of the same mind as them, who accepted the foolish mythology of the Greeks, and rather proposed filthiness of life to them as a legitimate rule of living, and introduced certain new Aeons, and a bottomless abyss of darkness; who were immediately forced to undergo their destruction by the blessed apostles themselves, and especially by John, the son of thunder, and those instructed by them.

4. Furthermore, the Manichaeans and Montanists, and those similar to them, ^C rose up against her, providing her with struggles not of an ordinary kind; for Manes mixed much vanity, error, and filthiness into his own dogmas, and ended by saying that his own ancient legislation and the creation itself were the command of some evil being and not a good one; but rather that the new or future testament was to be attributed to the good being, and that one of these beings or principles suffers violence from the other. Thus, therefore, he established two natures in the world, that is to say, good and evil. And [he argued] that the construction of man was not the work of a good being, nor was the other creation, as it is said, being subject to corruption and change; and he filled his own discourses with impiety, and practiced certain unholy ^D subterranean retreats, nocturnal initiations, and abominable unions, confirming the vain dogmas of the Greeks, introducing fatalism, legislating reincarnation, and refusing to believe that Christ came in the flesh. From there, he earned a death worthy of such legislation, when, as they say, one of the pagan kings commanded that his skin be flayed while he was still alive, and thus he was delivered to death. But especially Cyril of Jerusalem recorded and pilloried his impious mind, setting forth the actual letters of his foul and indecent ordinance, point by point, and then bringing forward the refutation against his godless and unlawful teachings. For this impious man dared even to call himself an apostle, and to compose four books, which he titled the

^A Gospel, the book of Thesauroi [Treasuries], the [book] of Mysteries, and another, The Initiations.

5. Now the doctrine of the Montanists is said to be diverse and not uniform, but rather manifold. Their perfect dogma is found in this: that they say Montanus himself is the Holy Spirit, and again, the same [person] to be the Word and [the] Spirit. Furthermore, they affirm that there are eight heavens, and they describe the fearsome punishments of the future age, asserting that there will be certain dragons and lions breathing fire from their nostrils, by which they will burn the unrighteous, and that others will be hung by their flesh; and they fable other things even vainer than a nutshell. They say that those born of fornication or adultery will be brought to judgment and subjected to most severe penalties for this reason alone—that they were born from such a union—even if their conduct does not deviate from honesty. But neither do they receive sinners to repentance, nor do they allow bigamists to congregate with them in their assemblies, and they commit many other things similar to these. These things, I say, those who have embraced the sect—which they call "elect"—are compelled to commit; indeed, they admit to even more wicked acts than these, they live slippery lives, and they walk along paths full of precipices. Moreover, a certain aged priest from Thrace, appearing in person ^B before Montanus in Asia, while Gratus was proconsul there, refuted the demon speaking through him and Maximilla. Then, later, [this heresy] was refuted by the great Basil, and especially by Epiphanius of Cyprus, who published a written treatise against all heresies.

6. Furthermore, Marcion, and Paul of Samosata, and Valentinus, and Marcellus harmed our Church; for these say that the Lord's incarnation was not true, but phantastic—and they judge the same concerning his voluntary death on our behalf and his miracles. And Valentinus indeed constructs God from elements and numbers, and devises new aeons and fables; and by honoring a certain dyad and the number thirty, he fashions just as many aeons—just as Simon, his master, had done. But this [man] also was refuted and expelled by our Fathers who lived at that time. Moreover, the division of God impiously devised by this same Valentinus into two [parts] is rejected; for he prattles that one is a good spirit, and another is the creator; so that, according to his doctrine, he who is the creator is not good. Held at the same price ^C were his abyss and silence, as well as those fabulous aeons; things that are all truly worthy of that abyss and silence of which he speaks.

7. Now Paul of Samosata said that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had taken the beginning of [his] divine existence from our undefiled and ^D Lady Theotokos, and not...

that he had existed before he appeared in the flesh to the human race. Therefore, a provincial synod was assembled against him without delay at Antioch, presided over by our great Father and Wonder-Worker, who had become bishop of the city of Neocaesarea; there were present with him Leo of Tarsus, Maximus of Bostra, a certain Magnes, a priest of Jerusalem, and the admirable Firmilian of our Cappadocia. Among these was also numbered Theotecnus, a prelate of Palestine; Photinus and Marcellus also were gathered in this [synod], having become partakers of the same impiety, they too having defined the Lord as a mere man, beginning from Mary.

^B 8. Now when our Church had been freed from these men, and had raised her head on high, and had risen up against every error, and was embracing her own genuine children, and had stretched herself forth to an ineffable height, Sabellius the Libyan rose up against her, intent on ordaining a certain confusion and annihilation; he said that God the Father transformed himself and stretched himself out, sometimes into the Son, and sometimes into the Spirit; and thus, being extended, he was accustomed to be contracted again, and thus one single God was spoken of, by no means to be contemplated in the individual subsistence of his Word and Son, and furthermore of the Holy Spirit. Against him, many others of our true hunters cast their nets; and especially Dionysius of Alexandria, who, having hunted this wild beast, slew him with the own sword of the word—a beast not fit for food, but most ready for rejection and slaughter—and having made the limbs of the beast manifest to all, and having shattered the quiver of his arrogance, he caused him to be trampled by all. But the aforementioned Dionysius, by manifesting a great greed against him, provided seeds for the impious Arius ^C for the inappropriate separation of the subsistences, as our most supreme and great Father Basil says; although the illustrious Athanasius strongly defends him, explaining his struggles, and contending that he did not suffer this from the wickedness of his judgment, but by way of a simple mind. It is evident, however, that Marcellus also consented to the dogma of Sabellius.

^D 9. Immediately therefore after him, or even before him, Origen the vain-laboring and babbling [teacher] arose, approving the doctrine of both [heretics] and smelling of Arianism; and he taught the pre-existence of souls and their restoration, and the alternation of certain ages, and he denied the resurrection of the fallen creature; [teaching] some spherical rising of the body, and not the actual molding of the man in his own form

as may be learned from the book which the great Methodius ^A wrote against him. He brought into the open and cast before us countless other dogmas full of impiety, and he gave them to drink to those who were deviously following the path not at all far from his own, and he corrupted them. Yet he is stricken still more by Peter, the great bishop and martyr of Alexandria, 11 and also by Heraclas and Demetrius 12 and certain others. And although the most learned—or I know not what else to call him—Eusebius of Pamphilus rises up to advocate for this man 13 and establishes rather his nonsense, and the looseness of both the Arian and the Hellenic idle myths, constructing these things as if in a pretense of an apology, as can be perceived from the book written to Antipater of Bostra which clearly sets these things forth. 14

10. Arius, then, the presbyter of Alexandria, again began to rage against our Church; and having started from the city of Alexandria, he extended his impiety, so to speak, to the ends of the earth, being strengthened and supported by many kings and magistrates and wise and distinguished men, among whom was also the aforementioned Eusebius, as their writings show. But the aforementioned Arius was struck by an anathema by the aforementioned admirable Peter, who refused to receive him even in the very readiness of his martyrdom, 15 although many fell at his knees and begged him for his reconciliation. For then the martyr related that the Lord had appeared to him, clothed in ^C a torn tunic; and when he had asked Him, "Who, Lord, tore Thee thus?" the Lord said, "Arius tore me: but you must take care not to receive him; for he is condemned both in the present age and in the one to come." And he charged all to turn away from communion with him. For Arius himself said that the Son of God was a creature; and that there was a time when the Son was not; and that time and the will of the Father preceded Him; and that He was made by the Father; and because He could not create us, he said, therefore, the creature of God the Father had taken divinity unto Himself. And then he said that the Son of God himself had created after the Father something of both human and other natures, so that thus the created being could approach Him, without ^D being consumed by the loftily burning power of God, if indeed it had been brought into being by the Father Himself.

11. Then, or even a little before this, to our great Father and wonder-worker Gregory who was meditating on these things, that wonderful exposition of the dogma was revealed,

^A when he saw the holy Virgin, the Theotokos Mary, and John the virgin and apostle, clearly showing him the precision of the matters sought. This is the exposition of the faith, celebrated in all parts of the world, which takes its beginning from the Father's divinity: "There is one God," it says, "the Father of the living Word, of subsistent wisdom and power, and of His own proper character." It also teaches that the Spirit enjoys equal glory with the Father and the Son, and it proclaims that there is nothing created, or servile, or added in the Trinity, which did not exist before and entered in later. It clearly teaches that the Trinity is always uncreated and immortal, and he himself was taught this and in turn taught it. ^B Tense, too, Basileus, the bishop of Amasea—a king in truth, both in the disposition of his faith and in the word of his teaching—being led to martyrdom in the city of Nicomedia by Licinius, and witnessing, when asked by those questioning him about such matters, gave a lawful answer, proclaiming the Trinity to be consubstantial, and saying that the Arian folly was full of diabolical deception, as one can learn from the teaching contained in the Acts of his martyrdom.

12. And Novatus, before Arius and other heresies, having become a presbyter of Rome, proscribed repentance from the Church, and deemed neither those who had fallen in the persecution, even if they repented, nor those polluted by another sin, whether fornication or digamy, worthy of participating in the communion of the sacraments, even if they showed worthy fruits of repentance. Hence, he was immediately condemned, with the bishops of the East also agreeing. ^C Our great shepherd Gregory also made mention of him in one of his panegyrical sermons, utterly abominating his heresy.

13. But as the Arian smoke had ignited into a great flame and had spread everywhere, and filled the inhabited world with tears, it happened by God's providence that a calm from the persecutions came to us, and the illustrious Emperor Constantine the Great, having assumed the imperial power and having arrived here—a man of virtue, carrying the fear of God in his heart—shone forth upon the world and especially upon our Church. He gathered the assembly of the priests and ordered a synod to be held in Nicaea, which was indeed celebrated in his time, with him present and sitting with the priests. ^D Alexander, the great patriarch of Alexandria, was present there, and Athanasius, his deacon, Julius of Rome, Eustathius of Antioch, Macarius of Jerusalem, Hosius of Corduba, Memnon of Ephesus, Leontius of our own Caesarea of the Cappadocians... [original-script column: see facsimile]

Paphnutius, that truly wondrous man, and Spyridon the wonderworker, and very many others who filled out the number of the 318 Fathers. It is said also that the great Alexander, being then a deacon from this city of ours, was sent thither by the great Metrophanes, who was lying in bed due to old age, in order to sit in council with them. Many of the bishops who had flocked thither were confessors of the faith, having been mutilated during the persecutions by the unjust and impious emperors; some had the sinews of their feet cut, others had their eyes gouged out, and others had other members of their bodies severed on account of their faith in Christ and their confession and public opposition to the commands of the princes. ^A At that time, the defenders of the Arian madness were Eusebius of Nicomedia, and Eleusius, and the other Eusebius, who was called "of Pamphilus," and Theognius of Nicaea, and very many other rhetoricians and learned men who favored that heresy to the highest degree.

14. Since, therefore, there had been much airing and investigation of doctrines there, and since the aforementioned Fathers and confessors had set it forth piously and wisely, the dogma of the orthodox was most vehemently confirmed. For they proclaimed the Son to be consubstantial (homoousion) with the Father, and they subjected to anathema, along with Arius, those who claimed that the Father preceded the Son in time, or that there was a time when the Son did not exist, and thus they finally dissolved their synod. Eusebius, also, known as Pamphili, agreed with them; for letters of his are extant, written both to his own city and to others, in which, having first repented, he sets forth such a confession of faith ^B as clearly proclaims the *homoousion*, affirming that this term is not new. He says this for the reason that no one, adhering to his previous confession, might turn away from the *homoousion*. There exist also other refutations of his, written after that time, against those who called the Son a creature. Nevertheless, all his other writings, wherever there is mention of dogmas, demonstrate the Arian heresy. For all his lucubrations prove that the man was of this sect; it is only in the one work against Marcellus of Galatia that he barely avoids this suspicion, a work which, without doubt, he labored upon after the synod—a fact which those who have seen it have indicated to me, for the entire work has not yet come into my hands. Otherwise, this man is distinguished in eloquence and ennobled by the elegance of his style; he unfolds the history of ancient events with a narration truly worthy of mention. ^C Yet, in his exposition of the Psalms, he quite imprudently reveals his own mind in some places, while speaking of "intelligent stars" and other such inventions. Because of these opinions of his, those who have built up a library for us by no means ^D [place the writings of Eusebius among those of the orthodox.]

but separately, after the completion of these, they deposited them at the beginning of the heretical books in their own box.

^A 15. Now our great emperor Constantine, moved by his own piety, was compelling Athanasius the Great, who had already become patriarch of Alexandria, to receive Arius into the communion of the presbyters, believing that he had repented and desiring that he should not leave a schism in the Church. But Arius, in truth, while secretly maintaining his own impiety, was deceiving him. Because Athanasius would not accept this—on account of the hidden atheism within Arius, as has been said—the holy bishop was at once driven from his throne, ^B especially because a conspiracy had been made against him by those who secretly favored Arius, and the emperor feared that they might plot to kill Athanasius. At that time, he wrote his treatises against him and those who were infected with the same impiety as he. For it is said that Arius himself wrote down his own impiety upon a small parchment, and having hidden it under his cloak, he approached the emperor while holding it in his hand. While the emperor thought that Arius was swearing to believe with a sincere faith, the heretic secretly brought forward the parchment ^C and, with his hand, retracted and removed another profession of faith. Not long afterward, Constantine the great emperor died, having been baptized by a certain Arian presbyter, whom he did not know to be infected with such a heresy. For the holy man had a very great desire to go down to the river Jordan and there to receive the saving baptism, in the very place where our Lord Jesus Christ, when He became flesh among us, fulfilled this mystery. But as death was pressing upon him, he was baptized where he was, and with those very white robes, so to speak, he was carried to the tomb.

16. Succeeding him in the empire of the East was Constantius ^D his son, who had been led astray by the aforementioned presbyter into an impious heresy. For this presbyter had been entrusted with the will of his father, in which it was written that Constantius was to be king of other parts, and that another of his sons was to have the East. But the presbyter transferred Constantius to the East, making himself the guarantor of such a thing on account of the Arian blasphemy which he loved. And then a great war arose against the orthodox bishops, and a banishment from their own thrones; the supremacy of the Arians was evident everywhere. Meletius the Great and Eustathius, and some others, and Athanasius himself being chased from his bishopric again...

for Saint Athanasius had recovered his own throne ^A while Constans was reigning in Rome, and had sent him from the Gauls to his own city, as he himself says he had done in accordance with the desire of his own father. But when that emperor had died, in memory of him—or so he claimed—he fulfilled his commands, ^B bitterly anathematizing the synod while tribunals were being established against Athanasius himself, at which time the saint was slandered in many ways, as the writings concerning him demonstrate. It is also said that Eusebius of Pamphilus was an accomplice with those who instigated the persecution against him, and that he held the first place in the assemblies convened against him; witnesses to this fact include other historians, and certainly those who expounded the oration of our great Father Gregory the Theologian concerning Athanasius. For he himself, as he says, omits the name by design, respecting the man's infinite learning, and wishing not to name him as a champion and accomplice of the Arians ^C.

17. At that time also the impious Macedonius appeared as the leader of the impiety, attempting to cast the body of the great emperor Constantine out of its tomb and transfer it elsewhere. The orthodox people, not bearing such an undertaking, gave expression to their grief by their actions, and struggled to restrain him. When the Arian swarm pressed upon them, a very great panic ensued, and an outpouring of blood, and that not of common men; but the body with difficulty escaped, and was deposited in the coffins made ready for it, amid much lamentation and restrained tears.

18. Now as for Arius, whose name is synonymous with his madness, while he was still spending his time in this life, the emperor Constantius vehemently ordered that he be received into our Church, and be made a participant in communion. But while our great father and patriarch Alexander ^D, having raised his hands to heaven before the altar, stood there like a pillar, wearying God with his prayers that He might mercifully deliver His people from the Arian deceit, the other, with a large procession, was approaching the Church. He had already reached the forum, accompanied by a great crowd of men—both those who were attached to him and many others sent by the emperor to hearten the wretched man and mock us—when the divine vengeance for the crime he had committed occurred. For as the wretch turned aside to the so-called "fosse" to relieve the burden of his stomach, the wicked man cast out his stomach and his very entrails; he rendered this recompense for his lightning-tongued speech, that he obtained an end of life befitting his stench; and, extinguished by this kind of death, he soon...

^A tasted beforehand the punishment for his actions here as well. Some, however, have attributed these events as occurring to Arius under Constantine himself; but certainly, whether under him or under Constantius, this impious man departed from the present life in the manner of Judas, bursting asunder, though I myself maintain that this occurred under Constantius. This miracle is recounted to us by the great Gregory the Theologian, who proclaims the just end and merit of the man like a celebrated trophy. Even though those who were in Arius’s company strove mightily to conceal the matter from the Emperor, or rather to persuade him through the eunuchs that Arius had departed this life by a natural and common end, it was to no avail. Not long after, the aforementioned Constantius also dies, and Athanasius is brought back to his own throne. ^B

19. And after the impious Julian had raged against us for a short time, by whom Athanasius was again ordered to go into exile, the great Jovian was immediately proclaimed emperor in Persia, a man orthodox and full of wisdom and orthodox faith. But, alas for our sins! Alas for the just punishment for our iniquities that came upon us! For before he had even arrived at this metropolis, after restoring Athanasius and after he had inquired of him and learned the correct and sincere faith of the Christians—before, as I said, he could enter this city of ours, God took him to Himself, while he had reached the borders of Bithynia. And Valens was immediately acclaimed emperor of these regions, an impious and execrable man, an Arian and blasphemer, ^C afflicted with two greatest diseases, insatiable greed and blasphemy, just as has been handed down concerning him; he who held wickedness to be a lawful right, and had gathered within himself avarice combined with intemperance like some compound, or rather a crisis. Therefore, our great Fathers, Basil and Gregory, acted courageously. At that time, the aforementioned Eustathius also, and Meletius, and Eusebius of Samosata shone forth, a matter which he who wishes to investigate the histories will be able to understand.

20. Especially when this city of ours was being ravaged by the impious heresy, and further, when the impure and barking maw of Macedonius ^D against the Holy Spirit was devouring it—whom the Fathers called Semi-Arians, being born from him. Then presbyters were publicly burned, then virgins were publicly mocked unless they allowed themselves to be defiled by the heresy, then bishops were torn apart like prey, and holy things were profaned, and heretical men insulted the altars. But these miseries of ours, which our great Father Anthony had openly predicted, at last found an end: for the great Father of ours, Gregory, was sent here.

^A And with the sling of true confession, he struck the aliens down; he shattered their deeds, and reclaimed all the churches from the Arians, and the Pneumatomachi, and the Apollinarians, who said that the Lord’s humanity lacked a mind. Previously, however, Paul the Confessor and our patriarch had been seized and put to death for the sake of his noble confession, along with his notaries, Marcian and Martyrius.

21. Then Eunomius also sprang up, bishop of Cyzicus, who taught that the Son was unlike the Father; for which reason he and his followers were called Anomoeans. Against him our great Father Basil, the herald of truth, lifted up his voice and drove this dog from the Church. ^B Yet, when Eunomius had later secretly composed another writing against our holy Father Basil—as though those things which Basil had written against Eunomius himself had only just been delivered to him—and when, after Basil’s death, he published this foolish work, his brother, Gregory of Nyssa, his brother in faith as well as in character, learned of it. As soon as that work of Eunomius came into his hands, he took up his pen against him and struck him down with a final anathema, as can be clearly seen in the books he published against Eunomius.

22. When these men had been silenced for the time being, and the madness of Macedonius against the Holy Spirit was spreading, and the wicked reign had been brought to an end, and our orthodox emperor ^C Theodosius had taken up the royal power, a synod of the holy bishops was gathered in this city—we have received that they numbered 150. There, the divinity of the Holy Spirit was clearly defined, with an addition made to the Creed of the first synod, that one should believe also "in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified together," and the rest. Having confirmed the first synod, and having excellently sanctioned its decrees, and having more fittingly transmitted its Creed, the Fathers departed from this God-protected city, having first pronounced anathema against Arius, Eunomius, Eudoxius, and those who held the same views as them. ^D In the assembly of these Fathers, besides the aforementioned great Meletius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory the Theologian, there were also Celestine of Rome, Timothy of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, and others who had gathered with them, as many as made up this number. But in the meantime, the holy Meletius having died, and the bishops of Egypt being nearly in rebellion—as if our great Father Gregory had obtained this throne of Constantinople against their will, he who had nonetheless put the heretics to flight and from them reclaimed nearly all the churches

seeing these men stirring up trouble, he delivered to them his farewell discourse, and having besought the emperor to allow him to depart, he withdrew from these parts and arrived in his own country, embracing a life of quiet. ^B

23. There, too, having found the seeds and disciples of the Syrian Apollinaris, he set himself against them, and he wrote his two epistles to Cledonius against him; and he condemned and anathematized this man, and utterly cast him out from the Church of the orthodox. For this same Apollinaris, as we have said, asserted that the human nature which God the Word assumed was lacking a mind—that is, that a rational and intelligent soul did not exist in the humanity of Christ; but that instead of a soul, the divinity was thought to dwell in the nature of the humanity, or rather, that it was instead of the mind (for he later clarified this as being instead of the soul). He said, moreover, that the Word had brought flesh with Him from heaven, and that He had passed through the Virgin as though through a pipe. And he added other such trifles and follies worthy of his own drunkenness. The man was indeed eloquent, and especially learned in the science of metrics and the placement of numbers, yet he did not engage with it according to any established rule; but according to what he himself had deemed correct, he translated some of the books of Scripture into verse, striving to drag many people down into his own lawlessness. But when he was cast out, our Church breathed again for a little while, though not long after, similar—or indeed even worse—disturbances were set in motion, for she had not yet forgotten the previous constraint and the wars and persecutions just mentioned.

24. For here, from another region—some say from Antioch—men brought in a certain Nestorius, an ungodly and ill-mannered man, and appointed him priest, the throne being vacant at that time; he was not a shepherd of rational sheep, but rather a wolf devouring the flock and casting it into the abyss of perdition. ^D For he adopted a Jewish mindset, and he did not say that the Word became flesh without change, as we say, but that He dwelt in a certain man just as in one of the prophets, and that he made this man his own by a special love. And he held that the Son, the Word, was one thing, and that the one called Jesus Christ was another—that he was called son, indeed, but was not truly so, being an adoptive son; and consequently, he asserted that there were two sons, and not one. God, therefore, stirred up against him the spirit of Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria, who first wrote to Nestorius himself, urging him toward correction and trying to lead him to the right faith, and exhorting him to address the Virgin as Theotokos. But when he would not yield, other...

writings were again directed to him, with twelve chapters added, containing anathemas, so that whoever did not hold these opinions would be anathematized. ^B

25. As Nestorius still contradicted this, a synod was convened at Ephesus, and Nestorius was sent thither, led by the prefect of the city and many other guards who were to present him to the synod. Theodosius the Younger was then holding the reins of the empire. Presiding over this, which is called the third synod, were Cyril of Alexandria, Celestine of Rome, Juvenal of Jerusalem, and Acacius of Melitene. Nestorius was deposed, while the two aforementioned synods were confirmed; and they confessed the same one perfect Son, perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity — one, I say, and not two sons; as is clearly shown by the divinely inspired definition of the faith pronounced by them. And thus, having proclaimed these things, the synod dismissed each of the bishops to return to his own place.

26. But John of Antioch and Theodoret had a dispute with blessed Cyril on the pretext that he had seen to the definition being made in the synod in their absence, although our great Father Cyril had waited for them for many days; in reality, however, they harbored an unjust animosity against him until, with discordant minds, they returned to their own cities, in the meantime stirring up and inciting many troubles, such that Theodoret the bishop wrote twelve other chapters against the twelve chapters of holy Cyril, and Cyril once again composed an apology for himself against these, and duly explained and resolved his own chapters. When the Emperor Theodosius learned of these things, and was stirred to anger against the other bishops, but especially against Cyril, who is among the saints, Acacius of Melitene was sent there, a man truly religious and disposed toward all piety and tranquility, who revealed the acts of the synod to the emperor and mollified his anger. Thus the definitions were approved, and Cyril the patriarch sailed back to his own city. ^C

27. These things having been thus accomplished, and a short respite having been granted, there arises ^D a certain monk and archimandrite named Eutyches, dragging after him no small part of the people, upholding the dogma of Nestorius, and foolishly asserting other things. Eusebius of Dorylaeum...

^A disclosed his impiety to Flavian, the holy patriarch who was there, Cyril having already passed from this present life. Eutyches appeared in the public council, ^B where holy Flavian presided with Basil of Seleucia, with Eusebius standing against him and bringing forward the things he had heard concerning him. Eutyches denied it, and the proceedings there remained at a standstill; for a time he escaped the judgment of the pious assembly convened against him.

After a little while, however, through the power of the emperor, another synod was gathered at Ephesus—a robber synod, and not holy—to which Flavian himself was also sent, who was present at the synod carrying with him the acts of the Constantinopolitan proceedings against Eutyches and the matters concerning Eutyches. But all the power of governing the synod fell to Dioscorus, then patriarch of Alexandria, and to Eutyches himself. In it, the holy Flavian was killed, the first synod of Ephesus was overturned, and a written definition was woven together, subscribed to by the bishops under the threat of death, including Basil of Seleucia himself.

There was again a disturbance, not small, and a great clamor throughout the whole world, with the dogmas of Nestorius being published and carried about openly; and already the great priest Proterius had been killed in the East, along with other most impious deeds being dared. In Rome, the great priest Leo, presiding, struggled in every way, writing to all and to the holy Flavian himself, who was still living at that time when the temerity of Eutyches was being brazenly committed; but nothing was accomplished, as the heretical power prevailed ^C as long as Flavian lived, when the audacity of Eutyches was taking place.

28. But not long after, Marcian the king rose up, a man inspired by God, both knowing how to contemplate good order and to bring affairs from disorder to this state; he gathered, therefore, the priests in Chalcedon, a city near us, having convened an assembly of 630 Fathers, and there were also present from Rome some representing the holy Leo, fulfilling his place with letters. Anatolius was presiding over Constantinople, ^D Juvenal of Jerusalem, Eusebius of Dorylaeum, Maximus of Antioch, and Anastasius of Thessalonica.

After many various chapters were inquired into at the synod, Dioscorus, who was present there, was condemned and sent into exile; and Eutyches and Nestorius were anathematized again. Although some of the opposing faction raised many objections against Theodoret, the synod received him as he repented. For they said that he had favored Nestorius, for he had indeed written to Nestorius himself formerly, yet it is evident that he later accepted the Tome of holy Cyril, and went over to his opinion, rejecting Nestorius. Thus, the synod received both Theodoret himself and Basil of Seleucia into its own catalog, to which they themselves also subscribed, and were among the number of the 630 Fathers. Hence the robber synod was entirely destroyed and placed under a public anathema, and the definition was issued at Chalcedon. And indeed, the Roman legates were so unwilling to subscribe, on account of canon 28, that one of them, Lucentius, openly protested.

^A Since the definition of faith was completely in harmony with the three previous synods—that is, that our Lord Jesus Christ is one, our true God, perfect in divinity and perfect likewise in humanity, true God and true man, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without division, and without separation; and that the same Son is to be confessed both before the incarnation and after the incarnation—the difference of the natures being in no way destroyed by the union, but rather preserved, and both natures concurring into one person and one hypostasis, not being divided or partitioned into two persons and two sons. Having proclaimed and established these things, and having prayed for many blessings for the Emperor Marcian and having offered him acclamations, each one departed to his own city. However, they say that there was great slaughter there by the naval crew of the Alexandrians, while their bishop, Dioscorus, was being led into exile.

29. Yet while the bishops were still staying at the synod, some of the monks from Palestine, having as the leader of their enterprise Theodosius, began to tear apart the body of the Church and to rend her seamless garment—anathematizing the bishops who were at the synod and taking care to ordain others in their place, shouting that the synod had sanctioned the dogma of Nestorius, taking as a pretext for this the fact that it had spoken of the duality of natures, and on account of this they stirred up great tragedies. ^B Therefore they ran throughout all of Palestine, and also Egypt, and the monasteries in the desert. But there our illustrious Father, the celebrated Euthymius, shone forth, who alone, with his own monks, kept himself apart from their depravity; for having received the definition which the synod had issued, he held his own people fast by his own authority, striving to persuade them that a just and legitimate decree had truly been made by the synod. And thus he changed the minds of many, and gained them over to believe accordingly.

30. But because the evil continued to spread, being strengthened also by the hand of the Empress Eudocia, who was at that time residing in the holy places, ^C Euthymius himself—having first said his farewells and having warned his own monks not to communicate with Theodosius’s heresy—withdrew into the desert. But not long after, when he had made known to the aforementioned Eudocia her conversion that was to come, which had been revealed to him by God, and when she herself was being distressed because of the calamity that had happened at Rome, where her relatives had fallen into captivity, and Euthymius said that this had occurred by God’s permission on account of her consent to the heresy, she finally repented of her error and returned to the communion of the Church, and anathematized the dogmas of Theodosius ^D.

^A And she taught that the nature of the Word and the flesh were one, or rather she condemned the entire Council of Chalcedon to ostracism. Many of those who had made the schism also followed her example, and returned to favor with the Church, and embraced the dogmas of orthodoxy.

31. A great tumult and contention again having taken hold of our orthodox dogmas, at the time when Leo assumed the purple after Marcian, he immediately thought to gather a council for this reason. But considering shortly after [the gathering of] the council, not wishing to fatigue the bishops with travels along the road and to distress them, he preferred to send mandates instead throughout the provinces, declaring through them that all provincial bishops should signify to him what sentiment they held concerning the Council of Chalcedon. ^B This having been done in this way, more than a thousand bishops subscribed, and confirmed the council, and thus once again this so-called fourth council at Chalcedon obtained its own strength.

32. But when the aforementioned Leo departed from this life, and Zeno, and later also Anastasius, reigned after a short time, the enemies of the council regained the boldness to speak, and the multitude of Jacobites and Theodosians began to exult, those who preached one nature of the Word and the flesh, and who detested the fourth council. They also attempted to subvert the Tome of Leo, the blessed Pope of Rome who had been. But Eulogius, among the saints, expounded the Tome at that time, and demonstrated that all things were well, teaching that nothing crooked was imprinted in the letters of the aforementioned Leo, ^C but rather proving that his writings were full of piety and orthodox dogmas. Nevertheless, the council remained for a long time unremembered, and everyone was pulling toward himself the beginning he supposed and seemed to have, and, so to speak, everyone was being carried off to his own faith and opinion, and a great multitude of schismatics sprouted from this.

33. Then Anastasius of Antioch rose up magnificently on behalf of the council, and set forth dogmatic canons in writing, demonstrating that everything was rightly defined by the council, and that its dogmas were full of piety. But Philoponus, or rather Mataeoponus [vain-laborer], an Alexandrian grammarian, ^D being bewitched by eloquence, and boasting in the so-called Greek wisdom, and glorying in astronomy and the position of numbers, waged battle against the council; little by little breathing in unison with Origen concerning his assertions on the resurrection, having also a discourse

flowing to him by divine sufferance. ^A Leontius, a monk of the desert, composed a very pleasing book, having taken up the patronage of such a synod; and he recorded therein many testimonies for the term of duality, wherefore the book was titled *Leontia*. But much confusion and various seditions occurred in our Church, while they wished the synod to be explicitly named and by no means passed over in silence; wherefore it was necessary for the people to be carefully observed by the priests, and armed men were stationed before the chancel of the altar to strike those who would not make mention of the synod: whence also some patriarchs, having acted courageously for the synod and having registered it in the diptychs, incurred such imperial indignation that they themselves could not be placed in the diptychs even after death.

54. ^B When Justinian the Great was raised to the imperial throne, these beasts again confined themselves to their own lairs and dens; and a synod of 165 holy Fathers was assembled here, in which was present Eutychius, the bishop of our city, Apollinaris of Alexandria, who also held the place of Pope Vigilius of Rome, and Elias of Thessalonica, and many others; in which the fourth synod held at Chalcedon is confirmed, with the definition of the same dogmas, a decree being added that this fourth one should be named together with the three prior ones, the symbol of the faith being likewise promulgated in the same way: and it was also defined that our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our salvation with the will and operation of both natures. ^C Anathema was also pronounced against the twelve Chapters of Theodoret, and against the letter of a certain Ibas said to have been written to Maris the Persian, and against the writings of Origen that savor of paganism, and finally also against Theodore of Mopsuestia; and thus each returned to his own country.

55. ^D Not long after, Severus, the Acephalus—or rather, the many-headed dragon—again disturbed us, he too misinterpreting the one nature of the Word and the flesh. And he did not stop there, but seemed even to have composed books and written interpretations of the holy Scriptures. But he too, in the royal city, was condemned by Mennas, who was our patriarch, and his dogmas were destroyed by supreme decree; with our aforementioned prelate being supported by Agapetus, the pontiff of Rome, and Peter, the patriarch of Jerusalem, and Ephraem the Great of Antioch, a great man who also left behind for us dogmatic commentaries filled with theology, and Soterichus of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and Hypatius of Ephesus. Meanwhile, therefore, the body of the Church, freed from the grave perturbation and the impending tumult, was keeping itself in tranquility, with the orthodox conducting themselves confidently, but the heterodox...

being recognized, and not existing, but rather living under certain humiliation and subjection to authority. ^A

36. But just as Heraclius had begun his reign, and that Sergius was presiding over our royal city, the question regarding the two wills and operations was set in motion, having already been stirred up previously in the parts of the East. Then the most wise Sophronius, having come here from Jerusalem to Sergius, held discourse with him concerning these matters, admonishing the man and taking care that the Church should not again fall into struggles. But after the departure of Sophronius, and after his elevation to the patriarchal throne of Jerusalem, the aforementioned Sergius conspiring with Heraclius, they forged a doctrine of one operation and one will in the Word of God and the flesh, while yet rightly retaining two natures. But soon they decreed that neither one nor two operations or wills should be spoken of, and they publicly issued edicts concerning this, and they rent asunder the children of the Church, and cast them headlong into pathless wastes. ^B Honorius of Rome, and Cyrus of Alexandria, and after this also Peter, and Paul, and Pyrrhus, who were presiding at that time, and many others, were taken up into this whirlwind, among whom were Polychronius, and Macarius of Antioch, and Stephanus his disciple, who later stood against the synod.

37. Now at last, in the time of Constantine, son of that Constantine who was in Sicily, the Sixth Synod of the 170 Fathers was gathered here, in which a certain Georgius presided over our affairs. There were present also some bishops from the city of Rome, sent by their patriarch Agatho, who brought with them the acts of the synod celebrated among them, along with the subscriptions of 125, or even more, of the bishops of the West who had defined the divine dogmas according to the sentiment of Sophronius, and Maximus the Confessor, and those about him; namely, that there were to be confessed two wills of our Lord Jesus Christ and the operations proceeding from them. In this synod was present also Stephanus, bishop of Heraclea of Pontus, a man most erudite, who had learned the entire Bible, so to speak, and knew it well and carried it on his lips. Another bishop was present, Joannes of Anthinæ, orthodox in the extreme, and adorned with both philosophies. ^C A definition is therefore issued in it, in which are confirmed the previously mentioned five synods, and the same symbol of faith is recited; and they rightly dogmatize two natures in our one Lord Jesus Christ, and two ^D

^A physical wills, that is to say, volitions and their operations; Sergius and Honorius, and those who followed them, are anathematized. And thus our immovable and invincible Church, against whose faith the gates of hell, that is, of unbelief, shall never be able to prevail, as our Lord Jesus Christ declared, again finds rest from its continuous labors and unstable movements.

38. Even though some, after this, did indeed endeavor to overthrow this same sixth synod, and wrote scrolls 68, and forcibly obtained signatures for it, with the royal hand compelling all and referring them toward its destruction—that is, the emperor Philippicus, or rather Bardanes (for the ill-fated man was known by a double name), who rose up against it; and together with him a certain John, a presbyter of Colonea 69, and Nicolaus the sophist 70, and others whose names I shall willingly omit 71, all of whom ran in accord with the power of ungodliness and corrupted the healthy dogma of our Church. ^B Against this, many others indeed, but above everyone else that blessed and true bishop Zeno, who had been ordained as the prelate of Sinope 72, stood bravely and fought. For her sake he was even sent into exile, while many, once carried away and overcome by the relentless pressure and various kinds of threats, gave up their hands in defeat, and because they saw a synedrium constantly prepared to sit alongside this new Caiaphas at every meeting.

39. But again, that wicked reign passed from the scene, and that written document was erased; the insanity of the impious sect having been put to flight from everywhere, the unjust law was abolished, and our Church recovered its own adornment once the heresy was expelled. For the ^C guardians of the Church cried out, they who stood alert everywhere upon its spiritual ramparts, and they repelled the enemies and preserved the Church unharmed. For the Lord has set in it, as it is written, its bishops and judges, who maintain vigilant and provident watch and, by their own skill and spiritual strength, cast down the entire array of the enemy. For our true Shepherd, Christ, who laid down his own soul for his sheep, has never left his Church without pastors and observers. And yet, while he was ^D testing our faith, our patience, and the firmness of our hope, he allowed us to fall into temptation, sorrows, and distresses, perhaps because we had not made good use of our tranquility. He willed, therefore, that by enduring these circumstances we should demonstrate our love toward him. Yet he again granted peace, having dispersed the clouds of temptations.

^A Note also that we have deemed it necessary to set forth in the present document the disarray and disorder that currently prevail, and [to explain] how the opposing power of Satan, coaxing with multiform and convoluted craftiness, has laid siege to the most pure body of the Church. For there emerged a certain bishop of Nakoleia, as it is called, a small town in the province of Phrygia, a man by no means wise, but one who, out of sheer ignorance, tried to conceal the opinion of his mind; he, having become intense in his reading of the divinely inspired Scriptures by a literalist interpretation alone, began to forge new opinions against what had already been holy-defined, and set himself up to war against the traditions of the Fathers. For it is always the habit of the enemy of mankind, the devil, to trip up man with manifold delusions, and to disturb the order of the ecclesiastical state; this indeed he has demonstrated even now, and he incited the Churches to see war against one another, having discovered instruments that would conspire with him for this purpose, cloaking a deceitful mind under priestly garb ^B while belching forth their own brand of instruction to the Christ-loving peoples. The leader and commander of these has proven to be the head of the aforementioned city, and others of the priestly order have become his followers, co-conspirators, and associates, whom your Reverence has recognized by sight. For they pretend to desire to think right thoughts, and by fitting upon themselves, as it were, a mask of zeal for this, they strive most maliciously to transfer the character of the saints onto idols, impiously affecting a pernicious "zeal" for piety, claiming—as though it were a fact—that the generations before us lived in error, and mythologizing that they are to be pitied rather than blessed.

^C 41. To these things, therefore, our true opinion shall be stated. If, as you say, you shun the venerable icons of the saints as if they were idols, you are overturning the very foundations of the faith. For people—and truly, not heathens, since they are the children of Christians—will say that if previous customs are abolished, no tradition of our Church will hereafter have any stability. For it is truly manifest to all the faithful and the orthodox that our adoration and latria are confessed with an undoubting heart and mouth to the one uncreated and infinite-powered, transcendent, and super-good, life-originating, and super-substantial holy Trinity, the one Godhead and power. The representations of the saints in icons, however, were devised for the sake of love or the expression of desire, and for no other reason, just as of old in the tabernacle the images of the Cherubim ^D bore the form of the heavenly powers. Hence, through the long passage of time, the multitudes, imbued by custom, and having received it from father to son through a tradition handed down from above, have from ancient times—for the sake of remembrance alone and the demonstration of manly...

virtue—admitted those representations. We admit the image of our Lord Jesus Christ conformed to the human type, that is, to the form in which God appeared visibly, for the sake of retaining the perpetual memory of His life in the flesh, of His passion, and of His saving death, and of the redemption for the world which resulted therefrom; for through this image we understand the height of the humility of the divine Word. ^A

42. The adversaries, however, puffed up by arrogance, do not cease to tear the people into factions; for, carried away by their own party, they willingly recede entirely from the notion of truth, and boldly lay hands upon sacred offerings. Wherefore, both the royal power itself and all the magistrates rage wondrously against those who have resolved to conduct themselves religiously. ^B Because of this matter, a great and deadly danger threatens almost the entire world, while very many priests and laymen, but especially most pious monks, are driven from their homeland, are punished by exile and the spoliation of their goods, are mutilated in their limbs, and are sent into dispersion and deserts. For it was not enough for these preachers of the Gospel, as they wish to be seen, merely to carry away the statues of the saints, but they have also utterly erased the equivalent ornaments of paintings from the most sacred temples. Indeed, they have even snatched away, confusedly and everywhere, the symbolic vestments of the august and venerable equipment of the divine altars, variegated with gold and purple, and placed them in their own houses, for the reason that they were found to have the histories of the saints woven into them. Furthermore, they did not shrink from an act filled with every impiety; for they stripped the relics of the blessed and glorious martyrs, which had been gathered together by the teachers of the Church and piled up in precious reliquaries, and committed them to the flames, having at least as far as they were concerned, made an effort to trample and disgrace those who had struggled for the faith. But the Lord will not allow the rod of sinners to remain over the inheritance of the just; for after the present storm and the prevailing disorder, I know well that the serenity of His goodness will shine more brightly, and that blessed and sole Potentate will rescue His people who are in danger from the encroaching whirlwind; for wickedness will not take root to such a degree that it prevails over the virtue of the just. ^C

43. These things let it suffice for us to have said briefly for the present, unless you happen to think that the discourse should be drawn out even further. Otherwise, there is no book present suitable for this matter, as all are in truth held in the hands of others, nor is it easy for me to obtain them, as is well known to you, who are [well acquainted with] present matters. ^D

^A Since you also know these things better than I do—for this is, as it were, the fruit of my previous reading, as much as I have been able to recall—I have sincerely reported them to your honor. Moreover, this must also be recalled to you, namely, that there have existed other heretics as well, to each of whom anathema was pronounced by name. Nevertheless, I have for the present only addressed your inquiry, so that I might recount in a brief digression the synods, their decrees, and the reasons for their assembling and consultation; even though I have carried the account a little further back, and have indicated over which synod each of the illustrious Fathers presided, who was the emperor at the time, and against which heretical phalanx he did battle.

^B 44. The heresies mentioned above are, rather, the principal ones and those that stand out above the rest, as if they were offshoots that had sprouted from them. Some of these heretics, by rejecting the sixth synod, also subvert the fifth; others, rejecting these two, accept the fourth, and they war with the Jacobites—who, in turn, judge these men to be insane because, while accepting the fourth synod, they contend for refusing to accept the other two. These are the people called Maronites, and a monastery of theirs exists built in the mountains of Syria; most of them, however, reject the sixth, and indeed even the fifth and the fourth synods entirely. For he who accepts the fourth also accepts the sixth, provided he remains within the bounds of reason and a sound mind. For the root, and, so to speak, the foundation and firm base of the sixth synod, is the fourth; ^C for since the fourth defined the one Lord to be perfect in humanity, the sixth, knowing well that both will and operation essentially belong to man, rightly defined that both are possessed physically in Christ as man. Likewise, since it is defined that Christ is perfect God, certainly God is not lacking in will or operation.

45. Since these things are so, it is sufficiently demonstrated that He is truly one and the same, perfect in divinity and perfect likewise in humanity, the only-begotten and genuine Son, and not one and then another, even though the natures from which Christ consists are diverse. ^D Certainly, from deity and humanity the one Son is fashioned, not mixed into one from the two, but maintaining the property of each nature properly and physically inviolate within Himself, while yet possessing an inseparable and indivisible conjunction; for we acknowledge that the passions and the miracles belong to one and the same. For each form, as is said, operates what is proper to it with the communion of the other, the Word performing what is of the Word, and the body performing what is of the body, as Leo teaches.

^A Thus we believe that there are two faculties of willing, or wills, in Him; not that we understand them as implying a division of persons or a contradiction of mental movements, but because Christ wills the same thing in each nature for the sake of our salvation; and because the perfection of the rational nature in Him is recognized by the faculty of willing, for this is the natural inherent movement of an intellectual nature. Thus, the doctrine of truth—and its defender, or rather its master and truly apostolic man—teaches us to think and speak concerning these things.

46. Moreover, it is necessary for you to know that other local councils have also existed, and we possess their canons, even if they are not strictly counted among the number of the six councils. Such are the Council of Gangra, as well as those of Sardica, Laodicea, Antioch, Neocaesarea, Ancyra, and any other such local synod that has been held. ^B For these were assembled on account of local questions, as has been said, without the presence of emperors, nor were they all necessarily convened by their command, and some even occurred before the times of Christian emperors. But those which truly possess the authority of ecumenical councils among us are these: the first, held in the city of Nicaea under the great Emperor Constantine; the second, in this royal city under Theodosius the Great, which is called that of the 150 holy Fathers; the third, at Ephesus under Theodosius the Younger, which also numbers two hundred holy Fathers; ^C the fourth, gathered at Chalcedon under Marcian, our emperor of divine lot, whose assembly the 630 Fathers comprised; the fifth and the sixth, which met here in our city, the former under Justinian the Great, and the latter gathered in the most recent times under Constantine, the grandson of Heraclius.

47. These are, so to speak, a chain and an unbreakable sequence, joined to and hanging from one another. The first, after having defined the Son to be consubstantial with the Father, also admonished us to believe in the Holy Spirit. The second clearly proclaimed the Spirit to be consubstantial with the Father and the Son, as proceeding from the Father and to be worshipped with Him and the Son. ^D The third, in turn, clearly affirmed the same and one Lord of ours, Jesus Christ, to be perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity—that is to say, one and not two sons. The fourth subscribed to the aforementioned, and confessed that Christ possesses perfect divinity and at the same time perfect humanity, and recognized that two natures are to be acknowledged in Him, unmixed and inseparably to be glorified. The fifth, rightly confessing the same points, acknowledged that our Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of our salvation, is willing and operative in each nature. The sixth, finally, as we have said, embraces and confirms the decrees of all the preceding councils, and puts forward its own definition as follows: namely, that it too defines Him as perfect

^A in divinity and perfect likewise in humanity, and teaches that two volitional faculties or wills, and two operations, existed in Him; it declares that the human will followed after and was subject to the divine will, not opposing or resisting it. For it affirms that one and the same Lord of ours voluntarily accepted death in the flesh for our sake, and chose—to speak in the apostolic manner—to taste death for all of us.

48. Indeed, heretical men are in some way neighbors and close, so to speak; their dogmas and blasphemies touch one another in this way: Eunomius to Arius, the Novatians to the Sabbatians—and both of these agree with the Montanists regarding the doctrine of penance. The Jacobites and Severians, who are called ^B Acephali, and the Theodosians and Gaianites, do not differ much from one another; for all of them oppose the fourth council. The Samaritans concur with those who are called Athingani in the blasphemy that it is not permitted to touch anyone. The Paulianists approach the Manichaeans and Arians, and others approach others, as anyone who considers these matters with a wise mind will discover. For Marcellus, and Photinus, and Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Valentinus, labor under almost the same insanity in some respects; and they themselves also concur in a certain way with the most irreligious Nestorius, ^C especially on the point that some of them insist that the Lord was a mere man and had his beginning from Mary. Moreover, those who oppose the sixth council conspire with the impious Apollinarius. And all these are detestable and impure, and banished from the kingdom above.

49. You have from us the resolution of the matters inquired about, O god-loving child—though not from us, but from the divine grace that informs us; unless, perhaps, we have suffered something human in these matters, which is something that can happen to a man, namely, if we have erred out of ignorance ^D regarding names, times, or places. Yet we are also servants of the blessed and only true Trinity, which is proclaimed as not being without unity in God, according to the Theologian Gregory, who says: "When we look toward the divinity and the first cause and monarchy, one [God] occurs to our imagination; but when we look toward that in which the divinity consists, and those things which exist eternally and with equal glory from the first cause, we find three who are to be worshipped."

50. Therefore, do you also unceasingly worship this one divinity and lordship and kingdom, and as far as it is possible for us, we pray that we may not be cast out from its glory and vision, and that after our departure from here, when the just possess it in its entirety, according to the same

^A, might I say, the great Gregory, who says: “To this end, he says, the moderate light of truth leads me here—namely, that I may behold the splendor of God, worthy of Him who bound me to this life and releases me from it, and who is about to bind me again in a higher place.” He says things equal to this also in the funeral sermon on Saint Basil: “But if we depart,” he says, “receive us also there into those tabernacles of His, that living and breathing together, we may contemplate the holy and blessed Trinity more purely and more perfectly—of which we now have a mediocre idea—and then at last we may cease from desiring, and receive this reward of our struggles, both in doing and in suffering.” He says things not unlike this in another funeral oration on Caesarius, and likewise in the sermon on the Holy Lights, in these words: “That, as perfect lights standing before the great light, you may also be illuminated by that celestial radiance, and so become more splendid and purer before the Trinity, whose single ray from the one Godhead you now receive in a moderate way.” But You, O blessed and only Trinity and Unity, direct our life toward what is most profitable, and ward off from us every ^B incursion of enemies, and keep us safe. For we are Yours who confess You, and we do not suffer ourselves to be stained by heretical error or fraud, but we offer our soul to You as a virgin, undefiled by any malice of adversaries.

CONCERNING THE SCHOLIA OF SAINTS MAXIMUS AND GERMANUS ON THE AREOPAGITE

Whether the scholia of Patriarch Germanus on the Areopagite [this Patrologia, Vol. IV, 14], which seem partially to lie hidden still in manuscript codices, have as their author the elder Germanus, as Baronius thinks (ad an. 750), or a younger one, there is no time to dispute right now. Furthermore, I read in a Vatican codex this inscription placed before the scholia: “Whatever has a number attached is a scholium of Patriarch Germanus; whatever lacks a numerical mark has Maximus the Monk as its author.” But nevertheless, there is an annotation by a scribe in the margin there: “Forgive me, brother; for I have placed both authors under a single number in this book.” I observed this all the more willingly because the learned Jac. Morellus of the Library of St. Mark, p. 89, had already prudently doubted whether the distinction between the scholia of Maximus and Germanus on the Areopagite held correctly.

NOTICE ON THE FOLLOWING TRACTATE

In the first volume of the Vatican collection, p. 285-315, I published a lengthy question *On the Term of Life*, which Patriarch Photius claimed for himself in his Amphilochiana. Furthermore, in the preface, p. xlii, I sufficiently demonstrated that Photius not infrequently made use of the writings of others, with the names of the authors concealed. But behold, I have recently come upon a new testimony of that assertion of mine in a very ancient Vatican codex, in which the aforementioned unpublished question is attributed not to Photius, but to Germanus of Constantinople, who lived also nearly one hundred and fifty years before Patriarch Photius, whose other writing Germanus says he read (Cod. 233).

NOTES

(82) The little book *On the Six Synods*, ascribed to S. Germanus and received under his name by Gallandius, without the matter being discussed, in volume XIII of his *Bibliotheca*, p. 230, we have judged should be expunged from the number of the writings of Germanus. See above, the Preface of Ang. Mai.

CONCERNING THE TERM OF LIFE

^A To the majority of mankind, wealth and an abundance of possessions, luxury, and the glory of worldly fame are considered the primary blessedness. These things do not befall everyone at their own desire, nor do they simply satisfy the longing of those who crave them, but they occur to different people for different reasons and at different times. Moreover, they depart and shift to others, like a wave that, under the breath of the winds, easily turns in the opposite direction and refuses to remain the same amid such motion and change. Though these things, according to a fitting and just reason, should be despised and spurned, they nevertheless reign among those who pursue the pleasures of the senses and subject life to themselves. But for those upon whom rational grace blossoms, and whose nature—governed by intellectual power—excels according to the reason for which it was created, to them wisdom is the object of pursuit. Its constitution arises from good instructions combined with an inclination toward the better, bestowing wealth that is truly incorruptible and lasting forever upon those who have gained zeal for it; it is gathered not by chance or accident, but by the labor of the one who chooses it.

Wisdom is not that which puts forward an elegance of words and belches forth bubbles through empty gurglings of the throat, but that which follows reason lawfully, and brings it forward as an orderly servant of the intellect. It seeks the account of things as they are, and does not fail to find the truth; it digs out the natures of things with the mattock of logic, as it does not endure to remain on the surface, but descends to the depth of the matters under investigation, gathering from there, as if they were gold-dust from the earth, the theories of existing things. From these, an abundance of true knowledge is formed, making those who possess it worthy of emulation and bestowing upon them splendor and value, not for a short time, but for all time. Hence the soul’s faculty is exercised toward the safe distinction of the good from the worse. ^B It also prepares us to converse with things not strictly necessary, strengthening the better ones by such a comparison. From this, we are drawn away from external arguments—discarding the mythical and the feigned—and we embrace the smoothness and technical clarity of expression. You, most learned sirs—you who are the shoots of noble and genuine stock, and who display your study of the ancestral likeness in your character of discourse rather than in the mere shaping of your bodies—show that you do not exercise yourselves in the first wisdom, I mean that of piety, merely as a secondary matter; but rather that you are exact in your grasp of its dogmas and the traditions of the fathers, and that you embrace what is necessary for the assent to the truth in these matters.

2. And from this has arisen your counsel to urge us to speak on a certain question which is debated among ecclesiastical men, and to state our own opinion on this matter. The question is whether or not one ought to believe that the limits of each man's life are fixed by God, according to which each must depart from this life. ^C This is what the doctrine of the great Basil urges us to understand, which some, while they do not condemn the statement, still strive to extract a sense for it that is higher than what appears to the common people, and they reject the accepted interpretation. Others, of those who only seek this to mean those who die by their own deaths, so that they may say this occurs by the plots of others or by some necessity of external circumstances for those who depart from this present life, do not grasp this statement at all. Finally, there are some who reject this opinion entirely, and they mock the teacher’s ^D intention, wishing to be instructed by your study and hope, as they are in need of grace and knowledge, and seek truth from nowhere else; but if not, it is a small matter to accept corrections. For the one who does not need to speak doesn't demand the length of the discourse, but that which is concise. Many, however, are forced to write, and demand what is brief. For many things that ought to be passed over are left unsaid. Yet, as you who are able, you invite us to bring forth a word concerning the limit, according to your request. Although we have labored over the old contests, those in which we have been covered in much dust, we gain no inglorious palms—I do not speak ineptly—or rather we have gained the victory, as you, being the ones who have given us this triumph, have granted us. In addition to the arguments of our predecessors, we also provide those few things that God’s bounty, which does not disdain to offer, has deigned to give us, joining with them the fruit of your hope; your science, which lacks no other standard, gives: if not, this work is at least briefer for me, and for that reason, superior. For the one who does not seek a word that lacks nothing, but loves the prolixity of scripture: for he who is brief is laborious, given that many have this for the sake of the task. For the rest, I strive with my own strength, obeying your wishes to set forth this treatise on the limit a little further.

^A

The soul’s sensory faculties are trained for a secure discernment of the good and the worse. This also prepares us to converse with things not strictly necessary, establishing for us the confirmation of greater things by the comparison of such matters. From this, we also busy ourselves with the words of those outside; and while we cast aside their mythical and fabricated elements, we embrace the agility and expertise of their expression, for the unfolding and revealing of what is understood. Of this wisdom, you, most learned men, being a noble and genuine sprout, and revealing the ancestral likeness more in the characters of discourse than in the features of the body, show that you do not study the matters of primary wisdom—that is, the wisdom of piety—perfunctorily; but since you seek after accurate apprehensions of its dogmas and the traditions of the fathers, you incline away from deviations toward the plausible, ^B and you embrace the necessity for the assent of truth in such matters.

β'. Whence you deigned to urge us to speak concerning a certain question, which is disputed among those of the Church, and to present the position of our own judgment. This is as follows: whether we ought to be persuaded that limits have been established by God for the life of each [person], in accordance with which it will happen for each to finish their life. For the teaching of Basil the Great leads us to think this, the utterance of which some, while admitting it, attempt to explain its meaning in a way that is supposedly deeper than what is apparent, and they reject the assumed interpretation. Others wish for this to have been understood by the Father as applying only to those who die by their own nature, such that those who depart from this present life through violence or some need of external ^C accidents are not able to fall under such a rationale. There are some also who completely reject such an opinion, and—not mocking the reverence of the teacher—they say: "You summon us to old contests, in which many, having struggled and having borne the trials not ignobly, did not provide us—I will not say anything more disparaging—with a victory to behold that is unconquerable." Nevertheless, gathering not a few arguments from the holy and blessed men who preceded us, and joining these to those which the benevolence of divine favor has not disdained to provide for us, we pray that your zeal and hope, not lacking in grace and knowledge—which needs no other standard—may depart; but if not, [we pray that it] may still need the briefest correction. Now, to seek a speech that lacks nothing is to force the writing to an excessive length; but to require brevity is to permit the omission of many things that ought to be kept. Nevertheless, as I am able, I shall attempt, according to your request, to bring forward the discourse on the limit.

^A They do not consent, yet they openly confess that they do not agree with such an opinion. Concerning which, the familiarity of you most wise men has compelled us to explain the discourse more broadly, according to the powers of our intellect; for we would rather expose our ignorance to the censures of posterity, if by chance we have failed to grasp the profound meaning of the Father, than resist the law of friendship with injurious contumacy, or be deservedly blamed for having been unwilling to labor in these matters of great moment. For infirmity is most readily pardoned, but contumacy is condemned in every respect. Moreover, he who audaciously inserts himself into speeches and doctrines beyond his own measure is accustomed to be accused of empty arrogance; but he who behaves and complies with those by whose exhortation he is driven to labor and to the investigation and understanding of truth is worthy of praise and reward. ^B But come now, since in investigations of this subject the dialogue form is more suitable, because by the frequency of contradictions we examine the proposed matter more subtly, we too must employ such a genus of disputation, invoking the Word of God that He may reveal to us the sense of the truth, and that we may bring the explanation of this forward in clear words. Therefore, we shall signify by the letter A the person who maintains the tradition of the Father (Basil); but we shall denote by the letter B the other, who makes use of the arguments of those who contradict, and who recites the contrary discourse for the sake of refuting it.

^C 3. A. A very long space of days has elapsed since we last enjoyed your common conversation, my good sir; wherefore our mind was already troubled, pondering the cause of so great an interruption. But now, when we see you having departed from the accustomed habit of your countenance and having turned toward sadness, we are shaken by no small fear, lest some more troublesome thing than the usual has compelled you to be of such aspect.

B. A certain pilgrimage undertaken for the sake of prayer to a holy shrine not far distant distracted us from your company; but an unexpected accident of death befalling one of our acquaintances, it caused sorrow for us, which, as was natural, brought about this state of countenance.

A. The cause of your grief is not absurd, nor is the mourning vain. But I ask, what sort of occasion of death is it seen to have been for the man?

B. A catarrh having occupied the throat, and the breath being suddenly obstructed, it choked the man and brought him to death.

A. ^D It is not unusual for nature to be subject to such accidents, nor does any strangeness follow these things that befall in such a way. For it is natural that he who rolls along in this downward slope of life should slip from the peak of health and encounter many obstacles and adversities of troubles, until he arrives at the level, that is, until he reverts to the earthly nature homogeneous to himself.

^B B. From this, then, it is concluded that these bodily troubles, which happen to some in one way and to others in another, are accidental and not governed by providence; from which the necessity of death itself necessarily follows for men.

A. In what way do you say this?

B. Because it is evident that it is not one single cause, but many and various ones, that appear to bring death to men from bodily afflictions. This occurs partly through the diverse temperament of bodies; this, too, through a regimen that is alien to the condition of the body being nourished; furthermore, through the lack of proper caution or remedy at times, whether the former is neglected or the latter is sought in vain—for some, by reason of poverty, lack a healer, while others are more negligent in preserving their own good health—so it is necessary for diseases to occur, from which death follows.

A. Do you, therefore, grant that death is the consequence of diseases?

B. Most certainly. ^D A. Then, according to you, it must be that everyone who is ill dies. Yet we see some, albeit rarely, descend into death without any disease at all; while others, afflicted by great infirmities for a long time, so that they were even given up by their physicians, have nonetheless overcome the power of the disease and lived for a very long time afterwards. How many, moreover, could I show you, both wealthy men and those in positions of power, who, having received the most exquisite care from the best physicians during their illnesses, nonetheless did not escape death? Conversely, how many poor men and beggars, destitute of every resource, seized by the most grave diseases, helped by no medical office, and lacking the comfort of food, have recovered their health, with the sickness being driven away quite quickly? Wherefore, the separation of the soul from the body is by no means to be attributed entirely or primarily to diseases, nor, on the other hand, is the preservation of life to be credited to medical cures or other bodily care; rather, both are subject to the power and will of Him who in the beginning joined the soul with the body, just as the wisdom of His arcane judgments has decreed.

For while it is not absurd to grant to the medical art the ability to maintain health and bodily soundness, or to recall it once departed, this is true only if no natural impediment stands in the way. For it is a common saying of physicians that it is vain to strive against nature. Yet to measure out life to men belongs to that One of whom the prophet says: ^C “He that created the heavens and established them, He that fashioned the earth and the things that are in it, and giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk on it.” After this, David consequently adds that the withdrawal is made by the same One who gave it, by His own power: “Thou shalt take away their spirit, and they shall fail, and return to their dust.” Then, the restoration and raising up of the ruined edifice is also mentioned: “Thou shalt send forth Thy spirit, and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.” Furthermore, it is necessary for us to observe

^A from ancient times, that diseases are often inflicted even by God, and not entirely for bodily causes; either because He reproves those who offend (as in the case of Asa, king of Judah, who in his old age suffered from a weakness of the feet; when he is also said to have provoked the Lord because he did not seek Him, but sought after physicians, as it is written); or because He manages the salvation in the world to come through the hardship in the present, thereby dissolving the culpability of sins, just as the Apostle said to the Corinthians: “For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” Therefore, we consider that other things befall us in various ways and manners, for different causes and reasons. But we must believe that death is brought upon men in no other way than according to the word of the most wise great Basil, when the terms of life are fulfilled, which the just judgment of God established for each at the beginning, perceiving from afar what is beneficial for each of us.

5. ^B Regarding this passage of the great Basil which has now been brought forward, there is much discourse among the majority, of whom some hold what has been said as an inviolable law; but others attempt to shake the assent given to this by various objections. But my own judgment leans rather toward the latter.

A. It is worth the effort to set forth the objections which you say are brought forward by those who do not bow to the voices of the Fathers. For my part, I make this the primary accusation against those who are in such a state: that they do not persuade themselves to obey our leaders and submit to them, as the divine Apostle says ^C; and this, too, to those whom the Catholic Church, especially on account of their purity of life and the accuracy of their dogmas, honors with apostolic reverence; and particularly this one, the truly great and truly wise in divine things—whose praisers are not small, nor do they admire him for small things: but Gregory the Theologian and the great Athanasius, those pillars of piety and defenders of the Trinity, are those who weave his praises ^D; and the knowledge of his wisdom is the most perfect cause of his encomia and the weaving of his crowns.

B. It seems that the Pythagorean necessity now surrounds us, forcing us to take refuge in those difficulties of solutions where he said, “He himself said it.” But if there is a dogma

^A that has been suspended upon a certain reasoned argument and contemplation—one that is not unexamined by the one who is studious of the truth—then let the reason be rendered and the contemplation unfolded, so that the one being taught may provide a ready and unforced assent. But if that which is being stated exists merely as a bare pronouncement, one that imperiously forbids itself from being contradicted, this very thing provokes contradiction.

A. If the words proceed from the human heart and not from the mouth of the Lord, as Scripture says, then it will indeed be permitted, once leave is duly granted, to demand that the things being said do not conflict with those things that are already confessed. But for men who speak mysteries moved by the Spirit of God, it is not safe to contradict them; nor is it without danger for us to indulge fully in human reasonings and to trust in our own perceptions. For we have received the divine oracles of the Scriptures by faith and not by prying curiosity; and even if the power of the things handed down happens to exceed our understanding, we do not on that account think it right to reject them. ^B Therefore, let us follow the voices of the preeminent teachers with equal deference: those which Ecclesiastes indicates, saying, “The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails set fast, which are given from one shepherd.” For He who once spoke through the prophets, the same one also worked grace in the apostles, and afterwards taught through the holy Fathers. “For God has set in the Church,” Paul cries out, “first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers.” If, then, the disciples of Pythagoras had such reverence for his philosophy—as they supposed it to be—that they deemed his tradition more powerful than any demonstrative argument, what will become of us if we do not accord the same deference to the God-inspired Fathers?

6. B. But Basil did not conceive the meaning of the expression as you suppose; rather, he called the return of man to dust the fulfillment of his limits. ^C For then there is the end of the matter, which God defined from the beginning with these words: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” For this is not to be understood as a limit of time, as if God had circumscribed the life of man with a temporal boundary; but just as it is said in the Gospels, “Then that which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled,” or “so that the word spoken by the other prophet might be fulfilled,” so too must the statement here concerning the fulfillment of the terms of life be understood.

A. You will undoubtedly fall into one of two errors: either by not understanding correctly the things taught by the teacher, or by willfully mocking the truth. For the sentence passed by God ^D from the beginning against man, as...

that he should resolve into the earth from which he was taken, prescribes one term given for the whole race, and not many, as are observed regarding each individual. ^A But the teacher’s voice, while saying that the limits ^B of life have been fixed for each, also taught that what is beneficial for each is foresighted from this. Now it is clear that the consequence of the first condemnation is one and the same for all men. For we all return in like manner to the earth, even if the modes of death are different. But that one person dies sooner or later than another demonstrates the providence of God, which apportions this to what is beneficial for us: for one, by granting a longer life, to correct past errors through repentance; ^C for another, to prevent him from being plunged into the mire of the abyss of sin, by snatching him away more quickly. Rather, according to the ineffable abyss of His wisdom and goodness—into which not even an angelic mind is able to peer at all—He manages such things, and by His own capacity for foreknowledge foresees the outcomes of things to come, and accordingly, by His own just judgment, preordains their ends. And so that no one might think we are ^D straying from the Father’s meaning, let us receive Basil the most wise himself, the interpreter of his own words in his second homily on giving thanks (10), speaking thus: "For consider that God, who fashioned us and gave us souls, granted to each soul its own life-course, and fixed different limits of departure for different persons; for He ordained that one should remain longer in the presence of the flesh, while He determined that another should be released more quickly from the bonds of the body, according to the ineffable reasons of His wisdom and justice. Just as, therefore, those who are cast into prisons, some are locked up for a longer time by the cruelty of the jailers, while others find a speedier removal of their punishment; so also with souls, some are held longer in this life, and others for less time, according to the merit of each: our Creator, of course, wisely and deeply, and beyond all sharpness of human mind, foreseeing the matters of each of us."

§ 7. B. Must we then say that the limits of life for brute animals are also, according to you, fixed? A. How do you say this? B. Because it is written: As ^D is the death of the one, so also is the death of the other, and one spirit is in all. And what does man excel the beast by? Nothing. For all things go into one place. All things came from dust, and all things return to the dust. A. Thus these things are indeed written, but the sense of them is not what you think. For the sequence that follows, which you yourself withheld, reveals the true meaning of the Scriptures. For it is as follows: And who

^A knows if the spirit of man ascends above, and the spirit of the beast descends down to the earth? For the spirit of man, according to the words of Ecclesiastes himself, returns to God who gave it, being an incorporeal, living, intellectual substance; and for this reason it is said to ascend above. But the spirit of the beast is material, having obtained its substance from the earth just like the body, and possessing a motive force over it; and for this reason it is naturally disposed to be dissolved into the earth along with the body. Ecclesiastes, then, did not speak those words while introducing his own settled opinion, but rather that of the many who choose to live more corporeally and who conceive of nothing higher than that which is perceived by the senses. And this is shown more clearly by the phrasing of the passage in question; for he says, having previously spoken: "I said in my heart concerning the ^B speech of the sons of men, that God might judge them; and in order to show that they are beasts," he adds what the speech is according to which they will be judged, and for the sake of which they shall be placed in the rank of beasts: "For there is one occurrence," he says, "for the sons of men, and one occurrence for the beast, as the death of the one, so also the death of the other." And such is the opinion and conviction of the many. But he who sets down his own opinion teaches that it belongs to few to form a sound judgment in their minds; so that they might know that the spirit of the beast is turned to dust, whence it is evident that it is to be rendered back; while the spirit of man is to return to God who gave it, and who had breathed life from Himself into the body taken from the earth: which the intellect recognizes as an intellectual soul and an image of God, as witness Gregory the Theologian. For the term "who" is accustomed in Scripture to be used of that which is rare. As: "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?" and: "Who is the man that desires life?" and: "Who then is the faithful and wise steward?" and the like.

8. B. But how is it possible for us to conceive of ^C specific terms for the life of each person, since every term defines that which it bounds, neither exceeding its own limit, nor failing to reach it? As it is possible to understand from what was said to Job by God concerning the sea. For He says: "I set limits for it, surrounding it with bars and doors; and I said to it, Hitherto shalt thou come, and shalt not go beyond." We, however, find in the Scriptures that there is both an addition of life from God for those who are approved, and a shortening of time that follows for those who are judged to have led an evil life. If, therefore, God from the beginning fixed the terms of every person's life, it is impossible for these in any way to be disturbed, either by a longer span of life for the good, or by a shorter one for the wicked, otherwise they would no longer be terms. ^D

^A

A. Tell me, in which places of the Scriptures have you discovered such things?

B. It is evident that to Hezekiah, because of his piety, an addition of fifteen years of life was granted. «But men of blood and treachery shall not reach half their days,» cries David. And Solomon says: «Hear, my son, my words,» he says, «and years of life shall be added to you.» And again: «Turning away from paths that lead to evil, do not become stubborn,» he says, «and do not act ungodly for long, so that you may not die before your time.» And again: «Untimely souls of the lawless are taken away.» And more of these are found in the Scriptures. If, therefore, life receives a remission or an intensification according to different ways of living, then by no means have the terms of life been fixed for men. For that which is fixed must remain immovable; otherwise, how could it be fixed? ^B

9. A. The things said in the divine Scriptures for the purpose of checking sin or encouraging virtue are necessarily brought before us by God: «in order that every mouth may be stopped,» as the blessed Paul cries, «and the whole world may become subject to God.» And it is not out of ignorance of what is to come, according to the great Gregory, but because He wills that there be free will, that such admonitions are given. For He, knowing all things before their birth, from eternity—not recently, nor guessing the future from signs, but by a power worthy of God and ineffable—attains the outcome of future events. And as if looking upon future things with His eyes, He ordains His own judgments upon them in a manner becoming those things foreseen by Him. For men, indeed, bring forth their judgments after the outcomes of events have occurred, ^C but to God the future is viewed as if it were already present. And accordingly, He pronounces the lot of the dignity that is becoming, or rather, that which is beneficial to each, immutably, whether it concerns the extension of life or a brevity and contraction of existence; since the things of His foreknowledge are not mistaken, nor are they at all viewed by Him even in the slightest degree as uncertain, but they exist in the most accurate comprehension within the super-essential power of His nature. Therefore, He threatens fearful things and again promises joyful things, that by the former He might lead men away from sin, and by the latter He might lead the obedient toward virtue; for man possesses free will to incline in either direction, and is uncompelled; and God everywhere shows, because of His superabundant goodness, that He has left nothing undone that pertains to our salvation, in order that for those who despise the commandments ^D and are subjected to His just indignation, there may be no excuse. And in order that we might know that even though He knows the disobedience of some, He nevertheless performs everything for their care, showing His own kindness toward us, hear what He Himself says to the blessed prophet Ezekiel: «Go, son of man, to the house of Israel that provokes me, and speak my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of deep speech or hard language,

^A but to the house of Israel; not to many peoples of foreign speech or strange languages, nor to those who are stubborn in their tongue, whose words you would not hear. And if I had sent you to such, they would have listened to you; but the house of Israel will not want to obey you, because they do not want to listen to me.» This same thing is demonstrated more clearly through those things written in Deuteronomy. For after so many commandments that God himself had ensured were proclaimed to the people through the lawgiver—namely, to abstain from all superstition of idols and to offer worship to him alone—see how he spoke to that great Moses: «Behold, you shall rest with your fathers, and this people will commit fornication after the foreign gods of the land into which they are entering.» Then he also adds the indignation that will follow the stubborn: «I will be greatly enraged at them in that day; I will abandon them and will turn my face from them; they will become food for strangers, and they will be worn down by many evils and afflictions.» Thus, ^B God clearly teaches that, although he himself establishes laws and hands down a norm of virtue and avoidance of vice, his foreknowledge is nonetheless not overturned, nor is he thereafter hindered from writing, in accordance with what he has foreseen, decrees befitting his wisdom and justice; so that we, too, must say with the Apostle: «Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined.»

10. B. God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all, as the divine John says. Now, it is the office of light to reveal what truly exists and to deliver from all obscurity, that is, error. If therefore the Lord is a lover of truth, or rather is truth itself, how does he appear to be speaking contrary to the truth? A. Where do you have this recorded, that you can demonstrate it? B. We find in Ezechias that it was said by God through the mouth of the prophet: «Set your house in order, because you shall die, and you shall not live any longer.» ^C Therefore, one of two things must be concluded: either that the boundaries of this temporal life are not fixed for every man, or else that God spoke falsely. For indeed, the death of Ezechias arrived only fifteen years later, not at the time at which it had been said to him: «You shall die, and you shall not live any longer.» A. Come then, what was the cause for God to abolish his own decree? B. Why, surely that which God himself signified to Ezechias: «Because I saw your tears and heard your voice, behold, I give you an increase of fifteen years.» ^D

A. Do you say, then, that this very thing was not foreseen by the divine nature—namely, his weeping and doing all that he did with himself, so as to move God to compassion to bring about the removal of the approach of death and the granting of the addition ^A of life? B. And what absurdity, pray, would follow for us if we were to say that this did not fall under the foreknowledge of God? A. What, pray? Why, nothing less than the greatest crime of impiety. B. How so, and in what way? A. Because we shall end up depriving God, as far as the vanity of our own reasonings goes, of that which is the special property of the Godhead; which He himself clearly proclaimed through the prophet to be the most unerring characteristic of His own transcendent power—I mean the knowledge of all things that are to be and the foretelling of future events.

11. B. But we do not say that the events concerning Ezechias were hidden from the foreknowledge of God due to a lack of power of foresight or weakness of nature, but rather that these matters concerned his one person alone and looked not to the general governance of human affairs. A. And who, among those instructed in divine things, would tolerate you daring to say such things, ^B and to circumscribe the immeasurable goodness of divine providence? It is one that does not even leave the irrational creature unregarded by its watchful superintendence, as the Lord taught in the Gospel, saying that not even the most insignificant sparrow falls to the ground or is caught in a snare without the will of the Father in heaven, as if it lay outside the providence that contemplates all things. What then does He intend to teach us by saying that the hairs of our head are numbered? And what when the drops of rain are said, in the book of Job, not to be outside of His numbering? ^C Is it not the all-viewing, the tireless, and the inescapable power of the divine force that holds all things together? Indeed, it is just that those whose creation He did not disdain, for them He should not deny the watchful providence of God. The supreme magnitude of God does not conceive its own glory to be diminished by the lowliness of the objects of His care, but rather, while He preserves all things, as each has been apportioned its nature from the beginning, His power as the parent of all things becomes the more ^D marvelous—and this is to be believed in no other way than through His supervising all His works. Therefore, let it be said to Ezechias—or rather, to the whole nature of men: «Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.» What was said to one—I mean to Jeremias—and is not considered impossible, must also be believed to be said equally of all who share the same nature. Therefore, the cry of the king to Him, with anguish of heart and tears, was foreseen by the Creator. Therefore, from eternity, and not just recently, was that addition of years determined.

For it is necessary that with the causes, the things resulting from them should also be contemplated. If, therefore, the tear was the cause of the time of life being added, and this was foreseen by God, it is necessary that what proceeded from it should be bound together with it in His foreknowledge.

12. B. Shall we then fall into the other of the absurdities collected in our argument, namely that God does not speak of a matter as it is, but says one thing instead of another? For it is a matter of religion for me to say that God lies. ^A

A. Things which are said or done according to a certain prudence ought not to be turned into lies or hypocrisy; for the effects of these are contrary to each other. For a lie is from the devil, as it is written, but he who fashions his speech with prudent counsel does this not without the pleasure of God, which thing is contrary to the strivings of the devil. Thus, for instance, Rahab the harlot is not accused of a lie, although she did not speak what was the case, but she is praised as one justified by faith, since by the prudence of her speech she ^B demonstrated her firm faith in God. And God Himself commands Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go, not as if they were to migrate from Egypt, but as if they were to perform a sacred rite for Him in the desert, and to withdraw for the duration of a three days' journey. And why need I bring forward Samuel, who said he was coming to perform a sacrifice to God, but came after the deed had been done by the king? Or the great Apostle, who sanctified himself according to the Jewish rite and offered lawful sacrifices, and who, although he had cast aside circumcision and other such observances of the ^C legal letter as obsolete after grace, nevertheless circumcised Timothy? Seeing that Christ Himself, who is the Truth itself, did not refuse to use this kind of prudence either in words or in deeds, but is known to have conducted Himself thus throughout the whole time of His life. Concerning whom also the Psalmist clearly prophesies: "He will prudently order his discourses" (Ps. CXI, 5). Therefore, neither will that which was said to Hezekiah be called a lie, but it will bring praise for a doctrine conducive to religion, a doctrine which admonishes the hearers that they should know God as the arbiter of life, and that they should wish to submit to Him ^D alone with reverent minds. Furthermore, the words, "You shall die and you shall not live" (IV Reg. XX, 1), are true in another way also, if we consider the gravity of the encroaching disease: for it seemed, without doubt, sufficient to bring death upon the sick man. And perhaps God, implying this, said that death hung over the king; yet [he was not]

^A having the limit of life owed to him according to His foreknowledge as something indefinite.

B. What then? Do you dogmatize that the limits of life are fixed for each person according to the principle of foreknowledge? A. Indeed. B. But limit and foreknowledge are not the same thing. A. They are not the same according to the conception of each of these states, but from foreknowledge are set the limits of our life, which stand before the righteous judgment of God. B. Are we not then led from this into another, I must say, absurdity—namely, to say that the foreknowledge of future things becomes the cause and, as it were, the necessity of their outcome? A. Not at all. B. How, and why? A. Because we too, by the fact that we see things present before us, do not thereby become the causes of their being brought about. Otherwise, according to your opinion, Phinehas [Num. xxv, 7], who saw the Midianite woman acting shamelessly with Zimri, would have to be judged as the cause of their shameful act; yet he is the one who, on account of this very thing, killed them both with a single blow. And what need is there with our own weak reasoning to examine the matters concerning this with wordiness, when it is possible for us, who are attentive to ^B what the great Athanasius said on this problem in his discourse on the Cross, the Passion, and the Resurrection, to draw from there both a fuller and wiser solution to the questions now raised? For as much as the vision of present things is for men, so much is the foreknowledge of future things for God; and not of some things, but of all. "For He," says the Scripture [Eccli. xxiii, 29], "knows all things before their creation." But come, let us make the godlike and truly apostolic Athanasius, who abounds in grace, the most precise judge of this dogma which we are now discussing—namely, that the limits of the life of each [individual] of mankind must be believed to be foreordained—by unfolding his apostolic document on his own flight, where we find him speaking as follows:

14. "And the occasion which John described is this: 'They sought to take Him, and no one laid hands upon Him, because His hour had not yet come' [John vii, 30]." Then, having said a few things in between, he adds: "As Son and Word of the Father, He was not subject to time; for He is the creator of times. But ^C having become man, and saying this, he demonstrates that a time is measured out for each of the human race; and

^A that which the Father willed, He Himself, as the Creator, marked out for each one. And this has been written and has become manifest to all; for if indeed the "how" and "how much" [k] has been measured out to each person is hidden and eludes all men, yet nevertheless everyone knows that just as there is a time for spring, summer, autumn, and winter, so, according to what is written, there is a time to live. And after a little, he says again: "As these things are written, and the argument demonstrates that the holy ones know that there is a time measured out for each of men, [n] thus [o] that no one knows the end of the time, the evidence is the saying of David: 'Make known to me the scantiness of my days.' For what he did not know, this he wished to learn." And again, after a little digression: "The Lord indeed, being God and truly the Word of the Father, and knowing the time measured out by Him, and aware of the time when He Himself also had decreed to suffer, since for our sake He became man, during the days which preceded that time, He Himself also, as we do, was hidden when sought, and being persecuted, He fled, and avoiding plots, He thus passed by and went through the midst of them. But when He had brought the time appointed by Him, and in which He also willed [p] to suffer corporally for all, He addresses this to the Father, saying: 'Father, the hour has come, glorify thy Son.' No longer did He hide Himself from those seeking Him, but He stood, wishing to be captured by them." And having said something in between, he adds: ^B "He, therefore, thus offered Himself for all, as He had said. But the holy men also borrowed this example from the Savior. For from Him, both before this and always and everywhere, they learned; namely, that as they strove lawfully against persecutors, they should flee; and when sought by them, they should hide. For because, according to human condition, they did not know the end of the time decreed for them by Providence, they did not wish to come rashly into the power of the plotters." ^C

15. B. Not a little does one shake the confirmation and lose the assent to what you have said and gathered, if one does not superficially but carefully examine not only those things which the divine Scriptures report, but would not refuse to contemplate the countless other most destructive slaughters; such as the massacres in wars, the killings during the captures of enemies' cities, perpetrated without any discrimination of ages or genders, but proceeding against all alike who encounter the hostile hand; furthermore, the piled-up funerals in pestilent diseases; the sudden and collected burials of men in earthquakes or chasms of the earth; ^D which Basil defines as being, as it were, common disasters for peoples and cities, which the abundance of vices...

evil, and come to pass for the correction of those who remain. How then can your doctrines be harmonized with the history of David, at the time when, upon the counting of the people, the wrath of God followed; and when, of the threat of three punishments, ^A the one who was being corrected was allowed to choose that which seemed lighter; and there was preferred, over a three-year famine and a three-month pursuit by enemies, a three-day death brought about by an invisible hand? For if the limit of death had been fixed for them to encounter on that day, during which seventy thousand men in a three-hour interval received death by the hand of an angel, how was it permitted to the king’s judgment to appropriate this in his choice—I mean death—but also one of the other things threatened along with it? For if you were to look toward one of those, the things of the fixed limit would surely have been destined to remain unfulfilled.

Besides these things, we must also consider the commands given to Moses concerning the bronze ^B serpent, if perhaps what has been said thus far is not yet sufficient to refute your argument. For those who had been struck by the serpents, the Scripture says, if they looked upon that bronze artifice of a serpent, would escape the death breathed upon them by the poisonous bite. If, therefore, as you say, limits of life have been fixed for men, which it is impossible to overstep—whether by contraction or by extension (for in either way the concept of the limit is destroyed)—it could not be that some would evade the doom fixed for them, even if they had looked toward the bronze serpent; indeed, even without the serpent’s bite, it was necessary for these men to meet death. Moreover, what was ^C the utility of that new spectacle for men who were going to die in any case? But if the limit of life had not yet overtaken them, that command is nonetheless found to have been useless. For no one would dare to say that the divine will and decree can be overcome by the bite of serpents. If, therefore, it was impossible for them to end their life before the appointed limit, however much they had been struck by the serpents, as we said, the command for the making of the bronze serpent is proved to be unnecessary. But to call the things ordained by God unnecessary is truly absurd, or rather, completely foolish and fatal; yet it is necessary for us to stumble into these obstacles if we suppose that limits of life ^D have been fixed for men. However, if we judge the death of each individual to be indefinite, we shall take an easy and non-crooked path for explaining and understanding the divine Scriptures. Finally, I would gladly hear from you what is the proper understanding of that expression, when some of the saints are said to have departed this life “full of days,” and again others are said not to have reached half of their age, whose mind has been defiled by slaughter? How also does David ask from God and say: “Do not take me away in the midst of my days”? For I think all these things tend to overturn the opinion of those who say that limits of life have been fixed for men.

^A 16. A superficial acquaintance with the Sacred Books is wont to leave the mind suspended in such a way that it tastes the understanding of the written word only with a light effort. But we, listening to the wise Solomon who says: “The ears of the wise seek out understanding” (Prov. XVIII, 15), that is, they are not rashly moved by the mere sound of a word but scrutinize the profound meaning of the things being said; we, I say, must labor first of all on the interpretation of the biblical locutions, which provides the greatest utility to those who study it, and then proceed to the discussion of the doubts raised. Therefore, we do not call those “full of days” who have spent a prolonged life and a spacious span of time, but those who have shone forth in perfect religion, consistently with the age in which they lived, and who have brought forth the fruits of the virtue owed, not as useless or corrupted by the storm, but as abundant and flourishing, being, in short, a harvest worthy of the sowing of the divine Word. For if we understand these words otherwise, we will find that not even those men to whom these things were said actually attained such a thing. For shall we call Abraham “full of days,” to whom it was said: “But you shall depart to your fathers, nurtured in a good old age” (Gen. XV, 15), or his son Isaac, or anyone of this kind? For what should I say of Jacob, when he himself called his own days “few and evil” (Gen. XLVII, 9)? Indeed, the life of these men, if compared with the extremely long life of the men of earlier times, will by no means seem full, but will rather appear to consist of less than half. And so the locution “full of days,” even if according to the common manner it is thought to be spoken of those who die in old age, nevertheless, when the discourse is about the life of the saints, signifies absolute virtue without defect, and the perfection of the justice owed in their own times. For it is common knowledge that men before the Law, and again after the Law, did not all have the same goal of victory, nor did they struggle in equal contests; and for this reason, Scripture did not simply call Noah a just man, but added: “in his generation” (Gen. VI, 9). 17. That the matter before us pertains to this meaning will become clearer to us if we pursue the examination of the discourse in this way. It has been said: “Men of blood and deceit shall not reach even half of their days.” How, then, is it said in another psalm of certain men who displayed manifest injustice—nay, I might say, flourishing and enviable—against others? For this is what these words signify: “Their iniquity shall come forth as if from fat” (Ps. LXXII, 7). Add also that peak of the wicked, whom it delights to blaspheme God and indulge in crimes—the words, I say: “Full days shall be found in them.” For if the days are full, why has it been previously predicted that they would stop at the half of them? But it is clear that the fullness of days in this place is spoken of for longevity, on account of God’s exceeding patience and forbearance toward the wicked. And that [which says] “the days...”

not to halve [their days], ^A demonstrates the lack of completion of good works; for wicked men fall far short of a life lived according to virtue, and it is known that they do not even attain to any standard of it. David, then, as one who is not destitute of the fruits of virtue and piety, prays that he not depart from life before their fulfillment and, so to speak, their ripening, saying: "Do not take me away in the midst of my days"—that is, do not let me depart from life while in a state of unfulfillment and deficiency in good works. In this way, the apparent contradiction of the words of the Psalm, by which we seemed to be entangled, is resolved. Furthermore, the words, ^B "The souls of the impious are snatched away untimely," point to the same meaning. For they do not present to us a short and childish age, but rather a lack of the perfect and mature state and grounding in good character. For it is not right to charge with wickedness those who happen to undergo an untimely death. Let these things, then, be considered by us thus far.

18. It is time, however, to resolve the questions mentioned above. But we first prudently and necessarily request that our reasoning be considered weak; then, that we who confess our ignorance of the judgments of God and the cause of what happens—known to Him alone—should not grumble about incomprehensible things, ^C but should concede the knowledge of His own counsels and judgments to Him alone. For in the investigation of matters beyond us, the answer is silence; and the confession of ignorance in these things is a document of the truest knowledge. Regarding the history of David, we say this: that being a prophet and divinely inspired, he made the choice of the plague of death by divine instigation. And the angel who was causing the slaughter of the people, being an intellectual and most knowledgeable power, and one receiving the primary illumination of the Godhead, did not mistakenly, nor randomly, nor as it happened indiscriminately, wield that incorporeal sword against absolutely everyone; ^D but, serving the divine counsel and judgment with supreme knowledge and understanding, he brought to death those whom God had decreed should suffer this, according to His own incomprehensible wisdom and deliberation. For if, under Gideon, the descent of the morning dew into the fleece obeyed the Creator's command so accurately that it seemed like something animate and rational, and displayed its power with such precise discrimination that it did not even sprinkle the ground with a single drop—not even that which was closest to the fleece, but moistened this alone, while leaving the fleece itself perfectly dry, even while the dew occupied the whole earth—who would now dare to doubt whether the angelic hand might have acted indiscriminately against the people, and not rather that those men alone

whose death had been pre-ordained by God to occur at that time, were precisely marked out to receive the lot of death? ^A For as soon as the divine decree was fulfilled, the stroke of the sword was checked, and the angel, the author of the slaughter, was revealed to David; then the piacular victim finally stayed the wrath of God. And God had not proposed those options to the prophet in ignorance of the future, but intentionally, in order to draw out the evidence of his piety toward the Divine, and at the same time to manifest His own benevolence. Therefore, without waiting for the term of the appointed days to be completed, He was moved by His goodness to suppress the plague, after the death, that is to say, of those whose term He had predetermined by His inscrutable judgment. For had this not been prefigured by Him, but death had been brought about indefinitely and indiscriminately, the slaughter of the people would certainly not have been restrained before the duration of the appointed days had been completed. But it is clear that the blessed angel, following the divine scales, used his sword to slay those whose bounds of life had been fulfilled; and God, wishing to withdraw the remaining part of the people from death, miraculously revealed the slayer to the king—upon seeing whom, he was provoked to that remarkable defense of his cause, by which, through prayer, he bent the revealing God toward the cessation of the slaughter.

^B 19. Let us not, therefore, be ensnared by the coils of forced syllogisms, casting away pious thoughts concerning God and putting the doctrines of the Fathers behind our own opinions; but let us everywhere consider the objective toward which the decrees of wisdom are aimed. Indeed, concerning the bronze serpent, it does not behoove us to be rashly led astray by the arguments accumulated a little earlier; but we must know surely that that sign was devised to denote the mystery relating to Christ; and not because, without this sign, God would have been unable to fend off the harm caused by the snakes from the Israelite people. For He who had already displayed the prodigious power to perform such sublime and varied things for them (which miracles it would be superfluous and ill-timed to recount one by one, since they are very well known)—He would certainly not be seen to labor in exhibiting a salubrious cure for the people. In the meantime, however, He decreed in His ineffable justice that the bodies of all the unbelievers should fall in the desert places. ^C Yet we will not concede that this occurred by one kind of death, nor that all perished at once and at the same time. Wherefore, even if God willed that some should escape unharmed from the bites of the snakes, and conversely that others should be destroyed by them, we shall not for that reason say that the setting up of the bronze serpent’s image was superfluous and in vain. Yet the salvation of the wounded was surely restored by the will of God alone. For what utility was there in the appearance of bronze, if one were to weigh the thing in itself and naturally? And why would an inanimate image have power to retard death, which comes toward us by an inevitable decree of nature? ^D It follows, therefore, that it was by this means, and no other, that it was ordered

that healing should be brought to those who were suffering, so that the effect of the mystical image might be fashioned. ^A

20. The lifting up of the hands of the lawgiver 65 and the incense of Aaron fall under the same consideration, as both refer to Christ. For Moses, by the destruction of the Amalekite people, demonstrated the weakening of the powers of those who invisibly war against the people of God, or rather, against the whole human race, by means of the Cross; while Aaron clearly depicted the voluntary passion of Christ, offered to God and the Father as a fragrant odor, by which pernicious death was halted. So far is it from being the case that an indefinite or unexamined reason for those who die can be gathered here. For all these things were foreseen and directed toward a fitting end by the foreknowledge of the Creator. Thus, in a shadow and through faint types, the magnificent and most splendid mystery of grace was revealed by these signs. Far be it from us, therefore, to call the measure of human life and death indefinite; for divine knowledge is not circumscribed by time, nor does it only perceive knowledge of things as they are being created, nor does it only then determine what will be beneficial to creatures as they act and what is suitable for each person's office. For this is proper to human weakness, not to the divine supreme amplitude, to which bear witness both the knowledge of the secrets of the heart and the knowledge ^B of all things before they are created. Moreover, our unfinished state is seen by divine eyes as already perfected, as the Prophet says 67; and the divinely inspired teaching delivers that God fills all things, and we are instructed equally by the sacred oracles that His providence is extended and intent upon all His works.

21. The consistency and coherence of such religious thoughts concerning God truly shows a smooth and unhindered path, led by the Holy Scriptures, which conducts to the seat of truth; and this is contrary to the opinions of those who say that death comes upon men fortuitously, carried about by blind accidents. From this, one would gather that one of two absurdities must rule in the highest nature: either a lack of providence concerning man and a neglect of the most excellent of all creatures—for whose sake reason, law, the prophets, the very passion of Christ, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the promises of eternal ^C blessings, and whatever other gifts of the divine goodness exist toward our race—or that the infirmity of His same providence must be accused, as if it were not sufficient in its watchful and foreseeing power to embrace our whole nature, nor able to gather our deeds and thoughts, as the prophet says, nor even have the strength to look down upon those who inhabit the earth. Although, before God, all the nations, according to Isaiah 68, are reckoned as a drop from a bucket, as the weight of a balance, and as the dust of the summer threshing floor. Furthermore, the weight of a balance ^D is often determined by a grain of barley or even by a single drachma.

^A If, therefore, all human things are so vile and as nothing before the incomprehensible magnitude of God, will it be laborious for Him to think of one drop? Or to foresee and discern equally and distinctly the movements, whether of soul or body, of all men—not together, but individually? For He defines a suitable end for each, preserves all things, and governs the whole creation with a just order; not only that which is visible, but much more that which is invisible and supermundane. Do you not agree that all men are known by the Creator in one and the same act—their hearts, indeed, individually—and that in this very same act all their works are understood? ^B

22. B. We shall agree without any hesitation. A. Will you concede it to be true that a sparrow does not fall to the ground without the heavenly Father? B. And to whom is this a matter of doubt? A. If, therefore, in such a breadth of the world, the multitude of countless sparrows that are caught is believed to cause no labor to the God who understands all things, so that individuals are not contained by His providential care, what abundance of eloquence will suffice to avert the condemnation hanging over us, who, because of the narrowness of our own minds, think that God Himself constrains His intellect concerning the understanding of the lives or deaths of ten thousand, or even ten hundred thousand men—or rather, a hundred times ten thousand? So that we do not imagine that each of these meets an end according to the just and wise counsels of God, but rather attribute the numerous slaughters to irrational chance and blind accident, and think they do not happen by a tested judgment. For according to the expression of the God-bearing Basil which you yourself brought forward, for the edification of those who remain, when these things happen, it is necessary to consider along with them the power of divine Providence, which is strong and free from labor. Therefore, whether you consider the destruction of numerous armies in battles, or the sinking of ships with their passengers, or deaths brought about by earthquakes or fissures of the earth or other events, take care not to think that these happen to those who suffer them apart from the determination of the Creator: otherwise, you will say that the power of universal Providence and divine prescience is also laboring. ^C

23. B. By no means do we remove providence, nor do we drive away from the governance and guiding of our affairs that power which steers this entire universe, but we do hold that the death of men is not predestined by God; for fear that from this we might, for murderers or those otherwise waging war, secure a wicked impunity. ^D For it would come to pass that they would be seen as ministers of the decrees of God, worthy of praise rather than damnation. For certainly, if the term of Abel’s life was already fulfilled, that very fact would have voluntarily placed him into the hands of Cain, and the same fact would absolve the latter of the crime of fratricide.

^A Indeed, there would scarcely be any need for us to respond to such a putrid and trivial contradiction. For who would pretend not to know that those who perform such acts are judged not by the outcome of events, but by the intention of the agent? Yet, even in a matter so manifest, I will not be reluctant to render the truth clearer. Therefore, if those who plot murder against their neighbor were to become homicides by reason of being cognizant of divine decrees, or as avengers of violated celestial commandments (as we see occurred with Samuel against Agag), then, I say, the crime might perhaps not absurdly be turned to their praise. But if, instead, overcome by hatred, or even fiercer from the desire for riches, or indulging in anger, or submitting to any other will of their own, they commit murder, why should we not justly hate and condemn them along with him who, being a murderer from the beginning, taught men to be stained with the blood of their kin? And simply because God, for reasons known only to Himself, permits them to commit a wicked deed, it does not follow that He grants them impunity. Rather, they themselves harvest the fruits of their own way, and will be filled with their own impiety, as the Scripture says ^B; but God alone knows the equity of His own judgments. Whatever does occur is ordered toward the benefit and salvation of those who are suffering, as they receive the outcome of things happening to them. Thus, Cain, the first to be tutored in diabolical murder, having pained the injustice of envy and conceived the grief of inhumanity, gave birth to the lawlessness of murder; and for this reason, he received a condemnation worthy of divine rebuke. But he who offered a greater sacrifice than Cain, with God bearing witness to his gifts, as the holy Apostle says, though dead, yet speaks ^C — that is, he is called blessed as one dear to God and a partaker of His glory.

24. Let there be, then, for us, as an abundance of caution, a resolution of the question before us, and of those things that are believed concerning Christ. For we know that by the grace of God He tasted death for every man, and gave Himself up for our sake as a sacrifice and offering to God the Father in a sweet-smelling savor, according to the Apostle. And the Savior Himself also said: No one takes my soul from me. The great Peter, the foremost pinnacle of the apostles, taught that these things were foreordained by God the Father from the foundation of the world, ^D saying: For you were not redeemed with corruptible silver or gold from your vain conversation after the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood as of a lamb, spotless and undefiled, Christ, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifested in the last times for our sake, who through Him believe in God. But also Paul, the chosen vessel...

affirms that the wisdom spoken by Him (which is the doctrine of the cross) was foreordained before the ages. ^A “The end, therefore, of the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations,” to use the words of the same divine Apostle again, “is the cross of Christ and His death and His resurrection, through which comes the salvation of man and the release from the former condemnation; in which things the exceeding greatness of God’s love toward us has been confirmed.” “For God so loved the world,” he says, “that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish.” And again the divine Apostle cries out concerning God and the Father, that He did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. If, therefore, Christ’s passion was foreordained and foreknown, the same was not brought to pass without the pleasure of the Father. Wherefore Christ also rebuked Peter, who was forbidding Him to undergo this. ^B

25. ^B If Judas is to be praised as a minister of this great will, then let the betrayer not be condemned, at least as far as the arguments of your discourse maintain. Furthermore, let all those who plotted death against Christ hold no blame at all for that most wicked murder, but rather let them be gifted with rewards, as if Christ had accomplished the business by their help, which He testifies was imposed upon Him by the Father.

^A Nay, in truth, the matter stands far otherwise, and all things turned out contrary for those wicked ones because of the crime of their own perverse will. So therefore let us reason also concerning the rest, that namely the murderers, as Solomon bears witness, treasure up evils for themselves; but the infinite wisdom and goodness of God converts their frauds to the utility of those who suffer, as we have said before; while in the meantime the secrets of the divine judgments are spread like a mist ^C in every direction before our eyes. Therefore, the will and the purpose of the mind are what are looked at, and the end of the one acting earns either a crown or a punishment. ^D Therefore, let us not suffer these thoughts which occur to us to either intercept or invalidate the oracles of the excellent teachers, nor let us conceive anything lowly concerning the supreme wisdom and virtue of God: but let us say with the Prophet to God: “In thy hands are my lots,” and reckoning all our affairs governed by His inscrutable providence—to whom alone they are known beforehand—let us labor to present ourselves pure in word, in deed, and in mind before Him, who sees through the innermost parts of the soul and body, and our most secret thoughts. And thus, to the living and efficacious Word, the Son of God, let us attribute praise with thanksgiving for whatever may happen to us and to other men, to Him alone, the God of all; to whom is the glory and the power now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

NOTICE

^A(Angelo Mai, *Bibliotheca nova*, vol. II, p. 585.)

At the time when I edited the dogmatic epistle of Photius to the patriarch of the Armenians, which had been handed to me by the learned Mechitarist Fathers (Spicilegium Romanum, vol. X), I remember noting in a previous notice (p. 442) that the holy Germanus I, who became patriarch of Constantinople in the year of Christ 715 and resigned that dignity in 730, also addressed letters concerning the orthodox faith to the Armenians, which do not appear in published books. Indeed, as I said in the cited place, Galanus provided testimonies of this matter in his work on the reconciliation of the Armenian Church with the Roman Church (vol. III, p. 77), taken from the Armenian Menology; it is necessary to recite his words now, even though they are somewhat prolix: "Stephen, bishop of Siunia, having traveled to the Greeks, brought back with him three books which explained the truth of the faith. Furthermore, the holy Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, sent an epistle to the Armenians, by which he admonished them thus: 'Why do you not assert two natures in Christ, nor receive the Council of Chalcedon?' These things, indeed, he wrote, and sent to the Armenians through Stephen. But when Stephen arrived at Papchen, the patriarch of the Armenians, he showed him the letters of Germanus; ^B having read these, the lord Papchen commanded Stephen himself to respond to the letters of Germanus, and the most learned Stephen wrote, in a composition and order truly extraordinary, alleging many sentences of the sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers for the sake of confirmation: all of which, when the learned men of the Greeks read them, agreeing with these writings, they praised the true and right faith of the Armenians as immune from heresy."

Galanus proceeds, p. 79, saying—using as a most weighty witness Nerses of Lampron—that religious peace was established at that time between the two Churches under the aforementioned patriarchs of the Greeks and Armenians. However, that "Papchen" the patriarch was rashly written instead of John of Odzun in the Menology, I would believe far more easily than I would suspect, with Galanus, a dual entity, "Papchen," who was never heard of. Indeed, the most certain records of the Armenians show that John of Odzun, not Papchen, held the patriarchate contemporary with Germanus (Serposius, *Compend. hist.*, vol. II, p. 41). But however this anachronism may have crept into the narrative of the Menology, the blame must weigh upon the author; nevertheless, the epistle of Germanus, which we now have in our hands, cannot be called into doubt. For behold, at p. 341 of the same Galanus, a new testimony is added from the Armenian Council of Tarsus. For there the Armenians address the Greeks thus: "Your fathers and ours have labored with great effort at every time to reconcile peace; just as your venerable, strenuous, and upright patriarch Germanus, who sent letters to the Armenians, full of spiritual charity and orthodox faith." As for the fact that in the aforementioned Armenian Menology the response of Stephen is also praised, written by order of his own patriarch—which, however, from the parts related by Galanus appears to abound with the worst heresy—that this was done by the later interpolation of heretics is related by the illustrious Sukias, abbot and archbishop of the Mechitarists (*Prospect. litt. Armen.*, p. 48), together with John Vanagan: whether that fraud was forced upon the Menology by inserting praises of a heretical author, as Galanus wishes, or if rather the epistle of Stephen itself was violated, as Sukias believes. Finally, Samuel of Ani also places this Stephen of Siunia among the illustrious Armenians in his *Chronicle* under the year 772, although a little late as it seems, unless perhaps the chronicler designates the final year of Stephen's life.

But to return to Germanus, although while I was writing that notice in the *Spicilegium* I only knew the testimonies that are in Galanus concerning the epistle of Germanus to the Armenians. Afterward, however, it successfully fell to my lot that among the annotations which the illustrious man I. B. Aucher, the glory of the Mechitarist family, attached to the discourse of John of Odzun against the Phantasiasts which he edited, I might read a brief lemma cited from the aforementioned unpublished epistle of Germanus; from which specimen I judged at once that this writing of Germanus is preserved at least in Armenian among the Mechitarists at Venice, who abound in ancient and excellent codices; and therefore I was inflamed with a desire either to know it more fully or, if the masters were generous, to communicate it with the assembly of the learned in these volumes of mine. This business was kindly expedited for me by the illustrious and reverend archbishop of Siracusa, Odoardus Burmutius, out of his extraordinary love for every class of literature, who very faithfully interpreted for me the copy of the epistle received from his associates, and willingly agreed that I should entrust it to Latin letters and print.

This third writing of the venerable Germanus, therefore, I bring to light; namely, after his luminous disputation on the end of life, which I edited—taken from an ancient Vatican codex—among the *Amphilochian Questions* of Photius (*Script. vet.*, vol. I, ed. 2); and after that excellent little work on heresies and synods, which I likewise, excavated from the ancient Columnensis Vatican codex, inserted into the seventh volume of the *Spicilegium Romanum*, which is entirely different from that of almost the same title which Mounius had published under the false name of Germanus. And these things I mention, not truly that I may sing of my own trifles, but that I may warn the learned in time, if ever they wish to collect the writings of Germanus and to connect them with the other epistles of the same, which before the second Nicene

are accustomed to be placed by the editors of the councils. Would that that other book of Germanus, *On the Retribution of the Future Life*, which Photius praises (cod. 233) for its style, its correct doctrine, and throughout for its excellent manner of writing, would also emerge! Certainly these are the genuine writings of Germanus I, as are those published by us; for the same Photius mentions his *Disputation on the Term of Life*, and placed it with his Amphilochian works: Germanus himself relates that he composed the work *On Heresies and Synods* at the beginning of the Iconoclasts: finally, ancient records attribute the epistle to the Armenians to this earlier Germanus, not to the later one; for the twelfth-century Council of Tarsus, in which it is mentioned, was before the younger Germanus, who lived in the thirteenth century, that is, five centuries after the former. Nevertheless, Labbe, König, and other bibliographers at times have carelessly ascribed the writings of the second Germanus, which are indeed of lesser value, to the former; learned men will take care that this is not done any longer, against the truth. That this epistle of Germanus is entirely concerned with refuting the Eutychian error of the Armenians is self-evident; wherefore it was not necessary for us to make a summary of it. It would, however, be useful to compare it with the dogmatic epistle of Thomas, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to the same Armenians, which exists in volume XV of the works of Jacob Gretser among the minor works of Abucara, no. IV.

EPISTLE OF THE GREEKS TO THE ARMENIANS FOR THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON, WHICH STEPHEN, BISHOP OF SIUNIA, BROUGHT TO CONSTANTINOPLE BEFORE HIS ASSUMPTION TO THE EPISCOPATE

1. "Christ is our peace, who made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of the partition, the enmities in his flesh." ^A It has seemed good to us to begin this epistle which we send to your piety with this apostolic utterance; for all our will, and the subject matter of this epistle itself, tends toward the attainment of peace; namely, that peace which is not of this world, as the Lord said, nor accordant with visible things; the peace, I say, which He Himself brought from heaven, and which, departing, He bestowed upon His disciples; which, finally, He desires to be kept by us toward the almighty Father, as He Himself said in His prayer to the Father: "I pray not for these only, but also for them who shall believe in me through their word; that all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." He sets Himself as an exemplar for His faithful, that, imitating Him, we may be joined together in the same tenor of peace. Surely those who have held His teachings in esteem have preferred nothing to the good of peace; conversely, they have shunned nothing more than those things which are contrary to peace and which produce dissension of words and opinions; holding it for certain that it profits nothing at all either to perform miracles, or to possess sincere virtue combined with the chastening of the body, or to give of one's own patrimony, or even martyrdom itself, without charity. Moreover charity, as the divine Apostle describes it so excellently, "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth." We trust in God, to whom all our acts and thoughts are patent, that because we write this discourse and the testimonies praised in it for no other reason than mutual admonition, they will be pleasing to you: for we seek not our own glory but that of the Lord Himself.

2. Therefore we pray the Lord that He may make charity germinate within us, and that He may avert the prejudices of perverse opinions... ^B toward your piety, we act, trying to insinuate after the examples of Christ’s disciples, pious persuasion, and equal hope, and faith in Christ. But if the Prophet warns us to call him our brother and to consider him as such who prosecutes us with hatred, how much more are those to be held in the place of brothers and to be loved with spiritual love who are by no means of a hostile mind toward us?

3. Whosoever have occupied themselves in the labors of the Church for the sake of spiritual reward, have thought that the orthodox faith should be preferred to any other thing whatsoever; which true wisdom divine Scripture indeed calls the tree of life. In reality, what greater wisdom is there than a correct opinion concerning God and divine things? So that we may not err in our opinions about created things, by the rule of holy Scripture; for that is the true knowledge planted by God in the midst of paradise; where, although the crafty serpent by creeping in strives to spew forth its harmful poison, and to inspire fraud under the guise of piety, just as it did to our first parents, whom it promised would be like God; it is nonetheless repelled by Him who brandishes the flaming sword there. For this benefit is granted by God to His ministers, by whose aid the craftiness of the serpent is broken, and the impediment is removed if anyone should desire to taste its fruit, which is reserved for the faithful so that they may enjoy it copiously, provided they are willing to reach out their hand to it, that is, to seek sincere and earnest true knowledge, which whosoever attains is saved.

4. We, therefore, while we do not cease to offer prayers to God... ^C is broken, and the impediment is removed, if anyone cogitates evil against his neighbor, much less against God, because he indicates that this is contrary to virtue.

^A We are concerned to rest under the shadow of this mystical tree [(3)], and always to gather its fruits, so that we may provide them not only to the present but also to the absent; just as we also think they ought to be offered to your piety, not without just causes. For indeed the religious priest Stephen, having been brought to this royal city guarded by God... [(4)]. Let him who does not confess the Word of God to have suffered and died, and to have been made the first-born of the dead, although the same, insofar as He is God, is life and life-giving, be anathema [(5)].

^B The insinuation of Nestorian malice by these anathemas is uprooted before it can take root: and by these propositions, which we object to him as dictated by true doctrine, scandal is guarded against for all lovers of the orthodox faith, so that no one may rashly attempt to tear apart the seamless garment of Christ, that is, the solid doctrine of his faith. For against this Nestorius [(6)] the heterodox man could not prevail with his fraud, while he sought with all zeal to ensure that he would not be forced to confess the truth having been overcome. And yet, if he had wished to use these words of the catholic profession, he would by no means have been cast out from the Church of God; but the blessed Cyril would have received him as a colleague and co-bishop, just as he left written in his sacred epistles [(7)].

^C Wherefore we, laying as a foundation these forces of the articles as a sacred base, and producing all the words of legitimate meaning, strive to build upon them: [(8)] For confessing two natures in the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, made like unto us in all things, sin excepted, we mean and understand nothing else than that He, when He was God and consubstantial with the Father, was made man, and truly consubstantial with men, a mediator between God and men, joining to Himself a human nature ^D together with the divinity, with no distinction of natures being destroyed even after the union, but with one person and hypostasis of the divine truth incarnate being always preserved, which was made perfectly man. For before the union, that is, before the only-begotten Word of God was joined to our nature, we profess that His nature was one, that is, the divine, as being consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit: but we say that there are two natures in Him, after He assumed our substance: so that we both know and proclaim Him perfect in deity and likewise perfect in humanity: even as we also acknowledge one Son, Jesus Christ, from the same two natures; and thus we admit and profess one divine Word incarnate, according to the sense of him (Cyril). Nor indeed, when we say "incarnate," do we understand any other substance than the nature of the Word of God as asserted by Cyril [(9)]; for indeed we do not say that two natures were incarnate, but one, that is, that of the divine Word made flesh, with the body assumed and the soul and mind. Then, professing the properties of both natures together, we understand nothing else than that the body assumed by the divine Word did not pass into the divine nature, with the nature of the body being dismissed; nor was the deity, with the body and spirit and rational soul assumed, and these applied to His person, converted into the nature of the body, nor did it lose or change anything of its glory. In this way the holy Fathers teach us to think and profess, and especially the wise Cyril in his treatise on the union of both natures, namely the divine and the human [(10)], in which he demonstrates that no alteration was made on account of the union, because each nature retained its properties intact. Thus, indeed, master Cyril and the great doctor Athanasius, using this same locution, teach, whose testimonies we shall produce later.

^D We believe in the only-begotten Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, with respect to the natures; in the sense in which the DCXXXVI Fathers of the Council of Chalcedon understood and professed: I say that we confess Him as our same Savior, Lord, and God, perfect in deity and perfect in humanity; because we profess one out of two natures, namely, from the divine and the human. The fifth holy council, which was gathered after the aforementioned in this our royal city guarded by God, gives witness to this our faith: in whose decrees we find it written [(11)], that if anyone, in confessing two natures, does not understand one Lord Jesus Christ, God and man; and does not wish to signify by the aforementioned words the difference of the natures, of which an unconfused and ineffable union was performed, with the Word not...

transferred to the nature of the flesh, nor the flesh in turn to the nature of the Word (for both natures remaining in their substance, have joined only personally); and because there was no other reason for the use of the aforementioned way of speaking except for the mystery and the number of recognizing the natures, which subsist in the same unique incarnate Word our Lord Jesus Christ; and that the distinction of the united natures is not to be understood by the mind 12 alone—natures which have lost nothing on account of the union, because one is of two 13, and two are in one; if any man, I say, abuses this plural number to persuade [others] that the natures are divided, or that they are individual—distinct in their own person—let him be anathema.

^B 8. Since, therefore, we profess the two natures in Christ Jesus according to the catholic sense of the Fathers gathered at Chalcedon, we cannot persuade ourselves that those who contradict, and who do not admit and profess the aforementioned way of speaking without hesitation, are not to be condemned by God. For the holy Fathers did not say simply that they acknowledge two natures in Christ Jesus, but [that] they barred every approach to Nestorius: and thus they taught us to profess the only-begotten Word of God, so that no one, according to his impiety, would dare to say that Jesus Christ is Lord only by homonymy and dignity equal to God the Word, [and] otherwise separate from Him who is of the lineage of David. Since his belief in this division of the only-begotten divine Word into two had been revealed, the Fathers, in order to fortify themselves against him, expressly professed first of all that He was born of the Father according to divinity before all ages; but of the Virgin, the Theotokos, according to humanity; because he could not even endure to hear the word "Theotokos," which was contrary to his opinion, but stopped his ears more than those who stood around the holy Stephen for the purpose of killing him; nay, more, just as a serpent stops its ears so that it may not listen to the voice of the skilled enchanter—that is, the salutary tradition which that blessed man had written in his first epistle to Nestorius, for the divinity of Jesus Christ, while at the same time calling the holy Virgin the Theotokos... 14.

9. In his epistle *To the Orientals* the same blessed Cyril says: "It behooved them not to be ignorant of the decree, that is to say, that to everyone coming to our synod, it must be confessed that the holy Virgin is Theotokos" 15. But if the way of speaking of two natures is a scandal to many, because Nestorius used it wickedly, I would like them to know that the aforementioned way of speaking was also used by the holy Fathers 16: nor are orthodox terms, already piously employed, to be rejected after others have abused them. For even the Arians, interpreting some of the words of holy Scripture badly on account of their own reasoning of belief, thus strove to corrupt the sound faith in the most holy Trinity, nor for that reason did anyone afterward abstain from using those words.

10. Furthermore, Cyril, contradicting Nestorius at the Ephesine council, in which not a few defended his way of speaking as if it were ancient doctrine, brought forward testimonies of the great theologian Gregory, which are of this kind 17: "He, who introduces two sons, one from God the Father, another from Mary, and not the unique and only [Son], shall be excluded from the adoption which God promised to faithful orthodox believers. The natures are two, because God and man [are so], as soul and body behave: but not two sons, nor two gods: nor likewise two men, although they are called by Paul the inner and outer man." Cyril again in his first epistle to Sucensus professed two natures in Christ Jesus by saying 18: "As far as we can attain by thought, and subject to the intellectual eye the reason of the incarnation, we say two united natures..."

12. It must be carefully noted that this way of speaking of the Constantinopolitan dogmatic canon, which denies that the natures of Christ are to be understood after the union [as existing] only by a fantasy or theory of the mind. For behold, in the disputation of Theorianus edited by us in *Script. vet.*, t. VI, p. 320, it is read: "The manifestation of the natures remained unchanged and unturned, but contemplated by the mind alone." The manifestation (or appearance) of the natures remained not changed nor converted, but yet [was] observable only by the mind. This saying [of the Armenians] is refuted by Michael, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the aforementioned volume, p. 332, desiring that it be said completely that the two natures remain, and not be viewed only by the mind, so that the dogma may be pronounced more safely. Let the readers, I pray, see this whole place of Michael, which is truly worthy of being known. Thus the Syrian Monophysite patriarch writes in the aforementioned volume, p. 392: "The natures [of Christ after the union] are preserved in knowledge, viewed by the power of our mind." Moreover, to these ways of speaking "in knowledge" or "by theory" or "by conception," Leontius also learnedly stands against them, with the scholion (in *Script. vet.*, t. VII, p. 57), because, indeed, the Monophysites clearly no longer say the division *by conception*, but maintain that the natures themselves are viewed only by a bare conception. They no longer say that the distinction is made by thought, but [that] the natures themselves are contended to be viewed only by thought. Thus also the adversary of the Monophysites, Ephraemius, almost says, in Photius cod. 229, p. 786: "The sum of the matter is, as the aforementioned Michael the Greek patriarch says, that it is necessary to say two natures of Christ simply, and not speak in an ambiguous periphrasis." The same Ephraemius in Photius cod. 229, p. 820: "Our Fathers do not preach one [nature] in Christ, but two natures in the hypostatic union."

13. Thus the Ephesine council: "Christ is one out of both natures." Pope Leo in [his] famous epistle still more evidently [says] "one Christ in two natures," to which statement the Chalcedonian Fathers, approving, shouted in agreement.

^A One nevertheless acknowledges Christ and the Son and the Lord, made man, and the divine Word incarnate. Nor do we desire to teach anything else by this expression than what we have learned from the Fifth Council, namely, that we should profess the distinction of the natures that are united only in so far as they are one. This same matter the same Cyril also states in his epistle to Eulogius (19): ‹ Nestorius, while he professes two distinct natures of flesh and divinity, in so far as the nature of the divine Word is one thing and the nature of the flesh is another, does not, however, confess to us their union. › Then he adds yet more clearly: ‹ We, however, confess these to be the unities, one Son, one Lord, one Christ, as our Fathers said, one incarnate nature of the Word (20). › It is therefore evident beyond all controversy that the distinction was not abolished by the union; from which it happens that we speak of two natures; but [as] one of the divine Word, because the same nature of the Only-Begotten has united with itself under its own person the nature of a human body, ensouled and intellectual.

11. Many other things could be said concerning the confirmation of our orthodox and immaculate faith, and the refutation of those who, not with a sound but with a very evil purpose, attempt to introduce schism into the Church of God. But let what has been said thus far suffice, so that we may avoid prolixity, taught by Solomon who says * : ‹ Give opportunity to a wise man, and wisdom will be added to him 7. ›

12. Furthermore, it is necessary that we also speak concerning the operations and wills (of Christ) (21); ^B committing, as it were, a spiritual talent to your banking table, so that afterward the Lord may be able to receive his share from you with interest, and not condemn us like that slothful servant. We say, therefore, that there were two operations in Christ Jesus; namely, that we understand him to have acted both as God and as man: as God, divine things; as man, human things; but yet that he accomplished both operations conjointly, not apart and separately (22); and thus he confirmed by his deeds what he was in reality: true God and true man, not in appearance only. Nor is it permitted us to say to him with the Hebrews: ‹ Because you are a man, you make yourself God *. › For he demonstrated his supernatural works by divine power and said: ‹ If I do not the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do [them], and even if you do not want to believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father *. ›

Against those heretics, however, who were later to arise to despise the mystery of the incarnation, he fortified the truth when he permitted his nature, as often as he pleased (as the holy Bishop Gregory of Nyssa also says (25)), to experience those affections of the flesh which were free from blame, and also sufferings; in order to confirm invincibly that he himself was the firstborn among many brethren, and similar to us in body and blood. Hence also after the resurrection, to demonstrate again the truth of his nature, just as the great saint Basil says (24), he deigned even to taste food. ^C

15. Now, however, the eternal God, who holds the whole world in his embrace, as Isaiah says 10, is able to experience neither hunger nor thirst: nevertheless, he hungered and thirsted in his body; and being a man, he worked at the same time with the powers of his divine nature just as God. This also the wise Cyril teaches us in his *Thesaurus*, saying: ‹ The divine Scriptures preach one Christ to us: for God the Father is one, and Jesus Christ is the one and only Lord, who is recognized as God, because he did that which is proper to God alone. But because he had made himself man, according to Scripture, it was necessary that he prove himself to be man; nor could he appear to be such without the harmless affections of the body, and other things consistent with a body. He worked and spoke, clearly, as much as befits a man, to demonstrate that he was made man (25). › Then, with a few words interposed: ‹ Because he was true God with flesh, and true flesh with deity, he worked as God, in so far as it was necessary that he be known as God. And reciprocally, he acted and spoke in so far as it was necessary to show that he was true man; thus administering the truth of the mystery with prudent economy. ›

14. No one, therefore, should dare to censure the Church of God because we use these words in the confession of the Catholic faith. Let them consider rather that they are consonant with the malice of the Arians, who ^D...

^A errors distorted the orthodox declaration of those gathered at Nicaea; those who, as the great Athanasius states, after much investigation established the term *homoousios*, which the Arians could never pervert. But when Nestorius twisted the hallmark of our faith, which is always used in the Church of God, the admirable Cyril opposed him with the unity of person.

15. Likewise, when the wicked old man Eutyches exalted himself, saying that God had indeed assumed a body similar to ours, but raving that there was one nature after the union, those Fathers who gathered at Chalcedon, and the blessed Leo, the pontiff of Rome, were compelled to refute his insanity, and to teach that there are two natures in the only-begotten Word of God; which, when they act simultaneously according to their properties, both retain what is proper to themselves; so that thus, from the distinction of acts, the distinction of the natures of our one Lord Jesus Christ might be recognized: for by his acts, nature is discerned, just as the blessed Cyril and Gregory of Nyssa also taught in their writings.

16. But lest the truth be obscured regarding the will, we have not, without consideration or examination, admitted the term "two wills," since this question had been stirred up in our times; nor was it permitted for the leaders of the Church of God to be silent, nor ineptly to rend the body of the powerful God by the spreading of this expression. In truth, it is not alien to the beaten path of the Fathers to speak of two wills; and then to affirm one, that is, the first and chief human act to occur in intellect and will. For when the divine Word assumed our nature, in order to restore and renew it to health, it was necessary that He should assume beyond others that part which, first infected by the vice of sin, ruined the whole man. For indeed, God had created Adam in the beginning naturally innocent and with a free ^C will. Wherefore the illustrious Athanasius said that the two natures are signified in the one Lord Jesus Christ by the will itself. For although He had assumed the will according to the human intellect, He nevertheless did not have one contrary to God, but wholly conformed to Him, and by no means prone to sin, because the divine will was never absent from the natural; rather, it appeared such as the prophet said it would be in Him: "Before the child knows evil or good, he will reject evil and choose good" (Isa. 7:16). For behold, the cause of our salvation came voluntarily to death, although it was natural for Him not to wish to die, because by innate power nature shrinks from death, as the creator established in the beginning.

17. I have said that we have accepted this expression handed down to us by the Fathers; nor do I wish to introduce any further contradiction into the mystery; far from it! For even if He was sorrowful, and remained ignorant (as a man), and showed a shrinking from the passion, yet all these things, with the consent and pleasure of the Word dwelling in the flesh, and on account of His will, happened to the body: because the Word, as much as He pleased, granted to the body that it might act naturally, as we find written. By nature, indeed, it is provided that man does not wish to die: and God created Adam from the beginning naturally fearing death; otherwise, He would surely not have threatened him with death, saying: "On whatever day you eat from the tree, the taste of which I have forbidden you, you shall without doubt die by death," unless He had implanted in him the horror of death beforehand. And now, the soul of the Lord also shrank from death, but for the sake of the economy, that too was spontaneous and free. Hence He said to His disciples: "With desire have I desired to eat this pasch with you before I suffer" (Luc. 22:15). And elsewhere: "I have a cup which I must drink; and what do I wish but that I drink it?" (Joan. 18:11). And: "I have a baptism with which I must be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?" (Luc. 12:50). From these, therefore, we learn, as the learned Cyril opines, that the nature of Jesus Christ, while similar to ours, made the natural shrinking spontaneous for Himself, as was fitting for God.

18. And that we may summarize the things said and conclude the matter in few words, we say that God was made man, but not that man was assumed by Him, as Nestorius believed. For it was said: "And the Word was made flesh," and He dwelt.

in us; not appearing as an apparition, nor showing Himself as a shadow, but truly and materially made man, so that by this fruit the whole human race might be cleansed. And He possessed all things that He offered for our sake, as the great Apostle says. Therefore, since God was impassible, He did not refuse to become passible, so that the same One might be both having suffered and not having suffered: having suffered in the flesh, which He took from the womb of the holy Virgin, Mother of God, and at the same time having experienced whatever of blameless affections human nature possesses, and also the torments which He endured at the time of His passion from the crucifiers. He did not suffer, however, insofar as the divine nature suffered nothing, while His body was being racked not without His own will. Thus He also hung bodily upon the cross, to which He had betaken Himself by His own power, as the Lord Himself said. He died in the body, yet the Godhead did not depart from either part of His humanity, as it was entirely present in the lifeless body lying in the sepulchre, and simultaneously persevered in His soul as it descended to the lower parts of the earth, where, coming, He preached to the spirits who were in prison, as the prince of the apostles narrates. ^B

19. Let no one therefore search for excuses for his sins, nor let him who persists in sin blame the Church of God, as if she taught division in the mystery of Christ. Let no one, wrongly understanding some of the authorities of the Fathers, or distorting them, perversely conclude anything against the truth: and this is said especially to those who rashly and unjustly take scandal at the blessed Roman pontiff Leo and his words. We shall recount the testimonies of his epistle hereafter, ^C explaining their correct meaning, so that we may evidently demonstrate the orthodoxy of his faith, and that we may put to shame those who presume to favor Nestorius under the name of Leo. But if perhaps you (in Christ Jesus, I say) should detect in our writing anything contrary to your understanding, do not, I pray, hesitate to signify it, for whatever you please, and seek a more accurate solution of your doubts. For the great Athanasius also judged it equitable not to repel those who explain what they say in a correct sense. For he himself teaches this in his epistle to Eusebius, Lucinianus, and their associates: "You, therefore, who profess all these things, do not, I pray, condemn those who profess the same; but explain the words used by them; and do not, because of these inconsiderate expressions, reject the authors; but rather entreat them, and persuade them that they should wish to reconcile their opinions."

20. Since therefore it is explored, before the trembling tribunal of Christ, where all our acts, words, and thoughts will be judged, that whatever we have said up to now will be brought forward, endeavor, venerable brethren, that you may hold the bond of perfection and peace, so that you may be one body and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling: and that in one Lord, one faith, one baptism, we may be able to glorify God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His only-begotten Word, and the Holy Spirit, who is of their substance; in the same fold, I say, in the heavenly Church of the firstborn written in heaven; where dwell all who enjoy the same Lord our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor for ever. Amen.

DOGMATIC LETTERS OF SAINT GERMANUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE

^A 1. Epistola Gregorii sanctissimi papæ Romani ad sanctissimum Germanum, qui fuerat patriarcha Constantinopoleos.

What kind and what degree of delight knows how to gladden my soul like the welcome news concerning your name, which for me is truly venerable and worthily to be magnified, O sanctified and divinely prompted man? For this, even now, I have received as good tidings through your honorable letters, and I have exulted and been gladdened in spirit with excessive joy. Then, lifting my eyes to heaven, I offered thanks to God, the Lord of all, who has so willed even now, and works with you until the end, and brings all your affairs to light. For this is what I must pray for night and day, and I declare with confidence in Christ that I will never at any time abandon this desire. ^B My own memory of your benevolence, O most praiseworthy and beloved of God, at every hour bears witness to my speech; possessing this as an inhabitant of my lips, and being unable to bear the pain of the word, I immediately hastened to address you by letter. For it is a duty for me, and the most notable of all duties, to greet and address you, my brother and defender of the Church, and to praise the causes of your struggles. Even if someone were to say, and much more fittingly to cry out, that the precursor of impiety, who has now suffered, is about to exchange his evil action for your happy ones by a good action. For, like him who fell from above, he thought to roar and at once to prevail against piety, but he is hindered from above, cheated of his hope; and he heard from the Church those things which Pharaoh, the Egyptian tyrant, heard of old, when Moses sang concerning him: "The enemy said, 'Pursuing I shall overtake, I shall divide the spoils, I shall fill my soul.'" ^C But he also heard what the devil himself heard, when the prophetic curse was proclaimed against him: "Therefore God shall destroy you forever; He shall pluck you up and remove you from your tabernacle, and your root from the land of the living." Thus he perished, cheated of his hopes beyond the expectation of those who had expectations, his onslaught against God being enervated by the strength of your heavenly combat, O you apostate, ^D and driven to the extremity of total ruin, almost—

so that the saying of Scripture may be verified concerning him: ^A *The bow of the mighty is broken, and the weak are girded with strength* (1 Reg. 11, 4). For there is nothing in the weakness of God that stands as the strength of the abomination of those who fight against God, and it has been said that the world must war together with God against the senseless. Therefore, how should you, O holy one, not be moved to fight with God against those who are without God and against God? For they certainly encounter Him who is invisibly being attacked, or rather, to speak more truly, who is fighting alongside and putting the enemies to flight, just as you began the battle when God Himself showed you, commanding you to take the lead in the camp of the kingdom of Christ ^B with the truly glorious and signal standard—I mean the life-giving cross, the great trophy of His majesty against death, in which He has marked out the ends of the world in four parts, engraving them in ordinances. Then too, the holy image of the Mistress of all and truly pure Mother of God, whose face the rich of the people shall entreat (cf. Ps. 44, 13). For it is indeed holy, as it seems to the Fathers, which, being piously honored by you, has provided its rewards. For the honor of the image passes to the prototype, according to the great Basil. And the theme of the venerable images is full of piety, as Chrysostom says: "I even loved the wax-poured painting, filled with piety; for I saw in an image an angel ^C chasing the hosts of the barbarians, and David saying the truth: *O Lord, in thy city you shall bring their image to nothing* (Ps. 72, 20)." And the Church has by no means erred, even if it has been judged so. God forgive it; for the tradition is not according to a gentile sequence—far be it!—and the intention of the thing is tested by some standard, and what is accomplished is by no means considered. For not even in the city of Paneas was it rejected, because the woman with the issue of blood, piously moved for the remembrance of the miracle that happened to her, sent it—when the herb that had sprung up at the feet of the statue which had been erected by her in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and was strange in appearance, unknown, and set before all as a remedy for various infirmities ^D through the condescension and goodness of God Himself, our Savior. Such a divine erection is rather, we might say, legal, even if grace and truth are to be preferred to the types and the shadow. Therefore, the assembly of the saints, by the counsel of God, has delivered this chapter to the Church as a supreme cause of salvation, so that before the eyes of all, and in the depictions of colors, we may set up the venerable and holy character according to the humanity of Him who takes away the sin of the world; that through it we may contemplate the height of the humility of God the Word, and toward the memory of His conversation in the flesh, and of His passion, and of His saving death

^A by which the redemption for the world was brought about, being in a manner led by the hand, and there is herein no discordance with the divine things. For if the prophetic predictions have not attained their fulfillment, let not the things be written for the demonstration of those that have not yet come to pass; that is to say, if the Lord was not incarnate, let not His holy image according to the flesh be fashioned. If He was not born in Bethlehem of the all-glorious Virgin Theotokos, and the Magi did not offer gifts, and the angel did not stand over the shepherds, and the multitude of the heavenly host did not offer the hymn to the One born; if He who carries the universe was not borne as an infant in the arms of His mother, and the One who gives food to all flesh did not endure to be nourished by milk, let not this be fashioned either. If He who holds the primacy of life and death, and is the Lord of all, was not received by the elder, and made known and proclaimed through him, and entreated by him to grant dismissal; if He did not travel into Egypt by way of dispensation upon a light cloud—the all-luminous mother, strengthened by goodness and holiness—and descend from the height, and return from Egypt, and dwell in Nazareth, let them not be fashioned with colors. If He did not raise the dead, and restore the paralyzed, and grant purification to the lepers, and give sight to the blind, and then make the tongue of the dumb clear, and strengthen the foundations of the lame, and cast out demons; if He did not open the ears of the deaf, and perform all the miracles, and bring to pass the divine signs, let them not be inscribed ^B; and if He did not voluntarily accept the passion, and spoil Hades, and rising, ascend into heaven, He who is to come to judge the living and the dead, let not the writings and histories that recount these things be written, nor fashioned, either by letters or by colors. But if all these things have indeed come to pass, and great is the mystery of godliness, would that it were possible for the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all animals, and the plants, and whatever else exists, to recount them both by voices, and by letters, and by paintings. For the fashioning of things that do not exist is termed idolatrous imagery, which also Greek myth-making fabricated, foolishly asserting as fact, through the essence of things that never were, the poetry of things that have not happened. And there is no accord for the Church of Christ ^C with idols—heaven forbid! For we have not worshipped calves, nor fashioned a calf in Horeb, nor has the creation been considered God by us; nor, again, have we fallen down to a graven image, and been initiated into Beelphegor, nor have we been slayers or sacrificers of our own children, nor have we celebrated secret mysteries, nor have we ever offered our sons and daughters to demons, so that those things said by Solomon against the idolaters should be applied to us. For was the earth stained by us with blood? Or have we made an image in the temple ^D having a four-formed idol, and worshipped this? Have we depicted an abomination of creeping things and cattle upon the wall of the temple? Or, again, has Ezekiel seen us mourning for Adonis and offering incense to the sun? Concerning whom the Apostle says, "They worshipped the

^A creature rather than the Creator." Have we set up images of the two harlots in Egypt, Oola and Ooliab, and worshipped them? Or, again, have sacrifices been offered by us to Bel in Babylon, and to Dagon in Palestine, or have we fallen down before the other gods of the nations? These things are not so; they are not so. Let no one bring a charge, because the people of Christ, to this very day, have worshipped or served no name—among all things that exist and have been created—that is above every name, save for the holy and life-creating Trinity; God forbid! For the method of the worship of idols is manifest, but for Christian worshippers of God, the Lord of all is the one to be worshipped. But if someone, moved by a Jewish spirit to bring an accusation, slanders us with what was once spoken against the idolaters of old, and imputes idolatry to our Church because of the divine and wondrous guidance of the venerable images toward ^B higher things, let him be considered nothing else than a dog barking; and as he is cast far away like one in a sling, let him hear what the Jew hears: Would that Israel had been seen offering worship to God through the visible things that he was commanded to use, and through the typical objects had been mindful of the Creator, and had not held onto the calf and the flies above the tablets of the covenant! Would that he had desired the holy altar and not the calves of Samaria! Would that he had paid attention to the rod of Aaron and not to Astarte! It would have been good and just for him to embrace the saving Rock that divinely gave forth rain, and not Baal! Would that he had looked more to the rod of Moses, and the golden urn, the ark, the propitiatory, the plate, the ephod, the table, the inner and outer tabernacle—all of which were made for the glory of God, and though they were handmade, were yet called the Holy of Holies; and then also the sculpted Cherubim, of whose memory the Apostle ^C makes mention, saying: "Cherubim of glory overshadowing the propitiatory," upon which we are taught by Scripture that the divine glory is carried. If he had attended to these, he would not have fallen to idols. For every work done in the name of the Lord is by nature precious and holy. And what need is there to extend this letter into further length? Especially to a man who is pleasing to God, a chosen vessel of God, one who has received the grace of the Spirit and is capable of looking into the depths of divine dogmas, and with God as his guide, to contemplate the highest summit of knowledge. But let us return from here to the subject at hand, and as we admire the great works of your defender, most holy one and lord of all Christians, and how you yourself have been shown in all things to be guided and saved by her, and strengthened against your enemies. For they who have for so long a time ^D raged against her have found her as resistant as they have found

^A a persistent adversary. And this is not surprising. For if Bethulia was saved through the hand of Judith, the Israelite woman, whose work was the destruction of Holofernes, and whom those who lived at that time proclaimed as the savior of Israel, how much more should your most abundant holiness, endowed with such a Defender, have been expected to attack the enemies of the faith and crown those under your hand with victory? But through her supplications—and those of all the saints—may our God, who is mighty in battle, strong and long-suffering, who has led you like a sheep over Joseph, keep you, most holy one, for long years, that you may continue to do good for the whole Christian polity and may both teach and urge all to obey the sacred canon and to guard the deposit which we have received from the Fathers, converting those who for a little while have acted thoughtlessly; O our constant joy, and common benefit and refreshment, most holy one, and beloved by all Christians.

Tarasius the most holy patriarch said: Emulating the divine apostle Peter, this blessed father also sounded the truth to us like a trumpet from Rome.

Theodosius the most reverend monk and notary read it.

Epistola II: Letter of Germanus, most blessed patriarch of Constantinople, to John, bishop of Synnada

^B The letter of your God-belovedness was delivered to us by Tarasius, the most praiseworthy patrician, in which were contained matters regarding the God-beloved bishop of Nacolia. We signify to you, therefore, that even before we had received the letter of your God-belovedness, when the same God-beloved bishop had arrived here, we entered into conversation with him, examining his mind, as to what sort of opinion he held regarding what we had heard about him. And he presented to us this defense—for it is fitting to signify everything in detail to your God-belovedness—that he had heard the divine Scripture saying: "You shall not make for yourself any likeness to worship it, of what is in heaven above, or of what is on the earth." Against this ^C I said that it is not right to worship things made by hand—that is, things crafted by the work of men. For we count Christ’s holy martyrs, the true pearls of the faith, as worthy of all honor, and we invoke their intercessions. To this, therefore, we responded to him that the faith, worship, and adoration of Christians is directed to the one and only God, as it is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve." Our glorification and our service are offered to Him alone, as much by the saints who are in the heavens and the intelligible, incorporeal powers, as by those on

^A earth who have known the way of truth, just as in the churches of Christ located everywhere, the holy Trinity is praised and glorified in unity, lordship, and divinity, according to which one God is proclaimed by us, and there is none besides Him who rules in his power over the ages, and who brought all things from non-being into existence, as many as are visible and invisible; that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the holy consubstantial and life-giving Trinity. In whom also we, believing and confessing, were baptized, as the God-Word Himself, who became incarnate, handed down—He who is of this same holy and incomprehensible divine Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ—into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And we do not worship creatures—heaven forbid!—nor do we extend the worship owed to divine lordship to fellow servants. For even in bowing down before kings or rulers on earth, we are not seen to be offering the same worship as we do to God. For it is clear that the prophet Nathan bowed down ^B on earth before David, who was a man and a king; yet he shall not be accused for this as having worshipped a man instead of the existing God. Neither do we accept the making of images, which are fashioned through wax and colors, for the subversion of the perfection that pertains to divine worship. For we do not delineate an image, or likeness, or schema, or form of the invisible divinity, which not even the sublime orders of the holy angels themselves are able to contemplate or to investigate at all. But since the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, recalling his own handiwork from the condemnation of death, by the good pleasure of the Father and the Holy Spirit, deemed it worthy to become man, participating like us in blood and flesh, as the great Apostle said, becoming in all things like us without sin; by figuring the image of his human character and of his human species, ^C which He assumed in the flesh—and not of his incomprehensible and invisible divinity—we are urged from this to represent those things which belong to the faith, demonstrating that He did not unite our nature to Himself by fantasy and in shadow, as some of the ancient heretics, led astray, dogmatized; but that in very fact and truth He became man, perfect in all things, save only for the sin that was sown in us by the enemy. ^D And with this understanding of the secure faith we have in Him, we delineate and venerate the character of his holy flesh in images, and we deem it worthy of all veneration and of the honor that is becoming, coming thence into the remembrance of his divine and life-giving and ineffable incarnation. Similarly, we also depict in the same manner the likeness of his immaculate mother according to the flesh, the holy Theotokos, showing that, since she was a woman by nature,

she conceived in her own womb the invisible God, who governs all things by his hand, who is above every thought of angels and of men, and, having been incarnated of her, he came forth. For we worship her, ^A properly and truly, as the Mother of the true God, and we magnify her, and deem her superior to every visible and invisible creature. And we admire and bless the holy martyrs of Christ, the apostles and prophets, the holy ones, and the rest of the saints, who have become our fellow-servants and true ministers of God, who were proved to be friends of God through good works, the preaching of the truth, and patience in the sufferings which they endured for the sake of God himself, and who have obtained great boldness before him; and we depict their likenesses for the sake of the remembrance of their fortitude and their genuine service ^B toward God; not because we declare them to be participators in the divine nature do we bestow upon them the honor and adoration due to divine glory and power, but because we demonstrate thereby our love which we have toward them; and what we have believed to be true through hearing, these things we confirm also through the imitation of painting, for a firmer assurance. For, being knit together with flesh and blood, we are compelled by vision also to confirm with certainty the things that satisfy the soul. For even those saints of God, preserving their service, glorification, and adoration for the one and only God, and summoning and teaching all to do this, shed their own blood, and were crowned with the wreath of true confession. This is the mode of the making of images: not that we transfer the adoration befitting the incomprehensible and inaccessible Divinity in spirit and truth to handmade images, or to works of the art of men’s hands, or generally to those things which were made by God as creatures, whether in visible or in invisible things; but because we manifest in such a way the love ^C which we justly possess toward the true servants of our God, we refer the glorification and worship through their honor to the God who was glorified by them and who glorified them in the confession of his lordship, so that we also may be proved to be imitators of their fortitude and of the love which is toward God, through good works and by opposition against the passions. That the making of images in the Church of Christ is to be conducted, therefore, in accordance with this mode, let everyone be fully persuaded, and that we are to expect the things of salvation in this visible world and in the world to come from no other source than from the only-begotten Son of God, who, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, dispenses divine gifts. For there is no other name given ^D among men, by which we must be saved. Moreover, although we venerate the images of our Lord and Savior, and of his immaculate Mother, who is truly the Theotokos, and of his saints, we do not have the same affection and faith toward them as we do...

But we know God as without beginning and infinite, holding all things in his hand, the Creator of us and of all creation, and truly ^A the Savior God, having power in heaven and on earth, who truly became man for the sake of the human race; and we receive his handmaid, who is properly his Mother, as a most powerful advocate for our race. Him we receive as our Master, dispensing the things of our salvation; her, as one who maternally petitions on our behalf; and all the saints, as our fellow-servants, existing of the same nature as we, but having become pleasing to God, as has been said before, and having obtained the highest confidence and blessedness with him, and having received grace from God to minister to us his benefits, the healings of our sufferings, and the deliverance from dangers through the invocation of our God in the remembrance of them, we deem worthy of the honor and the glorifications in hymns that are possible for us. "For the memory of the just," as Scripture says, "is with praises." All these things we set before the aforementioned God-beloved bishop of Nacolia; he both received them, and confessed that he stands thus before the God of all, and that he would neither say nor do anything to scandalize the people or to cause them disturbance. Therefore, may your God-belovedness know this, and neither cause your God-beloved synod to be troubled, nor let any scandal arise for it in this matter. But rather, having summoned him, and having read our letters present here, and having received assurance of his agreement through them, may you pray for the long life and victory of our most excellent masters and emperors, and may you also ask for the Christian people the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. ^B

Tarasius the most holy patriarch said: Our father the holy Germanus agrees with the most holy Fathers who came before him. The holy synod said: Truly, master, he agrees in all things. Tarasius the most holy patriarch said: Having received these letters, the [bishop] of Nacolia hid them, and did not give them to his metropolitan. To this, the blessed Germanus writes again to the [bishop] of Nacolia. For the beginning of the heresy was from him. Theodosius the God-beloved monk, deacon, notary, and skeuophylax of the venerable patriarchal oratories, read.

III. Of our Father among the saints, Germanus, to Constantine, bishop of Nacolia.

John the God-beloved metropolitan of the Synadensians.

^A His God-belovedness has written to us that your God-belovedness did not deliver our letters to him; for which we have been not a little grieved with you, for you have, as it seems, set aside withal the fear of God, and the love and honor owed by the members of Christ to one another. For this reason, through these our present letters, we charge your God-belovedness to deliver immediately and in person our aforementioned letter to the aforementioned God-beloved metropolitan of yours, and to pay him every honor, and to submit to him according to the order befitting priests. And just as your God-belovedness received our words and promised to follow them, so let it remain, not being wise in its own conceit. For it is not ignorant, nor indeed has it forgotten, as we suppose, that it even asked us to renounce its own bishopric, pretending that an incursion was being meditated against it—things of which, as it said itself, it was not conscious; asserting that it said or did nothing to the insult of the Lord or his saints because of their image, but only pursued the teaching of the Scripture, in that nothing ^B among created things deserves divine honor. This, indeed, we also have been taught is the case, and we firmly hold and confess it. But the things written by us to its aforementioned God-beloved metropolitan, we read to it; and it professed to remain in these [positions], and we provided it with copies of such a letter. Do not, therefore, wish to become a stumbling block to a guileless people, mindful of the terrible judgment of the Lord, which he threatened to bring upon those who scandalize one of the little ones. Let it know this, however, that until it delivers our letter to its most God-beloved metropolitan, it has no authority, by the authority of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, to touch any priestly ministry whatsoever. For it behooves us the rather to deal more severely with it than to leave it unreproved, to be held accountable to the condemnation of God.

Tarasius the most holy patriarch said: As I also said before, venerable brothers, the introduction of this imported innovation came from the aforementioned man, the bishop of Nacolia.

Constantine the God-beloved deacon and notary read. ^C

IV. Epistle of Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople, to Thomas, Bishop of Claudiopolis.

The most wise Solomon says somewhere in his sayings: “A brother helped by a brother is like a strong and high city; and he is strong as a kingdom fortified with bars.” But I, not reckoning myself among those who are able to help, but rather among those who are in need of help, have [undertaken] to write the present letter to your God-belovedness, ^D not wishing to be...

^A troubled by my own thoughts. For I have heard that you have done certain things, which, if they are—to use the words of the theologian Gregory—lies, let the breezes carry them away; but if they are true, confusion has encompassed my mind from every side. For do you suppose that even you, following the sluggishness of the many, have only painted the sweetness of love upon your lips, and have not let it descend into the depths of your mind, intending in this way to reason that we do not burn toward you with a sincere love? Or is this it not at all, but rather that our ignorance, and our slothfulness and neglect regarding those things which are pleasing to God, have caused you to despise us, inasmuch as you have felt no great concern to search out the divine will according to the holy commandment delivered to us through the sacred Scriptures? Or perhaps such a suspicion is not the correct one, and it is ^B perhaps to be supposed that, having received a superior revelation (for I am loath to call it conceit and intellectual pride—for, as the divine Apostle says [*1 Cor. xiii, 5*], love does not ponder evil), you arrived at such a conviction, which you are under necessity to make manifest to us. Yet a not unreasonable occasion has arisen for us to entertain such suspicions, because your God-belovedness, having spent a long time among us and resided with us, and occasionally proposing inquiries regarding the words and questions of the Scriptures, never once raised any discussion with us about icons, whether of holy men, or of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself, and of His holy and truly Theotokos Mother according to the flesh; nor did you do so as one seeking to find the precise truth, that is, as one asking what our sentiment regarding this might be, and whether what is done in these matters is ^C according to reason, bringing no condemnation before God upon those who perform them. But neither did you present yourself to take counsel with us, treating such a matter as worthy of firm conviction—so that we too might adhere to the same opinion—but rather, having kept the matter in complete silence among us, you have, as we have learned, carried out the destruction of icons in the city in which you reside, as if by a common and indisputable debate—if the truth of the matter is indeed so, we shall speak again. For indeed, our soul is not quick to believe without careful proof those things which are frequently said to disparage our neighbor. But, considering it necessary, as if in a discussion ^D and brotherly examination, to make clear our own opinion, we have determined to go through these matters in detail. First, we remind you that we ought by all means to guard against innovations in affairs, especially where a disturbance and cause of scandal follows for the peoples who are in the faith of Christ, and furthermore, where a custom of long time has prevailed in the churches. For if the Scripture gives instruction regarding the drinking of wine with counsel, much more ought we to set about more critical matters with greater discussion, so that we might not become liable to the fearful judgment that also [condemns] the one who causes one of the little ones to stumble.

^A And in another way, we are also obligated to overturn the words or deeds gathered by unbelievers for the injury of the Church of Christ, and to demonstrate that her dignity and divinity are unshakable.

It is necessary to know this first of all: that not only now, but frequently, the Jews have brought such reproaches upon us. Those who are truly worshipers of idolatry also seek only to defile the unpolluted and divine faith that is ours, and are not intent on paying attention to things made by hands. ^B Indeed, all their zeal and worship is centered upon this: proposing that there is nothing higher than things that are seen and perceived, but rather humiliating the divine nature in diverse ways—either by enclosing within a certain place His providence, which oversees all things, or by defining it with bodily forms. These [men] our predecessors not unworthily repelled from the sheepfold of Christ, Scripturally terming them "dumb dogs" barking in vain, whose labors are not before us.

Yet the word of truth also makes these men shrink back from their own impious inventions. For one [part of the argument] makes public the sacrifice of the pagans and the vileness and execration of their myths. Another makes the Jews blush, not only by reproaching their fathers for having fallen away to idols, but also because they act against the Law which they boast of keeping: ^C for whereas it decreed that the typological sacrifices should be offered in a certain defined place, they do not hesitate to perform this in every place throughout the world, following the customary faithlessness toward the Holy Spirit by patristic precedent, and in this way sacrificing to demons and not to God. For true service and worship toward the true God is most certainly achieved in the observance of the holy confession concerning Him, and in the keeping of the laws and mysteries which have been given by Him, whether generally or in detail.

As for the Saracens, ^D because they also are seen to level such an objection, it suffices for their confusion and shame to bring forward the acclamation which is celebrated by them even unto the present day in the desert to an inanimate stone, and the invocation of the one called Chobar, and the other ludic mysteries of their vain, tradition-bound way of life, which they practice as at a notable festival. But the most peculiar form for all Christians throughout the whole world serving God under one yoke—that is, the yoke of the Gospel, as the prophet says—is their faith and confession, believing in one God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, an uncreated, eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, consubstantial, and co-enthroned Trinity; and the confession of the...

^A perfect incarnation of the Son of God, and of the other things according to the power of the sacred symbol, which the people of Christ unanimously offer to God before the mystical and holy oblation; and also that spiritual regeneration which is celebrated in the name of these same three divine principal Persons through holy baptism; and the divinely-working participation and communion in the life-giving symbols of the bloodless sacrifice; through which the illumination of the truth shines forth, and the darkness of impiety is driven away, having within itself also the most manifest mark of its own error, which is the atheism of polytheism. These things are so opposed to one another, to speak apostolically, in the way that God ^B at the beginning divided between light and darkness. Let the blessed evangelist John, therefore, say with us: "This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith" (1 John v, 4). And let it be added by us, and also said: This is the rock upon which Christ built His own Church, (Matt. xvi, 16) unconquerable and unshakable by the gates of Hades, that is, by the assaults of the opposing powers. Hence we have obtained a new name, which, as Isaiah says, shall be blessed. For he speaks thus: "They shall bless the true God" (Isa. lxv, 16), proclaiming the incomprehensible and unsearchable nature of His ineffable essence; preaching with undoubted certainty that He is invisible, uncircumscribed, and in every way unchangeable, and ^C contemplating with the mind—according to the most holy Paul (Rom. i, 20)—His eternal power and divinity from the creation of the world, understood through the things that have been made. Thus we have been deemed worthy to serve the living and true God, and we have been honored and glorified by the freedom with which Christ has liberated us, having been delivered from every idolatrous error and impiety: the chief mark of which is to say to the stone, "You are my father," and to the wood, "You have begotten me," according to the voice of the prophet (Jerem. ii, 27); and not to look up into the heaven, as Isaiah cries out (Isa. xl, 26), and to consider who it is that shows all these things: who brings out his world by number, and calls all by name for ^D much glory and in the multitude of strength; whose hands fashioned all the host of heaven, as another of the prophets said; or, contemplating the harmonious order of the rest of the entire creation, through it to perceive with the intellect of the soul, in an analogous way, the Maker Who produced it, and through Him to worship the Father and the truly existent God, just as the blessed Athanasius, in composing his discourse against idols, teaches most clearly. As, therefore, there is no communion of light with darkness, or concord of Christ with Belial (II Cor. vi, 15), so there is nothing in common for Christians, who revere one God worshipped in inaccessible glory and power, with those who fashion a god, and are justly censured for this by the prophet. For to those men, their heart is ashes, as it is written: of whom some, by the making of their...

own idol, imagine that a new god is being created for them out of non-existence, and when it falls to pieces or is destroyed for any reason, they firmly maintain that they have no god at all, unless they create another one in the same way. The divine Scripture teaches us this clearly in what happened in the desert regarding the making of the calf by the Israelites, when they raised a sedition against Aaron and said: «Make us gods, that they may go before us,» ^B indicating by this that they believed that there was no God at all, neither the true One nor one of a false name, unless the idol they desired was crafted for them; to which they later attributed their exodus from Egypt, showing the extremity of their impiety and folly. Others, after this, having entered into the confusion of Gentile religion and hastening to cover it over under the name of the gods worshipped among them, busied themselves with the crafting of idols—namely of Zeus, whom they declared both father and consul (that is, the most sublime ^C of gods and men)—as well as of the rest, whose names are not unknown to the many. Their venerations and honors, which were performed through the sacrifices celebrated by them, were fornication and luxury, and the manifestation of every impurity; to say little, they were shameful words and blasphemies, since among them even murders were committed with zeal in honor of a god, and the procession was honored by their shameful works, taken up in honor of those who were worshipped, as if those who performed these things were congratulating those who did them.

Furthermore, the icons of holy men among Christians, who have resisted sin even to the point of bloodshed according to the voice of the Apostle, ^D and who have served the word of truth—namely the prophets and apostles, or even those who through a pious life and the direction of good works have truly been shown to be servants of God—are nothing else than a pattern of courage, a standard of venerable living and virtues, and an incitement and awakening to glorify God, whom they pleased well in the present life. For the discourse that explains the deeds of good men helps those who hear it, and frequently invites them to a zeal for imitation. This very thing happens even according to a reasonable principle, if the purpose of the images is heeded. For what the discourse of history commends through hearing, this the painting silently shows through imitation; the great Basil cries out, saying that from both of these, those who pay attention are stirred up to courage. For it becomes, as one might say, a brief and summary narration of the deeds by the painter in the image for us who look upon it, a formation of the vision itself that is worthy of imitation—just as, therefore, with the idols of the false gods, their wicked...

actions exist concurrently; and this kind of contemplation urges the one who has received the history of the holy men by hearing into a remembrance of those things heard, while it prepares the one who is ignorant to inquire diligently, and it sets the things taught by the former into a fervent desire and praise of God. Thus, through both of these, it leads those who look upon the good works of the holy ones to glorify our Father who is in heaven, according to the voice of the Gospel. If, then, the legislation according to Moses commands the people to place a blue thread on the fringes at the edges of their garments for the memory and keeping of the things commanded, how much more does it befit us, through the representational painting of holy men, to behold the outcome of their way of life, and to imitate their faith according to the apostolic teaching? ^B To have the character of the Lord’s appearance according to the flesh formed in images is, on one hand, a refutation of the heretics who babble that He was a man in phantasy and not in truth, and on the other hand, a guidance for those who are not at all capable of ascending to the height of spiritual contemplation, but who also require a certain bodily understanding for the confirmation of the things heard, inasmuch as it is more useful and more earnest. For the mystery that covered even the heavens ^C with its majesty, having been hidden from the ages and from the generations in God who created all things, does not have faith only from hearing (for faith comes from hearing, says the Apostle), but it is also confirmed through sight in the minds of those who see, and it cries out in power that God was manifest in the flesh and believed on in the world; it will be found to be holier and more salvific than all things, so that those things written through the evangelical proclamations concerning His way of life with men on earth according to the flesh might, for the sake of the peoples, be inscribed in monuments—that they may not be erased—and that the worship of His glory and His goodness toward us may be more clearly proclaimed and adored. For it is not the mixture of woods and colors that is adored, ^D but the invisible God, who is in the bosom of the Father; He himself receives the adoration in spirit and in truth, granting us through Himself the access to the Father, and being adored together with Him. Since Jacob, too, is said to have worshipped upon the top of Joseph’s staff, not offering the act of worship to the wood, but demonstrating honor to him who held it. Thus, therefore, the likeness of the holy and all-glorious Mother of the Lord has been devised and honored by the people of Christ; thus, such things were received by the prelates of the most holy Churches from of old, and these have met with no prohibition.

^A Although, after the passing of persecutions and the prevalence of faith everywhere, and with ecumenical councils having taken place even down to our own generation, they have set forth canons regarding many chapters far lesser than the discourse concerning images. Yet it was not to be expected that they would leave such a matter unexamined and conceded, if, according to the opinion of some, this custom which has been held among us from of old is to be associated with the forms and abominations of idols contained in the divine Scriptures, and leads to the alienation of God. For He who said that He would be with the apostles until the consummation of the age, manifestly promises this also to those who, after them, are the overseers of His Church. For He was not to remain with them bodily until the passing of the present age; but also, by saying that He would be present with those two or three gathered in His name, He surely would not abandon such multitudes, gathered by zeal for piety toward Him, devoid of His divine inspiration and guidance, so as not to see that they had attained to the perseverance of the perfection of His Church, which we believe He has presented to Himself not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, although this custom has been retained not in a few or obscure cities, but, so to speak, in almost all regions, and in illustrious and principal Churches. That it is ^B ancient for the historical narratives of the Scriptures to be frequently depicted in images is proven by the sermon of Gregory of Nyssa of holy memory, having the superscription concerning Abraham, in which he teaches that the history of the sacrifice of Isaac has been taken up in paintings. But if matters stand thus according to them, then much more should the miracles and passions of our Lord's dispensation receive such manifestation, just as also the athletic deeds of the holy martyrs, which stir those who look upon them to good zeal; this is clearly shown to have happened also in the struggle of the most brave and wonderful witness of the truth, Anastasius. ^C But perhaps someone might say that it is necessary for us to observe the precepts of the holy Scripture, as for instance: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of all that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them." And again: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." And in Deuteronomy: "Do not act unrighteously, and make for yourselves a graven likeness, and things pertaining to them." But all these things have an obvious meaning, that the divine ^D

^A nature is eternal and incomprehensible, and is to be considered like nothing of the things which are seen, being led by conjectures and suspicions toward bodily conceptions. For having foretold, "You saw no likeness in the day that the Lord spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire"—having foretold these things, he added immediately: "Do not act unrighteously, and make for yourselves a graven likeness, and those things with them." This he said while reminding them of the making of the calf that had taken place, and also while securing them, so that they might not themselves, according to the custom of the Egyptians which they knew, slip into such impiety, and consider the Divinity to be similar to these things. For the great Apostle also says ^B this in his public address to the Athenians: "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine is like to gold or silver or stone, a graven work of human art and thought." And the same meaning holds for that which says: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain"; that is, you shall not speak and consider as God what is not truly God, but has been deemed worthy of such a conjecture and title in vain.

But for us, as the great Apostle teaches: "One God the Father, of whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things; and one Holy Spirit, in whom are all things,"—not that a natural difference is introduced through the changing of the prepositions; God forbid! For the three are one God understood with one another, as the wise Gregory teaches. ^C Therefore, to no one—that is, to nothing other than the holy and life-creating Trinity—has the people of Christ until today brought the name which is above every name, or the worship, or the adoration; God forbid! For in every way, the divine Scripture, by adding the prohibition of worshipping such things, makes it clear that we are alien and entirely detached from such an error. For the manner of the worship of idols is manifest. But among us, just as there is one God who is worshipped, and one and the selfsame faith in Him, and one saving baptism, so also there is one worship offered to Him by us, as it has been handed down from the holy apostles, and kept; ^D both the sacrifice of praise, which the divine Apostle said is to be offered to God and the Father through Christ, that is, the fruit of lips confessing to His name; and the most divine tradition which takes place in the life-giving mysteries, which the prophet Malachi foretold as if speaking from the person of God: "For from the rising of the sun even to the setting, my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice." There is, therefore, no agreement of the temple of God, that is, of His Church, with idols; God forbid. For this has been called by the Apostle the pillar and ground of the truth; but the names of the idols shall be destroyed from the earth, the prophet Zechariah cries out, so that every place to the house of David—that is, to the Church of Christ, of which house we are—by the reception

and armament of truth, as it is apostolically called ^B: but the names of idols shall be destroyed from the earth, the prophet Zechariah cries out, when every place shall be opened to the house of David, that is, to the Church of Christ, whose house we are, through the reception of his faith. To these, indeed, are added both those things which are in the Wisdom called of Solomon, and those things which lie before the grandiloquent Isaiah. For there it is said: "The beginning of fornication is the invention of idols. But their discovery is the corruption of life. For they were not from the beginning, nor shall they be for all time. For by the vain glory of men it came into the world, and therefore a brief end for them was devised," and the rest. But at the prophet's: "They shall be confounded who fashion a god," and carve [him]: "and all from whence they were made are withered, and they became deaf from men," and those things which are brought forth with them, the invention of the carpenter's art: and the transformation of woods which are for the service of men into the shape of a man, and the publication of the madness of those who adore them: to which is added: "See, you shall not say that there is a lie in my right hand," which he brought in towards the destruction of the aforementioned impiety. We, therefore, knowing and believing in the Son of God, who is the truth and the right hand of the Father, are shown to be foreign to the aforementioned condemnation of the prophet, and according to this I shall opportunely say the prophetic word: "What is chaff to the wheat?" What familiarity is there of the non-subsistent levity, which is winnowed by the spirits of iniquity, of those who serve the creature rather than the Creator, to the foster-son of true knowledge of God, who is found in all the people of Christ? For those people, of whom Isaiah spoke, "Upon the summits of the mountains they were sacrificing, and upon the hills they were sacrificing, under the oak and the poplar and the shading tree"; because he reads well, as another of the prophets, contemporary with Isaiah, cries out. But the people of Christ worship the King of ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only, and wise God in his holy court, performing worship in spirit and in truth, and incessantly offering all praise and glorification to the life-giving Trinity. But the brief end of idols, which Wisdom proclaims, that is, their demolition, and that they do not remain for eternity, has come from nowhere else than from the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; which his Church, which from the ends to the ends of the world has been acquired by his blood, always piously sensing, confesses and glorifies. Nothing, therefore, of the condemnation of idols which is written in those [Scriptures] does the genuine and true worshipper of the Trinity, the people of Christ, draw upon itself, from the fact of having icons of holy men for the remembrance of their virtue; just as no reproach or condemnation is brought upon the blessed apostle Paul, who forbade circumcision in the flesh and reproved those wishing to be justified by the law, by the fact that he circumcised Timothy, and shaved his head legally, and offered sacrifice in the Temple.

^A For one ought not to look simply at what is done, but everywhere the intention of those who do them is examined; and this either acquits the doer of blame, or, on the contrary, condemns him. For if this were not carefully observed, perhaps even the commandment of God Himself would not be free from reproach among the unbelievers—if, while the law forbids a graven or molten image, the Cherubim of glory which overshadow the mercy seat upon the ark, as the Apostle calls them, were of such a construction; by which we are taught, not only from Scripture, but also by the blessed Athanasius interpreting the saying in the Psalm, "Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, shine forth," that the divine glory was borne, ^B and he hands down such an understanding concerning them. And yet the archetypes of those Cherubim are altogether unknown in nature to men; for they are spirit and fire, and alien to every bodily formation and nature. For the things said more corporeally by the prophet concerning them have a symbolic and anagogical sense, and cannot be understood otherwise in accordance with the venerable reason and that which befits incorporeal things. And it is necessary to say this, that in no way do Christians, when depicting or honoring the form of those who are kinsmen according to the flesh, or acquaintances and friends, or deeming them worthy of any honor, ^C think these things because they are yielding to the power of imperial decrees, for which those men are justly blamed who, "professing themselves to be wise, became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man," as the Apostle says. So that also from this it is clearly shown, in this way, that the accusation contained in the Scripture cannot be applied to us. If, therefore, we were shown to be transferring pious opinions about the Divinity to corporeal things, or abandoning the worship and adoration befitting God, or in any way obscuring them by such a thesis, it would be well that those things which occupy us and distract us from the worship and devotion toward the one and true God be taken away; but now we see the contrary happening. ^D For someone looking with understanding at an image of one of the saints, as is fitting, says, "Glory to Thee, O God," adding the name of the saint, so that by this manner also, that which is said by us in prayer may be fulfilled: that the all-holy name of Christ may be glorified through both visible and invisible things. But we do not permit ourselves to call anyone of the holy men "God," although He who is strictly and alone God has bestowed this appellation upon those who have pleased Him, as is written in the holy book of the Psalms.

^A Nor, again, as though we considered such images to be a sufficient certainty of the knowledge of God, do we make little of the gathering which takes place in the churches of God, or despise it; but day and night, or as I might say with the Psalmist, evening and morning and at noon we bless God, as David says, and especially in the time of the divine mystery and liturgy. But knowing clearly that hope of salvation accrues to us from no other source than from pious faith in and confession of the one true God, who is worshipped in Trinity—of which one part consists in the heart, and the other is uttered by the mouth: "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation"—we always have the praise of God Himself who created us in our mouths, and we carry His exaltations in our throats; and all the people of Christ, for the reception of His most holy body and blood, through which we celebrate the memorial of His death and resurrection according to His own tradition, are urged on with insatiable desire and divinely-moved industry, more so than the hart toward the fountains of waters. ^B But let not that scandalize some, that the lighting of lamps and the offering of fragrant incense take place before the images of the saints. For such things were devised to be celebrated symbolically for the honor of those whose rest is with Christ, and whose honor refers back to Him; this the wise Basil proves, saying that honor toward good fellow-servants has the proof of goodwill shown toward the common Lord. For the sensible lights are a symbol of the immaterial and divine illumination; and the incense of aromatics is a sign of the pure and total inspiration and fullness of the Holy Spirit.

And these things we have deemed necessary to write as against the emerging oppositions and contradictions which are allegedly put forward from the Scriptures, beseeching you to pursue by every means what is without scandal and disturbance for the peoples; especially since the Lord commands that not even one of the least should be despised ^C; and likewise He brings an unbearable and terrible condemnation upon those who scandalize them. But now, all cities and multitudes of peoples are in no small tumult over this matter; let us take every care, that we may not seem to be the cause of this. Above all, we must provide for that which troubles my mind: that those who are enemies of the cross of Christ against our faith may not herein seize an opportunity for arrogance, saying that until now Christians have been in error. For if they had not recognized this as idolatry, they would not have made this recent rejection of things made by human hands. That this brings deep injury and overthrow to the faith in Christ, everyone will confess. For indeed, they will certainly say this as something plausible, that to those who have once been wandering there is no possibility of persuasion at all, as if the truth were not in them.

^A Furthermore, what more could I say, when our most pious and Christ-loving emperors themselves, erecting a monument that is truly of their own love for God—I mean the image before the palace—placing upon it the likenesses of the apostles and prophets, and inscribing upon it their words concerning the Lord, have proclaimed the saving Cross as the glorification of their own confidence? ^B The principal points concerning what is being said are that God has worked miracles through various images, about which many desire to recount many things: for instance, the healings of the infirm, of which we ourselves have had experience, and the solutions to difficulties, which we have often witnessed in dreams through the pictures. Moreover, the most manifest thing of all, which sustains no contradiction or ambiguity, is the image that formerly existed at Sozopolis in Pisidia, an image of the all-pure Theotokos, which poured forth an emanation of myrrh from its painted palm. There are many witnesses to this miracle. And if such a working of miracles by an image is not seen now, this is not why the former things should be disbelieved; for otherwise those signs and diverse charisms of the Spirit recounted in the Acts of the Apostles at the beginning of the preaching—which are now not performed at all—might be judged unbelievable. ^C For the man-loving God, through such condescension, was making those who were disposed to be weaker more confirmed in the faith concerning Him, and at the same time showing the power of His own divinity through these things, just as it happened in the time of the apostles. For sometimes their shadow, and sometimes the sudaria taken from their garments, provided healings. Just as, therefore, in those cases it was not the shadow of every body, but that of Peter alone that gave healing to the sick; likewise also the sudaria were not from every garment, but only those of Paul healed the sick, for the assurance of the faith of the God preached by them, He likewise demonstrating His own grace even through inanimate objects; so too it often pleased Him to happen in the case of images, not that such a kind of benefit occurs in every image or painting among those who believe, but only in those of the saints, or of the Lord Himself; so that one might not suspect the healings to occur by chance, but from the grace of our God alone. ^D It is worthy, as I think, not to leave unnoted that also which Eusebius of Pamphilus has placed in his ecclesiastical History: that in the city of Paneas, which the Gospel calls Caesarea Philippi, there is said to be the house of the woman with the issue of blood, who was healed by the hem of the Savior, as is written in the Gospels. Of which house they say that at the doors stands a bronze statue, bearing the image of the Lord, and opposite it the form of a woman bowed at the knees, existing with her hands stretched out before her, like one beseeching, in remembrance of the miracle which

was zealously performed for her; and how at the feet of the statue made in the name of the Lord, a certain herb grew, strange in appearance and unknown, which becomes a remedy for various illnesses; which Eusebius says he saw for himself. Manifestly, the Savior was performing the signs of His own dispensational grace for the faith of the little woman, and demonstrating what we indicated above, that the things which are done are not to be weighed simply, but the intention of the one performing them is to be approved. The same Eusebius says, at the same time, that he also saw the images of the apostles Peter and Paul, and of Christ Himself, preserved in paintings by means of colors. ^B We do not say this so that we might strive to make bronze statues, but only to show that the Lord did not reject even that which was done according to Gentile custom, but, the Lord willing, it was demonstrated in it for a very long time the miracle of His own goodness. How the custom that has obtained among us is more venerable, let the discourse of commemoration teach. Hence, we may conclude our mention regarding these things. May the God of truth, who has led us into all truth, and who drives away every occasion of dissension and cause of disturbance from our souls, make us worthy of the supercelestial kingdom, glorifying Him unanimously in one Spirit.

Tarasius the most holy patriarch said: The guardians of the catholic Church have cried out, our holy Fathers, that is, who always watch over her intelligible battlements; they have repelled every onslaught and vain word; and, keeping her unrent, they have pursued the entire phalanx of the adversaries, and together with the ancient heresies, they have pierced the error of the new wickedness of those who attack Christians with slanders by the sword of the Spirit. Let us therefore say, all with one voice, with our master Paul the divine apostle: “Christ is our peace, who has made both one” (Eph. 2:14). To Him befits glory, honor, and adoration with the Father and the holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The holy synod cried out: The teachings of the God-voiced Fathers have corrected us. ^D Drawing from them, we have drunk the truth. Following them, we have pursued falsehood. Taught by them, we revere the holy images.

[index: entries preserved]

^A Fathers preach, we are children of obedience, and we rejoice in the face of our mother, the tradition of the Catholic Church. Believing in one God, to be praised in the Trinity, we revere the honorable images. Let those who do not hold to this be anathema. Let those who do not think this way be driven far from the Church. We follow the ancient legislation of the Catholic Church. We preserve the laws of the Fathers; we anathematize those who add anything to or take anything away from the Catholic Church. We anathematize the intrusive innovation of those who accuse Christians. We revere the venerable images. We subject those who do not hold to this to anathema. Anathema to those who accuse Christians—that is, to those who smash images. Anathema to those who use the sayings of Holy Scripture, which are against idols, against the venerable images. Anathema to those who do not revere the holy and venerable images. Anathema to those who call the sacred and venerable images idols. Anathema to those who say that Christians approach images as if to gods. Anathema to those who knowingly communicate with those who insult and dishonor the venerable images. Anathema to those who say that, except for Christ our God, another has saved us from idols. Anathema to those who dare to say that the Catholic Church ever received idols.

And after the aforementioned anathemas were proclaimed ^C by chart, the holy synod, with Euthymius, Bishop of Sardis, reading, pronounced what is set forth below.

Fulfilling the divine precept of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, our holy Fathers did not hide the lamp of divine knowledge given to them by Him under a bushel, but placed it upon the lampstand of most beneficial teaching, that it might shine upon all who are in the house—that is, those born in the Catholic Church—lest any of those who piously confess the Lord should stumble their foot against the stone of heretical and evil opinion. For they expel every error of heretics, and the putrefied member, if it languishes incurably, they cut off; and holding the winnowing fan, they cleanse the threshing floor: and the wheat, that is, the word which nourishes and strengthens the heart of man, they shut up in the granary of the Catholic Church; but the chaff of heretical and evil opinion, casting it out, they burn with unquenchable fire.

Wherefore also this holy and universal synod, by the ^D good pleasure of God and the nod of our pious and most faithful emperors, Irene the new Helena, and the new Constantine, of this God-protected shoot, gathered for the second time in this illustrious metropolis of the Nicaeans, having considered through reading the dogmas of our glorious and blessed Fathers, glorifies God Himself, from whom was given to them the word for our instruction, and for the perfection of the catho-

catholic ^A and apostolic Church. But as for those who do not hold their views, but strive to obscure the truth which truly is, through their own innovations, they cause the psalmic voice to resound: "How many evils the enemies have done in thy sanctuary, and boasted, saying that there is no teacher, and he shall not know us," as they deal deceitfully with the word of truth. We, however, holding in all respects the dogmas and practices of the same God-bearing Fathers of ours, proclaim with one mouth and one heart, adding nothing, taking nothing away from those things which were delivered to us by them; but by these we are strengthened, by these we are confirmed. Thus we confess, thus we teach, as the holy and universal six synods have defined and confirmed. And we believe ^B in one God the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible: and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word of his, by whom all things were made. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, consubstantial and coeternal with the same Father and his Son, who together with him is without beginning: a Trinity uncreated, indivisible, incomprehensible, uncircumscribed; the same whole and sole to be served [latria], and to be adored, and to be venerated: one deity, one lordship, one power, one kingdom and might, which is divided in the persons indivisibly, and united in the substance divisibly. We confess also the one of the same holy and consubstantial Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, in the last days for our salvation incarnate and made man, having saved through his life-giving dispensation, his passion and resurrection, and his ascent into heaven, our race, and having delivered us from the error of idols; and as the prophet says: "Not a legate, not an angel, but the Lord himself saved us." Him we too follow, making his voice our own, crying out with a loud voice: Not a synod, not the power of princes, not a conspiracy odious to God have delivered the Church from the error of idols, as did the Jewish council which raged against the venerable images; ^C but the Lord of glory himself, being God incarnate, has saved us and snatched us from the deception of idols. To him, therefore, be glory, to him thanks, to him thanksgiving, to him praise, to him magnificence: his is the redemption, his the salvation, who alone can save unto the full, and not others who originate from the ground, [mere] men. He it is who, among us upon whom the ends of the ages have come, through his incarnate dispensation has fulfilled the sayings foretold by his prophets, dwelling in us, and walking among us, and wiping out the names of the idols from the earth, as it is already written. We salute also the Lord’s and the apostolic and ^D

^A prophetic voices, through which we have been taught to honor and magnify, first of all, her who is properly and truly the Theotokos, who is above all the heavenly powers; and the holy and angelic powers, the blessed and all-praised apostles, the glorious prophets, and the victorious witnesses who contended for Christ, and the holy and God-bearing teachers, and all the righteous men; and to seek their intercessions, as being able to make us familiar to the King of all, God, provided that we keep His commandments and choose to live virtuously. Furthermore, we also salute the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, and the holy relics of the saints, and we receive, salute, and embrace the holy and venerable icons according to the ancient tradition ^B of the holy, Catholic Church of God, that is, of our holy Fathers, who both received these and established that they should be in all the most holy churches of God and in every place of His dominion. These precious and venerable icons, as has been said before, we honor and salute, and we venerate with honor; that is to say, the icon of the incarnation of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, and of our immaculate Lady, the all-holy Theotokos, from whom He Himself was pleased to become incarnate, and to save, and to deliver us from all the impious madness of idols; and those of the holy and ^C incorporeal angels—for they appeared to the righteous as men. Likewise also, we preserve the figures and likenesses of the divine and all-praised apostles, the God-speaking prophets, and the prize-bearing martyrs, and the holy men, in order that, through their depiction, we may be led to their remembrance and memory, and may be able to be drawn toward the prototype and to become partakers of some sanctification. We have been taught to think these things, and we have been confirmed by our holy Fathers, and by their God-delivered teaching. And thanks to God for His ineffable gift, that He did not abandon us to the end, nor did He leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the righteous, so that the righteous might not stretch out their hands in iniquity—that is, in their practical works—but He did good to the good ^D and to the upright in heart, just as the hymnographer David chanted melodiously, with whom we also sing the rest: "Because those who turn aside to crooked paths, the Lord shall lead away with the workers of iniquity; and peace be upon the Israel of God."

Interpretation of the signature of the Romans.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Peter, by the mercy of God, archpresbyter of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God, and filling the place of Adrian, the most holy and apostolic pope of elder Rome, receiving all who have returned from the impious heresy of those who reject the venerable icons according to the doctrine and tradition of our holy Fathers...

approving and consenting to all that is set forth above, I have subscribed.

^B Tarasius, by the mercy of God bishop of Constantinople, New Rome, confirming that the truth is so, and gladly admitting all that is set forth above, I have subscribed to these things.

John, by the mercy of God presbyter and syncellus of the patriarchs, holding the place of the three apostolic sees, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, I consent to all that is set forth in this text, and agreeing, I have subscribed with my own hand.

Thomas, by the mercy of God presbyter and hegumen of the monastery of our holy Father Arsenius situated in Egypt, holding the place of the three apostolic sees, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, I consent to all that is set forth in this text, and agreeing, I have subscribed.

^C Agapius, unworthy bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, gladly accepting all that is written above, I have subscribed.

John, bishop of Ephesus, gladly accepting all that is written above, I have subscribed.

Constantine, bishop of Constantia of the island of Cyprus, according to what is set forth above and the orthodox faith which we have confessed, I receive and greet the sacred and venerable icons, and honorably adoring them, I have subscribed with my own hand.

Theophilus, unworthy bishop of Thessalonica, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

^D Basil, unworthy bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Leo, bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, I have likewise subscribed.

Nicholas, unworthy bishop of Cyzicus, gladly admitting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Euthymius, unworthy bishop of Sardis, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Petrus, unworthy bishop of Nicomedia, gladly accepting all that is written above, I have subscribed.

Elias the sinner, bishop of the island of Crete, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

^A Hypatius, unworthy bishop of Nicaea of the province of Bithynia, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Stauracius the sinner, bishop of Chalcedon, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Leo, by the grace of God presbyter of the most holy apostolic great Church of God, and prince of the monasteries, and defender of the most holy Church of God, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Epiphanius the sinner, deacon of the most holy Church of Catania in the province of Sicily, and vicar of Thomas, most holy archbishop of Sardinia: as rational sheep are wont to follow the voices of their shepherds, even as the Lord says: "Because My sheep hear My voice," (John x, 16) so ^B I too, following the right voices of the shepherds, choose to walk in their footsteps; and consenting to all their testimonies which have been read, I have subscribed.

Nicephorus, unworthy bishop of the region of Dyrrachium in the province of Illyria, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Nicolaus, monk and hegumen, and on behalf of the throne of Tyana, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Daniel the sinner, bishop of Amasea, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. ^C

Georgius, unworthy presbyter, and on behalf of the throne of Nazianzus, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Constantinus, unworthy bishop of Gangra, similarly gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Nicetas the sinner, bishop of Claudiopolis, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Gregorius, the least of bishops of Neocaesarea, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Gregorius, unworthy bishop of Pisinuntum, ^D gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Theodorus, unworthy bishop of Myra in Lycia, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

Eustathius, unworthy bishop of Laodicea in the province of Phrygia, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

VARIOUS READINGS

^A Michael, unworthy bishop of the Synadensians, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Georgius [Gregorius], unworthy bishop of Antioch in Pisidia, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Theophylactus, unworthy deacon, exarch, and representative of the illustrious metropolis of Caria, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Leo, unworthy bishop of Iconium, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Anastasius, unworthy bishop of Nicopolis in Old Epirus, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Constantinus, unworthy bishop of Perga, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. ^B Gregorius the sinner, presbyter, and representative of the see of Trajanopolis in the region of the Thracians, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Leo, unworthy bishop of Rhodes, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Christophorus, unworthy bishop of Phasis, that is, of the Trapezuntines, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Manuel, unworthy bishop of Hadrianopolis, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Nicolaus, unworthy bishop of Hierapolis in the province of the Phrygians, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed with my own hand. ^C Basilius, unworthy bishop of the city of Silaeum, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Galato, the least of presbyters, and representative of [Stephanus] the archbishop of Sicily, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Theophylactus, unworthy bishop of the Euchaitensians, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Cyrillus, monk, and representative of Joannes [the monk], bishop of Gothia, nourished in the apostolic preachings and the traditions of the Fathers, and now gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. ^D Theodorus, unworthy bishop of Seleucia, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Stephanus, unworthy bishop of the city of Sugdaea, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Antonius, unworthy monk, and representative of the see of Smyrna, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed. Constantinus, bishop of Rhegium, gladly accepting all that is prescribed above, I have subscribed.

VARIOUS READINGS * al. Constantinus.

I, Joannes, miserable and sinful monk, taking the place of the most reverend bishop Procopius, thinking in harmony with the Fathers in all things, have subscribed.

Theodorus, unworthy bishop of Catana, always esteeming it correct to follow the lovers of truth and the teachings of the holy Fathers, and to be adorned with their right dogmas, to which I also strive to be numbered, believing in all things that have been decreed and prescribed by them, I have subscribed. ^A

Joannes, unworthy bishop of Tauromenia, following in harmony with everything regarding the teachings of the holy Fathers and the proofs from them that have been read before, I have subscribed.

Gaudiosus, unworthy bishop of Messana, following in harmony with everything regarding the teachings of the holy Fathers and the proofs from them that have been read before, I have subscribed. ^B

Stephanus, unworthy bishop of Vibonensis, following in harmony with everything regarding the teachings of the holy Fathers and the proofs from them that have been read before, I have subscribed.

Joannes, unworthy bishop of Triocala, having defined this, I have subscribed. ^C

Theodorus, unworthy bishop of Tauriana, following in harmony with everything regarding the proofs of our holy Fathers that have been read before, I have subscribed.

Christophorus, unworthy bishop of Sancta Cyriaca, following in harmony with everything regarding the teachings of the holy Fathers and the proofs from them that have been read before, I have subscribed.

Basilius, unworthy bishop of the island of Lipari, agreeing in all things with the aforementioned teachings of the holy Fathers, I have subscribed.

Theotimus, unworthy bishop of Croton, agreeing in all things with the aforementioned proofs of the holy Fathers, I have subscribed. ^D

Constantinus, unworthy bishop of Carina, agreeing in all things with the aforementioned proofs of the holy Fathers, I have subscribed.

Theophanes, bishop of Lilybaeum, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Tropea, likewise. Sergius, bishop of Nicotera, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Bizya, likewise. Maurianus, bishop of Pompeiopolis, likewise. Joannes, bishop of the holy Salonentiana, likewise. Eustratius, bishop of the province of Bithynia, likewise.

VARIOUS READINGS.

Petrus, bishop of Germia, likewise. ^A Joannes, bishop of Arcadiopolis, likewise. Constantinus, presbyter and representative of the throne of Sebastopolis, likewise. Gregorius, presbyter and representative of Nicetas, bishop of Colonia, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Parium, likewise. Epiphanius, bishop of Miletus, likewise. Nicetas, bishop of Proconnesus, likewise. Joannes, presbyter and representative of Nicetas, bishop of Colonia, likewise. Ursius, bishop of the holy Church of the Avaritiani, likewise. Eustratius, bishop of Methymna, likewise. Leo, bishop of Cius, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Aprus, likewise. ^B Theophylactus, bishop of Cypsela, likewise. Laurentius, bishop of the holy Church of the Apsaretiani, likewise. Leo, bishop of Carpathus, likewise. Eustathius, bishop of Crotada, likewise. Cyriacus, bishop of Drizipara, likewise. Leo, bishop of Mesembria, likewise. Gregorius, bishop of Derce, likewise. Theodosius, bishop of Amorium, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Nyssa, likewise. Georgius, bishop of the Imperial Baths, likewise. ^C Georgius, bishop of Camuliana, likewise. Soterichus, bishop of Ciscissa, likewise. Theophylactus, bishop of Tralles, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Mastaura, likewise. Georgius, bishop of Briula, likewise. Ignatius, bishop of Priene, likewise. Constas, presbyter and representative of the throne of Aga, likewise. Theodosius, bishop of Nyssa, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Magnesia, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Magnesia on the Maeander, likewise. Sabas, bishop of Anea, likewise. ^D Nicephorus, presbyter and representative of the bishop of Gargaros, likewise. Gregorius, bishop of Palaeopolis, likewise. Theophanes, bishop of Caloe, likewise. Leo, bishop of Algiza, likewise. Nicodemus, bishop of Evaza, likewise. Lycastus, bishop of Vereta, likewise. Theogenius, presbyter and representative of Philippus, bishop of Sion, likewise. Theophanes, bishop of Lebedus, likewise. Stratonicus, bishop of Cyme, likewise.

^A Eustathius, bishop of Erythrae, likewise. Theophilus, bishop of Tymnus, likewise. Cosmas, bishop of Myrina, likewise. Olbianus, bishop of Elaea, likewise. Pardus, bishop of Pitana, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Pergamum, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Atrammytium, likewise. Marianus, bishop of Antandrus, likewise.

Joannes, bishop of Assus, likewise. Leo, bishop of Phocia, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Raedestus, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Panium, likewise. Melchisedec, bishop of Calliopolis, likewise. Theophylactus, bishop of Chariopolis, likewise. Leonides, bishop of Madytus, that is to say, of Cola, ^B likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Tzurullus, likewise. Thomas, bishop of Daonium, likewise. Gregorius, bishop of Theodoropolis, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Chalcis, likewise. Benjamin, bishop of Lizycus, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Bryse, likewise. Spyridon, bishop of Palaea Cythrus, likewise.

Eustathius, bishop of Goli, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Citium, likewise. Georgius, bishop of Trimithus, likewise. ^C Alexander, bishop of Amathus, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Iliopolis, likewise. Synesius, bishop of Nessus, likewise. Theophilus, bishop of Anastasiopolis, likewise. Leo, bishop of Minzus, likewise. Petrus, bishop of Asponum, likewise. Anthimus, bishop of Verinopolis, likewise. Michael, bishop of Melitopolis, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Adrania, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Germa, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Hadrianutherae, likewise. ^D Leo, bishop of Poemaninon, likewise. Symeon, bishop of Oca, likewise. Strategius, bishop of Dardanus, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Lampsacus, likewise. Theodotus, bishop of Palata, likewise. Leo, bishop of Troas, likewise. Nicetas, bishop of Hylaeum, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Abydos, likewise. Leo, bishop of Tracula, likewise. Anastasius, bishop of Tripolis, likewise.

Joannes, bishop of Tabala, likewise. ^A Stephanus, bishop of Sala, likewise. Stephanus, bishop of Silandrus, likewise. Nicolaus, bishop of Pericomma, likewise. Isoes, presbyter, and for the throne of Thyatira, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Setia, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Acrasus, likewise. Theophanes, bishop of the Dymaeans, likewise. Michael, bishop of Stratonicea, likewise. Lycastus, bishop of Philadelphia, likewise. Michael, bishop of Stalla, likewise. Gregorius, bishop of Gordus, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Dalda, likewise. Eustathius, bishop of Hyrcania, likewise. ^B Joseph, bishop of Attalia, likewise. Theopistus, bishop of Hermocapelia, likewise. Zacharias, bishop of Hierocaesarea, likewise. Michael, bishop of Cerasus, likewise. David, bishop of Helenopolis, likewise. Cyrion, bishop of Lophus, likewise. Basilius, presbyter, and for the throne of Dascylium, likewise. Theophylactus, bishop of Apollonias, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Caesarea in Bithynia, likewise. Gregorius, bishop of Basilinopolis, likewise. Leo, bishop of Neocaesarea, that is, Ariste, likewise. ^C Nicephorus, bishop of Adranus, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Prusa, likewise. Epiphanius, bishop of Lampis, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Heracleopolis, likewise. Anastasius, bishop of Cnossus, likewise. Melito, bishop of Cydonia, likewise. Leo, bishop of Cisamus, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Subrita, likewise. Leo, bishop of Phoenice, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Arcadia, likewise. Epiphanius, bishop of Eleutherna, likewise. Photinus, bishop of Cantanus, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Chersonesus, likewise. ^D Gregorius, presbyter, and for the throne of Cephallenia, likewise. Philippus, bishop of Corcyra, likewise. Antonius, bishop of Troezen, likewise. Petrus, bishop of Monembasia, likewise. Gabriel, bishop of Aegina, likewise. Leo, bishop of Porthmus, likewise. Philippus, bishop of Oreus, likewise. Leo, bishop of Zacynthus, likewise. Leo, bishop of Linoas, likewise. Nicetas, bishop of Mella, likewise. Neophytus, bishop of Gordoservon, likewise.

John, bishop of Stennon, likewise. ^A Leo, bishop of Aspendus, likewise. Constans, bishop of Zala, likewise. Gregory, bishop of Sinope, likewise. Marinus, deacon, and representing Theodore, bishop of Andrapa, likewise. Andronicus, presbyter, and representing John, bishop of Zaliche, likewise. Constans, bishop of Sasima, likewise. Gregory, bishop of Amastris, likewise. Heraclius, bishop of Junopolis, likewise. Nicetas, bishop of Dadybra, likewise. Theophanes, bishop of Sora, likewise. John, bishop of Heraclea, likewise. Theophilus, bishop of Prusia, likewise. Constantine, bishop of Crateia, likewise. Nicetas, bishop of Rizaion, likewise. Constantine, bishop of Polemonium, likewise. ^B Theodore, bishop of Comana, likewise. John, bishop of Cerasus, likewise. Nicephorus, bishop of Claneos, likewise. Leo, bishop of Trocnada, likewise. John, deacon, and representing the see of Phaselis, likewise. Theodore, bishop of Pinnara, likewise. Stephanus, bishop of Canua, likewise. Anastasius, bishop of Patara, likewise. George, bishop of Nasa, likewise. Constantine, bishop of Candica, likewise. Leo, bishop of Corydalla, likewise. Nicodemus, bishop of Sidyma, likewise. Leo, bishop of Limyra, likewise. Constantine, bishop of Tlos, likewise. ^C Petrus, deacon, and representing the see of Oricanda, likewise. Stephanus, bishop of Araxa, likewise. George, bishop of Oenianda, likewise. Constantine, bishop of Comba, likewise. Stauracius, bishop of Zenopolis, likewise. Gregory, bishop of Cibyra, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Taba, likewise. Dorotheus, bishop of Neapolis, likewise. ^D Constantine, bishop of Alabanda, likewise. David, bishop of Iassos, likewise. (Gregory, bishop of Mylasa, likewise.) Sergius, bishop of Bargylia, likewise. Gregory, bishop of Heraclea of Latmus, likewise. John, bishop of Mybdos, likewise.

Stauracius, bishop of Stadia, likewise. Gregorius, bishop of Stratonicea, likewise. Niceta, deacon, and as the representative of the throne of Halicarnassus, likewise. Michael, bishop of Chæretopa, likewise. ^A Pantaleon, bishop of Valentia, likewise. Georgius, bishop of Pelte, likewise. Christophorus, bishop of Antanassus, likewise. Leo, bishop of Eumenia, likewise. Philippus, bishop of Tranupolis, likewise. Leo, bishop of Alaea, likewise. Paulus, bishop of Acmonia, likewise. Gregorius, bishop of Timenutheia, likewise. Nicephorus, bishop of Luda, likewise. Georgius, bishop of Appia, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Sybæ, likewise. Zacharias, bishop of Trapezupolis, likewise. Leo, bishop of Sebastia, likewise. Theophylactus, priest, and as the representative of the throne of Georgius, bishop of Hypsus, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Eucarpia, likewise. Andreas, bishop of Cedisus, likewise. Dositheus, bishop of Psonuntus, that is, Colossae, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Cottyæum, likewise. Niceta, bishop of Nacolia, likewise. Leo, bishop of Docimium, likewise. Joannes, priest, and as the representative of the throne of Hectoreum, ^C likewise. Michael, bishop of Hierapolis, likewise. Nicolaus, bishop of Phytia, likewise. Theophylactus, bishop of Cinnaborium, likewise. Damianus, bishop of Myrus, likewise. Christophorus, bishop of Prymnessus, likewise. Niceta, bishop of Augustopolis, likewise. Georgius, bishop of Midæum, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Amblada, likewise. Stephanus, priest, and as the representative of the throne of Ostrus, likewise. Gregorius, priest, and as the representative of the throne of the city of Polybotus, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Philomelium, likewise. ^D Michael, bishop of Papa, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Apamea Cibotus, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Comana, likewise. Nicephorus, bishop of Adada, likewise. Petrus, bishop of Totiassus, likewise.

HARDUIN’S NOTES

Theodosius, bishop of Sagalassus, likewise. ^A Leo, bishop of Bara, likewise. Petrus, bishop of Seleucia, likewise. Nicephorus, bishop of Phloga, likewise. Marinus, bishop of Magydus, likewise. Leo, bishop of Andida, likewise. Stephanus, bishop of Parnassus, likewise. Bardanes, bishop of Doara, likewise. Eustratius, bishop of Debeltum, likewise. Euphemius [Euthymius], bishop of Sozopolis, likewise.

Theodosius, bishop of Bulgarophygon, likewise. Georgius, bishop of Plotinopolis, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Perberai, likewise. Michael, bishop of Pamphilus, likewise. ^B Ruben, bishop of Scopelus, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Gariela, likewise. Callistus, bishop of the city of Eudocias, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Ligyni, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Cudrula, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Cremna, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Adriana, likewise. Theophilus, bishop of Chios, likewise. Galatius, bishop of Melos, likewise. Sergius, bishop of Leros, likewise. Manzo, bishop of Diocæsarea, likewise. Eustathius, bishop of Celendere, likewise.

Zacharias, bishop of the city of Cardabouthos, likewise. ^C Sisinnius, bishop of Mosbada, likewise. Eustathius, bishop of Lamus, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Germanicopolis, likewise. Sisinnius, bishop of Syca, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Dalisandus, likewise. Leo, bishop of Sibela, likewise. Stephanus, bishop of the city of Philadelphia, likewise. Eudoxius, presbyter and monk, and on behalf of the throne of Metellupolis, likewise. Constantinus, bishop of Andros, likewise. Eustathius, bishop of Tenos, likewise. Theodorus, bishop of Cada, likewise. Michael, bishop of Tiberiopolis, likewise. ^D Constantinus, bishop of Ancyra, likewise. Joannes, bishop of Azani, likewise. Theophylactus, bishop of Mosyna, likewise. Basilius, bishop of Dionysopolis, likewise. Stephanus, bishop of Synaus, likewise. Sabbas, archimandrite and hegumen of the monastery of Stoudios, likewise. Gregorius, hegumen of Hormisdas, likewise. Symeon, hegumen of Chora, likewise. Joannes, hegumen of Pagourium, likewise. Eustathius, hegumen of the monastery of Maximus, likewise.

Joseph, hegumen and archimandrite of Heraclius, likewise. ^A Thomas, monk, and as representative of Joannes, hegumen of Chenolakkos, likewise. Plato, hegumen and archimandrite of Sakkoudion, likewise. Theodorus, hegumen and archimandrite of Pandos, likewise. Makaris, hegumen and archimandrite of Barda, likewise. Strategios, monk of Hagia Sion, likewise. Gregorios, hegumen of the Hyacinthus monastery, likewise. Joseph, hegumen of the Akoimetoi (the Sleepless ones), likewise. Michael, hegumen of Hagios Petros, likewise. ^B Theodorus, hegumen and archimandrite of Boda, likewise. Theophylaktos, monk of Kathon, likewise. Konstantinos, hegumen of Kalaureia, likewise. Antonios, hegumen of Dios, likewise. Hilarion, hegumen of Phloron, likewise. Niketas, hegumen of Hagios Alexandros, likewise. Theodorus, hegumen of Xerokepos, likewise. Niketas, hegumen of Goudila, likewise. Niketas, hegumen of Hagios Elias, likewise. Theoktistos, hegumen of Auletos, likewise. Konstas, hegumen of Hagios Kyrikos, likewise. Stephanos, hegumen of Kareon and archimandrite, likewise. ^C Nikephoros, hegumen of the Hagia Theotokos, likewise. Theophylaktos, hegumen of Hagios Elias, likewise. Joannes, hegumen of Chenolakkos, likewise. Paulos, hegumen of Bastilos, likewise. Stephanos, hegumen of Hagios Kyrikos, likewise. Lazaros, hegumen of Hagios Autonomos, likewise. Ignatios, hegumen of Sykeon, likewise. Gregorios, hegumen of Kallistratos, likewise. Gregorios, hegumen of Monagros, likewise. Sisinnius, hegumen of Arita, likewise. Anastasios, hegumen of Karne, likewise. ^D Bahanes, hegumen and archimandrite of the Therma, likewise. Petros, hegumen of the Homerikoi, likewise. Stephanos, hegumen of the Thermizeis, likewise. Thomas, hegumen of Ieragathe, likewise. Theophylaktos, hegumen of Kathodos, likewise. Nikephoros, hegumen of Hagios Andreas, likewise. Konstantinos, hegumen of Hagios Tyrsos, likewise. Leon, hegumen of Hagios Georgios of the Kellia, likewise. Joannes, hegumen of the Lakkon monastery, likewise.

^A Leon, hegumen of Leucu Hydatos, likewise. Gregorius, hegumen of Agaurus, likewise. Isidorus, hegumen of Latrus, likewise. Dositheus, hegumen of Mnemosynon, likewise. Nicephorus, hegumen of Hagios Sergios of Midikion, likewise. Theodorus, hegumen of Amorion, likewise. Theodorus, hegumen of the Atractensians, likewise. Konstantinos, hegumen of the Holy Three Youths, likewise. Ioannes, hegumen of the Koilades, likewise. Antonius, hegumen of Dodecathron, likewise. Paulus, hegumen of Agnyon, likewise. Paulus, hegumen of Hagios Petros of the city of Poemaninon, likewise. ^B Euschemon, hegumen of the Crizensians, likewise. Makaris, hegumen of Psarodus, likewise. Epiphanius, hegumen of Paranandus, likewise. Antonius, hegumen of Peristereon, likewise. David, hegumen of Hagios Georgios Petiet, likewise. Ioannes, hegumen of Hagios Zotikos, likewise. Agapius, hegumen of Hagios Tyrsos, likewise. Daniel, hegumen of the Holy Apostles of Magnesia, likewise. Theodosius, hegumen of the Hagia Theotokos of Perizetros, likewise. Kallistos, hegumen of various monasteries of Cyprus, likewise. ^C Theophylaktos, hegumen of Borda, likewise. Theodorus, hegumen of Limbum, likewise. Konstas, hegumen of Hippi, likewise. Georgios, hegumen of Domnikoi, likewise. Euthymios, hegumen of Oxybetes, likewise. Antonius, hegumen of Uzia, likewise. Basileios, hegumen of Hagios Andreas, likewise. Philippos, hegumen of Beomoi, likewise. Basileios, hegumen of the Hagia Theotokos of Ortykidion, likewise. ^D Akakios, monk of Hagios Orestes, likewise. Ioannes, hegumen of the Savior, likewise. Petros, monk, and on behalf of the Kellaria, likewise. Zacharias, hegumen of the Saudeoi, likewise. Theophilos, monk, and on behalf of the hegumen of the Hagia Theotokos of Photnon, likewise. Kerykos, hegumen of Dolokome, likewise. Sergios, hegumen of the Germioi, likewise. Ioannes, presbyter of Hagios Sergios of the Germioi, likewise.

VARIOUS READINGS

^A Nicetas, hegumen of the Octaoroi, likewise. Antonius, hegumen of the Akraboroi, likewise. Petrus, hegumen of Platanion, likewise. Marcus, hegumen of Saint John the Theologian, likewise. Leo, hegumen of the Holy Mother of God of Saldala, likewise. Constantinus, hegumen of Saint Stephen of the Antipsilion, likewise. Theodorus, monk, and as representative of Theodotus, hegumen of the Holy Mother of God of the Kaloketoi, likewise. Eutychianus, monk of the monastery of Kallistratos, likewise. Theodotus, monk of the Holy Mother of God of Epikanze, likewise. Ioannes, monk, and as representative of Stephanus, hegumen of the Bonisenses, likewise. Callistus, monk of the same monastery of the Bonisenses, likewise. Nicetas, hegumen of the monastery of the Holy Mother of God of the Castle of Tius, likewise. Samuel, monk of the Archangel Gabriel, likewise. Theodosius, hegumen of the Holy Trinity, likewise. Ioannes, monk, and as representative of Strategius, hegumen of the Holy Mother of God, likewise. Hilarion, monk of the Holy Mother of God of the Cellia, likewise. Dositheus, monk of Saint Theodore of Sikunda, likewise. ^C Paulus, hegumen of the Holy Mother of God of Tyrosinon, likewise. Leo, hegumen of Saint Cyriacus, likewise. Epiphanius, hegumen of the Holy Mother of God of Limnas, likewise. Georgius, hegumen of the Holy Mother of God, likewise. Cosmas, hegumen of the Holy Mother of God of Paradise, likewise. Euschemon, monk of the Saviour near the Byraikon, likewise. Bardas, hegumen and archimandrite of Prusias, likewise. Petrus, hegumen of the Holy Apostles of the Castle of Protilos, likewise. ^D Basilius, monk of the Holy Mother of God of the city of Amorion, likewise. Basilius, presbyter and hegumen of the monastery of Oxypetron, likewise. Philippus, hegumen of Eumeneia, likewise. Basilius, hegumen of Saint Lucianus, likewise. Theophylactus, hegumen of Pegadion, likewise. Anthimus, monk of Psamathos, likewise. Michael, hegumen of the Holy Martyr Georgius, likewise. Christophorus, hegumen of the Kandelai, likewise. Nicolaus, hegumen of the Kainourgia, likewise. Sisinnius, hegumen of the Lithinon, likewise.

Thomas, monk of the Mosynenses, likewise. Michael, monk, and on behalf of the hegumen of the monastery of the Holy Theotokos of Pyrgos, likewise. Gregory, hegumen of the Holy Theotokos of the Symbols, likewise. John, hegumen of the Holy Theotokos of the Rudenses, likewise. Constantine [Cosmas], hegumen of Saint Peter Hydendrensis, likewise. Symeon, hegumen of the Holy Theotokos of the Abramitenses, likewise. Gregory, hegumen of Saint Clement, likewise. Theognis, hegumen of the monastery of the holy apostle Timothy of the island of Crete, likewise. John, hegumen of the holy martyr Theodore, likewise. Theodosius, hegumen of the Holy Theotokos, likewise. Peter, hegumen of Saint John the Theologian of the island of Crete, likewise.

VARIOUS READINGS. [Cosmas.]

OF THE SAME SAINT GERMANUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE: ORATIONS

^A Oratio of Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, on the adoration of the venerable and life-giving Cross in the time of mid-Lent. (GRETSER, t. II, p. 245.)

^B 1. “Shine, shine, Jerusalem; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” From the grandiloquent oracles of Isaiah, these scriptures are taken today for the Church gathered from the nations—as if, on the one hand, from a tongue charred by the morsel of the coal divinely provided, it is excellent and shining; but on the other, as if descending from a heavenly height, it is easy to hear and vocal like thunder. For such is the voice of the prophet, traversing the heaven and echoing around the earth. “Hear, he says, O heaven, and give ear, O earth.” But he shows his voice to be like thunder at the beginning of the prophecy; here, however, it sends forth a light shining far and wide, and ignites a flaming torch in the air, and invites those who are crossing the sea of the fast into the harbor of consolation. The light, he says, is coming—I announce in advance the Resurrection, to which you are hastening, and for which you are struggling valiantly as if in a contest. And whence is this evident? “The glory of the Lord has risen upon the new Jerusalem.” Now, the glory of the Lord is, by universal consent, the divine Cross, which already glows like the dawn and today shoots forth rays that precede the Sun of righteousness. Where, therefore, there is a memory of light, and of light that cannot be set,

and of the One who illuminates those who are in the night of sloth, there is the greatest of solemnities, and the feast of feasts. Let no one, therefore, of those who apply themselves to fasting be downcast, nor cast the mist of gloom over his face. Draw near to the sunrise of the cross and be illuminated, and your faces shall not be ashamed ^A. Let the light of the countenance of the Lord be marked upon us, and your faces will shine like the sun, and the dark-looking demons will flee far from us, not daring even to look straight at us with their eyes. But I, as an ecclesiastic and leader of the choir of grace, pray and beseech that I might partake of the riches of this light, and light the wick of my tongue, and kindle a brilliant fire; and the warmth of faith itself gives me confidence that I already possess this fire. And behold the fire, and these wooden beams of the cross, placed before my tongue as material for praises. Where, then, is the offering that we shall sacrifice on this feast to the glory of God, and for the banquet of your spiritual guests? God shall provide for this, who, for the sake of your benefit, has made my barren mind most fruitful through the Spirit—He who is able to raise up legitimate children of the patriarch even from stones, just as He once raised Isaac from the stony womb of Sarah, that unoffered sacrifice and living victim. Since, therefore, the light of the countenance ^B of the Lord has been marked upon us by the depictions and representations of the cross, and our lips have been sanctified, and our eyes have been hallowed by seeing and kissing that God-wrought instrument of our salvation, come, let us confidently go to the much-sung region of paradise. For if the sword that keeps watch at the gates should encounter us thus marked, I have no doubt that, immediately standing in awe of the light of the Lord’s countenance and having somewhat restrained the fiery force of its operations, it will turn toward us its bright and gentle side. For the common Lord did not ascend the cross to judge the world, but to nail to the wood the handwriting of those who had fallen, and to release them from their ancient debts by pouring out for their ransom His own most precious blood—all that He had. And ^C the flaming sword will even turn its back to us, on behalf of whom the Lord received lashes upon His back. For He will not drive us away as He would profligates and wicked servants. For He knows that all have been healed by the bruise of Christ, and He is not unaware that He who was without sin took upon Himself the marks which we sinners had fashioned upon our own backs; nor will it approach our face. Not at all. And why is this? Because the mouths of the faithful are filled with the hymns of praise to the cross, and with the glory of the Crucified, and He will certainly receive them with a holy kiss because of their faith and love toward the common Lord. Moreover, the angelic orders are also lovers of mankind, and from the repentance of sinners comes an occasion for ^D feast and joy.

Even if the mouth gives off an odor from abstinence from food, they deem it as equivalent to sweet-smelling incense; ^A which can be gathered from the opposite. For there was a time when the fruit of disobedience was still being chewed in the mouth of our first parents; and although the fruit was sweet-smelling, nevertheless the mouth breathed out something disordered and foul-smelling, already bearing the pledges of corruption. The wood, therefore, in paradise, and the fruit of the wood plucked and eaten, produced outputs more bitter than gall, and cast a dark vertigo about me, so that all things seemed to me to be reeling, and I, standing in the middle of paradise, believed I could hide, and suspected the rustle of the leaves to be the sound of footsteps.

But from the time Christ humbled Himself, and became obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross, the cross became the tree of obedience, and it illuminates the mind, and perfumes the mouth, and strengthens the heart, and imparts the fruit of eternal life. The fruit of disobedience is removed by the fruit of obedience. There was distance from God and exile from the tree of life, and that word: “You shall return to the earth, from which you were taken.” ^B Here is familiarity and union with God, and that word: “When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself.” Truly, a most desirable promise. There, the things of pleasure came first, and those of sorrow followed; conversely here, things start from sorrow, and voluntary passion, and the gall that pained the taste. The dwelling place here of those who rejoice is a loosening and unblemished pleasure. There, there was a descent from on high into the valley of weeping, and nature, being borne downward, did not stop its movement until it struck against the immovable rock, Christ, and the tree of the cross, and as against certain unshakable supports, it rested and was checked. These are things of old.

^C But let us look at the new things and our own—or rather, the way according to Christ, which He Himself in human form walked first—which is very steep and uphill; for it leads to the cross, and afflicts the feet with the long-standing of the station, and persuades one to spread out one’s hands toward God all day long, and bothers the mouth by drying it up through fasting. Yet, the cross is the written book of all these labors and pains. And he who does not receive this book, and follow the master—for the master is Christ—is struck out from the company of the disciples as one lost and ^D desperate. Since, therefore, the flaming sword is to offer no hindrance to us when we are thus prepared, by the help and grace of the cross, let us enter now through word into the ancient dwelling place of our forefathers, the paradise, and let us pluck the flowers appropriate to the season, and having woven from them a crown of encomia, let us crown the cross. There was a time when our affairs were situated among the blessed, and we inhabited the Paradise planted by God, a place full of unceasing pleasure; where the voice of confession and the sound of those keeping the feast—and from

^A heaven, the angels chanting hymns and praises, were stirring the day. Below, and from the earth, man responded in turn, as if in harmonious song; and "Glory in the highest, and on earth, peace," danced. For the goodness of God had been diffused in us. For bringing nothing beforehand, nor having merited anything, man was appointed king of earthly things by the imposition of the divine hand. "For you," he says, "fashioned me, and placed your hand upon me." And why do I delay in saying what is far more admirable? Before I was created and formed in the womb of my mother, the earth, the mother-of-all, He who deliberates upon me forms me, and alone out of all creatures, He sets me as an occasion and a handle for recognizing the Trinity of persons in one Divinity; in which also consists, or rather, which is that very divine monarchy and that one power of the Deity.

He who established the whole universe by His will alone, ^B because of me—measureable by three cubits, shortly to be dissolved, earthly, lacking every natural covering—deliberates and, as it were, enters into counsel: to what the work about to be done ought to be similar, over whom it should have dominion, and how far its power should extend. He appoints him as head and lord of those that fly above his head (the man). He subjects quadrupeds to the biped. He orders those things that lie hidden in the sea to serve the one who walks on land. These are not great things, even if they are such and so many. I come to that which is more excellent. I, who am pulled toward the center by weight and borne toward the lowest parts, and who am clay, stand as an assistant to the Most High and am a fellow-chorister of the fiery ministers. My lodging-place is Paradise; but in Paradise there is an immense abundance of all good things, of which I am the master. And truly, the things that were until this point sing the songs of the ascents; but the things that follow, the descent into the earth, whose garments are eternal shackles. A shining lamp is given to me ^C for the guarding of such great riches, and I am commanded to be sober concerning that charge; but I, having suffered I know not what, grew drowsy in the presence of the lamp itself. The nocturnal robber, Satan, casts an eye upon my goods, having assumed the mask of one of my acquaintances. He approaches as a friend, but is found to be wicked. He feigned benevolence in outward appearance, and played the thief within, and that sower and author of evils extinguishes my lamp. For the lamp is the divine law, according to the judgment of David and of Truth itself. And having gathered and packed up that entire multitude of goods granted by God, he departed, raising loud laughter at human simplicity and folly.

From then on I am naked, I who was master of the house, ^D and I remain despoiled of those light-bearing garments, nor do I any longer raise my eyes to that glory and holiness which is in heaven; rather, they are demitted toward their own shame, and they take care of it. Now this is of such a kind. Passions and immoderate disturbances of the soul encroach in a certain sequence. The ruin of the belly holds the first place, originating from the pleasure of the fruit. To this is joined that affection and commotion which is beneath the belly. For they say that the leaves of the fig tree are causes of irritation.

^A When the king and prophet had fallen into this passion, he lamented and cried out: "My loins have been filled with illusions," 37 understanding these things indeed of himself, but claiming as his own even more those things which flow from the first parent. For has not man been deluded by the devil, who, having fed him with the vast hope of attaining divinity, finally transferred all that swollen mass of hope to the leaves of the fig tree? Samson was also tempted by illusions 38 by that madwoman Delilah, blinded in his eyes, and exposed to the foreigners for a joke and a mockery. For thus does the affection of pleasure usually honor its lovers. Thus I have been compared to "the senseless beasts," 39 I who lived in the angelic glory, having lowered the inclination of my will to my belly and bowed down to those things which are beneath the belly. The skins of the sheep are witnesses to my foolishness. But nevertheless, I am forbidden to enjoy the pasture of paradise, as the decree of God has been pronounced against me. For I did not hear the voice, as a sheep, of Him who pastured me "in a place of green pasture," 40 and who allowed me to lack nothing. For He gave me the power to eat of every tree in paradise, and yet I have surpassed the brute animals in foolishness, because I have distinguished nothing between the harmful and the useful. Such, then, are the injuries which have arisen for me from the green tree; meanwhile, I am an exile from the fatherland, and banished from that ineffable blessedness.

^B Behold, however, with what an abundance of fruits the dry tree is also laden for me, which instead of death offers life, and weaves for me a splendid robe in place of nakedness. In place of a curse, it distills a blessing for me. In place of a return to the earth, it grants me conversation with the angels in the heavens, and that conflagration of pleasures derived from the green tree is extinguished by this dry one. One might aptly say that the dead flesh of the serpent, mixed with the antidote, removes the poison of the living serpent and heals him who had been bitten by serpents. For was I not killed in Eden by the living serpent? But I have been brought back to life by Christ, who died on the wood of the cross, of whom that lifeless bronze serpent was a prefiguration, which was devoid of the lethal poison, and yet took on the form of a serpent. ^C For my Lord and God, Christ, became truly man, and having put on human nature, which had been harmed by the evil one, He proved superior to all the poison of sin, and was entirely free. Truly, for us who have been struck by the serpents that watch our heel, and who have our hope of salvation suspended on Him who hung on high from the wood of the cross, He becomes the fountain and source of life and immortality. For there is no doubt that the lifting up of the bronze serpent in the desert adumbrated the mystery of the cross. And as for that saying of Moses: "You shall see your life hanging before your eyes," 41 it seems to refer to this serpent—not because the image of the serpent was endowed with any power, but because it bore the type.

^A of Christ. In the same way that the bush was not consumed, but remained unwithering by its own power and was exempted from the power of burning, but rather, because of Mary, who bore the fire of the Deity within a mortal and unwithering nature [in the midst of frail, mortal nature]. From this, the enemy and attacker of icons may learn that the types of great things are to be treated with honor, from whatever material they may consist. For if this serpentine image—hateful and odious—by reason of its elevation on wood, which foreshadowed the suspending of God and man on the cross, was so life-giving to those who were perishing by a bitter death, how much more benefit and what life-giving power will the archetype of the crucified God-man not bestow? For if the bronze work had not been a type of Christ, it would not have been fashioned at all; for he says, “You shall not make a likeness, neither of those things that are in heaven, nor of those things that are in the earth,” ^B nor would it ever have become a cause of salvation for those who cast their eyes upon it.

For one might justly ask why the goldsmiths, when the calf was cast and ingeniously sculpted into the form of a bull, became a spoil for the iron sword and for the sword, whereas here, though a serpent was fashioned, God delivers from cruel death all those who look favorably upon this image. Let us consider it in this way: Every death, to speak in one word, which does not arise from natural infirmity and which does not dissolve the composite [nature] peacefully, but comes about through some violence and before its day, is a thing to be deprecated and shunned by everyone among mortals. ^C But death that occurs on the wood of the cross is the most shameful and most detestable of all. Since, therefore, it was ordained from before the ages that that mystery of the cross, which redounds to the common benefit of the whole world, should be fulfilled, and that a new Adam should be born, so that he might renew the old Adam, and by the wood, bring to life him who had been killed by the wood; but since that common persuasion, which all men held equally regarding those put to a violent death, stood in the way of men receiving and approving this mystery, and since even the Mosaic law clearly declared accursed everyone who hung on a tree, there was need, by a miraculous judgment of God, for the wood and the serpentine form—hateful and detestable to all—to be given the power of vivification and to be set above the heads ^D of the Jews. And by a hidden dispensation, it came about that hope of life was placed in it, and that which was devoid of life and inanimate was believed to have the power of life.

Grant me, listeners, that I may explain this same thought by another method. For the power of the cross abounds in my mind, and the cross, like the rod of virtue, striking my stony mind, elicits potable water for you. I find in Scripture that the Jews are often named serpents and vipers' brood, because of the fury and madness they manifested toward those who had done them good. When, therefore, it was ordained

^A that the Lord should be born from the serpentine tribe of the Jews, being entirely devoid of the venom of sin, and through death—the death of the cross—should bestow eternal life upon those who believe in Him, the hanging of the bronze serpent upon the wood was ordained to be fulfilled. ^B And armies of poisonous serpents creep through the desert, and they watch the heels of travelers, and by biting they kill. These are they who disturb the path of the feet—or as Isaiah says, those who walk the way according to Christ—and prevent them from approaching Him and obtaining eternal salvation, saying: "Are you also deceived? But this crowd that does not know the Law is accursed." Thus they "sharpened their tongue" like a serpent, "and the venom of asps" was overflowing under their lips. This is about the Jews.

The sequel, as if from the person of those who are hindered from advancing, is added: "Protect me, O Lord, from the hand of the sinner, snatch me from unjust men; who have devised to trip up my steps." Addressing these human-shaped serpents, Christ said: "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He." For though dead and hanging on the cross, He gave life to those who had been struck by the sting of death. ^C And so this passage is to be interpreted doctrinally, but it must also be explained morally. When Christ, the Author of our life and rich in mercy, had taken on voluntary poverty and fulfilled the entire mystery of the economy and incarnation, many myriads of the malicious Jews, having cast out the venom of malice and left behind the windings of fraud and deceit and obliquities, chose the straight path and ascended to a life of virtue, and roused a great part of their kin to the same zeal. I have Paul as a witness to confirm my words. For he himself was once a serpent and a brood of vipers, "breathing threats and murder" against the disciples of Christ, and he was destroying and killing "those who were of the Way," as the Book of Acts testifies. He kept his eyes open night and day without ceasing, ^D plotting against the worshipers of Christ; but he was blinded in his eyes, inasmuch as they did not see what was straight, but loved only what was distorted, oblique, and winding. Then he also purged the venom of blasphemy, cast off his old scales, and was clothed through baptism with Christ. For the scales that fell from his eyes were thought to be serpentine scales; and he receives the whole of Christ into himself, and is raised to the life established by Christ's precept, and is lifted up with the cross, mortifies his members, living no longer, and provokes his own flesh—that is, his kinsmen—to his own emulation and imitation, inspiring immortal life into those who were dead because of sin.

^A Thus the Cross both puts to death and brings to life, not only upon the dry land, as the example already brought forth shows, but even upon the moist. Consider for me the things at the Red Sea. There, the figure of the Cross is traced upon the waters, and it saves the people of God, while it destroys the enemies of God. These things were of old pre-delineated and inscribed by the finger of the Spirit upon the tablets of the minds of the holy prophets; and those pre-figurations were handed down in symbolic marks, and were engraved in holy books as a most beneficial lesson for those to come, so that when the reality itself should arrive, the writings might not be called into doubt, but rather, by comparison, those symbols might become manifest to the readers, so that He who transcends all in glory might shine forth even more clearly—He who so greatly humbled Himself, and for the sake of us who had dishonored ourselves by our own deliberate choice, accepted that which appeared to be a disgrace.

^B Nevertheless, before this happened, the prophets and all the righteous shed tears of pity for our first parents. And why not? They always ranked Ham, who had mocked his father’s nakedness, among the accursed. David indeed sang a tragic song, full of emotion, chanting, as it were, a funeral dirge for the first progenitors of the human race: "Like sheep they are set in Hades; death shall shepherd them," and, "As a fatness they were broken, and their bones were dispersed beside Hades." In harmony with David, Isaiah lamented and wailed with an even greater voice, claiming for himself, as a son, the things that belonged to his fathers: "All we like sheep have gone astray; everyone has turned aside to his own way," wailing piteously over the Adamic nature. And every one of them in their own way—but all together, having set forward David as a more venerable intercessor both because of his royal dignity and because it was promised to him that he would be a father of God—poured forth their prayers in unison: "O You who shepherd Israel, give ear, You who lead Joseph like a flock. ^C You who sit upon the Cherubim, manifest Yourself."

And here the likeness to Joseph is manifest. Egypt there is dark; here Hades is most gloomy. Pharao there is a tyrant toward Israel; here Satan is the indefatigable enemy of the whole human race. There the Israelites were afflicted with mud and brick-making and the gathering of straw; here, instead of the red clay of the flesh, the lovers of flesh and of the world take upon themselves all toil and labor. But there is also a grave taskmaster and an inexorable driver, urging us toward the restless works of darkness, appearing as an extraordinary ant-lion, which in part snatches and howls and seeks whom it may devour, ^D and in part consumes the provisions of the virtues, driving us only to the gathering of straw. For straw is sin, the fuel and...

of the unquenchable fire. Seeing this, He looked upon the affliction of our nature, and hastened with innate humanity and benevolence to bring that ancient counsel to its end. Isaiah foresaw this, and he rejoices with the assembly of the prophets, and that which he had heard without the ministry of a voice, he proclaims with a resounding voice in the person of the Savior: "Now I will arise; now I will be glorified; now I will be exalted." These words presage the lifting up upon the cross, and the glory with which the Only-Begotten has been glorified by the Father upon the cross. He rises from the throne, He descends to the earth, an immense journey. From the all-pure virginal blood He puts on the straying sheep, that the wolf, lured and enticed by the likeness, may make his accustomed assault upon Him, and that the sinner may break his teeth, when he strikes against Him who was free from all sin.

He was pressed to search for the lost sheep. For although He became a sheep for the sake of the sheep, yet He is also a shepherd, as God, leading to the pastures of Paradise from whence it had been led away captive. By means of wood, He proceeds to avenge the defeat from the wood, and to drive out nail with nail, or rather, by an instrument of curses to abolish the curse that grew from the wood. Yet the new Jael among us—I refer to the Church—worships this new nail, which has slain the bitter enemy of our nature. ^B And it became an instrument of salvation for her, and though it crushed that wicked head, yet it vivified Adam’s head, having been affixed above it, and healed that headache which had arisen from the eating of the harmful wood, having drawn the curse into Himself and abolished it; for the cross is an instrument of blessing, not of cursing: since, as he says, "Blessed is the wood through which salvation comes." Therefore, the cross is the cause of such great blessings for us, and a certain and saving step toward our original blessedness.

How beloved and lovely is Your altar, O Lord of hosts, upon which You were sacrificed as a lamb, yet You take away the sin of the world; the former as man, the latter as God. For although You were crucified out of weakness because of the passible flesh, yet You are the Lord of the incorporeal powers by nature, and Your divine power is perfected in human weakness, having unnerved and prostrated the common tyrant of our race. ^C "No leaven and no honey shall ascend upon the altar of the लॉर्ड," the shadowy Scripture says somewhere, and a luminous reason underlies this. For although it seems to have been spoken concerning that Levitical worship occupied with various kinds of flesh, yet I draw it up to the height of the cross, and I attach the meaning of the utterance to this. And what is the intention of the word? The sacred statement exhorts that we be crucified with Christ and driven out from the world. Obey the One who goes before along the rough way, and yield, and honor His altar, and bring nothing that delights the sense, and pleases, and dissolves into voluptuousness.

^A For to the cross belongs pain, not pleasure. The time is for tasting gall, not honey. The altar of Christ refuses the Egyptian leaven, which is full of turgid pride and impiety. But the cross is a symbol of humility and the elevation of piety towards God; after the resurrection, there will be the eating of honey and the enjoyment of pure pleasure, the reward for a life here instituted in severity and austerity.

Thus it comes about that the cross is an argument for fortitude and boasting, not for confusion. For the most excellent of all boastings is truly that a man should lay down his soul for his servants, and for the sake of the salvation of many, should despise the danger of death. The victim, which was offered for us upon the cross, brings the same thought to my mind, being called by the name of masculine in the sacred Scriptures ^B. For He came so that He might overthrow that effeminate pleasure, harmful to the soul—that which was dissolute, He might again set straight and repair—which, having had its beginning from a woman who loved pleasure, came by a certain reflux to the masculine stock, and effeminated masculine fortitude; and that small leaven (since it was but one rib) leavened that entire masculine mass and infected it with its own quality, and rendered it a participant in its own softness. But nothing of the pride of arrogance, which is born of this leaven, was brought upon the altar of Christ, which is the cross; for the cross, the giver of life, destroys passions and immoderate desires. For what is common to mortification and delights? What is common to gall and pleasure? What is common to wine that gladdens the carnal heart, and to the potion of vinegar that afflicts the sense? ^C Those were of the older Adam, and against us; these are of the new, and for us. Those of him who fell, these of Him who saved us.

And these things also teach me to philosophize, and to bear injuries and calumnies with an equal mind. For it is not an evil simply to be treated with injury, but to be so treated justly and deservedly. Nor is it a grievous thing to die, but to die on account of sin. Just as, on the other hand, to undergo danger unjustly for the sake of the truth is accounted worthy of the highest beatitude. Adore this wood now, O man; as though steered and governed by a nail, you will not fear the turbulent waves of the sea, which is this life. For it does not permit you to be too heavily laden, but teaches you a light and unencumbered nakedness and thinness of the flesh, ^D even if the winds of malice should violently blow against you, and should stir up the decuman waves of temptations against the little boat of your mind. You will have a teacher of immovable constancy and firmness, so that you may always be fixed with your flesh to the crucified One through fear, and thus instructed, you will pass through the aerial pool; and those who wander in it—the wild pirates and robbers, and the demons who know not how to be tamed—you will evade without the danger of submersion, and will enter into the stormless station of the heavenly kingdom, about to receive an inexplicable gain from this commerce.

But, O cross, royal couch of our Solomon, my

^A peace-loving and peaceful one, whose peace knows neither limit nor end. For the old Jerusalem, over which the world-loving Solomon reigned, was constrained, and circumscribed by definite boundaries and limits. O couch, on which the King of glory rested, having bowed His head of His own will, and voluntarily slept a life-giving sleep—He who, even while sleeping, overthrew the sleepless enemy, having spoiled the kingdoms of the netherworld! For even though He slept according to the law of the dead, yet His heart kept wakeful with providential and all-surveying eyes. It surveyed the whole and held it together with the Father and the Spirit. For I take the heart to be the life-giving power of His Divinity, in which we live and move and are, the entire body of the Church. You, the royal and all-precious couch, are surrounded by sixty mighty men from the valiant ones of Israel, and I refer the mention of the sixty to that most excellent system of the six-winged Seraphim. For in each of these, the perfection which exists in the universe shines forth, which is also silently, and as it were by a certain ^B inflection, insinuated through the number ten; for this number is perfect. And those who, as to a royal scepter, stand by your glory, are conformed to you, and in a new way are glorified by the imitation of you, having folded their upper and lower wings, while stretching out the middle ones on either side, and flying in the form of a cross, they unceasingly chant the songs of victory and the rewards.

In this way, the seer Isaiah, having beheld your glory, teaches another mystery, when he says: «And there was sent to me, he says, one of the Seraphim, and in his hand he had a coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar; and he touched my mouth, and said: Behold, this has touched your lips, and will take away your iniquity, and will purge your sins» (Isa. vi, 6, 7). Both the concepts of the couch and of the altar have come together in you: the former because of the voluntary sleep, in which the Immortal was lulled to sleep; the latter because of the victim offered for us, and because of that ^C most glorious priestly service which He Himself performed for the sake of the world’s salvation. And we believe you to be that coal-bearing altar of the Lamb of God. For what is the coal if not wood thoroughly ignited and burning? For the fire of the impassible Divinity of the Lamb sacrificed upon you for us turned that altar into a coal without burning it up; and we, who today touch our lips to you, receive an igneous cleansing of our sins, folding our lips together like tongs after the kiss, and we impart something of this light and sanctification to the man who dwells within this earthen house.

But, O cross—for I address you again, refusing to draw my lips away from the love I have for you—O cross, all-venerable altar, accept this gift of my praises, and bless it entirely; for the lesser is blessed by the greater, since here the altar is greater than the gift, just as that which sanctifies is ^D

^A that which is sanctified. Now, then, as an altar, return to me the reward of atonement; and as a royal bed, grant rest to my word, which is already weary and fallen asleep. For the future, fight and stand in defense of my soul against the invisible, war-loving demons, for the glory of Christ, the Maker of all things and Ruler, who even through the six-fold dimensions in you, manifested his almighty power in a paradoxical way: that he rules the things above and heavenly, the things below and earthly, and not only these, but also the subterranean—for on this account, I believe, it was divinely ordered that the skull ^B or Calvary be placed beneath the base of the Cross—the things on the right, the things on the left, the just and the sinners. For he is the judge of all these things, those before and those behind; this is the mark of the eternal Godhead. For the same One already existed, and lately became [incarnate], and no other God existed before him, and after him there shall be none. To him be the glory, and the honor, and the adoration, with his Father who is without beginning, and with the all-holy, and good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ^C always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

II. Oration on the God-bodied Burial of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, delivered by Germanus, most holy and ecumenical Patriarch, on the day of Great Sabbath. Master, bless.

Today is the Sabbath, and the most excellent of all Sabbaths. Nevertheless, it is permitted for the word to take up the pallet of silence ^D upon its shoulders, and after having rested for a long time in relaxation, to begin at last to be stirred toward the glorification of God, who released man from the heavy tossing of the Law, and who inaugurates for us a spiritual Sabbath, saying: "Come to me, all who labor,"—under the excessive affection for the body—"and are heavy laden," with the empty and foolish cares of this age; "and I will give you rest," lifting up the soul with the hope of a life without labor, and adding wings through the desire and love of the future and everlasting Sabbath. But this does not please the Jews. For the enemies of God have not amended the ancestral facility for murmuring. For what could a well-composed speech and discourse have in common with those who are compared to irrational beasts; and who have even surpassed their irrationality? For if "the ox knows its owner, and the donkey the manger of its master; but Israel did not know the Lord and its nourisher," but even puffed up its heel against him; and having been sated by the land flowing with milk and honey, it kicked out like a colt against its nourisher. Those who, regarding the [needs] of the belly...

stretch out active hands on the Sabbath, and pile up loads of food for their stomachs; who also untie the ox and the ass from the manger, and leading them away, give them drink; yet if a man—for whose sake the Sabbath exists, and under whose feet God has subjected all oxen and all beasts—attains salvation, they cry out against the Benefactor, and speak evil of the One who saved him, legislating that it is not lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And now, they accuse the paralytic of violating the Law, because the burden of carrying his bed—as is the way—pulls at his neck. At other times, they bear heavily the straightening of the woman who was bowed over, and they sit upon [it] as if it were a burden upon their shoulders, and with these unequal moments of healing, they display a madness that is equally balanced. And while they forbid the man who was rightly stooped—and as he was, by prayer, [burdened]—from the load, they themselves recoil; yet they unjustly weigh down the woman who had cast off from her back the very heavy hump of Satan; and they blame some for one thing, others for another, because of the benefit conferred on the Sabbath.

But indeed, O Jew, I myself might argue: now, if ever, these men have honored the sabbath-keeping and the rest. For if the Sabbath is promised as a release from the six days of toil, and is a solution to labors, and a respite for bodies that have grown weary—and these men, having spent the greater part of their lives consumed by grievous pains and afflictions, have now, by the Word of Christ alone, found rest from their labors and a truce from their diseases—they have truly honored the power of the Sabbath. But you are rather a transgressor of the Sabbath, you who would wish that those healed, even now and on the Sabbath, should be vexed and worn down by their former ailments of disease. Do not, therefore, you sinner, build upon the backs of those whose sins have been forgiven, making yourself heavier than this very mat of his. For while he was being carried by it, he was more burdened than when he carried it and spread it out upon his shoulders. For his whole bed had been turned, to speak in the manner of the Psalmist, in his infirmity; for the craft that had been designed for rest was burdensome to the paralytic because of the long duration of his reclining; but when he had fallen away from this, to him it became a sweeter and softer burden, because of the much-desired health. For voluntary labor and fatigue that is useful for the ways of life is more to be chosen than the reclining caused by disease and an involuntary remission. Now, therefore, in truth, the man has truly kept a sabbath from his long pains, this bodily sabbath; but he has also kept it in soul, having been relieved of the heaviest burden of sin—the one who holds it knows no manner of reprieve, even if he is placed down on a mat to lie, even if he composes his hands placed upon his breast to rest. For David’s bed, weighed down by sin, gave him no rest ^D; nor did the common Sabbath of the night release the blessed one into idleness; but the bed was to the king a place of affliction, and the height of the couch was shown to be a valley of weeping. He who then healed that man of his...

^A heart's pain through forgiveness, He also healed the long-standing pain of the paralytic, having removed the sin that produced it; and when this cause was taken away, the body was released from its paralysis. But you, O Jew, who are envious and a hater of mankind, go to the crows and to an evil fate, and sit among the corpses of men and take pleasure in the infirmities of those who suffer, if you consider this to be an honor to your Sabbath. We, however, will contemplate the meaning of our feast today, and we will glorify Him who took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.

^B It is necessary, therefore, brothers, to hold this Sabbath in veneration, as it is the day of our human restoration. For the ecclesiastical and rational oxen must be loosed from their bodily manger (for today a fast is incumbent upon us, that we may obey the apostolic laws); and they must be led away to drink the spiritual water freshly gushing from the rock of the sepulcher, leaping up into eternal life, even though it comes out of a tomb—a truly marvelous thing. This Sabbath is the first-fruits of salvation for the Church of the Gentiles, and the cause of a second world; or rather, it is the renewal of the aging first one; it is the sabbath-rest and the dissolution of all Jewish Sabbaths. For behold, it is the Sabbath, and the word goes forth to gather the wood of the cross, still dripping with the Master’s blood, and thereby to kindle the fire of desire for Christ, who deigned to suffer for us; and yet he (who does this) is not to be stoned with the missiles of censure, but rather will be declared blessed for having adored the altar of God; and the man who embraces it, being the scarlet cord, as it is written in the Song of Songs, will make his lips a purple mark with the redness of the divinely-flowing blood. And he will draw into his soul that heavenly dew flowing around the cross, as water of sanctification, drawing it out and drinking it through the closing of his lips.

^C Moreover, this Sabbath has received a greater and more divine blessing, as it is a rest from works that are higher and also more difficult. For it was not by will and nod alone, as the first creation of the world once had, that the great works of creation were accomplished, nor the renewal of the aged Adam; but rather by the sweats of the Creator, and by His own bodily labor, He who took upon Himself the evils and passions of others, and by His own voluntary suffering, consumed them. For the impulse of corruption was formerly flowing uncontrollably, having descended ^D from the lofty place of Paradise, and was being borne headlong, as if down a steep slope, with our nature continually subsiding into ever-worsening states. But when it struck against that great rampart of the incorruptible Godhead, and the rock of the tomb that received God, it was checked and turned back; and the day of today’s Sabbath has become, for the world, the beginning of incorruption, but the end of the life of the God-man in a corruptible and weary body.

^A But let a more perfect account of this await us for a while longer; let us for the present consider the matters of yesterday, and all that pertains to the passion, and to the ignominy of the Cross. For in the infirmity of the flesh, we shall find the infinite riches of the Godhead stored up. And we shall have no need of prolixity for the demonstration of the power of the Crucified, nor of a voice reaching unto the ends of the earth and spanning out the declaration of the truth. For the heavens, as sacred heralds brought forth, declare the glory of God [Ps. XVIII, 2] through their own ingloriousness; and through the darkness of the whole world, they make plain to the inhabited earth the light of the world that knows no setting.

It was necessary, indeed, that the creatures should well and finally lose the glory, for the sake of the glory of the Creator, which they had previously been evilly and impiously given as deity by the foolish, and which the senseless had honored to the injury of the Maker. ^B And the manner of the heavens' narration, how wondrous! how portentous and supernatural! The sun is the eye of the day, yet it is blinded; and the whole earth, as much as he was wont to traverse in his course, beholds the wonder. The lamps of the world is extinguished. The lamp of this great house is darkened, and then the Master of the house sleeps. Now, God makes not darkness his hiding-place, but rather the knowledge of Him is illuminated through the darkness to the ends of the earth; ‹and the light shines in darkness,› [Joan. I, 5] and the Son of God is manifested to those at the centurion's side, ‹and the darkness did not overcome it.› For the prince of this world found nothing in Him, having rushed upon Him with the army under his command; concerning whom the Psalm says: ‹They will return at evening, and will suffer hunger like a dog, and will encompass the city.› [Ps. LVIII, 7] For indeed, the commander of the phalanxes of the powers of darkness had set himself to rage against the Savior even before this, when He had just begun to dissipate the rays of His theophany over the waters of the Jordan, and had withdrawn into the wilderness. ^C You know, whoever you are, disciple of the Gospel, the temptation that followed the baptism. But the all-devouring teeth of the shameless one were crushed, and the God-fighter was turned back; ‹and having completed,› [Luc. IV, 13] as the evangelist says, ‹all temptation, he departed from him until a time.› And this is the time of the passion. For now, those spirits of wickedness return again to him who once defeated the destroyer of earthly life and conduct, and they jeer at Him who is being crucified and suffering. But ‹they will suffer hunger like a dog,› [Ps. LVIII, 7] according to him who prophesied; for they find nothing in Him of those things with which they are nourished. For they are nourished by the sins of men; but He is in truth sinless. ^D Driven away from thence, therefore, ‹they will encompass the city,› [Ps. LVIII, 7] that which kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. For blood

with blood, they delight the original murderers as their guests.

^A Thus, therefore, when this mundane lamp had suffered that wondrous waning, the people who were wandering in those three hours of darkness saw “a great light,” that of the knowledge of Christ. The Jews alone, according to Isaiah, “having eyes do not see.” For as their darkness is, so also is their light; and “having ears, they do not hear” the heavens, even though these clearly declare the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ is His elevation on the wood of the cross, because of which came those new and unusual shadows and all the signs that were brought forth as wonders yesterday. But the earth below also sings in concert with the heavens, reproving the madness of these blood-thirsty men, and, like one possessed, it rages and pulses; and these two extremes, which embrace the whole, exult with the words of David: “As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of the God of Jacob.” They heard, not as it happened, nor by the way, but because they had been summoned long ago by the Only-Begotten to be witnesses, with the words of Isaiah having testified beforehand to the future wickedness of Israel in the last times, and presenting the future as if it were present, and saying: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth: I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have rejected me.” They exalted Me also, but it was on the cross. They too lifted Him up on high, but only to dash Him down with a heavier fall. What therefore they heard prophesied then, they see fulfilled in deed today. At these things, the heaven ^B indeed closes its eye to the sight, having dimmed its all-seeing organ; but the whole earth rages in its passion, tearing itself and scarring its face; yet Israel alone remains devoid of grief and insensitive. Thus the Christ-killers have proved themselves not only more irrational than the unreasoning animals, but even more senseless than inanimate things.

The novelty of the miracle displayed in the sun still holds our discourse; and although it hastens swiftly toward the setting of the monument, and ^C brings the Sun of Justice hidden there to a halt in its course, persuading it to spend some slightly longer time of leisure around Him. Indeed, that Jesus, son of Nave, the second leader of the Israelite people after Moses, brought the chariot of the sun to a halt by the office of its wheels, casting a dissyllabic word like a most powerful bridle, so that its driving might not become salvation for the enemies of Israel. Yet it remained a light-bearer. For when the commander was waging war against visible enemies, he needed light, which would stir up the faculty of sight and effect the power of seeing, so that by that extension of light, he might drive more

that he might thrust the enemy into the dark recesses of the abyss. ^A For what should seem strange if he who observed the rulings of the metaphorical Law—the minister of the killing letter—should slay those fleeing from the darkness of Egypt toward that blessed inheritance? ^B But now another strange battle of the night is fought in broad daylight, and darkness for three hours appears; and the ancient, invisible Prince of Darkness falls, struck down by Him who wraps Himself in light as with a garment, and who clouded Himself in the covering of flesh, and being already torn by nails and pierced by the spear on account of the poverty He voluntarily embraced. But those who sat in the darkness of ignorance and the shadow of death see a great light of redemption, and seeing the tyrant cast down, they spring from darkness into light, from corruption into life. For the victory of the one Lord Jesus is the salvation of those who, having fallen away from Him through transgression, had been made enemies to the Creator by the deception of the first-created dragon. ^C But, as I was saying, the wood of the cross held aloft Him who brought forth creation; and He who was once prefigured for the patriarch, leaning upon the ladder, was now, in a manner befitting humanity, leaning upon this. For having become dead for the sake of my life, He was held by the wood in the manner of the dead, bound by the fetters of the nails; through these, He who sustains all things with His Godhead and breathes life into the dead was held fast, supported by the wood. Now the angels were ascending and descending upon the cross. They were ascending as to Him who, because of the passion of death, was ^D made a little lower than them. But they instantly descended again with an immense descent, realizing Him to be higher than every Angelic Principality and Power. For what else could they consider Him to be, but their own Creator, co-throned with the Father and the Spirit, and King of glory, and Lord? For the cross was no shame to these, but a trophy of victory and a demonstration of universal triumph. "He sat upon the throne of the cross, He who judges righteousness," and condemned unjust death, banishing it from the human substance. And the crown of thorns, which He received upon His head before the cross, confirmed the victory of Him who said: "Take courage, I have overcome the world," and the prince of this world, by bearing the sin of the world. For thorns are a symbol of sin, and sin is the sharpest weapon of death; and death is the lieutenant of the devil. Have you seen the commander of perdition thus armed? Have you seen how great was his fortification? But nevertheless, see him stripped of all that panoply and defeated by the ingenious wisdom of Christ. For the sinless One snatches away the sting and destroys it within Himself.

^A And He is recognized by nature as sinless. He shows death, which had been the bearer of the sting, to be unarmed and completely ineffectual; or rather, He puts death to death and extinguishes it, once its sting is cast away. This same thing also happens to those stinging insects that die when they have fixed their sting into flesh.

Furthermore, the victory of Christ passes over to the entire nature, of which He Himself took the first-fruits. For through this [nature] it is brought to life and rendered immortal. That the mystery of the cross possesses the character of a triumphal victory, the facts themselves cry out. Even if I were to be silent, the stones would cry out: those stones, I say, beneath which the skull of the first parent was buried, as the true and ancient tradition of the Fathers holds. For as a most powerful King, He overcame this citadel of the Adamic senses, and, having defeated in the battle of war the demon who dominated it by force, He fixed His own scepter there by right of war and erected a trophy, showing clearly that that Adam was the most important goal for His coming to earth, and that for the sake of his restoration and repaired salvation, the whole mystery of the ^B emptying was performed: the descent, I say, from heaven; the incarnation, the sweat, the labor, the prayer, the passion, the shedding of blood, the deposition in the tomb. All these things flowed back into the freedom of Adam, and the mystery was a proof of the love which the Creator pursued toward him.

This citadel, moreover, had formerly suffered a crisis, when the enemy smote it with the help of wood and had put it to ruin. For the first parent of the race hearkened to the serpent’s treacherous counsel. “He saw that the fruit was beautiful to the sight,” and he reached out, extending his right hand; and having plucked it, and bringing it to his mouth, he tasted “that it was good for food,” and perceived its sweet odor. Therefore, for the salvation of these senses which had been enslaved to the demon, the cross is erected upright upon the Lithostrotos; and Christ begins the cure from the Skull, where previously he had fastened his senses. And having planted the paradise by word alone, He now prepares, by the toil of His own hands, a higher plantation, whose fruit is life everlasting. And He imitates the best of gardeners, who know how to change by good qualities the qualities of trees that produce no useful fruit, ^C grafting the good onto those that have been cut down.

^A Malleable pine, grafted upon the root of a bitter almond, changes the bitterness of the tree into something useful and sweet, and tames what was difficult of access. The Cross also does this, by a higher husbandry: it is fixed into the root of the human race—I mean the first-created man—and it delivers this root from the bitterness of death, changing it into a vital quality. For it is the tree of life, because of the fruit of immortality suspended upon it. O the ineffable kindness and clemency of God! O the great love of Him, for the sake of His great longsuffering, toward me, who was worthy of much hatred because of my vice! The all-seeing inspector, looking down from heaven from above, long ago foresaw the skull lying upon the Lithostrotos, miserable remains of the creation that the hand of the Creator had honored; and seeing it, He was moved; and being moved, ^B "He bows the heavens and comes down" (Ps. XVII, 10). He who cannot be circumscribed lives among men on earth, having become man. He ran, He ran even to this place, where He also planted His feet, having finished the way of earthly life, and having reached the One sought, He stands; and "where the corpse is, there also is the eagle with great wings" (Matth. XXIV, 28), as if spreading out His hands like wings, and overshadowing the one lying there, and looking upon Him, He who dwells in the heavens, and "looks upon the lowly to raise the needy from the earth and lift the poor from the dunghill" (Ps. CXII, 9). For we had become like the dung of the earth, condemned to rot and to exhale a foul odor. ^C "Adam, where art thou?" (Gen. III, 9), He asks him again; for I, seeking thee out, have arrived here, and for the sake of finding thee, I stretched out my hands on the Cross; which, indeed, looks toward the Father, showing a form of thanksgiving for thy finding; but toward thee, an extension for an embrace. But the feet that once troubled thy soul with their noise (for this is what the sad appearance of His movement gave one to suspect), now have seized thee without noise, and are unmoving, because they are fixed to the wood for thy sake. For I have not come to judge thee for thy sin, but to save thee through kindness; nor have I come to curse thee for thy disobedience, but to bless thee through my obedience. "I will overshadow thee between my shoulders, and under thy ^D (13) overshadowings, I shall make thee live."

thou shalt hope," as one who, before he was a fledgling, was snatched away from the nest of paradise and mangled by the teeth of the serpent. I, the Truth, surround thee with the shield of the cross, and thou shalt not fear from the terror by night; for a day that knows no evening shall receive thee; nor from "the thing that walketh in darkness," nor from that which moves about in the dark tabernacles of hell; nor, finally, from ruin and the "noonday devil." For it was, as thou knowest, the hour of the afternoon when, supplanted by the evil demon, thou wert cast down into ruin together with thy spouse. From all these things shalt thou be delivered, being fenced about on every side by the shield of the cross. Finally, therefore, "my bone was not hidden," which was from me. And if thy substance is also in the "lowest parts of the earth" (for the soul is the substance of the body, since when it departs, that which was subsisting is dissolved), yet I myself am also going thither now, and I descend, having been "reckoned with them that go down into the pit," and I will seek thy soul "in dark places, and in the shadow of death," where it is hidden; and I will not cease, being humbled of my own will and ^B descending lower, until I raise thee up to heaven, to the praise of my own kindness and clemency toward the human race, but to the shame of the devil's hatred and envy toward it. For he who could not endure thy conversation in paradise, what tribulations will he not suffer when thou hast become a citizen of heaven? Yea, and even a fellow-sitter with my true Father, through these first-fruits and the nature which I assumed?

Since, therefore, death is nothing other than the separation of the soul from the body, and Emmanuel truly became man, and through supreme kindness received all the measures of humanity except sin, He dies according to the law of human nature; yet ^C He dies willingly, and not constrained by the force of death; and the soul is indeed separated from the body, and the body dies by that disjunction; yet the Godhead remains undivided and inseparable from neither part, gathering together the divided parts, and preserving in itself even after death the subsistence that came from that union. And the soul indeed descends of its own will into hell; but the body is enclosed in the sepulchre. But, just as the birth from the Virgin was not in all things similar to ours, nor followed at all the laws of human birth; but there are things in which the childbearing was wondrous beyond human ^D reason, and nature was made new. What are these? Assuredly the conception without seed, the parturition devoid of pains; the preservation of virginity after birth as it was before birth, so that from such wondrous things, He who was born might not be thought of as a mere man, but might be known in truth as God who had put on flesh. So indeed also in death, natural things were commingled with those that exceed the reason of nature. And these things are: that of His own power and sovereign will He commended His spirit into the Father's hands; that by descending into hell He brought back those who were held captive there; [and that He caused] the body [to lie] incorrupt in the tomb for three...

^A days, fresh, as though living by His Deity; gushing forth life, not corruption; containing, not being contained by, the funeral bonds; anointing, not being anointed with the aromatics of the dead; stale indeed by the interval of days, yet living by the subsistence from the Deity.

Come, then, let us anticipate the myrrh-bearing disciples, being ourselves disciples of spiritual liberty. For they still keep the law and sit keeping the Sabbath, [observing] the legal shadow; but let the Word now disregard the Sabbath, let Him despise the guard, let Him enter the hewn rock, and, covered by it, let Him see the ineffable condescension of God; ^B let Him behold the face of God with boldness, for He shall not die forever. For how could He, when even the dead who saw Him were made alive? Let David, therefore, come; let him stand with us; let him preside over the feast; let him provide the subjects for our hymns. Let him assume the person of the assembly of men addicted to corruption and to the mortal hell—the assembly which of old awaited the coming of the Savior and the immortality which is now manifested—modulating his song to these words: "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He heard my prayers; and He brought me out of the lake of misery" (Ps. XXXIX, 2). ^C By the lake of misery, he interprets the place of corruption, the tomb; "and from the clay of the mire" (Ps. XXXIX, 2), from the dissolved body into earth and water, from which it was also constituted. These are the penalties laid upon us because of the curse. But let our longings also smile upon us; "And He set," he says, "my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps" (Ps. XXXIX, 3). How, and in what manner? Christ is placed upon this rock of the monument, and the foundations of our nature are made solid, and the steps of men will no longer be poured out into death; ^D for the rock gushes forth the water of immortality. Indeed, the Only-Begotten truly assumed all natural and blameless passions, having become man from virginal blood and having sustained in Himself the whole Adamic lump. From that time forth, therefore, having begun to move, not by necessity of nature but by the concession of the Deity, today they have ceased from motion upon this rock and have been swallowed up, joined to this rock. No longer is there toil, no longer sleep, no hunger, no thirst—those penalties brought into our nature after the transgression. For as incorruption blossomed forth, these things withered away—those which I would call "the little ones of Babylon dashed against this rock" (Ps. CXXXVI, 9) and consumed; "little ones" because they are not reckoned as sins—for they are blameless; "of Babylon," however, because after the fall into the confusion of this world, and the abduction from the high Jerusalem into the valley of weeping, these blameless passions crept in, being hurtful to human life, which consists in the fullness and emptying.

^A Extend for me, O discourse, further still, as far as the way of the desert, to gather the Manna; and let not the fear of the Sabbath hold you back, for the Judaic Sabbaths have found their rest in the coming of Christ. Therefore, consider the much-celebrated Manna, which in the book of Psalms is called “the bread of angels” (Ps. LXXVII, 25); and it was, as I say, a prefiguration of the present mystery, and it depicted Christ the heavenly bread, who descended even unto us, whom they who eat shall not die, and for this reason he is called the bread of angels. For the angels are immortal, and it is fitting that those who are endowed with angelic ways should eat it. The nature of men was indeed once of a single day, having become subject to corruption through the transgression of the divine command. It even produced worms, the offspring of decay; and it was full of stench, an olfactory influx that was difficult for the nostrils to bear; to which such vices of corruption the Manna was also prone, so that it could not be kept until the light of the next day. For after the manner of the insects of a day, it was born on that very day and perished; and what was kept beyond that, like a dead body placed in a chest, brought forth worms. But when the day came which precedes the Sabbath, after which the Sabbath was to dawn, it was stored away from the evening and hidden inside the vessels; and it was completely incorruptible, untouched by any trace of decay, even until the dawn shining forth, the head of the days of the week; and this time ^B symbolically prefigured the mystery of the burial of the heavenly bread, and it sketched the images of incorruption. For having been stored in the tomb, the ultimate dwelling-place of the living, toward the evening of Preparation, he was preserved immune from corruption, and he surpassed every alteration and change that brings death. Having obtained incorruption, he imparted it to the whole nature, so that many, having left the seats of corruption, namely the tombs, appeared alive again, and having put on a second life; just as it says: “They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy” (Ps. CXXV, 5). The mystical husbandry of David is that from which the discourse gathers these fruits, and brings the understanding of the words into the storehouse of the God-bearing and life-giving tomb. ^C But the prophet, indeed, obscured under the symbol of seed and harvest the arduous descent of the Israelite people into Babylon and their joyous return from thence; but the holy Gospel takes us up to the Lord's monument, mindful of that voice which says: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (Joan. XII, 24). For now the grain that sustains the world is sown in tears upon the stony place of the monument, which not only will not wither, but will bring forth much fruit of immortality in perfect maturity for those who are earth-born. And as for the evangelical seed,

whatever was scattered upon the rock, Scripture says, has withered, for the reason that it had no root; but our mystical grain, as it is of dual nature, so it is also of dual root. It has the Father, eternal in the heavens, as its root; and on earth, the Mother, and through her, David's father, Jesse. For it germinated from his root according to the flesh. Besides, not even when the Sun had risen will it be found to have withered. ^B "For very early," it says, "on the first day of the week, the women came to the monument when the sun had risen"; and the grain, having brought to harvest the salvation of mortals, emerged from thence, and has left the earth. Why should I not say that the thorns also did not yesterday choke it, although they had wrapped themselves around in a circle and were constricting that blessed head? For the things which bear reproach are not grievous to the Lord, but rather joyful for the sake of my salvation; and the wearing of the thorns is a crown of exultation, because he wears the garland of thorns for an insult. He rejoiced that, carrying our sins—signified by the sharpness of the thorns—he was offering himself to the Father as a sacrifice for the remission of them. And this was appointed long ago even by the shadowy legislation of the letter, and he who offered a sacrifice for sin would lay his hands upon the head of the victim; as if the victim were receiving into itself the evil action of which the hands were the symbol, and were being sanctified on behalf of the one who brought it; which very thing Christ, hinting at, said: "For their sake I sanctify myself."

^C Such are the things we celebrate, the sowings of the amaranthine and life-giving grain, which has already been treasured up upon the earth, where neither moth nor consumption will destroy it; for the flesh that subsists in God is untouched by the all-devouring millstones of corruption; and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. Let not the God-fighters send their tongues thither, saying: "His disciples came by night and stole him." But these men, indeed, like babblers and raven-loving crows, circling the tomb, cry out against him who lies buried; calling him a seducer, but fearing him as truthful. Wherefore they also draw up a battle line against the truth, and are armed with weapons against the corpse of the deceased. Truly, by the truth, they will remove nothing by that apparatus except falsehood and the most shameless slander; the matter being so done that the miracle of the resurrection might be perfected in the presence of many witnesses, and those, adversaries. For nothing is so strong for victory in a matter brought to judgment, as for the accusers themselves to appear as the advocates; and those who were yesterday ^D hurling insults, today celebrate with encomia. How much of a miracle do you think this should be considered, to see soldiers as heralds of the resurrection? For behold, "the exaltations of God are in their throat," reporting the resurrection and exaltation of Christ from the tomb; "and two-edged swords are in their hands," confirming the unbetrayed nature of the watch. And as for what concerns them, vigilant and un-

- ^A sleeping, the apostle-soldiers of Christ were about to declare to the world that He was raised from the dead, had not the perversity of the Jews, forestalling them, stolen their judgment away with silver, just as it had earlier wretchedly ensnared Judas, constricting the vocal power of his throat with silver chains ^B and strangling him with a miserable noose. Eventually, therefore, the soldiers betrayed the truth; for this breed of men is sordid and crazed with a craving for money. They carry an "ox upon their tongue," and enslave the freedom of their soul to the yoke of servitude. David long ago lamented their evil habits, saying, "O ye sons of men, why are ye heavy-hearted?"—because you weigh it down with the heavy burden of money; and they despise that teaching of the sacred Psalmist who instructs: "If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." And, "Why do you love vanity and seek after a lie?"—slandering the Lord’s resurrection for the sake of gain. "Know that He hath made His Holy One wonderful, so as not to permit Him to see corruption." ^C Nay rather, He made known to him the paths of a restored life. For to the Author of life, lying in death, the ten-stringed instrument sings successive funeral hymns, and to these it adds others: "Rescue me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth hath spoken vanity (slanders against Thee), and whose right hand is a right hand of iniquity"—which, by the receiving of bribes, has betrayed the truth. "For the Lord shall destroy those who have placed their hope in a lie, and are covered by a lie," according to Isaiah. But we, with unveiled face and head uncovered, proclaiming the truth, let us resume the subject matter.

On the Counsel and Incarnation of the Only-Begotten

The prophetic word has called the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, and the immortality reconciled to the dead through death, an ancient and true counsel; and indeed, our first progenitor is introduced by parable as having descended from Jerusalem to Jericho. For ^D from divine glory and angelic joy, he descended through disobedience into the valley of weeping; and in descending, he met with passions and received wounds from demons: but do you understand the passions and wounds of the soul. But for the Author of our life, ascending historically from Galilee through Jericho to Jerusalem, cruel robbers met Him. For what could be more predatory than the synagogue of the Jews, for whom even the temple of the merciful God was turned into a den of thieves? "Who even stripping Him, and laying on Him wounds"—that is, now indeed scourging Him, now nailing Him—"left Him half-dead." For Christ, composed of a double nature, both mortal and immortal, remained indeed, according to the one...

immune from passions, preserving that which He was by nature; but the other, He endured the passion and death in human fashion. When, therefore, that long-suffering One willingly accepted these things, all His friends and acquaintances stood afar off, looking upon Him who was dying, except Nicodemus and Joseph. For as far as concerned them, "He waited for one who would grieve together with Him, and there was none; and for one who would comfort Him, and He found none." Seeing Him naked, and needing one to prepare Him for burial, moved by mercy, they shed gentle tears over Him; they bind Him with linen cloths and lead Him into the inn, entrusting Him to the earth according to common human law, and covering Him with a tomb. But the Mother still labors in her lamentations; she still conceives more frequent sighs; still the tear travails more flowingly. The torments are heavier; the pains, more acute. For now she does not even have the gaze of her Son, which would cut away the greater part of her despondency and, through the eyes, instill refreshment into the midst of her heart. "For the sun knew his going down," and having gone beneath the earth, "night became" for the Mother of the Sun; a night of grievous pain and calamity. In it passed all the painful things that devour the soul like beasts. "For lying down like a lion, that offspring of Judah (beneath the cave) fell asleep." Yet, although sleeping, He has His all-seeing eyes opened. For not even after death was the assumed nature severed from the Divinity, in which, once and for all, it had subsisted, being united to Him. But the Mother, lacking that most powerful lion-cub, "roars from the groaning of her heart," and with more impassioned ^C feeling, laments such things as these:

ON THE BURIAL OF THE LORD'S BODY

"O depth of riches, and height of poverty! O life-bearing death, and dying immortality! O complexity of events, which the readiness of any tongue cannot unravel! What is this, O Son and God, this self-lowering that has exaltation? You who measure the heaven with a span, how do You enter a tomb of three cubits? You who fill the light-shining bosom of the Father, how are You contained in the belly of Hades? You who clothe the heaven with clouds, how are You seen naked, and because You lacked a covering, were You wrapped in stone? Have You extinguished the light of my eyes? My eyes are of no further need to me, now that the Light has failed; I shall consume their moisture into tears. Are You hidden by the bushel-measure of the tomb, O Lamp of the cosmic house that knows no evening? I, too, the lampstand, shall be hidden with You. I cannot bear this contrary transformation; I cannot endure this unwelcome reversal. Things that were glorious to me are shifting to dishonor; things of good report are becoming disreputable; things sweet turn bitter; joyful things cause me grief. I am a fleece, but full of the water of tears; though there is drought upon all the earth. For I waited for one who would grieve together with me and weep with me, ^D and there was none. I am the bush, I am being burned up by despondency; but only thorns flourish for me and pierce my entrails. I am the ladder, by the...

^A ascents and descents of thoughts I am beleaguered, now ascending even unto the heavens, and there beholding Him who lies here in a sepulcher; now descending even unto the abysses. For even the luminous cloud walks in the footprints of the abyss, sorrowful; and the light cloud is, in a manner, bearing a heavy burden, and is full of rain-showers of tears. And who shall give me to descend even now with my Son into the dark Egypt, I mean, into Hades? I, the golden urn holding the manna, am full of bitterness, and because of my sorrows, I have contracted rust in my soul. Intoxicated with fury, the Israelites have risen up, O Word of God, to mock Thee, and I, Thy tablet, am crushed in heart. I am that sorrowful temple of Thine, because the fleshy veil which Thou tookest from me has been rent, pierced by the lance and the nails. Fire and darkness and storm upon the mountain of God ^B by Thy approach, and from thence, there is a great smoke of groaning.

OF THE COMING OF THE LORD

How joyful and illustrious was the foundation of Thy arrival on earth! How sorrowful and sad the covering of Thy death! It began with joy, and it ends in mourning. Emerging from a cave Thou didst appear to the world, and entering into a cave Thou departest from the world. A cave was found for Thee at that time, when there was no room in the inn; and now in another cave, Thou who wast a guest, art taken in, lacking a monument. But the angelic hymn proclaimed that coming of Thine like a sounding trumpet. Truly, the star brought to Thee the kings of the Persians, and they adored Thee, and as a King, offered Thee gifts; but the ministrations which Thou now hast from the soldiers contain ignominy; for they even calumniate Thy resurrection ^C by the bribe of money they have received. At Thy descent into Egypt, the things made by hands were shaken, and the impious glorified Thee as God: now also there is an earthquake, and the stones are broken, as Thou descendest into Egypt, the dark tyranny of Hades; and Israel, whom Thou calledst out of Egypt, is hard-hearted above Pharaoh. O Symeon! O Symeon! O most acute dioptra of the soul, although the eyes of the body were dimmed! O mighty prophet, although Thou wast weak in voice by reason of old age. The sword has come; it pierces my heart; it rends my entrails. Tell me also, when shall the thoughts be revealed from many hearts, and the truth be confirmed? Hitherto indeed my Son is set for the fall of many by reason of the cross, so that even friends and kinsmen have forsaken Him and have ^D stood afar off. But when shall He rise again for the resurrection of many? Tell me, I beseech Thee, quickly: tell me when Thou wilt compose the song to the sorrows that press upon me. O Child, Creator of Thy Mother, where are those who are avid for Thy wonders? Let them come, let them run, to stand in danger for their benefactor. The lame,

^A leap again like deer—against the ungrateful ones, leap—take away the serpents and the offspring of vipers. You who were once speechless, clear your tongue; speak eloquently against the Pharisees; sharpen it like the pen of a scribe, to pierce the scribes who write malice. The paralytic of many years, having taken up your bed, walk, and show it again to those who do not believe in your physician. For even if it is the Sabbath, it is nonetheless permitted to take up the bed for the glory of God, who is glorified at every time. Say to the unbelievers: "In vain do you besiege this funeral couch. He who was laid out will rise; this three-day period is nothing. I have been dead for a long time, but His single word raises me from the bed as if from a tomb." Say these things, you who were once a paralytic; and if they do not believe, wash your bed, bedew your couch with tears, and lament against the adulterous and murderous generation. You who were blind from birth, see the light of your eyes that was closed; and if you can do nothing else to help, being a beggar, at least use these for tears. Moisten the earth; make clay; give back the plaster to your physician. If you are dragged into the Synagogue, stand firm again more strongly; manifest your light-giver; proclaim the true light, who lit the lamps of the body. Grieve with me, you, too, who were once deaf; yes, grieve with me, and seek your former deafness, not enduring the blasphemies that are cast against Christ. You who have experienced demons, fear their assaults no longer. All the phalanxes of darkness, with their prince, have ^B set upon the crucifiers. And they found organs ready for their murderous intent. They entered in, they took up residence, they drove the wretches to fury. Do you not see how they grind their teeth? How they tear their garments? How they speak foolishly, bringing the charge of blasphemy against God? How they foam at the mouth, spitting in the face of the Master? How they have distorted their eyes? And seeing Barabbas the robber, they deem him Christ the Savior and set him free, and seeing Christ, they judge him a robber and put him to death? They see light as darkness, and darkness as light. They think sweet to be bitter, and confess bitter to be sweet. O crooked and perverse generation! O fickle and faithless race! ^C Yesterday they spread their garments as for a king; today they strip Him as a slave, subjected to the lash. Yesterday were praises, today are insults! Yesterday it was, "Blessed is He who comes," today it is, "Cursed is He who hangs on a tree." Yesterday, King of Israel, and now, a rebel against Caesar. Yesterday the whole city was shaken by the royal procession; today there is a cosmic earthquake, and yet they are not moved from the foundation of their wickedness. Let these things be, since they are from the unwilling—since they are from the envious—

who were acting for the honor of Christ. Where, I ask, are his friends and neighbors? Where are those who were boasting yesterday that they would die for him? Where is Peter? Where is the leader of that noble phalanx? Is it thus that you, who carry the keys of heaven, were so easily repulsed by a servant-girl, a doorkeeper? Were you so quickly shaken from your foundation, O rock, by the assault of a woman? Did a maidservant’s word so swiftly pierce your hearing, ^B that you took vengeance on the ear of your fellow-servant Malchus? Have you such boldness only as far as drawing a sword, and such desire for vengeance only against the ears of your enemies? Why did you not also cut off their reviling tongues? Why did you not also gouge out their malicious eyes? But why do I say these things? It was better that you should not have attempted such a crime at all, being a disciple of the one who is meek and peaceful. For that betrayal was not out of weakness, but his long-suffering was out of clemency and kindness. For even if he is called a sheep because of his innocence, he is nonetheless called a lion because of his almighty power. And even if he was named a worm by David because of his birth without seed, he appeared nonetheless as a bear robbed of her whelps, and as a leopard against his enemies. Have you forgotten that you were addressed as Satan when you opposed the Passion? When you were cast back behind the teacher like the rock of a lion's breast? Perhaps this was the reason why you were abandoned: for this cause, Peter, you fell into the crime of denial, and it came to pass that the tongue of a maidservant was forged sharper than your sword. Because ^C you stood entirely in the way of the crucifiers, because you made an effort with the sword so that the love of the cross might be hindered. You knew how much the Passion was always desired by your Teacher; why did you resist that will? Why did you attempt to hinder the common salvation? But take heart, good zealot; the fire of your zeal will not be extinguished: it will be rekindled by the divine Spirit. Draw near with me to the rock of the tomb; let us hollow it out with a constant drip of tears. Yesterday we poured out a stream of tears for the Victim placed upon the wood of the cross. But this Victim is his own priest; if, therefore, he now demands a second portion of tears, let us bestow them, and let us moisten the trench of the sepulcher with them. If he says, "Bring a third portion," let us bring a third. Let us offer a daily libation to the one who has been dead for three days. I know well that the coal of Isaiah, kindled at the tomb, will shine forth again, brilliant and joyous, for our glory, but for the shame—the shame—of the priests. Recover your senses, Peter, do not despair. Leave Judas alone with his noose. For it was into such a collar that his silver pieces were turned. You, however, withdraw from the company of those who despair. Widen your mouth for confession, and your eyes for tears. Do not let the thief be before ^D you; do not let him outstrip you and seize hold of the gate of paradise before you, the keeper of the keys. The rock of the tomb is a good testament for you. The love for the teacher that lived within you has indeed withered; but now,

it shall revive and rise again. For the Teacher is already rising. Will he who sleeps not add that he shall rise? By his own authority he has slept, by his own authority he shall also be awakened. "I," he says, "slept and took my rest," ^A bowing his head on the cross. "But I have not been tyrannized by death, as are those subject to it. Of my own authority I have slept, and of my own authority I shall rise." The Teacher descended into your land, whose bars are everlasting. He shall despoil the kingdoms of Hades. The all-devouring sea-monster shall be widowed; he shall tear open the belly of Hades, and those whom it had taken as food, he shall make alive and raise up. The first-created ones shall dance, recognizing him who fashioned them out of goodness, and condemned them out of justice. They shall find the Physician who wounded them. "He himself," they shall say, "has wounded, and he shall heal us; he has struck and shall bind up the wounded. He shall heal us after two days; and on the third, we shall rise and we shall live."

Funeral laments of the Mother and Virgin

Thus did the rain of tears, copious from the luminous cloud, all but struggle to overwhelm the tomb—like an ark—where the Father and Author of our life was kept, as if in a bridal chamber. For although she was not ignorant of or doubting the doctrine of the resurrection, basing the certainty of the rising ^B on these three witnesses—for it was pre-outlined in the pre-legal period in Isaac and in Joseph; and the Law, too, had previously shadowed it forth in many and various symbols—the greater and more perfect ^C manifestation shone forth in the miracles of the Son; among which the most exceptional were the raising of the dead and the return to life of those who had departed from existence. Although, therefore, the Sun of Righteousness, like a drawing-bow, was impressing tears onto the cloud that was enduring the rain, and was painting them onto the memory of her mind, as if consoling the Mother and promising a future rest from the rain of tears, yet because she was in truth a Mother, and the inhabitant of the tomb was in truth her Son, she succumbed to the violence of maternal bowels; and the death of her Child, no less unjust than it was shameful, ^D drew forth for her inconsolable grief.

But in the lowest places of the earth, a certain strange festive celebration was held for the dead from the ages. They mightily burst the bonds of Hades. They, in turn, bind the Binder; they overturn him; they trample upon him as he lies there; they sing bright dirges for the [defeated] funeral: "Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O Hades, is your victory?" This is the day which the Lord has made, appearing over the chaos and the darkness—those unpleasant and cold kingdoms of yours—as the Sun of Righteousness; and we, his worshippers, having been given life, we exult and we rejoice in it. This is the day which we always opposed to you, expecting your ruin, although he himself for

your impudence and insatiability, was not paying attention to us. ^A Abraham descended, the prince of the burial and resurrection of Christ; for he prefigured both in his tender child. It was sought that the great counsel of God should be represented through a preceding image: the carrying of the wood upon the shoulders of the Only-Begotten, the victim without immolation, that slaughter which does not know death. Coming after him, his great-grandson Joseph set forth the things concerning Christ in a more expressive figure. "My kin," he said, "were jealous of me, because I was loved by my father more than them; they sold me as a slave; I suffered snares from an adulterous woman; I descended into a pit of the condemned, where the chief baker and chief cupbearer of Pharaoh were; I went out thence by the good pleasure of him who saves, I sat upon a throne of glory, I reigned, I held sway over those who had laid snares." And being asked for the exposition of the story, he foretold that it would happen that, when the beloved Son of the heavenly Father should be plotted against by his kinsfolk and brethren according to the flesh, he too would be sold; that the synagogue of the Hebrews, having committed fornication away from God, would set upon him, would slander him, would slay him, and would cast him down into the dark pit; that these things were the dark prisons; that he would meet with the princes of the spiritual Pharaoh: with Death, I say, the prince of the cupbearers, who, offering to the nature of mortals a bitter cup that is lethal, gives it to drink to that murderer from the beginning; and with you, O Hell, the prince of bakers, who, grinding with your all-taming millstones the whole seed of humanity, ^B nourish the hatred of the ruler of this world against the human race. It would happen, finally, that he would grant himself new life and would rule over the dead and the living. You rejected these things, for those things which are contrary to the will are not gladly accepted.

Some time later Moses descended, no longer stammering, nor bearing a physical veil over the face of his soul, but being eloquent for the manifestation of the mystery; but with a naked soul, speaking with boldness, he announced the slaughter of the Lamb; the salvation gained for Israel through this blood; the passage from Egypt to the land of promise; the slaughter of those who had played the tyrant: through all of which, or through the death of Christ, the restoration of captive men was signified, and the total destruction of the princes of this dark and gloomy Egypt. ^C But you, on the contrary, were hardened against these things, and you were a new Pharaoh to him, refusing the liberation of the people. But let us pass over the ancient things in silence.

Symeon descended, a man venerable for the great number of his years, who had arrived at great security of mind through a long-prolonged life: around whom you had frequent discourse, fearing his longevity, which was beyond the measure of nature, and fearing lest he be some other Elijah, and ^D that he too might escape your all-capturing nets, taking the wings of an eagle and seeking heights above the clouds. That most vociferous herald descended; who, not yet by mere hearing...

^A had been taught, but had been revealed as an eyewitness. "For my eyes," he said, "have seen your salvation, O God." They saw—not standing afar off, but as one who had been made his throne, and whom he had held in his arms. Nor did you stand in awe of his age; nor did you revere his longevity, but, as if he were some commoner, you cast him aside.

Not much time had passed, and John descended, having prepared his purpose entirely for liberty of soul; a soldier who loved danger, reddened by the blood which he had shed for the King, crying to your gatekeepers: "Prepare the way of the Lord." "Lift up your gates, you princes, and the King of glory shall enter,"—and he shall go forth, leading away the infinite captivity of Hades. ^B I am the lamp of the Light that has now shone in the world. I am the day-star, the forerunner of the Sun of righteousness. I am the friend of the Bridegroom, who has betrothed human nature to himself, and has united it in an inseparable bond. I am a forerunner in the heights, and a forerunner in the depths. I leapt in the dark chamber of the maternal womb when I sensed the Savior; and now, placed in the darker womb of Hades, I exult, awaiting Him who is to liberate. Above, I was saying to Herod: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." Below, I cry out to you, O Hades: It is not lawful for you to hold onto the nature which God has betrothed, which He is calling back to the heavenly bridal chambers. You heard these things yourself, and, suffering from a Pharisaical hardness of heart, did not accept the testimony of John, boasting ^C until now that those who descended to you were held in a prison from which there was no escape.

But the good Lazarus tore down that eyebrow of yours; he did not expire and breathe his last in a moment, like others, but remained held in your bonds for four whole days. And being questioned, he himself also claimed to be a friend of Christ; but you, indeed, mocked him, because you held the friends of Him who was being awaited in a prison, and you determined to claim the victory over Him as well. But, O divine power! O voice that creates all things! The friend calls the four-day-old friend, and the fading echoes of the sound had not yet finished reverberating in your hollows, when behold, Lazarus, as if awakened ^D from sleep, and having put on his body like a garment, stood decently before the Master, as if to say: Behold I am here; what do you command your servant? And your bronze gates, your sleepless gatekeepers, were as spiderwebs and a dream. From that time, your tyranny began to break down. For you reasoned that if, by a mere word, the One who was awaited could do so much, how unbearable it would be to fall into His hands. And now, fear upon fear has come upon you, and He whom you feared has met you; and it has been bitter for you, O Hades, to meet Him who, with a strong hand and a high arm, tears your womb asunder and leads out the shackled with divine boldness.

Come then, Moses: compose a choir of maidens.

^A Let them raise a song of departure; for “God saw, indeed He saw from the heights of heaven the affliction of His people” and the misery by which they were pressed here, and He descended to deliver them from the dark sojourn. And now, as other charioteers, He has submerged in the Red Sea of His own blood the devil, death, and Hades, those tyrants and persecutors of ours. “These in chariots, and these in the neighing of horses; but we, in the name of the Lord our God, shall be magnified. They were bound and fell, but we rose and were made upright.” Henceforth, “Let us sing to the Lord; for gloriously has He been glorified.” Let us worship Him, saying: “By bringing us in, plant us into the mountain of Your inheritance, into Your prepared dwelling,” which Your hands prepared in the heavens, having been bloodied for the building of this structure; which You first panelled with the timbers of the cross and fastened with the nails of Your hands; and then placed the stone of the tomb as a foundation for it. For thus You know how to build, O Lord: first to roof, and then to lay the foundation beneath. The heaven and the earth, having been created in such a manner, are witnesses to the Word. ^B Come, all you who were bound, let us ascend to the ancient Jerusalem, that is to say, Paradise. Before all others, let Adam run ahead. Let the first root of our race be the first to be transplanted back to Paradise. As he led the way in the descent, let him lead the way also in the ascent; as he was the first to descend into corruption, let him be the first to ascend into incorruption. Let him sing with the Prophet and King: “The Lord feeds me, and nothing of His sheep shall be wanting to me; in a place of pasture, there He has encamped me, having fashioned me anew, and by the water of refreshment He has nurtured me.” Indeed, He has now restored my soul, which the spiritual wolf had snatched away. “He has led me upon the paths of righteousness. For even if I have walked in the midst of the shadow of death, yet now I shall not fear evil, for You are with me,” having become like me, and having descended even unto me, “the Free One among the dead.” ^C “Your rod and Your staff, these have comforted me.” Now these are the cross, upon which You supported the infirmity of the flesh, and through which You scourged the bodiless foes; and through which “You broke the rod of the sinners, but saved the inheritance of the just.” Who am I, my Lord, O Lord, that You have loved me to such an extent? “You have turned my lamentation into joy.” For even if “You tore apart” my sackcloth of flesh, condemning it to death because of transgression; yet now, “You have girded me with the gladness” of immortality, “that my glory may sing to You, and may no longer be pricked;” for I shall depart into eternal joy. “Return, O my soul, unto your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you; for He has delivered your soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from slipping,” ^D and I have been taken up from the destruction that follows unto the earth.

Such is today’s festival among the dead; so extraordinary, so brilliant, as the super-celestial Sun shines down into the underworld, turning the noon into a realm without shadow in the midst of darkness, and now making the shadow of death into day. ^A Now the heavenly Father has made his Sun to rise upon the evil and the good; for the radiance of forgiveness has been extended to all. He has rained upon the just and the unjust, sending down a twofold stream of blood and water from the side of the Only-Begotten: a vital, I say, and cleansing stream. Both were needed by those who were held in the parched tabernacles of Hades. For He died for all, both just and unjust; and the Good Shepherd bowed Himself down to the pit of Hades for the sake of the sheep that had slipped away there, which, being stripped of divine glory and driven long ago from the pastures of Paradise, was covered only by the fleece of skin. ^B Yet Hades also devoured this, the final morsel, with its strong teeth. O Life, and leaven of that flesh existing in God, which, having been cast into the dough of our nature, ground down by the millstones of Hades, made it conformable to Himself, bestowing a life-giving quality and rendering that which was heretofore devouring death itself edible! Indeed, the wood was cast by the hands of the Jews upon that Bread which descended from heaven, and the prophetic eye, having this [event] within itself through foreknowledge, foresaw the future most acutely. That Bread was lifted up and displayed; those who were reclining in the desert of Hades saw it and hungered for the immortal sustenance that would be provided from it. ^C Meanwhile, He is laid in the tomb; but He does not endure to look upon the more prolonged hunger of these men. For what does He say? "Again I have compassion on this crowd, because they have already remained with Me for three days,"—He who had become like those descending into the pit, and who walked among them—"and I do not wish to let them go hungry." And so, all ate "the food that remains unto eternal life," and they were satisfied by the appearance of the glory of Christ’s divinity; and as He ascended whence He had descended, they ascended along with Him, and those who were held in the belly of Hades followed the Firstborn from the dead, who had loosed the pangs of death. That is to say, as many as had not suffered the miscarriage of unbelief.

Come, therefore, O Christ-named assembly, let us worship and fall down before Him who raised us up when we had fallen, to whom today "Every knee bows, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth." ^D For He is the same who is heavenly, and became earthly, and walked in the footprints of the abyss, having fashioned this immense ladder, extending from heaven even to the depths of Hades. Not—as it were—by angels ascending and

descending in it: “For not an envoy, nor an angel, but the Lord Himself saved us.” ^A He who descended into the lower parts of the earth, and ascended above all the angelic hosts, and sat down together with the Father. For the creature stood in need of the Creator again, and the work stood in need of the Maker, in order to be reformed and remade. True, ^B of old He appeared to the patriarch leaning upon the ladder, as if still delaying His descent. And the vision was by night; and it was a dream, not a reality. For the day that the Lord made had not yet dawned, shining upon those who slept in darkness and the shadow of death. But when the fullness of time had come, then the mystery of our salvation was also accomplished. Come, therefore, lovers of Christ and lovers of the poor, let us be reconciled through love for the poor to Christ, who became poor for our sake, and dwelt among His own as a stranger, and was stripped naked. Let us imitate Joseph and Nicodemus, the good and illustrious hosts of Christ, who are even more illustrious than Abraham himself. For they did not unknowingly entertain angels, but the Lord of the angels Himself. Approving of their piety, He will say: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, for I was naked, and you clothed Me”—by wrapping Me in burial linens; “infirm,” because of the passion of death and the voluntarily accepted cross, “and you visited Me; a stranger and dead, and you gathered Me in,” by laying Me away in a new tomb. And if Sem and Japheth, those sons of the just Noah, were deemed worthy of a bountiful blessing because they covered their father’s nakedness, ^C as true lovers of their father, how much blessing, I ask, would this Christ-loving pair attain? How great the glory of having covered and wrapped the King of glory, when He had drunk the cup offered to Him by the Father, and was stripped naked for the sake of him who had been stripped naked in paradise? For now they even have the expectation that “The Lord shall be awakened as one who sleeps, as a mighty man who has been refreshed by wine; and He will strike His enemies on their backs,” because they laughed at Him with an impudent face and mocked His nakedness; those who are deserving of a vengeful curse, who inherited not only the land but also the impiety of the Canaanites. And this is more than that. For the curse and the impiety cling to them more firmly and inalienably; ^D while the land cannot be held in constant possession; and they wander everywhere as vagabonds, worthy of abundant laughter. Who would not call this noble pair blessed? Who would not emulate [their] burden, that they were counted worthy to carry Christ, who was sitting upon them, as He tended toward the goal of life and was finishing the course of His conversation in the world? I clearly know, brethren, that you emulate them, and that it is in your prayers to be companions in the burden, that you might carry Him who carried your sins, and be participants in that excellent kindness and service. This, moreover, is extremely easy, if only you wish it, not needing any

^A circuitous route, nor running about, nor bold entry to Pilate. It is permitted to everyone merely by looking out from their house to find one who is hungry, naked, or without shelter. For the beggar who stands before your doors—the ulcerous, the infirm, the one clothed in rags—bears the person of Christ; and the compassion and kindness you bestow upon him recurs to Him who sits at the right hand of the Father. For His promise is true: "As long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me." ^B Let us wash the linen sheet of the soul with tears, and to it let us add a mixture of myrrh and aloes—namely, those things which are bitter to the sense according to God, and which do not allow the soul to grow slack toward the softness and dissipation of pleasure, but rather bind the soul to the Creator as if with glue. Thus, we shall receive Christ, placed as if on the lofty and God-bearing table in the manner of the high cross. Just as in the resurrection, which is at the doors and near, so too in the general and future one, when we stand naked and open before that tribunal, He shall clothe us with the garment of salvation and the tunic of joy, and make us worthy of the immortal kingdom and sweet communion; which may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of the same Lord and our God Jesus Christ, to whom is due all glory, honor, and adoration, with His eternal Father, and with the most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

NOTICE ON THE HOMILIES CONCERNING THE MYSTERIES OF THE HOLY VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD

Some homilies on the mysteries of the Holy Virgin Mother of God are attributed by both manuscript codices and literary writers to a certain Germanos, likewise a bishop of Constantinople. But when it is a question of designating which Germanos, the codices being silent, scholars do not unanimously agree. For three bishops of Constantinople are listed, all called by the same name of Germanos, and indeed there is none of these three whom students of critical art have not made the author of those homilies. But passing over that Germanos who succeeded Arsenius in that year, and whom no one has ever recorded as having written homilies, it remains to judge between two others: the elder Germanos, of course, who held the see of Constantinople from the year [715] to the year [729], and the more recent Germanos, who held that dignity from the year 1222 to the year 1240, although in truth he never sat at Constantinople. If, however, the dispute were to be settled solely by the votes of scholars, no certain and decisive opinion could be reached, since a not negligible host of scholars stands for the elder Germanos, and likewise for the more recent one. Nevertheless, in order to designate the author with certainty, the aids are by no means entirely lacking for all the aforementioned homilies, or at least for many of them. And indeed, with the best right, those homilies which cannot be attributed to the second can be vindicated for the elder Germanos, since it is established from elsewhere that they must be ascribed to some Germanos, seeing that they consistently bear the name of Germanos in the manuscript codices. Yet most of those homilies, partly by intrinsic and partly by extrinsic indications, sufficiently reveal their author.

Senior German’s work is proven by two homilies on the Presentation. In the first, which may be read below in column 507, «Malefidas nationes» as far as «triumphis coronato, viribus firmato,» in column 310, provides a great many arguments for our position, which it would take too long to set forth. Here it is enough to note that this oration was delivered in Constantinople, and therefore it does not suit German II, who spent the entire time of his episcopate at Nicaea and neither had nor could have had any oration in Constantinople.

In the second oration on the Presentation, one may read below in column 319: «meque meae cognatae atque conservae in mansuetorum terra... conjunge... dignare, quaeso, simul me cum ea laetari.» Here you have a man who feels that the day of a grievous death is not far off and believes that those whom he addresses feel the same; and a bishop who, through a solemn sermon, commemorates a woman now deceased, whom he calls his own kinswoman or sister, as one who was known to the entire population, and prays to the Theotokos that he may be joined to her fraternity in heaven: both of which suit German the Elder, as we certainly know him to have lived to a decrepit age and to have sprung from a most illustrious pedigree and a family more than usually celebrated for misfortunes.

That the oration on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos should be attributed to German the Elder is clearly proven by the very title of the homily in the Caesar Codex: and by Nicodemus the monk (6): that the three homilies on the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos are the work of German the Elder is proven by the fact that they are contained, along with many other small works or sermons of the Holy Fathers, in the Vatican Codex no. 455, which in the judgment of men most skilled in Greek matters and most experienced in manuscript codices can certainly be proven to be older than German the Younger.

Lastly, let us come to the oration on the Deposition of the Zone of the Blessed Virgin, which Casimir Oudin, using intrinsic argument, contends must be entirely ascribed to German the Younger, while the inscription itself and the whole tenor of the oration prove most certainly that it was delivered in Constantinople and must therefore be vindicated for German the Elder.

III. Sermon of our Holy Father Germanos, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos

^A I. All the most sacred solemnities, whenever they are celebrated, fill those who have come to these sacred rites with spiritual delight from the (heavenly) treasures and fountains flowing from God. But the one which is now to be celebrated with praises shines forth more brilliantly for the principal place it holds, and exhilarates souls with greater pleasure than the others, in so much as she is raised above all others, and as the daughter of God, she holds dominion over all. For her most holy and festive anniversary returns; and whoever wishes to be a participant in this feast must needs be pure of all wickedness. If, therefore, it pleases you, follow me with a joyful spirit, a purest mind, and clad in most shining stoles. Let us hasten together to gather the most desired flowers from the meadow of the Mother of God herself. Let us savor her beauty like a rose blooming forth from its buds, full of fragrances, just as Solomon sang so excellently in the Canticles, saying: «Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, like a pillar of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, from all the powders of the perfumer?» «Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon.» Therefore, let us eagerly...

^A proceed together, exhorting one another to celebrate the solemnity of the Mother of God, common to all, useful and salutary; and looking into the sacred inner shrines, let us behold the damsel advancing toward the second veil; let us behold, I say, Mary, the all-pure Virgin and Mother of God, who brought an end to the barrenness of unfruitfulness, and dispelled the shadow of the legal letter by the grace of her own birth.

II. For today, being three years old, she advances to be dedicated in the legal temple, she who became the sole unspotted and most sublime temple of the High Priest and Lord who rules over all, and who, ^B by the radiance of her own God-luminous effulgence, dispelled the gloom inherent in the letter. Today the infant is rendered to the priest, she who is to offer up, forty days after his birth, that only great High Priest and God, who for our sake was made an infant according to the flesh, holding in her own arms Him who cannot be contained by any, beyond all human thought. Today the most new and pure, undefiled scroll, not to be written by hand but to be gilded by the Spirit, being sanctified by the blessings according to the law, is offered as a gift of thanksgiving. Today Joachim, having wiped away the reproach of childlessness, ^C goes forth most boastfully to show his own offspring to the public thoroughfares, and again shows himself to be an explorer of the sanctification according to the law. Today also Anna, having exchanged the long duration of barrenness for a happy childbearing, becoming inspired with immense joy, proclaims to the ends of the earth that she possesses the fruit, embracing in her bosom her who appeared wider than the heavens. Today the gate of the divine temple, having been opened, receives the gate of Emmanuel, looking toward the east and sealed, as she enters. Today the holy table of the temple begins to shine, ^D and by the participation and sweetest embrace of that divine table which carries the heavenly and soul-nourishing bread, she, moving toward the unbloody sacrifices, begins to shine. Today she is placed upon the propitiatory, she who alone for mortals, having been led astray through the inundation of sins, has become a new and most god-like propitiatory, endowed with the power of cleansing, and not constructed by the hands of men. Today that damsel, who is to be the dwelling of the Holy of Holies, having been consecrated most excellently through the sanctification of the Spirit, with an innocent and simple age, is most wonderfully elevated above the glory of the Cherubim and most holily and gloriously placed in the Holy of Holies.

III. Today Mary provokes us to proclaim her praises; whose encomiums, no matter how much one may heap them up to infinity, not only would he fail to reach the goal, he would not even approach the truth from afar; for her beauty surpasses all speech and every thought by an infinite interval. For that heavenly drop which flowed from her made clear that her wonders are like an immense sea. Wherefore, on account of this, her graces and incomprehensible gifts, by reason of their infinity, have become her...

^A incentives for praise, taking their beginning from her. And since the source is needy of nothing, and is not diminished by being drawn from, but pours forth a hundredfold or ten thousandfold in proportion to what is drawn, it is impossible for those drawing to cease. For in the mercy seat, the mystery overflows, and sprouting forth, it rises above even immaterial minds, not to mention material ones, of that all-blessed and all-pure Maiden; for she is that which is sweet. Hence, the motives for praise, taking their beginning from her, are inexhaustible.

IV. Offering of the Theotokos

^B And her own parents, having completed the third year, offer her to God. How excellent, moreover, is the number three, how worthy of great honor, and how efficacious for confirming any truth whatsoever! David took three stones to lay low the wicked Goliath. 13 By a triple circuit, Elias the Tishbite prepares [the people] to believe, where the flame of heavenly fire descends on the water that was burning. 14 Carried for the same number of days in the entrails of the swimming monster, Jonas bears a symbol of God, who directed the great whale. 15 There were as many children who, treading the fire of the furnace and refreshed by heavenly dew, walked about cheerfully. 16 At the completion of the third period of ten years, my Lord Jesus cleanses me from the filth of transgression; 17 and in similar fashion, by going about for three years, He heals every disease and every infirmity. And for the manifestation of His glory on the mountain, He ascends to show this by a secret mystery to ^C three disciples. 18 On the third day also, He rises again, delivering the souls held from of old in the darkness of the netherworld. What more? Consider, I beseech you, the ternary number even at the supreme apex of all things. For the cause of all things, and the source of all mysteries, the Godhead—namely, in three sanctifications, 19 in three characters or three hypostases (since it is necessary to profess the same thing concerning the three persons because of the total unity of substance)—chose to be celebrated as in a perfect number, in a union free from confusion or mixture, not to be dishonored by defect or subtraction, nor again [to be imagined] by extending beyond this number into a plurality of principles, as says Gregory, the most excellent theologian and one most skilled in divine things. 20

Since, therefore, the second person of the most holy and ^D everlasting Trinity itself (the Son), with the Father’s good pleasure, as well as by His own election, and by the overshadowing of the most holy Spirit, hastened to be contained in the womb of this girl, the Virgin Mother; therefore it was surely fitting that she should also be dedicated most honorably, having been glorified by this (mystical) numerical beauty. Therefore, at three years old—the Creator of all things and her Son likewise arranging all these things in a certain and definite manner—she is brought into the temple.

V. When, therefore, she who is the nourisher of our life had been weaned, her parents, in accordance with the vow that had preceded...

fulfilled it. For it is said that, having gathered together the maidens from the vicinity and the surrounding area, they made them take up torches and walk in front, so that the child, following last—delighting in the shine of the burning torches—might walk without looking back.

^A And barren and fruitless Anna made haste, reaching out her hand to God and crying out clearly with a loud voice: "Come," she says, "rejoice with me, all you who were present at my giving birth, and all who have been gathered here, for I am now dedicating to the Lord, as a divinely adorned and sanctified gift, the fruit of my own womb. Come, leaders of the choir, and with choral dances and timbrel-players, sing and lead the way with a new and strange song: not with Miriam, sister of Moses, showing the path, but with her who was born of me leading the way."

Come to me, all you who are present, both kin and strangers, for I have been blessed with children and offer thanks with the greatest gratitude; accompany me as I return the fruit of my labor to the holy temple, and cry out with god-stirred melodies. Come hither, too, O assembly of the prophets, you chosen gathering, and, tuning your song with those bright praises inspired within you by the Spirit of God, prepare the hymn. For where the word of the prophetic voice rings out and strikes the ears, there all slandering of the adversaries is rendered powerless and falls away.

VI. But come to me now, O David, forefather and ancestor of God, making your lyre ring out most melodiously with the strings of the Spirit, and with your God-breathed mouth give forth a sound more ^C sweetly tuned, as you describe most eloquently the dance of the maidens, how "the virgins shall be brought to the King behind her, her companions shall be brought to her." For behold, the company of maidens leads the dance in the squares, and the daughter of the King—my daughter, indeed, whom you yourself called your daughter—is being led with royal honor into the sacred house, into the holy temple, with joy and exultation, to fulfill your prophecy. For you said, "All the glory of the daughter of the king is from within, in golden borders," wrapped in undefiled and pure virginity, and adorned with incomparable beauty, just as it might be said: "Come hither, David, as the morning star; who is this that shines forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun? How beautiful are your steps in shoes, and how sweet," you who are clothed round about by the sun, and are bringing a new spectacle under the sun!

^D Come hither, high-speaking Ezekiel, holding the scroll given by God from the life-giving Spirit, and cry out the praise for the gate that looks to the East and, remaining sealed, provides passage to God. And if there is anyone else from the holy and chosen order, or indeed the rest of the whole chorus of seers, lift up your voice with joy, seeing the fulfillment of your prophecies coming to pass. What then? Will you, the first...

^A parents, who are now to be loosed from the curse, and who are to recover that ancient seat of delights from which you were expelled, not celebrate the source of your salvation with suitable encomiums and the highest praises? Or does it not pertain most of all to you to raise your voice, and to me with you, and with us all, to see all creatures exult with joy?

VII. With these sentiments of soul, as was fitting, the venerable Anna, adjusting herself to what was taking place, while together with her most sweet spouse she led the daughter born of them, accompanied by delicate virgins with torches, now reached the thresholds of the temple. Then the doors, so as to receive the spiritual gate of Emmanuel God, swing open, and the threshold is sanctified by the pressure of Mary’s footsteps. The temple sparkles indeed with the light of lamps; but it shines much more with the lightning-like rays of this one lamp, and its beauty, with her entering, gleams with greater loveliness. The vestments of the ^B horns of the altar flush with color from her purple and virginal attire. Zechariah rejoices, having been deemed worthy of the honor of receiving the Mother of God: Joachim is gladdened, who, by rendering the offering, bears invincible witness that his own prophecies are obtaining their fulfillment. Anna exults in the consecration of her offspring: the protoparents dance for joy, escaping the sentence of condemnation that lay upon them: the prophets are delighted, and with them every order, adorned with grace, most joyfully exults.

VIII. In this way, therefore, the Daughter of God is led in, and she stands at the horns of the altar between her parents, who are about to pray well for her, and the priest, who is about to confirm her with a blessing. Again, the parents say to the priest: "Receive (they say) her who is to receive the fire from heaven, the incomprehensible; receive ^C her who is to be the receptacle of the Son and Word of the Father and of the only God; take her who has taken away the reproach of our unfruitfulness and barrenness; lead to the altar her who is to introduce us into the ancient seat of paradise; hold her who, by her birth-giving, will vanquish the power of death, whence terror hangs over us, and the tyranny of hell; embrace her who will clothe our nature stripped in Eden; take hold of her hands, with which she will bind in swaddling clothes Him who will restrain the hand that intemperately and audaciously reached out; consecrate to God her in whom we all lean entirely, and in whom our hopes are divinely stored."

"Look, Lord, look: receive what you have given, receive what you yourself have bestowed: accept her whom you granted to us to solve our barrenness, ^D and through whom you were to take away the barrenness of the law, through whom you also delivered us from a long and most grievous distress: accept her who happily arranges our affairs: accept her whom you yourself chose, whom you predestined, whom you sanctified: keep her established in you, and drawn by your fragrance; her who, like a lily from the thorns, you chose from our unworthy selves, take her, offered to you with a joyful mind, into your arms. Lo, we offer her to you as a gift, and we commit ourselves to you."

^A IX. This is the harmonious voice of the righteous; this the concert of the couple beloved of God; this the gracefully prepared offering of the progenitors of God. Zacharias, therefore, having received the young girl, first addresses the parents, as is proper to believe, in this way: "O authors of our salvation, by what name shall I call you? What shall I term you? I am struck with wonder, seeing what kind of fruit you have offered. For such she is, that by her purity she entices God to dwell within her. For never has there been, nor will there be, anyone shining with such beauty. You have appeared as two rivers issuing from paradise, carrying a lamp more precious than gold and precious stones, which by the beauty of its own immaculate virginity and by its cool, refreshing radiance illuminates the whole earth. ^B You have been known as most brilliant stars, fastened as it were to the firmament, each of you joyfully shedding light upon the dark shadow of the shadowy letter and stormy Law, and wisely guiding those who believe in Christ with an unoffending step toward this new grace of new light. You have been known as the most brilliant corner-posts of the intelligible temple of the New Testament, holding in your bosoms that most rational altar of the holy victim, sanctified and divine-initiated. You, if it is possible to speak of things not inferior to your merits, have shown yourselves even as Cherubim, most mystically overshadowing the mercy-seat of the High Priest, the Savior of all. You, beyond that gold which was once crafted to plate the Ark, you, I say, have been seen surrounding the spiritual and divine Ark of the New Testament, containing Him who subscribed to our forgiveness on the Cross. Your joy is the joy of the whole earth: your glory has become the common gladness of all. Blessed are you, who have been counted worthy to be parents of such a daughter! Blessed are you, who have brought such a blessed gift to the Lord! Blessed are the breasts by which she was nourished, and the womb by which she was carried! ^D X. Come now, you too, little girl who are higher than the heavens. Come, infant who are seen, yet discerned as the workshop of God. Come, sanctify the entrance of the sanctuary; for you do not, to speak in one word, in being purified by it become sanctified, but rather you most richly sanctify it. Come, gaze into the most holy and fearful inner chamber, you who are to be an immense and unsearchable treasure. Enter into the atrium of the altar, you who crush the gates of death. Look within the veil, you who with your own radiance illuminate those who have been blinded by the taste that clouded their eyes. Offer your hands to me, who am leading you, as an infant; yet at the same time support my hand, I who am worn out by age and have inclined toward the pursuit of earthly things through transgression of the commandment, and lead me toward life. For behold, I hold you as the staff of my old age and the restoration of nature, which has grown feeble because of its lapse. Behold, I see you as a protection for those who have fallen into death. Adoration

^A to you and yours, for you have been spoken of in many symbols as a most rational and immaculate table. Traverse the circuit of the entire altar, as you exhale the fragrance of incense, and you, having become more fragrant to those who inhale than any ointment, were fittingly called a thurible by the mouth of the divinely-speaking prophet, driven by the Spirit from above. Ascend, ascend the step of the sacred edifice; the daughters of Jerusalem, delighted by the radiance of your beauty, weave praises for you with joy, and the kings of the earth call you blessed; you were recognized as the holy foundation, and you were shown to the most patriarch-like Jacob as a ladder most pleasingly established by God. Sit, O Lady; for it is fitting that you, being Queen and glorious above all the kings of the earth, should sit in such a place of honor. A most holy seat, for you are far more noble than a Cherubic throne, is owed to you as an abode. Behold, I have worthily assigned to you, as Queen of all, the first seat; do you also raise up those who have been cast down. And now, therefore, I join with David in calling out to you: “Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house, and the King shall desire your beauty.”

XI. So spoke the old man; although he revolved many more praises than these in his mind. Meanwhile, the parents departed; but the maiden, having been consecrated to God, remained there. As for the provision of food for her, angels served her with fear, and the maiden was nourished by food brought by the incorporeal spirits, whether this was corporeal or incorporeal. Thus the sacred initiation was divinely perfected; thus the infant grew and was strengthened; and all the power of the curse that had struck us in Eden was rendered void.

XII. Come then, all you who are present, beloved of God, with one voice, to the extent of our masculine—or rather, I should say, to the extent that our rough and nearly infantile understanding allows—let us cry out that "Hail" to the Virgin, not as though we were able by this means to celebrate her festival according to its dignity, but at least to bring some consolation to our infirmity as far as we are able, since even to God, whatever is done according to one's power is acceptable. For she, who is acknowledged to be alone Virgin and Mother, surely surpasses every reach of the mind. And the reason is at hand. For what other virgin has given birth, or having given birth preserved her virginity intact, if not you alone, O most blessed maiden?

XIII. Hail, therefore, you who, while adorned with a glorious and non-man-made garment, enter today into the Holy of Holies; you have clothed us, who had been stripped naked on account of the soul-destroying and mortal food, in a purple robe—that is, you have invested us with the divinely-bestowed mantle of remission, the remission, I say, of sins, which has been given to us by God while we were lying in the mire, O Bride of God. Hail, you who on this day at the very beginning of the most splendid

^A and most venerable Presentation of yours assembled the entire choir of prophets to yourself, who for this reason, as if on musical instruments and well-sounding cymbals, sing the prophetic hymn together and dance joyfully in gladness.

XIV. Hail, you who by the rhythm of your steps have trampled upon the savage, wily, and most wicked devil—that guide who had been set over me for transgression—and who, taking hold of the slippery and corruptible nature that was seen to be tending toward the fall, have led it back with you along the way toward the immaterial, holy, and ageless tabernacle.

Hail, you who by the torch-bearing light of your Presentation have brilliantly shone forth a day of gladness and exultation to those walking in the shadow of death and the depths of infirmity, witnessing that the dissolution of the gloom ^B will come to pass through you, O Mary, more wonderful than any miracle.

Hail, cloud of light, who distills for us the intellectual divine dew, and who today, by your entrance into the Holy of Holies, have caused the all-radiant sun to rise upon those held in the shadow of death; oh, divinely-flowing fountain, from which the rivers of the knowledge of God, flowing with the most clear and splendid water of orthodoxy, diminish the ranks of the heresies.

XV. Hail, most delightful and rational paradise of God, planted today toward the sunrise of His own will by the right hand of the Almighty, putting forth for Him the sweet-smelling lily and the unfading rose for the healing of those who, toward the sunset, had drunk the pestilential and soul-destroying bitterness of death; in which the life-giving tree of the knowledge of truth blossoms, from which those who taste are made immortal.

Hail, ^C the divinely-built, immaculate, and purest palace of the all-sovereign God, which is clothed in His own majesty and acts as a hostess to all in your mystical enjoyment; you who are now founded in the court of the Lord, that is, in His holy temple, in which is the unmade and adorned bridal chamber of the intellectual Bridegroom; for which, wishing to call back the one who had wandered, the Word has wedded the flesh, reconciling those who had already been turned away by their own will.

XVI. Hail, O new Sion and divine Jerusalem, the holy city of the great King God, in which God Himself is known ^D and through whom He passes in the midst, keeping you intact, moving the nations, and inclining kings to worship your glory, and preparing the whole world to celebrate with exultation the festival of your Presentation; you who are truly golden and radiant... a seven-light lampstand, kindled by the unsetting light and nourished with the oil of purity, and guaranteeing the dawn of light to those who are blinded by the darkness of the gloom of transgressions.

Hail, O mountain of God, most fertile and shady, in which the rational Lamb, having been nourished, carried our sins and infirmities; the mountain from which that stone, cut without hands, rolled down, crushed the altars of idols, and has been made the head of the corner, becoming marvelous in our eyes.

XVII. Hail, holy throne of God, divine gift, house of glory, most beautiful ornament, chosen treasure, and propitiatory for the whole world, and heaven declaring the glory of God. Hail, Rising Sun, bringing forth an unsetting lamp; whose going forth is from the highest heaven, and from whose heat—that is, from the governing providence—no one of those who have ever come to be is hidden.

Hail, you who by your birth loosed the bonds of sterility and dispelled the reproach of childlessness, and cast the legal curse into the deep, and caused the blessing of grace to bloom, and by your entry into the Holy of Holies, you both fulfilled the vow of your parents and laid the foundations for the remission to be obtained by us, and added a heap of joy, as one bringing in the first fruits of grace.

XVIII. Hail, Mary, full of grace, holier than the saints, higher than the heavens, more glorious than the Cherubim, more honorable than the Seraphim, and more venerable than all creation. Hail, dove, who by your glorious and splendid entry (into the temple) bring to us both the fruit of the olive and announce to us a Savior from the spiritual flood and a haven of salvation, whose wings are silvered and the parts behind the back in the pallor of gold, irradiated by the splendor of the most holy and illuminating Spirit. Hail, O urn fashioned of pure gold, containing the sweetest sweetness of our souls, that is to say, Christ, who is the manna.

XIX. But, O most pure and most worthy of all praise and homage, and gift dedicated to God, surpassing every condition of creatures; O earth unplowed, field untilled, flowering vine, most exhilarating cup, fount pouring forth waters, Virgin giving birth and Mother who has not known man, hidden treasure of innocence, and beauty of holiness; by your most acceptable prayers, which are valid through maternal authority, to the Lord and God, the Creator of all, your Son, born of you without a father, deign to guide the rudders of the ecclesiastical order and lead them to a tranquil harbor, secure from the waves of heresies and scandals. Clothe the priests most brilliantly with justice and with the exultation of a proven, immaculate, and sincere faith. Direct the scepters of the orthodox emperors, who in you have found a crown and garment and most firm ornament of their kingdom, surpassing all the splendor of purple or gold and all pearls and precious stones, in a tranquil and prosperous state. Subjugate the perfidious barbarian nations, who blaspheme against you and the God born of you, casting them down under their feet. To the army, which always relies upon your aid, be a helper in the time of war; and the subject people, in obedient order of stability, by divine command [to follow]...

^A confirm. Crown with the triumphs of victory this your city, which has you as its tower and foundation, and guarding it, gird it about with strength; preserve forever the beauty of the temple, the dwelling place of God; protect those who sing your praises from every strait and from the torments of the soul; grant redemption to captives, and be a consolation to strangers and to those destitute of shelter and support. Stretch out your helping hand to the whole world, that we may celebrate your festivals and this solemnity which we are now observing with the greatest brilliance, in joy and exultation, in Christ Jesus, the King of all and our true God, to whom is glory and power, together with the holy and life-giving Father, and the co-eternal, consubstantial, and co-reigning Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

IV. Encomium of our Holy Father Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Holy Theotokos: When she was presented at three years of age in the temple, and brought into the Holy of Holies by her parents.

^C Behold once again another solemn gathering and a joyful feast of the Mother of the Lord; behold the procession of the immaculate bride; behold the first escort of the Queen; behold the clear sign of the glory that shall be about her; behold the prelude of the divine grace that will overshadow her; behold the radiant token of her surpassing purity. For where the priest used to enter not often, but only once a year, to perform the mystical services, there she is brought by her parents to dwell there incessantly, to be in the holy, inmost places of grace. Who has ever known the like? Who has seen, or who has heard, in our time or that of our ancestors, of a female being brought into the inner Holy of Holies, the places that are almost inaccessible even to men, to dwell and be nurtured therein? Is this not a manifest proof of the strange and great things that would later be wrought in her? Is it not a conspicuous sign? Is it not a clear evidence thrusting itself forward?

^A Let those who wag their tongues against her, and who see as though they see not, show us where they have ever beheld such a thing. A girl born of a vow, three years of age, offered as a blameless gift within the third veil of the temple, to dwell therein without ceasing, escorted by the wealthy of the people, led by a solemn procession of virgins, preceded by burning torches, and received by the hands of priests and prophets outstretched to welcome her? How then did they refuse to understand? How, seeing the first things, did they have no faith in the last? How, having viewed in her such new and marvelous things before, could they contradict what came to pass later? For these first things did not happen to her in vain or by chance; rather, they were all a prelude to the final things. Let those who are wise in their own conceit in vain tell us why, even though other barren women have given birth, no daughter was ever offered into the Holy of Holies, nor received by prophets? Could not those who then contemplated such great and wonderful things in her justly say what others of the same mind later said concerning her Son: "What then, shall this child be?" ^B Indeed, they could.

But let those of a contrary mind walk the path of perdition and fall into the pit which they themselves have dug; but as for us—the peculiar people of God, priests and princes alike, seculars and monks, servants and free, craftsmen and laborers, gardeners and fishermen, young and old, men and women—come, let us approach the Theotokos with fervor, and let us contemplate the divine mysteries signified in her: how, I say, the all-holy Virgin is presented today by her parents through the priests in the temple; how the animate temple of the Lord is set within the inanimate temple; how the prophet receives her with his own hands and brings her into the holy of holies, neither indignant, nor saying to her parents that he refuses to perform this entirely new task, nor to introduce a girl into the Holy of Holies to dwell and abide therein without ceasing, where he himself was commanded to enter but once a year. ^C The prophet said nothing of the sort; but, as one foreseeing what was to come—for he was a prophet—being entirely expectant and awaiting her, just as after him Symeon awaited her Son, he receives her with all alacrity. ^D Then, having embraced her, and holding the child in his hands, he perhaps addressed her mother with these words: "Whence is your lineage, O woman? What are your customs, and what is the purpose of this action of yours? And since you have no similar example that you could follow, how did you alone, as the first, undertake this new and unheard-of deed?

^A And what is your name? I, she says, am Anna, whose name means "grace," the prophetess; I am sprung from a priestly lineage, from the tribe of Aaron, and from a prophetic and royal root. For I have become a scion of David and Solomon and their successors, and I am also a kinswoman of your spouse, Elisabeth. Then I was joined to a husband, according to the law of the Lord; but I was found to be barren and childless for a long time. Having found no remedy at all to ease the pain of my misfortune, I took refuge in God, the only Lord and provider for those in desperate need; and opening my mouth eagerly to Him, I shouted with a groaning heart and with tears, saying this: ^B "O Lord, Lord, who hearest most swiftly the souls that are grieving and oppressed by pain, why have you made me depart from the nature of my ancestors? Why have you made me a parable in my family and a tossing of heads in my tribe? Why have you made me a participant in the curse of your prophets, by giving me an unproductive womb and dry breasts? Why have you made my gifts unacceptable as though I were childless? Why have you left me to become a mocking gesture to my acquaintances, a subject of derision to my subordinates, and a reproach to my neighbors? Look upon me, Lord; hearken, Master; have mercy, Holy One. Make me like the birds of the sky, the beasts of the earth, and the fish of the sea, for even they are fruitful before you, Lord. May she who has been made by you in your image and likeness not prove inferior to the irrational [creatures], O Most High; much less should she appear more base than even the irrational animals themselves, whose offspring ^C are acceptable before you, O Lord. Do not, O Most High, [let one] created in your image and likeness [be thus]."

Saying these things, and others like them, I added: "To you, Master, I will surely offer a gift of thanksgiving, whatever child you may give me, that it may remain in your sanctuary as a holy offering and a most precious gift, bestowed upon me by you, the most bountiful giver of perfect gifts."

These things I [was saying] while out in the open in my garden, my gaze fixed upon the heavens, beating my breast with my hands, and crying out to the God who is in the heavens. My spouse, who was all alone on the mountain, fasting for forty days, was praying to God for the same things; and so at last the merciful Lord, who is ready to pity and is full of love for man, being swayed by the prayers of us both, sent His angel, who announced to us the conception of this daughter of mine. Forthwith, then, nature, having been commanded by God, ^D received the seed; for it had not dared to receive it before divine grace. But once that had entered first, the matrix, which until then was closed, opened its gates and, having received the pledge from God, held it until, by His will, that which had been conceived came forth into the light.

^A Therefore, now that the girl has been weaned, "I render to God the vows which my lips have uttered, and my mouth has spoken in my tribulation." For this reason, I have also assembled a company of virgins with torches; I have called together the priests; I have gathered my kinsmen, saying to all: "Rejoice with me, all of you, for today I have been shown to be both a mother and one who brings an offering; I do not offer my child to an earthly king (for it would not be fitting), but I present her to the heavenly King as His gift and offering." "Receive, therefore, O prophet, the daughter granted to me by God's favor, and leading her in, plant her in the mountain of sanctification, in the prepared dwelling of God, inquiring nothing anxiously, until it shall seem good to Him who called her here to bring to an end the things that concern her."

^B Upon hearing these words, Zacharias immediately answered Anna: "Blessed is your root, most venerable; glorious is your womb, beloved of your husband; most glorious is your offering, beloved of God." Then, holding the girl with exceeding joy, he brings her gladly into the Holy of Holies, perhaps saying such things as these to her: "Come, O fulfillment of my prophecy; come, completion of the Lord's ordinances; come, seal of His covenant; come, end of His counsels; come, declaration of His mysteries; come, mirror of all the prophets; come, reconciliation of those who have long been at odds; come, union of those who were long separated; come, strength of those who are leaning toward the earth; come, renewal of those who have grown old; come, brightness of those lying in darkness; come, most new and divine gift; come, Lady of all who are born of earth; enter into the glory of your Lord—for now, into the one that is on earth and may be trodden upon, but after a little while, into that ^C which is above and inaccessible to men."

And having thus rightly addressed the girl, the initiate of mysteries placed her where it was fitting, and where it had been ordained and foreknown. The child, dancing and exulting as if in a bridal chamber, walked through the temple of God; being three years old in terms of her age, but in grace she was most perfect and consummate, as one foreknown and predestined and chosen by the God of all as His repository.

She remained in the innermost sanctuary of the Holy of Holies, nourished with ambrosial food by an angel, and given sacred nectar to drink, until her second age; then, by the nod of God and the counsel of the priests, lots were cast concerning her, and Joseph the just man was the winner by lot. By divine dispensation, he receives this holy Virgin from the temple of God and from His ^D priests, so as to deceive that serpent, the author of evils; for he would not assault her as a virgin still whole, but would pass her by as one betrothed. The most chaste Virgin was therefore in the house of Joseph the carpenter,

to that supreme craftsman and creator of the universe, ^A kept until that divine mystery, hidden before all ages, was fulfilled in her, and God became as mortal men through her. But this is a matter for another work and for a time more appropriate; for the present, let our speech return to the task at hand, and let us celebrate the day of this solemn procession.

Go therefore, O Lady Theotokos, go to your inheritance, and walk into the courts of the Lord, exulting and rejoicing, nourished and flourishing, awaiting from day to day the coming of the all-holy Spirit within you, and the overshadowing of the power of the Most High, and the conception of your Son, just as Gabriel ^B will announce to you. And grant to those who celebrate your feast your help, your protection, and your defense; delivering them always through your intercessions from every necessity and from dangers, from grievous diseases, from calamities of every kind, and from the future threat of the justice of your Son. As Mother of the Lord, place them in a place of delight, where there is light and peace, and the highest gift of all that is desirable: «Let the lying lips be silent, which speak lawless things against you, the righteous one, in pride and contempt,» ^C and let their image be brought to nothing in your city; let them be ashamed, and let them fail, and let them perish, and let them know that your name is Lady. For you alone are the Theotokos, most high above all the earth; but we, O Bride of God, bless you with faith, and honor you with longing, and worship you with fear, always magnifying you and piously calling you blessed. For truly blessed among men is your father, and blessed among women is your mother, blessed is your house, blessed are your acquaintances, blessed are those who saw you, blessed are those who kept company with you, blessed are those who served you, blessed are the places you walked, blessed is the temple in which you were offered, blessed is Zacharias, who received you in his arms, blessed is Joseph, who was betrothed to you, blessed is your couch, blessed is your tomb! For you are the honor of honors, ^D and the glory of glories, and the height of heights.

But, woe is me, O Lady, my only consolation from God, the divine dew upon the burning heat within me, the god-bestowed drop for my withered heart, the most radiant lamp for my darkened soul, the guide for my journey, the power for my weakness, the garment for my nakedness, the wealth for my poverty, the cure for my incurable wounds, the taking away of my tears, the cessation of my sighs, the transformation of my calamities, the relief of my pains, the release from my bonds, the hope of my salvation, hear my prayers; take pity on my sighs, and accept my wailing. Have mercy on me, inclined toward my tears, with the bowels of mercy, as a kind

^A mother of God, the lover of mankind. Look upon and incline toward my supplication, fulfill my longing which thirsts [for thee], and unite me with my kinswoman and fellow servant in the land of the meek, in the tabernacles of the righteous, and in the choir of the saints. And vouchsafe that I, O haven and joy and radiant delight of all, may be gladdened together with her—I beseech thee—in that joy which is truly ineffable, of the God and King born of thee, and in his incorrupt bridal chamber, and in delights everlasting, which satisfy without ever cloying, and in his kingdom which knows no sunset and is unending. Yes, Lady, yes, my refuge, my life and support, my shield and boast, my hope and my strength. Grant me with her to enjoy the ineffable and incomprehensible gifts of thy Son in that heavenly dwelling. For I know, O Mother of the Most High, that thou hast the power to accompany thy will; and for this reason I am bold. May I not, therefore, be deprived of my expectation, O all-undefiled Lady; but may I attain it, O Bride of God, who didst bring forth, beyond reason, the expectation of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true God and ^B Master; to whom is due all glory, honor, and worship, with the unoriginate Father and the life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Of the same, Oration on the Annunciation of the All-Holy Theotokos

^C Come, let us celebrate the bright and most glorious memorial of this present venerable and royal assembly, O nations, tribes, and tongues, and every rank, and this most numerous and feast-loving gathering, and people of the possession—let us now celebrate it spiritually with exultant soul; and let us weave with all diligence hymns worthy of God to the Queen born of the stem of David; and let us constitute the spring festival of festivals, and the feast of feasts. ^D

^A For today, in truth, the intellectual Powers of the heavens have looked down from above, and with us, the earth-born, ^B wherein the animate, honorable, and God-ruled city, protected by walls, is ever glorified. . . . Hail, full of grace, the all-golden pot of manna, and the tabernacle in very truth wrought with purple, which the new Beseleel adorned with kingly gold. Hail, full of grace, the God-bearing cloud blushing on all sides, and the fountain gushing forth an everlasting stream for all. Hail, full of grace, the throne high and lifted up of the Creator and Redeemer of all things, who holds in His hand all things, both those in heaven and those on earth. Hail, full of grace, the animate temple of His magnificent glory, who for our sake became man and for our salvation took on flesh. Hail, full of grace, you who bear Life and nurture Him who nourishes all, and who give milk to drink to Him who long ago drew forth fountains of honey from the rock. Hail, full of grace, mountain of God, mountain rich, mountain overshadowed, mountain unhewn, the manifest mountain of God. Hail, full of grace, exultation of the soul, and the universally honored veneration of the whole world, and the truly good mediation for all sinners. Hail, full of grace, gate of the afflicted, and formidable protection, of those who with a sincere heart confess you to be Theotokos. Hail, full of grace, you who carried in your womb the philanthropic Lord for the common salvation of the race of men. Hail, full of grace, the wonderful and most compassionate refuge of all Christians, and a spectacle higher than every magnificent beauty. But these things we, being most lowly, having learned from the divinely inspired Scripture, have spoken with unworthy lips to the heavenly Bride, and Queen, and Theotokos; let us come now, beloved, to the divine annunciation of the archangel Gabriel, ^C and let us hear what he, approaching her who is without blame, heralded.

*The Angel.* Hear, O glorious one: perceive the hidden words of the Most High; «Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.» Gird yourself, then, for the coming of Christ; for I have come to evangelize to you the things foretold before the foundation of the world.

*The Theotokos.* Depart from my city and country, O man; depart, and with haste leave my chamber. Flee far from my vestibules, you who speak to me, and do not bring such an annunciation to my humility.

*The Angel.* Wishing to fulfill the ancient counsel, and to have mercy upon man who had been led astray, the Philanthropist [becoming] man, deigned out of the goodness of His philanthropy to become [man]. Why, then, do you not accept my greeting, O full of grace?

*The Theotokos.* I see your, O youth, all-excellent ^D

beauty and the radiant appearance of your countenance; and I hear words from you that I have never heard, and I am in suspicion, perhaps, that you have come to deceive me.

*The Angel.* Know clearly and be assured that I have been even more astonished upon beholding such a God-written beauty in you; and now as I see you, I think I am gazing upon the glory of my Lord.

*The Theotokos.* I have heard a tongue that I did not know; I have seen a face that I had never seen before. How, then, should I not be astonished, being altogether trembling through and through, given that I possess a righteous bridegroom and am not at all accustomed to conversing with a stranger?

*The Angel.* ^B Receive the joy of a message worthy to be heard, and a eulogy most becoming to you; for He who is born of you shall be called the Son of the Highest, and your Son shall be borne by the excellence of the sanctified goodness.

*The Theotokos.* I fear and tremble at such words of yours, and I suspect that you have come to deceive me like another Eve; but I am not like her. Why, indeed, do you greet a maiden whom you have never seen before?

*The Angel.* I bring you tidings of joy; I proclaim to you a birth greater than thought; I proclaim to you the ineffable arrival of the high King. Perhaps, indeed, the purple that you hold signifies your royal dignity.

*The Theotokos.* ^C Since you announce these things to me, and do not cease announcing them, I will tell you now that I do not have faith in such a message of yours; for you have come to extinguish my virginal dignity and to cause distress to my bridegroom.

*The Angel.* Zacharias the prophet, the most beloved spouse of your kinswoman Elisabeth, will render you certain from your incredulity. Go, therefore, to her, that you may learn from him what is to happen to him.

*The Theotokos.* Joachim and Anna, my parents, are a pair most noble and blameless; how, then, could I, their offspring, incur a stain of guilt? Who could see and guarantee that Mary has not acted wantonly?

*The Angel.* ^D When my words have been fulfilled in their own time, then you will understand the power of the incomprehensible mystery. Then you will know the outcome of my words.

*The Theotokos.* I who draw my lineage from the house and family of David, how could I serve such awesome and heavenly mysteries? And how shall I be able to receive that holy Jesus, who sits upon the Cherubim?

*The Angel.* A God-bearing throne, and a royal chal-

- ^A ice you shall be called, inasmuch as you are Queen and Lady, and the daughter of an earthly king, and you possess a royal bearing.

*The Theotokos.* How shall I become the throne of the Highest? Explain to me, you who speak to me; and how will a clayey flesh grasp that Light, which is beyond the sun and cannot be grasped? You proclaim impossible things, young man, as glad tidings.

*The Angel.* Wherefore, and why, and for what reason have you been so incredulous of my good tidings, O glorious one? And how long will you not yield to the angel sent to you from heaven? For I am not he who deceived Eve.

*The Theotokos.* I have seen your form, which possesses many shapes, ^B and I have heard your most wondrous words, such as no one has ever heard; and for this reason I cannot accept such tidings.

*The Angel.* Even if my appearance strikes you with fear, I know that the words of my mouth will become for you a cause of joy; and henceforth heaven and earth shall call you blessed.

*The Theotokos.* By what shall I know this, that there will be a fulfillment of the things spoken by Him, inasmuch as I am a virgin who has not known a bridal chamber, and there is no blemish of sensual pleasure in me? For I am the handmaid of the Lord who created me.

*The Angel.* I will tell you plainly that Elizabeth, your kinswoman, in this very time, shall bear a son in her old age; and many shall rejoice ^C at his birth and shall marvel; for his name shall be called John.

*The Theotokos.* Take these gifts from me, and depart from me, you who speak to me; for whether you happen to be an angel or a man, I do not truly know. I see an angel in form, but I consider a man in my sight.

*The Angel.* Do you not know, when you were in the Holy of Holies, that you have seen me, O blessed one? You have seen me, and you took food from my fiery hand. For I am Gabriel, who always stands before the glory of God.

*The Theotokos.* I have a betrothed who is chaste, holy, and just, one who knows the craft of carpentry; and I fear him, that he might not find me conversing with you, a stranger, and especially in private. ^D

*The Angel.* Now I have begun to speak. I am full of eternal words; I will tell you henceforth that the Lord is about to be born of you, the King of kings, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

*The Theotokos.* Now my soul is troubled, and I do not know what I should think of this fearful vision. For I think

^A that your words are true, and that Joseph will hand me over to the hands of those who judge such things.

*The Angel.* It seems new and worthy of wonder, O glorious one, that you still hold me under suspicion, who have come to you from such great heights. For it is right that I should rather revere you, as you are to be the Mother of my Lord, and stand in awe of and tremble before your royal dignity.

*The Theotokos.* Your tidings are therefore new and full of wonder; and your coming reveals your words and your way. For you have come into my house, approaching me without announcement; perhaps deeming me a handmaid, and not a mistress.

*The Angel.* O you who are altogether pure and lacking in any reproach, ^B I wonder how you have been so long incredulous of my words, O full of grace. Behold, the King of glory, as I suppose, even while I am speaking, has taken up His dwelling within you, O queen.

*The Theotokos.* You who salute a virgin who has no experience of a man, and speak such words to an unwed girl, you know all the facts; since, of course, and whence, and [*How then shall this be to me, since I know not a man?*]

*The Angel.* *The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; therefore also the Holy One who is to be born shall be called the Son of God. Fear not, Mary; for you have found grace with God.*

*The Theotokos.* You have come from heaven, bringing a mystery entangled with many doubts, and promising me the presence of the Holy Spirit; and how should I not be all the more incredulous of this, your paradoxical annunciation? Tell me, you who speak to me.

*The Angel.* Cast away your incredulous mind, O Virgin. For behold, as it seems to me, my words have been fulfilled; ^C and your womb bears a swelling; and if you do not believe, [*No word shall be impossible with God.*]

*The Theotokos.* I am a shoot sprung from the Davidic root, and I fear lest there come upon me some unexpected reproach of a stranger's bed; and that the priest's holy plate might soon expose me.

*The Angel.* You are to bring forth the Savior, the Lord, the One of the life-giving Trinity, and you will be the cause of unspeakable joy to the world, such as no angel or human was ever the cause of; and your name shall be blessed.

*The Theotokos.* Tell me, I beseech you, young man, how I am to bring forth the Savior, as you say. For your tidings truly strike wonder ^D into the intellectual powers of the angels, and the fiery ranks of the archangels, and the many-eyed principalities.

*The Angel.* Your words are a delight and altogether sweetness, O glorious one; and for this reason I will tell you: not from the will of the flesh, but from the will

^A of God, and by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, shall your conception be.

*The Theotokos.* Who will assure Joseph that I shall conceive not by the will of man, but by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit? Since from the beginning of time it has never been heard that a virgin untouched by a man has given birth to a child.

*The Angel.* All the human race will take refuge under your compassion, and every tongue of clay will call you blessed; and your name will be told in every generation, because through you the Lord, the light of the world, is to be born.

*The Theotokos.* Being of such a nature, and possessing my origin from the earth, how shall the race of men flee to me? And how shall I embrace Christ, the light of the world? And how shall that Sun which knows no setting be brought by the spiritual moon?

*The Angel.* Take on a serene and joyful look, O glorious one; for you are to become heaven, and a temple capable of containing God, and an animate tabernacle of God; wider, higher, and more wonderful than the seven firmaments.

*The Theotokos.* I tremble at the inaguration of my strange and new childbirth; I fear Joseph, and what will happen to me I do not know. It is therefore profitable for me to go to the house of Zacharias, to my kinswoman.

*The Angel.* You will become the common propitiatory for all Christians; and for this reason, I call out to you again the fitting greeting: "Full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

*The Theotokos.* Bearing a royal appearance, having been nurtured in my royal Bethlehem, having ^B flourished blamelessly in the Holy Places from childhood, and remaining a virgin until now, how shall I be called the mother of my child?

*The Angel.* The Most High, having searched the whole world and found no mother like you, in every way as He willed, as it pleased Him, out of you, the sanctified one, will become man for the sake of His love for mankind.

*The Theotokos.* Singing, I will praise the Lord, ^C because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; for behold, from henceforth all generations will call me blessed; and the people of the nations will praise me unceasingly.

*The Angel.* O Virgin, bringer of heavenly joy; delightful and marvelous dwelling, and propitiatory for the whole world; you who alone in truth are blessed among women, prepare yourself now for the mystical advent of Christ.

*The Theotokos.* O youth, messenger of heavenly joy; you who have come from the incorporeal and blessed spirits, and converse with clay; how long shall I endure you, and how long

will you not cease your words? "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to your word." ^A And these things, indeed, the all-lauded and blessed Virgin spoke, and things more mystical and fitting than these, as was expected. But let us hear now, O beloved, if you wish, what the righteous Joseph also said to her.

*Joseph.* I received you, immaculate, from the house of the Lord, and I left you at home, a virgin undefiled; what is this, then, that I see now, a mother unexpectedly, and no longer a virgin? Tell me, Maria; quickly reveal to me how the matter stands.

*The Theotokos.* You left me immaculate, as you say, at home, and again, I consider that you found me undefiled; for from childhood I have hated the garment soiled by the filth of the flesh, and in me there is no trace of base lust.

*Joseph.* Fear the tribunal of the judge, Maria; I mean that severe council, the judgment of the Jewish Synagogue, which cannot be deceived. Speak openly to me; do not hide from me what has come to pass.

*The Theotokos.* Fear the immutable tribunal and judgment of the age to come, O Joseph, where even angels tremble, who have never sinned; but as for an earthly king or tribunal, let it be of no concern to you.

*Joseph.* It is written in the law of Moses in this way: ^B "If a man finds a virgin and, using force, lies with her, that man shall give to the father of the young girl fifty drachmas." What, then, will you do regarding these things?

*The Theotokos.* It is written in the prophets that, "The sealed book shall be given to a man who knows letters, and he shall say: I cannot read it." Perhaps, then, as it seems to me, this prophecy was spoken concerning you.

*Joseph.* Bring forth, Maria, the one who plotted against my house; lead into the midst the one who has committed this transgression, so that with a carpenter’s sword I may take off his head, because he has brought shame upon my gray hairs, and the twelve tribes of Israel will henceforth mock me.

*The Theotokos.* You are righteous and blameless, and it is logical that my God will reveal to you what has happened to me, and will show you in a dream the one whom you call a plotter. ^C For I have not been accustomed to be raised to that height.

*Joseph.* Quickly depart from the house, and hasten to your new lover. I will no longer provide for you; you shall not eat bread from my table, because you have brought sorrow and disgrace instead of joy upon my gray hairs.

*The Theotokos.* Wait a little, Joseph, and do not banish me secretly from your house; for it is not my custom to lodge abroad, and I know neither right nor left; and whither I shall go, I do not know, nor to whom I shall flee. ^D

^A Joseph. You who are placed between life and death, tell me, Mary, the truth: who is he who has preyed upon me? Reveal to me the one who conversed with you. Interpret for me his rank; tell me from what city he happened to be, that I might go there and bring that man to nothing.

The Theotokos. The Lord lives, that I am pure, and I do not know a man; for the one who appeared to me, as it seems to me, is an angel of the Lord, appearing in human form; and with reverence, as if from a distance, he stood apart. And he stood, and thus quietly addressed my humility.

Joseph. There will come upon you, but also upon me the old man, the charge of stolen marriage, and unexpected scorn from those who judge these things; and henceforth the water of verification will convict us both, even though we are unwilling.

The Theotokos. You have heard also that Elisabeth, the wife of Zacharias, and my kinswoman, at this time, beyond hope, has conceived a prophet and Forerunner. For if he were not a prophet, he would not have worshiped, through his leaping, the Lord hidden within me.

Joseph. I marvel at you, and am exceedingly struck with terror; and I know that you have become a subject of talk among the sons of Israel, and Adonai the Lord will bring me to nothing, because I took you from the Holy Spirit, and from the holy dwelling place for safekeeping, and I have not kept you a virgin. ^B

The Theotokos. The day of tribulation has overtaken me, and blame from suspicion has come upon me; and the searching of my betrothed urges me on, and the child I carry in my womb accuses me; and the angel who said "Rejoice" to me has perhaps hidden himself; and what I am to think, I do not know.

Joseph. I have seen the offspring of your previously sanctified womb, and I have trembled in my whole being. For tell me, where shall I hide you? Or how shall I be able to escape the Jewish council? Depart, therefore, from my house; quickly depart.

The Theotokos. See, you drive me from your house, O Joseph, and I do not know where I shall go henceforth. Shall I return to the house of the holy sanctuary, or shall I go away to my parents? But with what face shall I look at them?

Joseph. Even if I were to keep silent about your sin, the stones will cry out; and the Holy of Holies will shout with a great voice, because I received you for safekeeping from that designated priest, and I have not preserved you a virgin. ^C

The Theotokos. I will hide myself, then, in one of the caves of my Bethlehem, and I will await the lawful time of my pregnancy; and I shall learn who he is who is about to be born of me. For I reckon that God will look upon my humility. ^D

Joseph. Tell me clearly, who was that stranger and that betrayer who, without giving notice, into my chamber...

^A arrived, as if he were some spy, especially while I was away, and not present under the walls of the city of Nazareth?

The Theotokos. When I had taken the jar to go to my spring to draw water that I might drink, a voice entered my ears in silence, saying such things as this: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you."

Joseph. Did you conceive, then, from the hearing of a voice? From the beginning of the age it has not been heard that a virgin, inexperienced with men, has ever conceived simply from the voice of words; nor did our fathers declare to us that such a thing has happened in the days of old.

The Theotokos. Is it not written in the prophets: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb and a child shall be born to us"? Can you say that the prophets are lying? You are mistaken, then, O Joseph, and are raving excessively. ^B

Joseph. Now I will say, Mary, that you have followed in the footsteps of Eve, your mother. But she was driven from the home of paradise because she opened her ears to the one who whispered to her; but you shall be cast out of my house as one who is guilty.

The Theotokos. Now you have come upon me as some stranger and foreigner, and as an accuser, not as one speaking to a queen; and I am pursued from city to city in secret; and what then shall I say in my defense?

Joseph. The birth will be astounding, as I think, not only to me, but to angels and men, and they will not believe it. Who has ever heard that a virgin has brought forth a child, and especially one who is inexperienced with men?

The Theotokos. It will be astounding to you, I know, and these words and the wondrous mystery of this mystical conception will strike your mind with amazement. But I have not been the cause of the calamity brought upon me, for from infancy I have been accustomed to serve my Lord who made me. ^C

Joseph. Did I not say to you, show me the one who has plotted against my house, that I might free you from such a charge? Did I not say to you, go quickly to your lover? What then do you presume to hope for from this?

The Theotokos. I do not know clearly in what places he stays. For I, too, in truth would have liked to find him; I would have gladly seen his beauty, which is tempered with all graces, and conversed with him; for he said "Hail" to me, and now I am in sorrow. ^D

Joseph. How should I not tremble and be put to shame in my face, in that I took you, a virgin, from the house of my Lord, and did not keep you? And how, from now on, shall I offer to my Lord God, and fulfill the legal ordinance according to what is customary for me?

The Theotokos. Believe the prophets of God, and do not consume yourself with such excessive sorrow; for you will find written among them: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." (Isa. VII, 14).

^A

Joseph. The priestly staff persuaded me to take you from the house of prayer for safekeeping; and afterwards I left you at home, quite seemly and in all honesty: why then, Mary, did you wait until my absence and labors were completed?

The Theotokos. The Lord lives, I know nothing of the defilement of an alien bed, nor of the stain of carnal desire; except that again, while holding the purple, I heard an angelic voice calling to me: "Do not fear, Mary; for you have found grace with God." (Luc. I, 30).

Joseph. Endure it a little longer still in my house, inasmuch as the time of the census of Augustus Caesar, who now reigns, has arrived. For I am afraid to register you as my wife, especially because of the Davidic kinship. ^B

The Theotokos. May I then keep your words in my heart, and I will endure a little while longer in your house; and I will await the time of the census and the day of my pregnancy, until we pay the taxes to Augustus Caesar—Augustus, I say, who now holds the reins of the Roman empire.

Joseph. Perhaps it was an angel that appeared to me in a dream and said to me: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." (Matth. I, 20).

The Theotokos. Perhaps, my lord, it was the same one who called out "Hail" to me. But as for what remains, prepare a cave, and seek out a Hebrew midwife of our own race; she will keep the mystery and will serve me according to custom. ^C

Joseph. He who appeared to me will certainly show me both the place and the cave; but you, Mary, prepare the swaddling clothes. Whether he who is to be born is a prophet or a king, we do not know, except that "He shall be called a Nazarene." (Matth. II, 23).

The Theotokos. I suppose that he who is to be born will be called King; for it is written in the prophets: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes to you, righteous and saving." (Zachar. IX, 9).

Joseph. He who spoke to me in the dream will hereafter reveal to me what is to happen to us. Furthermore, I also fear Herod, lest someone inform him and he seek the child being born among us. ^D

The Theotokos. The sign will appear in the heavens; for it is written in the prophets: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise out of Israel, and he shall crush the leaders of Moab." (Num. XXIV, 17).

Joseph. Yesterday, beguiled by a false suspicion, I cast a charge against your beauty and your grace; but now, having received assurance from on high, I will apologize, and I will reverently...

^A adore your magnificence, and bless your name. (Some parts are missing.)

VI.

Sermon I of our Holy Father Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the All-Venerable Dormition of the Holy Theotokos.

He who is in debt always celebrates his own benefactor. He who is being saved does not fail to recognize the protection of his own Savior. He who lacks the means to offer a reward commensurate with his deeds, at least attempts to win the favor of his protector through the service of words. And so, O Theotokos, since you have attained to miraculous wonders, which are beyond reason and thought, I too dare to praise you. I send up to you the words of your own voice, ^B relying, in my joy, on your openness. Look upon the humility of your servant; exalt the mouth of the humble, and fill me, who hunger with longing to praise you, with the attainment of your blessings, that, with your help guiding my mind, I may not be put to shame, O Lady, in magnifying you. For you rightly said that all generations of men would call you blessed: you, I say, whom no one can worthily magnify; you who always follow the narrow and precipitous poverty of your praisers with an attitude of compassion. What shall I say first, and what shall I leave for second? Shall I celebrate the praises of your life in the flesh among men, or shall I applaud the glory of your spiritual ^C migration, by which you departed as if in sleep? Both are awesome; both are terrible. For that reason, my speech will pause in the narration of your triumphs, and then, moving forward, the discourse will begin the hymn of the present subject, your honorable and glorious migration, O Mother of God. When you migrated from earthly things, you clearly ascended to the heavenly; yet you were not previously devoid of heavenly things, nor, in migrating, did you depart from earthly things, since you became higher than the orders in heaven and appeared above the creatures on earth. For in truth, O Theotokos, you adorned the heavens and ^D brilliantly illuminated the earth. The heavens, indeed, because since the human race was created, angels were ordered to act as guardians and overseers of their lives; so that they might be their guides, and govern them, and keep them in an unwavering heart of faith in God. For, He says, "He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God." And,

Lord round about them that fear him, and shall deliver them." ^A But when miserable men were then living in error and the worship of idols, and polluting the air with the stench of sacrifices, the angels, shunning the company of men, withdrew themselves; and God, in turn, withdrew His Holy Spirit from them. But when you, in these latter times, brought forth the Word of God and the Father, who was in the beginning, immediately upon your delivery, the hosts of angels peered down from the heavens, singing hymns of praise to the God born of you; and crying that glory was to be added in the highest, they shouted that peace had arrived on earth; so that no longer should the enmity of the middle wall be named between angels and men, ^B between heaven and earth; but rather a concordant polity, and one antiphonal glorification from angels and men, should be sent up by both to the one and triadic God. And the Father also of His only-begotten Son, bearing witness to the corporal conception from you without a father, cries out to Him: "Today have I begotten thee." And again: "From the womb before the morning star have I begotten thee." O words full of theology! If He was the only-begotten Son of God before He was born of you, the Virgin Mother, how does the Father say to Him, "Today have I begotten thee"? It is clear that the "today" does not present the recent existence of the divinity of the Only-Begotten, ^C but confirms His corporal presence and advent to men. And the phrase, "I have begotten thee," indicates the creative and likewise cooperative substantiality of the Holy Spirit in the Father. For since the Spirit is not alien to the Father, but dwelt in you, the Virgin and Mother, by the good pleasure and mission of the Father, the Father claims the action of the all-holy Spirit as His own, and makes it His. Wherefore, in the Father’s bringing about the new corporal procession of His Son from you together with the Spirit, He says to the Son: "Today have I begotten thee." ^D And that other, "From the womb before the morning star I have begotten thee," contains the same assurance and truth; that is to say, it signifies both the pre-eternal divinity in the Only-Begotten, a substance co-eternal with the Father and certain, and His natural and non-illusory incarnation in the flesh, at the end of time, from you, the ever-Virgin. For the Scripture named the "womb" as something older than the morning star—the generative procession of the pre-celestial and terrestrial Light—that it might be shown that before every creature, visible and invisible, the Only-Begotten was begotten as Light from Light by the Father without beginning; and

^A furthermore, by the name of womb, He indicated your belly, in order to signify also the carnal advent of the Only-Begotten from you. For by the words, *before the morning star* [Ps. CIX, 3], He indicates that night before there was daybreak; and He rightly calls the morning star the day, because in the silence of the deepest night you brought forth light to those sitting in darkness, and He called the hour of your childbirth "before the morning star" and "before the dawn." For, "the shepherds," He says, "were in the same region, living in the fields and keeping watch over their flocks by night" [Lk. II, 8]. Such is the glory that accrued to the heavenly beings through you, Theotokos. For if it had not been added, the angels would not have been chanting, *Glory in the highest* [Lk. II, 14], to that which was already glorified, at the time of your ineffable childbearing. But what also of the illumination of the earthly beings? It is that through your immaculate flesh, man became a citizen of heaven, and shepherds were mingled with the angels. The angels, indeed, as those who descend . . . towards the upper and glorified dignity of God which was exalted; that is to say, they were instructed regarding the Father’s beginningless generation of the Son before the ages, and not a created consubstantiality.

^B Since, therefore, All-Holy Mother of God, heaven and—more truly said—the earth were adorned through you, how could it be possible to leave men orphaned of your vision by your translation? God forbid that we should think this! Just as when you were living in this world, you were in no wise a stranger to the heavenly life, neither, once you had been translated, were you alienated from your fellowship in spirit with men; since you were shown to be a heaven receiving the Most High God, on account of the receptive bosom of your carriage of Him; and again, you were a spiritual earth to Him, on account of the receptive ministry of your flesh. From which, it is correctly to be believed that even when you were sojourning in this world, you were at all times an inhabitant with God; and though translated from human affairs, you never abandoned those who are in the world. Nevertheless, we are importunate in our speech, we who have been accustomed to venerate you with a faithful mind: why have we not also been deemed worthy to obtain that same good, so that we might merit enjoying your communion in the body? Therefore, we rather proclaim as thrice-blessed those who were delighted by the spectacle of your sojourning, in that they had you, the Mother of Life, leading a life in common with themselves. ^C But, just as if you were still walking among us bodily and living among men, so you delight and affect the eyes of our souls with your vision daily. For, in the same way as you once conversed in the flesh with the men of an earlier age, in the same way you dwell with us in spirit; and that great protection of yours, with which you cherish us, is an index of your communion with us. And we all hear your voice; and the voice of all strikes the ears of your hearing: and being known by you through your help, we recognize your

^A protection as one that is always ready to assist. For no division, I mean between soul and body, can hinder your concern for your servants. For you have not dismissed those whom you have saved, you have not abandoned those whom you have gathered; for your spirit lives forever, and your flesh did not endure the corruption of the grave. You visit all, and your visitation, Mother of God, is upon all; so that even if our eyes are restrained from seeing you, O most holy one, you nonetheless willingly reside in the midst of all, manifesting yourself in various ways to those who are worthy. For the flesh does not hinder the power and activity of your spirit; since your spirit blows where it wills, because it is pure and immaterial, incorrupt and unstained, a spirit that is a companion of the Holy Spirit, and chosen for the Godhead of the Only-Begotten. You are, according to what is written, "Beautiful," and your virginal body is all holy, all chaste, all a dwelling place of God; and thus it is, as a result, apart from any dissolution into dust. It has been transformed, as a human body, into a life of supreme incorruption; yet it remains intact and most glorious, full of life and ever-watchful; since it was not even possible for it to be held by the confinement of death that destroys all things, as it was a vessel that received God, and an animate temple of the all-holy Godhead of the Only-Begotten. Because of these things, O Theotokos, we believe that you go about with us.

^B Truly, yes, truly, and I will say it again with thankfulness: although you have departed, you have not left the Christian race; you have not been removed, O life of incorruption, from this decaying world, but you draw near to those who call upon you. You are found by those who faithfully seek you, for there are those who possess the manifestations of the life of the ever-breathing Spirit and of the body free from decay. For how could the dissolution of flesh toward soil and dust have returned you—you who, through the incarnation of your Son, redeemed the human person from the corruption of death? You have departed, therefore, from earthly things, so that the mystery of the fearful incarnation might be shown to be confirmed in unassailable truth; so that, while you endured the departure from temporal things, God, who was born of you, might be believed to have proceeded also as perfect man from a true Mother, subject to the laws of natural necessity, by the decree of the divine command and the requirement of time; and you, who happened to be among us with a body like ours, and for this reason were not able to escape the encounter with the common death of mankind—just as your Son, and the God of all, also himself, insofar as one may say, for the sake of the human person of our race who dies entirely, "tasted death" in a similar way in the flesh; ^C having, of course, paradoxically caused to be life-bearing both his own life-giving tomb and your tomb, which received your life; so that the bodies of both, while...

truly receiving ^A them, have in no way induced corruption. For it could not be that you, who were a vessel capable of God, should dissolve into corrupting dust as a dead body. For since He who emptied Himself in you was God from the beginning, and life before the ages, it was necessary that the Mother of Life should become a fellow-dweller with Life, and should accept her falling asleep as a sleep, and undergo her migration as an awakening, as the Mother of Life. For just as a child seeks and longs for its own mother, and a mother loves to dwell with her child, so also you, possessing yearnings for your Son and God, were stirred to return to Him; and it was fitting that God, holding maternal affection for you, should make Himself your fellow-dweller and, by custom, attach Himself to you. ^B In this way, having suffered the death of those who are passing away, you migrated to the incorruptible, eternal dwellings, where God dwells; with whom you also, O Theotokos, being a fellow-inhabitant, do not depart from His company. For you became a bodily house of rest for Him, O Theotokos, and He Himself is manifested as a place of rest for you in your migration, most hymned one. “For this,” He says, “is My resting place for ever and ever” (Ps. CXXXI, 14); that is to say, the flesh which was clothed by Him from you, O Theotokos; with which Christ is believed to have not only appeared in this present age, but also will appear to judge the living and the dead in the coming age, having assumed such flesh as yours. Therefore, as yours is an eternal resting place for Him, He took you near to Himself, ^C incorruptible, wishing to have you close by, as one might say, both to your speech and to your heart; and for this reason, whatever you ask from Him, He grants with a mother’s longing, and whatever you request from Him, He fulfills by divine power; He who is blessed unto the ages. Amen.

7. OF THE SAME, HOMILY II ON THE BLESSED DORMITION OF OUR MOST HOLY LADY, THE THEOTOKOS AND EVER-VIRGIN MARY

Let the ignorant and senseless words of the heretics cease (40). Let their wicked lips be stopped. “Let all who seek you, O Theotokos, exult and rejoice in you; and let those who love your name say always: ‘The Lord be magnified,’ ^D as is due, in order to magnify your name; for the mouth of the Christians shall meditate upon your justice and your virginity; all the day [it shall meditate upon] the praise of the holiness of your child-bearing. The poor have seen through you the riches of the goodness of God.” They saw and said: “The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” Sinners, through you, have sought out God and have been saved; and they themselves have said: He grants to the lot of the mourning; and if you ask anything of Him,

through you to God, and were saved.” ^A They also said: “If it had not been that the Lord helped us,” ^B by being incarnate from a Virgin, “it would have been but a little that our souls would have dwelt” ^C in the all-devouring Hades of death, ^D and our souls would have sunk down. Thy aid, therefore, ^A O Theotokos, is powerful for salvation, and since thou art not in need of anyone else, commend us to God. For thou art the mother of the truly real Life. Thou art the leaven for the restoration of Adam. Thou art the freedom from the reproaches of Eve. She was the mother of dust, thou art the mother of Light. Her womb was of corruption, but thy bosom is of incorruption. She was a dwelling-place of death, thou art a translation from death. She was the lowering of eyes to the earth, thou art the unsleeping glory of those who keep watch. Her children are grief; but thy Son is joy for all generations. She, being earth, departed into the earth; but thou gavest birth to Life for us, and didst return to life, and even after death, thou didst prevail to intercede for men. ^B “There is no satiety of thy intercession,” nor is thy life-bestowing translation something to be desired to be otherwise, ^C as if one might say, a sensation that slips away from men; for both thy protection is living, and thy intercession is life, and thy shelter is perpetual. For if thou didst not lead the way, no one would have become spiritual; no one would worship God in Spirit (Ps. CXXXIII, 1-2; Psal. CXLIV, 3; Joan. IV, 24). For the human being becomes spiritual only when thou, O Theotokos, hast become the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. No one is filled with the knowledge of God except through thee, most holy one; no one is saved except through thee, O Theotokos; no one is free from dangers except through thee, Virgin-Mother; no one is redeemed except through thee, Mother of God; no one receives the gift of mercy except through thee, thou who didst contain God. For who among sinners intercedes to such a degree? Who defends those who are uncorrected to such an extent? For everyone who has the power, is there time when also...

fearing the cutting down of the metaphorical fig tree among us, he was delaying in sending up supplication to God on our behalf; lest, because of the promise given being unfruitful, the intercession be seen as unacceptable. But you, having a motherly power before God, even for those who sin ^B enormously, obtain the exceeding grace of forgiveness. For it is not possible that you should ever not be heard, since God obeys you in all things and through all things and in all matters, as His true and undefiled Mother. Therefore, the one who is afflicted reasonably takes refuge in you; the one who is infirm clings to you; the one who is warred against arms you against his enemies. You change "indignation and wrath and affliction, a mission through evil angels." You turn aside the just threat and the decree of deserving condemnation, greatly loving the people called by the name of your Son. Therefore, also your Christian people, considering their own state, confidently commit their prayers to you to be carried to God. When they approach the Most Holy to supplicate, they are confident, O all-holy one, because of experience, and the multitudes of your benefits toward us, and they urge you ^C often in supplications. For which, who would not call you blessed? The vision of the angels surpassing understanding; the success of humans far beyond our state; the refuge of the race of Christians; the asylum for sinners that is frequented; you who are borne upon the lips of Christians at every hour! For as soon as a Christian is seized by trembling, or if he strikes his foot against a stone, he calls upon your name for help. Therefore, whoever praises you, he shall not cease to be praised. Rather, if he begins to praise you, he starts immoderately. For it is impossible to hymn you worthily. The one who desires to magnify you at all times, by your continual glorification, recovers the debt owed unto you within himself. For when one who is a debtor of many things can pay back nothing, he accumulates thanksgiving, just as you accumulate protection and help. Because for that best gift which has no end, he deserves an ongoing benefit by rendering thanksgiving, as if at the beginning. Who, indeed, would not admire you, the immutable protection, the immovable refuge, the sleepless intercession, the unceasing salvation, ^D the steady help, the unshakable protection, the impregnable wall, the treasure of delights, the unblamable paradise, the safe rampart, the mighty

^A support, the harbor for the storm-tossed, the calm for the troubled, the surety for sinners, the advocate for those in despair, the gathering back of the exiled, the return of those driven out, the reconciliation of the alienated, the commending of those condemned, the blessing for those brought low, the dew for the drought of the soul, the moisture for the withered plant. “For our bones, as it is written, shall sprout like grass ^B through you;” mother of the Lamb and Shepherd, and known herself as the mediatrix of all good things. How marvelous are your works, “true, justified together, and all of them desirable and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.” For we your servants desire them, and in desiring them, there is great recompense from you. — “Who shall understand your mercies?” But it is enough for your praise, O worthy of all wonder, that we are not able to offer worthy encomiums for your things. You possess from God the great height for a triumph, because from your own flesh you formed ^C for Him a Christian people, and you rendered what was of similar nature to you conformed to His divine and likeness-bearing image. “Blessed therefore is your name unto the ages.” Your light is before the sun. Your honor is higher than all creation; your supremacy is before the angels. “You are higher than the heaven,” but also wider than the heaven of heavens, and than the seventh [heaven] cited by a certain holy man in accordance with Scripture. More than eighth, and if there be another, and even beyond this one, O heaven; blessed are you in generations ^D of generations; but also all the tribes of the earth have been blessed in you. For there is no place where you are not glorified; nor tribe from which fruits for God have not sprouted through you; so that even the nations in this world who have not known you, will call you blessed in a new and acceptable way, O Virgin. For when He who was born of you shall come to judge the world in righteousness, those who have not wished to confess you faithfully as the Theotokos will be raised up and will lament; and then they will know...

of what a treasure they have foolishly deprived themselves. But for us Christians, and for those who worship you as the Theotokos in faith, extend the mercy of your immutable protection. For we rightly consider your Dormition, O Theotokos, to be life, and we believe that you dwell with us spiritually. And whenever tribulation is near, by seeking you we are delivered; and whenever again there is a time of joy, you are the provider of it; and whenever we are anxious about all things under you, we are assured that you are living ^B among us. For just as the thirsty man hastens toward the spring, so also does every most faithful soul run toward you, to be filled with your glowing assistance. And again, just as the drawing of breath supplies the animal sense of smell to men, so also does every orthodox Christian bring forth and utter your breathe and aspiration upon their lips. For we do not draw so much from the delight of the air as we do from the protection of your name; so that in Christ and in you the scripture is fulfilled: “The breath of our nostrils, you are,” it says; “in your shadow and breath we shall live.” For what other race of men, except for Christians, has obtained such glory, has been endowed with such an assumption? Angels exult in the heavenly mansions; we rejoice in the leisure of your most holy temples. For if the temple of Solomon once foreshadowed heaven upon earth, how much more is it right to boast of your churches and temples, since you have become the living temple of Christ, as being earthly heavens? The bright ^C torches of the stars speak in the firmament of heaven; your bodily likenesses, O Mother of God, traced in the colors of icons flash upon us the abundance of your gifts. The sun and moon light up the one pole of the circle; but every house, and city, and region is brightened by your light, from the Light of your Offspring. Therefore, the man who is blessed, even if he be a sinner, is found to be such because he has attained you as a kinswoman according to nature, and through you has become a partaker of the divine nature; he is “blessed” ^D indeed, and it has been well for him; nay, rather, it “will be well,” for you will not fail those who are worthy of having your succor unto the end.

^A Let death depart from you, O Theotokos, because you brought forth Life for men. Let the tomb depart from you, since you became the divine foundation of an incomprehensible height. Let dust depart from you; for you are a new creation, since you have become Lady to those who were corrupted in the mire of clay. Therefore, we confess with certain faith that you continue to walk with us. For if our consolation were not placed in this, our spirit would fail from longing for you. And just as, according to Scripture, we understand by faith that the heavens were fashioned, so also we believe that you, even after the departure of your body, are present as our companion, and we behold you as with our eyes. For the soul does not feel as much pain when it is torn from the body as is the pain of being deprived of you, O most immaculate one. Hence, according to Scripture: “Although your body sleeps, your heart keeps watch”; ^B and although you have undergone the inescapable necessity of death that belongs to human nature, your eye that watches over us shall not slumber nor sleep.

For your transition is not without witnesses; nor is your falling asleep false. The heavens tell of the glory of those events which occurred then in regard to you; the earth presents the truth concerning them; the clouds cry out the honor which was ministered by them for you; and the angels announce the gift that was made to you at that time. How, I say, the apostles arrived to you in Jerusalem, just as the prophet Habakkuk was, in one hour, snatched up by a cloud and received by an angelic right hand, ^C and stood in the Persian Babylon at the pit of Daniel. But just as a single drop poured into the sea adds nothing, and the purse of a poor man does not empty the treasure of a rich man; so also, no one is capable of extolling the heights of your praises with the sounds of words. You possess your own hymn from yourself, because you were shown to be Theotokos. For it is not because we have heard this only with our ears from the interpretation of Scripture, nor again because our fathers have announced this to us in a most truthful narrative, that you have obtained the title of Theotokos; but because the work which you have wrought in us, properly and truly, and without flatteringly coined language, and ^D in an orthodox manner, confirms you to be the Mother of God by the very facts themselves. And for this reason, it was proper that that God-receptive body of yours should not, in truth, be confined by mortal corruption; but that the tomb should receive its own mass, as a human one; and that you, having migrated with your life toward the heavens, the monument should indeed be shown empty of your flesh; but that your spirit should be found inseparable from human interaction, by the invisible power of Christ our God, who was born of you in a virginal manner; to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Encomium of St. Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Holy and Venerable Dormition of our Most Glorious Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

^A “A good and favorable report,” as it is written, “fattens the bones.” For this reason, the narrative concerning the bodily Dormition of the Mother of Life and ever-virgin Mary (which is indeed as the divine fragrance of the most holy flesh of Christ) sanctifies those who sanctify it. For whereas human bones that had once, through the mercy of God, been hardened by corruption—even down into the netherworld—were made fat, the immaculate body of the holy Theotokos, because it was softened by the resurrection of the One born of her, was made more supple than oil through incorruption. But let us now make mention of a few things regarding her ever-memorable passing. For hearing of such an account is truly a source of joy. ^B When Christ our God determined to translate his Mother, the Mother of Life, to himself, he announced to her through an angel, who was again known to her, the time of her Dormition, so that death, coming upon her suddenly—as it does for other mortals—would not bring any disturbance to her who was departing from the living. Therefore, so that she, in departing from this world unexpectedly, might not be disturbed by the natural properties of the flesh, as one who had not foreseen her own departure—she who gave birth to the Creator of all—an angel is sent to her to encourage her soul with such words as these from Christ himself, and to increase her confidence. ^C “It is time,” says the Lord, “for me to take up my Mother. Just as you have filled the earth and those on the earth with joy, O full of grace, gladden the heavens again as well. Brighten the mansions of my Father; give refreshment to the spirits of the saints. For seeing your translation, which is honorable and attended by angels unto me, they are faithfully assured that through you their portion also will dwell in my light. Come, therefore, with exultation. Rejoice now also, just as you did formerly; for you possess in all things the dignity of the name ‘full of grace.’ As you received the message of joy when you were about to conceive me, rejoice now also, as you are invited by me to be taken up. Let it not trouble you that you leave the world, which is perishing with its desires. You are passing by its corruption; for you will not leave those in the world bereft of your aid. Just as I, though I am not of the world, ^D look upon and govern those in the world with propitious eyes and providence, so too shall your protection not be taken away from the world until the consummation.”

On the Dormition of the Blessed Mary. III.

^A Let not the neglect of the flesh trouble you; you are returning to a more vital life, to a rest of joy, to peace untroubled, to a life free from care, to impassible delight, to an undistracted abode, to unending enjoyment, to light that does not set, to a day that does not fade, to myself, the Creator of the universe and of you. For where I am, there is eternal life, joy incomparable, a habitation unequaled, a city subject to no destruction. Wherefore, wherever I am, there you shall also be, inseparable Mother, in the indivisible Son. Where God is, there is all goodness, all pleasure, all brightness. No one who has seen my glory has desired to turn away from it. No one who has come into my rest has again sought after the things of the perishable world. Let Peter be asked whether the comparison of the world and Mount Tabor is equal, when he beheld my glory in it for a brief time.

While you lived in the world of perishable things, I manifested my power to you in a vision; as you depart from life, I myself shall show myself to you face to face. Yield nothing of the earth with heaviness, for those things are its own. Your body is mine; and since the ends of the earth are in my hand, no one shall snatch anything from my hand. Trust your body to me, for I, too, deposited my divinity in your womb. Your divine soul shall see the glory of my Father. Your undefiled body shall see the glory of his only-begotten Son. Your unpolluted spirit shall see the majesty of the most holy Spirit.

^B Death shall not boast over you, for you have brought forth Life. You have become my vessel; the crushing of lethal collapse shall not break it, nor shall the overshadowing of darkness dim it. Come willingly to him who was born of you. I desire to gladden you as befits a child; to render to you the rent for the maternal womb, the reward for the suckling of milk, the recompense for your upbringing, the assurance for your heart. Having obtained me as your only-begotten Son, prefer to dwell with me; for I know well that you are not torn by love for another son. I made you a virgin mother; I shall also set you as a mother rejoicing in her Son. I shall show the world to be your debtor, and as you depart, I shall make your name more glorious. I shall build you as a wall for the world, a bridge for those tossed by waves, an ark for those being saved, a staff for those being guided, an advocate for sinners, and a ladder capable of raising mortals to heaven.

Come with gladness. Open the paradise which your kinswoman and fellow-creature, Eve, closed. Enter into the joy of your Son; leave behind the Jerusalem below; hasten to the heavenly city, for after a little while the “lamentation shall be magnified in the Jerusalem below,” ^C as it is written, “like the lamentation of a valley being mowed.”

^A Be of good courage, and simply in the figure of the place of the tomb of Gethsemane; I will not leave you orphaned there for long. I shall come to you straightway, when you have been laid to rest and buried in the monument, not to be conceived of you again, as I once dwelt in you, but rather as one who will take you to be my companion. Place your body confidently in the place of Gethsemane, just as I, before my passion, in human fashion, prostrated the knees of my body in prayer in that very place. For just as I, prefiguring your falling-asleep, once bent the knees of my body—the body I took from you—in that place, and after that bowing of the knees went forth to the life-giving and voluntary death of my cross, so you too, after your little body is laid away, shall be translated immediately to life.

Behold, my disciples also are reaching you, by whose hands your funeral shall be honorably and reverently cared for—they who are the spiritual sons of my light. To them, as you yourself bear witness, I have granted the grace of adoption. And indeed, as they pay these last rites, consider it as if I were paying them to you myself, and as if they were being performed by my own hands. For it is not fitting that ^B any others should perform these services for you except my apostles, in whom also the Holy Spirit dwells, and who will fulfill my person in honor of your departure, O most immaculate one.

Having heard these announcements, the Mother of God rejoiced with great joy, having utterly despised the temporary life of mortals. And so, having lit great torches throughout every room of the house, she calls together her friends and those joined by ties of blood and her neighbors. She sweeps the house, she adorns her marriage bed with flowers, as if for the bridal chamber of a virgin ^C — the bed which, until that time, every night, out of longing for Christ and her Son, she had flooded with copious rivers of tears while offering up her prayers. “On my bed,” as the Scripture says, “I sought him whom my soul loved.” She prepares with a ready mind those things that were necessary for her departure and funeral. She makes known that she is about to migrate; she declares what had been announced to her by the angel; she also shows the prize that had been given to her. Now this prize was a palm branch, a sign of victory over death and a prefiguration of the immortal life; it was given to assure her that, as she migrated, she would overcome corruption with greater power, just as her Son, who was born of her, ^D Christ, had emerged the victor over hell. Such was the prize of the palm, with which also the God-fearing children of the Hebrews, as Christ approached his passion—as one who was about to become the victor and conqueror of death—had prefigured it with a show of praise and proclamation, crying out: “Hosanna in the highest,” which means, “Save us, I pray, you who are in the highest.” For that voice among the Hebrews, if you interpret it, sounds like this: “Save us, I pray.” Just as then the palm branches prefigured in symbol the triumphal death of Christ, so also the prize given to the Theotokos was a palm, a sure pledge of victory over the putrefaction that causes death.

^A The women who had been summoned were weeping; those who had gathered to her were mourning, and, so to speak, were bringing rivers into the house with a downpour of tears. They implored her not to leave them orphans. She said to them, "Let the will of my Son and God be done in me. 'For this is my God, and I will glorify him; the God of my father, and I will exalt him.' He is the Son born of me in the flesh, and the same is the Father and Creator and God of his own mother. If you, therefore, being parents from mortal children and from the base union of offspring, cannot bear to be separated from them even for a moment, how is it that I, who have possessed God as my Son, and who have held undivided inward affection for him—because I did not conceive him through human agency, but incorruptibly and as a virgin—am I not overcome by a greater attraction of love than you? For you find consolation in one another and in turns for the loss of your children; but I, who have been deemed worthy to have God, Christ, and this only-begotten as my own, how should I not depart gladly and rejoicing to Him who himself lives always and provides life to all?"

^B While these things were being said, there occurred suddenly the sound of a violent thunderclap, and the arrival of an unearthly cloud, from which, like drops of dew, the disciples of Christ descended, and having been brought to anchor, they stood together as one in the house of the Virgin. And seeing her, they worshipped her with affection, and having learned from her the reason for their arrival, they addressed her with such words: "Indeed, because we had you in this sojourn of the world, and we saw you as if we were looking upon Christ himself, we had found no small relief for our trials, O Mother of God, and we lament on account of your migration. But because you have been called by divine authority, and by the carnal bond toward the Mother, to depart to God, we rejoice and congratulate you for that which is being rightfully fulfilled and will result in benefit on your account. For we also have received in you an abundant, deep pledge of eternal life, and we recognize you as a mediatrix to God as you depart. For it was not fitting that the Mother of God should spend her life in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, but rather that she should pass on to the heavenly tabernacles and to immortal seats."

^C While speaking these things, they were inconsolable in their tears. But she said to them, "Rejoice, my spiritual children, children of my Son. Remember his words, how at the time of the passion he commanded us not to turn the joy of the world into mourning. So too today, as I am transferred to him, do not make my joy a matter of mourning; but as for my body, just as I shall arrange it upon the bed, do you all carry it out. For I imagine that I am being buried by the very hands of my Son, as I am being faithfully buried by you, the disciples of the same."

^D In the meantime, Paul the apostle also arrives, as if he had traveled from far away due to his preaching. He knocks at the door of the dwelling; the one who was in charge of the house, John the apostle, opens it for him gladly, and the Virgin...

^A herself, having received the Virgin as a mother from Christ himself, welcomed him. The apostles saw Paul and were refreshed in spirit, respectfully placing him in a seat of honor. The Virgin receives him cheerfully; Paul casts himself at her God-bearing feet, and, having learned why he too had arrived, with a great and tearful sigh he opens his ready and eloquent mouth and praises the Virgin greatly, of which these are a few words:

"Hail, Mother of Life, and the validation of my preaching. Hail, the attainment of my solace. For even if I have not seen Christ in the flesh, yet seeing you in the body, I am comforted that I am seeing Christ, you who provided the body for the Incorporeal One to be clothed in. Therefore, I was fully satisfying my longing for Christ by the delightful contemplation of your countenance. Until now, I have been preaching to the nations that you gave birth to Christ in the flesh; henceforth, I shall also teach them that you have migrated to Him, so that it may be made certain to the nations that their salvation is confirmed by your intercession, so that they too may rejoice in an unshakeable defense before God."

^B After many other praises, as we have been able to learn, offered by the mouth of Paul to the Theotokos, the Virgin bids farewell to all. Then she lies down upon the bed she had prepared; and, as she wished, having composed her immaculate body, she dismisses her spirit as if in sleep. Or rather, to speak more truly, she separates from the flesh while awake, leaving behind her portion, that is to say, her little body, free from corruption. Having therefore publicly commended in voice her blameless spirit to Christ and God, her Son by bodily generation, Peter urges his fellow-prince of the apostles, Paul, to offer the customary prayer over the Virgin’s remains. Paul refuses, saying that this is fitting for Peter, who is the supreme head and prince of the shepherds. Peter insists, humbling himself before Paul, out of consideration for the great labor he had expended in his preaching. Paul does not yield at all, upholding the promotion given by Christ to Peter with ^C inviolable constancy. Therefore, Peter offers the prayer; the rest of the apostles lift the bier on their shoulders, carrying the body of the Virgin with hymns and lights toward the tomb, treating it with honor and reverence.

An immeasurable crowd flowed to her honorable funeral, for she who had been the parent of Life had departed. They were struck with amazement that she had suddenly departed from human existence. They admired even more the apostles, who had come carried through the air from the places where they had been scattered. For the report had spread everywhere in Jerusalem that a cloud, like thunder and a whirlwind, like rain and the dew of a whistling wind, in an instant had trickled them down into the Virgin's house. Furthermore, one of the unbelieving Hebrews, a vain man (for they are vanity of vanities, as they are always a scandal, and always contentious in the devices of their reasonings), stretched out his impious hands; for with the hands of his... ^D

^A iniquity, he says, is ever present. He did not fear to disturb the frame of the litter, daring to touch the body of the undefiled, and not hesitating to cast down the flesh-bearing throne of the Most High. He is immediately punished by the severing of his hands, becoming a living example and terror to the Jews who are always shamelessly insolent toward Christ. The remains ^B approach the tomb. The apostles, out of reverence and godly fear, were hesitant to touch the body of the Virgin. And the disciples, because of the exceeding honor in which they held her, and knowing that the body was the vessel of the most chaste God, felt a praiseworthy trepidation, and preferred to avoid touching her body; the faithful among the people, however, were anxious to snatch some of the burial cloths, seeking sanctity for themselves. Yet no one laid hands upon her, for they kept the rashness of the aforementioned Hebrew and his example before their eyes. ^B By the common judgment and choice of the apostles, Peter and Paul, taking up the shroud that hung loosely down on either side of the litter, placed the remains into the monument, burdening the shroud with their touch, and not using their own hands—for the all-glorious and most reverent apostles did not abuse their power; if they showed fear of God at that moment, it was through their desire for Him, those sublime and heavenly observers of the earth, the honored ministers and executors of the love of Christ, who honored the Son through the Mother, and the Mother through the Son with such exceeding reverence, and who, because of the God who became incarnate, sincerely served the Mother who ministered the flesh to Him. From their hands, while all were looking, the undefiled body of the Virgin was snatched away. And indeed, no one saw who it was that snatched her; for it was God, invisible to eyes. The shroud, however, appeared to be lightly lifted into the air by the hands of the apostles, in a light cloud—in that light cloud which was prophetically foretold in the flesh. ^C The disciples recognized the presence of the Mother of Christ together with the angels; and being confirmed that she had been transferred by Him, they gave glory to God with the praise of their voices, speaking these things also to the people: "Men of Israel, this is now made known to all of you concerning Mary, who according to the flesh was the mother of Christ, that while she was being brought by us and by you to this tomb as one dead, she was taken up from our hands. Let no one therefore be found faithless in this matter. Let no one falsely accuse us of theft in the case of her remains, as was done in the case of the body of Christ; but if this be heard by the governor and your chief priests, make known the truth, and not the lie. Become witnesses of what you have seen. Become yourselves new, carnal angels, walking today by the tomb. Provide your own tongues with wings in the truth. Say also you: Behold the place where the Virgin was buried, but the life-giving Mary has been transferred. Behold also the shroud..."

which was devoid of the one wrapped within it, which it seeks, the one it had enveloped; and for whom it had been a shroud for one as if inanimate, it now delights to be spread beneath her as animate and living. Be you also, women, ointment-bearers of the translated one. Make haste, announce the transfer of her from the life-receiving tomb.

^B Blessed art thou also, Gethsemane, the plot of land, and one that hath attained a glory neighboring the garden of Joseph. There, Peter and John having run and found the linen cloths and the napkin, believed that Christ had risen; but in thee, Gethsemane, all of us, both we the disciples of the Savior and the multitude that had flocked to this funeral of the ever-virgin Mary, saw the one who was buried in the tomb, placed within it, and then transferred. For without any controversy, while the entrance of the tomb had not yet been closed by the stone, she was removed from their eyes, so that, having been deposited without seals and without guards, she would not provide the unbelievers with an easy opportunity for the calumny of theft. But behold, having been celebrated with praises and having been emptied out from the grave, she left the monument also vacant; and she filled paradise with her own glory, and she possesses the rest of the heavenly life, and she exists as a co-dweller of the delights that are with God. These and such are the testimonies of the apostles concerning thee, O Mother of God.

^C But since for me also, O most immaculate Virgin, the boldness of the words offered to thee by me is sufficient (for time would fail those who wish to praise thy works), I shall put an end to the hymn here. Remember thy Christian servants. Commend the prayers of all, establish the hopes of all. Strengthen the faith; unite the Churches; increase the empire with victories; assist the army; compose the world in peace, and delivering all from dangers and temptations, implore that for each one the day of retribution may be rendered free from the guilt of condemnation. For to whom else shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, namely, thy intercessory vows to God for us. For thou art the one who hast always worked, and never ceasest to work, great things with us. And holy is thy name, which by angels and men, unto all generations of generations, is declared blessed, both now and unto the age of ages. Amen.

^D

Oration of our Holy Father Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Dedication of the Venerable Church of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God, and on the Holy Swaddling Clothes of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(COMBEFIS. Manipulus rerum Constantinop., p. 232.)

"Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." (Ps. LXXXVI, 3)

^A Our divine David sang to us in the Spirit; and again most clearly, regarding that of which glorious things have been spoken, I think it is most clear and irrefutable to call this the city of the great King, indeed the one truly chosen and excelling all others: not by the eminence of buildings and the height of earth-heaped mounds, but by the greatness of the divine virtues, and for the purity by which the most holy and undefiled Theotokos Mary excels. In her dwelt He who is truly the King of kings and Lord of lords; or rather, in her the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily.

This is truly a glorious city; this is the spiritual Sion. This, I think, David also foretold by divine inspiration. But if anyone were to call its house a glorious city, he would not be straying from the truth and from goodness. For if those whose names are invoked upon the earth preserve the memory of their reputation for a long time, and if others, whose names it is not even lawful to speak with one's lips, have monuments, shrines, and idols unto this day—and even if they are only in rumor, yet they still extend beyond, and as if the people themselves were still living, they ring in the ears of the simpler sort—what then might one say about the glorious and most hymn-worthy Lady, the all-pure and most undefiled? For if this city became the living city of the King Christ, then justly also is her most holy temple, the dedication of which we celebrate today, a glorious city and is so named. A city not enrolling subjects for an earthly and mortal king, but for the heavenly one, who sends them into eternal life and grants His own kingdom to those who follow Him.

^D And when you hear of the dedication, O precious and revered, and beloved audience, do not suppose that the name of "dedication" is contained in newly built edifices and recently compacted structures, but rather that it is the renewal in the spirit, according to which the inner man, having put off the old and ragged garment of sin and having put on the new one of piety, conducts his life in the newness of life. The most undefiled One delights in these things; by those virtues, and by the life renewed in piety according to God, may we thus also partake of the pure dedications of the pure One in a pure manner; and as she is present... [alt-version omitted]

^A to all and sees all, let us prepare ourselves to enter her venerable temple, let us set all things in order, and let us change all things for the better—our action, I mean, and our reasoning, and our contemplation. Let nothing of ours on this day be unworthy: not the step of the foot, not the laughter of the teeth (as they say), not the adornment of our clothing should tend toward the indecorous. What am I saying? Let us govern even our thoughts themselves. And let mercy, by which God is worshiped, go before all these things, so that, renewed in soul and body, we may celebrate the day of the Dedication of the Mother of God according to the flesh, in a new way.

For there shines forth with this day the deposition and adoration of her venerable and precious girdle, and likewise the most precious swaddling clothes of her Son, ^B who is utterly pure. Of that girdle, I say, which girded that most holy body, and encompassed God who was hidden within the womb. Of that girdle which elegantly and gracefully adorned the ark of God. Of that girdle which often drank in the drops of the most pure milk from the untouchable breasts of the most pure One. And let no one among those who have an inclination to find fault deem it absurd that we address these things as if they were animate, and follow them with auspicious words and offer them praise. For if a vessel that has held ointment for a short time retains the fragrance for a long time, even after it has been poured out, what ^C would one say regarding that girdle, which for a long time enfolded and embraced that truly inexhaustible and divine ointment—the most pure and immaculate body, I say, of the Theotokos? Will it not preserve the fragrance of healings unto eternity, and fill those who approach with faith and love with sweetness? A fragrance, indeed, not of the kind that is effeminate and base, but divine and worthy of all veneration; one that, in short, banishes and drives away the diseases of soul and body with the sharpest force. And if an inanimate vessel, as we have said, possesses this quality, that it is imbued with the nature of the ointment it contained, what then shall we say of that which clung to the animate dwelling-place of the Word of God? ^D Shall we not run to it? Shall we not fall before it? Shall we not beseech to obtain from it entirely the cleansing of soul and body? What then? Shall we not address it as if it were alive, and offer hymns of praise? Let us certainly do so.

O girdle, you who girded the fountain of life, and provide eternal life to those who honor you! O girdle, you who extinguish the lust that is in the loins of those who run to you, and bestow upon them courage and strength for the performance and exercise of virtues! O girdle, you who constrain and bind the weakness of our nature, and bind fast our enemies, both those visible and those who flee the keenness of our eyes! But what has happened to me, that while I am spurred on by the desire of the most chaste one, and carried along by the vigor of my discourse, I have become forgetful of the swaddling clothes? And it is no wonder; for while the Mother is glorified, the Mother-loving Son is pleased and rejoices. But let us also yield to the law of nature, even if we are considering things beyond nature.

^A And the Lord, who is superior to all goodness, will by no means reject this. For as He graciously willed in truth to proceed from her as man, and deigned to be called her Son, so the all-merciful One will accept this boldness as having been done in a human manner. Yet, having mentioned the swaddling clothes, I return again to her who gave birth. For she fashioned these with her own pure hands. In a manner befitting an infant, she wrapped in them the great Lord with motherly hands. Carrying Him thus in her bosom, she suckled Him who provides breath and nourishment to a whole nature.

O swaddling clothes, that wrapped around the liberating Lord and dissolved the chains of our transgressions! O swaddling clothes, that bound the mighty Lord and strengthened the weakness of our race! O swaddling clothes, that guard and protect the faithful, and bind and cast down the adversaries! ^B O swaddling clothes and venerable girdle! Bestow upon me sanctification, strength, propitiation, and health—upon me, and upon those who with longing approach and worship in this your venerable temple. O venerable girdle, that encircles and cares for your city, and preserves it unassailed by the incursion of Barbarians! O precious girdle, that wrapped around God the Word while He was in the womb, and from there drew forth the blessing of healings which you have bestowed upon us! O radiant girdle, that approached the most holy body of the incorruptible Mother of God in a manner befitting its holiness, and having from there put on incorruption, remaining steadfast and incorrupt, as a certain word of truth has come down to us!

But why do we attempt even things that are impossible, and hasten to leap beyond the boundaries, ^C attempting to honor this according to its worth by means of words, which is impossible even for angels? Nevertheless, O honorable girdle of the most honorable Mother of God, gird our loins with truth, justice, and meekness. Make us heirs of eternal and blessed life, and keep this our fragile and mortal life unassailed by invisible and visible enemies. Keep the faith unshaken in peace. Preserve your inheritance, your people—O girdle of the most immaculate one—upright in the faith, safe in the life according to God, and unharmed by any injury whatsoever. Let us hold you as strength and aid, as a wall and rampart, as a harbor and salutary refuge.

Do you, however, O most pure, most good, and most merciful Lady, ^D the consolation of Christians, the warmest solace of the sorrowful, the most ready refuge of sinners, do not leave us orphans of your help. For if we were to be abandoned by you, where then should we flee? And what then would become of us, O most holy Theotokos, who are the breath and life of Christians? For just as this body of ours [is the] certain...

^A evidence that it draws breath, so too your all-holy name, being incessantly uttered in the mouths of your servants at every time and place and in every manner, becomes not merely an evidence, but a cause of life and joy and help. May you cover us with the wings of your goodness. May you guard us by your intercessions. May you grant us eternal life, O unashamed hope of Christians. For we, who are destitute of divine works and ways, seeing the wealth of kindness provided to us through you, let us say: "The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord." ^B We, in the multitude of our sins, being estranged from God, sought God through you, and we found Him, and having found Him, we were saved. Your help, therefore, O Mother of God, is powerful for providing salvation, and does not require some other mediator to God. Knowing this, and having learned it also by experience from those things for which, as we frequently beseech you, we obtain the most warm assistance and receive the abundant supply of our petitions, we now also flee to you, your people, your inheritance, your flock, adorned by the invocation ^C of your Son. Truly, there is no limit to your magnificence; there is no bound to your assistance. There is no number to your benefits. For no one is saved except through you, all-holy one. No one is delivered from terrible things except through you, all-undefiled one. No one is granted the gift of forgiveness except through you, all-pure one. No one receives mercy by grace except through you, all-venerable one. Wherefore, who would not call you blessed? Who would not magnify you, if not according to dignity, then at least with the utmost eagerness—you, the glorified; ^D you, the blessed; you, who obtained great things from your own Son and God, as great and wondrous [things]; whence all generations call you blessed.

Who, like you, after your Son, cares for the human race? Who stands by us so helpfully in our afflictions? Who catches us so quickly and delivers us from the temptations that come upon us? Who contends so much in prayer for sinners? Who speaks in defense for them so responsively, even for those for whom there is no hope of amendment? For what maternal...

having the confidence and power before thy Son, thou savest us who are condemned by our sins and who dare not even look up to the height of heaven, through thy entreaties and thine intercessions, and thou deliverest us from eternal punishment. ^A Wherefore he who is afflicted takes refuge in thee; he who suffers injury hastens to thee; he who is held and entangled by evils invokes thy help. All that is thine, O Theotokos, is wonderful; all is beyond nature, all is beyond reason and power. Therefore thy protection also surpasses the force of human understanding. For those who were cast off, driven out, and treated as enemies, thou through thy birth-giving didst reconcile and unite in a bond of kinship, and hast made them sons and heirs. Thou, stretching forth helping hands to those who are daily shipwrecked in the whirlpool of sins, drawest them out of the waves. Thou, by the invocation of thy most holy name alone, repellest and puttest to flight the invasions ^B of the wicked one against thy servants, and safely deliverest them. Thou, O most immaculate one, by arriving in anticipation, freest those who call upon thee from every necessity and from all manner of temptations. Wherefore we also hasten zealously to thy temple; and standing therein, we deem that we are standing in heaven. In it, glorifying thee, we consider ourselves to be dancing in choir with the angels. For what race of men, besides the Christians, has attained to such glory, has obtained such succor, and possesses such protection? Who, having gazed faithfully upon thy precious girdle, O Theotokos, is not immediately filled with gladness? Who, falling fervently before it, has gone away empty of the benefit he sought? Who, contemplating thy image, has not immediately forgotten all distress? But also, for those who come to thy venerable ^C temple, in which thou didst will that thy precious girdle be deposited, along with the swaddling clothes of thy Son and our God, the deposition of which we celebrate today, it is impossible to express with what joy, with what gladness, and with what delight they are satiated.

O urn, from which we who are scorched by the fires of evil have drunk the manna of refreshment! O table, through which we who were pining with hunger have been overfilled with the bread of life! O lampstand, by whose illuminations those of us who were sitting in darkness have been bathed in great light! Thou hast from God the praise that is worthy of thee and fitting; yet do not cast off our unworthy praise, which is nevertheless offered to thee from desire. Do not cast off the praise of polluted lips, O most hymned one, which is offered to thee from a well-disposed mind. Do not abominate the prayerful speech of an unworthy tongue; but, measuring our desire in return, O thou who art glorified by God, grant us the remission of sins, the enjoyment of eternal life, and deliverance from every harm. Look down from thy holy habitation upon this most faithful congregation that surrounds thee, ^D calling thee Lady.

[The scholarly note beneath the Latin column, beginning "Hujus notionis vocis...", is an editorial gloss regarding the history of the word "Antiphonates" and is omitted here in accordance with instructions.]

to have obtained Thee as protecting Lady, and to have come together to praise Thee from the heart, O Theotokos; and having visited us with Thy divine inspection, deliver these from every calamity and tribulation; rescue us from every kind of disease, every kind of stain, every kind of injury; preserve us unharmed; fill us with every joy, every health, every grace; and at the coming of Thy most merciful Son, our Lord, when we shall all stand before the Judge, deliver us—with Thy powerful hand (as one who possesses maternal confidence and authority)—from the eternal fire, and grant, I beseech Thee, that we may attain the eternal good things: by the grace and loving-kindness of Him who was born of Thee, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power, now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

DUBIA.

GERMANUS ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND MYSTICAL CONTEMPLATION.

^A The Church is the temple of God, a holy sanctuary, a house of prayer, a gathering of the people, the body of Christ, His name; the bride of Christ, calling the peoples to repentance and to prayer; purified by the water of holy baptism, washed by His precious blood, decorated with the adornment of a bride, and sealed with the ointment of the Holy Spirit, according to the prophetic saying, "Thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do we run after the odor of Thy ointments," because "it is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garment." Otherwise: The Church is a terrestrial heaven, in which the supercelestial God dwells and walks, representing the crucifixion and the burial and the

^A resurrection of Christ; magnified above the tabernacle of the testimony of Moses, prefigured in the patriarchs, founded upon the apostles, in which is the Mercy Seat and the Holy of Holies, heralded in the prophets, adorned in the hierarchs, perfected in the martyrs, and enthroned in their sacred relics. Otherwise: The Church is a divine house, where the mystical sacrifice of life is celebrated, and the interior of the sanctuary, and a holy cave. Where there is the tomb and the table, the nourisher and life-giver of souls; and the pearls within it are the divine dogmas of the teaching of the Lord to His disciples.

The signal-instrument, according to the type of the nails with which they pierced the hands and feet of the Lord, has sounded to the ends of the inhabited world. Otherwise: The signal-instrument ^B suggests the trumpets of the angels, and rouses the combatants for war against invisible enemies. Baptism is as God commanded Moses, saying: "When you descend, bear witness to this people, and sanctify them, and let them wash their garments, and let them be ready to ascend the mountain to Me." And again, through Isaiah the prophet, the Lord God says: "Wash yourselves, become clean, take away the wickedness from your souls." And: "If your sins be as crimson, I will make them white as snow." And again the Lord Himself says: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." And He commanded His own apostles, saying: ^C "Going into all the world, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

We have been baptized into the death of Christ Himself, and His resurrection. For through the immersion and emersion in water, and the triple pouring, we represent and confess the three-day burial and the resurrection of Christ Himself. Furthermore, also that He Himself was baptized in the Jordan by John. To be anointed with oil for those being baptized is like the oil with which kings and priests and prophets were anointed; just as Christ was also anointed, as king and priest, by the anointing of the incarnation. It is also for this reason, ^D that the devil might not be able to overcome us by the power of the death of sin; which is death, which fell upon us by the transgression of Adam. Water mystically declares to us the mystical laver of water and of the fire of the Holy Spirit for the cleansing of the filth of our sin, and the seeking out of regeneration, and the restoration of eternal life. Through which baptism, having received the adoption of sons, we have been delivered from the slavery and tyranny of the devil, and have received the freedom of the grace of the Son of God: in whom, having been sanctified and cleansed by water and the Spirit, He brought us to God and Father, saying: "Father..."

righteous, behold I and the children whom Thou hast given Me. Sanctify them in Thy name, those whom Thou hast given Me, that they also may be sanctified, and may know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ," that they may be heirs of My kingdom. Of whom the Father says: "I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" sanctified, "into a royal priesthood." And the Holy Spirit confirms the promises, as a faithful and irreproachable witness, creating in us full confidence. Behold the holy inscription. For the Holy Spirit inscribe the Holy Trinity after the manner of a book, as the tongue of God and the Father, "and the pen of a ready writer"; engraving it, ^B truly, in the indication of Christ, not by ink and paper, but by the smearing of the ointment, and as in a new book, engraving the cross of Christ upon the tablets of the hearts of the faithful, just as the prophet says: "And I have written My law," says God, "in their hearts, and I will mark it upon their forehead, that the light of My countenance may be sealed upon them, and they may be famous in all the earth": showing us to be heirs of His kingdom, and legitimate sons and co-heirs of Him, if only we also strive to keep the holy baptism unharmed, and the seal intact. The apse is according to that cave in Bethlehem where Christ was born, and according to the cave where He was buried, as the Evangelist Mark says: "There was a cave hewn out of a rock, and there they laid Jesus." ^C

The Church is where that mystical and living sacrifice takes place, and the interior of the cave, where the sepulchre is situated for Him, within the sanctuary. The apse of the altar is a figure of the cross, and the towers are the signs. Therefore, both are reasonably placed in front of those officiating. The holy table is in place of the place of the burial, in which Christ was laid, in which is set forth the true and heavenly bread, the mystical and unbloody sacrifice: who, being sacrificed, set forth His own flesh and blood as food and drink of eternal life for the faithful. It is also the throne of God itself, in which the supercelestial God, who is borne upon the Cherubim, having assumed a body, rested; at which table, as also in that mystical supper of His, sitting in the midst of His apostles, and taking bread ^D and wine, He said to His own disciples and apostles: "Take, eat and drink of it: for this is My body and My blood." It was prefigured, moreover, in the legal table where the manna was, which is Christ, who descended from heaven. The holy table is in place of the table of Christ with the disciples, and what are upon it are pearls, the divine dogmas of the doctrine of Chri-

Christ. ^A The ciborium is where the crucifixion is, in place of the site where Christ was crucified; for the place and the mound where he was buried are nearby. But because the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ are represented in brief, it is ordered so in the Church. It is also according to the ark of the covenant of the Lord, in which are said to be the Holy of Holies and his sanctification, in which God commanded two Cherubim to be made, carved on both sides. For *Cib* is the ark, and *Orion* is the illumination of the Lord, or the light of God.

The altar is a propitiatory, in which offering was made for sin according to the holy memorial of Christ, in which altar Christ also offered himself as a sacrifice to God and the Father, through the oblation of his body, as a lamb being sacrificed, and as high priest and Son of man, offering and being offered, into a mystical and bloodless sacrifice, and a rational service offered as a sacrifice for the faithful, through which we have become partakers of eternal and immortal life. ^B This lamb Moses prefigured in Egypt toward evening, and with his blood warded off the destroying angel, lest he deliver the people to slaughter. For "toward evening" signifies that the true Lamb of the world, Christ, who takes away the sin by his cross, was also slaughtered toward evening: "For Christ, our Paschal lamb, has been sacrificed for us."

The altar is also called the manger and the tomb of the Lord; the altar is also called so after the pattern of the heavenly and intellectual altar, in which the intellectual and liturgical hierarchies of the immaterial and supernal Powers reflect the antitype, as do the earthly and material priests who stand by and serve the Lord at all times; wherefore they must also be as a burning fire. For according to the sequence of the heavenly things, and the order of the earthly things, the Son of God and judge of all things laid down the laws. ^C The bema is a base place and a throne, in which the King of all, Christ, sits with his apostles, as he says to them: "You will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Thrones are also called the preaching of the faith, in which preaching, through which they trusted, they taught, and through it they receive the reward of the preaching, the supercelestial kingdom, because a chair is not there. It also indicates his second coming, by which he will come in glory to judge the living and the dead, rendering to each according to his work, and to judge the whole world, as the Prophet says: "There seats were set for judgment, thrones over the house of David." ^D

Cosmites is according to the legal and holy ornament, indicating the seal of the crucified Christ, adorned through the cross. Columellae, which are the chest-high partitions separating the bema from the rest

^A of the temple, indicate where the people enter and stand while proceeding to prayer; the interior part, or the steps, signifies the Holy of Holies, into which only the priests, and those with them, may enter. The chancel screen marks the place of prayer, up to which the people come from the outside, while on the inside are the Holy of Holies, accessible only to the priests. And indeed, there are truly bronze screens for the holy tomb, so that no one may enter into it simply and haphazardly. The ambo is a figure representing the stone of the holy tomb, which the angel, having rolled it away from the door of the monument, proclaimed the resurrection of the Lord to the myrrh-bearing women. This is also in accordance with the Prophet ^B who says: "Lift up a signal on a level mountain, ascend, you who bring good tidings, and exalt your voice," for a mountain is set in a level and flat place.

To pray towards the east is a tradition, as are the other things, from the holy apostles; and it is so because the spiritual Sun of justice, Christ our God, appeared on earth in the regions of the east of the sensible sun, according to the prophet who says: "Oriens [the East] is his name." And again: "Worship the Lord, who ascended into the heaven of heaven toward the east." And: "We will worship in the place where his feet have stood." And again: "The feet of the Lord will stand upon the Mount of Olives toward the east." The prophets say these things, and also because we yearn again for that paradise in Eden, ^C watching toward the east, awaiting its recovery, and also because we receive that rise of light which will appear at the second coming of the Lord and the regeneration.

Not to bend the knee on the holy Lord’s day of the Resurrection signifies the raising up of our fall, which occurred through the three-day resurrection of Christ. Not to bend the knee until Pentecost means that the seven days after holy Pascha, multiplied seven times, are contained in the day of Pentecost. For seven times seven makes forty-nine, and with the inclusion of the Lord’s day, they become fifty. The tonsure of the priest's head, and the circular section ^D of his hair, stands in place of the crown of thorns which Christ bore. The double corona surrounding the priest's head signifies, by the marking of the hair, the venerable head of the apostle Peter, who, having been sent to the preaching of the Lord and Master, was shorn by those who did not believe his word so that he might be mocked by them; yet the Master Christ blessed him, and converted the infamy into honor, and the mockery into glory, and placed upon his head a crown, not of precious stones, but shining with the rock and stone of his faith.

more than gold and topaz and precious stones. For it is a decorated crown, and the wreath of the twelve stones is the apostles. But the rock is the most holy apostle, who exists as the chief hierarch of Christ. ^A The garment of the priest is like the long robe of Aaron, that is, a tunic which is a priestly vestment, reaching down to the feet, and most honorable. It is, however, of a fiery appearance, according to the Prophet who says: "Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire." And again: "Who is this that comes from Edom?" For Edom interpreted means earthly, or elect, or red. Then he adds: "The red of his garments, from the vineyard of Bosor: why are your garments red, and your clothes as from the treading of the winepress?" This signifies the garment of Christ's flesh stained in blood, upon his immaculate cross. And again, that Christ also wore a scarlet cloak in his passion, the high priests show whose high priest they are attendants to. That the priests walk ungirded in their phelonia signifies that Christ, going to the cross, was in such a way carrying his own cross. ^B In those upper splendors of the intellectual heavenly ministers, of prophets and hierarchs, there are twenty-four presbyters and seven deacons. The presbyters are in imitation of the Seraphic Powers: covered by their stoles as if by wings, and with the two wings of their lips chanting that hymn and holding the divine and intellectual coal, Christ, whom they bear openly in the sanctuary with the tongs of their hand. The deacons, meanwhile, in the image of the angelic Powers, with the thin wings of the slender oraria, run forth as ministering spirits sent out for service. First, the sticharion, being white, signifies the splendor of the Godhead and the bright conduct of the priest. The cuffs of the sticharion are those that are on the hand, signifying the bond of Christ; for having bound him, they led him away to Caiaphas the high priest and to Pilate. The cuffs that are across are the blood that flowed from the side of Christ on the cross. The peritrachelion is the bandage with which Christ was led, being bound by the high priest, and dragged forward by the neck, as he set out to suffer in his passion. ^C The right side of the epitrachelion reveals the reed which those mocking him gave into the right hand of Christ. The left side is the carrying of the cross upon his shoulders. The belt, with which he is girded, signifies the comeliness with which Christ, having become King, girded himself with the comely power of the Godhead. The phelonion signifies the scarlet purple which the impious, mocking Jesus, clothed him in. There is also the garment of baptism. The omophorion is that of the high priest, according to the garment of Aaron, which the legal high priests carried, placing long sudaria around the left shoulder to signify the yoke of the commandments of Christ. The omophorion with which the bishop is surrounded signifies the sheep’s skin, which, having strayed, the Lord... ^D

^A found and took upon His shoulders, and numbered with those that had not strayed. It also bears crosses, because Christ also bore His cross upon His shoulder. Furthermore, those who wish to live according to Christ also take up their cross upon their shoulders, which is tribulation—for the cross is a symbol of tribulation. The monastic habit is in imitation of the Desert-dweller and Baptist John, because his raiment was made of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle was about his loins. And the shaving of the hair on the entire head is an imitation of the holy apostle James, the brother of God, and of the apostle Paul, and the others. The *anabolaea* refer respectively to the garments that were worn. The cowls, according to the Apostle who says: “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” The *mantile*, by its thin simplicity, declares an angelic, soaring life, in angelic imitation, as it is called an angelic habit. The linen [cloth] with which the deacons minister signifies the humility of Christ, which He demonstrated when He washed the feet of His own. The *enchirion* which is on the girdle is the towel with which He wiped His hands; and to have the *enchirion* on the girdle signifies the type of one wiping his hands and acclaiming: “I am innocent.” ^C The oblation which takes place in the *skeuophylakion* denotes the place of Calvary, in which Christ was crucified, where they say the skull of the first parent, Adam, is situated; it shows, moreover, that “the monument was near the place where He was crucified.” This place of Calvary was prefigured in Abraham, when, upon one of the mountains, by God’s command, he built an altar of stones, and laid the wood in order, and placed his son [upon it], and offered a ram in place of him as a burnt offering. Thus also God the Father, without beginning and the Ancient of Days, [offered] His Son, who is without beginning, in the last times, having become incarnate from the Virgin and Theotokos, from the loins of Abraham according to the promise of the oath which He made to him. So that even for the sake of the human race, “He spared not His own beloved and only-begotten Son, but delivered Him up for us all”: and He suffered indeed as man in the flesh, but remained impassible in His divinity. For Christ, proceeding to His cross, bore the cross; and instead of the ram, His immaculate body was sacrificed, as a lamb slaughtered, with the lance transfixing His side: and having become High Priest, as the Son of Man, He is both offering Himself and being offered, to bear the sins of many. And He died indeed as man, but rose again as God, by which He possessed supermundane glory with God and the Begetter. The oblation of the bread represents the body of the Lord, fixed [to the cross] for the salvation of us who are the faithful. The sanctified bread of the *prothesis* indicates the cleansing of the world, and ex-

- ^A presseth the surpassing wealth of the kindness of God, in that the Son of God became man, and offered himself as a sacrifice and an oblation: and His body as a redemptive propitiation for the life and salvation of the world. Taking upon Himself the whole dough of human nature without sin, He was offered as a first-fruit and an exceptional whole-burnt offering to God and the Father for the human race, as He says: "I am the bread which came down from heaven," and, "He who eats this bread shall live for ever." Concerning Him, the prophet Jeremiah also says: "Come, let us cast a tree into his bread," pointing to the wood of the cross, which was fixed in His body. The spear is in place of that which pierced the side of the Lord. And being cleansed by the spear signifies that, "As a sheep He was led to the slaughter," and what follows. The diskos is the bed on which the body of the Lord is prepared by the priest and the deacon, who are Joseph and Nicodemus. ^B The wine manifests the blood which flowed from the side of Christ. It is also the mystical wine which He gave to the disciples at the supper. The water manifests that which flowed from the side of Him, Christ, and through its heat signifies the fervor of the Holy Spirit; and by its whiteness, sincere faith.

Wine together with water are the blood and water that went forth from His side, just as the prophet says: "Bread shall be given to him as food, and water shall be his faithful drink." For this spear is in the place of the spear which pierced Christ upon the cross by Longinus. The bread and the cup, properly and truly, are in imitation of that mystical supper in which Christ took bread and wine, and said: "Take, eat, and drink of it all of you: for this is my body and my blood," ^C showing that He made us partakers of His death, and resurrection, and of His glory. And the *offering*, which is also called bread, and blessing, and first-fruits, from which the Lord’s body is cut, is taken to be a type of the ever-Virgin and Theotokos, who, according to the good pleasure of the Father, and the will of His Son and Word, and the coming of the divine Spirit, received into herself the one of the holy Trinity, the Son of God and Word, and brought forth perfect God and perfect man. Just as again the supersubstantial God, having assumed flesh from her in one hypostasis, was perfect God and man, like us without sin; so also the Lord’s body, as if from a certain womb and flesh of the virginal body (I mean the whole loaf, ^D of the blessing and of the offering), is by the deacon, as the great Church has received from the elders, cut with a certain iron which they also call a spear, even if the time for this has not yet arrived, and thus is taken away from the midst of it in a peculiar hypostasis. The deacon, however, who performs this, having prepared with it the Lord's blood which is to be consecrated, at the fitting time of the passion, through the advent of the life-giving Spirit, lays them out in the *prothesis*, with the priest adding a prayer. He himself who...

^A divides the divine body, the deacon, from the benediction imitates the angel who announced the Hail to the Virgin. And it is not to be wondered at, even if priests cut it; for one must look to the custom of the great Church. Thus, therefore, the divine body is brought into the *prothesis*, as if into Bethlehem, where Christ is born: "Whose goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity." [Mich. v, 2.] At the same time, it also fulfills the place of the stay in Nazareth. Furthermore, the *prothesis* itself fulfills the place of the sojourn in Capernaum. For this reason we said in the introductions that one of the things now signified is fulfilled and referred back to two or three of those things that happened then. And to sum up: the *prothesis* fulfills the thirty-year period before the baptism and the sojourns.

The chalice is in place of the vessel that received the outpoured blood of the pierced, immaculate side, and the effusion of the ointment of the hands and feet of Christ. The bowl is the saving cup which he gave to his disciples at the supper. The cup, again, is according to the example of the bowl, which Scripture describes properly; either Wisdom or the Son of God tempered his own blood in place of that wine, and set it on his holy table, saying to all: "Drink ye all of it," in place of that wine tempered for the remission of sins and unto life eternal. ^B You may also interpret the bowls as the breasts of the Theotokos, a saving cup of joy, and a protection for the whole mortal race. The treasury, where the presentation is performed, is in place of the site of Calvary. The corporal signifies the shroud in which the body of Christ was wrapped when it had descended from the cross and been placed in the monument. And the upper disk-veil indicates the shroud with which they wrapped the Lord's body. The disk-veil is in place of the sudarium which was upon the face, covering it in the sepulcher. The veil, or *aer*, is and is called a substitute for the stone with which Joseph secured the monument, which the slab of the guard sealed. Behold, Christ is fixed to the cross, Life is buried, the sepulcher is secured. And immediately the censer indicates the humanity of Christ, the fire his divinity; ^C and its fragrant smoke manifests the fragrance of the holy Spirit preceding him. For the censer is interpreted as most fragrant joy. The incense is naturally in place of the aromatics which they offered for the burial of the Lord; and the myrrh, and the frankincense of the Magi, is pure prayer of good works, from which the fragrance proceeds, as the Apostle says: "We are the good odor of Christ." [II Cor. 11, 15.]

Acknowledge, therefore, all you priests who sit by the holy altar and sacrifice the bloodless victim, that you proclaim the living passions of Christ. A time is therefore granted by the high priest to the priest who is about to begin the divine mystagogy; and this time represents the time predicted by the voice of the prophet Isaiah, ^D

^A regarding the birth of the Forerunner John and the coming of Christ to us. But the priest, performing the beginning of the divine liturgy, bears the image of the Forerunner and Baptist John, who began the preaching and said: "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and who baptized all those coming to him. The deacons are the shepherds; the priests are the angels. The deacon says: "Bless, master." The priest says: "Blessed be the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Thus, the doxology holds the first order of intercessions to God. Therefore, before every prayer and sacred discourse, the priest glorifies God. Why, then, does he invoke the name of God three times, and not just once? For it is not "Blessed be God," or "Blessed be the kingdom of God," but divided by persons: "Blessed be the kingdom," he says, "of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," because through the incarnation of the Lord, men first learned that God is of three persons. ^B And what is performed here is a mystagogy of this incarnation of the Lord; whence it was necessary that in their beginnings the Trinity should shine forth and be proclaimed. And God is glorified by those superior Powers with three sanctifications, and by men the kingdom of Christ is blessed, who by the power of his divinity plundered Hades and freed us. But "Amen" means "truly," or "so be it." By the words "to the ages of ages," the smoke of the city of Babylon rising is signified, because He sought out the blood of His servants from the hand of Babylon, and by punishing its inhabitants, He bestowed benefits, having wrought the excision of sin. The deacon says: "In peace let us pray to the Lord." After the doxology, he mentions the petition; for "what we should pray for as we ought we do not know." And that we may not use many words, he teaches us what we must think concerning prayer: that we must pray in peace, neither having confessed first, nor given thanks to God, because when he said "peace," ^C he also embraced those things, if one wishes to consider it accurately. "For the peace from above," now he teaches that we must first pray for peace from heaven and the salvation of our souls. For thus Christ commanded us to ask. Let us therefore offer our prayers with a tranquil mind. "Of the most holy, immaculate," and so forth. Having been initiated into the deeds of all the saints, let us commend one another and our whole life, along with our good works, to God.

The antiphons are the prophecies of the prophets, proclaiming beforehand the arrival of the Son of God on earth from a Virgin, and crying out: "Our God has appeared on earth, and has clothed himself in splendor," ^D that is, revealing His incarnation, which we, having received and learned through the ministers and eyewitnesses of the Word, the apostles, profess. But it must be known that at the beginning of every morning and evening service, the psalms of the Old Testament are sung first, then the canticles of the new grace, the Old Testament naturally preceding, whose lawgiver, born in these last days, uttered oracles, so that on-

- ^A e may know that Christ is one and the same God and Lord, who legislated both these and those things.

Antiphon 1: "It is good to give thanks to the Lord." To recount our heart's works to the Lord is good. "And to sing to your name, O Most High." It is necessary to say with melody the hymns we offer to you. "To declare in the morning your mercy, and your truth by night." To declare clearly how we have received mercy, and to offer your truth concerning all things against every sin. "For the Lord our God is righteous." Since the Lord our God is true. "And there is no unrighteousness in him." And there is no lie or falsehood with God. "Again and again, in peace, let us pray to the Lord." Again and again, with a quiet mind, let us pray to the Lord. Aloud: "For yours is the power, and yours is the kingdom, and the might, and the glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen." Because yours is the sovereignty and the kingdom of all things visible and invisible, and for this reason we who are upon the earth, all of us, unceasingly send up to you our thanksgiving and glory, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen, it is so, truly, so be it.

Antiphon 2: "The Lord has reigned, he is clothed with majesty." The Lord has reigned over the heavens, and has acquired for himself a faithful people through his own blood, and has gone forth to make war against the devil. "For he has established the world, which shall not be shaken." He has established the world, the Church, in his faith, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. "Your testimonies have been fully confirmed; holiness befits your house, O Lord." The things you have suffered have been believed in the world; your grace befits your people unto the endless ages. ^{B C} Attached to the end of the first antiphon is this: "By the intercessions of the Theotokos, save us." For what reason? Surely to confirm what was said before concerning the type of the Ever-Virgin, since she herself is the leader of this same ministry and true dispensation. But the refrain of the second is: "By the intercessions of your saints." For since we celebrate the divine mystagogy for the salvation of souls and the forgiveness of transgressions, we rightly call upon the Mother of God in supplication—as being superior to all the saints, or even to the heavenly Powers themselves—and then those who have pleased her Son. The troparion which is said at the end of the second antiphon, which is "Only-begotten Son and Word of God, etc.," is the work of Joseph and Nicodemus. For as they were lifting the Lord to bury him, they were initiated by the holy and life-giving body of the Lord and the divinity inseparably therein. Some, however, say that this same troparion was uttered by the divinely-appointed emperor Justinian, because it corresponds very well with the symbols of Christ’s nativity. For he (it is said) was born the only-begotten Son, and the Word of the Father, lacking a beginning...

having deigned for our salvation to be incarnate from the holy Theotokos, while his divinity remained immutable and unconfused; he is one of the holy Trinity, who became human and deigned to be crucified, he who is also co-glorified in the Trisagion hymn by the intellectual and heavenly Powers. For he descended without departure and without separation from the paternal bosom and has been incarnate. He, therefore, is the one who saves us. ^A The deacon says: "Again and again in peace." The priest says aloud: "For you are a good and man-loving God, and to you we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now." We say you are a good and man-loving God, because you sent your Son into the world as a propitiation. For this reason, we send up to you glory and thanksgiving, that is, we offer it now and always and unto the ages.

Antiphon 3: "Come, let us exult in the Lord." Come, let us be filled with all joy in the Lord; "Let us shout to God our Savior." Let us beseech with tears our God, Jesus; "Let us prevent his face in confession, and in psalms let us shout to him." And before his coming let us beseech him, and singing let us entreat him: "For God is a great Lord and a great King over all the earth." Jesus Christ is the great God, just as the ^B Apostle says when he speaks: "Of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us," and he reigned and will reign over all nations through his faith. "For the Lord will not cast off his people; for in his hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his." The faithful people, that is, and the rest of the prophets. "For his is the sea, and he made it." For his is the whole multitude of men, and he first created them; and again, in his baptism he renewed them. "And his hands formed the dry land." And the Holy Spirit created the heart of all men in the laver of incorruptibility.

The Entrance of the Gospel signifies the coming of the Son of God, and his entrance into this world, as the ^C Apostle says: "When he brings in (that is, God and Father) his Firstborn (his Only-Begotten) into the world, he says: And let all his angels worship him." Then, the high priest also showing through his stole the robe of Christ’s flesh, the red and bloody one, which the immaterial One and God wore as a purple robe dyed from the immaculate blood of the Theotokos; and he took up the wandering sheep upon his shoulders, the ancient fleece of the Adamic mass, that good shepherd who pastures Israel with the rod of his cross, being wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed not in the manger of brute animals, but on the rational table of men, whom in his nativity the armies of angels celebrated with ^D hymns, saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, among men"

^A of good will." And: "Let all the earth adore thee, and sing psalms unto thee." And as all are obeying, he says: "Come, let us adore and fall down before Him; save us, O Son of God." First, let us bend the knee to Him, being as we are debtors, and then let us ask of Him the forgiveness of those things which we owe to Him, and let us proclaim His advent, which has been revealed to us in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Another interpretation concerning the Entrance.

Otherwise: "Holy God," that is, the Father, who is, and was, and is to come; who formerly uttered the oracle to Moses, saying: "I am who I am," who willed to sacrifice the calf for your sake. "Holy Mighty," the Son and Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, through whom all things were made, and the calf which is always sacrificed willingly, and always lives. But through the words, "He was in the beginning with God, through whom all things were made," and at the same time, "The calf which is always sacrificed willingly, and always lives and remains," it signifies the immortality of Him who contains within Himself the beginning and the middle and the end of all things that are. Otherwise, "Holy Mighty," the Son and Word of God; mighty indeed, as the strength of God, wisdom and power, according to what the Apostle says: The Son and Word of God, mighty and powerful, and living, and active and []

^A ambiguous, etc. "Holy Immortal One" signifies Him who in Himself embraces the beginning and the end of all things that are.

It is called the "Ter Sanctus" (Trisagion) because it is fitting for each of the three persons of the one divinity, these three "Holies." For each of them is both holy, and mighty, and immortal. For the nature and essence is one in the three, and the name divinity is common to them, even if each of the three persons is called a perfect God. In these brief words it is also well understood what was said by the great Theologian in this manner: "It is divided indivisibly, so to speak, and is connected divisibly." And elsewhere the same says: "I no sooner begin to think of the One, than I am illuminated on every side by the Three; I no sooner begin to distinguish the Three, than I am carried back to the One." But let no one, hearing these testimonies of the Trisagion, think that the Trisagion took its beginning from the incubation of the humanity of Christ our God. For long since it had been mystically foretold by the God-inspired prophets through the Spirit. For David, recording its type and utterances, presents it in summary: "My soul," he says, "thirsts for the strong, living God." And elsewhere: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were fixed, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power." And at another place: "In thy light we shall see light." But the Seraphic hymn uttered by Isaiah, and gathering the three Holies into one lordship and divinity, what difference does it bear from this Trisagion of ours which we sing? ^B

That the high priest ascends to the throne and seals the people signifies that the Son of God, about to fulfill the economy in our flesh, having lifted up his hands, blessed his holy disciples, saying to them: "Peace I leave with you," showing that Christ gave the same peace and blessing to the world through his apostles. Otherwise: The seal, which the high priest is accustomed to make at the end of the Trisagion, is denoted as a complement and, as it were, a sealing of the prophecies which foretold Christ. For his coming in the flesh was a seal, making valid and confirming as true those things which had been predicted by them; and it is itself ordained also for the beginning of godly works, and for the restoration of the human race. For the order, says the theologian Gregory, is most excellent: to begin from God, and to rest in God. The high priest is the Lord; the throne is the Virgin. And the seating signifies that the Son, having taken up his own flesh which he wore, and the sheep which he took upon his shoulders (which is signified by the omophorion), that is, the Adamic mass, raised it above every principality and power and lordship of the powers on high, and offered it to God and the Father. For since one deified, and the other was deified—that is, the assumed nature, which because of the dignity of the offerer and the purity of the offered, God and the Father himself received as a sacrifice and ^C oblation acceptable for the human race: to whom David says: "The Lord said ^D

^A to my Lord, Sit at my right hand" — that is, the Father to the Son — "who sat at the right hand of the throne of his majesty on high." This is Jesus of Nazareth, "the high priest of the good things to come."

After the Thrice-Holy hymn, the apostolic book is read; and the deacon says: "Let us attend, let us listen, let us all give ear with a tranquil mind. Wisdom. A Psalm of David." The holy and beloved Word of God announces the things of the Father, which are hidden. That which is set forth ^B once again indicates the sacred manifestation of the prophets and the foretelling of the advent of the kingdom of Christ, as if they were heralds running before and crying out: "O you who sit upon the Cherubim, appear, and come to save us." And, "God sits upon his holy throne." And the eyewitness and minister of the Word, Paul, cries out, preaching the kingdom of God, and saying: "Christ having appeared as high priest of the good things to come through a greater [tabernacle]," and so forth. With whom cries out also John the Baptist: "He who comes after me is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world; he himself will sanctify us in spirit and in fire, and he stands in our midst." After this, the calling of the apostles and their designation is declared through the reading of their Acts or the Epistles. "Alleluia," cries David, and says: "Our God shall come manifestly, and fire will go before him." "His lightnings," the evangelists, "appeared to the world." For in the Hebrew ^C tongue, *Al* is "he comes, he has appeared"; *El* is "God"; and *uia* is "praise and celebrate the living God." Alternatively: *Al*, the Father; *El*, the Son; *uia*, the Holy Spirit. *Alleluia*, God strong, mighty, praise of God, praise the God who is. *Alleluia*, praise to the God who is. Alternatively: *Alleluia* signifies divine praise in a threefold manner, on account of the singular divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinct in three persons. Alternatively: *Alleluia*, the herald of the Gospel crying out, "The Lord comes." Alternatively: *Alleluia*, praise, sing hymns. It is said that the angels praise God with this voice, just as the Cherubim do with "Holy"; and the holy Fathers have handed this down, having heard it themselves, just as Isaiah heard the Seraphim.

For immediately the censer indicates the humanity of Christ, the fire his divinity; the fragrant smoke indicates the sweet ^D odor of the Holy Spirit going before, for incense is the most fragrant joy. "Wisdom," the Word of God. "Let us stand and listen to the holy Gospel"; that is, let us lift up our minds with our deeds from earthly things, and understand the declaration of the good things. The Gospel is the advent of the Son of God, by which he appeared to us, no longer speaking to us through clouds and riddles, as once to Moses through voices and lightnings and trumpets, in sound and mist and fire on the mountain, or as formerly to the prophets through dreams: but mani-

- ^A festly as a man he truly appeared, and was seen by us, as a meek and quiet king, who before had descended like dew upon the fleece without noise. "And we beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father; full of grace and truth." Through whom God and Father spoke to us face to face, and not through riddles; concerning whom the Father testifies from heaven, and says: "This is my beloved Son," Wisdom, Word and Power, spoken of in the prophets, and proclaimed to us, but manifested in the Gospels, that as many as receive him and believe in his name, might receive power to become children of God. He whom we have heard and seen with our eyes, all of us believing this to be the Wisdom and Word of God, cry out: "Glory to you, O Lord." Then again the Spirit, shadowing in the bright cloud, now calls through man: "Let us attend." Attend, that is, listen to Him.

Matthew, if you wish to interpret, is honey; Mark, wine; Luke, milk; John, oil. There are four Gospels, according to the four universal winds: the east, west, south, and north. For these are for the constitution of the whole. And they are called universal, because of the other eight blowing from the opposite directions. In another way: there are four Gospels and four universal winds, according to the four-formed living creatures, I mean, the Cherubim, in whom sits the God of all; from which it appears that God, sitting upon the Cherubim and containing the whole, being manifested, gave to us the four-formed ^B Gospel, held together by one Spirit; for they have four faces, and the faces of them represent the administration of the Son of God. For the first living creature, he says, is like a lion, characterizing his active, ruling, and kingly power. The second, like a calf, indicating the priestly and sacrificial order. The third, having the face of a man, clearly portraying his advent according to man. The fourth, like a flying eagle, making clear the over-flying gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Gospels are also conformable to these, upon which Christ sits. For the eagle is the Gospel according to John, which narrates his principality and glorious generation from the Father, saying: "In the beginning was the Word." And, "All things were made through him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." The bull is the Gospel according to Luke, in that it has a priestly character, beginning from Zacharias the priest offering incense, saying: "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth a declaration," and so on. For already the fatted calf was about to be sacrificed for the finding of the younger son. The ox signifies the desirable liver. But the spotted horse is Luke, as one who treated the deeds of the Lord more eloquently and variously. Matthew, however, preaches his generation according to man, saying: "The book of the generation of Je- ^{C D}

of Jesus Christ, etc. But the nativity of Jesus Christ is thus: This Gospel reflects the conformation of a man. Man, because he is a participant of reason. Man, because he is contained by his head: the Latins call it *rationabile*, the Greeks call it *phronesin et logioteta*—prudence and the use of speech. The Arabs or Saracens call it *elaphacar, elacil, eltzinun*. Therefore, Matthew is the tawny horse, as one who clearly expounded the assumption of humanity by the Lord. Mark is in the likeness of a lion, ^A beginning for men from the prophetic Spirit descending from on high, saying: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I send my messenger before thy face," showing the winged image of the Gospel through these words. The lion is a *thymic* animal, that is, prone to anger; the Latins say ^B *irascibile* (irascible). And otherwise: *Thymicum* signifies fortitude and fearlessness; in Latin, *irascibile*; in Saracen, *elgadab, enigde, velgiben*. And otherwise: The variegated horse is Mark, as one who wrote the Gospel more distinctly with flowers; John is the eagle, as one who is spiritual. And otherwise: The eagle is the soul. And otherwise: The white horse is John, as one who published the whole praise more radiantly.

Further, the Word of God Himself spoke divinely and gloriously to the patriarchs before Moses. To those who were under the Law, He bestowed the priestly order. But afterwards, becoming man, He sent forth the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the whole earth, covering us with His wings. Therefore, such as is the operation of the Son of God, such is also the form of the animals, and such is the character of the Gospels. For the animals have four forms, and the Gospel has as many, and so does the operation of the Lord; and for this reason, four general covenants were given to humanity: one in the flood, concerning the bow; the second to Abraham, concerning the sign of circumcision; the third is the legislation through Moses; the fourth is the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. These things being so, all are vain and ignorant, and moreover temerarious, who abrogate the idea of the Gospel, and circulate faces of the Gospels ^C either more or fewer than those which have been mentioned: some as if they seemed to have brought forth more than the truth contains, others as if they make the dispensations of God void.

The prayers and supplications held after the reading of the divine Gospels, up until the Cherubic hymn, indicate the teaching of Christ and our God over three years, ^D and the instruction of those who applied themselves to baptism. The power of words and the efficacy of miracles drew them toward this, when even the catechumens, and those not yet admitted to the mysteries of Christ, depart outside. But the prayers that are made in the meantime are made for these very catechumens, for the faithful, and for the high priest himself. For the holy Fathers, understanding what kind of soul and hand it is necessary for him to have who is about to handle the most immaculate body of Christ our God, and that it ought to be purer than the solar rays, prayers for their forgiveness, through

His love for mankind, they have set forth: ^A "Have mercy on us, O God, according to Thy great mercy." The great mercy is the Son of God and the Word, whom the Father sent into the world as a propitiation. That the high priest seals the people, this intimates the future advent of Christ, that it will be in the six thousand five hundredth year, for the position of the fingers signifies the six thousand five hundredth. This both Hippolytus of Rome and blessed Cyril say in their writings concerning Antichrist, that the future advent will be in the six thousand five hundredth year, and likewise Chrysostom: "For Thou art a merciful God and lover of mankind."

"As many as are catechumens, depart." ^B The catechumens depart, as not initiated into the divine baptism and the mysteries of Christ, of whom the Lord says: "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold," and the rest. "Pray, ye catechumens, to the Lord." The uninitiated, the unbaptized, and those undergoing penance through confession. Uninitiated, those not experienced, who have not yet participated in the divine mysteries; unbaptized are those not yet enlightened through the laver of baptism; those having confessed and still being under penance. He calls upon all to pray that they may obtain forgiveness and the life-giving sacrifice through baptism. "Ye faithful, let us pray for the catechumens." Ye who are enlightened and forgetful of evils, and who are able both to endure injury and to forgive and do good to those doing injury, pray for the catechumens, that is, for the not yet initiated, as says the Apostle: [C ] "Ye who are strong, bear the burdens of the weak." May He instruct them in the word of truth. May He teach them the things of the Savior who for our sake assumed humility. "May He reveal to them the Gospel of righteousness." May He manifest to them the declaration of good things. "May He unite them to His holy, catholic and apostolic Church." May He deem them worthy of the life-giving sacrifice. "Ye catechumens, bow your heads to the Lord." Ye uninitiated, dedicate your senses and hearts pure to the Lord. "That they also with us may glorify the most precious." That, having been enlightened and having attained forgiveness and the mystical life-giving sacrifice, they may glorify with us Thee, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. The corporal signifies the shroud in which the body of Christ was wrapped when it descended from the cross ^D and was placed in the tomb. "As many as are catechumens, draw near." Every one not enlightened and not initiated, and who is still under guilt, hasten, come, be enlightened, and draw nearer to the soul-nurturing table, and behold Him who is sacrificed with pure hearts and souls; that ye may be as the faithful, and not be catechumens any longer, again and again let us pray to the Lord with a tranquil mind.

^A The Cherubic Hymn signifies, through the advance of the deacons and the movement of the fans—which is to say, the representation of the Seraphic wings—the entry of all the saints and righteous ones who enter together with the Lord of the Holy of Holies, accompanied by the Cherubic powers and the angelic hosts, as well as the choirs of the incorporeal and immaterial orders, who run ahead invisibly, singing hymns and acting as a royal guard to the great King Christ, who comes forth for the mystical sacrifice. He is borne by material hands, with whom the Holy Spirit also proceeds, leading the way for the bloodless sacrifice and rational liturgy, perceived intellectually in the fire, the incense, and the vapor of fragrant smoke: the fire signifying his divinity, and the vapor of the fragrant smoke signifying his advent, approaching invisibly and gladdening us with a sweet scent through the mystical, life-giving, and bloodless sacrifice and whole burnt offering. ^B Moreover, the intellectual Powers and the choirs of angels, seeing the economy of Christ perfected through his cross and death, and finally his victory over death, his descent into Hades, his three-day resurrection, and his ascension, cry out with us invisibly: Alleluia. See the intellectual Powers, coming with the precious gifts (that is, the body of the Lord Jesus) from Calvary unto the sepulcher, invisibly singing the Cherubic hymn with us: Alleluia. For Ezekiel says: "And the Cherubim stood at the right side of the house as the man clothed in the stole entered; and the cloud filled the inner court; and the glory of the Lord departed from the Cherubim to the threshold of the house; and the cloud filled the house, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord."

The holy table is a representation of the burial of Christ, by which Joseph, having taken the body down from the cross, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and, having anointed it with spices and myrrh, carried it with Nicodemus and buried it in a new tomb hewn out of rock. This is the antitype of that holy tomb, the altar—the place of deposition, that is—in which the holy and most immaculate body was placed, which is the holy table. ^C Otherwise: The transfer of the holy things from the prosthesis—I mean the Body and Blood of the Lord—and their entry to the altar, and the Cherubic hymn, signifies the entry of the Lord from Bethany into Jerusalem. For at that time, the great multitude and the children of the Hebrews, as if to a king and a victor over death, offered the hymn perceptibly; yet spiritually, the angels together with the Cherubim rendered the Trisagion hymn, while the deacons carry the scepters and the swords ^D as symbols of the King. The fans, indeed, bear the type of the Cherubim. The Cherubic hymn that is sung admonishes all from this point until the end of the sacred office to have a more attentive mind, having omitted every lower...

worldly care, as they are about to receive a great king through communion. ^A The deposit [of the gifts] at the holy table has, at that time, the imitation of the upper room of the Crucified; but a little later, it also signifies the elevation of the cross, and at the end, the burial, and the resurrection, and the ascension from thence. For, lest the holy Fathers, by distinguishing the time, the occasion, and the place for each of the things that happened then, should have need of other translations and of more altars—from which the mystery of the Church might appear blameworthy—what do they contemplate or do? Indeed, in a manner highly magnificent and worthy of the Spirit inhabiting them, they have imitated the mode of the divine creation, as far as it is possible for man to imitate and effect divine things. And thus, they make the ceiling above the holy table the heaven; and they define the holy ground, enclosed or circumscribed by the four columns of the aforementioned ciborium, as being the whole earth, in which the prophetic word is fulfilled, saying: “God hath worked salvation in the midst of the earth.” For if it were not ordained in this way, how could those who perform this great mystery in India, and who believe that this very thing is the body of Christ our God, crucified, buried, and rising again, say that the Lord worked this salvation in the midst of the earth? And how would the faithful living in the Venetian islands receive the same with a preserved understanding, while all confess that the very middle of the earth is circumscribed in Jerusalem? ^B Or is it entirely because the holy table is the boundary between heaven and earth, and furthermore, it subsists in the middle of the celestial sphere, and holds the place in the midst of the columns where the fans (the *rhipidia*) stand in a circle; so that wherever it may be, it demonstrates that salvation is being worked in the midst of the earth, where Christ underwent all things of the Passion—the betrayal, the trial, the things before the cross, and the things after the cross? With good reason, therefore, did the holy Fathers ordain that these things be performed and offered in this way.

The paten is in place of the hands of Joseph and Nicodemus, who celebrated the funeral of Christ. ^C The paten is explained, whereon Christ is carried, as the circle of the heaven, showing forth in a small circumference the intelligible sun, Christ seen in the bread. And the chalice is in place of that vessel which received the blood poured forth from the pierced, immaculate side, and the precious [blood] which flowed from the hands and feet of Christ. The chalice, moreover, is after the example of that mixing bowl which Wisdom, that is, the Son of God, properly describes; for He mixed His blood in place of that wine, and set it forth on the holy table, saying to all: “Drink my blood in place of wine mixed for you, ‘for the remission of sins and unto life eternal.’” Christ, the wisdom and power of God, built His own flesh, out of—

the pure Mother and Virgin, pre-purified in soul and body: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” and He upheld the seven pillars, the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit, as Isaiah says: “For seven Spirits shall rest upon Him,” that is, the seven operations of the Spirit, in which there are the opposites to as many vices. “She hath slaughtered her victims,” the prophets killed in their time by the ^A unfaithful for the sake of the truth, and crying out: “For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” And He mixed His wine in a crater, uniting His own divinity to the flesh in the supersanctified Virgin, as unmixed wine. For the Savior was born of her without confusion and without change, God and man, and He prepared His table, the knowledge of the holy Trinity which is announced; and He sent His servants into the whole world, who would invite all nations to the knowledge of God, and said to those wanting in understanding, who have not yet obtained the grace of the Holy Spirit: “Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you.” Christ has given us His divine flesh and His holy blood to eat and to drink for the remission of sins. The disk-cover is the replacement for the napkin that was upon His face, wrapping it in the sepulcher. The veil (that is, the *aer*) is also spoken of as being in the place of the stone with which the tomb was secured by Joseph, which the guard of Pilate sealed. Behold, Christ is crucified; Life is buried; the tomb is secured; the stone is sealed. ^B The washing of the hands is in place of him who washed himself and cried out: “I am innocent.” But for us priests, it signifies that we should approach the holy table with fear and gentleness and all clemency, being pure in conscience, mind, and thought (which are the hands of our souls). “I will wash my hands among the innocent.” I will add my two natures to the pure priests—the hands of the soul, I say; I shall wash in chastity. “And I will compass thy altar, O Lord,” because we must always be attending upon God, nowhere falling into licentious sin. And otherwise: I will serve Thee, and I will communicate with the faithful people. “That I may hear the voice of thy praise.” ^C He signifies the acclamation of these words: “Thine own of Thine own we offer unto Thee.” And otherwise: He says of this reading: I will hear and teach the same people, surely the faithful, and hearing we shall keep together Thy commandments. “And I will tell of all thy wondrous works,” the mystical prayers, I say, of His philanthropy. “O Lord, I have loved the beauty of thy house,” He speaks of the Church; the beauty of the Church is the faithful people. “And the place of the tabernacle of thy glory”; ^D He speaks of the pure womb of the Virgin, in which He dwelt. And otherwise: “The place where Thou dwellest.”

^A Having completed the prayer for the precious gifts that have been brought forth, he says: “Remembering the life and deeds of the most holy, immaculate, super-blessed Lady, the Theotokos, and of the Forerunner, and of the Apostles, and of all the saints, so let us also, vying with one another, entrust our whole life with the saints to God, together with good works; through the mercies of Thine only-begotten Son, with whom Thou art blessed, unto the ages of ages.” Through the compassion of Thy Son which He has for us, we bless Thee with the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages.

“Peace to all.” By joining harmony and love and identity with one another, we ourselves take up the imitation of the Lord, who leaves and gives His own peace, and proclaims, “Let us all have a quiet mind.”

^B “And with thy spirit.” That is, “Grant us the indivisible union with Thee, so that by living in peace in the Spirit, we may be inseparable.”

“Let us love one another.” By joining our souls to one another in a bond, we shall be able to enjoy the set table with boldness. This, “Let us love one another,” signifies both love toward all, and toward ourselves mutually, and the concord that is to be derived from God, and the passing over of the senses, and the manifestation of intellectual things, and of the holy Symbol of faith, and the new succession of the divine mystery.

“The doors, the doors, in wisdom.” Let us lift the thoughts of our minds away from earthly works and musings.

“Let us attend in wisdom.” That is, in the Son and Word of God, and toward the understanding of the divine Symbol that was set forth by the holy and God-bearing Fathers; let us attend in the Church of God—that is, to the “I believe in one God, Father Almighty.” And willingly and understandingly, with a quiet mind, let us approach the mystical life-sacrifice.

The divine Symbol of the orthodox faith has been ordained to be spoken, so that from this it might be known to all that the one of the holy Trinity, the only-begotten Son and Word of the Father who is without beginning, He it is who for our salvation became man, was incarnate of the holy Virgin, was crucified, and buried, and rose again. We do not perform what is being accomplished according to divine commands simply for the sake of words, but so that by our actions also, our salvation may be continuously worked out, and so we may appear as living and conducting ourselves together. And we confess that He endured these passions in the flesh, but that His divinity remained impassible; and at the same time, so that by the proclamation of this divine Symbol, even those who are ignorant and unlearned, hearing it chanted, may ever have in their knowledge the manifestations of the mystery of faith, not kept secret from the ears of the many. ^C But the closing of the doors, and the spreading out of the veil above them, as is the custom in monasteries, and the covering of the divine elements by what is called the *aer*, signifies, as I suppose, that night in which the betrayal of the disciple came to pass, and the leading away to Caiaphas, and the presentation to Annas, ^D and false testimonies; and indeed also the mockings, and the blows, and other things which occurred at that time. For why else is this veil called the *aer*, if not entirely because he was hidden from those…

who are covered by it, the dark air, which is an icon of the aforementioned night? During which Peter the Great, standing outside the door by the intercession of the disciple known to the high priest, came inside the court, where the maidservant encountering him, and those standing by the fire, challenged him, and the other things followed for him, which urged him toward the precipice of denial; due to which the fall having been permitted, he might become less likely to be puffed up or boast.

^B When the *aer* is lifted, and the veil is withdrawn, and the doors are opened, that morning time is signified, when they led him away and handed him over to Pontius Pilate the governor. The priest approaches, he associates with the angelic powers, no longer as if standing in an earthly place, but as one standing at the heavenly altar, before the formidable altar, the throne of God, he contemplates the great and ineffable and unsearchable mystery of Christ. He gives thanks, he proclaims the resurrection, he seals the faith of the holy Trinity. An angel approaches, clothed in white, rolling away the stone of the tomb with his hand; demonstrating by his appearance, crying out with a trembling voice, and through the deacon preaching the three-day resurrection: and lifting the veil, the deacon cries out, saying: ^C "Let us stand well, let us stand with fear." Behold the first day! "Let us attend to the holy oblation." Behold the second day! "In peace offering." Behold the third day! And otherwise: "Let us stand well," having our minds firm, let us hear the mystic and life-giving sacrifice. The people acclaim the grace of Christ’s resurrection: "The oil of peace, a sacrifice of praise." The priest indeed teaches the people the trinitarian knowledge of God which he has learned through the grace of Christ: "The grace of the holy and consubstantial Trinity be with you all." Other priests offer it thus: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the holy Spirit be with you all." The people confess together and pray, saying: "And with your spirit," as we said above, let us act. Or thus: If we shall have acted as we said above, the grace and love of the Lord be with us all. For he himself, because of his love which he demonstrated towards us, sent his Son into the world, and gave his body as a propitiation into a living sacrifice, and his blood as a saving cup of joy.

^D Then the priest, lifting his eyes to that supernal, heavenly Jerusalem, in which our feet were standing before the fall, in your courts, O Jerusalem, unto his holy mountain, cries out: "Look, let us lift up our hearts." All testify, saying: "We lift them up unto the Lord." The priest: "Let us give thanks unto the Lord." See,

^A that is, unto Him who gave Himself as a ransom for us and as an exchange, let us offer a hymn of thanksgiving unto the Lord; and for the salvation by which we have been saved, let us offer thanksgiving and glory unto the Lord. "It is meet and right," says the people. The veil is mentioned because of the Apostle who says, "Having confidence to enter into the holy places by the blood of Jesus Christ, which he has inaugurated for us as a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and a great priest over the house of God."

Contemplation of Ecclesiastical Things

holy and blessed; for that is the only blessed nature of God. "Holy" is the Son, as the Word of God and the character of His hypostasis, and the image of the archetype, and an immobile seal, and an immutable ^B nature: the Son, as born from Him (that is, from the Father) impassibly, as a word from the mind, and because through Him all things were made, both visible and invisible, according to the Apostle. "For by the Word of the Lord the heavens were established," as David says. "Holy" also is the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son, and sanctifies all things, and performs the works, not being performed; sanctifying, not being sanctified. For just as the sun is the spring and cause of the ray and the illumination, and through the ray the illumination is communicated to us, and this is what shines upon us and is participated in by us, so truly God and Father is the spring and cause of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit, proceeding from the Father, is communicated and manifested through the Son. The word "Lord" unites the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and demonstrates the three to be one. The Seraphim say "Holy" three times, completing the celebration of glory with the words: "Lord of Sabaoth," positing a singular nature, the Holy Trinity, as has been testified to us by the holy Seraphim themselves. But we, the faithful, contemplating the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in whom we have received perfection, theologize together with the angels unceasingly as we glorify; for this is the Trinity in Persons, but God is one, to whom we also chant: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." The Hebrew is thus: *Hosanna, Adonai, Asdina, Baruch, Pater, Abbath, Semma, Deniam, Sabaoth.* O God of hosts, who willed the fatted calf to be slaughtered; and the calf that is always being slaughtered willingly, and is always living, who performs the work ^C of the mystical sacrifice, and is always arriving through baptism: You are holy, King of ages and giver of all holiness. You are the Almighty, who seals the holy gifts. Holy also is Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who before the ages was ineffably begotten of You; and holy is Your all-holy Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of You, O God, through whom all things in heaven and on earth are sanctified.

The fans and the deacons indicate the six-winged Seraphim and the likeness of the many-eyed Cherubim. For they imitate the supermundane and spiritual order of the supermundane and supercelestial beings, as do the things on earth. For the four-faced creatures, taking up the chant from one another in antiphonal fashion, cry out: the first creature, bearing the likeness of a lion, cries, "Holy." The second, in the likeness ^D of a calf, cries, "Holy." The third, in the likeness of an eagle, cries, "Holy." The fourth...

in the likeness of a man, cries, "Lord Sabaoth." By ^B three sanctifications, they come together into one godhead, lordship, and power, as the prophet beheld, when he said, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the Seraphic powers standing around, and at the voice the house was filled with smoke." And that saying, "One of the Seraphim was sent, and he had a coal in his hand, which he took with tongs from the altar," signifies the priest who holds the spiritual coal, Christ, with the tongs of his hand in the holy altar, sanctifying and purifying those who receive and partake. For Christ has entered into the heavenly and uncreated and holy places, and has appeared in glory before the face of God and the Father, having become for us a great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens; and we have him as an advocate with the Father, and a propitiation for our sins, inasmuch as his holy and coeternal body has been joined to us, and his precious blood, the price of redemption for us all, just as he himself says: "Father, sanctify them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth: and I will that where I am, they also may be, and may behold my glory, because I loved them, as thou hast loved me, before the foundation of the world." He himself said: "This is my body, this is my blood." He himself also commanded the apostles, and through them the whole Church, to do this: "For this," he says, "do in remembrance of me." He would not have commanded this to be done, if he had not been about to impart the power so that it could be done. And what is this prayer? It is the Holy Spirit; the power from on high which armed the apostles, according to what was said to them by the Lord: "Stay in the city of Jerusalem, until you are clothed with power from on high." This is the work of that descent; for it did not descend once and then forsake us, but is with us and will be forever, unto the ages. This, through the hand and tongue of the priests, brings the mysteries to completion; and our Lord did not only send the Holy Spirit to remain with us, but he also himself promised to remain with us, "even unto the consummation of the age." ^C But the Paraclete is present invisibly, because he did not carry a body. But the Lord is both seen and suffers himself to be touched through the tremendous and holy mysteries, as one who has assumed our nature, and carries it into the ages. This is the power of the priesthood; this is the priest; for having offered himself once and sacrificed, he did not cease from the priesthood, but continuously performs this our ministry, in which he is also an advocate for us before God forever, for which reason it was said to him: "You are a priest forever." Therefore, no doubt remains for the faithful concerning the sanctification of the gifts, nor concerning the other sacraments, as to whether they are completed according to the intention and prayers of the priests. ^D

^A What indeed (one might ask) about the divine fans which are held in the hands of the deacons, and are moved/turned by them suddenly, as if in consternation, right up to the Lord's Prayer? It is indeed still rash to speak about these things; yet, since we have once submitted to the commandment of the mandate, come, let us say what God might grant concerning these also. If they are acceptable to others, let thanks be given to God; for I know for certain that they are not entirely blameworthy, nor outside the dogmas of the orthodox faith of the Christians. We say, therefore, that the heavenly Virtues have always and inseparably been present with the Lord Christ, ^B and especially on that night in which He was betrayed. They, therefore, seeing His abduction to Caiaphas, His presentation before him, the false testimonies, the slappings, the spittings, the buffetings, that mockery of the Jews, the soldiers' scarlet robe, the crown of thorns, the genuflections joined with laughter, and all the other things—both those which the history of the divine Gospels narrates, and those which, on account of their multitude, were perhaps omitted—as they marveled at and were astonished by the magnitude of His long-suffering and patience in each of the things that were happening, would veil their own faces and turn away; and again, revering the majesty of the Lord, they would return. And they did this until His elevation on the cross. For the cross was the end of the sufferings of the body and of the shame resulting therefrom: which is glory rather than shame; for this is the beginning of the operations and powers of the Divinity. For from this event came that worldly earthquake, the ^C three-hour darkness over the whole earth, and the rending of the veil and the rocks, and the opening of the tombs; and furthermore, the resurrection of the dead, and whatever the Savior accomplished when He descended into Hades; and for this reason, when Christ was in the very place of the crucifixion, those divine Powers laid down the types of astonishment and wonder. And from this it is clear that all the reproaches that preceded the cross, and the mocking honors they displayed, and the derisions, touched the Sufferer more—as they did also those spiritual and divine powers—it is evident.

Then again the priest recites to God and the Father the mysteries of the assumption of humanity: the ineffable generation from the holy Virgin and Theotokos, ^D the conversation and habitation in the world, the cross, the death, His descent into Hades, the liberation of the prisoners there, the three-day and holy resurrection from the dead, the assumption into the heavens, the session at the right hand of God and the Father, and His second and future glorious coming to us. And again, instructed by the institution of the holy things, he calls upon God the unbegotten; that is, God and the Father, and the womb bearing the Son before the morning star and before the ages, as He says: “From the womb before the morning star I have begotten you.” And again he implores that the mystery of His Son be completed, and that the bread and wine itself might be transformed into the body and blood-

^A of Christ and God, and that which is said shall be fulfilled: “I have this day begotten you.” Whence also the Holy Spirit, by the good pleasure of the Father and the will of the Son, being invisibly present, demonstrates the divine operation, and by the hand of the priest seals, and transmutes, and perfects the proposed holy gifts into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who stated: “For their sake I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified.” In what way? “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Whence, having become eyewitnesses of the divine mysteries, and partakers of immortal life, and endowed with the communion of the divine nature, we glorify the great, incomprehensible, and unsearchable mystery of the dispensation ^B of the Son of God; and glorifying, we cry out: “Thine own of thine own we offer unto thee,”—out of the body and blood of Him who said, “Do this in remembrance of me,”—which is to say, “These things which you have delivered to us through your holy apostles, these we offer to you for our salvation.” The people: “We praise thee, God and Father. We bless thee, Son and Word. We give thanks to thee, O Holy Spirit; Lord our God, Trinity in unity, and unity in Trinity, coessential and indivisible, possessing in a wonderful manner both the distinction of persons and the union of the one nature of the Godhead.” For indeed, the fact that the priest performs the divine mystagogy with head bowed indicates his invisible converse with God alone. Whence he also beholds the divine apparition of light, and is gladdened by the splendor of the glory of the countenance of the Son of God, and withdraws himself in fear and bashfulness, just as Moses, when he saw God in the form of fire upon the mountain, became terrified and turned away, and hid his face: for he feared to behold the face from the glory of God ^C and covered his face; for he was in awe.

“Specially for the all-holy, immaculate.” It behooves us to praise the Lady of all, and to proclaim the “Hail” of the angel. “Thine own of thine own.” God fashioned us according to his image, which is according to holiness, and justice, and power; but having transgressed, we became slaves to Pharaoh, a bitter master. Coming, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us with his own blood, and clothed us with the new man; and he has given his precious body and blood to us, saying: “Do this in remembrance of me.” We, therefore, mindful of his same commandment, offer the antitypes, saying: “Thine own ^D of thine own we offer unto thee,” and so forth, in a spiritual sense, which is our primordial dignity: namely, that from the image of God we possess justice, holiness, and power. Justice, that we may neither suffer injustice nor commit it; holiness, that we may endure those who commit injustices and forgive those who do wrong, or rather, even do good to them. In all things, however, he is to be praised as God and Lord of the universe.

^A The divine gifts are signed, so that by the descent and glorious presence of the holy Spirit, He may transmute and make the bread, indeed, the very precious body of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that which is in the chalice, the very precious blood of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, which was poured out for the life and salvation of the world; and that to those who partake of it, it may become for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

^B "And especially," that is, O chaste Mother, we who contemplate the lightless types and past shadows of the Word, and realize that within those things, with the doors closed, the light of truth has shone forth, glorify [it]; and we worthily bless your womb. "And for the thoughts of all." The people: "And of all." The priest bids the people remember inner angers during the time of the divine mystagogy, and to cast them away from all men and all women who persecute us with hatred.

A memorial is also made before God for the departed, and for the spirits, and for all flesh, as He who has authority over the dead and the living, and who reigns over things celestial, and terrestrial, and subterranean; and as King Christ is present, and as the holy Spirit invites all, both the living and the departed, to the dwellings and resting places there, for the coming of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, so that they may be gathered together and go to meet his face, and be heard of the voices of his praise; inasmuch as all the souls that were in Hades have been released from their bonds by the death and resurrection of Christ. For He himself has been raised from the dead, becoming the firstfruits and firstborn of those who have fallen asleep, and making plain the way of resurrection from the dead for all; and granting rest in the immortal and blessed life to those who have fallen asleep in the hope of his resurrection. And all their souls are invited together with the prophets and apostles and martyrs, to enter together and recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the mystical table of the kingdom of Christ.

^C "And grant us with one mouth and one heart to glorify and praise the most honorable [Name]." We beseech Thee, with one mouth and one heart, that we may glorify Thee in words; so indeed grant us one spirit and one soul, that, joined by the bond of love, we may be able to enjoy with confidence the table set before us, and become worthy of the divine mysteries, glorifying and celebrating with hymns Thy most precious and magnificent name, O Father, and Son, and holy Spirit. ^D "And may the mercies of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ be with us all." If we act thus as we have said above, the mercies of God will be with us all. The mercy of God is Christ, who for our sake, and because He had mercy on us, was sent from the great God, who delivered himself up for us, and had mercy. For we who have come together into the unity of faith and the communion of the holy Spirit, through the dispensation of Him who died for us and

rose again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, are no longer upon the earth, but we stand at the royal throne of God in the heavens, where Christ is, even as He Himself says: "O righteous Father, sanctify them in thy name, which thou hast given me; that where I am, they also may be with me, and may behold the glory which thou hast given me, for thou didst love them even as thou hast loved me." We all, then, who have received the adoption as sons, and have become fellow-heirs of Christ through His grace, and not because of our works, have the Spirit of the Son of God in our hearts; contemplating the grace and efficacy of whom, the priest cries out and says: "Abba, heavenly Father, make us worthy without condemnation and with boldness to dare to call upon Thee, and to say: "Our Father who art in the heavens." ^B Truly He is the Father of us all, and preserves all (as the etymology of the word indicates). And if we do His will, He is our Father; but if not, whoever's work we do, that one is our father. And otherwise: dost thou call Him Father? Live as a son, that thou mayest be pleasing to Him, the Father who is in the heavens; for who, while serving under the prince of the world and the potentate of the nether things, and being adopted by him through evil works, dares to call the Lord, the Author of every good, "Father"? It is plain that this man does not call the Lord Sabaoth "Father," but the adversary, whose works he also performs. Otherwise: dost thou call God "Father," O man? Thou speakest well; for He is the Father and Creator of us all; but hasten to perform works that are pleasing to thy Father. If, however, thou doest evil works, it is manifest that thou art invoking the devil as father. For he is the overseer of evils. Wherefore, hasten to escape him, and to please thy good Father and Creator. "Hallowed be Thy name." The name is that of the Son of God, which has been invoked upon us; for He is Christ, and we are Christians, and His name has been named upon us. And truly God is holy, but we entreat that He may hallow His name in us, which is our ^C work agreeable to reason: that He may make our body holy and entirely pure, so that it may be found blameless in the day of judgment. For what? Is God not holy? Indeed He is holy; but this is what thou sayest: "In me let Thy name be hallowed," so that men may see my good works, and glorify Thee, my Father and Creator. "Thy kingdom come." The kingdom of God ^D is the holy Spirit, as He says: "The kingdom of the heavens is within you." For to the holy Spirit, with the Father and the Son, it belongs to reign, who hallowing and illuminating the intellectual and angelic powers, and the heavenly hosts, and every man coming into the world, and believing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the

^A Holy Spirit. Truly He is King of the earth, of things visible and invisible. But just as a city surrounded by enemies seeks the aid of the king, so too we, surrounded by opposing powers and sins, seek aid from Him that He might deliver us. You call Him King? Become as a spiritual soldier, so that you may please the King who has recruited you. And why, indeed? Is God not King, because His kingdom is yet to come? Yes, He is King of all; but just as a city is surrounded, as has been said, so it is in another way as well. Since the prophet says, "God has reigned over the nations" (Ps. XLVI, 9), using the past tense as if it were future, for this reason we cry out: "Thy kingdom come" upon us who are the nations, O Lord.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The will of God and the Father is the dispensation of His Son. The angels in heaven exist in concord and consensus, and so we too seek to live in unfeigned love. Whatever will you seek, it is performed in heaven; it behooves you to fulfill it on earth. The meaning is thus: Lord, just as Thy will is done in heaven, and all the angels are in peace, and there is no one among them pushing and being pushed, nor afflicting and being afflicted, nor attacking and being sustained by war, but all in profound tranquility glorify Thee; so too in us who are men upon the earth, "Thy will be done," so that all nations with one mouth and one heart may glorify Thee, the Creator and Father of us all. ^B

"Give us today our daily bread." The daily bread is Christ, who is, and was before, and abides unto the ages; who voluntarily offers Himself to be eaten, and remains always inexhaustible, and gives life to the world. Having received Him through baptism, we pray that we might always receive, possess, and eat Him; we seek that which is appropriate to our nature, so that we may be content with it, and not becoming poor and perishing with hunger, turn to blasphemies, or by having an abundance beyond measure be puffed up and cast away from Thee. If you seek bread, do not hoard gold; but if it is lacking and you are deprived, let that prompt you to seek. We ask to receive daily bread because all men consist of two natures, I mean of soul and of body; and therefore we ask for the bread appropriate to each. For the bread of the body is this bread by which we feed; but the bread of the soul is the word of God. Open, child, your mouth, and be mindful of God more frequently than you breathe. ^C

"And forgive us our debts." Pardon our sins for us, we say, just as we forgive those who have sinned against us; and if we do so, He Himself will do so for us as well. Have you forgiven someone, seek—

^A if you have freed a brother from enmity, intercede. But if you hold a grudge, what sort of forgiveness do you seek? The explanation is this, as if saying: "Lord, forgive us our debts," that is, our sins and our lapses, "as we also forgive" all our brothers who have sinned and transgressed against us, both free and slave, and all those subject to us. Saying these things, O man, if you do so, consider that "it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God" [Heb. x, 31]; and having corrected yourself, turn back to God, your Father and Maker.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." We, Master, are worthy of every punishment, and we beseech Thee: do not hand us over to the hands of most hateful men and evil demons to punish us. But do Thou, O Lord, chasten us by instructing us, for as is Thy compassion, so also is Thy chastisement. For what? Does God lead a man into temptation? Far be it! For God is not the author of evils. But let us beseech Him that, through His abundant mercies, He may not allow us to be tempted. Lord, if Satan seeks us to winnow us like wheat—just as he sought Thy holy apostles but did not succeed, or as he did ancient Job—do not give him power over us. But if even a wicked man wishes to tempt us, do not hand us over to his will, but cover us under the cover of Thy wings.

"For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory," of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. For Thine is the power and the lordship to have mercy and to save, to put to death and to make alive, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages. Lord, since Thine is the kingdom, do not allow us to fear any other kingdom, nor power, nor dominion. And even if we are worthy of punishments because of our sins, do Thou punish us in whatever way Thou willest, and do not hand us over to the hands of men. Let us fall instead into Thy hands, for as is Thy greatness, so also is Thy mercy, Father Almighty.

^C "Peace to all." Let us have a calm and settled mind, all of us. "Our heads." Let us turn our thoughts along with our deeds to the Lord, beseeching Him to smooth out the gifts set forth for the good, according to the need of each. But we give thanks, by the grace and mercies and philanthropy of Thy Only-Begotten. Then the priest cries out to all, saying: "Because I am a man, subject like you to passions, not knowing the deeds of each one of you," ^D see to it, therefore, that you are sanctified, because Christ, of whom you are about to partake, is the holy God, and He rests in the saints. "Holy things to the holy." God deems it worthy to give the holy things to those who are mindful of no evil and who are pure in heart. He calls those "holy" who have been cleansed.

^A from an evil conscience and possess a sincere faith in the holy things. The people confess and say: "One holy, one Lord, Jesus Christ, in the glory of God the Father. Amen." Our Lord Jesus Christ is one holy and sinless God, together with God the Father and the Holy Spirit; to Him be glory forever. He speaks of God who is celebrated in the Trinity. Now, why it is covered by the wings in such and such a position accords with the vision seen by those who beheld God, or rather it is because the threefold nature of the sanctification secretly hints at the number of the Persons, and likewise at the unity of power, nature, and divinity, through the unity of lordship. ^B It is glorified by this, "Holy, holy, holy," the sanctification of the three Persons; again, the lordship of the one nature is seen and celebrated. For God is glorified in the Trinity by the three seraphic sanctifications, which come together and converge into one lordship of nature and divinity. Furthermore, the triad of sanctifications signifies the three Persons, and the lordship stands for the unity of one power and nature. And so, being covered by the arrangement of the wings indicates the unknown and hidden nature of the divinity. For when he says, "The holy things to the holy," he speaks of those who are pure and holy. For it is the abundance of good works, not of sins, that constitutes the wealth of the saints. The elevation on high of the revered body represents the lifting up on the Cross, and the death upon it, and the resurrection itself. ^C That the priest should lift up the divine bread and make the sign of the cross three times in the air with the venerable and life-giving bread signifies this: the one cross made above shows that the upper ether is sanctified; the middle one, the air; the lowest, which is made above and near the disk, the earth in which that life-giving body of Christ was buried. To make the sign of the cross in the chalice, and to do so three times, signifies that the entire world, bounded by four ends, is sanctified by the divine dispensation of the flesh assumed and by the very life-giving passion of Christ our God. And Christ Jesus, when crucified, was looking towards the west, while His venerable hands were stretched out, one to the south and the other to the north. ^D As for that toward the east, according to the one who says, "God shall come from Theman," it is because He Himself is the spiritual Sun of righteousness, and "The Rising" is His name, and because we await from there eternal rest and the resurrection. Furthermore, the three crosses signify the mystery of the holy Trinity. The Son and Word of God suffered by the good pleasure of the co-eternal God and Father, and by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. On account of this, the people shout: "One holy, one Lord, Jesus Christ," calling Him holy and Lord who is celebrated and glorified as God in the Trinity. For the threefold repetition of the sanctifications signifies and hints at the three Persons. But the elevation of the divine bread alone means that He Himself is the King and Lord, and He Himself is the head, as the Apostle says, while the other venerable gifts are the members.

^A And other precious gifts are members of Christ, and the body of Christ—that is to say, the venerable body of Christ our God. For He alone is the one in whom His divine and life-giving passion is typified and shown, the one who was sacrificed for the life of the world; because He alone, as the divine bread, is slaughtered and sacrificed as a lamb. But the other divine gifts are not pierced with the spear in the sign of the cross, but are divided and slaughtered like members and parts of a body. Therefore, that divine bread, participating in sanctification, communicates it to the other precious gifts; likewise, it communicates sanctification and grace to the chalice.

After the elevation, the partition of the divine body takes place immediately. But although it is divided into parts, it remains undivided and uncut; in every single part of those pieces, the whole is recognized and found. For even if He underwent corruption in death, yet His flesh did not see corruption in Hades. Then, very hot water is brought in a small vessel, and they pour it into what is placed on the holy table, whether they be ^B craters or chalices, so that just as both flowed from the living side—filled with warmth—in the same way, the very hot water poured in at the time of communion completes the absolute type of the mystery for those receiving from the nipple of the chalice, as if they were touching the very life-giving side itself. This is also a kind of gateway to receiving faith in and knowledge of the Trinity, and the great John the Theologian represents this, confirming his instruction on saving faith and virtue with these three witnesses: "There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are one."

The communion also signifies that participation in the bread and the new chalice at the mystical supper before the passion, ^C concerning which our Savior said: "I will no longer drink of this, until I drink it new in the kingdom of my Father." And this He drank after the resurrection in a strange and novel way. For it was not as if at that time His body needed nourishment, but it pertains to teaching the apostles fully about the resurrection. Furthermore, that the priest receives only the divine bread without the blood, and then afterwards receives the divine blood, signifies nothing else than that the divine Lamb is still bloody from the divine and life-giving slaughter and the intelligible sacrifice which the priest had performed mystically in the prothesis.

The prayer after the priest has received: "You prepared a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me." He means the supercelestial table, ^D the immortal mystery; the table is the immaculate body. "You anointed my head with oil"; by oil, he speaks of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "And your cup inebriating me, how excellent it is!" He speaks of the immortal drink of the divine blood. Alternatively: The cup is the precious blood. And that: "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days," in the heavenly Jerusalem; the house is heaven, the Church, and Sion.

^A «With the fear of God, and with faith and love, draw near to Christ our God and King.» We must therefore have fear and love at the time of the mysteries, and draw near with faith; for even if we possess countless justifications, but are mindful of injuries, we shall be able to derive no salvation from them, he says. For this reason, we must possess both fear and love at the time of the sacrifices; for he mentioned nothing else as justice, but love. For the only-begotten Son and Word of God himself is the promoter of peace for everyone who believes, and he has bestowed his precious body and blood with fear and faith.

^B «Upright, we who have partaken of the divine, immaculate, immortal [mysteries].» That is, let us stand upright in mind together with our works, having partaken; and let us worthily give thanks to Him, because He deemed us worthy to taste of the divine mysteries, and to dwell with Him in the regeneration. Amen. Otherwise: We who have taken part in the life-giving sacrifice, or substance, let us direct our mind from earthly things to heavenly things, and let us worthily please Christ, because He deemed us worthy to partake of His precious body and blood; of which may we all become sharers, and [attain] to the vision of God in the regeneration, by His grace. And what is regeneration? To be born a second time, and to be renewed.

The removal of the remaining holy relics hints at the assumption ^C of our Lord and God. The final censing [hints at] that grace of the Holy Spirit which was given to the apostles by inspiration after the resurrection. The prayer behind the ambo is, as it were, a seal of all the petitions, and a systematic summary, fitting to the first and more precious epilogues. For since the entire divine liturgy is performed primarily for those who have offered and for those on whose behalf they have offered, and then for all who partake, for this reason, at the end, it adds the series of each appropriate prayer that is pronounced. Because some of those standing outside the sanctuary often fall into doubt, being perplexed and asking, "What is the goal, and the meaning, and the power of the prayers that the priest presiding over the sacred rites has muttered piece by piece?" and they desire to attain some knowledge of these things, therefore the divine Fathers, as a summary of all things, included in this the index of the requested [petitions], teaching those who inquire, as if [learning] the garment from the fringe. ^D

The type of the virginal body is the distribution of the blessing and the oblation. It is broken, indeed, as bread, but it is distributed as the communion of an ineffable blessing to those who partake with faith. As an oblation, however, it is offered back to the saints, full of holiness, from the holy things; and thus, from the communion of the immaculate body—Christ our God, who was born of her—and of the precious blood, the sanctification and adoption of sons is represented to the faithful.

n. ^A And such spiritual blessing, as well as the other supply of good things, is made and believed to come to the race of Christians from the distribution of the bread of the body of the Theotokos. That seer of God, Moses, once sprinkled the people with the blood of goats and calves, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant of the Lord." But Christ, being God, gave his own body and shed his own blood, and mixed the cup of the new covenant, saying, "This is my body and my blood, which is broken and poured out for the remission of sins; so that as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you confess my death and resurrection." And thus, then, with such a thought, we eat the bread and drink the cup, as the flesh and blood of the Son of God, confessing the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

HYMN TO THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

DANIEL. Thesaur. hymnologicus, vol. III, p. 79; Acta Sanctorum Jun. vol. II, p. xl.

Theotokion

Let us sound the trumpet of songs; For the Queen of all, the Mother-Virgin, appearing, Crowns with blessings those who praise her. Let kings and princes hasten together, And let them applaud the Queen in hymns, Who gave birth to the King, who willed graciously To release those held by death. Shepherds and teachers, let us come together To praise the most holy Mother of the good Shepherd: The golden lampstand, The light-bearing cloud, Higher than the Cherubim, The living ark, The glorious throne of the Master, The golden pot containing the manna, The life-bearing tablet of the Word, The refuge of all Christians, Extolling her with God-inspired songs. Thus let us say: "O Palace of the Word, Deign to make us, the humble, worthy of the kingdom of heaven; For there is nothing that cannot be brought to pass by your intercession."