Marian Hymns of Joseph the Hymnographer

^A who have burned with incredible ardor toward the Mother of God, and have shone with truly tender piety toward her, were to be gathered, I will merely touch upon two of your kin with a light pen—men conspicuous for their most burning affection toward the most august Mother of God, recorded by writers of good repute, and celebrated with the highest praises: namely, Paul Odescalchi, Referendary of both Signaturas, Bishop of Penne and Atri; who, as Auditor General of the Apostolic Camera, Nuncio of the Apostolic See to many Christian princes (specifically to the King of Spain), Governor of provinces, and Visitor General of the entire ecclesiastical territory, after many labors undertaken for the Roman Church and outstanding service rendered, died in the year of our Lord 1585, on the Ides of February. And Peter George Odescalchi, Apostolic Protonotary, Referendary of both Signaturas, Abbreviator of the greater presidency, Prefect of the briefs of justice, Bishop first of Alexandria and then of Vigevano, and Nuncio of the Apostolic See to the Swiss—a man altogether eminent, and most deservedly consecrated to eternity by many literary monuments; who, having earned greater grades of honor than he attained, finished his life's course in the year 1620, on the 6th of May, after the Savior was born of the Virgin.

Moreover, Paul Odescalchi, being bound by most constant piety and immutable devotion to the most august Queen of Heaven ^B, was chosen by order of Pope Gregory XIII to receive Joan of Austria, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand and wife of Francis, Grand Duke of Tuscany, as she went to Loreto, throughout the entire papal territory with royal state, and to lead her to the most desired shrine of the Virgin: since it was entirely fitting that such an excellent heroine, to be praised for her highest benevolence and highest affection of soul toward the Virgin Mother of God, be received and led by a man who was an altogether excellent client of the most august Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and most deeply addicted to her cult and service. The same Paul also, having had a love for the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin from his very childhood, was most deservedly appointed by Pope Pius V as Nuncio to John of Austria, son of Emperor Charles V and commander of the Catholic army against the Turks, so that, among other pious duties, he might present to the same Austrian the Rosary of the same Blessed Virgin, to be distributed to every mariner with a fervent prayer for victory. And indeed, when he was delivering this Rosary into the hands of such a prince by the mandate of the same Pontiff, he used these words, uttered from the inner depths of his heart and from the firmness of his total faith: "In this sign thou shalt conquer." And the outcome of the event later demonstrated that these words were, as they once were for Constantine, a sure promise of future victory from heaven for the Austrian. For the Austrian, when he had received the Rosary from Odescalchi, comforted by a certain divine virtue and strength, and trusting in God and the most Blessed Virgin, visiting all the triremes and ships, confirmed the soldiers, dukes, and princes who were there, and at the same time strenuously excited them to battle, and afterwards, especially by the virtue of that same Rosary, reported a most glorious victory over the most powerful Turkish fleet at the Echinades islands.

Petrus Georgius Odescalchi, however, a man to be eternally praised for his extraordinary piety and religion toward the Virgin Mother of God, among other things clearly innumerable by which he declared his most ardent zeal toward the great Mother of God ^C, transmitted to posterity by literary monuments a work clearly excellent, and to be diligently read by all who are dedicated to the Marian cult, under the title: *Institution of devotion to the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary*; and furthermore, he caused three temples to be built and dedicated outside the walls of the city of Alexandria in honor of the same Blessed Virgin Mary. I am content to have merely tasted these few things concerning your kin (for, as Chrysostom most truly said in his oration on his designation as presbyter: "In precious ointments, not only if one pours out the flask, but even if one touches the surface with the very tips of the fingers, it has both stained the air with a new odor and filled whoever is present with the sweetness of its fragrance").

What shall I say of you, most eminent prince, you who have studied not only to equal, but even to surpass the piety of all your ancestors toward the Mother of God, along with other ornaments of most excellent virtues? I would say that you, in the city of Rome, have been most deservedly constituted the protector of the Church of Saint Mary of the Hills—a church most famous for the most patent signs of miracles which God daily demonstrates there for the grace of His Mother—not without a special counsel of divine providence; since you exist with such affection toward the Virgin Mother of God, that you are swept away toward all things that touch the honor and reverence of so great a Mother with a mind more prone and ardent than iron is drawn to a magnet, and the heliotrope is drawn to the wheel of the sun. I would proclaim the prone zeal of your volition and the tenderness implanted in your heart toward the most august shrine of the Virgin of Loreto, in which the Mother of God was born and educated, and in which the Word was made flesh; since you have not only visited it most religiously, but have also honored it with golden gifts, worthy of your piety and magnificence, as a sign of the benefits of the Virgin of Loreto toward you (for she, graciously agreeing to your vows, healed you from a grave illness of a suppuration of the throat). I would celebrate you, helped especially by the aid of the Mother of God—whom you strove to serve continuously with singular kinds of homage and great signs of a most devoted affection—in having administered the Novara bishopric, the Ferrarese legation, and other offices entrusted to your care by the Apostolic See always with the highest prudence and integrity: and with the patronage of the same Mother of God favoring you, you have always been, in all things, upright in judgment, blameless in morals, prompt in graces and benefits, benign to your subjects, munificent to the poor, candid in spirit, sincere in heart, pure in life, and, to use one word, a man blessed in all things for your name: were it not for these, and many other testimonies of your most devoted mind toward the Mother of God, and the splendid monuments of the clemency of the same Mother of God toward you, which, urged by the sole affection of truth, I could write without any note of flattery,

I would be entirely compelled to pass over in silence, due to the singular modesty of your spirit, which has joined to your great praises a hatred of praise itself. For you strive gloriously to fulfill the noble appellation of your surname, Odescalci, which is not incongruously derived from the treading of odes—that is, praises—and therefore you do not cease to tread under the generous foot of humility the odes, that is to say the praises, which, although entirely owed to your virtue and offered to you from the sincere confession of those who praise you, you reject. Yielding everything, therefore, to your modesty, and storing in the innermost recesses of my mind those things which my pen, prompted by truth alone, could decorate more than one page with, intending to keep them there forever, I only beg and most ardently desire, through the deepest sincerity of my heart, to be conceded by you the permission to offer at least a brief expression of gratitude at the end of this epistle, both to this Marian work of St. Joseph the Hymnographer and to yourself. I congratulate this work, therefore, most eminent Prince, in that, as it comes forth into the sight of the world, it has by the most provident kindness of God gained you as its patron, than whom one could scarcely wish for a greater or better in the cult of the Mother of God and in all other ornaments of Christian virtues; and I congratulate you also, because my Joseph (as I firmly believe) will ever hold in grateful memory the honor of the patronage you have shown to his work, and will pursue it with earnest prayer to God; and the most august Queen of Heaven, while you bestow the favor of your protection upon a work that contains her praises and encomia, will in turn compensate you most affluently with this valid exhibition of her protection toward you and with worthy gifts from heaven. Farewell, meanwhile, for the public good, O most loving client of the great Mother of God, and follow me, your most devoted servant, and my entire congregation, most addicted to your service, with your accustomed kindness. Rome, from the house of St. Mary in Campitello, in the year of salvation 1661, on the 6th of January.

TO THE READER

A few words, friendly Reader, about the author of this work and about the work itself I shall preface for you, if you care to listen. Who and how great St. Joseph the Hymnographer was, whose Marian monuments I now for the first time place before your eyes, will, I hope, be sufficiently manifest to you from those things I append concerning him at the beginning of this work (that I may not detain you longer in this vestibule). The Life of Joseph, composed by John, deacon and orator of the Great Church of God in Constantinople, which I exhibit, exists in Greek in a very ancient manuscript in the most ample Vatican library, and, extracted from thence, it was rendered into Latin by Father Ludovico Marracci, my own blood brother and brother in religious profession. The same exists in a Greek manuscript in the monastery of St. Savior near Messina, and, translated into Latin by Father Augustine Floritio of the Society of Jesus, it was published in Palermo, in the previous year of 1657, together with the second volume of the work *On the Lives of the Saints of Sicily* by Father Octavius Cajetan of the same Society. The Life of Joseph, which I bring forth from the Menaia, was rendered into Latin by the same Father Ludovico Marracci.

But what shall I say of the work itself? I say it has been collected from the Menaia, the Horologion, the Paracletike, the Triodion, the Pentecostarion, the Ritual, and other Greek volumes in which the Canons of Joseph are found scattered here and there; and that almost the whole of it has been translated from Greek into Latin by the study and diligence of the aforementioned Father Ludovico Marracci. I say that it is all golden, all gem-like, and compacted of the sugar of piety and the honey of devotion, from which how affectionate the genius of the author toward Mary was, how ingenious his affection, and how pure and fervent his love, shines forth most clearly. I say it is a work to be handled by the hands of all those who are ever studious of the immaculate Virgin, and to be approved by their judgment, since it has the power not only to foster but to increase not a little the piety in the souls of all toward the ever and in all ways most immaculate Virgin Mother of God; since he is of a truly hard and stony heart who is not softened when he reads it, and who is not excited to love the great Mother of God more ardently. I say it is a most rich treasury, full of countless talents of Marian praises and encomia: a most precious gold mine providing rich material of virginal encomia for those who speak of the Mother of God before an assembly; and an incomparable treasure, congested not from a great mass of gold or silver or a supply of precious things, but most affluently from the ample and supreme riches of the Virgin Mother of God. Regarding this work, in truth, John, deacon and orator of the Great Church of God, in the very Life of Joseph, wrote in this manner: "Is there anyone rigid, hard, and inept at shedding tears? Let him read and sing assiduously the most sweet melodies composed by Joseph to the Virgin and Mother of God, who ineffably conceived the Word, and he will pour forth seas of tears with full eyes, and, having become rapt in mind, he will enjoy the spiritual delights of compunction in an immaterial sense." These melodies are six hundred in number, which, composed by him with various commutations and concisions of sounds and various differences of rhythms, perfume the sweetness in a certain way. So writes he. Certainly, friendly Reader, if you apply your mind and eyes to reading those things which are exhibited to you in this work by St. Joseph the Hymnographer, I am certain of your perseverance in reading after you have tasted the hidden sweetness therein, nor do I doubt that you will ever add something to the magnitude of your pristine piety in the cult and love of the most august Virgin Mother of God by such reading. Meanwhile, for this work of St. Joseph, which I exhibit to you in the present, and for other most illustrious monuments of the Holy Fathers in praise of the Virgin Mother of God, which, if God shall continue to grant me life, strength, and leisure, I am about to exhibit to you as soon as possible, I most modestly but most urgently request your prayers before God and his holiest Parent, the Virgin Mary. Farewell.

MARIALE OF ST. JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER

I. In the vigil of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Canon I, whose acrostic is: “I, Joseph, sing the birth of the maiden child of God.” Ode 1.

1. Let us today sing with joy the divine birth of the Mother of God; for it has brought forth joy to the whole world, wiping away the sorrow of our first mother.

The barrenness of sin, which the law prefigured and the proclamations of the divine theologians revealed, passes away, as the all-pure and most spotless Lady proceeds from a barren womb.

You have become the temple and palace of the King, in whom He who is supersubstantial, making his dwelling, might render the faithful a home for the Holy Trinity.

Most beautiful bridal chamber, throne of God most high…

^A (1) Here the Canon of St. Joseph for the vigil of the Nativity of the most holy Theotokos, which exists in the Greek Menaia under the 7th day of September, and in a manuscript codex of the Vatican Library, no. 779, page 137, along with others of the same St. Joseph concerning the Theotokos, besides the canons on the Dormition and the Girdle of the Blessed Virgin, was rendered into Latin by Father Ludovico Marracci of our Congregation of the Mother of God. What a canon is among the Greeks is explained by Zonaras in his Commentary on the *Anastásima* [Resurrection] Canons of St. John Damascene, or those concerning the Resurrection, which Commentary exists in manuscript in the Bavarian Library. A canon, or hymn, which the Greeks sing in the divine offices, comprises nine odes, because, forsooth, ecclesiastical chant imitates the nine orders of angels singing divine praises in heaven; or because this set of nine odes, consisting of a triple ternary, symbolically designates the thrice-great Trinity, to whose praise all the chant of the Church is directed.

Perhaps the canons of St. Joseph merit distinguished praise among other canons of Greek writers, and excel to such a degree that they admit of almost no comparison: for they are most graceful, most ingenious, and full of sacred conceptions, and no less overflowing with a wealth of tender affections toward the Theotokos. Whence in the *Typicon* of the Greeks, chapter 7, these things are found, as Leo Allatius reports in *De libris eccl. Graecor.* dissertation I, page 81: "It must be known: if a Menaion contains canons of various poets for the memory of some saint, if the canon of Lord Cosmas is present, it is to be preferred to others; if that of Lord John and others, that which is John’s is to be preferred; if of Lord Theophanes and others, Lord Theophanes’ is to be preferred—for he is to be honored before others; if of Lord Joseph, it is to be preferred to the remaining poets; if others are lacking, Lord John’s; if these are also lacking, Lord Theophanes’; if these furthermore, the canon of Lord Joseph is to be preferred to all others." These things are in the *Typicon* concerning the canons of our Joseph.

^B Furthermore, it is entirely notable that he often marked his name, omitted in the title, by means of an acrostic—that is, the first letters of the strophes—always accurately around the last ode of his musical canon: a fact which other Greek melodists have also imitated. This is a point I would wish to note, so that no one, in searching for the authors of the odes, should believe that only the titles of the canons are to be examined. Certainly, since the Menaia testify that the grace of extemporaneous hymns was divinely given to our Joseph—to say nothing of the gift of spontaneous acrostics (which no one is unaware are most laborious)—the most learned man, Father Simon Vuagnereck, in *Mariana Pietate Graecorum* in the Prolegomena no. 22, believes that this extemporaneous grace is not to be applied to those Josephian hymns in the Menaia which abound with acrostics, although he asserts that it may perhaps not inappropriately be said that on account of this very thing this divine grace was regarded in this same Joseph as a miracle, that he should also pour forth extemporaneous acrostics.

^C ...certainly consist of a specific genre of poems, or of prose? To which I have no other reply, along with Simon Vuagnereck in *Mariana pietate Graecorum* in the Prolegomena no. 31, than that they are called "odes" by the Greeks because they are divided into strophes in imitation of odes, especially since in common usage "ode" signifies whatever is sung. Moreover, one can detect that they do not consist of any meter except sometimes regarding iambic senarii, which rarely happens. Whence Suidas writes that St. John Damascene, as well as his colleague St. Cosmas of Jerusalem, composed musical canons both written in iambic verse and in prose. Wherefore it is not to be doubted that the countless odes of the Menaia, in which no trace of iamb shines, consist in all their strophes of purely and entirely prose.

^A the Being beyond all essence, having sat in the flesh, will rouse those who sit in the darkness of perdition to the light of knowledge through His goodness.

Ode 3

The land, fruit-bearing, is born from a land that is barren, which will bring forth fruit, the husbandman of good things, and the life-giving blade that nourishes all by divine decree. Today the rod of virginity has blossomed, from which our planter, God, will bloom, cutting away evil offshoots by His supreme goodness. Behold how the mountain, untouched by the stone-cutter, and born from a barren rock, fructifies the intellectual stone, which will effect the shattering of all the idols of the Destroyer. Figures of the Law have manifested you beforehand, O Maiden; for you carry in your womb, outside of legal custom, the Lawgiver, who keeps you beyond speech incorrupt and undefiled.

Ode 4

A maiden, more exalted than the angels, is born upon the earth, being incomparable in holiness and purity, she who will bear Christ, the purification of all, holiness, and perfect redemption. Blessed is the womb which has become that of Anna; for she brought forth her who was to contain in her womb the blessed and uncontainable Word, providing regeneration to all the faithful. Now the darkness of wickedness begins to lessen; for the living cloud of the Sun has arisen—she who is from barren loins—the altogether-pure one, whose radiant birth let us celebrate. As a fruit-bearing olive tree, O Virgin, who have sprouted from the root of Jesse, Anna brings you forth, you who will bring forth the merciful Word, whose mercy and truth always go before Him.

Ode 5

The sealed book is now brought forth, which no mortal man will read according to the law of nature, ^B as it is reserved for the habitation of the Word, just as the books of the theologians declared in the Spirit. The life-saving vine has been born today, from which that incorruptible grape will bloom, pouring forth the divine must, from which whoever drinks mystically shall reap divine and saving joy. Leap for joy, O angels, dancing together with men; today the Virgin, born from a barren one, has ended sorrow, and initiates joy for those who keep festival at her divine birth. The divine prophet designated you most clearly as a new volume, O Maiden, in which the Word ^C shall be written by the ^D paternal finger.

as He inscribes all who are obedient to his command by his own goodness in the book of life.

Ode 6

You are born today, a bridge leading the human race to light: a heavenly ladder, a most radiant mountain of God—namely, the Maiden who birthed God, whom we call blessed. ^A Like a seashell, Anna brought forth the purple, which is the wool for the future coloring of the King’s incarnation, which let us all celebrate with hymns according to its dignity. A spring has now gushed forth like a drop, that entirely immaculate one, who, by bearing the abyss of salvation, shall dry up the immense rivers of idolatry. You were born like a sprout from a barren root, and with your divine growth, which sprouted up beyond nature, you have uprooted the thorns of malice, O ever-blessed Maiden and Mother of God.

Ode 7

Joachim and Anna are called blessed because they gave birth to the truly blessed and pure Mother of God, who is to give birth to the blessed Word, who makes all the faithful blessed. Your parents have obtained you, O most chaste one, as a precious gift. ^B

^C ...as it restricts the term entirely, it implies that she herself has been absolutely and simply, and even throughout her whole life, free from every stain: because, clearly, the word "immaculate" cannot be applied to the Mother of God at all, if it did not square with her from the very first instant. For as Paschasius aptly said in his book *On the Body and Blood of the Lord*: "Therefore she is not immaculate, whom the darkness of a blemish disfigures": for the attribute of "immaculate" conveys, as it were, the virginity of the soul, through an elongation or absence from all mortal sin, which brings a defilement and force to the soul, and so, Chrysostom, in Homily 24 on the Epistle to the Ephesians, called sin the "deflowering of the soul." Therefore, just as bodily virginity signifies an all-encompassing purity of the body, inviolate by any impure commerce, so that no one would call a woman a virgin whose bodily luster is not entirely unblemished, even if she cultivates all-encompassing holiness after having perhaps plucked that flower, and preserves the purity of her body with careful study, because virginity, forsooth, embraces all the spaces of time; and whether it consists in an indivisible point (as I might say); so, in the same way, she cannot correctly be called "the immaculate" (as the Blessed Virgin is called) if she was at any point "spotted," however much she may shine, be cleansed, and be sanctified afterward: because the word "immaculate" denotes the negation of any contracted stain in particular.

But if anyone objects that the argument drawn from this word "immaculate" for Mary’s immunity is weak, since in Scripture those who are subject to original stain are often called "immaculate," ^D as in Psalm 36: *The Lord knoweth the days of the immaculate*; Psalm 17: *Then I shall be immaculate*; Psalm 17: *And I shall be immaculate with him*; and elsewhere. Indeed, in Exodus 29 and Leviticus 4, rams, calves, sheep, and lambs are called immaculate. I respond that the objection is worth nothing, since by the same reasoning men can be called "gods," because in Psalm 81 (with the Son of God himself confirming the expression in John, chapter 10) it is said: *I have said: You are gods*; though, however, the word which in itself bears the sense of divinity, when it is attributed to men, does not signify divinity at all, because when applied to them, it has a different meaning from the divinity from which they are far distant. For to whom is it a doubt that names and epithets, according to the persons to whom they are given, are to be understood and said otherwise? Christ is "immaculate" as in Hebrews 9: *He offered himself immaculate to God*; and in 1 Peter 1: *But with the precious blood as of an immaculate Lamb, Christ*. Otherwise, the Blessed Virgin is "immaculate," otherwise are men "immaculate." For just as Christ the Lord, subsisting in a divine person, is immaculate by his nature, so for the Blessed Virgin, by a singular privilege, it is fitting that she be immaculate, as befits the Mother of God, and therefore in every way "immaculate" according to the proper meaning of the word through the negation of any stain whatsoever for any instant.

Which indeed, as it does not befit men, so when we call them "immaculate," we do not mean that that purity which is proper to human nature subject to original sin lies beneath them. Just as when sheep and rams are called "immaculate," only that external cleanliness which is desired in beasts is indicated. From which it is clearly proved that, in the mind of St. Joseph, the Mother of God is called "immaculate" in the sense that she is "all fair and without spot," and that it is not for the ears of any of the faithful to ring that Mary was "immaculate" in any other way than that her very conception was "immaculate." Is not the title "Theotokos," or "Mother of God," so proper to the Blessed Virgin Mary that it cannot be attributed to another besides her without an insane error, because she alone is properly and truly to be called the Mother of God? Yet there are many mothers of God by office, as the Son of God and Mary himself affirms: *Whoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother* (Matt. 12). Behold, therefore, in what way both the just can be called and are "immaculate," and Mary is called "immaculate." They, indeed, in that way in which, through the extension of the term and its meaning, they are also called mothers of God. Mary, properly and uniquely and according to the native and genuine meaning, is called both "Mother of God" and "immaculate," and is such, with the faith commanding through the divine Spirit in Canticles 6: *One is my dove, my perfect one*, or from the Hebrew, *my immaculate one*: where when He said the word, He expressed that it belongs properly to Mary alone to be the "immaculate one." See Velasquez, *On Mary Conceived Immaculate*, Book IV, Dissertation 3, unique annotation.

^A the progenitors, who conceived God, who enriched with better gifts those who cry out: "The Lord and God of our fathers, blessed art Thou."

O Anna, called by God, your breasts are better than wine; for you suckled her who suckled with goodly gifts of richness the best Word, the author of milk and the nourisher of every spirit.

Exult, O David, inspired of God; strike your lyre and dance; for behold, the Ark which you once proclaimed beforehand has come forth from a barren womb, reserved for the King of all creation and God.

Ode 8

Let us move our tongue in hymns, venerating the divine nativity of her who by the Spirit gave bodily form to the Word who is above all hymns and above divinity, and let us cry out: "Praise the Lord, O you works, and exalt Him above all forever."

Come, O divine prophets, and exult, honoring the Virgin's natal day; for she fulfilled all the predictions, bringing forth for us the manifested Christ, the King of all, whom we exalt above all forever.

^B Now break forth, O mountains, into joy; O apostles and martyrs, lead the dances; O saints and just ones, exult today at the Nativity of the Mother of the Lord, and praise the Lord shouting and exalting Him above all forever.

The fragrant apple has blossomed; the divine rose has appeared, and today it has filled the ends of the earth with sweetness, and the all-pure one and mother of the Word, whom we exalt above all forever, has put an end to the stench of our sin.

Nature of men, barren of the venerable gifts of the divine Spirit, rejoice today, O barren one, seeing the godly child born from a barren womb, and cry out: "Praise the Lord, O you works, and exalt Him above all forever."

Ode 9

Behold, the holy place of God is clearly shown today; the glorious city of the King is built up; the light-bearing paradise has brightly blossomed, becoming a source of paradise and of reconciliation for men with Christ.

A splendid lamp and lantern appeared today, which shines with the golden radiance of the eternal light; in which the same light dwelling will illuminate those who remain in the night of evils, and will dissolve the mist of impiety, and will truly make all men sharers of the day through faith.

Today the earth dances; for ^C the new heaven

^A seeing the most delightful one born, in whom He who dwelt in the flesh shall raise mortals above the heavens, and shall deify all by His goodness, whom praising faithfully we magnify.

The most beautiful pair, Joachim and Anna, have brought forth the immaculate heifer, from whom the fatted calf, having come forth for the world, has been sacrificed, taking away the offenses of men, and causing those sacrifices which were offered to demons to cease.

Illuminate us, O Mother of God, who gave birth to the Light, [us] who celebrate in spirit your light-bearing birth; and show us to be participants, O pure one, of the future light, and grant peace and redemption from terrible things by your motherly intercessions.

^B In the vigil of the entry into the temple of the most holy Mother of God, Canon II (8), in alphabetical order. Ode 1.

The most holy and most immaculate [Virgin] approaches to dwell in the Holy of Holies, that she may become the sanctified temple of the most holy God; and maiden girls run before her.

The eternal counsel of our God, who is before the ages, reaches its end, as you, O maiden, all pure, proceed into the Holy of Holies to be nurtured there, that you may become the habitation of the Word.

The God-inspired parents, filled with the Spirit of God, offered you—who were to be the Mother of God—into the Holy of Holies to be nurtured there, O most chaste one, fulfilling the vow they had once made.

Strengthen, O Lady, the weakness of my heart, and steady me when I am tossed by passions, so that with faith and longing I may bless you, who are ever-blessed and all-immaculate (9).

Ode 3.

Maiden girls, leading the way for the Virgin, bore lamps... ^C ...before the blessed seat of God, which was raised high. Hence Bernardine of Busto, in his *Marial Sermon* 2, on the Conception, at the beginning, says: "By heaven, the soul of the Virgin can be understood, which God the Father, together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, fashioned without any corruption or stain."

And George of Nicomedia, in his sermon on the Conception of the Virgin, writes in this manner: "Today the earth unfolds its surface more brightly than the heavens with the rays of grace; it shines more augustly than the spiritual heaven, and it possesses a beauty greater than the heaven of the world, inasmuch as it receives the higher heaven. I say the heaven, which is exceedingly bright and most spacious, which presents to the world not a setting sun, but Him who knows no setting; a heaven truly varied not with visible stars, but with the enkindling of spiritual lights." Thus he.

"What could be more lucid" (he says in his *Exceptions*, chapter 13, where Father Juan Eusebius Nieremberg cites his words), "when he calls the Virgin in her conception a heaven varied by the enkindling of spiritual lights, namely, with the light of grace and virtues? For he did not say these things solely because of the birth of the Mother of God, but most especially because of her conception. For although he celebrates both, he does so with common praises for both, and indeed most especially for the Conception, which he commends in the first place."

Magnus Albertus also, in the treatise which he titled *Biblia Mariana*, comparing the Blessed Virgin to the empyrean heaven, speaks in this manner: "As soon as the empyrean was made, it was immediately disposed and adorned, which other heavens are not; so [is she] in grace and sanctification." Where he assumes that the Virgin was created in [her] conception with the adornment of grace and simultaneous sanctification.

Father J. Eusebius Nieremberg, in his *Exceptions*, chapter 8, having said that the Blessed Virgin was called "heaven" by the Synod of Frankfurt under Pope Adrian I, in the epistle which that same synod wrote to the prelates of Hispania, adds: "The holy Synod called the flesh of the most holy Virgin 'heaven' because of her exceeding purity and the perpetual habitation of God in her. For heaven was never accursed, like the earth, and in it God dwelt from the beginning of His creation; so the most holy Virgin was never accursed, but was the most pure habitation of the Holy Spirit from her very origin. Therefore, the synod called Christ the heavenly man from heaven, that is, from a most pure and never-stained Mother."

(8) Note that the Canon for the vigil of the entry of the most holy Mother of God is found in Greek in the *Menaea* of the Greeks under the 20th of November, and in Greek MS in the codex of the Barberini Library no. 201, p. 125. (9) It would not have been the Blessed Virgin, if in the first instant of her being, she had been stained by original sin, which is a stain.

^A manifesting what was to come: for from her was to be born the illumination of knowledge, which would dissolve the darkness of error. ^A Anna, endowed with divine wisdom and full of zeal, fulfills her ancient vow, and presents you, O most immaculate one, in the temple, you who were about to have a most holy conception and birth. ^A The sun extended its rays, beholding the cloud of light spreading by a divine impulse within the Holy of Holies, from which it was to rain down indulgence upon sins full of desolation. ^A God, who dwelt in you on account of mercy, O all-pure and chaste one, makes me a sharer of the Godhead, because I had previously been deceived by the food through the serpent's deceit; and in place of corruption, He once again gives back incorruptible delights.

Ode 4.

Ode 5.

(10) Ergo if she is all pure and immaculate, in no part of herself, nor in her conception, which is the first part of every life, was she impure and spotted: For he who says everything, excludes nothing. (11) Can a clearer and more lucid testimony be found concerning the conception of the B. Virgin? For how could the B. Virgin alone be devoid of every stain, if, like others, she had been defiled by the original stain in her conception? The whole land of Egypt paid tribute to Pharaoh, except the priestly land, which was immune from this burden; so also, although the rest of mankind, contracting original corruption, in a certain manner pays tribute to the demon, ^D yet the priestly land alone, Mary, remained immune from this tribute of the Stygian Pharaoh, on account of the priest Christ who was to be born from her. (12) Your conception is strange: your birth is strange! For it was not fitting that the sanctuary of God, the house of wisdom, the reliquary of the Holy Spirit, the urn of heavenly manna, should have any stain of sin within it; and therefore the Virgin is called strange by Josephus, and entirely devoid of stain. Moreover, Josephus called the passive conception of the B. Virgin "strange," because it was not as the conceptions of others in sin, but alone without original sin.

^A I place all my hope in you, O Maiden, and I flee to your mercies: show my soul, which has fallen and grown weak under the inundations of desires, to be unharmed by the malice of demons.

Ode 6. Strengthened by divine grace, the divine parents of the Virgin dedicate Her, as a spotless dove, to be reared in the Holy of Holies. While you were about to receive Light from Light, holy maidens, bearing lamps and leading dances in your honor, went before you to the divine temple. A palace full of glory, a great resounding of prophets, a holy throne is placed within the Holy of Holies, made ready for the King of all. I praise your conception, O Maiden, I praise your ineffable birth, I praise your protection, through which I, who hasten toward your serenity, am delivered from every harm.

Ode 7. The holy temple receives you within itself, radiant as the sun, O chaste Virgin, pouring forth from there saving rays to all the ends of the earth, as you were to become the most holy temple of the Son of God. ^B All you who behold the unwedded one, who carries the signs of redemption, clap your hands; for she is nourished by the hands of an angel, as one who is to bring forth for us ineffably the heavenly bread. All you souls of the righteous dwelling beneath the earth, receive this happy message: the golden dove that brings an end to the intellectual flood has appeared, and piously dances in the Holy of Holies. O completely immaculate Maiden, you who are beautiful have brought forth the Beautiful One, who restores our deformity to its first likeness; therefore we sing to Him: Lord and God of our fathers, blessed are You.

Ode 8. Alphabetical. "Hear and understand, venerable old man," says Anna to Zechariah. "By the divine will I have received a venerable child; receive her with a good and great spirit. For through her shall be redemption; and offer her in the holy temple, crying out: Bless, all you works of the Lord, the Lord." "The Lord alone is blessed," the priest cried out, "you now clearly reveal to us the entrances of life." ^C

^D (13) Bernardine of Bustis, in his *Sermon on the Conception*, part 3, proving that Mary is signified by the sun in Psalm 18, where it is said: "He has set His tabernacle in the sun," says among other things: "By the sun is understood the B. Virgin, because as the sun is brighter than all the stars and is incorruptible, so the B. Virgin at her conception was brighter and purer than all creatures, and was uncorrupted by all sin." And in the same cited place, sermon 8, not far from the beginning, explaining that saying of Ecclesiasticus 26 regarding the B. Virgin: "As the sun rising to the world, etc.," he says: "As the sun was created full of light and without any darkness, so the Mother of God was created at her conception shining with the light of divine grace, and was never obscured by any darkness of sin."

(14) ...part of her life entirely without any stain of sin? She would not have been "all" [fair], however, if in the first part of her life, which is her conception, she had appeared soiled by the stain of original sin.

^A Having manifested to us the God-receptive palace which Christ, the King of the universe, is about to inhabit, to whom the whole earth cries out: Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord.

"Behold, O most wise elder," Anna said piously, "the most beautiful maiden whom God has given me; receive her brilliantly and prophesy. She alone is about to bring forth into reality the proclamations with which you cry out with the prophets: Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord."

"Now I have known, O woman, most clearly," the old man replied with a kindly spirit, "that a Tree has sprouted from you, which, as if in the midst of paradise, will produce a truly divine fruit."

"For us men, expelled by corruption, who are to be received again by that paradise, crying out with joy: Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord."

"Your soul, O venerable Maiden, is an initiation into things spoken and unspoken. It shall exist clearly," the elder said plainly.

"Behold, O Virgin, she inhabits the divine temple. For, being nurtured by an angel, you shall bring forth the Angel of the Great Counsel, to whom they sing sweetly, blessing Him as the Lord, all you works of the Lord."

"O chaste Maiden, we sing your voice with great joy, the voice of Gabriel: Hail, sole cause of everyone's joy. Hail, purification of souls."

"As you have brought forth our redemption and the remaking of those who sing to Him: Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord."

Ode 9. Joseph.

Behold, the holy mountain of God enters the Holy of Holies with shining lamps—the stone from which a stone shall be cut, which will crush altars and demonic idols, but will make men into temples and venerable dwellings.

God swore, and now He has fulfilled it, giving us from the tribe of Judah the Ever-Virgin, from whose womb the Wood of Life shall sprout, which shall deliver from the death-bearing food those who suffered ruin through eating, and were deceived by the fraud of the serpent.

With a shining voice Anna cried out in the temple of God: "To you, O Master, I offer the maiden whom you gave me, from whom, through your ineffable mercy, You will appear incarnate, and will save the world which You fashioned, magnifying her as Your Mother."

Behold, a day of salvation has shone for those in the night of evils; the celestial portal, opening wide the gates of the temple, enters the Holy of Holies with lamps, to be nurtured by a holy power for the holy dwelling-place of God.

O most pure Virgin, illuminate the eyes of my soul, you who brought forth the Light, lest the deepest darkness of sins overtake me, and let not the abyss of despair cover me.

^A Be you my savior and guide toward the harbor of the divine will.

III. III.

On the Pre-feast of the Falling Asleep of the Most Holy Theotokos, Canon III, whose acrostic is: With joy I praise the Mother of God, Joseph.

Ode 1.

Ode 3.

Ode 4.

You have become a spacious dwelling-place of the Word, whence ^A you have been translated to a spacious, holy, and eternal habitation, O Theotokos. Angels and men call your holy dormition blessed, for you are Queen of all, having given birth to the King of all, O Maiden.

Ode 5.

Having died, you passed to immortal dwellings, having put death to death through your childbirth, O all-immaculate one. Choirs of god-inspired men surrounded you, O Lady, praising you with funeral chants.

Ode 6.

As if borne on wings in the clouds, and as certain high-flying eagles of the Word, they gathered at Gethsemane, O Maiden, and in their eagerness to hasten your departure to heaven, O all-hymned one, they came upon you, whom you blessed as sons of your Son.

Who is this that ascends from the valleys of the world? What is this strange procession and approach? What is this great mystery which is seen? Surely it is the queen, ^C and lady, and glory, and boast of all.

The gathering of the apostles rejoiced, yet was filled with tears, when it beheld the tabernacle that received God, your body, being abandoned by your holy soul; and it praised in a manner worthy of God your divine dormition, O all-immaculate one.

Ode 7.

Your divine tomb remains empty of your body, but full of grace; for it pours forth for us floods of healings and quenches the torrents of evils, O most holy Theotokos. Your body has been taken from the tomb, but your blessing remains with us, though the body...

^A remains for us a source of blessing, O pure Virgin, leading the blind to light, and rich in revealing your compassion. ^B O new volume, in which the Word is inscribed in a most wondrous union, pray that all of us who sing hymns to your venerable and, to our understanding, transcendent passing, may be inscribed in the book of life.

Ode 8. From the ends of the earth, the most radiant pillars of the world’s extremities gathered in Sion, to care for your funeral, O immaculate one, as you reached the end of your life. No tongue of men, nor mouth of any angel, has the power worthily to sing your praises; for you surpass all creatures beyond comparison, O Lady. Therefore let every creature exult, and let the clouds of heaven drop down the dew of justice in this present day, honoring the divine passing of the Virgin. O behold! Now the throne of the Lord, which towers above the Cherubim and the Thrones, begins to be raised from the earth, to be placed in the supreme realm of God. She, I say, the only one among creatures entirely untouched by any blemish ^C (20).

Ode 9. As you are more radiant than all the heavenly hosts, illuminate us who sing of your glorious falling asleep with the light of your graces, and enlighten us thoroughly. Leap for joy, O hearts of all the pious, at the falling asleep of the only Mother of God, saved by her unsleeping intercession. The earth keeps festival, the angels leap for joy, and all the righteous rejoice, at your falling asleep, O Maiden, singing hymns to you. Good-loving Virgin, make all of us drink abundantly from the stream of your mercies; and finally grant us salvation, you who gave birth to the Word endowed with all supreme goodness.

17 IV. On the Deposition of the Precious Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos at Blachernae. Canon IV (21), whose acrostich is: «I honor the robe of the all-pure Virgin.» Joseph.

Ode 1. You have bestowed your venerable robe, O Virgin, ^D to the one who honors it...

as a sacred bulwark that remains for the people, ^A by which we always turn aside the attack of all adversaries with the strength of the Spirit. O Virgin, you have sanctified the sacred robe by the touch of your body, for the sake of Him who, for our sake, was made known on earth from your pure blood; through this robe you sanctify all your servants who praise you. O good Virgin, you have granted a venerable treasure to those who faithfully honor you, truly enriching all with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and with many displays of miracles. The all-pure lamb, she who gave birth supernaturally to the Lamb of God, has bestowed upon us your precious robe, which always cleanses away the stain and wrinkle of those who worship it, O all-blameless one. ^B Ode 3. Let us praise the delightful sanctuary, the heavenly gate, the Mother of God, and let us sing with faith to her robe that gushes forth divine gifts. O solemn one, having brought forth in your incorrupt birth those who were stripped by corruption, you have clothed them in the garment of incorruption, and to them you have granted your venerable robe as an inalienable wealth. This divine house is a free infirmary for the sick; for it possesses your robe, O pure one, as a ^C source that gushes forth healings without ceasing, O all-blameless one. Ode 4. Let us magnify the only blessed... [The narrative regarding the 2nd of July follows:] ...is of this kind: Galba and Candidus, twin patricians, brothers by blood, traveled to Jerusalem for the sake of worship and came to Palestine. Having traveled through some parts of Galilee, they found the venerable robe of the Blessed Virgin at the home of a certain Hebrew matron. In order to acquire it, they used this ruse: they journeyed to Jerusalem and visited all the holy places there to pay their respects, and they had a chest made very similar to the one in which the much-honored robe of the Mother of God was kept. Returning to their matron, they left the empty chest there in its place, but the one containing that sacrosanct and divine garment they carried away with them and, having returned to Constantinople, they deposited it in their own suburb, which bears the name Blachernae. Having tried in vain to keep the treasure hidden from everyone, they revealed the matter to the emperor, who was seized with incredible joy at the news of the brought-forth robe, and while he kissed and embraced it, he had a temple built in the very place of the Blachernae and deposited the chest there. Thus far the Menaion according to Raderus. You have the same history, and indeed more abundant and prolix, in Nicephorus, Hist. Eccles., book xv, chap. 24; in the Metaphrast in his oration on the life and passing of the all-holy Mother of God in Surius, August 15th; in George of Nicomedia in his oration on the Deposition of the precious robe of the Mother of God in the Blachernae, and in others.

(22) "The prince is not subject to the laws: but the Augusta, although she is subject, yet the prince grants her the same privileges that he himself has." Certainly the Fathers held, and truly so, that Christ alone was exempt from the laws of original sin by Himself and by the force of His own nature; yet by this it is not denied that the Blessed Virgin, as Augusta, was exempt from the same by grace and privilege, and through the merit of Christ. Wherefore St. Ambrose in Psalm CXVII, when he attested that the Virgin was whole and free from every stain of sin, added, "by grace." And Eusebius of Emesa, when he asserted that Christ alone had avoided the affliction of original sin, immediately added the words "of Himself," wishing to signify that the most blessed Virgin, as an Augusta who enjoys the privileges of a prince, was preserved from the pollution of the same sin through Christ and His grace. For, as the moon receives brightness from the sun, so the Mother of God receives all her privileges, and especially this one of preservation, from the Son. See Nieremberg in *Exceptionibus*, chap. 4.

(23) So that what is said about the royal purple being shining and completely devoid of all filth might be verified, it is required that it be spattered by no dust, nor contaminated by the stain of oil, nor in any part of itself. Nevertheless, if anything could consist with its brilliance or cleanliness, it would be the most minute dust, which is most easily shaken off, and not the foul stain of creeping oil that insinuates itself into neighboring parts, so as to defile the whole by its touch. In the same way, the word "immaculate" admits no association with any sin or stain, and if it were permitted to cohere with anything, it would be at most with the small blemish of venial sins, and not with the gravity of original sin, which affects the soul more foully than any oil. Wherefore, while St. Joseph so often called the Blessed Virgin absolutely immaculate, he not only supported the immaculate conception but also added significant weight of authority to that same assertion of his. See Nieremberg in *Exceptionibus*, chap. 3.

^A thee, O most chaste and most immaculate one, the fountain from which remedies emanate without ceasing.

Ode 4

Ode 5

Ode 6

Ode 7

[(24)] Let the reader judge whether these words favor the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin. Certainly, I cannot understand how the Blessed Virgin can be called absolutely pure from every stain, and alone blessed, if she at any time appeared defiled by the stain of original sin, and was subject to the common curse, as all other children of Adam.

[(25)] What is it to be pure on every side, if not to lack impurity in every part and in every kind? The Blessed Virgin would not, therefore, have been altogether—that is, in every part and in every kind—most pure, if she had been defiled by original impurity at the point of her conception.

Emundat omnes animæ sordes, o Virgo mundissima, hæc arca, quæ continet vestem illam, qua corpus tuum venerandum coopertum fuit. ^A

O Theotokos, pure one, save this city that honors thee from famine, from earthquake, and from every distress, and from the assault of the nations, and from hostile harm.

Ode 8. O mediatrix for us of all good things, we praise thee with thanksgiving: and kissing thy venerable garment, O Maiden, we cry out: Bless, O works, the Lord. As we possess the sacred maphorion of the all-pure Virgin, offered upon the lamp-stand of the table like a mental lamp, the eyes of our hearts are illuminated at every moment. ^B In no way, O Virgin, hast thou left thy unworthy servants destitute of thy sacred touch; for in place of thy life-giving body, thou hast bestowed thy garment upon all. Let us honor with divine canticles the spacious tabernacle of God, the most pure among mothers, the heavenly gate through which the gate that introduced death was closed.

Ode 9. Behold, we honor thee, O perpetual Virgin, with joyful melodies as the bed of Solomon; and surrounding thy precious garment as another ark of sanctification, we receive saving healings, O Virgin, evermore. Thy divine reliquary is seen now, O Virgin, holding thy precious garment like a fountain of light, sending forth rays of healings and driving away the darkness of diseases, which we kiss with longing. ^C Today, O most immaculate one, all the heavenly Hosts, apostles, prophets, and martyrs, and all the saints and the just rejoice with us in the adoration of thy garment; O Lady, sole perpetual Virgin. The entire earth has been sanctified, O most holy dwelling-place of the Lord, by the deposition of thy garment, and David rejoices, who of old prefigured [thee] in the deposition of the ark, O Virgin, evermore. Thou hast bestowed thy maphorion as a bright covering and as an outer wall to the Queen of all cities that honors thee, as thou art the Queen of all created things, O Mother of God, Mother-Virgin.

V. Concerning the precious girdle of the most holy Theotokos. Canon V, the acrostichis of which is: "With thy strength gird me, O pure Virgin." Joseph.

Ode 1. Gird me with divine strength as I piously hymn thy sacred girdle, which acts as a divine girdle and bulwark for thy city, O Maiden, and an unshakable...

^A wall for thy flock. Thou didst bring forth God, the Almighty, who girds all the pious with power, O all-undefiled; wherefore we call thee blessed, and kissing thy divine girdle with great joy, we draw from it grace and mercy.

With joy let us dance today at the deposition of the sacred girdle of the pure Mother of God, from which a band of incorruption and an unbreakable garment have been woven for us, and an inseparable mantle.

Under thy power, O all-undefiled one, thy people run; under thy protection they always take refuge. Be a help to all, and grant to all the petitions for salvation, saving our souls from terrible things. ^B

Ode 3. Our heart is renewed, rejoicing with new vigor as it touches with fervent faith the sacred girdle of the Virgin, and it is girded round with invincible strength against the passions of the impure, while remaining invulnerable to the hostile and bodiless spirits.

There still remains incorrupt this thy sacred girdle, which once girded thy stainless body, O Maiden, sanctifying those who approach piously, and removing corruption, diseases, and afflictions. ^C

Thou didst become a house of great beauty, O all-undefiled Mother of the Word incarnate from thee; and now it has pleased Him that this thy girdle be deposited in this thy holy house, which is consecrated to thy name; we, frequenting it with pious kisses, obtain therefrom a certain fruit of holiness.

With the jubilant longing of our hearts, we all embrace thy girdle of eminent value, O Theotokos, as the ornament of the entire Christian world, since it was worthy to touch thy holy body, which surpasses all value and honor. ^D

Ode 4. Thou indeed, having been assumed on high, hast approached the unapproachable light; yet in the meantime, to those who call thee blessed, thou hast left, O pure one, in place of thy body, the precious girdle, which is a fount of miracles,

(28) An anonymous ancient author in an Encomium on the Deposition of the girdle of St. Mary, which he retrieved from a Royal Greek manuscript and rendered into Latin, published in Paris in the year 1648 together with the History of the Monothelite heresy by Father Francis Combefis, of the Order of Preachers. The Greek Church has venerated this to such a degree that, in its honor, it has instituted a feast to be celebrated annually with solemn rite in the royal city of Constantinople on the 31st of the month of August; and not only does St. Joseph in the present canon mention this feast, but also Germanus and Euthymius, related above, and the Emperor Emmanuel Comnenus in his edict concerning holidays, and the Calendars of the Greeks, Ruthenians, and Syrians in express and clear words. See Colvenerius in the Marian Calendar for the 1st of August, and our notes in the Mariale of St. Germanus on the oration concerning the girdle of the most holy Mother of God.

and a place of salvation, and the bulwark of this city that honors you, O Spotless One.

We enter your house as a new heaven, in which your divine girdle is treasured like the sunlight, sending forth rays of miracles, enlightening the hearts of all, O Maiden, and driving away the mist of the passions. ^A

You are revealed as the ark of the intelligible sanctuary, O Spotless, most praised One; and this precious shrine containing the girdle that you wore while living in the flesh, you provide to your people as a shelter for all and an inexhaustible fountain of healings.

Your precious girdle, most praised One, has come as a rich gift to your city, and it has been deposited openly on this day in this your divine house, and it has become the cause for a great feast, O Theotokos, for those who ardently long for you.

The shadows of the Law and the enigmas of the prophets foretold that you would be, O most pure One, the truly real Mother of God, through whom the curse was rendered barren and perfect blessing blossomed, together with saving grace for those who praise you in faith and longing. ^B

Ode 5

The divine girdle having been placed today in your house, O full of grace, all abundance of good things for those in need has been deposited with it, and every person is filled with holiness, approaching to receive petitions faithfully.

You were beautified, O Maiden, having given birth to the most beautiful Word, and you consented for the beautiful girdle to be placed in your beautiful house, which beautiful girdle beautifully girded your beautiful body, O Theotokos.

Your holy house is known to all as another paradise, possessing in its midst your girdle like a fragrant rose, filling with divine fragrance the hearts of those who faithfully approach, O all-blameless One. ^C

You have become a cloud of divine rain, O all-blameless One, distilling the water of salvation, and a fountain transforming to the fruitfulness of piety those hearts parched by offenses; for this reason, we faithfully glorify you.

^D Your house is believed by all to be a new paradise, in the middle of which your girdle is seen placed like a fragrant rose, by whose divine fragrance the hearts of those who approach you with pious confidence are filled with the fullest joy, O untouched Virgin!

You have become a cloud distilling, drop by drop, the saving wave of divine rain, O Virgin free from all fault! And for our souls, utterly uncultivated due to the aridity of vices, you present yourself as a source…

of spring water, through which we, being irrigated, are made fruitful for the works of piety, and so with a singular effort of faith we glorify you.

Ode 6

^A You have brought forth for us, as a new child, Him who is before all ages, and you make new our hearts, worn out by the antiquity of sin, through the transformation of the depositing of your precious girdle, O Maiden ever-virgin. Your holy temple exists as a marvelous sanctuary of justice, as it possesses your wondrous girdle, which pours forth miracles; it is shown to the faithful as a sea of healings, O Mother-Maiden who gave birth to God. Every soul rejoices upon entering your holy temple, and seeing within it, O Theotokos, your girdle, just as the sun radiates a bright light of the gifts of the Almighty and divine Spirit. Strengthen, O Pure One, our hearts, paralyzed by all sorts of delusions of sins, and gird with power those who faithfully possess your girdle as a precious and unalienable treasure.

Ode 7

^B The Queen of all, setting out toward the heavenly tabernacles, has left to our city, the queen of all cities, great riches, namely her girdle, by which this city of ours is guarded against the incursions of enemies, both those who are seen and those who are not seen. To so noble a fountain, from which divine grace and mercy have bubbled forth, let us now draw nearer, namely to this venerable receptacle in which the most precious girdle of that Mother and Virgin is preserved, who raised the mass of the human race to great honor by her adorable birth-giving. Adore the Lord with hymns, all you heavenly Powers; and all tongues of mortals, glorify her who gave birth to Him, because she has gifted her girdle as a true refuge and salvation to the faithful. Let the clouds rain down justice from above today upon the deposition of your girdle, O cloud full of divine grace, and let every soul sing out rejoicing: Blessed is God.

Ode 8

^C Like a holy throne, the reliquary is placed inside, in the sacred, most inaccessible inner sanctum of the only Mother of God, the queen of all and most pure, holding within itself the girdle that rests there, from which a complete rest and medicine for many evils comes forth abundantly to those who are broken and weakened by many sins. Truly, through your holy hands, you girded with your girdle Him who was incarnate of you on earth, the Lord who girds the pious with power; but now, O you who ascended to the heights of the heavens

^A, you have left to men your venerable girdle, O Virgin Theotokos, as a fortification and a shelter. It is a remedy for the sick, a support for those who slip, and cheer for the slothful; for those who sail, it is a divine helm; for those who have gone astray, it is a turning back; the grace that follows your honorable girdle, O chaste Virgin, truly exists to be such that we worship it in faith for all ages. Performing today the holy deposition of your divine girdle, we, your servants, hold a sacred festival, and in joy we cry: Rejoice, Theotokos, the joy of the angels and of all men who faithfully make melody; *O people, highly exalt Him for all ages.*

Ode 9

Behold, I pray, for that divine couch of Solomon, which sixty mighty men surround (as the Scriptures ^B say), lays down today its precious girdle in a sepulcher as if on a royal litter, for the solace and restoration of all those who are despised as outcasts, and for the preservation and protection of all those who have true piety at heart.

O city of the King of the heavens, of which glorious things were spoken! In this your city, you have placed an august and adorable gift, namely your most sacred girdle, that it might be a truly potent fortification for all who truly believe, by which girdle, if our illustrious heads of the orthodox princes gird and arm themselves, they most easily put the hostile ^C attack to flight.

Distill, O mountains, now sweetness, and, O hills, eternal gladness; O tribes of the patriarchs and all the choirs of the martyrs, the assembly of the prophets, the venerable company of the divine apostles, rejoice with us all at the deposition of the divine girdle of the Mother of God.

You have gladdened all things whatsoever by your holy childbirth, O all-holy Virgin, and now you have given us your most sacred girdle as a greater illumination, at the deposition of which all the earth dances and honors you ^D who fill the human race with ineffable joy.

From the deceitful friendship of the passions and of the enemy that tempts me daily by the burden of sins and grievous, slothful abandonment, O all-immaculate one, and from captivity and plunder, deliver, O compassionate and chaste one, me who have fled to your mercy, for you are compassionate, O Virgin, show mercy.

CANON VI OF SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER ON THE AKATHIST HYMN TO THE MOST HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

^A The acrostich is: *To you, O vessel of joy, it belongs to rejoice alone. Joseph.*

Ode 1. The great archangel Gabriel, when he beheld you, O chaste one, as the living book of Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, cried out to you: Rejoice, O vessel of joy, through whom the curse of our first parent is abolished. Rejoice, O restoration of Adam, O Virgin bride of God; rejoice, O destruction of Hades; rejoice, O all-immaculate one, palace of the only King; rejoice, O fiery throne of the Almighty.

Rejoice, O ever-blooming rose, who alone brought forth the fragrant apple; rejoice, who gave birth to the scent of the King of all; rejoice, O unwedded one, salvation of the world. ^B O treasure-house of purity, rejoice, through whom we have been raised from the fall; rejoice, O sweet-smelling lily, scenting the faithful, O Lady, most sweet incense, most precious myrrh.

Ode 3. Rejoice, O field that in no way knew the plow, from which the divine ear of corn germinated, as a land untilled; O living table, who contained the bread of life, rejoice; O inexhaustible spring of living water, O Lady.

Rejoice, O heifer, having brought forth the unblemished Calf to the faithful; rejoice, O ewe, having brought forth the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world; rejoice, O fervent propitiatory. ^C Rejoice, O shining dawn, who alone brought forth the Sun, Christ; O dwelling-place of light, rejoice, who dissolved the darkness and utterly diminished the gloomy demons.

Rejoice, O unique gate, through whom the Word alone passed, O ^D your... Christ God, deliver us from all calamities, and have mercy on us, for you alone are compassionate and lover of mankind. Thus it is there. And in the Bavarian library there exists a discourse on the day of the Akathist with this title: “A useful narrative collected from ancient history, and recalling to memory that unexpected miracle which occurred when the Persians and barbarians besieged this royal city, and perished, having experienced divine vengeance; but the city, remaining unharmed through the intercession of the Mother of God, sings every year from that time a hymn of thanksgiving, calling that day the Akathist, as one without sitting.”

^A breaking the bars and gates of Hades by your birth-giving, O Lady; rejoice, divine entrance of those who are being saved, O all-praised one.

Ode 4.

Rejoice, O propitiation of the world, O immaculate Lady; rejoice, O ladder that has raised all from earth by grace; rejoice, O bridge truly leading all who sing to you from death to life.

Rejoice, O one higher than the heavens, who carried the foundation of the earth in your womb without effort, O immaculate one; rejoice, O shell that dyed a divine purple from your own blood for the King of the Powers.

Rejoice, O Lady, who truly gave birth to the Lawgiver, who gratuitously blots out the iniquities of all; O incomprehensible depth, O ineffable height, O one who knew no marriage, through whom we have been deified.

We hymn you, who wove a crown for the world not made by hands, crying out to you, Rejoice, O Virgin, the bulwark of all, and rampart, and fortification, and sacred refuge.

Ode 5.

Rejoice, O immaculate one, strength and fortress of men; place of the sanctification of glory, destruction of Hades, all-luminous bridal chamber; rejoice, O joy of the angels; rejoice, O help of those among the faithful who beseech you.

Rejoice, O Lady, fire-formed chariot of the Word, animate paradise, having in its midst the tree of life, the Lord, whose sweetness brings to life by faith those partaking of Him and those subject to corruption.

Strengthened by your power, we cry out to you with faith: rejoice, O city of the all-sovereign King, of whom glorious and ^B worthy-to-be-heard things are spoken clearly; O mountain untouched by the stonemason; rejoice, O immeasurable depth.

Rejoice, O immaculate one, spacious tent of the Word; shell that brought forth the divine pearl; rejoice, O all-admirable one, reconciliation of all who call you blessed, O Theotokos, at all times toward God.

Ode 6.

[alt-version omitted]

...original sin. Certainly, since no one doubts that the Mother of God was never even in the slightest degree touched by the stain of an actual venial sin, I cannot understand how anyone nevertheless contends that she was defiled by a far worse stain, namely, the original one. ^D May it support the conception of the Blessed Virgin. That every stain be absolutely taken away from the Blessed Virgin, who was of the divine Word

^A causes of deification for all, rejoice, O most pure one; rejoice, resounding echo of the prophets, and exultation of the apostles.

From you the dew distilled that quenched the flame of polytheism; wherefore we cry to you: Rejoice, dewy fleece, O Virgin, which Gideon foresaw.

Lo, we cry to you, Rejoice: be to us a harbor as we sail, and a bulwark in the sea of tribulations, and an enemy to all scandals.

Cause of joy, grace our mind that we may cry to you: Rejoice, unburnt bush, all-luminous cloud, which incessantly overshadows the faithful.

Ode 7. With voices of praise we cry to you: Rejoice, chariot of the intelligible sun, true vine that has produced the ripe grape, from which flows wine gladdening the souls of those who glorify you faithfully.

Having brought forth the healer of men, rejoice, Bride of God, mystical rod, unfading flower, which blossomed forth. ^B

(35) What then? If St. Joseph expressly writes that the Blessed Virgin had no stain, does one rightly infer from his words that there was some stain in her, namely, of original sin, by which the sons of Adam are made sons of wrath, thralls of the devil, and servants of hell?

(34) It is said that the Blessed Virgin is like a fleece, which, though it be of the body, yet knows not the passion of the body; so the Blessed Virgin, though she was of the body of sin, that is, of the sinful mass, was nevertheless immune from the passion of this body, especially from the contraction of original sin. Blessed Jerome favors this in a sermon on the Assumption, when, speaking of Mary, he says: "To others it is granted by parts, but into Mary poured the whole fullness of grace, which is in Christ, though in a different way." For this is what David sings: *He shall come down like rain upon a fleece* (Ps. LXXI, 6): for the fleece, though it is of the body, knows not the passion of the body. So far he. Catharinus, citing his words in his *Tractatus de conceptione* for the Synod of Trent, part 11, says: "Note," he says, "how excellently it is compared to the fleece, which, although it is of the body, yet knows not the passion of the body. What is this, but that, even though Mary was of the body of sin, that is, of the sinful mass, yet, like the fleece, she did not experience the passion of the body? Such was Gideon’s fleece even before the rain descended upon it, and the dew of the eternal cloud, that is, the Son of the Highest, lest you happen to say that this is understood after the conception of the Son: for even the angel, in greeting her, already declares her full of grace beforehand." Thus Catharinus.

William Filiatrus, Bishop of Toul, also favors this in the Office of the Order of the Golden Fleece or of the Blessed Virgin, under the figure of the Fleece of Dew and the Victory of Gideon, published in the year 1458, and approved in his Valentinianian assemblies in Hainaut, while in a hymn at Vespers he sings thus of the most Blessed Virgin:

*White wool in holiness, lacking the stain of sin,* *Most clear in chastity, rule of the humbled,* *This fleece without injury, filled with the divine seed,* *Is dyed, and becomes purple with the stream of the Son's blood.*

And while in the same place, lesson v, he speaks thus: "There descended, therefore, like rain into the fleece, rendering the pure Virgin purer, by assuming from her flesh most pure, though like to a sinner." ^C

(35) Was she saved by Him, lest she should fall into the infirmity of original sin? For to whom could He more congruously exhibit this medicine of preservation than to His Mother? Hence Bernardinus de Busto, sermon 6 on the Conception, part 1, says regarding our subject: "Constantinus Africanus says in the first *Pratica Pantegni* on the regimen of health, ch. on the Deputation of those to be ruled in health, that the intention of physicians is nothing but about preserving health, according to Galen at the beginning of his book *De diversa intentione medicorum*, who says: 'The intention and will of physicians is nothing but in governing health.' For he showed that the ultimacy of medicine is nothing other than the custody of health. For the ancients said that it is better to preserve health than to resist diseases: because health is found in the healthy, but is absent from the infirm. And it is better to preserve a thing that is found than to seek what is not found. For the custody of health is prior to the cure of infirmity, since man is naturally healthy, and health is the temperament of the body. So far he. With these things presupposed, I infer thus: Christ, as a good physician, came into the world to procure the salvation of men, and therefore is called the Samaritan by the Master of the *Sentences* at the beginning of book 4, curing the wounds of original and actual sin. But good physicians use a triple medicine, according to the Philosopher in the *Ethics*, namely, preservative, conservative, and curative, of which the more excellent is the preservative, namely, to hinder one from falling into infirmity. Therefore, He ought to have exhibited this medicine to His Mother, by preserving her, lest she should fall into the infirmity of original sin, which indeed He could do, because whatever God can remove from anyone, He can also prohibit from being infused, because it is easier for a thing to be suspended, or preserved, than for what is already induced to be taken away. 1. *Patre furioso*, ff. *De his qui sunt*, etc. But original sin can be removed in many ways, especially by the baptism of water, or of spirit, or of blood, as the Master declares in 4, d. 4, and is remitted by His grace, according to that to the Romans III: *Justified freely by His grace* (Rom. III, 24). Therefore, He could also prohibit it, so that it would not be infused into His blessed Mother, which He did, and thus He exhibited the more worthy medicine of salvation." So far Bustus, *l.c.* ^D

^A having blossomed forth after the manner of the incorruptible; rejoice, O Lady, through whom we are filled with joy and receive the inheritance of life.

The tongue is insufficient, O Lady, when it speaks to praise thee; for thou art exalted above the Cherubim, having brought forth Christ the King, whom thou shouldst beseech to deliver now from every harm all those who worship thee with faith.

The ends of the earth praise thee with illustrious laudation and cry out to thee: Rejoice, the volume in which the Word of the Father is written by His finger, O chaste Theotokos, whom thou shouldst beseech to write thy servants in the book of life.

We thy servants beseech thee, and we bow the knee of our hearts; incline thy ear, O purest one, and save us who are submerged in the abyss of tribulations, and guard thy city, O Theotokos, from every assault of the enemy ^B.

Ode 8. Thou didst receive in thy womb the Word, thou didst bear the One who carries all things, thou didst nourish with milk Him who with His nod nourisheth the entire world, O chaste one, to whom we sing: Praise the Lord, all ye works, and superexalt Him unto all ages.

Moses perceived in the bush the great mystery of thy birth-giving; the children most clearly prefigured this, standing in the midst of the fire and not being consumed, O inviolate and holy Virgin; wherefore we praise thee unto all ages.

Once stripped by deceit, we have been clothed with the robe of immortality through thy child-bearing; and we who sat in the darkness of transgressions have looked upon the light, O Maiden, dwelling-place of Light; wherefore we praise thee unto all ages.

The dead are brought to life through thee; for thou hast brought forth Life, which is subsistent; the dumb suddenly become eloquent, lepers are cleansed, diseases are driven away, the multitudes of aerial spirits are defeated, O Virgin, salvation of mortals ^C.

Thou who brought forth salvation to the world, through whom we were raised from earth to the heights, rejoice, O all-blessed one, protection and bulwark, wall and rampart of those who sing to thee, O chaste one: Praise the Lord, all ye works, and superexalt Him unto all ages.

Ode 9. That we the faithful may cry out "Rejoice" to thee, who hast become for us the partaker of eternal joy, deliver us from temptation, from barbarian assault, and from every other plague which, due to the multitude of transgressions, is wont to come upon mortals who sin, O Maiden ^D.

Thou hast appeared as our illumination and confirmation, wherefore we cry out to thee: Rejoice, O star that sets not, which brought into the world the great Sun; rejoice, O chaste one, who openedst the sealed Eden; rejoice, O pillar of fire, who didst lead the human race into the life above.

Let us stand devoutly in the house of our God and cry out: Rejoice, Lady of the world; rejoice, Mary, La-

- ^A dy of all of us; rejoice, the only blameless among women and beautiful; rejoice, vessel that received the ointment poured out and inexhaustible upon you.

The dove who gave birth to the Merciful One, rejoice, Ever-Virgin; rejoice, the boast of all the holy, the crown of the athletes, rejoice, the divine adornment of all the just, and the salvation of us faithful.

Spare, O God, your inheritance, and forgive all our sins, looking now to this, having her, who without seed bore you on earth through great mercy when you willed to be fashioned, Christ, in a way foreign to nature, to beseech you for us.

To the All-Holy Theotokos, Canon VII, whose acrostic is: With six modes, I, Joseph, offer a song to the Theotokos.

Ode I

By the evil counsel of the foe, the first mother brought death into the world; but you, O most pure one, having given birth to Life, have restored us who were dead through corruption.

Falling into errors and defiled by carnal stains, I take refuge in you, who are truly pure and spotless; O chaste one, be a helper to your servant.

Heal the grievous passions of my heart, O Theotokos, and still the terrible surging of my unstable thoughts by your intercession before God, O Lady.

Ode III

O you who alone are by nature compassionate, O Word, who for me emptied yourself on the Cross through the bowels of your mercy, have pity and save me through her who gave birth to you.

Having become the temple of God by the divine birth, ^B of your own will unto… ^{C D}

^A most grievous passions have I slipped; therefore, I beseech you, O Lady, Temple of God, help me. Chosen bridal chamber of the Lord, make me an heir of the heavenly bridal chamber by your divine protection, as I honor you daily with longing in that sacred chamber.

Ode 4

Wipe away, O Immaculate and Pure one, with the drops flowing from the side of your Son, the filth of my passions and the terrible stains of my heart, O Maid, and illumine me with your light. Be to me, you who gave birth to the Way itself, a straight way; a way that may lead me into the paths of salvation; for I slip daily through evil error. ^B Pour forth drops of compunction into my heart, O Maiden, who gave birth to the fountain of life, and still the outpourings of my sufferings. Holy Lady, you who gave birth to the most holy Word, grant sanctification to my soul, and deliver my life from the storms of temptation.

Ode 5

As you have had a strange birth, make me—who have become strange to God through sin—akin to Him, estrange me from sin, and make me akin to the Merciful one, O Virgin, by your intercession. As Daniel once saw you as a mountain, shining brightly ^C with the rays of virginity, from which was hewn the stone that crushes the idols of error by the power of divinity. Injured by the invasions of cruel robbers in my soul, and half-dead on the way of this life, and placed in grave danger, visit me, O Word, through her who gave birth to you.

Ode 6

Cleanse with the cross of your Son my unhappy soul, which brings forth harmful thoughts, O venerable rod, from whom the Lord, the wood of life, has sprouted for us. Bring me out from the beast of sin, as you ^D brought Jonah out from the belly of the whale, O Word, who are endowed with much mercy, through the intercession of her who in her womb purely contained you, the Incomprehensible by nature, O most merciful one. Lord, my wicked sins have multiplied beyond the sand of the seas; as you possess

the ocean of mercies, turn back and save me, O Word, through the intercessions of her who bore you. ^A

Ode 7.

Ode 8.

Ode 9.

VIII Into the most holy Mother of God, Canon VIII, whose acrostic is: "The eighth is a petition to the Virgin." Joseph.

Ode 1.

^A Since you alone have been the glory of the faithful; therefore, make me a partaker of future glory by your intercessions, you who celebrate you, O immaculate, all-blameless Lady.

Blessed is the fruit of your womb, O all-blameless one, through whom all mortals were freed from the curse; blessed, all-immaculate one, O inexplicable miracle, incomprehensible spectacle, and the salvation of all mortals.

The host of angels, O Lord, a gathering of the disciples, the assembly of prophets, your martyrs and holy ones, always entreat you: through the Theotokos, grant us the forgiveness of our sins, as you are the lover of mankind.

To you who received the unbearable fire within your womb, O immaculate one, I pray with faith: deliver me from Gehenna, and free me from the punishment laid up for me because of the multitude of my transgressions, by your most acceptable prayers. ^B

Ode 3. Having fallen from the holy life, O immaculate one, I have been compared to the beasts and have become entirely condemned; you who gave birth to the Judge, deliver me from all condemnation and save me.

Grant me, O Maiden, unceasing sighs, and soulful tears, and continuous compunction, that I may lament the passions that have grown in me because of my negligence, O you who are filled with divine grace.

Heavenly ranks, ministering spirits, the assembly of your prophets, apostles, and your martyrs, together with her who gave birth to you, beseech you, O merciful one, to grant your people the forgiveness of sins. ^C

As one who is compassionate, O immaculate one, entreat the compassionate one that he may deem me worthy of divine mercy; and since I have acquired callous and unsympathetic ways, call me back now to ways of repentance.

(43) This title, "immaculate," when it is joined with the conception itself, puts forth all its power and signifies the plenitude of purity, excluding every stain, whether actual or original; signifying more nobly the exclusion of original stain in the conception joined to the Virgin, than if it were joined to the conception itself. It indicates the origin and the font whence it comes about that the conception is immaculate and alien to every stain, namely grace, which inheres in the soul of the Virgin. For the Virgin is not immaculate by the power of her conception, but by the benefit of God infusing grace into her at the very moment of conception. Wherefore (to speak in the scholastic manner) this causal proposition is true: because the soul of the Virgin is immaculate at the moment of conception, the conception itself is immaculate, not conversely. To this, the Virgin is immaculate ^D intrinsically through grace and the lack of stain inherent in her; the conception is immaculate, however, only extrinsically by denomination from the purity which is in the Virgin. For the conception can neither intrinsically possess grace nor guilt, but is called holy from the holiness of the soul, while it is called immaculate, on the one hand, from the infection of the seed due to debt and as it were radically, and formally from the stain inherent to the soul, all of which are extrinsic to the conception itself. Purity of conception, therefore, is signified more nobly by joining it with the Virgin. See Calderon, On the title of an immaculate conception, chap. 5, no. 197. (44) Could the Virgin have been lacking the stain of original sin? Does it not appear wondrous, that while no one doubts the Mother of God was never even lightly touched by actual sin, there should nevertheless be some who wish her to have been fouled by a far uglier stain? Is he so holy, so unstained, so set apart from sinners, who long ago imprinted the marks of holiness on his people, sacrifice, temple, priests, throne, and other bare images and shadows of his future palace—is it credible that he did not spare this very palace, namely the Mother of God the Word to be enfleshed, from the detestable stain of sin congenitally ours? And in those things far removed from himself, and which were to pass away like smoke, he was nevertheless curious for the highest purity, yet neglected the bond with his Mother, the closest, most intimate, and eternal union of all? Did he allow it to be exposed to the insults of abominable filth, the one he had chosen for himself as Mother? Did he allow his flesh to be once subject to the devil, which he was thereafter to join with himself forever? See Ludovic. Janin, S.J., In the crown of the most august Virgin Mother of God, tract 1, excellent. 7.

Ode 4

Ode 5

Ode 6

^A I beseech you, O Ever-Virgin, that you deign to deliver me from their rule.

Ode 7. By your ineffable birth, O Theotokos, you have made us worthy of things ineffable and full of holy fear. Therefore, deliver me from the dreadful punishment, and make me worthy of ineffable joy, that I may always praise you who are worthy of all praise.

I have spent my life in total sloth, and have remained fruitless; I fear the judgment and the unquenchable fire of Gehenna. O Virgin, who brought forth the fire that consumes what is incorruptible, stand by me and deliver me from the fire through your intercession.

The great miracle of your childbirth transcends all other miracles; therefore I cry out to you: O chaste Virgin, Mother of God, perform your mercies upon me, and deliver me from the coming wrath, and save me.

I, who have lived in neglect and have overlooked your holy laws and all your venerable commandments, O Savior, have mercy on me and save me through her who bore you, as a beneficent God full of mercy. ^B

Ode 8. Quicken my deadened soul, raise up the fallen, heal my wounded soul; bring peace to my mind, quiet the waves of temptations, O Virgin, and save me as I cry: "Bless the Lord, you children; priests, praise him; O people, highly exalt Christ forever."

Like the thief I cry to you: "Remember me, O Lover of mankind." I weep as the harlot, and I cry to you: "I have sinned," as the prodigal did of old. Accept me in my repentance and despair, through the Theotokos, so that I may sing with readiness: "Bless the Lord, you priests; O people, highly exalt Christ forever." ^C

Suppliantly we cry to you, O Theotokos, worthy of all praise, together with the countless intellectual powers, the martyrs, the venerable ones, the apostles, and the prophets; make intercession for all who sing with faith unto God: "Bless the Lord, you priests; O people, highly exalt Christ forever."

Ode 9. O divine couch of Solomon, which sixty valiant men now surround—that is, the words of divine Scripture—in which the Word rested: keep me, who am constantly shaken by myriads of demons, unharmed by your power, O chaste Ever-Virgin. ^D

O you who poured forth divine sweetness, having brought forth the Sweetness of all, by your honey make sweet my soul that was poisoned by the sting of the serpent; always keeping me apart from the bitterness of sin through your mediation, O unashamed protection of the faithful.

O Sun of glory, Jesus, enlighten my wretched soul with the pleadings of the chaste divine maiden who bore you, and of the incorporeal ministers.

^A of your apostles, hierarchs, prophets, and glorious martyrs, and your holy ones.

I tremble, O only King, at your second coming and I fear, being wholly condemned and destitute; therefore, before the end arrives, I cry out to you: Through her who bore you, spare and save me, O compassionate, good, and lover of mankind.

44 IX.

In the most holy Theotokos, Canon IX, Paracleticus.

Ode 1. O most holy, wholly immaculate and pure one, who beyond the mode of nature did bring forth the Word of God, who is superior to all holiness, sanctify and govern all, and cleanse me from my passions, and deliver me with all speed from the imminent peril.

*Theotocion.* O patronage of all the faithful, assist and aid me, who am beset by the troubles of life, nor permit me to be agitated and crushed by its immoderate waves; but stretch out the hand of your aid, I beseech you, O maiden.

Ode 3. O pure fountain, from which Christ flowed forth, irrigate my soul, which is scorched by the heat of all the passions, and save me from the imminent troubles.

*Theotocion.* O pure Virgin, patronage of all, which is not confounded, protect me, and deliver me from the works of confusion, I beseech you, and from men who ever study to bring evil upon me.

45 Ode 4. I entreat, O Lady, your goodness, aid me, while tribulations and temptations invade me, and with a most grievous tempest agitate my heart.

*Theotocion.* Do not despise me who am tossed by the tempest; do not abandon me who am surrounded and assiduously worn down by calamities, O Theotokos, help of the faithful.

Ode 5. From horrid inquiry and condemnation, from wicked men, who harass me for nothing, and from every anguish that invades me, deliver me, ^B your useless servant, who entreats you with fervent affection, O most chaste one.

*Theotocion.* Grant me, O Lady, showers of tears by which the filth of my miserable heart may be washed away, and deliver me from the imminent perils, that I may always magnify you with joy, O most dear to God.

Ode 8. As one who received the divine rain, dry up by your intercessions the floods of my offenses, and diminish the showers of temptations, and save me.

*Theotocion.* O pure Lady, who exceed the heavens in amplitude, deliver ^C us, your suppliants, from all anguish; and in tribulation console all with good enlargement, that we may beatify you with due praises.

Ode 9. O Lady Virgin, snatch me from the mire of sin, in which I am fixed; and deliver me, who am in danger, from the temptations of adversaries and wicked men, who harass me for nothing and grievously invade me.

*Theotocion.* You who are the dwelling-place of light, O most immaculate one, quickly expel the darkness of my soul and the mists of temptations, and save me from the impending evils, I beseech you, while I faithfully praise you.

^D (45) The Greek is missing. Ed. — This canon of Joseph is not only to the holy Theotokos, but also to Michael the prince of the heavenly host, and the holy Acindyni and the holy Nicholas. But those things which were not pertinent to the Blessed Virgin, as they did not belong here, were purposely omitted. It is taken however from a certain ms. of the library of Crypta Ferrata under number 93, whose title is: Canones Anastasimi and Stauroanastasimi and Anabathmi of the Eight Tones, First Mode, in which book there are many other canons of the same Joseph, from which I have adduced the Theotocia above.

(46) The total immaculacy of the B. Virgin cannot consistently cohere with any stain, at whatever instant or time this stain might be contracted, and therefore it is to be tenaciously and necessarily held that St. Joseph, while he saluted the Theotokos as wholly immaculate, believed that she had been defiled by no stain of sin, even in the first instant.

(47) What is it for the Theotokos to be most immaculate, unless she surpassed all those descending from Adam by natural generation in cleanliness, purity, and the lack of any stain whatsoever? But if the stain of original sin were admitted in the B. Virgin, many of the descendants of Adam would not be surpassed by the B. Virgin in regard to the lack of sin in cleanliness and purity: for all innocent infants, who die after baptism before they arrive at the use of reason, and as many adults of perfect judgment and reason who have completed the whole course of their life, provided they are cleansed from original sin by the laver of regeneration, would be as equally immaculate as the most blessed Virgin; for they are equal regarding the lack of actual sin, nor would the most blessed Virgin differ from them in immunity from original taint. Whence it is deduced that the B. Virgin, regarding the impurity of sin, does not surpass the rest descending from Adam by any special privilege, nor is she truly and generally hailed by St. Joseph and other Fathers as most immaculate.

THEOTOCIA

OR DEIPARA’S STROPHES

47 THEOTOCIA (48), OR DEIPARA’S STROPHES From the Greek Menæa (49).

^A MONTH OF JANUARY From the Canon for the Vigil of the Epiphany, and for the commemoration of Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome, on the 2nd day.

That He might unite things below with things above and with heavenly things, God, the only Lord of all, entered a womb that knew no wedlock, and appearing in the likeness of flesh, the middle wall of enmity...

^B (48) P. Ludovicus Marracius, my brother, culled these from the printed Greek Menæa, from the manuscript Menæa of the monastery of Grottaferrata, and from many Greek manuscript codices of the most famous Barberini library—in which there exist under the name of our Joseph many canons that are lacking in the Menæa printed in Greek only—and translated them from Greek into the Latin tongue. The reader should know that almost all Greek canons, hymns, and odes written for any saint whatsoever are closed with some significant apostrophe to the Mother of God. The Greeks call these refrains of their hymns *Theotocia*, as if one were to say "Deipara’s [Mother of God’s] strophes." Others write *Theotoclia*, incorrectly, since in Greek there is no X, but a K. Now, since our Joseph composed almost innumerable canons, hymns, and odes concerning the saints, an almost infinite crop of praises to the Virgin arises from them, which, spread across almost all the pages of the Menæa, I here display collected together for the reader, in order to instill and cherish tender affections toward the great Mother of God.

(49) The Menæa are nothing other than the twelve small volumes of the Greek Church, in which are contained various praises to God, the Deipara, and the saints for each individual day of the individual months, accustomed to be chanted in the Greek temples during the divine offices; and P. Simon Vuagnereck in his *Mariana Pietate Græcorum* in the Prolegomena, n. 9, considers that in the Roman tongue these twelve tomes of the Menæa are not inappropriately to be called "monthly books," just as Plautus in the *Captivi* called them "monthly feasts." These twelve tomes, however—manuscripts sent from the Greeks to Venice—were printed there about fifty years ago in Greek only, for the more convenient use of the churches of Greece: for by that time even to the Greeks themselves, the long-standing squalor of those manuscript codes had begun to be a nuisance; the books of the Latin Church, cultivated by the art of typography, were everywhere more attractive. Speaking of these Menæa, Leo Allatius in his work *De libris Eccles. Græc. Dissert.* 1, page 78, says among other things: "Each month fills its own volume, in which is digested the Office of one or more saints for each day, whose solemnity is celebrated on that day. Namely: the Troparia are in the first and second Vespers, the Mass and Canons in the Matins, and other divine Offices to be recited, among which are the Synaxaria, that is, a succinct oration of the deeds performed by those saints whose day is being observed; ^C likewise the commemoration of other saints, even if a special Office for them is not held, and that is done either in prose or in verse, and thus they are called Menæa from the month."

Most people, being less accurate in ecclesiastical matters, confuse these with the Menologia, which it is manifest are entirely different. For Menologia (as the same Leo adds below) are nothing other than what a Latin would call Martyrologies or Calendars, and nothing else is contained in them except the Lives of saints, set forth summarized for each day throughout the whole year, or, for those whose lives are not had, a commemoration, and no series for ordering or reciting an Office is contained therein. Yet it is true that very often a part of these Menologia—and not the smallest part—is digested in the Menæa among the canons after the sixth ode, so that without the help of another book, he who recites the office in church or at home may have from where he can read the little histories and commemorations of the saints who are to be celebrated. This Menologium among the Greeks is not one, but according to the opportunity of time, it assumes a varied form: for one thing is what Canisius presented to us in Latin only, from the version of Cardinal Sirleti, in his *Antiquis Lectionibus*; another is that which is kept separately here and there, still manuscript in libraries, and most especially in the Barberini library, which is also the most ancient; these do not all correspond to one another. Another is that which is inserted into the Greek Menæa; another is that which is read after the divine Hours, the Gospel, the Apostle, and other books. A Menologium exhumed from the Greek Menæa, and translated into the Greek vernacular by Maximus Margunius...