Cosmas the Vestitor

SERMON ON SS. JOACHIM AND ANNE

BEATI COSMAE VESTITORIS IN SS. JOACHIMUM ET ANNAM GLORIOSOS DEI GENITRICIS MARIAE PARENTES SERMO.

(Ex codice Vaticano n. 458 edidit Ant. Ballerini in Sylloge monumentorum ad mysterium Conceptionis immaculata Virginis Deipara illustrandum. Romæ, 1856.)

Eulogēson, Pater.

^A A'. Ἡ χθὲς τῆς Θεοτόκου γενεθλιακὴ πανήγυρις τῆς κοσμικῆς χαρᾶς ἡμῖν τὴν ἑορτὴν εὐφήμοις ἐστεφανώκειν ὑμνωδίαις· Ἡ δὲ σήμερον ἡμέρα τὴν εὐχαριστίαν τοῖς γεννήτορσι προσφέρει τῆς Θεοτόκου, δι' ὧν ἀπαρχὴ τῆς πάντων γέγονεν σωτηρίας. Τοίνυν τῆς θυγατρός ἐστιν ἡ τῶν γονέων πανήγυρις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ δόξῃ μητρὸς συνδοξάζεται τέκνον, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ εὐλογίᾳ τέκνου συνδοξάζεται μήτηρ. Ἦν οὖν ἡ χθὲς ἡμέρα θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν· καὶ ἡ σήμερον εὐφροσύνη μνήμη δικαίων μετ' ἐγκωμίων.

Benedic, Pater.

I. Hesterna illa Deiparae natalitia festivitas, communis universo mundo dies gaudii, faustissimis laudibus nobis coronavit. Hodierna vero dies grati animi canticum offert Dei Matris genitoribus; per quos communis omnium salutis primitiae in lucem prodierunt. Erit quidem festum filiae festum est parentum. Quemadmodum enim ex gloria matris simul glorificatur proles, sic et ex prolis laudatione simul glorificatur mater. Fuit igitur hesterna dies mirabilis in oculis nostris, hodierna vero lætitia memoriam justorum cum laude celebrat.

^B Β΄. Ἐγένετο ἐν τοῖς πάλαι καιροῖς ἀνὴρ δίκαιος ἐκ φυλῆς Ἰούδα, ᾧ ὄνομα Ἰωακείμ· ἀνὴρ ἔνδοξος ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ· ἀνὴρ ἐπίσημος ἐν εὐγενείᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ· ἀνὴρ ἁπλόψυχος ἐν προσαγωγαῖς θυσιῶν· ἀνὴρ ἐν πᾶσιν εὐάρεστος τῷ Θεῷ· ἀνὴρ ἐπιθυμιῶν τῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος· ὅτιπερ ἄτεκνος ὢν καὶ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ περὶ τέκνου συνεχόμενος, τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος γεγέννηκεν νύμφην· ἀνὴρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐπιτυγχάνων, ὅτιπερ εἰσήκουσεν ὁ Θεὸς τῶν εὐχῶν αὐτοῦ, δωρησάμενος τούτῳ τὴν ὑπὲρ πάντα τὰ σκηνώματα Ἰακώβ, λέγειν δὲ μᾶλλον, τὴν ὑπὲρ ὅλα τὰ πλήγματα τῶν ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων ὑψηλοτέραν ἀξίως θυγατέρα. Ἄννα, ἐκ τῆς βασιλικῆς καὶ αὐτὴ φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα, τοῦ Δαβὶδ καταγομένη γυνή, παντὸς ἀπεχομένη κακοῦ, γυνὴ πιστῶς τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν συνοικοῦσα τῷ ἀνδρί· γυνὴ προσευχαῖς, καὶ νηστείαις, καὶ προσφοραῖς μεγαλοδώροις, σὺν τῷ ἰδίῳ συμβίῳ, τῷ ναῷ ^C

II. Fuit in prisca illa aetate vir justus ex tribu Judae, cui nomen Joachim; vir sanctitate ac justitia celebris; vir nobilitate et divitiis insignis; vir in sacrificiorum oblatione sincere pius; vir in cunctis studens Deo bene placere; vir desideriorum, quae sunt ex Spiritu: quandoquidem cum liberorum expers esset, ac desiderio prolis teneretur, sancti Spiritus sponsam genuit, vir votorum suorum felicissime compos, quoniam preces ejus exaudivit Deus, eique illam dono dedit, quae praestat super omnia tabernacula Jacob, seu melius dixerim, filiam dedit, quae supra universas creaturas coelestes juxta ac terrestres merito extollitur. Anna, ex regia et ipsa tribu Judae, quippe quae e Davide originem ducebat; mulier ab omni malo abstinens; mulier, in iis quae ad Dei cultum pertinent, fideli viro suo comes; mulier in precibus, et jejuniis, et splendidissimis oblationibus cum conjuge suo, in templo

God. She persevered; a woman who, through concord of soul and temperance of body, always shone with the same wisdom as her husband. For according to the formation of him who was given to her as a spouse by God, she preserved ^A that bone of the man without injury, keeping for him the conjugal affection intact on account of the love of God.

IV. For she was not turned to the harm of her husband, as was Eve; but she stood by him as a helpmate, both in the exercise of virtues and in prayers poured out daily to God. For both spouses insisted with equal zeal in their prayers regarding the desire for offspring, even as a husbandman together with his wife, diligently cultivating hard soil, while they scatter the seed, await the expectation of obtaining a rich fruit through their petitions. Not as Eve did she live with her husband, but as a companion in works acceptable to God, and working together with him in spiritual good deeds; and as a truly good portion for the man, she brought forth the fruit of marriage. And in truth, Eve, because of the fruit of the tree, became the agent of sorrow for the whole world; but Anna, the wife of Joachim, because of the fruit of her womb, was a joy to the Creator.

V. Furthermore, it is known to all that the blessed message concerning Mary, ^B the Theotokos, was brought in Galilee of the Gentiles, in the house of Joseph the carpenter, who had been given as a spouse to the Virgin to elude the machinations of the devil. But it is again clear that she gave birth to Christ in Bethlehem; since this very city, when counting by the mother's side, was also her fatherland, as the discourse will demonstrate below; for her paternal house was in Jerusalem, which enclosed the Probatica, as it was commonly called, the pool in which Christ our God healed the paralytic lying there for thirty-eight years, commanding him to rise; as one who was allegorically to go forth from that house as the shepherd of rational sheep. Then, also, in the pool of that water, we know the grace of baptism was symbolically expressed; for the sickness of long-standing error, which had weakened the souls of men with a kind of paralysis, as happens in the members of the body, was healed by the purifying Spirit through water; just as also in the figure ^C of Bethlehem we discern Him who is the fermented spiritual bread of life. There also Christ was shown under the appearance of an angel to Abraham, He who likewise wrestled with Jacob in the form of an angel. For He Himself is the one who came to evangelize those who are far off and those who are near; He Himself is the Gospel of righteousness of the Probatica.

^A He is the one who bears the declaration of God and the Father through angels; He is the Angel of the Great Council, to whom the Father, having become a counselor, said: "Let us make man according to our image and likeness." He is also the bread of true life, proclaimed by the name of Bethlehem; for Bethlehem is interpreted as the "House of bread"; it is the bread baked in the tent of Abraham, that is, the bread leavened in mystery, which is to say, the life-bearing flesh of the Savior born of the Virgin and Theotokos Mary.

VI. It is therefore fitting to say for these reasons: The Lord blessed the house of David the king because of his great-granddaughter and life-bearing, Mary. He blessed the house of the righteous Joachim and Anna because of their sanctified daughter. He blessed the house of Joseph because of the bride merely entrusted to him in a legal sense, the truly pure and ever-virgin Mother of Christ and Theotokos Mary. Hence, because of these things, the parents of the Mother of God are thrice-blessed, to whom the whole world owes a debt: the prophets, because through them it was truly manifested concerning the incarnation of Christ; the apostles, because through their daughter they were reborn as sons of light; the holy martyrs, because they were crowned; the devout and righteous, as heirs of future goods; the sinners, as those obtaining mercy through the intercessions of the Theotokos.

VII. To whom we also cry out gratefully: Hail, most venerable father of our hope after God, Joachim; glory be to your loins. Hail, most honorable mother of the mother of our life, Anna; glory be to your womb. Hail, father, sower of goodness, and husbandman of the manifold produce. Hail, mother, fruit-bearing root of our salvation. Hail, father, tender of the vine that brings forth an abundant grape. Hail, mother, field of good earth yielding a hundredfold. Hail, father, planter of the living paradise. Hail, mother, tree of the blameless branch. Hail, father, shell of the spotless pearl. Hail, mother, rock of the pure emerald. Hail, father, channel of the life-giving fountain. Hail, mother, jar for the thirst of bearing offspring. ^C Our mouth is filled with praising the excellences of your holiness; but we are not able to praise your God-coupled pair, unless we bless both of you according to the voice of your grandson according to the flesh, Christ, and say: Rejoice and [pair] ^D and ... [alt-version omitted]

your reward is in heaven. For you are those who were reproached for your barrenness, and heard wicked words. But having rejoiced after a little while at the bearing of children, it is enough for your praise that you have begotten the Mother of God. Exult, for the reward is the fruit of your womb. For in truth, as being worthy, the righteous parents of the Theotokos were preordained to be kin to Christ according to the flesh, and as being of a notable lineage—I mean royal and priestly—to be honored. For from both the Theotokos is genealogized, the two tribes having been intermixed from the beginning in various ways.

VIII. Further, concerning the parents of the Theotokos, one may add this. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, had a brother, a fellow priest, called Aggaeus, who had died before him. Joseph the carpenter took the daughter of this Aggaeus in marriage; by her he begat four sons and two daughters. Of these, one was James, called the brother of Christ, who was also the first bishop of Jerusalem; the name of his wife was Salome, not the midwife, but another. But after her death, Joseph was betrothed ^B to Mary the Theotokos, who by her mother’s lineage took her origin from Mathan the priest, and he himself from Solomon, the son of David, as the Gospel according to Luke declares in its genealogy. For this Mathan had three daughters by his wife, Mary; whose names were Mary, Sobbe, and Anna. Mary, therefore, begat Salome the midwife; Sobbe begat Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist; but Anna begat the Theotokos Mary in Bethlehem, who was called Mary after her grandmother and aunt; so that Elizabeth was the niece of Anna ^C through her sister, and the cousin of the Theotokos. The Gospel confirms both of these, for both the paternal and fleshly lineage of Christ: "And," it says, "Jesus was beginning about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, of Heli, of Mathan"; and for the maternal lineage: "Behold," it says, "and Elizabeth thy kinswoman." For whose sake glory be to the condescension of God, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

APPENDIX TO COSMAS VESTITOR.

CANON FOR THE FEAST OF THE CONCEPTION OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS, WHOSE ACROSTIC FOLLOWS THE ALPHABET

^A ODE I. Anna, having received into her womb the innocent Virgin, the Child of God, who would become the Mother of the Creator, rejoiced and cried out, declaring: "All ye tribes of Israel, rejoice with me; for behold, I too have conceived." Holding in her womb the book, which the prophet foretold was sealed by the divine Spirit, Anna cried out to all: "I am magnified, for today I bring forth the one whom all the Scriptures reveal beforehand." The divine and saving temple is received and formed in the womb; in the mother’s entrails is planted the ladder, which shall lead all mortals back to the heavenly things; let us faithfully celebrate the festival of her conception.

^B ODE III. Joachimus, attending upon the Lord, receives from on high the longed-for message, as the angel stood by him and said: "Depart, the God of all, O righteous one, hath fulfilled thy petitions." Anna, calling upon the God of all while once standing in her garden, saw an angel standing by her and saying: "Do not despond. For thou art about to be the mother of the Mother of God." Emulating the Anna of old, thou didst offer prayers to God; and thou didst conceive in thy womb the one who, without seed, received the uncontainable Word, having graced us all with thy fruitfulness.

^C ODE IV. Thy womb, O Anna, formerly barren, hath been opened and hath received the heavenly cloud; from which for us...

APPENDIX TO COSMAS VESTITOR. CANON FOR THE FEAST OF THE CONCEPTION OF THE MOST HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. THE ACROSTIC OF WHICH FOLLOWS THE ALPHABET

^A A splendid sun, rising for us, has illuminated all with the radiance of truth, and has driven away the deep darkness of godlessness. The fire-formed throne of God is set within thy womb, O blessed Anne, called of God; in it He sat and rested, and He took away the labor of all who are pious, and established upon earth the pure knowledge of God. Behold the bed which Solomon prophesied, which thou hast received into thy womb, truly kept for the true King for the divine restoration of the race of mortals; therefore, O Anne, we the faithful joyfully call thee blessed.

ODE V. Joachimus descended from the mountain, not having received the tablets of the Law, but having obtained the one whom the Law prefigured, and whom all the prophetic predictions indicated, the immaculate Mother of God; and exulting he cried out: My heart is exalted. When Anne at last perceived that there was planted in her womb the fruit-bearing vine, from which bloomed the cluster that, having come to maturity, distills upon us wine—namely, immortality—in abundance, she exclaimed: What shall I return to Thee, O merciful Lord? Because Joachimus could not bear to see a sterile nature in piety, he poured out prayers that the sterility of Anne might be taken away, and that she might obtain that offspring from whom would be given that Son, the Highest, who makes all mortals sons to His own Father.

ODE VI. Magnifying the God of Israel, Anne cried out joyfully: The shadows of the Law pass away ^B; for behold, the splendor of divine grace appears, the Virgin, namely, that cloud from which the radiant sun of Divinity truly shines forth. When Anne heard the angel announcing that she would bring forth an infant, she said: A strange spectacle, if I, previously unfruitful and childless, have now conceived; hence she cried out: Happy is the good news, if the words shall be followed by fulfillment. When Anne perceived that she had conceived, she exclaimed: Let the mountains and hills, the plains and the sea, the multitude of angels and the whole race of mortals rejoice; for the divine temple of the Lord has taken its beginning for a new building.

ODE VII. The bush bearing fire, which Moses once saw on Sinai, Anne conceived in her womb, extinguishing the fire of childlessness, as later she would extinguish the impiety of those who chant: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers. In a wonderful manner, O Anne, there now flowed into thy bosom that drop which alone would receive within itself the water of life, bedewing those who in faith cry out to Him: Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers. As thou didst look upon the nest of the sparrows, thou wast lifted up in spirit; and through prayers thou didst acquire the immaculate ^C

dove, bearing the branch of the olive, Christ, who delivereth us from the spiritual flood.

ODE VIII. Anna once cried out: Why, O Lord, hast thou made my womb unfruitful, and my breasts dry, as thou didst foretell in the prophets? Release the reproach of my barrenness, and give me fruit, with which I shall cry out: Let every creature bless the Lord, and supremely exalt Him unto all ages. ^B Thy womb, O Anna, did the lampstand enter, which mystically received the divine lamp, pouring forth upon every spirit the light of divine knowledge with mystical torches; wherefore thou didst cry out with gladness: Let every creature bless the Lord, and supremely exalt Him unto all ages. ^C The glorious Joachim with Anna, a most noble pair of spouses, now beget a divine heifer, from whom the precious Calf shone forth, who was slaughtered for the sake of all, and therefore they sing together: Let every creature bless the Lord, and supremely exalt Him unto all ages.

ODE IX. Rejoice, all souls, and exult; now that earth has been refashioned, which without the plow beareth the life-bearing ear, from which all who eat shall never hunger, magnifying His goodness. ^D Take up the psaltery with the harp, O David, and sing: behold, the ark of God hath appeared, which thou didst foretell would be for a restoration, through which we have risen out of the fall. As two greatest stars, ye have brought forth the morning that is all-luminous, which shall bring forth the great Sun to the world; therefore we celebrate and glorify you, Joachim and Anna, as those possessed of a divine mind.

YEAR OF THE LORD 910. LEO PATRICIUS

NOTICE

LEO PATRICIUS ON GENESIS

EPITOME OF THE INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS FROM VARIOUS FATHERS, BY LEO PATRICIUS

Moses did not institute theology ^A because of the spiritual infancy of those people, but he states that the creation was made, lest men might hold it to be God. For this reason, he is silent about the creation of the angels, lest they should be deified; nor will you find an angel sent anywhere until Abraham.

Some say that the angels existed before the heaven and the earth; others, that they were created with them, since they are in a place, and cannot be shown to exist without a place; for they are circumscribed.

He does not teach that God made the waters at that time; but in the Sabbath, he says, because in six days the Lord God made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are in them.

If God created the light, he did not likewise create the darkness; for they are contrary; but they are not contraries, but light is a substance, while darkness is something accidental; for they are a casting of shade by heaven and earth; according to the pagans, the shadow of the earth.

The Spirit that was being borne [over] is the physical air existing above the waters, whose mobile and unstable nature the words "was being borne" and "above" clearly demonstrate. But that he says it is the Spirit of God, hear David: "He will blow with his Spirit," that is, with the Spirit of God, "and the waters shall flow" (Ps. CXLVII, 18). And: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Ps. XXIII, 1). And: "The heaven of heaven is the Lord's" (Ps. CXIII, 16). Some, however, understand this of the Holy Spirit; the word "was being borne," however, means that it was as if brooding over ^B the waters and vivifying them.

For this reason, it is added that God saw that they were good, lest any man should dare to find fault with what the divine sentence had pronounced "good."

There are two heavens: one made in the beginning, and another formed from the waters; so that one is from non-entities, and the other from things already existing.

That [command], "Praise, ye heavens of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens" (Ps. CXLVIII, 4), does not introduce a plurality of heavens; but the dialect of the Hebrews is not accustomed to express the words "heaven" and "water" in the singular; just as the Greeks do not use the singular for "Athens" and "Thebes"; and no one says "the city of Delphi," but "Delphi"; and so, in another passage, "the heaven of heaven" establishes the truth.