Isidore, Bishop of Thessalonica

- ^A of those things which existed before her, it would have been by divine counsel that they should exist through her. And indeed, those things which were before her existed through her; and they were, of course, those things which existed beyond measure, which were necessary for future generation, and she alone newly preceded her parents: so much so that the Virgin did not indulge in any of those things which happened to those living before her.

IV. But besides these things, she is also entirely different from all others. For what is there among all created things that approaches near to this admirable work of art, by whose beauty even the ^B Creator Himself was captivated, whence He also bound it to Himself by the closest kinship of all? For indeed, O thing greater than all admiration! He established that she should be His mother, as if thinking that the magnificence of that most innocent one could not be shown sufficiently in any other way, unless the highest relationship of all, namely the maternal, than which we know nothing closer or more honorable among men, should intervene between Him and her. ^C But that she also became a participant in our form, I would say that this was done for no other reason than that she might become a form of holiness and honesty for those with whom she had a common nature: so that just as we have been made planted together in the likeness of that blessed and divine image (for let it be permitted to me, with the kind indulgence of the excellent Paul, to use his words in this matter), so we might also be participants of His graces. Therefore, that this excellent work above the order of nature, that this image shining with new beauty, which proceeded to such a degree of glory that it was constructed as a golden dwelling worthy of God, that the Virgin, I say, was born on this day, this is ^D what we celebrate in a solemn assembly, we keep the feast of her Birthday, announcing to all the faithful the pre-eminent and august mystery, the nativity of the Virgin.

V. And now let us turn our mind to this mystery. When God had created all things, He pronounced them to be very good. Furthermore, He established man as the prince of all these visible and most beautiful things; and not only this, but He also made him superior to death and corruption, and he was also to attain the glory from which he fell through the envy of (the Devil), namely equality with God, as far as he who had been drawn from the mud was capable of it, provided he did not transgress the command imposed upon him. But when he, abandoning his Creator, had subjected himself to the seducer; naked, miserable, captive, alas! he lay prostrate, stripped of all his former nobility; and all those good things and...

very good, when they saw their own master, man, I say, with his hands bound as if behind his back, subjugated by the enemy, according to the sentence of the Lord which cannot be deceived, they had assumed a mournful habit in a way. For the earth, and the sea, and the crown of the stars, and the hills, and whatever else the Prophet invites to praise the Creator ^A, were already silent, and did not return hymns, just as a plectrum, I mean the tongue, is forced by violence to strike a lyre that is foreign. But even the heavens, those heralds of the glory of God, were languishing in idleness, and were forgetting to celebrate and recount the divine wonders. And finally, all good things had put off their beauty, since there was now no cause for them to show themselves as they were of old, after that interpreter, for whose sake they had heard themselves proclaimed good, was serving other affections.

VI.

Late at last, and after many cycles of the returning sun, that new man, the great and truly life-giving element, the heavenly dew, a vessel fit for receiving God, namely the most beautiful girl, the Virgin, shone into life; through whom man is indeed both freed from that calamity, and resumes his former dignity, and mocking his deceiver is established in a royal place, and with the same chains with which he had previously been bound as a slave, he now himself binds that same predator. Creatures, however, show their own beauty ^C again, and eloquently proclaim the magnificence of their Creator. For now they have found a hymnologist, and a wise interpreter of that knowledge which shines forth from them, and now as if ^D [index: entries preserved]

- ^A in a word, the birth of Mary, ever-Virgin and Theotokos, has appeared as the harbinger of regeneration, reformation, restoration to pristine beauty, and renewal for all. Such grace has the Virgin’s birth brought with it! Thus has the day of her nativity heralded joy and victory to all in solemn fashion! To such heights of mystical contemplation does the present festival transport us!

VII.

Of her, it seems to me, the prophet David foretold with wonder, when he cried out: *Who in the clouds shall be compared unto the Lord, and who shall be likened unto the Lord among the sons of God?* For no created being is superior to the blessed Virgin, no one has ascended closer to divine likeness above the height of the clouds. And neither in the future shall there be anyone at all from among all beings who will be elevated to such a sublime height. For she is that most lofty mountain in which *God has been pleased to dwell*. Hence, too, someone might rightly, in my opinion, say of our Queen what the inspired Habakkuk proclaimed concerning the Lord: *His virtue covered the heavens, and the earth is full of His wisdom*. ^C But if, as the divine Luke proclaimed in the Gospels, *that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God*, how high, then, must we consider her—not only above all men, but, I would even say, above the angels—the height of her who drew God down to earth? Wherefore, one might justly and deservedly affirm this most sublime creature to be superior to all others whatsoever, with God alone excepted. And once this is established, we must conclude that she has also come from heaven. For the voice of that greatest theologian echoes everywhere, saying: *He who comes from heaven is above all*. ^D

[II] ^A Sane, when the earth long ago was in an evil state, and was entirely filled with tumult and insane frenzy, and was as it were shaken by sin, and being at a loss in itself as to how it might sprout some remedy to wash away that terrible [state] and cleanse the disease, I would say that heaven remained, and [remained] to stretch out its hand and from its own stores to provide a saving medicine to the suffering earth. Thus, if anyone assuaged that shaking and drove away the unpleasant stench of that terrible disease, this was that brilliant physician, the Virgin, and she might rightly be called heavenly.

For to me, those words of the divine David seem to look toward this: *The earth was shaken, for the heavens distilled* (Ps. LXVII, 10). I think, moreover, that the prophet had need of that specific word, "distilled," in order to show that the heavens were not opened as they were of old, pouring out deadly rains—at which, even the ark, which saved a few seeds of the race, would have been in need of [divine] help, yet after salvation brought forth another succession of troubles, which had its beginning in drunkenness—but rather, as one might say with caution, just as if the heavens were straining out the sweetest flower, they distilled for men this delightful [scent], the All-Pure, like an aromatic ointment.

^B If, however, it is not obscure that God has looked upon us favorably through her, it is clear then that the passage concerning her also refers to this: *The Lord looked down from heaven; He knows all the sons of men from His prepared dwelling* (Ps. XXXIII, 13, 14). But since it cannot be a matter of doubt that this most innocent one is also the temple and throne of God, then it must also be thought that this was said of her: *The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord, His throne is in heaven* (Ps. X, 5). Wherefore, if anyone were to call the Virgin heaven, or the daughter of heaven, such a one, in my opinion, would not deviate the least bit from the truth.

^D Nor indeed should it deter us from affirming that blessed Virgin is both heaven and has come from heaven, [the fact] that her parents were from the clay and originated from the Adamic lineage. For the earth also sends up plants, but it is entirely from the dew falling from above that whatever good fruit it germinates and brings to maturity... [index: entries preserved]

it contributes the gold, but the skill alone contributes the excellence of the workmanship.

^A IX. That the Virgin is indeed far superior to all, as we have said, and that no image similar to her can be found among earthly things, we may discern from the following: for all things which are born have need of those who beget them, and if not for any other reason, certainly for the sake of the generation itself, as both plants and all animals bear clear witness. ^B But Anna, the venerable mother, when she was giving birth, needed her daughter to be regenerated, and when she was bearing her in her womb, she was being carried in the womb in a certain new way. Nor did this mother, who became such through prayer, constitute the only necessity, but even her progenitor had need of her, as it were, as a mother, in order to attain a solid and unshakable formation. For that first mother was of a crumbling constitution, since she was earth and dust, and was driven about by the force of the winds. And not only Adam, but the vast multitude of those born from him, down to this divine maiden, having each rejected their own mothers as having brought forth imperfect and, as it were, blind offspring, sought this common mother who would be most fit to bestow a perfect form upon her offspring and to impart light. Therefore, they were carried and formed in her maternal womb, and then in truth were brought into the light when she, by a new order of things, brought forth my Savior as well into the world from herself.

^C Hence, someone might now dare to utter that excellent saying about her which the thunder-voiced tongue spoke: We have seen her glory, as the glory of the only-begotten Mother of God; full of grace and truth. And not only those who lived in times past and before her have been granted this benefit, so that they were brought into the light by her in the manner we have described, but also for the whole body of the elect who came after her, regeneration and true life and the illumination of light have been bestowed through her. Moreover, the most praiseworthy Virgin will never cease to pour forth such benefits until that great, final, and inaccessible splendor shines forth—that is, He who has become the Son of this most fruitful daughter, and mother, and virgin.

^D Wherefore it is right, with a few words changed, to pronounce concerning her what the blessed Paul says of the Savior: Our life was hidden with her, and when she, our life, appeared, then we also appeared with her in glory.

^A It is not without reason, I think, that someone might adapt to the present matter that word of the venerable Habakkuk: "You have gone forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones [Christos] you have come." But Zachariah also, inspired by God, said: "The Orient from on high has visited us, to enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death." For those things of old were truly a shadow, and they differed in nothing from darkness; all of which the blessed Virgin bore in her womb in a wonderful way, even before she herself came forth into the light. But after she was born, she bestowed upon them a true birth and true light—for she could not bear that all others should not be called to a share of those goods in which she herself was supremely rich, namely, the abundance of that light; just as a most excellent ointment imparts its virtue to those with whom it is shared. Hence it clearly follows that, in a certain spiritual sense, the Virgin was distinguished not only by the excellence of her offspring but also by their number, clearly surpassing in this fertility that Achab and Gedeon. Nor should it seem strange that we speak of an offspring so new, and so manifold, produced by the Virgin in that new way, after she gave birth to the Creator and Father of all things, which is the most new thing of all.

^C X. Furthermore, it will be worth our while to consider from whom and in what manner this infant was born, who was wiser than every age, this offspring more vast than the whole earth and heaven, the supernatural and ineffably Virgin Mother.

Joachim and Anna were a pair who, indeed, throughout their long life, were most just; they were precise observers of the Law and lovers of that wisdom which beautifully depicts character and keeps a home peaceful and free from discord. They were very conspicuous, both for these reasons and because they always had at hand what they might distribute to those who were in need of the help of their resources; for they abounded in great riches. Whence, while others offered gifts to the Lord only for themselves, they, by reason of the abundance of their wealth, or rather because of their freedom of mind and charity towards their kinsmen, offered a doubled oblation, as much for themselves as for the whole people. For this reason, they were reckoned among the leaders of that most distinguished tribe of Judah.

^D These people, therefore, although they had long been joined by the bond of marriage, were entirely destitute of the consolation of children; this appeared very grievous, and afflicted their hearts with no small sadness. And so it happened one day, when the most celebrated feast among them was being held, and offerings were being brought to the temple according to custom, that a certain Rubim, who was then performing the service of the priesthood, would neither receive the gifts, and—

^A led by those who were innocently bearing the lamps, and producing melodies and songs about her with joy—offering, that is to say, the services which were appropriate to the dignity of the Bride of God, and rendering them to her most fully. And for this reason, I believe, that blessedness was announced beforehand concerning them: "Blessed is the people that knoweth the joyful shouting." By these preludes they were signifying what was to come: that the radiance shining forth from this living lamp would obscure all other torches, and would fill with jubilation those souls that celebrated her with hymns and sang of salvation.

Moreover, I think that all the orders of angels joined their songs and their splendors to those who were carrying the lamps, and added themselves as companions to those who were accompanying her, clearly so that they might show to men—who were hindered by this flesh as if by an intervening veil, and thus unable to behold the splendor of the pre-eminent Queen—what reverence was owed to her who was being led forward; unless, perhaps, it must be said that this mystery was then unknown to the angels, [she] having kept that providence which saved me and snatched me away from the filthy and tyrannical power.

^C XVII. Therefore, in the manner we have described, they bring to the temple that most sacred living vessel, the receptacle of deific splendors, constructed by God, the urn fashioned by God, the most precious and divine votive offering, to describe the dignity of which every creature is found to be inadequate. But when the high priest, both from the things that were then being seen—inasmuch as even their very novelty hinted at something greater—and also because a divine light within, I think, shone upon his mind more brilliantly than it had either before or since, perceived that the Bride of God had now arrived, there was no part of the temple which he did not make accessible to the Virgin; and if there was any place into which it was not right for others to set foot, he designated this for her to inhabit, rather than for himself. From these things it is clearly shown what great joy he was filled with besides, as if he perceived beforehand how much joy was being prepared for all by the maiden who had just arrived to dwell in the temple.

^D XVIII. Furthermore, I would believe that he addressed to the most pure maiden that which the innocent crowd of children later addressed to the Creator: "Blessed is she who comes, the Queen, in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." Indeed, he may even have added that most joyful voice—as I think—which the prophet Sophonias once used: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion," of whom the Creator even now rejoices, seeing you rising most magnificently as a most splendid house for Himself, and being aptly fitted together to be dwelt in; but He will rejoice even more vehemently when, to make it manifest that He rejoices in your cohabitation, He will announce to you the joy through an angel, because of whom even the intellects rejoice.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion.

And, says the angel to each, the prayer is heard ^A, and a girl will be born to you, whose glory will traverse the whole world. And in actual fact follows what the angel had announced; and there is born the daughter of God, that new creature, a new and most splendid spectacle for that day, a newly sprouting and most beautiful shoot, a blooming and most delightful shade, a name pervading the whole world, a plant bringing salvation to all.

And it is permitted, then, for those righteous ones to confidently usurp regarding themselves that saying of Isaiah: *For thy fear, O Lord, we have conceived, and have been as it were in pain, and have brought forth the spirit of thy salvation, which we have bore upon the earth.* For this birth was truly the fruit of prayer and of the fear of God, this salvation which was ^B sketched out and adorned with the ineffable beauty of graces by the finger of God.

XIII. Further, that most radiant and divine image having been brought forth, Anna ceased from producing children. For there was no need for this mother that another offspring should be added to her, as if to supply what was lacking in the firstborn, since what had been born was equal to all; nor could she have given birth to another that might in any way approach this one. Therefore, if she had borne another, it might justly have been questioned of which child she was the mother. For it could not be that another offspring should come forth which might in any way approach the most noble excellence of the Virgin; and consequently, that glory would have suffered great injury which now flowed into her from that only-begotten one.

Moreover, neither men, nor angels, nor any other creature ^C desired that another fruit should now be produced by a mother of such a noble offspring. For that mighty and nature-surpassing girl was, by herself, sufficient for the adornment of all created things. For in her are, to speak with the admirable Paul, *all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden* (Coloss. II, 3). For these reasons Anna acted wisely, while she did not care at all about procreating another offspring thereafter. But this also offers itself to me as worthy of admiration: in what manner this appellation was attributed to the parents of the Theotokos, so that, as is evident from the holy liturgical ^D prayers, they are known by the title of "the righteous" by way of excellence.

[alt-version omitted]

^A For we are accustomed to call only these persons together holy and righteous. Is it therefore because, after having provided the necessary means for themselves and for all created things, they produced no further offspring, that they alone were mystically addressed by the name of "the righteous"? Or was it for this reason, or perhaps even for this other reason (as one might reasonably say), that they were so titled because they appeared manifestly to be such, inasmuch as they were—as is evident from the fruit—well-endowed with every virtue? Or was it because the most beautiful daughter, in return for their good parenthood, bestowed upon them this title, as she who alone bloomed forth as the true righteousness among men?

^B XIV. In this manner, then, and from such parents, as the discourse has shown, the most beautiful shoot has been born, which has perfumed the whole world, shaded it from the scorching heat of the passions, and provided as food that which is beyond understanding and unspeakable; the new and extraordinary man, who alone was able, in an ineffable manner, to transform into members of God the human race—which had been wretchedly separated from God, and which neither heaven, nor sun, nor any of the visible things, nor even if all creation were to come together, could either have gathered or even slightly consoled—for He set the Master as the head over His own members.

^C This can be understood in this way. In the beginning, God forms Adam from the earth, and the rib of this man became the mother of his helper [Eve]. But after they had fallen, God, in order to create a new man, did not again take up the earth—for a prohibition stood against the earth as being too unstable—nor any limb of a man, nor anything of this kind at all; for it seems that the man himself, as one diminished by a rib, is passed over. But rather, something that was neither formed from the earth in the first instance, nor lacked any of its members, nor could anything be found among all things more appropriate for this purpose than the Virgin; for she was not from the earth, as we have said, in the way we have spoken of, and she is the most perfect above all creation.

Of the holy and righteous forebears of God, Joachim and Anna

^A it could be a suitable instrument, as the Virgin was; for she was not, if I may so speak, from the earth, as we have already said, and she was the most perfect of all creatures. God therefore takes this new instrument of creation, by which he might restore even that which he himself had once received—that is to say, the rib—with great interest. And hence the new Adam, my Christ, is born not only perfect, but thoroughly and super-perfect from her, who (as far as human condition allows) was born perfect, being both the daughter of God and his Mother, through whom he has made us members of God.

XV. So much for what has been said. Now, all things whatsoever that have been created are necessarily subject to decay or corruption, if you except the incorporeal beings, to whom the Creator, at their very formation, granted that they should never reach an end; a fact that I believe was so designed that his multiform wisdom might be manifest from this as well, in that he created some of those things that have had an origin to hasten toward corruption, while others he established to remain incorruptible forever.

Yet even if no created thing could withdraw itself from this necessity, how could anyone grant that the most innocent Virgin was also subject to this evil, she in whose rising, as has now been shown, the true renewal of creation and true life blossomed forth for all? For just as she is shown to be a partaker of none of those things that are not considered praiseworthy in men, but is alone holier than the angels themselves, so it was necessary that she alone, of all others, should be exempt from the common misery; and this, at the very least, was her due, that since she was born under a unique condition, such that she was, as it were, mother and fountain (as we have said above) of the existence of all, so she should both exist and be proclaimed in perpetuity—however much she is a created being—no differently than the angels themselves, whom she surpasses, who, once created, remain immortal and immune to corruption.

XVI. But the reason why these things were not so is such that it makes the magnificence of the Virgin shine more brightly than the sun. For having received a corporeal nature (this ^B concerns not the Virgin alone, but is a lesson for us), it was necessary that she should also be susceptible to those processes of nature which befall the body, so that by the very fact of death, she might be shown to be of the same race as us, yet in every other way, she remained above the common lot of humanity. ^{C D}

^A For she did not escape the law of human nature, yet she performed actions higher than the nature which is pure and lofty—I mean, of the angels. For if she had been shown to be superior to corruption, she would have seemed to be of an immaterial creation, different from the human one. And it would not have been so wonderful, had those things which were high been performed by one who was all-blameless.

But if the earth that received her most holy body did not consume it, as it does ours, it received it, indeed, because it was of the earth, but it did not keep it for long, so that it might show that it was superior to human bodies, and as it were, quite similar to the Lord’s body, as we show more extensively in the discourse concerning the Dormition of the Blessed One. If, therefore, someone does not wish to admit corruption here for these reasons—I mean, because it was not corrupted like our own—he shall not have us as opponents.

XVII. Moreover, the name of corruption is attributed not only to that which dissolves bodies, but also to that which infects souls. And of the body, corruption must be called the disruption of the order that contains it, and the resolution into those [elements] of which it is composed. But for the soul, corruption would be alienation from God, and an affection contrary to nature adhering to it, which it was not created to enjoy. And this, so to speak, is death for both: the dissolution of the harmonious union ^C—even if, perhaps, one might say that death happens to each in a contrary manner, and in a different way. Since, as we said, for the body, death is the resolution into its elemental and first principle; but conversely, the death of the soul is the withdrawal from Him who truly is the first principle.

Furthermore, with regard to this corruption which is considered in the soul, if anyone did, certainly that most innocent one admitted no corruption. And indeed, no man among humans has existed who was altogether integral from every sin, except that new one—I say the Son of this Blessed One—who alone, ^D as God-man, did not commit sin,

nor was guile found in his mouth. But as regards this immunity from every sin, no one bore a likeness to Christ more than that most innocent one; for it was necessary that the Mother be assimilated to the One born of her more than anyone else. Justly, therefore, is this same most innocent one proclaimed to be purer than all other humans, to a degree that one cannot even express; and it follows that she alone among humans was altogether incorrupt. ^B

As for the angels, indeed, that they were once able to fall into the corruption of the soul—which we mentioned above—is clearly shown by that spirit alienated from God (the devil), who superabounds over all the associates of his madness, and who, being from him and through him a participant in evil, fell from his celestial and splendid dignity and was thrust down to the infernal and shadowy seat. That the angels now remain immutable is believed to have been achieved through the ineffable birth of the Virgin. If, therefore, the most praiseworthy Virgin has appeared more excellent than the one with whom the angels fell, and moreover has conferred upon the rest immutability (as I would call this incorruptibility, following upon what we have previously established concerning the corruption of the soul), she was certainly far more excellent than them, and in this respect, at least, she was more incorrupt. ^C

Notes of Ant. Ballerini

"...in his mouth." But the wisdom of our Fathers does not think so, nor does the sense of mother Church. Behold those two things joined together for you: Christ alone was altogether integral from every sin; and a little later: The only Virgin Mother of God was altogether incorrupt, that is, integral from sin; for it is of this corruption that he speaks. Indeed, from the fact that Christ ALONE was thoroughly integral from sin, you see the author concluding that the Mother of God also must have been the ONLY ONE inaccessible to any sin. Why? He says it is because the greatest possible likeness to Christ had to be present in the Mother of God, and therefore this prerogative of Christ the Lord does not so much repel the holy Mother of God from His fellowship, but rather demands that, insofar as a pure human can be a partaker of those things which are proper to God and man at once, she should have been in common with Him, and that this should have been granted to the Mother of God alone among pure humans, which is reserved to Christ alone, insofar as He is God-man.

(40) As to what the author says, *after the ineffable birth of the Virgin*, I thought it should be translated *through the ineffable birth of the Virgin*; both because the preposition *meta* is sometimes poetically used for what is *propter* (on account of) in Latin, and because, even if you wish to translate it as *post* (after), it can be referred without inconvenience not to the order of time, but of causality. In this way, the opinion is proposed to us here, which is accepted in some Catholic schools, concerning grace conferred upon the angels in view of the merits of Christ, but not the opinion, heard nowhere, of the angels being confirmed in grace before the advent of Christ the Savior.

(41) Why, while restricting the opinion of the Fathers, does he say the Mother of God was AT LEAST IN THIS RESPECT more incorrupt than the angels? The answer is to be sought from the context, in which one can see the doctrine most common to Catholic schools. Indeed, just as the schools focus on purity through a recession from sin, so Isidore, having placed the death and corruption of the soul in sin, defines corruption through a recession from sin. Hence, just as Saint Thomas concluded (1, dist. xvii, q. 2, art. 4, after the reply to 3) ^D from that principle: "Because in the blessed Virgin there was a purification from all sin, therefore she reached the summit of purity," so Isidore pronounced (above): "The Mother of God alone among humans was altogether incorrupt." But if the summit of purity is established as being altogether incorrupt in the absence of any sin, then if there were many who had lacked all sin, they could not, in this respect, be purer or more incorrupt one than the other, since it is absurd to imagine a summit greater than the summit. But the holy angels have never been stained by any sin; therefore, if the criterion is held solely as the actual immunity from sin, since the angels also have attained a summit of purity, it cannot be conceived that anyone is purer than the angels, just as one angel is not purer than another. There is, however, another criterion, on account of which, even among those who have never been infected by any stain of sin, one can be and be called purer than another. For the recession from sin can be viewed not only regarding the act but also regarding the potentiality. And thus, he who remained more remote from sinning and firmer in the good will be purer. Accordingly, S. Thomas (l. c.) says: "The increase of purity is according to the recession from the contrary; and because in the blessed Virgin there was a purification from all sin, therefore she reached the summit of purity; yet under God, in whom there is not any potentiality for failing, which is in every creature, as far as it is in itself." Which same thing he then repeats (1 dist. 44, q. 1, art. 3 ad 3): "Purity is intensified by the recession from the contrary; and therefore some created thing can be found than which nothing purer can be in created things if it has not been stained by any contagion of sin: and such was the purity of the blessed Virgin, who was immune from original and actual sin. She was, however, under God, in as much as there was in her a potentiality for sinning." Therefore, if it must be professed, which ought to be considered most certain, that a firmness in the good, greater than in the angels, was conferred by God upon the Mother of God, and therefore she was preserved more remote than the angels from contracting a stain, by that very fact we have why she can rightly be celebrated as purer than the angels themselves. And this, indeed, is what Isidore contends, and to accomplish this he uses the argument, more immutable and

By all measures, therefore, the all-lauded one is incorruptible, in the manner we have spoken. ^A And not only this, but she ^B also appears as the cause of incorruptibility—which reason has demonstrated—to the intelligible world, just as she is the cause of generation for those things that have been shown to be above this in all respects.

XVIII. But what name, in the end, might someone use to address this most God-bearing and—if one may say—most creative offspring, lest he seem to speak something far below her dignity? Or with what praises might we adorn her from all sides, from whom we have been enriched with such great benefits? If it seems right to you, brothers, as indeed it also seems to me, let us together with the angels—for I am certain that they too sing hymns to the all-pure one—repeat that divine message to the Theotokos: "Hail, full of grace," through whom all creation rejoices; "The Lord is with you," who was present with you even before your life, and at your birth, and before the salutation, and at that time, and in another way after it. But for the benefits with which we have been enriched by her, let us keep ourselves in that newness which we have attained through regeneration; for the most innocent one delights in nothing more than this. May we deserve to attain this by the prayers of the most undefiled and immaculate Daughter of God, to the glory of the omnipotent and holy Trinity, to whom glory is due unto the unending ages of ages. Amen.

SERMON II

On the entry of our most immaculate Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, into the Holy of Holies.

I. Just as if someone were to think that the sacred table should be approached only when he believed himself to be accurately keeping all those things which are consistent with such a sublime mystery, he would, I think, never draw near to the divine supper—for how could a man, who (as the divine oracles say) ^C is not believed to be without stain even if he has lived but one day, ever seem worthy to touch that most pure and sublime of all earthly things?—thus, whoever seeks to offer words worthy of the all-pure mother of God the Word, ^D will end up differing in no way from the mute fish; but just as those who trust in the serenity of the Savior [speak], so too those who trust in the ineffable [purity] of the all-pure one...

and know that as a type we may be cleansed by communion, ^A must consider the blessed Virgin in the same way. Therefore, one must speak of her to the best of one's ability, so that by remembering the miracles she has wrought, through which we celebrate her praises, we may ourselves obtain sanctification and the washing away of our stains.

II. But as there is nothing at all of those things which pertain to her that does not convey a sanctifying impression to one who reflects upon it diligently ^B—and, nonetheless, her very entry into the Holy of Holies affords this same thing—this mystery, when pondered in the mind, immediately bestows upon all those who are eager to look more deeply into it that which its name implies. And since we are now attempting to speak of this, may it be granted to us to be sanctified in mind and tongue at the same time, and to be able to utter something consistent with this title, and not altogether discordant with the height of the all-pure one, even if it should happen that our speech falls short of her dignity, as in every way it certainly will.

III. Therefore, that ^C sanctuary which carried the ark, the tablets, and all those venerable trophies and testimonies of Moses, was deservedly celebrated first by the name "Holy of Holies." In it, cleansing was prepared for those who approached, and those wondrous miracles of old were, so to speak, placed before the eyes and recounted. And indeed, of all things contained within the circuit of the earth, there was nothing else that could boast of a power to sanctify or of the title of "Holy" as that divine sanctuary could. ^D Just as the light of a lamp, although very bright and useful as long as the vessel that provides and begins the day is hidden, becomes entirely superfluous and unworthy of the least regard upon the rising of the great luminary, due to the exuberance of the sun's ray; so too the "Holy of Holies"—the place that was once called by this name—has now been hidden from view and blotted out, providing no further benefit to anyone, after another house, which is truly to be called the Holy of Holies, brighter and far holier than the former, has been raised up and has shone forth: I mean the all-pure and most luminous bride of God.

IV. Nay, those former "Holy of Holies"—I [consider] the all-pure one...

^A to be such by a later, yet equally holy, and worthy title; nor is it a thing unreasonable to count it as the "Holy of Holies," even as one might call a mirror "the sun" because of the light it is to receive, or might call that house "royal" which is to be the dwelling of a king, even before he arrives. And just as, in my opinion, such an object, being small in comparison with the great and inexhaustible light, effects a likeness to it, and the name (of light) is attributed to it, and we call it by this name because we first know the other; by exactly the same reasoning, just as the ancient things were called "Holy of Holies," so too, the new "Holy of Holies"—I mean the maiden who is now the author of our sanctification—have been brought to this by those who preceded her.

V. And indeed, these recent "Holy of Holies" are, in a new way, more ancient than those of old. ^B For those would never have been called by this name were it not that they looked forward to things to come from afar, and had these later things in their view, for the sake of which they were also built and possessed the power to sanctify, as a city from its founder reports its name. Therefore, as has been said, they were built and called "Holy of Holies," because they were destined to receive the one who justly and deservedly should be adorned with this name.

VI. But furthermore, just as God, before he fashioned man, made heaven and earth and all visible things for man's sake, in the same way it was fitting that, for the sake of this new creature ^C (the Virgin Mary), who excels the angels, a dwelling place should be fashioned more noble than those preceding. Therefore, there was fashioned that shell, and that title, namely, "of holy things," which no other of the things that were made before it could have attained; for no other among the mansions was worthy to receive within itself the office of sanctification, but this one, I say—this vessel, this most immaculate and innocent relic, the mother of the Word of God—was adjudged to be that sacred temple.

SERMON ON THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

...sea, and greatness of miracles, and ocean of beauty, and treasury of mysteries! The Lord is with thee. Who would not be struck with wonder at the novelty of thy magnificence? What mind would worthily dwell upon these paradoxical sights? What intellect will vie with the heights of these things that now traverse the heavens beyond all flight? What reasoning, flying into these ineffable things and descending to the measure of memory, will be glorified? What tongue, gleaning the flowers of words, and weaving a golden-shining discourse and most delightful diction, will weave a tapestry worthy of the present things? The Lord is with thee, not only as being the sustainer in the rest of the creatures; he will not dwell with thee working miracles as he was with Moses and Elijah and the other holy men; nor will he, having found thee a home suited to himself, illuminate thee for a time, and then, having completed the economy, cease from thee, who art to illuminate all things. But the Lord is with thee in a manner truly strange, which neither eye has perceived, nor ear has opened to, but which is even higher than the ascent of the human heart. For with thee, because of the shining beauty of thy divine soul, he will pour forth the rays of the ineffable divine nature to men; because of the most radiant beauty of thy virtue, he will appear clothed in thy form, which he has loved; and having been united with thy immaculate blood—O strange mystery!—he will become what he was not, from thee, for thy sake, bearing thy whole image, though not knowing what it is to be God. And from thence, divinely and magnificently competing in love, that which he is by nature, the Creator, this he will give back to thee in a new way by grace, and he will remain with thee for ages, resting in the bosoms of the invisible Father, through those things in which he has shared with thee.

And thou shalt paradoxically pour forth milk, since all thy things are full of miracles: thy arrival to men, the abode of thy dwelling, thy growth to this age—not provided for thee in a human manner—this now unassailable greeting, and the new place that will follow this; and thou shalt nourish with milk him who fills every living creature, granting freedom with his hand; [thy] hands will bear him whose hands also fashioned thee, and who brought into being from nothing the visible and invisible world by a mere thought of his mind. But if the Lord is with thee, what need is there to say much? The sun will behold things entirely paradoxical and higher than all intellect, and the ends of the earth will clap their hands because of thee. Rejoice, therefore, O full of grace, rejoice...

^A VII. For the ancient man, as the Prophet says, was compared to the foolish beasts and became like unto them; for this reason he received a habitation common with the irrational animals. For man and the brutes had the earth as a common place of dwelling, nor was there any house that was reserved by necessity for men alone, excluding other living creatures from cohabitation. For although, as men multiplied, it had come into their minds that a place, in some way nobler than common dwellings, ought to be assigned to God, yet these things in the divine counsels were entirely as it were preludes and adumbrations of this most great temple. For God maintains this law, that men are led from the least to the sublime; and of this economy a clear proof is evident to one considering what the old law used to be, and what the new precepts of the Savior are. But since He who was born is not man in the sense of being a little lower than the angels, but one who surpassed incorporeal substances by a vast distance; consequently that divine house, nobler than all things which were upon the earth, was constructed in advance, and, unlike other houses, was not open to every person wishing to enter, but was reserved singularly for Him who was to dwell within it. And this she herself showed, receiving Him alone, as her Lord, the Queen namely espoused to God, into her inner chambers, while she remained inaccessible to others. ^{B C} VIII. And indeed, just as this man, most excellent beyond the mode of nature and a work clearly divine, did not receive nourishment in the common manner of men (for an angel from heaven ministered that ineffable food to the Virgin), so sound reason required that one should speak of another and a sublime, angelic, heavenly, and divine seat, one that does not touch the earth at all if that were possible. For, as my opinion on this matter also holds, the Virgin would have had no need of earthly parents, or the earth which she would tread upon in walking, or any other of the things which are formed and adorned from the earth; but if this were to be inquired into, it would be easily granted to us, for He passes beyond, and not in any way whatsoever, but by an immense interval, so to speak, He passes beyond, so that He is deservedly called most excellent; therefore they do not act rightly who transfer things pertaining to the common condition to Mary, just as to others; and hence it is evident that the Church, when celebrating the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God with religious worship, teaches by the very fact that the oracles of the Scriptures, which we read regarding the fall of the whole human race, do not necessarily pertain to Mary. 2º If the Mother of God is a divine work, and not just any work, but one that is deemed most worthy of divine mysteries, and consequently is deservedly called most excellent; therefore she was endowed with most excellent prerogatives in her very formation. It is alien, therefore, that she should be thought to have risen as one hateful to God and foul with the filth of sin. ^D

Moreover, he provided an invincible argument against those who were to teach wrongly that he had not been made man in reality, namely by the Virgin who gave birth to him. For she clearly appeared earthly, born indeed from earthly parents and from that clay which most evidently proclaimed this most innocent one to be an earthly fruit. From this clay, indeed, she did not fly away; but, just like the rest of the men of the same nature, she was held, I might say, constrained by these fetters to these lowest things. ^A

IX. Since, therefore, it was not expedient for these reasons that the Virgin should obtain a seat far removed from the earth—where, if any of the angels, certainly that blessed one was most worthy ^B—God judged it most equitable that, at the very least, she should, separated from earthly and related things, dwell in a dwelling more noble even than the royal ones, namely the Holy of Holies. And within that divine sanctuary—as it was fitting only for that most innocent one, on whose account it had already received both the title "Holy of Holies" and the power consonant with this name—she would have remained, as I indeed believe, up until the other and final entry of the same into the heavens.

But, so that he might also show us the way, which, according to the voice of the divine Paul, he initiated into the entry of the Holies in the name of Jesus (Hebr. x, 19, 20); and then also that he might pre-sanctify the rest of the earth and the air as well, which the Lord was about to sanctify more perfectly through her a little later—for this, as we have said, is the divine economy, that the step is made from simpler things to more perfect ones—and then, finally, that this sealed book ^C might be handed over to that venerable Joseph, who was skilled in reading books, who could not dwell in the sacred inner chambers, and yet had to interpret that mystical and ineffable volume: for these reasons she went out from that temple, and rendered herself the temple—O thing clearly to be admired!—of the incomprehensible Creator. Wherefore, not only the title "Holy of Holies," but even if any other name more worthy of veneration should occur, ^D

^A it would deservedly be included among the names which must appear most fitting to designate this ineffable abode of God.

X. I am furthermore persuaded of this: that the high priest, who but once a year set foot into those holy of holies, was not accustomed to enjoy divine visions in equal measure when that Queen of all was present in her own royal palace, as when she was absent from it; but rather, that he was enriched with heavenly revelations far more abundantly when the Lady was present than when she was absent. For since the Virgin, by necessity, drew nearer to God than all other human beings and high priests, closer than can even be expressed in words, she consequently enjoyed sublime visions more than all others. ^B Moreover, whoever was present while she enjoyed such visions must necessarily have become worthier than he was himself, just as those who are present see more clearly when lights are kindled before a king.

XI. It will be worth our while, however, to trace the things concerning her (the Theotokos) from a little further back, so that this account may lead the all-holy one in order, beginning from the first divine entry of her most innocent life into this world, to her entry into the Holy of Holies.

This most divine and radiant beauty is produced, this most God-seeing mirror, this most God-reflecting glass, this God-enlightened radiance, this God-delighting splendor, this God-becoming glory, this God-betrothed and God-child Mary, from a barren and unfruitful womb, yet a soul most fruitful in fruits pleasing to God, full of divine offspring, and such as God delights to dwell in.

XII. For it was necessary to consider this here as well, that just as from a small miracle—I mean the barren woman bearing a child—the great and most paradoxical birth of the Virgin should be initiated, so that an offspring might carry away the victory trophies against a mother so radiant and so wonder-working. For Anna, that mother who shortly thereafter would be blessed with a fair child, and the admirable Joachim, that God-chosen and most righteous pair—while they were in all other respects blessed ^C and in the enjoyment of all good things—

Ant. Ballerini Notes

(58) It might seem that what the author says regarding the holy Virgin enjoying frequent heavenly visions and divine revelations is of little moment. But the teaching upon which these things are in a certain way built, and which can be found either laid down or presumed by the holy Fathers of the Church whenever any prerogative to be claimed for the Virgin is discussed, is truly not of little moment. What, indeed, is that teaching? It is surely that no heavenly gift, no gift of grace, can be conceived that is so illustrious and so excellent that it should not be considered to have been conferred upon Mary in an eminent way. To discuss how widely this teaching extends, and by what arguments drawn from the very principles of our faith it is confirmed by the Fathers, would be the work of a commentary rather than a note. In the meantime, do not fail to weigh how greatly they are deceived and deceive others who, when there is a discussion about the privileges of the holy Virgin, and especially about her immunity from original sin, seem to hold the arguments customary to theologians, and those drawn from "decency" or "fittingness," as they say, in such low esteem that they cast them aside almost as trifles. They clearly reveal their own ignorance when they relegate to scholastic subtleties that kind of argument which they are either unaware was most accepted among the holy Fathers of the Church, or which they disguise. But if in truth they themselves scarcely or not at all feel the force and strength of that same argument, surely no fair appraiser of matters will doubt that this is not to be attributed to the fact that the matter was less understood by the Fathers, but rather to the dull mind of those who, by not even remotely guessing what the Mother of God implies or what this tremendous dignity justly demands, clearly show that they have proven themselves unequal to the task.

(59) Consider, what kind of person is presented to our eyes in her beginnings? Or was it consistent for a soul deformed by the primitive fall to be called divine beauty? Or does it befit one bearing the image of the earthly Adam to be called the most express image of God? Or, while wrapped in the darkness of sin, to be held as a splendor shining forth divinely? Or, being loathsome to God, to be named a radiance most pleasing to God and a daughter of God?

^A even if they surpassed all others in happiness in other respects, yet regarding the procreation of children they were noted as more unfortunate than any needy persons. Hence a daily shower of tears flowed from the eyes of those just ones, hence constant and very pure prayers burst forth, hence also that promise—which is never disregarded by God, but is admitted into an odor of sweetness—which was firmer than any other compact: that if a child were born, they would return the gift to the Giver.

XIII. O truly just prayers, which in their swiftness, surpassing all flight of wings, penetrate the heavens, approach God confidently, and bring back from Him with joy what they request! O those hearts full of purity, which for this reason see God, and thence find the happy outcome of their ardent vows! O pure lips, moved for the sake of God, and as if created for this very purpose, so that the preordained mystery might be fulfilled at their request! O immaculate souls, whom God loved beyond measure, and whom He willed to perfect in kinship with Himself!

They attain their request most clearly, and they produce a fruit, that truly most novel one, who ^B appeared as the beauty and decor of the whole world, and a mystical nourishment sweeter than honey, beyond what can be understood, a spectacle more recreative than any shady tree, and, placed below, has shone forth as a grace surpassing the beauty of all most fragrant flowers.

For it was fitting that they, who excelled in such nobility of soul, who had been advanced to such a height of justice, who with such zeal had preferred obedience to God before all things that are under heaven, who possessed a mind so illuminated by divine light, should be allotted no other offspring than this; and again, it was fitting that that blessed one, whose dignity speech cannot adequately express, should be allotted no other parents than these. It was necessary, furthermore, that to that encounter, whence the conception of the Virgin proceeded, nothing else should impel and bring them than an encounter with God; so that, as was consistent, she, that most pure one, might alone be able to escape that prophetic saying, ^C saying of herself, *In iniquities was I conceived, and in sins did my mother conceive me* (Ps. L), and regarding him and this [matter]...

^D [index: entries preserved]

namely the greatness which the Mighty One hath done for me (for this also is included in the number of those great things which He who is mighty hath done for me)—the parents themselves showed this by the things which they performed, inasmuch as they came to the union for the purpose of procreation from a discourse which descended from God. Most excellently, therefore, did this also happen to coincide with the cycle of those paradoxes concerning her. ^A

XIV. Since, therefore, the Daughter of God has been manifested to the light, ^B or rather, has emerged even more radiant than light itself, without whom neither light, nor heaven, nor the whole creation possess the power of imparting a light, or soul, or the faculty of reconciling a person to God; since, I say, such a maiden has been born, the present memory reminds the parents of the fulfillment of their promises. They, I believe, would have proceeded to the deed, leading the child to the temple as soon as she was born, had it not seemed unreasonable to anticipate the time, just as the Saviour later performed all things at the proper time—both miracles and the manifestation of the divine laver—to which it was fitting that the events surrounding his own mother also should correspond, even before he was revealed. For it would have seemed altogether prodigious for an infant, before she had been weaned or had obtained any experience of speech or hearing, to be brought into the holy of holies; or, as one of those before us said, the three-year period was observed to grant the Virgin entry into the inaccessible places, so that it might be fore-written that she alone would bring forth in a most novel way the one inaccessible and incomprehensible God of the holy Trinity, and that she would appear, above all the saints, as the dwelling place and most venerable habitation of the entire fearful Trinity. ^C For there was no need for her to remain at home for the ordinary necessities, as the all-pure one required the breast; for just as even as a three-year-old, dwelling in that divine enclosure, she did not partake of a table from among men, but through a mystical word the heavenly one partook of heavenly food; thus, even if still needing milk, she was led to dwell in the inaccessible places ^D

^A and was nourished by a supernatural and ineffable miracle, not unlike this.

XV. Either it was done for these reasons which I have mentioned, or because it was altogether right that her parents should, for at least a brief duration, enjoy the infant grace of a daughter who was shortly to be dedicated to God and never again to be seen by her dearest parents. From this, although they were permitted to derive the greatest solace, they nevertheless chose the sorrow of privation in exchange for it, even though they had received her as a reward for those labors and many tears; for which, as indeed seems to me, for such great labors, God judged it right to render this recompense, namely, that they should be gladdened for three years by the graces of so exceptional a daughter. ^B For as much pleasure as other children, however handsome, are able to provide to their parents through the association of many years, this the all-pure one was able to offer in the space of three years; I would even say a pleasure more abundant and excellent, in as much as she surpassed every other offspring. For the retributions of princes are indeed magnificent, and correspond to the magnificence of those who bestow them. But since those people were just and were called just, it would not have been consistent if they had exceeded the norm signified by their name. Therefore, when they had attained the just measure of time—and a fair space it was, three years—they rightly took care to fulfill the promise.

XVI. Since, however, the report of the Queen and daughter of God was shortly to spread through the borders of the whole world, Jerusalem was eager to weave a crown of praise before all other regions, and to sing a sacred hymn to the Virgin, and to modulate it becomingly; and that with the best of rights. For "they brought," he says [note*], "my Jesus into Jerusalem to present him to the Lord," ^C of whom the mother was in herself manifesting the characteristics.

Certainly, as many of those of noble rank who inhabited that city as there were—men and women and young maidens—they went up together to the temple, some out of regard for the father, others for the sake of the mother, and the rest for the sake of the most praised maiden, ^D with lamps [index: entries preserved]

^A led in the most innocent one, and brought forth melodies and canticles about her with joy, performing, in short, the duties that were consonant with the dignity of the Bride of God. And for this reason, I believe, that beatitude was proclaimed regarding them: *Blessed is the people that knows the joyful shouting* (Ps. LXXXVIII, 16). By these preludes they were signifying what was to come—that the light emanating from this living lamp would outshine all other torches, and would fill with joy the souls that celebrated her with hymns and sang of salvation.

I imagine also that the entire heavenly order at that time joined in song and light with those carrying the lamps, and walked along with those accompanying her, showing how much reverence was due to the one being led, while those who were burdened by this flesh—as if by a veil intercepting the view—were prevented from gazing upon the radiance of this most high Queen; ^B or perhaps one ought to say that this mystery was at that time hidden from the angels, and that she guarded the providence which saved me and snatched me away from the foul and tyrannical power [of the devil].

XVII. Therefore, in the manner we have mentioned, they brought that most sacred, living vessel to the temple—the god-fashioned container of deifying brightness, the precious and divine offering, in comparison to whose worth all of creation is found to be inferior. When the high priest perceived the situation—partly from the things then being seen, as they were, by their very novelty, hinting at something greater, and partly because, I believe, a divine light from within was illuminating his mind more brightly than it ever had before or would again—realizing that the Bride of God had arrived, there was no part of the temple he did not throw open to the Virgin; and if there was any place ^C into which it was not lawful for others to set foot, he designated it for her inhabitation rather than for his own. From this it is clearly shown with what great joy he was filled, as he seemed to foresee how much joy was being prepared for all through the maiden who had just arrived to dwell in the temple.

XVIII. Furthermore, I would believe he exclaimed to the most pure maiden what the innocent throng of children would later also sing to the Creator: *Blessed is she who comes, Queen, in the name of the Lord* (Jean, XII, 13); *Peace in heaven and glory in the highest* (Luc, II, 14). Moreover, he may well have added that most joyful voice which the prophet Sophonias once used: *Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Sion* (Soph. III, 14), ^D concerning whom the Creator even now rejoices, seeing you, the most splendid house, rising up most auspiciously for Him and being fittingly prepared for His inhabitation; and He will rejoice even more vehemently when, in order to make it manifest that it is most pleasing to Him that He should dwell within you, He shall make His joy known to you through an angel, by whom even the minds of the celestial powers shall be made to exult.

Furthermore, that which Simeon, who later received the Saviour in his arms, uttered ^A in opportune fashion, the hierarch receiving the Mother of God here says: *Now mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel* (Luke 2:30-32). To this he added that which the divine Isaiah had said on account of the Lord: *Now, O maiden, all flesh shall see through thee the salvation of God*. Enter therefore with confidence into your holy temple; for this dwelling is truly yours more than any other's, and *forget your father's house, for the king shall desire your beauty* (Ps. 44:11, 12).

And now, I open all the gates of this temple to you alone, and I permit you to set foot within the sacred inner sanctums as freely as you wish. But you shall open the gates of your heart to your Creator alone, and you shall prepare Him to dwell freely within, in whom alone He has decided to reside, and whom He has chosen for Himself out of all the daughters of Sion.

Now, even if it is strange and contrary to custom that every gate of the sanctuary should be left open and free for you, yet God is currently ordaining something still greater ^B for your sake in heaven; He is commanding the celestial gates to be lifted up, so that you may hasten to Him who alone is unapproachable, with no one hindering you, and that by your beauty you may cause Him to manifest Himself on earth to be beheld, and that He may illuminate the whole world with His own light in preference to the light of the sun. Behold the house of the Lord, into which it is permitted by the law for the high priest alone to set foot once in the year; I entrust it to you, that according to the voice of the Psalmist you may dwell in it *for length of days* (Ps. 22:6). Yet you, before much time has passed, shall have within yourself the great High Priest, Christ, and you shall bear Him for a long time. Go therefore, O daughter, into the Holy of Holies, you who are about to receive the most holy of all that is holy, and who are about to bestow holiness upon all. ^C Approach, O Queen, and accept this truly splendid and royal seat, you who are about to persuade the King of the universe—

^A XIX. Having thus inclined her ear to these words, and offering herself as if in obedience, the Daughter of God moved gently away from those noble maidens who stood surrounding her holding lamps; and, entirely graceful, manifesting a grave demeanor and character, she approached the High Priest with joy. She spoke to him gladly, and by the movements she possessed, as well as by her childish stammering, she indicated that she agreed with his decree, and she eagerly made it known that she chose to dwell in the Holy of Holies rather than with her parents or according to any other domestic care. And she said, as one might say with the divine David: "I will go in unto the altar of God, unto God, who makes my youth glad; for you are my hope from my mother's breasts; upon you I was cast from the womb; from my mother’s belly, you are my God."

^B XX. For this reason, leaving behind her parents and the custom of her father's house—from which not even those who have reached a sensible age can easily allow themselves to be torn away—the all-pure one, being but three years of age, enters alone into the inner sanctuary of the Temple. And indeed, regarding this age, one would not be capable of declaring the magnitude of the miracle, if one were to consider the things an infant in need—which she truly was—would have had to change.

There, to use the words of the Gospel, this child grew and became strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon her. Or, to add this as well, she advanced in wisdom and age, and in grace before God and before men. Concerning her alone, one might aptly say, the words which the Savior later uttered are befitting: "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

^C XXI. It was necessary, then, that this new entrance of the Virgin into the Temple should take place, so that it might be consistent with her paradoxical coming into life, and with those things that were to be even more paradoxical for her, so that from the beginning even to the end, all things in her might be miraculous, and what followed might be ever more sublime than what preceded.

For indeed, she was born in a manner more novel than the rest of men; but more wondrous than this, and unlike other virgins, is the fact that she was[—]

^A arrived at the temple while still only three years old to take up her dwelling there. And the entering into the very inaccessible inner parts of the sanctuary, what other portent, I ask, did it not surpass? It surpassed absolutely everything else, save only those things which were subsequently performed in her, to which, being found inferior, it does not fear to yield the first place.

XXII. Nevertheless, in my opinion, he would by no means stray from the truth who might call this both the foundation and the root of the more sublime things that followed thereafter. For there is nothing, whether in those things that pertain to her or in all other things, that can be found greater than that God assumed our form from her. But for her to become fitted for this, she obtained [the means] from thence. For as the all-holy one dwelt in the inaccessible places, since there was nothing human to be seen by which she might happen to fashion herself, she always had only God present to her mind; she conversed with God alone, and the meditation of her heart, to speak with the prophet David, was before God at all times. Being nourished by food from God alone, and having become more excellent than everyone else—I mean men and angels—in the likeness of God, she attained to being fashioned; and by continually conversing with Him alone, and, so to speak, being known by Him, she rendered herself, as far as it was possible, clearly similar to Him.

Hence, too, the Creator, when He ^C perceived His own work shining with such sublime and divine beauty, did not deem it unworthy of Himself to assume the form of His own creature, knowing it to be a matter of equity—or rather, I should more properly say, of benevolence—that He should render back this grace to her who indeed, as far as it was permitted to a creature, ascended so as to bear the greatest likeness to Him; so that He Himself might descend, and have both the same form as her, and whatever else pertains to life, in common with her. And thence, because of the Virgin’s likeness to God, God also was made in our likeness from her.

XXIII. For if there was such abundance of innocence in the all-pure one that, wherever she might happen to be, she immediately changed that very place into a Holy of Holies ^D and scarcely, or not even scarcely, stood in need of retreat or any other assistance that a place might offer, one still could by no means concede that that inner dwelling, inaccessible and removed from human custom, did not at all profit the Virgin for the divine ascent, when even the Savior Himself, when He was conversing on earth, is seen finding delight in retreat and the mountain, where He might pray to and converse with the Father and God. Therefore, those sacred inner places truly contributed to the Blessed one, that she might govern her own house wisely and train her handmaids.

^A I mean her venerable senses, in season, according to the divine Luke, to give the portion of grain. Now the portion of grain, as I construe it, would be the meditation and watchfulness distributed seasonably to each of the movements. And the All-Pure one, having managed this so wisely and wonderfully, has been shown as Mistress over all things that are subject to God. For to this, I think, those words of the Savior point: *Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom the Lord will set over his household, to give the portion of grain in season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he comes will find so doing. Truly I say to you that he will set him over all his possessions.* ^B Regarding this, it seems to me, that divine David also spoke beforehand: *You, Lord, have settled me singularly in hope.* For that solitude became the cause for the Virgin to attain true hope, and there, I am persuaded, the All-Pure one would have spoken this prophetically: *He heard from his holy temple my voice; and my cry before him shall enter into his ears.*

XXIV. But I think that that mystical and most secret dwelling of the Virgin within the sanctuaries of the temple also pertains to the image of her Son and Savior that she bore. ^C For just as the Master, in that he was human, born of her, had fellowship and was visible to men, but as God was invisible and devoid of human company; so also she, who obtained the great things of the Mighty One, was both visible and invisible. For, in that she was born of men and was like us, she was seen by many up until her third year, and then after her departure from the temple until her ascent into the heavens; but in that she excelled in superhuman virtue and the new beauty of the soul, and was, so to speak, a terrestrial divinity, she remained invisible ^D for no short time, dwelling in that inaccessible and divine ground; so that what she expressed in herself beforehand, being, as I said, visible and invisible, was a vivid image of the visible and invisible God who appeared from her.

^A

XXV. Furthermore, that the sacred inner sanctuaries were opened to the Virgin, and that an angel descending from heaven stood by to prepare that wonderful food, this seems to me to betoken that the heavens were later to be opened, and the Holy Spirit in bodily form was to descend when the Lord received the divine washing in the Jordan. For just as the sacred inner chambers were opened to the Virgin alone, and not to any other of all mortals, so too did heaven then show itself opened to the Savior alone. And the fact that she, the most innocent one, was seen by the one high priest entering the Holy of Holies once a year, this again contributes not a little to her bearing a more vivid likeness to God. For just as to be admitted to the sight of God, as far as is permitted for mortals, happens only to chosen men—and indeed not always, but when they have torn themselves away from the manifold and murky confusion of the crowds and, being free, as much as they are able, to occupy themselves alone with divine and heavenly things, to which the crowds do not ascend, they have learned how to converse properly—in the same way, in order that the likeness of the Virgin to God might be demonstrated in this too, for which (O trembling mystery!) she also carried God, she herself became visible once a year and was seen only by the high priest. ^B

XXVI. Yet not even when she did show herself to be seen could the spectator grasp all the excellence that was in her. For just as if it were granted to someone to fix his gaze on God, he would not on that account perceive all the things that are in God; no otherwise, if anyone were to look upon the Virgin, he would by no means achieve an understanding of all the sublimity that was in her. For the Virgin had depicted herself in such divine colors, so to speak—so much, according to that saying of David, *the light of the face of the Lord was marked upon her*—that she manifested in herself most clearly the living image of God. ^C Nevertheless, I indeed assert that there are in her prerogatives that are incomprehensible to the mind and almost ineffable to the human tongue, and which are deifying; yet may it be far from you to ever consider her equal to God. But you might indeed call the most pure one "God" because of the eminence of her virtue, if you compared her to us; but if you compare her to God, she appears as what she is in reality—the Virgin, namely, a human being.

XXVII. Nevertheless, she is, as I have said, more sublime than all created beings; and anyone will be able easily and without fear of error to discern that she alone is more equal to lifting men to the glory of God than all created things together. And indeed, although from the beginning neither angels ^D nor heaven nor sun or the chorus of stars...

nor the earth and the sea, and the varied and stupendous adornment of plants, had been created—yet, even so, men could have arrived at understanding the things of God through this incomparable Virgin alone. ^A

For while those things that are considered higher among creatures are indeed splendid among the rest, and proclaim the admirable glory of the Creator with no faint voice, yet if they are compared to the Queen, who brought forth the King of the universe and brought the supreme good to all, they become worthless, to an extent beyond what it is right even to imagine. Moreover, he who has shown himself to be the author of some most excellent work surely does not need to have praises accrued to him from less noble creations. For everyone will easily grant that he who could ^B perform great things is also able to perform the smallest. Therefore, if no other created thing had existed, the all-pure one, as has been said, would suffice most fully to proclaim the glory of divine magnificence, no differently than if all the rest were present.

But I would say that these things were created for this reason: so that it might appear by how many, how great, and by how vast an interval she herself excelled all these things; or furthermore, for this cause also, that there might exist other things into which God could pour forth the more splendid effects of His goodness through her. And every creature that exists is indeed a work of this goodness; but if anything august shines forth in it, it has attained this through the Virgin: to such a degree is she the miracle of miracles, and, except for God, nothing of those things that exist is more magnificent than she. ^C

XXVIII. Therefore, although that which has now carried us into admiration—namely, the entry of the most innocent one into the holy of holies at so tender an age—is not a little stupendous, yet to me it does not seem as stupendous as it would be if this had not itself come to pass. For there is no reason why we should marvel that he who is powerful displays the greatest works; rather, that which is worthy of admiration is that one whose virtue is most ready to perform stupendous deeds prefers to tread the path common to others. But seeing that, whatever men may be able to say about her, we can never weave a crown of praises equal to her merits, and since in the greatest matters silence is sometimes an indication of admiration; for this reason, ^D even in the present prerogative of her who is to be praised, because they are greater than any admiration, it is better that we venerate them with silence. But would that it might be granted to us both to speak of her and to be silent as the time requires, and this through the grace of the same most praise-worthy one, whom, that I may speak with the blessed Paul, we have as an anchor of the soul, safe and firm, and entering into that which is within the veil, whither the forerunner Jesus has entered for us, to whom be the power and the worship, and likewise to the Father and to the

in the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages. Amen.

SERMON III. On the Annunciation of our glorious and grace-filled Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.

^A I. Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult; let the angels applaud, and let men be glad with joy, and let every creature on this day be merry; for the Creator of all now fills the whole universe, rejoicing, with joy. Now He comes to reconcile to Himself those things which were hostile to Him; now He dissolves the sadness born of sin; now He pours forth gladness to all, as it were a new atmosphere; now He shines to the ends of the earth with a light more pleasant than the solar ray. Now, according to the divinely resounding voice of Isaiah, He has clothed us with a garment of salvation and wrapped us in a robe of gladness. Now Jeremiah, uttering those lamentable voices of old, takes up a recantation and, acting opportunely as the person of God, proclaims: "I will be merciful to the iniquities of men, and I will remember their sins no more." Now the beauty of heaven and the bright circle of the stars are surpassed by the pleasure of the present brightness. Now it is a fitting time to shout that: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men."

For He who before brought into being heaven, earth, and sun, and commanded the other works of His magnificence to shine, now creates—if I may so say—joy, that which was not created from the beginning, or if created, did not endure. And just as He said, "Let there be light," and there was light, and in exactly the same way brought forth other things, various indeed but wondrously interconnected, out of nothing; so now through the angel He said, "Hail," to the grace-filled one.

^B II. This "Hail," namely, He now in a certain manner creates, and commands it to pervade all creatures on every side, and gives power to all who turn their minds to it, so that they may perceive with their senses the beauty and the golden, most beautifully interwoven ornament within themselves, which matches the affection of joy that is theirs. For one who is afflicted by some continuous evil and occupied by sadness is not in a state to be able to investigate and perceive the beauty and wonder of nature; in such wise that if this "Hail" had not now appeared, whatever of magnificence shines in the work of creation would surely have failed and lain unpraised. ^C But since the kindness of the Lord could not bear that, as regards this nobler part—that is to say, regarding joy—His creatures should be ill-disposed, for this reason He now also creates joy, which He had long loved to add to existing things, but found no suitable vessel which might have the power both to guard and to distribute what was given. For now, to this supernatural and most spacious vessel having appeared, the much-hymned Virgin, this is altogether revealed, and...

he announces this joy to her, as if wishing to show by this salutation that he had finally found what he had long desired; for we too are accustomed to address our friends in this way if they happen to encounter us.

III. Moreover, this word, when it creates joy, adds a kind of new nature, as it were, to things that already exist. Therefore, the Creator, while bringing forth joy on this day, rejoices himself. For why not? Since even he who compounds ointments is himself imbued with the fragrance from the very act of making the ointment. But all created things together exult with joy, receiving this most fragrant ointment—joy itself—poured into them. Wherefore, nothing of all that exists is seen to be devoid of joy on this day.

And so that this may become clearer, and for many other reasons—nor is it untimely for the reason mentioned—it is manifest that God rejoices, and the angels rejoice, having appeared as ministers of the joy that has been brought into being. But men also rejoice; ^B since God, to receive this new joy, required not the solar disk, not the vault of heaven, not an angelic nature, nor any other of all things, but only the Virgin, most pure and of the same nature as [men], he sought her as his dwelling-place. Nor is it foreign to reality that the rest of the material creation should also rejoice, while they feel that their own Master—I mean man (for it was for his sake that they were created)—has in some way laid aside the heavy sadness of [his] countenance. For the mountains and hills, says the admirable Isaiah, shall leap, expecting us in joy, and all the trees of the field shall applaud with their branches [(80)]. Furthermore, if the whole creation groans together, as the blessed Paul says, it is necessary that it also rejoice with those who rejoice. Since it also shared in corruption on account of man, it will also be set free from the slavery of corruption, according to the same divine Paul, ^C as we, for whose sake the creation suffered, now receive the things that are on high. Therefore, everything today is truly full of joy.

Everything everywhere abounds in exultation, shining with cheerfulness, glittering with every manner of brightness and grace. ^A

IV. But if, while all existing things partake of joy, the creator of wickedness is not even near the hour, it is not at all surprising. For he willingly suffered that darkness; willingly he did not flee from wickedness, nor did he seek out brightness, but remained reveling in the misery into which he had fallen. For it would not be a maintainable argument, in the opinion of those who have understanding, to find someone who is unwilling among those who are willing; for if someone pushes (grace) away, there is no way to receive it. To invite the apostate to the banquet, therefore, when he neither rejoiced in it nor gave his consent, would be very far from being reasonable. For it would be akin to if someone were to lead a pig, which delights in mire, to the delight of flowers, neither gladdening it, nor dragging it away from its habits, but insulting the beauty of the meadows. Therefore, he has been ^B kept outside the common joy of all—as one who neither wished for it, nor would have, had he been invited—and is reserved under gloom in eternal bonds for the judgment of the great day, as the apostle Judas says, and for the fire prepared for him, as we read in the Gospels. For God is always concerned about those who are being corrected or called, to the extent that each case admits of it, or both; but for those who do not learn wisdom from this, the judgment is destruction, and of both these things the Ninevites and the Sodomites are witnesses.

V. Furthermore, it did not at all befit him to be joined to the choir of existing things, for he has apostatized from the blessed and all-luminous Being, having become darkness himself, and he consumes the intellectual power given to him by nature upon that which is nothing, just as the divine Maximus also said somewhere; just as truly that which is not luminous is whatever lacks that from which it might receive light, nor is that living, whoever is separated from the principle of life. For which reason, I believe, God called all things "very good" ^C after that ruin of the apostate, for the reason that the author of evils had been torn away from the assembly of the good, and was, as it were, dead, or rather corrupted and ^D [marginal note: "recensitus" (restated/recounted)]—so that, among all the other things that remained, he was in no way included. [index: entries preserved]

and was, as it were, dead, or rather corrupted and — so that, among all the other things that remained, he was in no way included. ^A VI. From these things, furthermore, which we have spoken of above—namely, that he alone, the crafty one, was in no way a partaker of the joy spread everywhere—and from these things which are presently to be said, anyone may be able to discern the reason why God restored man who had fallen, yet did not raise up the tyrant from his fall. For Adam, and the helpmate who was given to him, neither devised the evil of their own accord, nor, after they were deceived, did they hurl the envious dart at others; and they hid themselves, which is the proper behavior of those who lament their error and calamity. For they were ashamed because of their nakedness, and were almost striving to cast themselves away, as the stinging knowledge of what they had exchanged—having chosen the most shameful things in place of the most honorable—gnawed at them.

^B But that wicked performer was the first to dare such iniquity, having no example of such a misdeed before his eyes—for many good things rather drew him the other way, since all things were preserving the seal of the Creator—and he shared the cup of wickedness with others. Nor indeed did the slaughter of one, or two, or even a hundred satisfy him so that he would stop there; but if he had been able to drag all men down into a miserable ruin, and to deprive them of God and cast them into hell, he would not have deemed that sufficient for his depravity; nay, he would have considered the accumulation of such great misery to be his own delight and highest beatitude. And this, so far as it depended upon him, would have come to pass, had not God, who constantly manifests His providence toward us, restrained his fury against us.

^C Furthermore, he is not ashamed of perpetrating such things, nor did he ever think of words with which to seek mercy, nor, however execrable his crimes may be and worse than all other execrable things, did he ever seek a hiding place; but he exults freely, rejoices in his iniquitous deeds, glories in his machinations, and shamelessly attacks the innocent, as the history of Job also makes plain.

^D VII. Wherefore man, who had not devised iniquity by himself, nor, when it had appeared, did he pass it on—but rather, having been a victim and led astray, he was worthy of pity and attained to it. For in act, if not in words, he was calling for mercy. For his hiding was the sign of one confessing that he had committed a great wrong, such that he did not even dare to let his voice come forth, nor to appear in the sight of others. But as for that most wicked one, who both devised all the worst things and plotted them for the destruction of himself as well as of others, and did not remit one jot of that fury of his, and who holds his disease most dear

^A and scorns the physician, and rejects mercy, how could any remedy be applied when, moreover, he considers those things to be punishments which are medicines to others? For what, he says, is there between me and you, Jesus? You have come before the time to torment me; since indeed he saw the disease being cast out, which he himself (in the body of the sick man) was containing. Then, when the Savior was scorned, he was forced to seek out flourishing places for dwelling, or something else delighting in pleasantness; for he prefers the swine, a splendid dwelling indeed. In such a way that most wretched one, full of swine-like and muddy filth, is always digging up wickedness and delights in it; but it never even occurred to him to look upward and summon health! Hence he lies miserably ill, considering his own depravity to be a decoration for himself, and he proudly rejects the offered remedy. But we, who have fallen, are not so; for upon receiving the wound we often lift up our voice to the most benevolent Physician, and after we saw that He had arrived, we received Him as servants, and we earnestly prayed that everything which the Savior intended might be fulfilled in us.

^B VIII. And indeed, the words of that Most Pure one clearly testify to this: Behold, she says, the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. Whose virtue, indeed, raised up this great trophy, namely our salvation. For since pleasure had captured us, and we—alas!—fleeing from God, the benefactor, gave ourselves to the wicked serpent, we became subjects of that enemy and were enslaved to his will; and there was nothing of any evil to which that crafty seducer would not compel us by his tyranny; whence also the storm of lust erupted, and the waves of iniquity overflowed, and the whirlwind of injustice shook the ends of the earth. But God was looking down from heaven, seeking if there were any one on earth according to His heart, who might seem suitable to liberate men from that error and from the bonds of servitude; and not even one could be found, since they all lay useless, infected by the venom of the serpent.

^C But after many generations, when that treasure beyond nature, the Most Pure one, I say, appeared, whose virtue—to speak prophetically—covered not only the heavens, but also the earth was filled with that most pure one—the recalling of the world, the salvation of the whole world, the undoing of the curse, the restoration of the fallen, the ransom of men, the counter-ransom for the world, the dispenser of life and salvation, the Mediatress, the propitiation, [alt-version omitted] ^D

^A of the splendor from that place had come to pass, such that the ray which shone forth was small in comparison to the Virgin’s brilliance. Since these things happened in this way, God performs extraordinary miracles through the Virgin; He releases those bound by the hands of the tyrant, and makes masters out of slaves, where before there were thralls; He delivers the human race from storm and darkness, and grants that peace which surpasses all understanding, 57 and renders its former enemies godlike. So brightly did the Virgin flash, so wondrously did she illuminate men!

^B XI. But I think that because it was necessary to withstand the greatest malice in this manner, for this reason the all-pure one had been preserved after so long a time had elapsed, so that the excellence of her virtue might be shown to be superior to the magnitude of malice, in that it overcame so much, so many generations, so varied, so complex, and so most unholy, as time added new inventions to malice. For if she were not to have been born, I think that long ago, shortly after the Adamic fall, some other power—perhaps a small one—would have wrought the restoration of humanity. For the divine goodness, for the sake of which all things were made, would never have allowed man, that most noble creature, to fall into such corruption, had He not foreseen a future instrument which would accomplish, with happy success, great things—such things as the Virgin later exhibited—and for which we celebrate God with wonder. And if God had not prophesied that He would tread upon the earth through her, the earth would not have been able to bear one who is above the Seraphim. And if this had been done by God in a novel way, yet she would not have remained long, passing her time in common among men, with whom her mind had nothing in common; but rather, having appeared briefly to show that God could indeed mold someone from the earth, and to show this above those who were not born from it, she would have quickly flown away, having occupied ^C the place which befitted her above the heavens.

^D (Notes of Ant. Ballerini) ...price of the world's redemption, reconciler of life or salvation, mediatress, atonement. We have this, therefore, most fully testified in the tradition of the Church, which presumes the immunity of the Virgin Mother of God from original sin to be certain and explored.

(87) Hab. iii, 3: LXX reads thus, and [the author] 88 alleges it according to the sense. (88) See, therefore, how Mary shone upon the world—clothed, in effect, with a splendor that would surpass the rays of the sun, and indeed a splendor which shines forth from the highest innocence and purity. And you will perceive this state of Mary all the more evidently if you compare it with the condition of the entire human race, which is soon described as being shrouded in darkness due to the transgression of Adam. (89) From this learn that the Virgin Mother of God is proclaimed as excelling the celestial spirits, not only by reason of the dignity which accrued to her on account of the divine maternity, but also by reason of the excellence whereby her own intrinsic gifts transcended any angelic nobility whatsoever; so much so that such an exquisite work of God would never have been seen in this earth of ours had God not predestined her to receive the Word of God. But if God fashioned such a work—which, for its nobility, demanded a place other than this lowest earth—a heaven, that is, as is mentioned a little further down—what place is there to suspect that that work, the most degraded in earthly things, could have proceeded from divine hands unhonored by this same vice? (90) You see, she also bestowed that which was not formed from the earth, looking plainly toward the beginning of her own formation, that is, her actual existence. From which it is clear that she is proclaimed not only as pure and holy in her origin, but moreover as endowed with so many and such great divine gifts, that from [index: entries preserved]

^A the earth might receive Him descending, and that she might contain Him whom the heavens cannot contain, and might reconcile mankind to Him. For this reason, even after a long time had passed, the age brought forth that most glorious one, and the earth bore that brilliant treasure, being awaited to receive even something greater through her. And having indeed received it, and not otherwise being able to show with what reverence it followed the Virgin, it assigned to her a most singular place to inhabit, namely the Holy of Holies, and of these the most venerable part. And it did not deem it lawful that any fruit from itself should be offered to her for sustenance, knowing that she alone was the purest human being, concerning whom even the prophet was revealed to have eaten the bread of angels. Therefore, it entrusted this duty to be fulfilled by the angels, whom it subsequently behooved to perform the duty of announcing the mystery more worthy of wonder, as these ^B words (of Luke) most manifestly attest.

X. For he says: "The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the Virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said: Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women."

To the Mother of the Creator, who was about to administer the mystery above nature to Him, the creatures rendered the service due as to a queen, ^C for the sake of the supernatural mystery she was to serve. The earth provided the most noble of all dwellings; the heavens provided the food; the angel showed himself as the steward of the food. But also the angel here displays his own title, as he never had before, most beautifully; for never had he been the messenger of such great blessings.

"But," he says, "the angel was sent from God." This indicates in some way how much these present events are contrary to those ancient ones. For Gabriel did not now come of his own accord, as that deceitful one approached the first mother of old, nor does he propose that the laws of God be trampled upon; rather, he was both sent, and he carried out those things which were of the divine will. He was sent, indeed, so that through this ministry he might become more illustrious than himself. For if this were not the goal, the one who is first after the First ^D would not have needed to hear that address from one inferior. For even if...

^A God the Word had addressed her by Himself, or had brought to her the whole fullness of the Godhead, still she would have needed a kind of intermediary to hear that address. For He who is God the Word would have truly spoken to her in person, she who bore this same One, namely, the whole fullness of the Godhead [*].

XI. But perhaps someone might say: "If it was predetermined that the one who performs his ministry should become more illustrious, surely one more sublime should have been affected by such an honor, and not Gabriel, so that such nobility might extend even to the lesser orders."

What then shall we say? This, indeed: that the most blessed one, who came into life for the purpose of making Him who is above all things a sharer with those on earth, used this universal order of things as a sort of ladder for ascent. Since, therefore, that blessed one—for whom it was meet that heaven should be the starting point of her progress, or whatever else may be more sublime than heaven itself (for she was the heaven of heaven, a lot belonging to the Lord alone as His own proper portion)—since she had the earth as her first step, it was logical that this, which actually happened, should come to pass: that she should have conversation with that order of spirits which is first after the earth. ^B Especially since she who is most praised by all had transformed the earth into heaven, it was entirely fitting that she should first associate with those who are nearest above the earth, and subsequently point out the new way to those who are more sublime. And that order of spirits in which the divine Gabriel is reckoned is said to be the one nearest to us.

Then it should be no wonder if it happened that these angels, who are lower in rank, were the first to be illuminated by this splendid mystery; for even men were deemed worthy of enjoyments which it was not granted to the angels even to taste, though a violent desire impels them to touch upon these things even slightly, and although men are separated from incorporeal ^C substances by a great interval of both dignity and purity. And just as if someone were searching for something with a lighted lamp, the things that are near are bathed in greater light than those placed far away, in the same manner, when that drachma was found, for the sake of which that most brilliant lamp was lit, it was fitting that as many as were nearer to that light should enjoy a more abundant light than those which lay far off. ^D Denique ad nobilissimam illam speciem, purissimam Virginem excellentiam. Atqui cum notione operis, quod intrinseca sibi nobilitate perfectissimum omnium, uno Deo excepto, excellentissimumque haberi debeat, plane nescit amico fœdere sociari tanta vilitas, quin et tanta turpitudo, atque abominatio, quanta in peccati labe, et in Dei inimicitia residet. [index: entries preserved]

^A I say, who shone forth among her relatives buried in filth (95), nothing else comes closer than that she was made radiant. And to this end, it was altogether fitting that this leader of the heavenly host should be illuminated before all other intelligent substances.

XII. He is therefore the first to be illuminated, both because of his proximity and because of that joy which he himself brought; for he became a partaker of the good thing he brought, just as one who offers ointment to another, together with him who receives it, partakes of the virtue emanating from the ointment.

He says, therefore: *Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee* 62. Gabriel could not bear the magnitude of the joy; and as if hastening to cast off from himself that great burden of joy upon one who could bear it, he forgot the name of the All-Pure; and as if unmindful of how to address her, he immediately offers that "Hail" which he was carrying. Thou, therefore, he says, art full of grace, thou art blessed among women, and for this reason, rejoice. For with thee is the Lord of all, and I know of no address more fitting by which to greet thee than "Hail." For Him ^B whom heaven and earth, even if they were allowed to expand further, could not contain, thou, O new wonder, hast made thyself the golden house. Thee, therefore, as the queen of all, I venerate, and as I have been commanded, I announce "Hail" to thee.

Rejoice, for because of this I, too, now exult with joy, not only because of the pleasantness in the announcement, which everyone who proclaims very joyful news experiences, but also because I am becoming plainly better than my former self, and I am illuminated with more ample light to contemplate higher things. These things, moreover, are truly thine, than which nothing is more miraculous or sublime. And if any one rejoices when he handles sweet things, even if the joy redounds to him alone; when thou enjoyest a ^C sweetness that surpasses all thought, and with thee all creatures together, and the Creator God rejoice, what then could anyone say of thee?

XIII. Hail, therefore, full of grace, and enjoy a joy that exceeds every joy, O blessed one. I have no greeting more noble than the one with which I address thee. And I know indeed that, because of Him whom, according to my happy announcement, thou shalt bear in thy womb, thou shalt be called blessed, and shalt be celebrated by many with magnificent praises in all time, just as truly miraculous things were predicted of thee with wonder by the prophets. But neither did anyone among the ancients reserve for thee the auspicious acclamation that thou hast received, nor will any of the present or future generations give thee applause according to thy merits; nay, not even if all, as many as are or were or shall be, were to happen to assemble to perform this, could an ^D adequately worthy hymn be woven for thee.

Rejoice, therefore, because of all these things, O depth of knowledge, and height of wisdom, and wealth of joy, and sea of…

^A grace, and magnitude of miracles, and ocean of beauty, and treasury of mysteries! The Lord is with thee. Who would not be struck with wonder at the novelty of thy magnificence? What mind could be adequate to linger in the contemplation of these portentous spectacles? What intellect shall be able to raise itself to the height of those things which transcend every flight of the heavenly ones? What thought, having risen to these ineffable things, descending, could boast that it is sufficiently instructed in these mysteries? What tongue, gathering the flowers of words, and weaving a golden-shining discourse and sweetest diction, could construct a work worthy of this argument?

The Lord is with thee, not merely as He is the upholder of all things in the rest of the creatures, nor as He was with Moses and Elijah and other holy men, dwelling with thee ^B and working miracles; nor, having found in thee a home suitable for Him and having illumined thee for a time, will He cease after the completion of the economy from illuminating with thee all creatures; but the Lord is with thee in a way absolutely new, which neither eye has seen, ^C nor ear has heard, and which exists as more sublime than the ascent of the human heart. For through the effulgent splendor of thy divine soul, He will pour forth to men the rays of the ineffable divine nature; and because of the most shining beauty of thy virtue, He will appear encompassed by thy form, which He loved; and, uniting Himself with thy immaculate blood, (O unheard-of mystery!) He becomes that which He was not, being born from thee for thy sake, and bearing thy whole image, and almost forgetting that He is God. ^D And thence, in a divine and magnificent way, vying with thee in generosity, that which He is by nature as Creator, this He will, in a new manner, bestow upon thee in return by grace, and for the sake of those things which He has in common with thee, He, resting in the bosom of the invisible Father, will remain with thee for the ages.

And thou shalt wondrously bring forth milk, since all thy things are full of miracles—thy entrance into the life of mankind, thy seat of conversation, thy advancement to this age, not provided for thee according to the way of humans, the now ineffable greeting, and the new birth which shall follow after this; and thou shalt water with milk Him who, bestowing with a liberal hand, fills every living thing with blessings; thy hands shall carry Him whose hands also fashioned thee, and who brought forth from nothing the visible and invisible world by the sole decree of His mind. But if the Lord is with thee, what need is there to say much? Miracles surely, and things higher than every intellect, shall the sun see, and the ends of the earth shall resound because of thee. Rejoice, therefore, O full of grace, rejoice, 13

^A the blessed, who after God bringest victory over all of nature.

XIV. “But she, having seen,” it says, “was troubled at his word, and was considering what manner of greeting this might be.” The most sublime mind of the All-Pure one looked at the difference between God and men; then, she was struck with awe as she contemplated the magnitude of such a condescension, and the mystery. And she leaped for joy in a religious manner, but she was not timid, nor was she shaken, and her soul did not become unsteady. For she was most easily moved, so that she might the more quickly know who it was that had approached. For that “having seen, she was troubled,” gives me to understand this, as if it were saying: having looked, and having considered with a God-wise mind both the greatness of God and the nothingness of men, she leaped for joy in her heart; and she was struck with wonder at the divine things and grasped the marvels, hearing of such a condescension of God. For this reason also, she considered what manner of greeting this might be, as a great greeting, and one that cast down the human mind. For it is in the divine Scripture that “to be shaken,” ^B which carries the same meaning as “to be troubled,” also shows the indication of joy, as when it is said: “Let the sea be shaken and the fullness thereof; the fields shall rejoice, and all things that are therein.” Here, then, from the “she was troubled,” both the exultation and the most fervent bound of that admirable soul are shown forth, both for amazement and for the acclaim of the wonders of God with a most becoming fear. For even if the All-Pure one was peerless in purity, and had nothing in herself that would not also be sufficient to be exceedingly loved by God; yet she was a human being, who stands toward God as a lie toward the truth, just as a prophetic ecstasy also declares. For that reason, therefore, she considered it a most unusual thing that the womb, having narrow limits, should contain Him who is immense and infinite, ^C and she thought it to be beyond every miracle that the Maker should enter into that new communion with His own creature. And indeed, when she considered the body, which is from these lowest things, and compacted of clay, and from a parent—

^A who had transgressed, she reckoned it as something horrific, that that supreme annunciation was brought to her, and she was wholly stricken with amazement, wondering how a vessel of clay, and moreover one broken by the fall, could contain Him who is truly fearsome and incomprehensible. And it was from this very consideration that she pondered regarding that salutation. But when she turned her eyes toward her own soul, and how she had kept it immaculate, how she had preserved it pure beyond all purity, and how, by the ascensions of her heart having been raised to a celestial height, she had far outstripped all flight, then at last she cast off that vehement terror and, with a composed mind, submitted herself to those things which were being announced; and, "Behold," she said, "the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word."* ^B

XV. I, however, am of the opinion that she also had, from our own human composition, a small opening to understand this transcendent salutation. For just as the union of soul and body in us, though it is beyond discourse, is nevertheless something we acknowledge with our faculties, so too did she think to reason out this greater communion, procuring not a small insight—from the coexistence there—regarding this new mystery of the Incarnation. For it seems to me that man did not receive his twofold composition only so that the ineffable and multiform wisdom of the Creator might be manifested through the variety of the work, but also for the sake of this mystery, so that man might provide for himself some small basis of faith from his own nature. And indeed, if—in my opinion—this human composite had not been fashioned for this end, God would have had no need of dust, so that by reason of this we might be a little lower than the angels; but rather, we would have been added as some other humble order of immaterial spirits, yet one lacking in earth.

Besides, if we had offered nothing ^C (for what could we offer, as we did not yet exist?), out of the bowels of His immense goodness He brought us forth from nothing for this reason alone, and set before us, as it were, a munificent table, filled with the variety and abundance of all manner of goods, both celestial and terrestrial and those that are intermediate—what gifts, I ask, would not have been granted for our enjoyment, if we had performed things acceptable to the Creator? And therefore, that most shining vessel, the Virgin—I say, glorious above all—since she could not even conceive in her mind anything that she did not offer to the Lord with the highest zeal for purity, truly had no reason to hesitate so greatly or to waver, upon hearing that she was chosen to minister to ineffable mysteries.

XVI. Nevertheless, because consideration of the immense

^A distance between God and humans is, in truth, beyond the power of any human mind to measure according to its dignity, the Virgin, who was surely human, considering that which is terrible in the mystery, hears the angelic voice once again: *Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found grace with God* (Luc. 1, 30). Now, at last, the name of the Virgin returns to Gabriel’s memory. For he had laid aside the burden of joy that he was carrying; and just as if, having set it down, he breathed more easily, he speaks with her more freely, and says, *Fear not, Mary*, calling her now by her own name.

Tremendous, indeed, is the mystery, and full of wonder; nor is there any among created natures who could judge of it as is meet. But thou alone, he says, O Mary, fear not. Furthermore, that reverence of the Virgin, full of astonishment, mixed with submissive acclaim and exultation joined to veneration, Gabriel here calls fear, just as David also said: *Rejoice unto him with trembling* (Psal. II, 11). Be not, he says, disturbed by the excess ^B of it; nor think that thou art altogether unequal to such great majesty; nor, beholding the greatness of the mystery, become lesser through astonishment and fear; nor because thou art human, think that the greeting is for this reason terrible or impossible for thee. For thou art indeed reasoning according to what is fitting, and worthily of thine own lofty mind. For a human being, not to mention bearing God and clothing with one’s own flesh Him who *covereth Himself with light as with a garment* (Psal. CIII, 2), cannot even approach Him in the slightest degree, He to whom thousand thousands of angels stand by, and ten thousand times ten thousand minister (Dan. VII, 10), and at the view of whose power all things shudder and tremble. But thou—I know not how I should say it—art not human, not an angel, but some other lofty nature, and such a one as cannot even be compared to a model after the divine nature. For this reason, to thee alone, Mary, the loftiness of my message is not to be feared. ^C Neither is the purity of thy virtue in every way unequal to so divine a message; nor does the admirable splendor of thy soul fit less with the admitting of what is announced; nor does the Creator designate thy beauty as unworthy for Himself; nor does the All-Seeing pass over the brightness of thy glory; nor does the Maker judge the radiance of thy purity to be unapproachable for Himself. Fear not, therefore, Ma- ^D [alt-version omitted]

Maria, for thou hast found grace with God. Judgment concerning thy affairs now becomes God's; and since He could find no other remuneration worthy to correspond to the trophies of thy radiance, the Lord offers Himself to thee as the reward. For neither can He who has established the prizes of the contest neglect those who strive, nor does He distribute prizes that are less than the labors, nor does He weave crowns that do not measure up to the nature of the contest. But since neither things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor the whole world, nor any other creature is a reward responding to thy merits, thou receivest this, which alone is worthy of thee, as thy remuneration. ^A And this, O thy unspeakable glory, O most pure Virgin, is that utterance: "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end"*. This recompense is rendered to the most radiant beams of thy soul; this grace is paid back to thee for thy ascent that surpasses the heavens and for thy winning God to thyself. Thy dwelling in the sacred inner sanctuary foreshadowed this to thee, signifying clearly that thou wouldst approach Him who alone is inaccessible, and that thou wouldst adorn thy bosom for Him to inhabit as a meadow exhaling an unusual sweetness, and that, by a new wonder, thou wouldst make heaven easy of access to those on earth, and for those whose lot is by no means earthly dust, thou wouldst strew the ground as a new path. This also that heavenly food prefigured for thee, so that from loftier viands thou mightest have the means to set a bountiful feast for the Highest. ^B

XVII. "And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Thou announcest a conception, O Gabriel, and proclaimest a son to me; but these things, as is evident, are wont to be followed by another manner of life and another dispensation, of which I am entirely ignorant. How, then, shall that which thou announcest happen to me? For even though thou callest that which shall be born great and admirable, yet all the miracles we have known to have been worked on earth until now have been brought about by a certain natural, simpler, and human economy. Thus, Moses, in order to divide the sea, had need of a rod; and Elias needed oil and a little flour to sustain the widow of Sareptha; and Raphael, by the aid of that fish, restored sight to Tobias, and through the same power he cast out a demon. ^C And I do not say this as though the power to work those splendid wonders should be referred to the rod or the fish or anything else similar to them; but because God was working marvels, while yet men were using customary instruments. ^D As, therefore, it is certain that something of the ineffable mysteries will also happen with me, God willing, I cannot disbelieve; but the conception, and the son, in ways that have no need of them, human steps and communion...

* Luc. 1, 31-33. ibid. 34.

these are human works, and consequently require the intercourse of a man. By what means, therefore, since these things are not employed, will the things you speak of come to pass in me? I pray you, since I do not clearly see it, explain it to me. ^B

XVIII. And the angel, answering, said to her: *The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; therefore also the Holy One that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.* It is fitting, he says, that words are lacking to me, by which I might explain the mystery; and for this reason, even in those matters which transcend human condition, I employ words taken from human affairs. Otherwise, it is not at all inappropriate that expressions of this kind should be used of Him who, because of His ineffable love for mankind, deigned both to be called man and to become man. You will therefore conceive truly, and (in which the present mystery resides) He will truly be your son. But the mode, about which you ask, is this: The Holy Spirit shall come upon you; therefore also that which is to be born, being holy, although your son, shall yet also be called the Son of God. Hear, therefore, daughter, for the prophet also joins me in entreating you, having long ago been fore-instructed in that which you now inquire of me concerning this mystery, and incline your ear, and forget to weigh by human reasoning those things which transcend the human order, and at the same time forget whatever pertains to your paternal and kindred house, because the King has desired your beauty; and for your sake He delivers the human race from the harsh sentence formerly pronounced, and today sheds the radiance of supernatural graces to the ends of the world. And behold, that this may be a proof to you that the things I say are true, even Elizabeth your kinswoman has herself conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month for her who is called barren, *because no word shall be impossible with God.* Do not, therefore, upon hearing of the advent of God within you, inquire how.

XIX. And Mary said: *Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.* Well done, for such a response! Well done, for such a most noble thought, which had already been pre-ordained for the bringing forth of miracles! What, she asks, would be the manner of the conception, I was inquiring, when this very thing, namely conception, sounded in my ears. But when I heard of the advent of the Holy Spirit, I doubted no further. You have me now as one who obeys; for from my tender age my desires were borne toward God, and nothing else was kept in my mind except God; and I had long before determined with firm resolve to serve the will of God. As therefore the handmaid of the Lord, behold, I embrace the salutation with a ready mind: let it then be done to me, O angel, what you have announced. For I too proclaim with you that nothing is impossible for God.

^A XX. Such, indeed, were the wonders—surpassing any other—that this new ascent of the blessed one to virtue achieved! Thus, from the fruit of her works—and by works I mean those sublime contemplations whose sweetest fruit is Jesus—she has satisfied both heaven and earth, and all things. She is truly that earth whose foundations are firm and immovable for ages, and who for this reason has borne that height which was built above the heavens; for we hear that another heaven and another earth are to pass away. This is the earth from which truth has sprung, and for whose sake justice has looked down from heaven.

^B And blessed David indeed said that man is like to vanity, and he declared all men to be liars; he believed, I think, that vanity and falsehood are one and the same. But this eminent flower, so that it might bear most clear witness that she is not according to human [standard], bequeathed the single truth, having cultivated the true vine. For I am, says Christ, the true vine. This earth brought forth the true bread, and the wine that gladdens the heart of man; these things we have clearly in my Jesus, who is both our stay and our joy. Therefore, the prophet David also long ago sang of her: We shall be filled with the good things of thy house. This is the way, and the truth, and the life, because He who was born of her is all these things. Through her also we have access to the heavenly Father; since no one comes to Him except through that new offspring, and no one comes to Him except through the Mother.

^C XXI. But when God was creating man, I believe it was for her sake (the Virgin, I mean) that He both conceived and uttered that word: "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." For no one from the beginning, except her who is in every way immaculate, has existed, nor shall any other exist hereafter, for whom it could be rightly affirmed by all that man has most clearly and plainly attained to the divine likeness—insofar as it is possible through the clay, by which he is distinguished from both God and the angels. For neither Adam, nor any other of those who drew their origin from him, perfectly fulfilled the measure of human excellence. Furthermore, if we were able, after having arrived at thinking of and seeking for such eminence, to attain it or perceive it, no experience would ever have rendered it evident to us; nor would it have given us the power to perceive it clearly with our eyes, had not the Divine Word clearly fashioned the all-venerable one; otherwise, the divine utterance would have seemed to have fallen short. On account of this, then, man has heard of that high likeness. And he is finally...

had ever set his eyes upon it, the divine voice would surely have seemed to have been uttered in vain. By the grace of this Virgin, therefore, man has heard that he is to attain to that exalted likeness. This, then, is the treasure which we have in earthen vessels, that is to say, in primal skins. ^A

XXII. But furthermore, from the beginning, man was fashioned and the heavens were stretched out, and the earth and all things that exist were created for the sake of man by reason of her. For since God, inasmuch as He did not ignore that Adam would fall, would never have created him unless He had at the same time preordained his restoration; and since this medicinal remedy depended entirely upon that most pure one; it is clearly evident that [man] was created on her account, and whatever was [created] for his sake both before him and after him. ^B

Especially since it was necessary that man be liberated from his misery by no one else than a man of the same nature, and one who was capable, by reason of his surpassing virtue, of utilizing God as an ally—for the fall was too great for man alone to be able to bestow the benefit of liberation—it was necessary, therefore, that a new man be fashioned, one reaching far toward God, who would have the medicine to apply. And this most new man was entirely this most praised one, for [it moved] God to provide that she might be able [to do] so many things, and He created man according to His own likeness, ^C who, as God, working together with God, would be able to save this great creature, man. And so it is possible also to conclude from these things that the divine goodness would never have been poured forth from the beginning, nor would any of God's works have told of His glory, unless the splendor from the fullness of the Virgin's graces had first shone in the creative intention. For God would not have undertaken this, had He not had that which was able to attain to His own betterment. And since no one else has restored man, or made the bodiless [spirits] more brilliant, or led any other creature to a nobler condition, ^D it is entirely clear that God the Creator has been made manifest through her, and all things

which display the sea of his goodness represent it with the most vivid image.

^B XXIII. Nor is she merely the mother of the creative Word because she gave birth to him; she is, furthermore, as it were the mother of the creative goodness of that same Word, for she existed as the condition and cause whereby his virtue, the producer of good things, was manifested. And if it is permitted to speak somewhat boldly, I would call that blessed one a co-creator with God—both before her advent into the world, leading the creation of things both visible and invisible toward this beauty together with God himself, and just as surely after her advent, having increased this universe of things (as a robe already woven) with a new variety of ornaments and a new loveliness together with God. Indeed, it is not only those things which now exist that have attained their existence for her sake, but also whatever is to be bright in the future; these things too are to be reckoned among her benefits. For these things also are ours, and we—as has already been shown—are for her sake; or, I should say better, the total joy of all future things now stands before us at the outcome of that message which has now been brought to her. For what could be clearer than this, that all good things which are to be, are to be for her sake?

^C XXIV. This message has brought it about that we are both named and are children of God. For as many as received him, he says, he gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. And just as the annunciation did not come to the full-of-grace by the will of the flesh nor by the will of man, so too our regeneration through her is effected divinely, with no carnal root mixed in at all. And just as she consecrated the whole of our ancestral garment—which she herself also had in common with us—to God, in the same manner, because she had received in herself the God whom the human bosom had embraced, she was eager to share him with those of the same nature. And it was certainly by no means a consequence that, because we bore the same fleece as she, we were therefore to be participants of the deifying splendor with which she was enriched, just as she was, or that we should differ but little from her. But just as there was nothing even among all the most sublime things that could satisfy her desire until she drank in God himself—and this David had most clearly sung of her long ago, saying: *I will be satisfied when thy glory shall appear*—and found there alone the relief of her thirst for good things; so that sea of love, with which that most pure one pursues the human race, is nowhere stayed from wishing to render the same splendors common both to herself and to us.

^A XXV. But in order that she might appear, almost like the good Creator and Lord, similar to her own Creator and Son, she lavishly communicates all the greatest goods with others. Nay rather, to show that she came into this life for our sake, so that by reaching out a hand to us she might unite those who were separated from God, she willingly calls us, through the fruit of her womb, to participate in the union with Him; so that what happened to her—that God became one with her through that wondrous conception (for she carried Him, having in a way absorbed Him and joined Him to herself)—we might also experience in relation to God through the partaking of the flesh which her Only-Begotten received from her. For, He says, *He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him*; and, *Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you*. ^B This most sweet, life-giving supper, this truly supercelestial man (namely, the Virgin) cultivated in her bosom as in fertile soil, and prepared it to serve as our banquet. And thus, when her Son draws us to this table, and feeds us abundantly from his own flesh, and rejoices to see us tasting of them, this too must be attributed to the Mother; for she herself blossomed forth as the fruit of men so that God might become a partaker of her flesh, and that he might transform the kinsmen of the Mother through the same. For had this not been destined to happen, that most splendid vessel, formed above all matter, would never have been fashioned as a dust-born image; nor, once it had arrived on earth, could it have desired anything else than what God desired, ^C since it bore such a perfect likeness to God.

And since the tasting of the tree was what, alas, had alienated man from God, and the Virgin perceived that her own flesh would be an effective remedy for those who would in turn taste of it, for divine reconciliation (a remedy which, through her love, she desired to provide freely to the sick, and which God indeed favored—to offer Himself, as far as possible, as food to the fallen), yet man could not be helped by those remedies through which he would return to the path while they remained separated from each other, but both needed to be united, so that because of the kinship of nature the remedy might be most beneficial to those using it; and the all-immaculate one, not being ignorant that all these things required God to compound the healing, would not overlook her need of God, since she was worthy to obtain it, and God loved her. For this reason the paradoxical mystery was wrought; and of the flesh of God

which that most pure one wove, and with which she clothed the Savior, we men partake. ^A

XXVI. Moreover, I believe it was also for these two reasons that she who gave birth to Him who is above every name was called a daughter of men: first, that she might share with God the glory which is rendered to Him by earthly beings—for even our own smallest deeds redound to the glory of God—and second, that it might be made manifest to men how high our clay is capable of soaring. For it would not have been difficult for God, even had she, who was pure beyond all purity, been absent, to extend aid to the human race; nor was there any necessity that compelled things to be so, such that the purest one could not have been abundantly enriched with divine gifts unless she had been a participant in those things which pertain to the earth. ^B Indeed, it was easy for God to impart to the Virgin, whom her own splendor already associated with the heavenly ones, the fitting joy from above, had not the earth itself been in need. And though it might have remained unknown to men with what honors the blessed one was deemed worthy there, she would not on that account have been deprived of the glory which was hers in heaven. But in truth, so that just as God is glorified in the heights and in the earthly realms, the same might happen to the Virgin, as being most similar to God, and so that she might not be ^C devoid of any glory by which God is honored, and also so that men might not remain entirely ignorant of this, the most sublime honor of their own race, for this reason the most glorious one trod this earth and was clothed with an earthly raiment.

XXVII. And therefore, "He who is mighty," she says, "has done great things for me." Now these great things she surely already possessed, and there was no need for that which had been done to be brought about; but the sense of the word "has done" is "has manifested" and "has made clear to all." And perhaps for this cause Gabriel, in the ministry of his tongue, cried out, "Hail, full of grace, and blessed," so that he might both teach us what sort of words we ought to use when addressing her, and as if by this proclamation, set forth the magnitude of the excellence that was in the Virgin. ^D For he could have carried out that ministry by the voiceless speech of the mind, and have perceived the sublime words of the Virgin, who used the instrument of the voice. And yet, this was not the only way, but this mode was appropriate, lest the Lord, while putting on our humility, should seem to proclaim what had been done, as if by a trumpet, in a manner too sublime and contrary to what the reality itself demanded; especially since it was necessary that we, for whom this mystery was being accomplished, should be taught with what weapons the proud one is wounded.

XXVIII. Thus, all the angelic orders, I believe, and heaven and the sun, and earth and sea, and every other creature, each one refashioned with a tongue, all cried out together with Gabriel, "Hail," to the Virgin; and as if in a choir, receiving the melody from the choir leader, they the same often in

^A unison echoed and celebrated. Such, indeed, was the magnificence of that most pure one, and in such a way was the whole of creation obliged to address the Virgin. But if not by tongue, for the reason we have stated, yet certainly by deeds did all things manifest their joy, in that they perceived themselves transformed toward a brighter state; and thus the whole of the creation proclaimed the greatness of that most-praised tongue more clearly than by the ministry of speech. For neither would anyone existing upon earth, nor if anything had come to be, have been able to draw so near to God, so that one might provide itself as a throne for God, another as a bed, another as food, another as drink, another as clothing, or provide some other service, or hear a tongue resounding with divine energy, while man might share in words and a common way of life with God, and so all things be brightened by this new ^B sanctification; all of these things they were able to obtain most easily and without any labor through that most pure one. For although they were neither translated elsewhere, nor distracted from their accustomed state, nor allotted any other place or manner of being, but all remained in their own seats; yet that Virgin, worthy of all praise, brought it about in a new way that the Creator should be united with them.

XXIX.

XXX.

luster, and begins to set its course closer to the earth, announcing with a loud voice to all almost the rising of this new and great light; and how he himself also is now renewed, nor does he allow his rays to be hidden under the back of the earth for longer hours.

Now the heaven, wrapping itself as if in a new garment, puts off a gloomy visage and assumes cheerfulness; and, as if to show a certain adornment of its own clothing, it puts forth the stars, offering itself as a varied and shining image, in which those who labor at variegating furniture have sought to ornament their work; and now more than before it bears witness that it tells the glory of God. ^B

Now the earth brings forth herbs into a strange and, as it were, inimitable beauty, weaving its surface with a manifold variety of colors, and furnishing to those who choose to paint, floral dyes, by which it is possible for the painter’s works to vie with the truth of the things themselves. It commands all plants to revive, and to celebrate the brightness of the festival. It rejoices, being adorned with its own flowers, and lays down for itself a gentle bed that was before savage.

Now the sea, which a little before was hostile, striking the neighboring land with its waves, having ceased to threaten dire things, is smiling and seeking reconciliation, thus confirming by its testimony that there has arrived for all the peace that surpasses all understanding. Now the air, having cast away inclement winds and the resounding peal of thunder, murmurs gently, and breathing mildly, in a certain way calls everyone forth from their little houses and hiding places, promising that it will breathe pleasantly. ^C

Now the herds of four-footed animals leap and play with the mother earth, and stand ready to prance like foals. The tribes of newly hatched birds spread their untiring wings through the air; and those which excel in the sweetness of varied song make ready to play as if on a lyre, signifying by this the joy of them all. And by no different reason do we men also, at this season of the year, put aside the many garments of the body; and on the other hand, we begin to sail and to undertake wars, and to set out on journeys, and generally to put our hand to new works; because now the weight of old age, as we announce, has been removed, and the renovation is perfected, and joy is diffused, for which one person bids another to rejoice, as if a herald traversing various regions, and gives and receives in turn the pledges of the covenant and of friendship. ^D

And these things are so, that they may make manifest that that sweet fragrance of joy has already been poured out and has extended to the ends of the earth; nor will those symbols of grace ever tire of the duty of admonition, until that newest and age-defying regeneration finally arrives, the enjoyment of which is the fruit of this mystery.

^A XXXI. But as for us, from whom that Virgin, most worthy of all praise, has sprung—that common delight of all, and for whose sake He who is mighty has done great things for her—just as we have received the joy, let us in return render joy to her who provided it. Let us not only invoke her in the manner we have been taught by Gabriel, but let us also cleanse our own interiors and drive every vice far from us, so that we may be purified to taste of the banquet—those new and most pure dainties, I say, which this salutation has in a wondrous way prepared. For she who is glorious above all most greatly rejoices if she sees us sated at that table with the flesh of her only-begotten Son. For because it was for this reason that the All-Holy one came upon the earth, and because she clothed the Savior in her own fleshly garment, so that the Savior might become this banquet for us, and that through the flesh of the same Virgin—which is kindred to us—we might approach unto God, which we could not achieve on account of sin without the Theotokos; she surely rejoices when we enjoy that same table which she herself for this reason prepared, and for the sake of which all those awesome mysteries were miraculously accomplished, and by which, through the power of her gift, we are transformed from men into gods.

^B XXXII. Furthermore, if this was the reason for the Virgin’s joy, it would surely be a grave matter for her who is full of grace if, on the contrary, we were to sit far away from the sacred table while suffering from hunger; for that is indeed an alienation from God and a cutting off of life. For He says: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John vi, 57). And: "He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (John xv, 5). And: "If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and they gather them, and throw them into the fire, and they burn" (John xv, 6). Therefore, he who does not partake of these becomes, indeed, an exile from God, and, alas! becomes a herdsman of swine together with the wicked demon, or even, in the end, material fit for the fires of Gehenna. And again: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John vi, 53). And with good reason; for just as he who neglects the customary supports for living loses his bodily life as well, in the same way, he who is not fed by these things is dead, miserable, truly devoid of life, and prepares for himself eternal torments.

^{C D} XXXIII. Since, however, this same salutation has brought in joy, which has also brought forth a new birth; and since this birth has become for us a most sweet table and the beginning of an endless life; let us also fill our minds with joy, acclaiming together with Gabriel that "Ave" to the Mother of God, and saying: "Ave, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women." Let us beseech that most pure one, that we may worthily partake of that life-giving nourishment which the present joy has brought to us, and by whose virtue it will be given to us to rejoice forever. For this reason...

Son; and may it befall that we all become partakers of the unceasing joy, through the prayers of her who is full of grace and the Mother of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and adoration, together with his eternal Father, and his all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. ^A

ADMONITION OF THE EDITOR OF THE PATROLOGIA CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING SERMON

SERMON IV

On the most venerable dormition of our all-immaculate Lady, the Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary.

^B I. If anyone, whoever he may be, contemplates the beauty of the heavens and the radiant gleam of the sun, even if, while he is struck with stupor, he does not pay out praises equal to the magnificence of the work, he is nevertheless not accustomed to restrain his tongue, and consequently, as long as he beholds them, he extols the miracle even against his will; how then would it not be just to weave hymns unceasingly to the Mother of God, who is worthy of every praise, even if one has already frequently endeavored to pay some small portion of such a debt? For if the sun, because it provides light and is a fruitful instrument of life-giving power, and the heaven, because it shines with the varied and multiplied decor of the stars and far surpasses all other things in magnitude, therefore possess their own praise; to what extent indeed will she not provoke praises for herself for all time, she who sends forth to the very ends of the earth the true and unquenchable light, and appeared as the most bright sun ^C bestowing an indeficient life, and finally surpasses the heavens both in grace and in magnitude, after she both lured him into love of herself and contained within herself him who can nowhere be contained?

II. But if the praise attributed to those things raises the praiser himself to God—for the heaven also philosophers ^D [speak of] the glory of God.

^A And this glory leads the one who praises to God; for truly, nothing else can join a person to God more than the aid of this most pure one, since nothing among all things is either similar to or nearer to God. One would be unwise, indeed, to think that there is anything else that should be addressed, worshipped, and adorned with praises before the All-Pure one. Just as, therefore, an unceasing glory is sung in hymns to God by the angels—because they preserve a resemblance to Him more perfectly than we do, being free from the mixture of clay ^B —so, without doubt, the one who is first after God, through whom it was granted to us to obtain the God-given mercy in abundance, is one whom it befits, since our own nature also matches hers, to be praised with unceasing hymns, if it be possible, and to be celebrated with festivals.

For since there are many great things from which one might derive illumination, both waking the mind and the tongue to praise the Virgin, the greatest of all—which carries the praiser from earthly things to heaven and divine matters—is the transition of the Virgin to God, on account of which the present festival is held. For just as all things pertaining to the all-praised one—her passage to men, her strange sojourn in the forbidden places of the venerable temple, the nourishment supplied not from the fruits of the earth but from heaven, the miraculous salutation of the divine messenger Gabriel, the new and ineffable birth, the wondrous flow of milk, and other things, some of which are sung of clearly because they surpass every miracle, while others remain also unproclaimed, as being inferior to her higher deeds, even if greater than those of other men—just as those things are of such a kind as to baffle all speech, even if one speaks to the ether and above the heavens; in the same way, the ^C brilliant dormition of the Theotokos is bound to transcendental and venerable divine operations.

^A III. Verum, ut sermo as a preface to the unfolding mystery may relate a few things: since that most pure one had been brought into this life so that she might weave together that stupendous prodigy—namely, to clothe the Lord in a servile form and to bind the Creator to mankind, who were long since proscribed and still considered enemies, with a very tight and ineffable bond of benevolence—looking upon the image of the Creator and her son, she, like a skilled sculptor, strove diligently to mold herself to that exemplar and to express that form in herself. And indeed, just as the Creator, having put on a terrestrial tunic from her, did not refuse humble things that were consistent with a terrestrial condition; for he was called the son of a carpenter, and he did not dwell in a splendid house; nay more, poorer than the foxes, he had no place to lay his head; nor did he procure a servant for his ministry, but on the contrary, he himself offered ministry to his mother, and performed all those things which that piety, which usually impels a poor son to serve his parents—and those poor ones at that—through the most fervent love, does not allow to be neglected: "For I am poor," he says, "and in labors from my youth." Just so, that august Mother Virgin, insisting upon the same footsteps, neither loved any pride, nor took to herself maidservants or any kind of service after the manner of ladies; but she lived a poor life, using only herself as her own servant at home; yet in those things which were needed for some use from outside, she employed the labor of that best and most beloved disciple above all—John, I say, the virgin, whom the Creator had provided to the Virgin as a son on account of the prerogatives of chastity, plainly for the same reason by which he himself, both for other excellent gifts and nevertheless for the brightness of virginity, had made himself a son to that most pure one as an amazing prodigy.

IV. Thus, therefore, she who was higher than the heavens themselves, or better said, who far excelled the Seraphim, keeping her mind free from all ostentation and, however vain, empty glory, and rejoicing in a simple and slight manner of life, spent her days. For just as before those great things of the Mighty One were conferred upon her—that is, before Gabriel brought that great and sublime message to her—nothing on earth seemed splendid to her, nor could it turn that blessed one unto itself, but she clearly despised all these things, and was held fast only by affection for heavenly things and by the most ardent love of God, to whom she was also ineffably conjoined; so, too, after she gave birth to God the Word, and raised the human race to heavenly glory, and her Son and God had returned to that place whence he had never departed, she despised all these lowest things, and nothing of

the perishable things, of which men are so exceedingly proud, appeared worthy of even a slight love for the Virgin. ^A

Maxime indeed, as I judge, after she had obtained that most high and ineffable grace, namely, to carry God in her bosom, the flame of the all-pure one, which was most longing for heavenly things and for God, was carried upward vehemently and much more than before. And, that a small image from earthly things may more abundantly confirm the matter: just as any mother of an only-begotten son experiences a love for her child which is not equal, whether she now sees him with her eyes, or whether she desired him with prayers before she attained him—since a mother would most greedily desire to hear [of him]; for indeed it is altogether manifest that the one who has appeared and has come to experience is much more lovable than he who had not yet been born—so too in the same way, and with the highest excellence, must one judge concerning the All-Pure. For if the clay can achieve these things, what would you say in the case of that ^B high and divine dispensation? And again, just as someone who desires the divine laver, after he has attained it, would certainly be more radiant and, from the received mystery, more ardent toward divine love; in the same way it would be fair to judge concerning these things.

V. When, however, to these things there was also added the fact that that divine and so beloved Son was far away from the venerable Mother, in what state do you think such a mother was affected? No one at all among men, no one, I say, could either explain in words or conceive in mind how great was the force of her love after the ascension of the Savior into heaven, both for him himself and for the things which the Son himself loved. Since, however, before the wonderful birth she had deserved to hear from that heavenly prince ^C: *Thou hast found grace* (Luc. I, 30), that is to say, as a reward for her love and virtue worthy of God, for that new birth, it was fitting henceforth that that most pure one, who, as has been said, had ascended to a more sublime and divine love for God, should be enriched by another, and thereafter splendid, gift. But this had not happened; and the reason is at hand, because in this life it was not possible to find anything at all more excellent than what she had already attained. Therefore, since reason could provide nothing more excellent, as far as was permitted here, it remained entirely that, when she should ascend to the heavens, she would enjoy more clearly than one can think, both the heavenly graces and the splendors of her own Son and God. Since even the Savior promised that in his Father's kingdom he would have a certain new drink ^D jointly with his disciples (Marc. xiv, 25; Luc. xxii, 30), by the name of a new drink, I think, signifying a more express taste of union with God therein—by which drink, while the just enjoy it, God rejoices; and this very thing, namely joy, God has as a drink, and for this reason he professed that he would drink with the heralds of the Gospel. And since, if this fruit were not also reserved, in that she already had a love toward God that surpassed all, and still had it along with that holy flesh, so that she might be filled with ineffable exchanges above, and furthermore provide benefit to others in this place—her only-begotten Son would have taken her up [superfluously.]

with Him to heaven at His departure, I believe, if such a great fruit had not been reserved [to be manifest] here.

That she led a poor life, alien to all ostentation, because of her desire for divine things, as we have already said, may be discerned also from this. Even if she had not possessed this disposition by her own nature and will—though it is evident that it was present in her—to such a degree that she surpassed all in the contempt of transitory things, yet because she had given birth to Him whose immense power she knew full well, and whose humble way of life she was not ignorant of, she knew how, when she could have been served, she chose rather to serve ^B and had taught those who desired the first places 7 how they might act in a manner not discordant with the humble Master. For these reasons, therefore, she always loved things that were holy and than which nothing is higher; and she chose to despise things that pass away and to live, as has been said, with great humility and without ambition.

^C VI. While that blessed one was living such a heavenly life on earth, an angel brings her the message concerning her ascent to the heights. Tradition holds that this was the divine Gabriel, who addressed her with these very words: "The Creator of all things, God the Word of God, and your Son, calls you, O Virgin, to Himself; and a place on high is prepared to receive you, O most worthy of all praise, on the third day from this my embassy." This message, O most pure one, is also full of joy, and brings no less gladness than that former one which brought you that salutation. For just as that address was most joyous, because you alone were privileged to carry the Creator descending to earth, so now also rejoice, O blessed one, because the Lord of all things will Himself receive you as you ascend to the heavens. There you will be filled with ineffable gladness, and will enjoy divine communion. For the splendor of most brilliant light, which does not pass away, will illuminate you, and you will be clothed with eternal life as with a kind of shining garment, which shall provide you with ineffable delights and joy that is continuous for ages with your Son and God. Hail, therefore, O most shining sun of purity; hail, alabaster jar most full of never-failing ^D fragrance; hail, garden bringing forth life, and the fruits of immortality. Hail, for you shine more brightly even than the bodiless ones...

which bring you this happy news, as I now learn by certain experience; for you shed light on all sides. As for this symbol of one who ever lives and ever flourishes, I have been commanded to offer you this palm branch, ^A which you shall obtain ^B.

VII. When the Bride heard these words and received the branch from the bodiless messenger, she was immediately filled with new joy; she was suffused everywhere with the dew of sweetness; she breathed forth gladness and sent forth the breath of delight; and she was wholly caught up in a sense of the sweetest pleasure, outwardly manifesting her exultation with signs of every kind. And why should this not be so, when such things were being set before her eyes by that embassy? Namely, that she was yet again—in a manner different indeed from what she had seen before, but miraculous and wonderful itself—to cling and be joined to the Creator and her own Son, and once more to hear Him addressing His mother with that divine mouth and with a son’s affection and a voice surpassing all sweetness.

Therefore, she ascended the Mount of Olives, both to pour out prayers there and to offer thanks to the Lord, because He was now calling her to Himself. For she was accustomed to retreat to that mountain, and—as though it had a sense of what was occurring—to dwell and commune with Him there, and to approach it as the friend of the beloved Son and Lord, where my Jesus, too, clothed in this clay of ours (O ineffable charity!), was accustomed to offer prayers to God and Father.

VIII. She ascended, therefore, as has been said, both to perform the fitting rites of departure and to entreat the Creator with prayers. It was then possible to see a sight miraculous to behold and awesome to hear, worthy only of that blessed one. For she was ascending, as I said, to pour out prayers; and as long as she was continuing her ascent, the dense thicket of plants that was there kept to its usual state; for they showed nothing that is proper to those endowed with sense, nor anything belonging to the rational order. But when the most pure one inclined herself, and moved her hands, and bent her knees to the ground—O new prodigy!—all those plants and trees, as if they were endowed with mind, like handmaidens in obedience, moved ^C along with their Lady, as if suffused with shame if they did not attend her with the utmost reverence, and proclaim with whatever signs they could that it was, in fact, fitting that at the mention of her great and lofty name, every knee should bend even to her, the most pure one. That grove, therefore, both bending and as if performing a final act of worship to her who was about to depart, seemed to be bidding her a last farewell; it even seemed to weep and grieve, because it was to be deprived of that marvelous sanctification which it was accustomed to enjoy through the presence of the Virgin. ^D

IX. When, however, that most praised one had finished her praying, she returned home. And lo, there occurred there too an event contrary to all custom. For a tremor seized the house; and what it had never before undergone, the whole was then shaken. I think this was a sign of sighing, and instead of...

lamenting the commotion in a sorrowful manner, it was because that fellow-dweller of hers, holier than all and incomparably most beautiful ^A, was about to depart. And if indeed it had behooved that most pure one to be adorned with even greater glory upon the earth, in truth, as I at least opine, both heaven then, and earth, and sea, and every creature, each in its turn weaving together a dirge, ought to have been moved and to have groaned with a tearful voice, lamenting the departure of the Virgin; and this final commotion—the horror of which we know even the dead shall rouse, so that they might run through the air like clouds—would have seemed little different from that sorrowful agitation on account of the Virgin. But since the Virgin, having been made the Mother of God, the greatest ornament of all, and than whom nothing more splendid can contribute to glory, had already obtained her lot, no reason demanded that any such new portent be brought forth from the earth on account of that divine dormition.

X. Concerning the preparation for her departure

Post-X. Once the house had ceased from the shaking, and since that transit of the Virgin looked toward the works of light and that which is truly most radiant, at once she herself lit small lamps—and as many of them as were enough to fill the house with light and make it, on all sides, shine forth completely. By these things, however, as it seems to me, she was indicating the instant arrival of the angels, since, indeed, for the ministers of God, because they have been made a burning fire, light is most appropriate; for she had nothing else by which she might more fittingly receive the celestial spirits in her home on earth; ^B especially since, for the Virgin herself, as being the most radiant of all things, light was indeed suitable.

Then, when she had swept and thoroughly cleaned the little dwelling, and had arranged with care that venerable bed on which she was accustomed to give some rest to her precious body, and had prepared those other things which are customarily required for funerals, she calls together the neighbors who were friends ^C to her. These were two poor widows, destitute indeed as regards their condition of life, but as they were intimates of the Queen of the universe and her heirs—as the discourse will show a little later—more fortunate than any women from even an opulent and noble house. She informs them, therefore, of her departure; she declares the words of the angel; she reveals the message of her own Son and Savior; she shows them the branch, and in valedictory words she takes leave of those who were bound to her by habit; then she distributes to each widow the two garments she possessed. For that most pure one had no other treasure than the riches of most eminent virtues, and whatever ^D the necessity of life required.

XI. When those honest women heard these things, they broke out into lamentable groanings; they drew bitter sighs from the depths, and let loose torrents of tears from their eyes; and...

^A they no longer had heart enough to bear it. “But where are you departing to, Lady?” they said. “Where have you chosen to establish your dwelling, O Mistress? What place have you prepared as befitting yourself? What meadow, bringing forth delights of flowers to the highest degree, shall receive your honored beauty? What place, indeed, could be sufficient for your most gold-gleaming and most brilliant vessel? And why do not the earth and the sea, and the whole world that encompasses the earth, lament your departure? How can the elements remain undisturbed, seeing the great element—and as it were the one that holds them all together—being dissolved? But, as it seems, they hope for joy from your transition, for they expect from you a perpetual care, even after your dissolution. For never has anything that concerns you been a cause of disaster, nor has it introduced misery, nor brought forth sadness, nor produced sorrow; and your past deeds provide sufficient assurance for the future. But if it is permitted for them to rejoice for these reasons, for us, alas, the grief! Oh, the calamity! Woe for this bitter separation! Woe unto us for this sorrowful sight! Who henceforth shall comfort us? Who shall be for us a consolation? Or rather, who shall be the teacher and author of salvation—adorning the soul with splendor, purifying the thought, enlightening the mind—in all the ways you were to us, O Mistress? A divine ladder, and one who taught wisdom by deed and by word! How could the sun, or any other of the brilliant heavenly bodies, appear delightful to us, deprived of your most sweet countenance and conversation? But you, O Queen of all, the Mother of God, will be received and surrounded by an unspeakable multitude of joy, which the mind is at a loss to paint—yet freely depicting all things, and as it were like a chorus, having joined together the system into a delight, it will ceaselessly leap and dance around you ^B and will sweetly encircle you. Yet it is your task, O altogether admirable Queen, to lift from us this bitter sadness, to bestow joy upon us, and not to permit that, while all things rejoice in an excess of gladness ^C, we alone should bear this dart of sorrow fixed in us.”

XII. To these things the Virgin said, “O beloved, my migration affects you with grief, and this convinces me of your great love toward me. And indeed, if my departure were only this—that is, a mutual separation—I myself would also grieve not a little, as one who was being torn away from those whom I loved, whose devotion was dear to me, and whose progress into better things I considered my own. But since the Lord, who performed all our affairs so sublimely and altogether wonderfully, will also bring this final thing, as I well know, to a close consistent with the former: I wish you to be certain that I shall not depart wholly from you, O beloved, and you shall reap a brilliant fruit of joy. Therefore, having ceased your mourning and your passionate lamentations, let us together offer praise to the Almighty, and for many other things ^D...

and for the great wonders wrought in me, which He himself has illuminated with voices clearer than the sound of any resonant trumpet.

^B XIII. While that purest one was speaking these words, and instilling sweet consolation into her companions—for her tongue was born to resonate with something divine, and to pour forth sweetness, and to instill in its hearers a sense of delight—suddenly the heaven resounds, trembling with thunder, and by its crash, as if by a given signal, orders the ministers who were to perform the last rites for the Mother of God to arise. ^C Clouds from many directions were running together, hastening to offer themselves as a strange kind of chariot to those who were to care for the funeral. For He commanded the clouds from above, as the divine David says; and again, His power is in the clouds; signifying, I think, the power placed within them, which carried away the heralds of the Gospel.

XIV. And it was surely fitting that the things above should be moved; and as if they were about to receive something truly new, some things were opening themselves up, expanding wider than themselves, if possible, while others were withdrawing, maintaining their reverence, and others were assigning to themselves the rank of those following or of those leading; and thus, a clamor, so to speak, was being formed above. Nor is it any wonder if the things below were kept far from turmoil and earthquake. For heaven, as if about to receive a new treasure, a wondrous hoard, was naturally in an uproar and could not be at leisure, as if searching and turning itself over, to see if it might provide an equal honor to the Queen. ^D But the earth, I think, remained unshaken for this reason: because it had brought forth this new human being, the Virgin, and for a long time had borne her while she lived; and it was consistent that, in matters to which it was accustomed, however astounding they might be otherwise, nothing should be disturbed; and finally, because it was not going to keep the all-holy one dead among itself for long, but would quickly send her up to the heights, so that she might emulate the heavenly realms with noble contention, and further show what kind of image of human condition this humble place had fashioned, even more noble than any celestial one.

XV. For these reasons, therefore, as I said, heaven was shaken and was thundering, and was wholly occupied with the reception of the blessed one. And indeed, as those thundering sounds were breaking forth, just as when, by the custom of an army, they rouse the battle-line, in the same way the ministers of the holy one, whose ears recognized the sign of this great murmuring, arose like girded soldiers, and, mounting the clouds as if they were horses, were coming quickly, hastening to attach themselves to the friendly army, that is to say, the host of angels. By the aid of the clouds, therefore, that wondrous gathering...

^A of the precursors of the Gospel, while they were traversing different ends of the earth and sowing the incorrupt and salutary seed into the souls of the unbelievers as if into furrows, suddenly assembled, having arrived all at once at the dwelling of the All-Pure. Nor they alone, but also that wise interpreter of heavenly things, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the sublime Hierotheus, and the admirable Timothy, and furthermore the then president of the Church of Sion, James the Great. There are some who affirm that the seventy disciples were also present there, who were indeed called as partakers in this ministry as well, so that, just as they would recount other mysteries and high spectacles to others, their tongues would also recount these present ones.

XVI.

Nevertheless, the twofold nature of that All-Pure one—I mean her soul and body—congruently demanded ministry from both the heavenly and the earthly. And so in fact it came to pass. For those lights of the earth, inasmuch as they looked toward the more excellent and sublime company, performed the ministry toward the visible part of that most venerable one, though they were still of earthly condition. But to her divine soul, whatever inhabitants of the heavens there were, who had transcended the earthly condition, rendered service. But I think that even more noble and distinguished among them approached that divine and all-spotless soul. For which reason, I believe, the divine David also said: "Your face ^D

shall all the rich of the people entreat," ^A designating by the name of the rich those who excelled others in virtue.

Furthermore, I am of the opinion that there would have been no need for the apostles to gather from the earth to attend upon the Virgin, most worthy of all honor, just as the heavenly citizens did, had not this been in view: that it might be made known to us that the angelic orders also converged to perform this service. For from that which is manifest and likewise so stupendous, firm faith is obtained for that which does not strike the eyes; just as the Savior also first said to the paralytic: "Your sins are forgiven," ^B and then, indicating that which was plainly visible, commanded: "Take up your bed."

XVII. After, therefore, the disciples of the Lord, in the manner we have described, and the rest of the holy assembly whom the discourse has already identified, had stood in a wondrous manner before the most pure Virgin, they were utterly amazed, together with the blessed Virgin, both at the strangeness of the gathering, and at hearing from one another where they were on earth and how they had been snatched into the air and suddenly met in the same place. This, too, the blessed David once foretold in wonder, saying: "Who in the clouds shall be compared to the Lord?"

When they had rendered thanks to the Savior with one accord, both for that flight through the air and for many other benefits, and also because they had found the Virgin, whom they were to venerate, not yet departed from earthly things, but had been counted worthy both to see her still surviving and to be sanctified by that ministry, they addressed the Theotokos with these words: ^C

XVIII. What crown, O Lady, could our earthen tongue weave for you that would be worthy of you? What encomium could our human mind work out to offer you, which would be equal to your splendors? What applause, resounding like a high-pitched trumpet, shall we judge to be fittingly responsive to your magnificences? What praises shall we be able to devise, that we might appoint one adequate to your radiance?

For your sake, O most pure one, the Lord created the heavens, the earth, the sea, ^D the sun, and every other beauty, majesty, and adornment. For your sake, whatever order we perceive within our mind exists. For you are the one who has provided a better state for all; for all creatures were produced by the Creator so that they might progress toward what is better and attain happiness. This, in truth, we have also obtained through you, O most worthy of all praise; and not this alone, but we have also come to know God through you, and have been delivered from error and 5

^A from darkness, and we await the possession of ineffable blessings; and it would not have been desirable for us to be created from the beginning, had it not been destined for us that through you we should be delivered from the darkness of error, and thus finally be abundantly enriched with divine gifts. Because of you, wonders were performed, and God did not disdain to tread this earth with His feet, and men fixed tabernacles for themselves in heaven. You are a support and light to those sailing towards God, like a sweet breeze making the ascent easy; you are a pilot for the helpless travelers toward God. You became, for the race, a separation from Gehenna and a gift of Paradise. Because of you, therefore, if there is anything delightful to harvest here, and if the life to come will provide us with ineffable joy, it is to you that we must refer our gratitude.

^B XIX. And, indeed, as long as it was granted to us, O Lady, to look upon your holiest form, and to be sanctified by it, and to enjoy your graces, we seemed to ourselves to be dwelling with that Son of yours and our Savior, and to be partaking of those ineffable delights. For if He thought it necessary to ascend to the heavens, and actually did so, and that departure seemed to take away His human life from us, nevertheless the divine arrival of the Comforter and your own presence, O all-pure one, poured into us no small pleasure and filled the void left by the Savior. And for those of us to whom it was not given to enjoy the sight of the Lord, your most luminous countenance was, in place of the Savior, both ^C what it was and what it seemed to be, and even the compassion of Christ Himself. And, to say it once for all, your dealings with us were full of consolation and incomparable ease.

But since now, the Creator so willing, you are addressing us and appearing before our eyes for the last time, these present things seem almost unbearable, and the matter becomes a very great calamity. For we feel as if a spear of anguish is being thrust into us, and our heart seems to be attacked by the sharp arrows of grief; we seem to see a kind of fire, which already threatens to invade our head; a sword is now piercing through our soul, barely less, honorable one, than that which blessed Simeon foretold concerning you. This calamity is now no longer of such a sort that we can bear it; the bitterness of our present sorrow is no longer such that the mind can stoutly withstand it: the immense grief no longer allows us not to fall in spirit, ^D and to demonstrate the proof of our weakness. For how shall we bear to see a tongue silent, whose sweet and honey-flowing voice

^A drew God down to earth, and wonderously refreshed us while we endured dire things from the unbelievers? How shall even the sun itself endure to behold those eyes blinded of light, whose beauty and splendor were fixed upon and clung to the inaccessible light, and shone out to the ends of the earth? How, then, shall the earth see with us those hands devoid of motion, which carried the Creator—an earth that, even if it were ten thousand times as large, would still deny that it could contain Him?

But, as it seems, time was storing up this sorrow for us as well. For we have already seen the Creator himself dragged with ropes, stripped naked, scourged—O ^B Thy patience, O Lord!—and dead upon the wood of the cross. And now, O event beyond all wonder! we must behold his mother also dead and laid to be covered in the tomb. How, then, shall we not weep? How shall we not groan? How shall we not mourn, seeing that sweet light, that delightful flower, that fragrant ointment, that most beautiful meadow, that God-receiving tabernacle, that God-bearing vessel, that eye of the world, that most radiant mirror, that divine reflection, that wondrous image, that cause of true life for all, and representative of every other good, passing away before our eyes, departing, migrating—alas!—and breathless? How shall thy separation not be painful to us? How shall it not be grievous to be deprived of thee? How shall it not be bitter—how shall it not be full of horror—to deliver to the tomb that vessel which provided life, now dead, motionless, and speechless? Tremble, O earth! And ^C you, O sun, assume a dark veil, and break your accustomed order, O heaven! And display now a grief as mournful as that which you showed at the most terrifying death of her Only-Begotten.

Verily, however, O Mother of God, a crown of ineffable honors shall receive thee; a joy exceeding every measure of the mind shall surround thee. A joy, the measure of which neither the mind can conceive nor the tongue can utter, shall lead thee, and accompanying thee shall encompass thee, and shall bid thee to recline with it for all ages. And this outcome, I truly judge, is so joyful that it causes this entire universe to be in no wise disturbed—nay, indeed, in a certain way to rejoice—and, as if nothing new or stupendous were happening, to maintain itself in its own order. As for what remains, ^D since at thy passing everything is now well and happily ordered, O most holy one, grant to our souls, beloved of God,

the cloud of sadness by which we are afflicted, to be dispersed, and grant us to taste thy graces.

XX. When, however, discourse of such a kind drew forth streams of tears, which betrayed the intimate pain by which the divine heralds were inwardly consumed, that blessed Virgin also associated ^A herself a little with their sorrow, and shed tears from her eyes. But soon overcoming her sadness: "There is now no time," she said, "for tears, O excellent ministers of the common Lord of all; my departure is no cause for mourning; my ascent into the heavens ought not to provoke groans, nor should my setting forth to the Creator and my Son produce sorrow. That alone was to be lamented, the madness of the Jews against the Savior—that truly sad affair, and one beyond all right and law, by which the creature, stirred up by hatred, raged against its own Creator. That truly is to be counted among the most miserable of things—(the Savior's) ^B denudation, torture, scourging, mockery, and finally, O earth and sun! the most abominable death of all. But where was the injury brought upon them? They certainly had nothing then of which to complain; and the heap of His benefits and the novelty of the miracles performed challenged their minds, however depraved, to amendment. But the things which followed thereafter are for us all a joy, a pleasure, a delight, a feast, and a bright day which has a certain light."

What then? Do you not see the holy angels now coming on rapidly, and everywhere unfolding something joyful, by which they bring with them sweetness, kindness, and gentleness, and do not suavely speak to us with these, and announce ^C my departure as a sacred thing? Do you not see the army of the just, clothed in splendor, and as it were leaping, exulting, speaking in a friendly manner, and awaiting my dissolution? It is not fitting, therefore, either to think or to act in a way at variance with the angels and saints who are present, or to judge that it is then a time for weeping and lamenting, when all the heavenly ones are acting in joy together with the Creator; nor is it proper to pursue mournful songs when a feast is to be celebrated with joy. It is in no way right to darken with an effusion of tears these things which are more resplendent than any applause and exultation, nor is it fitting to contemplate or speak of anything cheap or sad, while the Creator Himself, in a way unutterable and worthy of God, ^D is now also present to us with a host of heavenly spirits, so that to me, and indeed again as He is able, He may most magnificently confer joy; nay, it is rather expedient to exult, and to mingle songs with joyful melodies, since "from henceforth all generations will call me blessed," and the multitude of angels will rejoice with sublime hymns for the cause of our exultation; and the human race in like manner, rejoicing together, will celebrate my most exalted praises with sonorous voices. But if to you, O fellow-judges of the Creator, my departure seems in some way sad, but for a brief hour, since you are still subject to the law of the flesh, you will sustain this; but after a little while, even

^A you who have not yet departed from this earth will begin to experience the amplitude of that joy, and the gladness and excellence and the immense sea of no vain pleasure which will follow thereafter, which you will not be able to celebrate according to its merit. But now the hour is at hand, O beloved, to obey the will of the Creator; and you indeed shall take care of my body and consign it to the tomb, but the Creator and my Son shall divinely receive my spirit.

XXI. After this blessing, she imparts it to them, and transforms their mourning into gladness, and prays for peace and salvation for all. Then, indeed, the most holy soul is released from that most sacred body, and is received by the hands of her only-begotten and omnipotent Son.

Immediately, therefore, it was possible to behold the ears of those divine heralds being refreshed in an invisible manner by ineffable melodies. For the entire space intervening between heaven and earth was filled with a holy ^B assembly, which was ascending together with the Lord, who was bearing that divine soul; and they were chanting sacred songs to the Immaculate Mother of the Word of God, songs surpassing all speech and ineffable in words, which exceeded any melody. Admitted, furthermore, to perceive these concerts with their ears, they were suffused with delight, filled with holy senses, and were no longer able to endure any delay; but each of the apostles strove to stir up his own soul, and from these lowest parts to join their voices to the heavenly ones, and, as far as their strength allowed, to weave praises consonant with those they heard, and to endeavor to applaud together with the hymns.

Therefore, also, the admirable Hierotheus, to use the words of the divine Dionysius ^C (who sincerely testifies to what he himself had seen), was wholly enraptured out of himself, inasmuch as he had been invited to participate in the things that were being sung, and, being inspired by the divine power by all from whom he was heard and seen—whether known or unknown—he was judged a divine praiser. Which, indeed, is rightly to be believed of all the others who hastened to that body, the principle of life and capable of God, and heard those heavenly concerts.

XXII. And, indeed, who would not be moved to rejoice with them, and to applaud and sing praises, and to desire the communion of those heavenly concerts, if it were lawful to fly away from the earth, when those most sweet and supernal hymnodies were clearly brought to the ear, which both the Cherubim and Seraphim, and all the orders of angels, and also ^D the church of the firstborn, according to the blessed Paul (Hebr. XII, 23), that is, the souls, as I think, of the patriarchs and prophets, and of all the just who are enrolled in heaven, were singing and modulating with harmonious and sweet-sounding voices to that most pure and God-like soul, and were weaving harmonies in a certain seemly, holy, and ineffable manner? When, with the Creator himself going before, and with the utmost gladness, [he was] bearing the soul of his most immaculate Mother, than which...

nothing from all things was sweeter, nothing more precious to him had been or was to be, did that whole venerable band—some going before, others following after, keeping a wondrous order—all together modulate their numerous and harmonious voices into melodies of sweet sound beyond the grasp of the mind, and proclaim with wonder and delightful songs the mighty works of her who is all-praised? When, at any rate, it was audible how the powers above were commanded to lift up all the gates for the Queen, just as had been done before when Christ was ascending, and again how the heavenly gatekeepers, [being] most joyful, were receiving with most noble and melodious hymns her who was more sublime than the heavens, and were escorting her above the heavens, and were in a grand manner marveling at those paradoxical things? ^B When, furthermore, the demons alone were groaning, being driven out from everywhere, and as if being pushed away by the fire of the sanctification with which the entire air had been imbued, were they, being put to flight by a kind of fire, seeking the darkness friendly to them and the subterranean abodes as if they were very [resplendent] homes? It ought not, in truth, to seem at all surprising at all these things that, as we have said, each of those who heard these things was indeed rapt out of himself in mind at that time, and as he was being elevated to God and his Mother, he emulated those heavenly trumpets and divine hymnodies; and all, as it is said, being inspired by a divine power from above, brought forth songs most sublime and beyond [ordinary] thought.

XXIII.

[as a plectrum striking their souls like so many lyres, it moved them to sing in a divine manner, and the Virgin herself, as she lay and was carried upon their shoulders, bestowing light upon their minds, prompted them.]

^B XXIV. Furthermore, that we may present a brief outline of them: such were all the ancient types that prefigured the most praiseworthy Virgin—namely, the tabernacle, and the ark, and the trophies of Moses, and the wonders, and the rest, by reason of which the Synagogue of the Hebrews both was and was thought to be venerable—as well as all those things which the divinely inspired prophets proclaimed. Then, too, there were those illustrious things which were fulfilled in her: the sublime mystery, namely, by which she, having arisen from among men, became an inaccessible place (of the temple), which the Heavenly One had inhabited, by which she was nourished, the bread, the salutation with which she was honored, that supernatural and ineffable birth, the human garment with which the Creator was in a wondrous way clothed by her, the new nourishment for the Creator which had flowed forth from her. And, as it seems to me, the divine David prophesied that concerning her alone, though it is now customarily sung of all: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord; blessed are they that search his testimonies; with their whole heart they seek him" (Ps. CXVIII, 1-3). For to whom would these words be more appropriate than to the all-holy one? And this would therefore be no small addition to the praise given by those who preach of God. ^C Furthermore, in accordance with the sacred Dionysius, they celebrated the goodness of the divine power, which is endowed with infinite strength, in its weakness; and this is made clear by that which my Jesus, for my sake, devised with the most grievous and insulting sufferings. Such things, then, and in such a way that we are not able to hymn them, since they require that same voice in order to be suitably uttered, those illustrious conductors of the dead body proceeded, celebrating praises with a most seemly rite.

^D XXV. But these things did not seem bearable to envy; nor could the perverse mind endure the outpouring of good; nor did the architect of all malice love to remain at rest, when he saw the sanctifying virtue spreading like another atmosphere; and for that reason, he once again incited that which was fit to serve wickedness—that suitable instrument of wicked deeds, that most ample workshop of whirlwind and battle and tumults and, finally, of slaughter—the envious eye, the chair of the devil, the most malicious creature, I mean the Jews, even as they had been formerly against Christ, so now also against the corpse of His Mother, to a savage rage.

^A And so, with clubs and stones and whatever else came to hand, as if they were weapons suited for vengeance—and, as some say, even equipped with swords—they all rushed at once against those ministers of the sacred funeral and against the most precious tabernacle that was being carried, more senselessly than any wild beast. And yet, no fiery storm from heaven consumed the wicked, nor did lightning bolts burn those lawless ones, nor did the earth open and swallow up this most audacious race, as we know it once did to those descended from the same stock as Dathan and Abiron; but another punishment fell upon the perpetrators, which, even if it did not bitterly take away their lives, at least taught them not to move an impious hand against such as these—both the ones who had experienced it, and those to whom the wounded explained what had happened. This punishment was a terrible loss of sight, and an artificial blinding, which indeed was what they were already suffering in their souls, if anything was. And the blow turned them away from that most impious daring, though it did not lead those wretched and defiled ones—who were Truly led astray and stumbling—far from their error and bitter hatred; but, led by others, they bore home that just chastisement for their cruel deed, a treasure they had truly earned.

^B XXVI. But one of the profane priests of that synod hostile to Christ, who had not been touched by that calamity, with a purpose different from that of ancient Oza, and with a purely foolish impulse—as one who is deprived of the guiding light of reason—laid his hands upon it, in order to seize and hold it fast, and to throw down to the ground with ignominy that most venerable ark and the most precious treasure carried within it; and I mean that body from which so many wonders issued, that he might cast it down and subject it to terrible insults. ^C But the invincible power of the Virgin, lying there, produced here too a wondrous miracle. For just as arrows are launched from the vibrating nerves of bows and stick fast where they have landed, so those impure hands, as soon as they touched the sacred litter, were no longer of him who had thrust them out but—O, the miracle!—remained fixed to the litter, and stood as a sign of the new punishment for the impious daring to those who beheld it. The aggressor, therefore, punished by those very weapons, was seen to be maimed from the elbows, a miserable sensation of pain, a wretched loss. For it was a new spectacle to behold: hands, in an ^D astonishing manner, hanging from the litter and dripping with warm blood; while he, who had stood there before as an audacious man, now lay wounded upon the ground, stained with blood, cast down like some corpse to be mourned with tears, a man shorn of his hands, seeing them there before his eyes, yet despairing entirely of their former union, and at the same time neither daring to seek his hands, nor able to stop being tormented by the desire to seek them on account of the kinship of the members. But he learned through what he had suffered of the lying vir-

^Agin the power. The wretched suppliant therefore approaches; he throws himself at the feet of the apostles, he entreats, he prays fervently, he sheds floods of tears, he proclaims the power of my Christ, he extols the great deeds of His Mother, he renounces his former heretical religion; and in return for these things, he asks that his hands be restored to him—that great instrument of mankind. And since he was not to be overlooked, presenting his confession—having been struck precisely so that he might proclaim the Crucified One—he obtains his request through the prayer of the apostles, and by the power of that which was being carried, and the hands, as if flying from the bier, restored the order of his own body to their kin. And that man became whole in soul and body, and thus he went on, rejoicing and magnifying the All-Holy One. To this man who had been healed, the apostles hand over a leaf of the palm which the angel had provided for the Virgin, and they appoint him a physician for those blinded Hebrews and a herald of the sound faith. And he brings salvation to both: with the leaf he heals those who had been stricken, even if they remained blind in their soul, but he never kept silent about the true doctrine. ^B

XXVII. Those, therefore, who were escorting the body rejoiced at this new miracle, and adding other hymns to their songs, they traveled the path to the sepulcher with greater alacrity. Gethsemane thus receives them, and the tomb claimed that holy burden. They, placing that most pure treasure, sing the final doxology to her. Then they hide beneath the earth the incorruptible treasure, the marvelous vessel, that heavenly wealth which is higher even than the heavens. ^C

When all things had been finished with great magnificence, as was required for her, and those things pertaining to the funeral and burial were duly fulfilled as befitted the Mother of God, those noble ministers of such illustrious events certainly turned their attention to their other duty, namely, that of preaching. But neither love nor reverence for the most pure one allowed them to be torn away, and certain holy songs from above and ceaseless praise for the much-hymned one, with a certain supernatural fragrance, held them there even until the third day, more effectively than the myth of the Sirens holds those passing by. And this was surely a divine dispensation, that they might also become spectators of another mystery and faithful heralds of what had appeared, which the discourse will now relate. ^D

XXVIII. One of the apostles arrives late, and is thus deprived of that ministry concerning the funeral. Then, at the dawning of the third day, he arrives; he hears of the arrival of his brother apostles through the air at that same place, he learns of those wondrous deeds and chants, and is taught everything that had occurred during that sacred procession. But when he heard of certain heavenly things and wonders performed beyond the laws of nature, he is struck and amazed; then, as is natural, he grieves and thinks it a painful matter that the event, and he is greatly smitten in his heart, that he alone lagged behind, alone not

deemed worthy to see the all-venerable one for the last time, and to offer the parting greetings, and to obtain the sight of the miracles; alone he did not share in the funereal ministry with his friends here. But since he was left out of those wondrous events, he thought that by approaching the tomb of the blessed one, and by removing the covering from the middle, and seeing the corpse, and embracing and worshipping it, he might thus obtain consolation for his distress, and that most of his grief would be taken away, and the dishonor of his lateness would in some measure be cast off. Therefore, his fellow-initiates, complying with his request—for they sympathized deeply with their grieving friend—poured out suppliant prayers to God and to her mother. And after this, having made the tomb bare of its covering, O the miracle! they found the corpse nowhere. For neither was the Fountain of Life dead, nor could the earth and the tomb continue for long to cover the most new vessel that had contained the Incontainable; for this reason it released her, as things below were in no way suitable for her. She herself, however, ascended in a wondrous manner to where a place befitting her had been prepared. ^B

XXIX. Furthermore, another tradition is reported (which, indeed, the faithful, whose ears are schooled to accept nothing beyond the most pure miracles, by no means reject), namely, that after she had already been placed in the grave, and before he who arrived late had come, she was seen by the apostles ascending most gloriously to the heavens, and moving forward amidst angelic honors in a marvelous way, and filling the air with ineffable fragrance. The fact that the tomb was afterwards found empty provides clear proof of this.

Moreover, another thing is recounted, which is also confirmed most evidently by the fact itself: that the entire figure of her most pure body was imprinted in the tomb, and is seen most clearly, as if fashioned by some sculpture, showing the extent and nature of the place that that divine tabernacle occupied there, so that, as it seems to me, in this too she bore a likeness to the Savior; and just as in that Lordly tomb only the linen cloths were left behind, so too in the tomb of the Mother of the Creator, the imprinted image alone was preserved in place of the linen cloths; and also that the tomb itself, to the eyes of those who behold it, might perpetually offer ^C a clear testimony to her assumption, which is narrated and believed, no differently than that venerable stone which received the dead Savior wrapped in a shroud, and which even now bears the imprinted signs of her most praised and sacred tears (O the miracle!), and which, to our eyes and to our touch, exhibits the manifest signs of tears.

XXX. And indeed it was altogether fitting that, as we know to have happened in the case of the other saints, nothing of those things which were opportune for testifying to the sublimity of the most pure one should be lost. Especially since it was in no way consistent that, for the sake of our sanctification, to us who ^D believe the holy bodies of the rest of the saints, the most holy body of all...

should be entrusted, while of this virginal body—most holy of all—neither vestige nor image nor anything else prefiguring it should be left behind for that same purpose. I believe, therefore, that the figures of those immaculate members have remained with us only so that the more powerful means of sanctification, that is, the sheer traces of her sacred remains, might be revealed; for it is manifest that what the entire, intact relics of other saints accomplish, these traces accomplish as well, or indeed even more.

^B XXXI. But indeed, it seems to me that the earth could not have received even the traces of that holy image—I mean those divine figures—had not the Creator himself and her Son, for the sake of manifold benefit, bestowed that proper and divine image upon those below. For we hear that that priceless treasure was entrusted to Abgar, who held the principate of Edessa. In order, therefore, that the most immaculate Mother might in this respect also not be unlike the Son, for this reason this too was given to the earth, that it might store up those sacred signs, as it is said, like a certain treasure within itself.

And indeed, one can see in many other things that the All-Immaculate preserved a likeness to the Creator. For just as He drank the chalice of death for my sake, yet did not obtain the tomb as a permanent home, so to speak—as is the case with other dead—but rather, seeking a lodging appropriate for him, rose again; so too the Mother of the Creator ^C went indeed under the earth, both to imitate the Son and to obey his sentence (24), which the first parents had once heard, seeing that she herself was truly of the earth, even if she carried nothing earthly in her mind. Yet she rose again and flew to the heavens, where her Son also was. And just as that resurrection occurred on the third day, she likewise kept the same number of days; and just as the Lord's resurrection clearly revealed the number of days to us—the third, that is—but concealed the hour, in the same manner it came to pass for the Mother of God.

XXII. I believe, furthermore, that the palm branch which God, as we have said, sent to the blessed one through an angel, bears the image of the Saviour. For just as the Hebrew children, that multitude free from malice, went to meet the Saviour with branches, and with stammering tongue offered praises and rendered service, and as far as they were able, proclaimed by their actions the Lord as victor over death; ^D so too, by the angel pure from all malice, the branch was handed over, so that in place of those innocent infants, it might...

offer ^A to the Lady and signify the victory over death. Thus did the most pure one here, too, precisely preserve that image which was revealed. For it was fitting for the good Mother to imitate in all things her new Son; and that something new and counter-intuitive should be innovated here, contrary to what usually happens among children born by the natural order to their parents. For the law of nature allows good children to have the best fathers set before them as a pattern, so that they may, from the more mature experience which passing time has provided to their progenitors, gather up the best things. But in the case of the new Mother of God, the whole matter turned out to the contrary: her new Son was set forth as a pattern to the Mother, and the most pure one, fixing her eyes upon that image of the Son, was coloring, forming, and depicting herself after Him. Nor was this done without reason. For in a different and sublime way, the Word, the Creator and Son of the most pure one, existed truly as the prototype and was more ancient than any other thing; and therefore a congruous order was preserved, so that all beauty might flow down into the inferior from the superior.

XXXII. Since, ^B however, I spoke a little while ago of the palm, I consider it necessary to demonstrate also the properties of the tree, and what similarity these have, in my judgment, to the most pure one. For if it were not highly suitable to her, she surely would not have received such a branch from God.

The palm tree associates with the earth only a little, and only so much as it can draw the moisture necessary for its state. But it tends upward, producing erect branches; and it extends them to the greatest height, so that anyone who sees it would say that the tree reaches to heaven. These things clearly represent ^C the most highly praised Virgin. For she, too, partook of earthly things only in small measure—I mean nourishment, sleep, and whatever else is necessary. For she partook of these moderately, and as is necessary for a human, so as to show that her origin was from humans; and she bore everything of human law, although concerning her soul, there was nothing in common between the most pure one and other humans. But in most things, which pertain to the reason of the soul, she traveled upward to sublime things and to heaven itself, and was carried as if on a swift steed.

As, ^D for instance, those animals that are endowed with wings descend indeed to the earth, comforting the necessity of nature, but always desire the heights and the air, and do not choose to associate with humans; so the most pure one had a relationship with the earth, because she was human, but because of the modesty of her soul...

^A she contemplated sublime and divine things. And just as the eye sees visible things, but the flesh of the eye touches none of those things that are seen, nor does it have need of such a necessity of touching in order to see, but the sight participates in the object, while the material of the vision remains without touching the visible things; in the same way the most immaculate one remained both participating in and unmixed with earthly things.

Furthermore, the palm tree possesses another property; it is this: the palm is produced from the earth, just as the rest of the trees; but it does not grow as they do; for it raises its branches to a great length, as has been said, but the thickness of its summit, as much as it appears to have when it first emerges from the earth, this it keeps, remaining ^B devoid of any addition; and this, I think, portrays a sketch of this most pure one. The Virgin came forth from her own mother, as a human being, and for this reason she received the ancient thickness, I mean the original sin, with which she was born, and which she had received involuntarily, and there was no way to escape it, nor to overstep it, concerning which even the divine David philosophizes, saying: *In iniquities did my mother conceive me* (Ps. L, 7). This, therefore, alone she brought when she was born into this life, showing it to the human race; but she remained entirely incapable of any other thickness, that is, of any defilement whatever. And not only this, but she also cast off from herself that paternal and pernicious lot, according to which she also surpassed this image. For the palm tree neither puts aside the thickness it showed about its summit when it was born, nor does it make it less than it had from the beginning. But the blessed Virgin, as if existing above every image and surpassing the species itself by an infinite distance, hastened to cast off and scrape away that ancient thickness, I mean the Adamite fall, and to show the statue, I mean the human being, as the Creator fashioned it, shining and brilliant; and what is more ^C admirable, that she did not desire to have a small purification, and such as would suffice for her alone, but she strove to converse with such a depth of purity that she might be able to pour it out to others also, and to wash away through it the thickest and most wicked filth.

In addition to these, the fruit of the palm tree, as I think, paints a portrait of the new Son of the Virgin. For just as the fruit of this tree is indeed brilliant in its beauty, and in its taste sweeter than others, but what it covers within is very solid, and almost unbreakable; so too my Christ, the fruit of the Virgin, is sweet and beautiful in appearance, as no one else among all is, but in understanding He is stronger and more solid than all power, and possesses ^D impassibility itself. Which the prophet David also hinting at, I think, said: *The just shall flourish like the palm tree* (Ps. xci, 13), calling the Virgin the just one most excellently; but as the flower, the One born from her, as I said, the most sweet Jesus, just as also Solomon says concerning Christ Himself: I, he says,

am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys. But if the palm is not passionless within, the discourse does not for this reason err; for it is not possible to find in created things an image entirely similar to the divine and passionless nature.

^B Furthermore, those who wished to withdraw from the world and philosophize on high things, and to converse with God as much as is possible for a man, chose for their dwelling place, as we hear, the region that produces palms, the fruit of which was no small consolation for their nourishment, while their branches were the work which the holy hands of those saints were occupied in crafting; and I believe that this also accords greatly with the present contemplation, and not without reason; nor would I concede that such a life of those holy men was casual, as some might say: for thus I am able to understand this: since the palm is likened to the most pure Virgin, as we have said, and its fruit to her ineffable and admirable fruit; for this reason the hands of the holy ones would handle the branches of the palms, while their mouth took the fruit, so that concerning those whom they never desired their memory to sleep—I mean Jesus and the most pure Virgin—the exercise of their hands and their table might be fellow-workers toward this; since they wished, if possible, to hold onto Jesus, and, if it could be done, always to eat and breathe Him. This they indicated through what they did, and they made their own goal clear. And of these things, indeed, enough has been said.

^C XXXIV. But you, O Mother of God, the splendor of our nature, a new and most delightful creation, a heavenly height, a sea of graces, more brilliant than this visible sun, a chest abounding in the most sacred virtues, the most fragrant perfume-box of all flowers, my salvation, through whom we also inhabit the heavens and have regained paradise, and (why should I enumerate more?) the recipient and Mother of the incomprehensible God, and for this reason, God excepted, the Lady of all things visible and invisible, may you be for us here both the guide of a life becomingly holy, and the leader of truth, and a shield against the devices which the enemy plots against us; and in the future age may you grant us the enjoyment of eternal goods. May all of us attain to this through the mediation of the Theotokos and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and adoration with His eternal Father and His all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen. ^D [alt-version omitted]

NICETAS MARONEA, METROPOLITAN OF THESSALONICA

MONITUM OF J. HERGENRÖTHER

Professor in the University of Würzburg

^A I. This Nicetas, whom the most learned Le Quien (Oriens Christianus, vol. II, p. 41) does not hold to be a different person than Nicetas, Chartophylax and bishop of Maronea, who was promoted to the see of Thessalonica. He was indeed an asserter of the Latin dogma concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son as well, yet he did not approve of the word *Filioque* being inserted into the Creed. Hugo Etherianus held his dialogues with him during the reign of Emperor Manuel Comnenus. Allatius excerpted many fragments of his books here and there in his various volumes. In the English manuscript library, among the codices of John Selden, class II, no. 2, there is held a *Prologue concerning the pilgrimage and acts of St. John the Evangelist* from the mouth of Nicetas of Thessalonica. In the *Jus Græco-Romanum* lie the recorded interrogations of various bishops to Lord Nicetas the Chartophylax, who was made archbishop of the metropolis of Thessalonica. This is what Le Quien says about our Nicetas.

^B II. Furthermore, our Nicetas—whom some maintain to have been a Mitylenean by birth, yet who seem to others to have been confused with another, later Nicetas, his successor in the Thessalonian see (see Le Quien, loc. cit., p. 52)—flourished in the twelfth century of the Church and, among other things, composed six dialogues on the procession of the Holy Spirit, and certainly before the year 1201, the date at which Fabricius (Biblioth. Gr. vol. VI, p. 434, old ed.; vol. VII, p. 755, ed. Harles) thought they were written. For how could it have come to pass that Hugo Etherianus, in his books dedicated to the Supreme Pontiff Alexander III, should produce words of Nicetas that strictly correspond to our dialogues, if the dialogues themselves had been written long afterward? These dialogues are praised by Nicephorus Blemmida, who calls the author an eminent and distinguished man (Orat. I, n. 6, Græc. orthod. t. 1, p. 6); indeed, John Beccus, when he had come upon this book and read it, soon adjured the schism and embraced the Roman faith and party, as Pachymeres testifies, who furthermore narrates that our Nicetas was held in great esteem by his grandfather and was Chartophylax in the Great Church (Hist. l. vi, c. 6, 23; l. vi, c. 9). ^C Later, the same patriarch made mention of the same work in his own writings, who in *Or. II on Unjust Deposition*, n. 5 (Gr. orth. II, p. 44) says: "Nicetas also, holding the helm of the archieratic metropolis of Thessalonica in his own age, arranged a colloquy between a Greek and a Latin, favoring the Latin side, aptly bringing the Greek in a certain way to accept the union joyfully. For there were, indeed, very many before us who cherished this union, but they did not dare to set their hand to it, on account of the very things which we who have set our hand to it have suffered." I believe that Constantine Meliteniotes also had these very dialogues in mind when he noted (Or. II *De proc. Sp. S.* c. 4, Gr. orth. t. II, p. 912) that even after the schism, many Greeks supported the dogma of the Latins in their writings—some openly, others sub-obscurely—always accommodating themselves to the time on account of human frailty, and setting forth the truth clearly under the guise of dialogue.

^D III. Hence, no one will contend more fastidiously that our Nicetas should not be associated with the theologians of the Orthodox Greeks. As for the dogma itself, he agrees with the Latins and explains their reasoning not incongruously; he indulges the prejudices of his own citizens, whom he was trying to entice gently, only in the part where he reproves the addition made to the Creed. His arguments here are too weak to seem worthy of a longer refutation; already Bessarion was picking at him in this regard, writing (apud Allat. *De consens.*, l. II, c. 28, n. 5): "Although this man of Thessalonica adhered to the dogma of the Latins—for he taught that the conclusion was true—he contended, as the proverb has it, about the shadow of an ass, asserting that even true things ought not to be added to the Creed." These