Sermon on the Annunciation of Mary

^A And may we attain the pleasure of the kingdom of heaven, and the commemoration of the region of the living, passing an eternal life, which purified minds desire, through Jesus Christ, who is the cause of our opulence, which he himself announced to us when he saved us: to him be glory and holiness, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

NOTICE

This other oration on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of which most learned men—Philippus Labbe in his *Conspectus of the Works of St. John Damascene*, and Leo Allatius in his *Catalogue of the minor works of the same author* which he had sent to the illustrious John Aubert—made mention, I finally found in the Seguerian library, manuscript 32, though it is in large part mutilated. It is a salutory address to the most holy mother of our God, in which three things worthy of observation occur: the first of which is that the author gives thanks that through her the faithful have sacred images; the second is that he suggests the Roman Empire enjoys profound peace through her; and finally, that the Ishmaelites or Saracens are often routed and slain through the Virgin’s work. These things certainly do not pertain to those times which followed the edict issued by Leo the Isaurian against images, since at that time there was no peace for the faithful Christians throughout the whole Greco-Roman Empire, but a most dire persecution under the same Leo and his son Constantine; indeed, the armies of these emperors were most frequently defeated by the Saracens. Whence I judge that this oration was delivered during the first years of Leo, after the death of the Caliph Yazid, while his son Hisham was reigning, who took care to revoke immediately at the beginning of his principate the edict of his parent issued in the East against images. For the rest, in this homily we have a most remarkable argument of the most holy John Damascene’s fervent devotion toward the Mother of God, which he strove to signify to her in every possible way.

V.

Now the royal and surpassing festival and celebration of the Queen has shone forth more brightly than the golden rays of the sun. Now the catholic and apostolic Church, exulting in a marvelous manner, displays its beauty. Now those who delight in spectacles and celebrate feast days, observing the solemnity of solemnities, gather together with an immense crowd. Now let the heavenly, the earthly, and the nether regions, and all the creatures in them, rejoice. Now let the all-praised one be praised, just as she is worthy of praise with all-praised praises. Now let the one God-magnified, and the God-chosen, and the God-named Virgin be magnified. Now let her who is truly many-named and many-eyed, and who is, all together, the most exalted of the whole creation, be praised. Now let the God-beloved, and God-containing, and world-venerated Ark of God be blessed. For today, in truth, joy and exultation come to pass everywhere in the world. Today let the assemblies of those who love festivals cry out. Today let all peoples cry out to the Queen born of David, saying, *Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, civitas Dei*, the city of the great King. Today let the God-written book of the prophets be opened, and let it be said concerning her, the ever-virgin, and Ever-Virgin Mary. Today let them rejoice

^A over that animate city, the cities of all Judea. Today let Gabriel, the prince of the choirs of this most festive celebration, cry out from above to the Queen and say: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" Today let us, too, who are of clay-tongued speech, cry out and say to the most glorious and light-bearing Mother of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, joyfully praising her with certain delightful words and saying: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

Hail, full of grace, you who were chosen out of all generations, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, and peoples. Hail, full of grace, you who were predestined before the ages by the Creator and King of the ages. Hail, the culmination of the Old and New Testaments. Hail, the multi-flowered blossom of the God-bearing Fathers and patriarchs. Hail, the name foretold by the holy prophets who have existed from the ages. Hail, the descendant of Adam, the father of the world and fashioned by God. Hail, daughter of Eve, the first woman and mother of the world. Hail, the antitype of the animate ark which Noah built. ^B Hail, you who were truly born from the loins of Abraham, the father of nations, according to the promise of God. Hail, the heaven-reaching ladder which the great among the patriarchs, Jacob, once beheld. Hail, the fire-bearing bush which the far-famed Moses once saw on Mount Sinai. Hail, the holy-flowering rod of Aaron, who is truly looked upon with wonder among the priests. Hail, the new purple-variegated tabernacle, which the weaver Bezalel fashioned with a new work. Hail, the golden, stone-studded, and gold-woven oracle. Hail, the propitiatory overshadowed by the two Seraphim. Hail, the priestly ephod of the high-priestly vestment. Hail, the golden altar of incense... let my angels praise with a great voice. Hail, you in whom, for our sake, He who dwells in the flesh, He who says in Isaiah, "I am God first, and I am after these things," has tabernacled.

^C Hail, O God-bearing treasure of God, who held in the flesh Him who is in no way held. Hail, the God-bearing treasure of God, and a report superior to every report. Hail, and for this reason hail, because you gave birth to a Child, about whom Jacob hints, saying: "Judah is a lion's whelp; from the sprout, my son, you have ascended." Hail, because you gave birth to a Child, about whom the God-progenitor David says: "That He shall live, and there shall be given to Him of the gold of Arabia." Hail, because you gave birth to a Child, whom "thousands of thousands of angels" attend, according to Daniel. Hail, because you ^D gave birth to a Child, whom the whole creation of those in heaven and those on earth hymns, glorifies, and blesses. Hail, because you gave birth to a Child, whom the many-eyed Cherubim proclaim as God, and the six-winged Seraphim proclaim as Lord. Hail, because you gave birth to a Child in the namesake city of David. Hail, because you gave birth to a Child, ancient of ages and recent, sprung from the fountains of Israel.

^A Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, the Artificer of infants and the Sustainer of all things. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, of equal power and glory with the Father. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, as the wondrous Luke declares, in the forty-first year of the reign of Augustus Caesar. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account multitudes of angels descended to the earth. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks in the fields by night, were struck with amazement. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account angels sang together, saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account there is heard a sound and a clamor. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account Herod is troubled, boiling with rage. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account your kinswoman Elizabeth is exiled from her home. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account Zacharias, the most great priest, is slain in the midst of the temple. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account Bethlehem is searched by a band of soldiers. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, for whose sake executioners armed with swords are sent. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account the recently born, who can barely imitate speech, are torn limb from limb. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, on whose account Rachel, pouring forth rivers of tears, sends forth a most sorrowful song. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, being circumcised on the eighth day according to the Law of Moses. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, who carved the Law upon tablets of stone, and became under the Law, and fulfills the Law. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, whom you offered in the Solomonic temple upon the completion of forty days. ^B Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, of infant appearance, whom Simeon, the priest venerable for his hoary hair, upon seeing, hastened to be released. Hail, because you have given birth to an Infant, who was proclaimed as Lord before all the people by the prophetess and widow Anna.

Hail, full of grace; hail, through whom there has been made known to us He who was begotten before all the hills, God, I say, who has power over all things. Hail, through whom the One above the world has been made known to us, He who adorned the unadorned world and created the uncreated creature. Hail, through whom there has been made known to us He who, before the mountains were brought forth, and the earth and the world were formed, was begotten from the unbegotten Father. Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who stretched out the heaven like a curtain and established the dry land over the waters of the abyss. Hail, through whom there has been made known to us He who bridled with sand the great, world-encompassing, and wondrously visible sea. ^C Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who formed Adam, the first of men, with undefiled and unmade hands. Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who said to Abraham: In blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who of old, through Moses, rescued the Israelite people from Egyptian servitude. ^D

and slew the Pharaonic king in the sea. Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who throughout the ages showed Himself visible to the Fathers and prophets and to all who are called saints according to purpose. Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who, through the compassions of mercy, became man for the sake of man. Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who alone is holy among the holy, and alone glorious among the glorified, and alone most high over all the earth. Hail, through whom there has appeared to us He who alone is impassible, and alone compassionate, and alone truthful, and alone from the One only-begotten Son of God and God. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom the self-begotten is born to us, and the self-existent sprouts forth, and the perfect one grows. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom the incorporeal is embodied for us, and the beginningless begins, and the uncontainable is contained. Hail, O Lady ^B Theotokos, through whom the life-in-itself is quickened, and the illimitable is given a measure, and the fleshless is incarnated. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom the uncreated is created, and the rich becomes poor, and the Most High becomes an infant. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom the untouchable is touched, and the intangible is held, and He who bears all things is carried. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom the guardian of all, and the nourisher, and the God who is the dispenser [of all] is fed with milk. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom the Son of God and Word, [became] Son of man corporally according to an ineffable good pleasure. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom He who is without mother becomes without father, and a new Melchisedech is assembled. Hail, O Lady Theotokos, through whom He who is fairer in beauty than the sons of men has passed.

Hail, only Mother of God, who from the ends of heaven even to its ends ^C holdest, as Mother and in the manner of David, the attainment of protection. Hail, only Mother of God, who art the magnificent and glorious splendor of the celestial, the terrestrial, and the infernal. Hail, only Mother of God, who art brighter than every ray and purer than every purity. Hail, only Mother of God, who art more venerable than every object of veneration, and a report surpassing every report. Hail, only Mother of God, who art sweeter than every sweetness, more noble than every noble thing, and more enriched than all abounding wealth. Hail, only Mother of God, who art the name by itself truly, genuinely, the most beautiful and most longed-for [name] of the Christian creation. Hail, only Mother of God, who art to be worshipped unto the ages, and glorified unto the ages, and praised unto endless ages. Hail, only Mother of God, who unto all generations of generations art unanimously magnified by angels and men in fear. Hail, only queen among queens, who art indeed the daughter of kings, but Mother of Christ the King of all, and the strength of pious kings. Hail, only queen among queens, clothed and adorned in a gold-woven vesture, as the great psalmist ^D

^B proclaimed. Hail, only one among women blessed, who restored the fall of our first mother Eve. Hail, only one among women blessed, who exalted the lowliest race of women lying on the dust. Hail, only one among women blessed, radiant and admirable, who alone conceived Christ, God and man, without the agency of a man, and brought Him forth without pain. Hail, only one truly blessed among women and glorious, who without being harmed by the flame, did conceive and bear one of the tri-radiant and most holy Trinity. Hail, only one among women blessed, who alone contained, without restriction, Him whom the world cannot contain. Hail, only Spouse who knows no spouse, who long ago was promised in the Song of Songs. Hail, only Virgin among virgins, who remained a Virgin before birth, in birth, and after birth. Hail, only one among gates, the closed gate, and only city among cities fortified with towers.

Hail, truly full of grace, hail, because you are holier than the Angels and more excellent than the Archangels. Hail, full of grace, because you are more admirable than the Thrones, more dominant than the Dominions, and of greater power than the Virtues. Hail, full of grace, because you are superior to the Principalities and more sublime than the Powers. Hail, full of grace, because you are more beautiful than the Cherubim and more august than the Seraphim. Hail, full of grace, because you are higher than the heavens and purer than the sun we see. Hail, full of grace, because you are nobler than all things beneath the sun’s rising, and more royal than all the kingdoms of mortal nature. Hail, full of grace, because you are far better than that truly good and broad land flowing with honey and milk. ^C Hail, full of grace, because you are made whiter than snow and sweeter than honey. Hail, full of grace, because you are more fragrant than lilies, redder than roses, and have blossomed more than the many-colored spring. Hail, full of grace, because you have been made more beautiful than Jerusalem and more magnified than Solomon’s temple. Hail then, hail, and again I say, hail, full of grace, because heaven and earth are full of your greatness.

Hail, through whom we, the humble, worship with fitting reverence the second and light-bestowing generation of Christ. Hail, through whom we have known the world-creating, life-originating, and ever-reigning Trinity. Hail, through whom we, the Christian people, are named by the name of your Son and God. ^D Hail, through whom we have been enrolled as citizens in the one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Hail, through whom we possess the soul-saving and light-formed faith. Hail, through whom we worship the most-worshipped and healing-producing Cross. Hail, through whom we are baptized into the sanctifying and thrice-resplendent baptism. Hail, through whom we, being pure, dare to approach the terrible flesh at the terrible table, and partake of it. Hail, through

whom we taste of the true and immortal bread. Hail, through whom we have been raised up from the gates of Hades to the heavens. Hail, through whom we have been redeemed from the curse and deemed worthy of ineffable joy. Hail, through whom we adore the Christ-formed and venerable icons. Hail, through whom we trample upon the gold-wrought, demon-formed idols of the Greeks. Hail, through whom ^A we resist that ancient and arrogant rebel.

Hail, through whom the empire of the Romans enjoys tranquility. Hail, through whom it is granted to kings to reign, and the command of armies is entrusted to generals. Hail, through whom victory is often won in battle against alien and strange-tongued nations. Hail, through whom foreign peoples fall like leaves, and the impious are driven like the chaff before the wind, with no one pursuing them. Hail, through whom those who fight with arms and bear shields are broken, and those protected by iron are struck down before the engagement. Hail, through ^B whom ambidextrous archers are repelled, and the nations that desire war are beaten with stripes. Hail, through whom the barbarian and butcher-dog Ishmael is slain by the sword. Hail, through whom the faithful, who are held miserably captive in iron shackles, escape from the midst of their armed captors. Hail, through whom the entire world is covered and preserved for all time. Hail, through whom every good thing in heaven and on earth was promised to us. Hail, through whom a blessing has gushed forth for the faithful, since we are thy people, even if we are entangled in the chains of our sins. ^C Hail, through whom the brittle substance of the weak, both men and the wandering and unstable nature of the weak-born women, is blessed. Hail, through whom the impious, having become pious, piously worship and adore thy most venerable birth-giving. Hail, through whom the lovers of gold become lovers of Christ, and the lovers of silver become lovers of humanity, and the lovers of the poor become zealous for riches. Hail therefore, hail, full of grace, because many have despised much wealth for thy sake, so that they might win thee, the only Good. Hail, because many of the pious emperors have often deemed gold to be mud for thy sake, and silver to be ash. Hail, ^D because many of the Christ-loving queens have deemed jewel-bright crowns and gold-threaded purple robes for thy sake to be more worthless than a spider’s web. Hail, because many of the nobles have despised for thy sake Indian and crystal-clear stones. Hail, because many, if I may so speak, even of the noble women, have for thy sake counted as nothing those linen and scarlet, purple and silk garments, that seemed worthy of admiration. Hail, because many of the adulterous women have deemed ornaments and bracelets set with gems to be more fragile than leaves for thy sake. Hail, because many times many of the famous and illustrious men, and even the wealthy, have held thousands of gold and silver as refuse and dung for thy sake. Hail, because for thy sake youth-

-^A-ful women have chosen to wear wool garments perpetually. Hail, thou who art full of grace, because thou hast become a refuge for us, and thou dost intercede for us who are created from clay to thy Son, and thy God, and our God. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, the common salvation of all the ends of the earth together, and the Christian protection of all Christians. Hail, thou who alone art the helping assistance of the helpless, and the sole almighty power of those who lack strength. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, the sole exaltation of the humble, and the sole support of the poor, and the sole mother of orphans, and of the destitute, and of widows. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, the sole comfort of those who are oppressed, and the sole covering of those who lack shelter. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, ^B the sole redemption of captives, and the sole recall of exiles and those who have been banished. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, the sole visitation of the sick, and the sole healing of the infirm, and the sole health of those who are vexed by demons. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, the sole steering of those who sail, and the sole traveling companion and leader of those who journey by night. Hail, because the eyes of all of us set their hope on thee, who alone art pure, and look upon thee at all times. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, thou who always standest before us, the humble, and deliverest us from every just wrath and threat. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, thou who always keepest and watchest over our impoverished race in temptations, in dangers, and in various calamities. Hail, thou who art full of grace, because no one except God has obtained such a great name, or has attained such glory. Hail, thou who art truly blessed above all, hail, for whose sake we celebrate this day, more excellent ^C than the world, in a way surpassing the world. Hail, thou who art truly blessed above all; hail, for whose sake we hold today the solemnity of solemnities and the festival of festivals with all the people gathered together. Hail, thou who art truly blessed above all, hail, for whose sake we assemble today like a flock in thy most holy temples, and magnify thee with a loud voice. Hail, thou who art truly blessed above all; hail, for whose sake we gather today like bees to multiply our hymnody for thy protection. Hail, thou who art full of grace, hail, for whose sake we, carrying lights today, extol thee brilliantly in the Church. Hail, thou who art truly blessed above all; hail, for whose sake we have today taken up the words of David with David, and the words of the angel with the angel. Hail, thou who art truly blessed above all, hail, for whose sake we, the captive praisers, have today woven together this fourfold fifty of joyful ^D addresses; nevertheless, extend thy mercy, all-good Lady, to those who have known thee, and look upon thy servants and upon thy works, and guide everyone into the way of peace: because the eyes of all hope in thee, and through thy mediation, we have obtained reconciliation with thy Son and God, and our