A If, however, that fire, which was a foreshadowing of the coming of his own divine fire from heaven, watered the bush but did not burn it, what must you think of the truth, which did not descend in the flame of fire but in the form of rain? Then indeed the angel performed the command given to him, and having entered in unto the Virgin, addressed her with these words: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Luke 1:28). The devil is no longer against thee; for where the enemy first inflicted the wound, there the physician applies the medicine: whence death had the beginning of its exit, thence life prepared its entrance. By a woman evils arise, by a woman good things spring forth. B "Hail, full of grace": do not blush as if you were the cause of condemnation; for you are restored through grace to be the Mother of him who condemned it. "Hail, full of grace": hail, you who bring forth a bridegroom for the world lying in widowhood, remaining undefiled. "Hail, full of grace," you who submerge death in your mother's womb; hail, living temple of God; hail, dwelling place equal to heaven and earth; hail, spacious receptacle of the incomprehensible nature. Since these things are so, the physician has come through her to those who are sick, the sun of justice has appeared to those sitting in darkness, an anchor and tranquil harbor to those tossed by the storm, a legate and bond of peace is born to servants disjoined by implacable hatred, a redeemer has arrived for captives, and for those vexed by war, a firm shade of unspeakable joy and charity. C For he himself is our peace (Ephes. 2:14), as the divine Apostle says, which may we be able to enjoy eternally, by the kindness of Christ himself and our God, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
NOTICE
This homily is not unworthy of reading, although it is judged to be alien to Chrysostom, by Savile, Fronton du Duc, and Tillemont, with whom we agree. The style does not indeed display Chrysostom’s inventiveness, nor his flowing manner of speaking, nor the frequency of his comparisons, nor his popular doctrine; yet nothing is found here that is foreign to a sagacious writer. Although the inscription may prefix a census and description of the Mother of God, D that hypothesis occupies very little of the homily; it is, after all, the work of an orator explaining the prophecy of Daniel concerning various empires. The Latin translation was polished by Fronton du Duc.HOMILY ON THE TEXT, "THERE WENT OUT A DECREE FROM CAESAR AUGUSTUS" (Luke 2:1); AND ON THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
A Beloved, because the common Savior of us all, Jesus Christ, was about to be born, an universal decree goes out from Caesar Augustus into all the world. For since a certain universal grace was about to shine upon the whole world, things pertaining to the state are in a way connected with religion, and one decree is issued for the whole world at the birth of the Savior. An edict, therefore, went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be registered, as a preparation for the harmony and concert of religion, so that the way of the preaching of the Gospel might be paved, and the path of the doctrine prepared. Previously, indeed, there were many principalities when there was no decree of Caesar for this universal proclamation; but after the faith was to be propagated through the whole world by a certain common proclamation of religion, then the whole world is coupled under one decree; and not only the world, B but earthly things are joined to heavenly, and for the great benefit of men, piety and the worship of God are made public, so that divine truth might be hidden from no one. Caesar Augustus commands, and Joseph obeys, and takes the Virgin with him. When you question a Greek or a Gentile, or even a Jew himself, on why such honor befell Augustus, that he reigned for a long time (for he reigned fifty-six years and four months), they answer nothing; they suppose that by some chance the longest span of time fell to him, and they do not understand the causes of things, nor do they believe in the grace of God. For in his age Jesus Christ was born. C If, therefore, Augustus, the Emperor of the Romans, was the first, it was under his reign that the Savior Christ deservedly took upon himself the dispensation in the flesh at the very establishment of the Roman empire. For indeed the iron rod was to be sent, about which David spoke: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron," and "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Ps. 2:9, 8): as if the Father were conversing with the Son and saying, "The Jews have despised thy kingdom, and have treated thy empire with insults; this is a contemptible nation, they are few, D who have turned away: Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession; not a corner of Palestine, nor a circumcised nation, vain and possessed of a spiritless mind, but 'I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.'" But as for ruling them, since they did not want to obey the Gospel, since they did not want to believe in miracles, he rules them not with words, but with deeds and with an iron rod, the Roman empire: therefore they are subject to the empire by a rod. For when Jesus had come to Jerusalem, and had seen the market and trade in the temple overflowing with sordid gain—for they were buying and selling inside, and practicing trade within the temple itself on the occasion and pretext of sacrifices—having made a rod and a scourge of cords, he cast them out of the temple, saying, "Make not my father's house a house of merchandise" (John 2:16). But if they had endured that rod, he would not have ruled them with an iron rod; but since they shamelessly rejected the saving rod, they were subjected not to a scourge, nor to the word, which chastises those who are not at all stupid and possessed of a keen sense, but to an iron rod; and many times they tried to remove it, but the iron rod seized them, which does not simply strike, but removes from the midst. In the time, therefore, when the iron rod took its beginning, in the age of the reigning Augustus, then, certainly, Christ was born. The beginning of the Romans, the beginning of the preaching, the fourth kingdom of the ages. For these things can be seen hidden mystically in the prophets for the future; for nothing is found not written, neither in the New Testament nor in the Old; but the Old anticipated the New, and the Old interpreted the New. And I have often said that there are two Testaments and two handmaids and two sisters, which attend the one Lord like satellites. The Lord is announced by the prophets; Christ is preached in the Gospel: the new things are not new, if the old ones preceded: the old are not extinguished, since they are explained in the New Testament. Indeed, you can look at that Daniel, a young man in age, but in prophecy...