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| On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary.
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The Third Homily.
On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin
Mary.550
| 550 “The
Third Discourse by the same sainted Gregory, Bishop of
Neo-Cæsareia, surnamed Thaumaturgus, on the Annunciation to the
all-holy Virgin Mary, mother of God.” |
Again have we the glad tidings of joy, again the
announcements of liberty, again the restoration, again the return,
again the promise of gladness, again the release from slavery. An
angel talks with the Virgin, in order that the serpent may no more have
converse with the woman. In the sixth month, it is said, the
angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin espoused to a man.551
Gabriel was sent to declare the
world-wide salvation: Gabriel was sent to bear to Adam the
signature of his restoration; Gabriel was sent to a virgin, in order to
transform the dishonour of the female sex into honour; Gabriel was sent
to prepare the worthy
chamber for the pure spouse; Gabriel was sent to wed the creature with
the Creator; Gabriel was sent to the animate palace of the King of the
angels; Gabriel was sent to a virgin espoused to Joseph, but preserved
for Jesus the Son of God. The incorporeal servant was sent to the
virgin undefiled. One free from sin was sent to one that admitted
no corruption. The light was sent that should announce the Sun of
righteousness. The dawn was sent that should precede the light of
the day. Gabriel was sent to proclaim Him who is in the bosom of
the Father, and who yet was to be in the arms of the mother.
Gabriel was sent to declare Him who is upon the throne, and yet also in
the cavern. The subaltern was sent to utter aloud the mystery of
the great King; the mystery, I mean, which is discerned by faith, and
which cannot be searched out by officious curiosity; the mystery which
is to be adored, not weighed; the mystery which is to be taken as a
thing divine, and not measured. “In the sixth month Gabriel
was sent to a virgin.” What is meant by this sixth
month? What? It is the sixth month from the time when
Elisabeth received the glad tidings, from the time that she conceived
John. And how is this made plain? The archangel himself
gives us the interpretation, when he says to the virgin:
“Behold, thy relation Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in
her old age: and this is now the sixth month with her, who was
called barren.”552
In the sixth month—that is
evidently, therefore, the sixth month of the conception of John.
For it was meet that the subaltern should go before; it was meet that
the attendant should precede; it was meet that the herald of the
Lord’s coming should prepare the way for Him. In the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was sent to a virgin espoused to a man;
espoused, not united; espoused, yet kept intact. And for what
purpose was she espoused? In order that the spoiler might not
learn the mystery prematurely. For that the King was to come by a
virgin, was a fact known to the wicked one. For he too heard
these words of Isaiah: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
and bear a son.”553
And on every occasion, consequently,
he kept watch upon the virgin’s words, in order that, whenever
this mystery should be fulfilled, he might prepare her dishonour.
Wherefore the Lord came by an espoused virgin, in order to elude the
notice of the wicked one; for one who was espoused was pledged in fine
to be her husband’s. “In the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was
Joseph.” Hear what the prophet says about this man and the
virgin: “This book that is sealed shall be delivered to a
man that is learned.”554
What is meant by this sealed book, but
just the virgin undefiled? From whom is this to be given?
From the priests evidently. And to whom? To the artisan
Joseph. As, then, the priests espoused Mary to Joseph as to a
prudent husband, and committed her to his care in expectation of the
time of marriage, and as it behoved him then on obtaining her to keep
the virgin untouched, this was announced by the prophet long before,
when he said: “This book that is sealed shall be delivered
to a man that is learned.” And that man will say, I cannot
read it. But why canst thou not read it, O Joseph? I cannot
read it, he says, because the book is sealed. For whom, then, is
it preserved? It is preserved as a place of sojourn for the Maker
of the universe. But let us return to our immediate
subject. In the sixth month Gabriel was sent to a virgin—he
who received, indeed, such injunctions as these: “Come
hither now, archangel, and become the minister of a dread mystery which
has been kept hid, and be thou the agent in the miracle. I am
moved by my compassions to descend to earth in order to recover the
lost Adam. Sin hath made him decay who was made in my image, and
hath corrupted the work of my hands, and hath obscured the beauty which
I formed. The wolf devours my nursling, the home of paradise is
desolate, the tree of life is guarded by the flaming sword, the
location of enjoyments is closed. My pity is evoked for the
object of this enmity, and I desire to seize the enemy. Yet I
wish to keep this mystery, which I confide to thee alone, still hid
from all the powers of heaven. Go thou, therefore, to the Virgin
Mary. Pass thou on to that animate city whereof the prophet spake
in these words: ‘Glorious things were spoken of thee, O
city of God.’555
Proceed,
then, to my rational paradise; proceed to the gate of the east; proceed
to the place of sojourn that is worthy of my word; proceed to that
second heaven on earth; proceed to the light cloud, and announce to it
the shower of my coming; proceed to the sanctuary prepared for me;
proceed to the hall of the incarnation; proceed to the pure chamber of
my generation after the flesh. Speak in the ears of my rational
ark, so as to prepare for me the accesses of hearing. But neither
disturb nor vex the soul of the virgin. Manifest thyself in a
manner befitting that sanctuary, and hail her first with the voice of
gladness. And address Mary with the salutation, ‘Hail, thou
that art highly favoured,’ that I may show compassion for Eve in
her depravation.” The archangel heard these things, and
considered them within himself, as was reasonable, and said: “Strange is
this matter; passing comprehension is this thing that is spoken.
He who is the object of dread to the cherubim, He who cannot be looked
upon by the seraphim, He who is incomprehensible to all the
heavenly556
powers, does He give
the assurance of His connection with a maiden? does He announce His own
personal coming? yea more, does He hold out an access by hearing? and
is He who condemned Eve, urgent to put such honour upon her
daughter? For He says: ‘So as to prepare for me the
accesses of hearing.’ But can the womb contain Him who
cannot be contained in space? Truly this is a dread
mystery.” While the angel is indulging such reflections,
the Lord says to Him: “Why art thou troubled and perplexed,
O Gabriel? Hast thou not already been sent by me to Zacharias the
priest? Hast thou not conveyed to him the glad tidings of the
nativity of John? Didst thou not inflict upon the incredulous
priest the penalty of speechlessness? Didst thou not punish the
aged man with dumbness? Didst thou not make thy declaration, and
I confirmed it? And has not the actual fact followed upon thy
announcement of good? Did not the barren woman conceive?
Did not the womb obey the word? Did not the malady of sterility
depart? Did not the inert disposition of nature take to
flight? Is not she now one that shows fruitfulness, who before
was never pregnant? Can anything be impossible with me, the
Creator of all? Wherefore, then, art thou tossed with
doubt?” What is the angel’s answer to this?
“O Lord,” he says, “to remedy the defects of nature,
to do away with the blast of evils, to recall the dead members to the
power of life, to enjoin on nature the potency of generation, to remove
barrenness in the case of members that have passed the common
limit,557
to change the old
and withered stalk into the appearance of verdant vigour, to set forth
the fruitless soil suddenly as the producer of sheaves of
corn,—to do all this is a work which, as it is ever the case,
demands Thy power. And Sarah is a witness thereto, and along with
her558
also Rebecca, and
again Anna, who all, though bound by the dread ill of barrenness, were
afterwards gifted by Thee with deliverance from that malady. But
that a virgin should bring forth, without knowledge of a man, is
something that goes beyond all the laws of nature; and dost Thou yet
announce Thy coming to the maiden? The bounds of heaven and earth
do not contain Thee, and how shall the womb of a virgin contain
Thee?” And the Lord says: “How did the tent of
Abraham contain me?”559
And the angel says: “As
there were there the deeps of hospitality, O Lord, Thou didst show
Thyself there to Abraham at the door of the tent, and didst pass
quickly by it, as He who filleth all things. But how can Mary
sustain the fire of the divinity? Thy throne blazes with the
illumination of its splendour, and can the virgin receive Thee without
being consumed?” Then the Lord says: “Yea
surely, if the fire in the wilderness injured the bush, my coming will
indeed also injure Mary; but if that fire which served as the
adumbration of the advent of the fire of divinity from heaven
fertilized the bush, and did not burn it, what wilt thou say of the
Truth that descends not in a flame of fire, but in the form of
rain?”560
Thereupon the
angel set himself to carry out the commission given him, and repaired
to the Virgin, and addressed her with a loud voice, saying:
“Hail, thou that are highly favoured! the Lord is with
thee. No longer shalt the devil be against thee; for where of old
that adversary inflicted the wound, there now first of all does the
Physician apply the salve of deliverance. Where death came forth,
there has life now prepared its entrance. By a woman came the
flood of our ills, and by a woman also our blessings have their
spring. Hail, thou that are highly favoured! Be not thou
ashamed, as if thou wert the cause of our condemnation. For thou
art made the mother of Him who is at once Judge and Redeemer.
Hail, thou stainless mother of the Bridegroom561
| 561
νυμφοτόκε.
The Latin version gives it as = sponsa, simul et mater.
[Apostrophe not worship.] | of a world bereft! Hail, thou that
hast sunk in thy womb the death (that came) of the mother (Eve)!
Hail, thou animate temple of temple of God! Hail, thou
equal562
home of heaven and
earth alike! Hail, thou amplest receptacle of the illimitable
nature!” But as these things are so, through her has come
for the sick the Physician; for them that sit in darkness, the Sun of
righteousness; for all that are tossed and tempest-beaten, the Anchor
and the Port undisturbed by storm. For the servants in
irreconcilable enmity has been born the Lord; and One has sojourned
with us to be the bond of peace and the Redeemer of those led captive,
and to be the peace for those involved in hostility. For He is
our peace;563
and of that peace
may it be granted that all we may receive the enjoyment, by the grace
and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory, honour,
and power, now and ever, and unto all the ages of the ages.
Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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