Похвальное слово на Успение Пресвятой Владычицы нашей Богородицы и Приснодевы Mapии. Св. Модеста, архиепископа Иерусалимского 164

On the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, many listeners, lovers of the Divine, expect to hear something mysterious about Her. In the name of such godly expectation, I willingly accept it and, in reverent hope in the Mother of God, who gave birth to Life and our salvation, I am thinking of composing a feasible legend about Her. In this case, I become likened (in theology) to the thief crucified at the right hand of the Savior Christ and, asking to find great mercy through His Most Holy Mother of God, I thus begin from here to the glory of His Father and Spirit. Christ-loving brothers! She Who gave birth to the Life of all, has now moved to Her, born before the ages from the Father and existing by God - moved to She Whom She gave birth to carnally and, like Her Mother, became above the holy armies of heaven - moved to She who poured out from above the world the universal Source, which is light for people, for it is written: in Him is life, and life is light for man (John 1:4). When Christ our God, incarnated from Her by the Holy Spirit, deigned to receive Her to Himself, in order to glorify Her, His most blessed Mother, with Himself, the angels and archangels joyfully gathered, sent down from heaven to serve Her most honorable Dormition. Truly, all the Heavenly Powers rejoice, having learned the sacrament from the All-Good Savior Christ who was born from Her, who called Her; these Powers praise the One who revealed Her as the heaven of His Divinity, chose Her from all rational creation as His Most Holy Mother and blessed Her more than all others - they glorify Him upon Whom the cherubim do not dare to look, and Whom they worship in the same way as His Most Holy Father and Spirit, constantly crying out: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts (Isa. 6:3). Through Her the world was freed from slavery and the greatest universal joy was declared; through Her, the human drachma was acquired, and the Good Shepherd, the Lord, saved the lost rational sheep, becoming flesh from Her and sanctifying Her as God’s place, in which God the Father became the worker and the All-Holy Spirit the heli-master, from where the fruit appeared - Christ, the Only Begotten Son, the true Vine, into the sweetness of the heavenly Powers and for the salvation of earthly mortals. This Vine says in the Gospel: I am the true Vine, and My Father is the worker (John 15:1); It was to this true fruitful Vine that the Mother of God passed over in order to exude a cluster of incorruptibility and immortality, feeding on the life-giving heavenly Bread of life, being revived forever by the Bread that came from Her most pure loins and came to satisfy mortals. She was taken, taken to the Lord of glory, who showered from Him all-good gifts on those who are under heaven. In inexpressible joy and joy we met in the house of God the Father the Mother of God of His Son, who indescribably dwelt in Her and became incarnate of the Holy Spirit - becoming a nine-month-old baby and remaining inseparably from the Father and the Spirit. And in the best monastery, the indestructible Abode became the monastery of the Consubstantial Trinity, hearing from the Archangel Gabriel: The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Highest will overshadow You: in the same way, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35), in order to be glorified by the holy heavenly and earthly ranks. From these places she moved, as if from glory to glory, instead of the living, the fire-bearing bush of the Divine, to shine in the light of the face of Christ God, who completely and truly dwelt in Her, and by Him the blessed Virgin Mother, preserved unburnt, is One among women. She entered into the heavenly palace, who became a glorious palace in the hypostatic union of the natures of Christ, the true Heavenly Bridegroom, to whom all the holy powers of heaven are inferior in supernatural beauty, and She moved to the heavenly Jerusalem - the imperishable palace from which came the King of the Ages, who condescended to us and in the form of a warrior turned the enemy with his army. Indeed, having matured, Christ God united with His Orthodox Church, for the sake of which he shed honest blood and betrayed his soul, as the great (regarding the Divine) Paul says: this mystery is great: I speak into Christ, and into the church (Eph. 5:32)... And this Virgin became in the kingdom of heaven superior to the cherubim and seraphim, truly appearing as the Matter of their Lord. Having perfectly completed the course of life, the God-bearing vessel moored to the all-good pier and together with the Helmsman of all, who through Her saved and revived the human race from the flood of wickedness and sin. The Sinai Lawgiver and Zion Lawgiver, the Lord our God, Himself called for the relocation of His ark of consecration, about which Her forefather David sang, saying: Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the ark of Thy holiness (Ps. 132:8), - an ark not carried by oxen (like the ancient Moses), but led and carried by the army of heaven Power, not made by hand and adorned with gold, but created by God, shining from everywhere with the brilliance of the All-Holy and Life-Giving Spirit who overshadowed Her, is not the ark of manna and the tablet of the covenant, but the ark of the Giver of manna and eternal blessings, the Lord of the New and Old Testaments, who was born from Her and saved those who believe in Him from the curse of the law. Not the ark, containing the rod of Aaron and at the top of the cherubim glory, but the Most Glorious without comparing them (the cherubim), the rod of Jesse, overshadowed by the Divine, omnipotent power of the Most High Father - not preceding the Jewish people, but subsequent to God who appeared from Her on earth in the flesh and blessed by the angels and earth-born for the glory of Him who exalted Her above. heavenly and earthly armies, crying with divine lips and saying: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Luke 1:46–47). So, truly, She, the luminous Dawn, called by this Sun, who rose from Her and enlightened everything, was established in order to shine with the radiance of the Sun of truth, She, through Whom the highest radiance poured out on us the sun's rays of mercy and bounty, awakening the souls of the faithful to the possible imitation of Divine meekness and goodness. For, having been clothed by the Holy Spirit with the animate and rational flesh of this Ever-Virgin, Christ God called Her, clothed Her in one-bodily incorruptibility and gloriously glorified her, making her an heir as His Most Holy Mother, about which the Psalmist sings: The Queen appeared at Your right hand, in robes of gold adorned with gold (Ps. 44:10 ). An honest and most sacred vessel, having excellently passed through the temporary course of life, She achieved the true Joy of all, Which indescribably gave birth to in our nature - Joy, by nature being God from God, born before the ages, in the last days appearing through Her on earth and filling heavenly and earthly with joy and ending the sadness of Eve. Now, prophesied by the most luminous Prophet, the Cornerstone (Ps. 117:22) has performed a miraculous movement of its own Mountain, surpassing every creature in the height of glory - the Mountain from which Christ God made the whole universe (Ps. 96:10), creating on It churches of the Orthodox faith, so that those who piously resort to Him through this Mountain would be saved from all heresy, according to the word of the Holy Scripture: everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame (Rom. 10:11). So, the ever-virgin Source of the Lord, sealed with Divine gifts, reposed (Song. 4:12, 15) to meet Him - the Source by which the garden of the Orthodox Church was watered and restored through the second Adam who appeared from Her and, as from the foundations of the sources, from Her virgin currents descended and revived the primordial Adam. Now the fleshly tabernacle, which supernaturally contained the Lord and God of heaven and earth, is taken away for eternal incorruption, as a great cover, for the salvation and intercession of all of us Christians. Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, the Ever-Virgin Mother of God, who did not suffer corruption and was preserved in the tomb - in the body containing life - by the Almighty Savior Christ who came from Her! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through Whom the souls and souls of the righteous (Dan. 3:86) perfect were vouchsafed Divine intercession with the eternal Christ! Oh, all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through Whom we were mysteriously recreated and became the church of God! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through whom our race was glorified and blessed in Christ God, as His indivisible body, and is glorified from those in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:10). Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through Whom we accepted the remission of our sins and were freed from evil dominion! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through whom everything is renewed, the heavenly is united with the earthly and praises, crying: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14)! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through Whom the (immeasurable) love for mankind of the Trinitarian God was revealed to us, working miracles with the holy powers of heaven and calling us to the unceasing praise of His ineffable mercy and goodness! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, for Whom the prophets and righteous people cried out with a divinely inspired trumpet, wanting to become participants in that longed-for day on which the Savior, the Deliverer from the bonds of hell, appeared! Oh, all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, having clothed himself with a part of Whom Christ God sat down at the right hand of the Father above cherubim, seraphim, thrones, powers, dominions, authorities, superiors, archangels and angels! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through whom we have clothed ourselves with Christ and were worthy to be the children of God (John 1:12; Gal. 3:27)! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, with the coming from Whose True Vine the glorious apostles blossomed as born, filling the entire universe with the fruits of piety and miracles! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, through Whom the most divine Light—Christ—shone, and the holy martyrs, who confessed Her as the Mother of God to the point of bleeding, who received crowns of righteousness from Him, were lit from Him in the world like lamps! Oh, the all-blessed Dormition of the Most Glorious Mother of God, for whose sake angels and archangels descend from on high, and from the ends of the earth the Divine Apostles appear, as only God knows, who led them in secret and gathered them for the all-holy feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, thereby fulfilling the ancient commandment to Moses to honor his parents (Ex. 20:12)! Yes, angels were sent from God to His Most Holy and Glorious Mother, and more than all the heavenly Powers, who found grace from Him (Luke 1:30) - not in order to announce the Divine Conception (as Archangel Gabriel once did), but in order to arouse Her to the Conception in Her, into the heavenly kingdom - and not in order to make it obvious to earthly shepherds through the gospel an incomprehensible birth, but to take for eternal glory and bring into unspeakable joy the Lord born from Her. Knowing the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10), they naturally came to see the one chosen from ancient generations for world salvation, foreseeing which with prophetic eyes, Her Forefather, the prophet David, said in the psalms: hear, daughter, and see, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people and thy father's house: and the King shall desire thy kindness; yours, and worship Him (Ps. 44:11). They gathered to behold Her and exalt that most radiant Divine hour in which the Only Begotten Son of God, Christ our God, reunited human nature with the beauty and goodness of His Divinity, deifying Her in Himself - to see Her gracious image and glorify the hypostatic Word of the Father, incarnate from Her by the Holy Spirit. They came to sing songs of Her passage from here to the supreme God, with natural bewilderment how the Matter of the Creator of mortals became Mortal-born, containing the Incontainable, neo-conceiving the fire of the Divinity and giving birth to the Creator of all, holding on the chest the Bearer of everything, embracing the One who watches the earth and the Creator of shaking (Ps. 103:32), nourishing Him - the Giver food of all flesh (Ps. 135:25). Guided and strengthened by the power above, the Divine Apostles also hurried from all over heaven to find the One through whom they were found by Christ - the pure Mother; They hurried to reach the entrance to the Dawn, looking through the luminous gates, and dwelling in Zion, through which one all-true Life-giving Path passed and led us to His Father, the Lord and our God, who says in the Gospel: I am the way and the truth and the life: no one will come to the Father except by Me (John 14:6). Approaching Her, they archangelically glorified the All-Praised Mother of God and, offering up solemn hymns to Her, seemed to say: “Rejoice, beloved by God, spiritual church (of the Most High), in which dwelt the uncreated hypostatic Wisdom of God the Father; Rejoice, You, in Whom Christ God recreated the church of His body, who found rest in You for universal salvation and was pleased to accept You into His eternal rest. Rejoice, Most Holy Theotokos: inasmuch as the King of glory, the Lord Jesus, through You, founded a new kingdom on earth and through You gave us the heavenly kingdom, into which He presented You as one and only incorruptible and most glorious of all, for the glory of the Father and the Spirit. Rejoice, Daughter of Joachim and Mother of God, who created all things, called by Him to the seat of bliss, surpassing all heavenly and earthly blessed ranks. Rejoice, source of healings; who poured forth Christ, who heals every disease, who mysteriously fills with the grace of the Life-giving Spirit the springs flowing into eternal life, and who called You to be raised on the waters of His rest (Ps. 22:2). Rejoice, Glorious Mother of Eternal Light, by nature and essence of the true God, through You who shone forth in our nature on earth and showed us the light of His countenance (Ps. 4:7), by whose Divine grace You were called with glory to be before Him in the light of the living (Ps. 55:14). Rejoice, the refuge of mortals to God, who took us through You and was our refuge and strength (Ps. 45:2), who performs great healings and powers for us in the world, who called You, O All-Blessed Mother of God, in eternal remembrance of His unspeakable mercy and love for mankind, which was in us through You. Rejoice, Divine treasure of the heavenly kingdom, in which the Lamb of God was brought, taking away the sins of the world (John 1:29), surrounded, for the sake of the celebration of heavenly angels and earthly mortals, - a treasure that was commanded to be raised, as most honorable, to the highest Church of the firstborn (Heb. 12:23). Rejoice, Most Holy Mother of our Savior God, who became with us through You and Who has made it worthy that all the pious on earth sing You as the true Mother of God; as well as the holy angels in heaven, like the Most Pure Mother of their Lord. Rejoice, Most Holy Mother of the Ever-Virgin, who gave birth, incarnated from You by the Holy Spirit, Christ the Son of God, in perfect Divinity and in perfect humanity, i.e. that is, in two natures, wills, actions, wanting and acting according to Divinity, wanting and acting according to humanity, one and the same, unfused and indivisible, having power in both. Rejoice, incorruptible Mother of God: for from on high, without leaving heaven, indescribably dwelling in Your womb, as in an earthly fatherland, He vouchsafed You to pass from this temporary earthly fatherland to a better heavenly fatherland, which He gave through You to the saints, as prepared by Him. Rejoice, most sacred and divinely established sanctuary, through which came the propitiation of the whole world and the Savior Christ God: for from You, Most Holy Theotokos, having been clothed with the Holy Spirit with the veil of His body, the priest came in the age according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 109:4; Heb. 5:6; 7:17), Who took care take You and, being begged by You, gives propitiation to the universe. Rejoice, Mary, spiritual and purest paradise, bearing fruit from the Holy Spirit, the fruit of life and immortality, blossoming from God the Father, Christ our God, who dwelt in You - the imperishable paradise and through You opened the entrance to Himself for us. Rejoice, Lady of mortals, Most Holy Theotokos, from Whom the Most Divine God and Our All-Good Lord appeared into the world, who became a partaker of our mortal nature, except for sin, who made us worthy to be partakers of His Divine nature, who graced You to be His mental city and who called You the Lord of hosts in His city (Ps. 47:9). Rejoice, all-embracing and brightest refuge, revealed from God by the true Mother of God: for humanity, thrown into the sea of ​​this life, was saved in You, and through You it acquired gifts and eternal blessings, from Him who surprised You at this time and glorified You forever and ever. The holy angels sent from God, standing before the Mother of God, contemplating the glorious co-presence of Divine grace and power, also stood amazed by Her Divine incomprehensible mystery. And they rejoiced and rejoiced that She was taken as the Mother of their Lord; the apostles, physically orphaned without the Mother of God, grieved no less than on that sacred night on which they heard from the Savior Christ: your hearts are filled with sorrow (John 16:6). And the Blessed One, always occupied with the Mother of God’s Divine desire for Christ our God, left the holy body, betraying Her most blessed and all-holy soul into His hands (Ps. 30:6). Yes, She who gave birth to life and the resurrection of the world fell asleep, by whose grace all spiritual and rational nature becomes a participant in eternal life - She who gave birth to the Lord fell asleep (who crushed hell and death and abolished the devil. Heb. 2:14), who had the command to resurrect (1 Thess. 4:16) those who have fallen asleep from the ages and died in Him, who appeared and said: I I am the resurrection and the life (Jn. 11:25); fell asleep, following Him, like His Most Holy Mother, and as if prophetically saying: I have not labored, I have followed You, and I have not desired the day of man (Jer. 17:16). Now the sweetness of the cherubim and seraphim and all the powers of heaven has fallen asleep, the repose of Him has fallen asleep, in Whom, as the consubstantial Son of God, the Life-giving Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father rests - and Who is the real rest, about which He Himself speaks in the Gospel: come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28). She closed her holy eyes and revealed the Creator of lamps, who planted the ear and created the eye (Ps. 93:9), calling from all corners of the earth to His wonderful light. And it was necessary to bury with the most sacred hands Her glorious, life-giving body, which from the Holy Spirit exuded immortality and incorruptibility in the mortal and corruptible nature of mortals - a body clothed with light like a robe (Ps. 103:2) in the Lord born of Her. So, the consecrated body of the Mother of God rose on the sacred bed, from which the simple Jesus was formed and the highest God became man. Oh, sacred bed, bearing the true, incorruptible body, from which the Sanctifier of all things came! Oh, the sacred bed, carrying another, not made by hands, on which, bowing the heavens (Ps. 17:10), God chose it as a dwelling for Himself (Ps. 131:13). Oh, sacred bed, bearing the container of the Incontainable God, the Divine instrument of universal salvation! O sacred bed, bearing the chamber of the Heavenly King, created by Him for the essential, indescribable habitation of His incarnation. Oh, sacred bed, carrying a wondrous chariot, sitting on which God passed through the earth, seated on cherubim (Ps. 79:2), completely clothed in the purple of our nature! Oh, sacred bed, bearing from Abraham and David the all-blessed tabernacle, from which the Most High and incorporeal God received a spiritual and rational body, which did not previously exist, but found its existence in it! Oh, sacred bed, bearing the spiritual censer, which filled the whole universe with the fragrance of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15)! O sacred bed, bearing and overflowing with the peace vessel of the highest Divinity! O sacred bed, bearing the most holy body of the Most Glorious Mother of God, praised by the holy angels and God-bearing apostles for the glory of Her Son and our God, which body was laid in the life-giving tomb, in a place called Gethsemane, by the eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word and the saints who were with them, who took part in it. But what knowledge of the mind or the power of the word is sufficient to understand and glorify the manifold and incomprehensible things that were then, glorified in Her and sung by the angels, the revealed and untold mysteries of God, the various gifts and healings performed by her in great quantities? That is why, as the Glorious Mother of the Giver of life and immortality, Christ the Savior, our God, one-bodied in incorruptibility, She is given life by Him, who rose from the dead and took Her to Himself, as He alone knows. To him be glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen 165. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca, vol. LXXXVI, p. II, col. 3277–3312. You might be interested in: