Слово на Рождество Пренепорочной владычицы нашей Богородицы и Приснодевы Марии. (О том, что Пресвятая Дева Мария происходит от семени Давидова). Святого Андрея, архиепископа Критского

In the previous word, we celebrated a celebration befitting the Nativity of the Mother of God: we contemplated with Joachim, flowed with the virgins, were enlightened with David the Father of God, and were brought to the church with Mary the Mother of God. So, thanks be to God, who glorifies His own and makes close those who were once far away... Now I will not disturb the harmony, I will not deviate from the subject, if I turn my speech to the nobility of the family from which the Virgin comes, and I will state what is proper to say, and what will be most pleasing to your congregation. It is pleasant because the Virgin, from whom the Divine One came pre-essentially into temporary existence, comes, as will be shown, from the seed of David, and because She was clearly proclaimed in all Scripture by God, who spoke to us through the law and the prophets. So, first of all, it is necessary to show from the books of Moses that Christ is the Son of God and God Himself, that He comes from Judas and is the Son of the Virgin; then, recalling the prophecies, present stronger evidence of this idea. So, let us bring to mind the perspicacious viewer of the high ladder, Jacob, and before him the patriarch Abraham, about whom and to whom there were promises. Matthew also placed him at the beginning of the Gospel narrative before David and, building up the genealogy of each - Joseph and Mary, stops at him (Abraham); from here, again in order, descending to Joseph, the descendant of David, by this he clearly showed that She who shone forth from David, then prepared by God, was betrothed to Joseph of the house of David, as coming from the same tribe (because in ancient times it was not allowed for one tribe to mingle with another tribe, or for the rod of one tribe to join the rod of another. (Num. 36:7). Having received the commandment to come out of the land called Haran, the great one among the patriarchs was led to the promises, of which he had not yet received anything as a sign; however, he did not fall away from the hope of the covenant and received, without being deceived, the inheritance of the land. “I will give to you and to your seed,” the God of all men said to him, “this land: for in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 17:8; 28:14). Giving the promise to Abraham, God, as he could not swear by anyone higher, swore by himself, saying: blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. And so, it is said, Abraham was patient and received the promise (Heb. 6:13–15). And how and in what way what was promised to him was actually fulfilled, you will find out from here if you consider the matter as it is. For after God, having given him the promises, said: “Your seed will be called in Isaac,” knowing fully that He who promised could fulfill, although he knew that his body was already dead (he was almost a hundred years old), and Sarah’s womb was dead (Rom. 4:19), however, he did not waver in the promise of God through unbelief, but remained steadfast in faith, giving glory to God. Therefore he rightly received the promises and begat the promised son, who was to receive the promise. And although he had two twin sons, he blessed the one who had blinded him with cunning to be the heir of the covenants, on the advice of his mother, and raised from him 12 tribes, from which God chose two - Levi and Judah, especially honoring them and giving one of them the subiron of the priesthood, the Divine ephed, the mitre and the holy cloth and the word of revelation, as a type of the great priesthood, - and to the other - the royal throne, a crown of beauty, an advantage over all tribes, and also the fact that he will be anointed. In these dignities the pre-eternal Son of God acted, bringing into being all that is temporal, having appeared to the world in a new manner in the flesh, but not according to the law of the carnal commandments, - as the Apostle says (Heb. 7:16), having received a purely glorious dignity, not in a human way, as someone would say, that is, apparently considered a king and a priest, but being testified that He is by the power of the belly the indestructible has by nature both virtues, that is, priesthood and kingdom. This one, who abides forever, has the inviolable priesthood: in the same way he is able to save to the end those who come to God through him, he who is always alive, to intercede for them (Heb. 7:24-25). And as the King and Prince of Peace and Leader in Israel, He appears not by visible sitting on the throne of His father David, but spiritually reigning in the house of Jacob forever and never having to accept the end of the reign. Let Jacob, the great among the patriarchs, now come with a timely tale about what pertains to Christ. Judeo! Your brethren will praise you; your hands will be on the coat of your enemies; your father’s sons will worship you. Skimen of the lions Judas: from the summer growth, my son, you rose up: you lay down and fell asleep like a lion, and like the skimen: who will awaken him? The prince will not fail from Judah, nor the leader from his feet, until the hope of the tongues comes. Tie your lot to the vine, and mount your donkey to the wine stallion: he will stain his clothes with wine, and his clothing with the blood of the grapes. His eyes are more joyful than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk (Gen. 49:8–11). Let's consider when and on whom this prophecy was fulfilled. Don’t we clearly see that in Christ our Savior everything that was said in the law and the prophets was fulfilled, when He, the highest God, clothed in human flesh, in the last days remained with us living on this earth? And truly, desiring to carry out the advice assigned to Him before the ages by the ineffable goodness of the Father and the kindred Spirit, He shone forth from Judas, but came carnally from the Virgin from the line of David: for then all His brethren praised Him; Obviously, those who, by assimilating Him, received fellowship with Him, and about whom John says: the little ones received him, and gave them the realm to become children of God...: who were not born of blood, nor of carnal lust..., but were born of God (John 1:13-12). Therefore, he is rightly not ashamed to call them brethren, having shared, like them, flesh and blood, as Paul and David proclaim, one chanting: I will proclaim your name to the brethren, in the midst of the church I will sing with singing (Heb. 2:11-12; Ps. 21-23), the other, exclaiming: by no means should you be like the brethren in everything, so that you may also be merciful The high priest is faithful to those who come to God (Heb. 2:17). And whose hands have ever stretched out on the backbone of enemies as powerfully as the hands of Christ alone - as the great David sings again in the spirit: strike back your enemies (Ps. 77:66); Let Your right hand find those who hate You: for I have laid a backbone (Ps. 20:9, 13). Also, speaking as if on behalf of the Father, predicting the gifts of the Son and His elevation to the kingdom, David said: My hand will intercede for him, and my arm will strengthen him: nothing will the enemy have time to attack him, and the son of iniquity will not try to embitter him. And I will cut off his enemies from before him, and I will conquer those who hate him (Ps. 89:22–24); and one more thing: the Ethiopians will fall down before him, and lick the dust of his enemies (Ps. 72:9). Likewise, the words: You have given me a backbone to my enemies, and you have consumed those who hate me (Ps. 17:41) to whom should one refer if not to Christ alone, Who says to the Father who lives in heaven: My enemies will marry, and I will comprehend, and they will not be able to: they will fall under my feet (Ps. 17:38, 39)!?... Whom did the sons of his father worship, if not Christ alone? What relates to Christ should have been the image of the Church, in which all of us, who have become sons of God through her, unceasingly worship Him, with whom we have become close in a mysterious rebirth: for we are called His brethren by the participation of Divine grace and the richness of His mercy towards us. Of course, by accepting everything that belongs to Him, we enter into the closest communion with Him, unless we despise any of His commandments that make us righteous. Just as He Himself, having partaken of our nature, showed that He has the same nature with us, since He put on all the properties of our nature and did not escape anything except the reproach of sin and condemnation in the fall of the firstborn. And that all nations have worshiped and worship Christ - who will dare to deny this, seeing all the ends of the earth worshiping Him and boasting that they are Christians? Whoever contradicts the clear prophetic voices: all the nations will serve him, and all the kings of the earth will worship him (Ps. 71:11); Let the whole earth bow down to you and sing to you (Ps. 65:4) and: all the nations that you have created will come and worship before You, O Lord (Ps. 86:9); Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people (Rom. 15:10). But let's move on to the rest of the prophecy: Judah, from the fly of the lions, from the summer growth, my son, you ascended and lay down and fell asleep like a lion, and like the skin: who will awaken him? Who does it say: “skimen of lions”? – Isn’t it clear that Christ came from the royal seed, that is, David? And there is nothing unreasonable to mean by the lion of David, since the lion is a symbol of royal dignity; and under the skin of the lion who was born from him according to the flesh of Christ, as the continuation of the prophecy shows: “Thou art risen up from the growth, my son.” And who should be considered a summer shoot, if not Her alone, the Most Holy One of all saints, Who all appeared pure to the One who indwelt in body and spirit. i.e., Mary, the branch of David, the ever-blooming branch of Judah, from which the Child of God grew carnally, pre-peaceful and pre-peaceful, co-eternal with the One Who Begot? Maybe someone will be surprised by the accuracy of the prediction? In fact, having shown the close relationship by the names of lion and skim, he added: “from the summer growth, my son, you came up,” in order to express what was predicted by Isaiah and clearly related to Christ and the Virgin: a rod will come out of the root of Jesus, and a flower will come up from its root (Is. 11:1). For the lettuce is truly David; the branch is undoubtedly She; the color is Christ, as He Himself says in the Song of Songs: “I am a full color, and a long bean” (Song. 2:1). And that Christ would be the king and the most powerful of kings, Jacob himself knew this, uttering the prophecy, for he says: “Thou hast fallen asleep like a lion, and like a skeet; who will awaken him?” This indicates the kingdom and greatness, inaccessibility and immeasurable power of Divine power - indicates that Christ Himself proclaims in the Gospels: the region of the imam to lay down my soul, and the region of the imam to receive again (John 10:18). Truly, according to His will, the Savior accomplished everything that was wonderful and glorious He accomplished while living on earth and dealing with people, which is why He says: Destroy this church, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19), because if He did not want this, then they could not destroy the church of His immaculate flesh, which He created for Himself without hands, out of this purest and incorruptible womb. Virgos. Pointing to His life-giving dormition, when He voluntarily accepted the sleep of death for our sake, He, as a man, speaks through David: I fell asleep and fell asleep, and arose, for the Lord to intercede for me (Ps. 3:6). And the words: “who will stir him up” clearly point to the Father, who raised the Son’s church of the body, and stirred Him up according to the psalm: do not leave my soul in hell, let your venerable one see corruption (Ps. 15:10); and again: Lord, you raised up my soul from hell, you saved me from those who went down into the pit (Ps. 29:4). But let's move on to the next one. The prince will not fail from Judah, nor the leader from his feet, until the hope of the tongues comes. Oh, foreknowledge! Nothing said turns out to be false. It was previously shown that, truly, from the loins of David the Virgin was born. Her branch, Christ, the Leader and Prince, reigns over the house of Jacob forever and will not accept the end of his reign. Even before the coming of Christ, the kingdom of Judah was destroyed, which, as is known, stood in glory until the time of Jehoiachin and until the sad captivity of Babylon; however, the family that retained the signs of royal nobility had not yet disappeared. As for the words: “until the longing of the tongues, which was set aside for him, will come,” then, of course, this is Christ the Son of God and God the Lord Himself, Whom the All-Holy Virgin Herself, the branch of David, brought forth for us in a virgin, virgin birth. For since the power of the Jews was destroyed, no other king sat in flesh on the throne of David, since the kingdom was completely destroyed by a terrible disaster, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah: Jehoiachin will be dishonored, like a vessel of disgrace, because he and his seed were denied. and was cast into the ground without knowing it. To the earth, to the earth, to the earth, hear the word of the Lord: This is the word of the Lord: Write this man who is rejected, the man who prospers not in his days: lower shall be the man of his seed who will sit on the throne of David, and who will have authority in Judah (Jer. 22:28). If this is said by the Prophet, then who should be considered the hope of the tongues, except Christ, about whom Simeon the God-Receiver received notification that he would not see death before he saw Him come in the flesh?! And truly, having seen the Child and with the senile embraces having accepted from the Mother's hands the One who existed before the age and was born before the One Who gave birth, Simeon immediately beamed with senile admiration, and with words of praise sang the infant Lord, calling Him the Lord, confessing Him as the Savior, calling Him the light of tongues, proclaiming Him the glory of Israel, i.e., the One who came into the world according to the foundation on Revelation to the desire of tongues. Through Him the Father revealed His Son, as can be seen in the other prophets, who clearly say: Behold, I have given Him a testimony among the nations, a prince and ruler with a tongue. Behold, the nations who do not know You will call on You, and the people who do not know You will resort to You (Isa. 55:4-5). Behold, I gave you light with my tongue (Isa. 49:6); and also: I will give you tongues your heritage (Ps. 2:8); and: in him all the tribes of the earth will be blessed (Ps. 71:17). Tie your lot to the vine, and tie your donkey to the Vinnitsa stallion. Who is Loza? - of course, the One who cries in the Gospels: I am the true vine, and My Father is the worker (John 15:1). And His colt is us, united with Him and, as if by an unbreakable chain, connected with Him through perception, in which, having become impoverished, He gave us, the extremely poor, all of Himself; Thus, through Him we became gods, and for our sake He became man. In a spiritual sense, his donkey can be understood as the all-honorable Church - the calling of the peoples, which also called us. We, truly, were like the dumb and were engulfed in foolishness, until the Word Himself, having come, took away the veil of foolishness from us and, mercifully covering our nakedness, laid on us all the spiritual clothing of the knowledge of God about Him, woven from above, and tied us, like a donkey, to the vine with the rope of His salvation, and united the earthly with the heavenly. Therefore, the innocent children, when they saw Him coming to Jerusalem to death, which was to give us life and salvation to the whole world, walking on a donkey, as on a royal throne, exclaimed to Him with consonant voices: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the coming King of Israel (Matthew 21:9). Zechariah predicted this earlier, saying: Rejoice greatly, daughters of Zion: Thy holy King is coming to Thee, meek and saving, and always upon the yoke and the young stallion (Zechariah 9:9). It goes on to say: He will stain his clothing with wine, and his clothing with the blood of grapes. His eyes are more joyful than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. In what wine will He who cleanses the sinful world, the true and mature grape of the Church, wash His clothes, if not cleansing us with the blood of His immaculate flesh and, as it were, washing away the defiled clothes? In the blood of which grapes will He wash His clothes, unaffected by any defilement? – Is it not in a living stream flowing from the purest and Divine rib? For He Himself was the most mysterious bunch of the true Vine, squeezed in the immaculate winepress of the Church, when, being nailed to the cross, He suffered dishonor and death in order to wash away our impurities; He truly put on a richly woven robe, that is, our flesh, which He dipped in the spirit in immaculate blood, as in royal purple, and put on Himself, like royal purple. And, like a garment soaked in blood, it was dyed: it was watered with the blood that flowed from His life-giving rib; a witness to this is Isaiah, who represents the Powers standing around Christ, condemned on the cross and suffering severe torment, and saying this: Who is this who came from Edom, his scarlet robe from Bozrah? Why are your garments scarlet, like a winepress that has been trodden (Isaiah 63:1–2)? The Lord Himself explains this, saying: I have taken off my robe, why should I put on naked? Having washed my noses, how shall I defile them (Song 5:3)? Whose eyes are more joyful than wine, if not Christ alone, of whom the betrothed soul says: lead me into the house of wine (Song 2:4), otherwise: “bring me into the house of the Church, in which the cup of gladness is offered for salvation in the blood of the Lamb”? Having received it inside, she says: show me your visage, and make your voice heard: for your voice is sweet, and your image is beautiful (Song. 2:14); When she saw him, she said: Behold, my brother is white and black, chosen from those. His head is chosen gold, his hair is curly, black like a lie (Song. 5:10, 11). Likewise, the great David sings: Arise, as the Lord sleeps, as he is strong and noisy with wine (Ps. 77:65) - He who, after resurrection from the dead, said to the myrrh-bearing women: “Rejoice,” turning to them a joyful word, destroying the gloomy appearance of the former sadness. Likewise, the Savior pronounced a joyful saying to His chosen disciples: Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world (John 16:33), and also: Peace be to you. I am: do not be afraid (Matthew 14:27). Whose teeth are whiter than milk? - of course, the One who says: all power is given to Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18): for in fact the words of Christ are whiter and more brilliant than any snow. And the book of Song of Songs, as if on behalf of the pagan Church, as well as the soul united with God, says to the Bridegroom: “What are your cheeks like? Your teeth are like a flock of shorn animals, which came forth from the font with two fruits" (Song 4:2). This is our brief explanation of the prophecy. But you, beloved, hearing that from Judas and David the Lord was prophesied to you, Whom the great one among the patriarchs depicted in the canopy, as on a shield, with all the words of his blessing, and called Him the son of David, descended from Judah, with which all the prophets agree - hearing this, confess without any doubt that Christ is from the line of David: for from here it will become clear to you that He who became His Matter through ineffable fruitfulness comes from David (can it be considered wrong that a tree is known from its fruit?). But let us rise again to the feast of Christmas and sing, as it were, a kind of wedding song to Anna: for she carried in her womb the God-given Daughter, the pledge of the promise, and gave birth to Her, received through prayers, after barrenness - Her, from Whom God was incomprehensibly born, who appeared as men and lived with them. So, it is quite fitting to extol with the highest praises and Divine exclamations the one who gave us This Branch. Anna's bed is presented as a kind of wedding feast, with the inscribed names of two wives - the one who gave birth and the one who was born, of whom one has just been freed from the reproach of childlessness, and the other will soon give birth to Jesus, who has divinely and ineffably become like us. Therefore, rightly, the God-pleasing Anna, rejoicing and having fun in her soul, exclaims: “Rejoice with me, through prayers I gave birth from a barren womb to the Flower of promise and from my breasts I nourished the fruit of blessing. I put off barrenness and put on a bright veil of happiness. May Anna (Penanna's rival), who has now been heard, rejoice with me and may she rejoice in the miracle that she received, like me; Let Sarah also rejoice, playing like an old woman and prefiguring my conception after barrenness. Let other barren ones cry out about my wonderful visit, and every mother: “Blessed is He who gives what they ask to those who ask, Who opened the door to the barren womb, Who bestowed fruit from the barren seed, namely His wonderful Mother according to the flesh, Whose womb is heaven, containing within itself the One who cannot be contained in anything.” According to this, we will also bring praise to her who was once called barren, but has now become the material of the virgin palace. Let us tell her, together with the Scripture: how blessed is the house of David, from which You came, and the womb in which God built the ark of the holy thing - the seedless One who gave birth to Him! So blessed and blessed are You, who gave birth to the God-blessed fruit, Mary, from Whom came the flower of life - Christ - Whose procession is glorious and birth is most peaceful! Let us rejoice, O All-Blessed One, with You and we: for You brought forth the God-given birth of the promise, the hope of us all. Verily, blessed are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Through you, wives who reject barrenness and are born after childlessness also become blessed. The tongue of the faithful magnifies Your Branch, and every joyful word praises Your generation. Truly, it is worthy and worthy of all to praise the one who was worthy of the Divine notification and who bore us such and such fruit, from which came Jesus, the sweetest of all sweets, all the delight and the final limit of all aspirations, about whom we say that we will live under His shadow and will be worthy to be under His wings. He, truly, is Christ Jesus, the God preached by the law and the prophets, who came to save sinners and call everyone to ancient nobility. From all of us glory, honor and worship ascend to Him with His beginningless Father and Life-giving Spirit, now and forever. Amen 197. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca, vol. XCVII, col. 820–843. You might be interested in: