Слово на Благовещение Пресвятой Богородицы. Св. Григория Чудотворца, епископа Неокесарийского

Again the gospel of joy, again the proclamation of freedom, again the proclamation, again the return, again the promise of joy, again deliverance from slavery. The angel talks with the Virgin so that the serpent will no longer speak to his wife. In the sixth month, they say, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin betrothed to her husband. Gabriel was sent to proclaim universal salvation. Gabriel was sent to bring a manuscript about the liberation of Adam. Gabriel was sent to the Virgin to change the dishonor of his wife into honor. Gabriel was sent to prepare a worthy home for the Bridegroom. Gabriel was sent to betroth the creation to the Creator. Gabriel was sent to the animated chamber of the King of Angels. Gabriel was sent to the Virgin, although betrothed to Joseph, but kept for Jesus the Son of God. A disembodied slave was sent to the Undefiled Virgin. One who was not involved in sin was sent to the one who was blameless. A lamp was sent to herald the Sun of righteousness. The morning light was sent to be the forerunner of the Light of day. Gabriel was sent to announce what is in the bosom of the Father and in the wombs of the Mother. Gabriel was sent to indicate the One who is on the throne and in the den. A warrior has been sent to reveal the mystery of the great King - a mystery, I say, understood by faith and inaccessible to curiosity, - a venerable and unsearchable mystery, - a mystery that is assimilated by the theologian, but immeasurable by the simple mind. In the sixth month Gabriel was sent to the Virgin. What is the sixth month? - the one in which Elizabeth received the good news, in which she conceived John. Where can you see this? The Archangel himself explains this when speaking to the Virgin. Behold, Elizabeth, he says, is your daughter, and she conceived a son in her old age: and this sixth month is called barren for her (Luke 1:36); therefore, in the sixth month after the conception of John. The warrior and squire had to precede (his Leader), and the servant had to anticipate the coming of his Master. In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin, betrothed to her husband, betrothed but unmarried, betrothed but saved. Why engaged? - so that the enemy does not immediately discover the secret. That the King would come through the Virgin, the evil one knew, because he also heard the words of Isaiah: behold, the Virgin will conceive in her womb and give birth to a Son; therefore, he constantly observed the saying about the Virgin in order to cause disgrace at the time when this sacrament was to be fulfilled. Therefore, the Lord, in order to hide this from the evil one, came through the betrothed: since the betrothed was then handed over to the groom. In the sixth month Gabriel was sent to the Virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. Listen to what the Prophet says about this man and this Virgin: this book, sealed, will be given to the man who keeps the scriptures (Isa. 29:11). What kind of book is this sealed, if, without a doubt, not the immaculate Virgin? Who gives it? - obviously, priests. Which person? - Joseph the treemaker. The priests, having betrothed Mary to the chaste Joseph, entrusted Her to him pending the time of marriage; and Joseph, having accepted Her, had to preserve the Virgin in purity, as the Prophet predicted long ago: this book, sealed, will be given to the man who keeps the scriptures, and he says: I cannot read it. Why can't you, Joseph? I can’t, he says, read it: it’s imprinted. For whom is She kept? - is reserved for the Creator of all things in the dwelling... But let us return to our subject. In the sixth month, Gabriel was quickly sent to the Virgin, having received the following commands (from God): "Go, Archangel, and be a servant of the terrible and hidden sacrament; serve a miracle. Moved by mercy, I hasten to go down to seek the lost Adam. Sin has disfigured the one created in My image, damaged the creation of My hands, darkened the beauty, Me created. The wolf devours My youth; the dwelling of paradise is empty; the place of sweetness is enclosed. I want to have mercy on the afflicted and bind the enemy; but I entrust it to you alone; go to the animated city, of which the Prophet spoke: glorious is thee, the city of God (Ps. 86:3) Go to My verbal paradise; go to the dwelling worthy of Me - the Word; go to the light cloud and tell it the rain of My coming; go to the church of My incarnation; the ark, that He may open doors of hearing for Me. But do not frighten or confuse the soul of the Virgin. Appear quietly before the sanctuary and, first of all, bring Her joy; Say to Mary: “Hail, full of grace! for I will have mercy on fallen Eve.” Having listened to all this, the Archangel thought to himself: “This matter is strange; what is said to me surpasses understanding. He Whom the Cherubim tremble, upon Whom the Seraphim cannot look, - Incomprehensible to all the powers of heaven, announces to the Young Lady a special event with Her, announces to Her His personal coming and, moreover, promises His entry through hearing. He who condemned Eve wants this. to glorify Her Daughter, says: “Open to Me the entrances of hearing.” But can the womb contain the Inconceivable? Truly, this sacrament is terrible! When the Angel was thinking about this, the Master said to him: “Why are you confused and perplexed, Gabriel? Were you not sent from Me first to Zechariah the priest? Didn't you tell him about the birth of John? Was it not you who punished the priest for his unbelief with silence? Was it not you who condemned the old man to lose his voice? Have I not also confirmed what you predicted for him? Was your gospel not justified by the event itself? Has the barren woman conceived? Did the womb disobey? Has the disease of infertility gone away? Has nature's inaction disappeared? Has not the one who was previously barren now become fruitful? Will every verb really fail with Me, the Creator? So why are you perplexed?” What does this mean - Angel? “Vladika! To correct the shortcomings of nature, to tame the storm of sorrows, to call the dead members of the body to vital action, to command nature to give birth to children, to resolve the infertility of mature members, to transform an obsolete stem into a green one, to immediately make the barren earth the mother of a bountiful harvest - these deeds are usually accomplished by Your power. Witnesses to this are Sarah, then Rebekah, then Anna, who, suffering from the serious illness of infertility, were delivered from it by You. But to give birth to a Virgin without a husband is above all the laws of nature, and You announce Your coming to the Young Lady! Heaven and earth cannot contain You: how can a virgin’s womb contain You?” The Master said: “How did the tabernacle of Abraham contain Me?” “But,” the Angel answered, “Abraham was a sea of ​​hospitality,” and You, Master, appeared to Abraham in the bush and passed through it, as one who fills everything; and how will Mary endure the fire of the Divine? Your throne glows with fiery brilliance; Can the Virgin carry You without being scorched?” “Truly,” the Master objected to him, “if fire scorched a bush in the desert, then, of course, My coming will also scorch Mary; but if this fire, which prefigured the descent of Divine fire from heaven, watered the bush and did not burn it: then what can you say about the truth itself, which descends not in a fiery flame, but in the form of rain? Fulfilling what was commanded, the Angel came to the Virgin and called to Her, saying: Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you! The devil will no longer be able to resist You, because where, at the very beginning, the enemy inflicted a wound, there now, first of all, the Physician of salvation has prepared a cure - where death came out, there life opened its entrance; Evil flows from the wife, and good flows from the wife. Rejoice, O Blessed One! Do not be ashamed as the culprit of condemnation: you will be the Mother of both the Judge and the Redeemer. Rejoice, you who absorbed the death of your mother in your womb! Rejoice, animated church of God! Rejoice, equal dwelling place of heaven and earth! Rejoice, spacious container of incontainable nature! Under such circumstances, a Physician appeared (from the Virgin) for the sick, for those sitting in darkness - the Sun of Truth; for all those who are overwhelmed - an anchor and a safe haven; for slaves who are irreconcilably at war, the Lord was born and became a union of peace, a deliverer of captives, a peacemaker to those at war. For this is our peace (Eph. 2:14), of which may we all be worthy, according to the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, honor and dominion, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen 131. See Curs. Compl. Patrololog. Migne, series graeca, vol. X, col. 1171–1173; compare Christ. Read 1849, part 1, countries. 240–258; “Selected words of the holy fathers in honor and glory of the Most Holy Theotokos.” Moscow. Published. 1886, countries. 87–93. You might be interested in: