Слово на Благовещение Всенепорочной Богородицы Марии. Святого Анастасия, патриарха Антиохийского 139

This day I want to tell you, beloved children, a word, and I am sure that by saying it, I will amuse the Church with the story. Having explained that God the Word today united with our flesh, I will let you go from here with joy, benefit and salvation. For what is higher for the mind and for (our) good than the Word? Today the cornerstone has been laid at the foundation of Zion (1 Peter 2:6), binding together what is by nature unconnected, and uniting what is essentially heterogeneous. So, let us rejoice, as we should, with the joy that has been received, and let us greet the Mother of our God, crying with Gabriel: Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with you (Luke 1:28)! You have become for us a path of salvation, an ascent to heaven, a place of rest and a tabernacle of refreshment: for the Lord has dwelt in You. Therefore, with all generations, we please You, the only one blessed among women, Whom neither the sun, which stirs up the flame of lust, burned (by day), nor the beneficial power of the moon damaged by night (Psalm 121:6). For you did not give your spiritual foot into confusion, but, having established it on the stone, remained motionless, and the Lord preserved You (Ps. 121:3, 5), having alone entered into You and departed from You (Ps. 120:8; cf. Ezek. 44:3), and kept You forever imprisoned and sealed. So, rejoice, Mother and Virgin, food of life and source of immortality! For from Thee came the Creator of corruption, who put to death death. Having said this, according to our strength, the Mother of God, let us turn, brethren, to ourselves; Let us recognize the power of the day and now celebrate our origin. So, this day is called holy among us, because on it we were created and returned to primitive life. What has been said may seem strange to you; but let it be said with the help of God, who gives strength and gives the word to the speaker. Where better to start our word, if not with the words of the Evangelist? For he who showed us this day, let him also begin the word for us. In the sixth month, he says, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee, whose name was Nazareth, to a betrothed virgin to a man whose name was Joseph, from the house of David: and the name of the virgin was Miriam (Luke 1:26, 27). Perhaps someone, loving precision in such things, will ask what month this is, the sixth, and where should it be counted from? To explain this, let us return to what the Evangelist said a little earlier. He says: to this day Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, was conceived, and was hidden for five months, and so on. (Luke 1:24); then he continues: in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary. But nevertheless, they will say, the darkness remains: for the Evangelist, having said: on these days Elizabeth was conceived, did not indicate after what days. And it seems to me that the bewilderment of the one who says this is not unfounded. But he will come out of his bewilderment if he puts his ear to hearing and pays attention to what is said. A legitimate priest once a year entered the Holy of Holies with a cleansing sacrifice for the people, from which the Jews called such a holiday purification, or a day of purification, also a day of humility and Great Lent. It takes place on the tenth day of the seventh month, which we call October, and the Jews call Tisri (because the Jews begin the year in April). Thus, Zechariah, while officiating his series of priestly services, saw an Angel appear and received the news of the birth of the Baptist on the tenth day of the seventh lunar month, after which, having completed his series, which ended when the moon was in full light, on the so-called full moon, he returned to his home. It was then that Elizabeth, his wife, conceived and hid for five months (perhaps ashamed of the fact that, already covered with gray hair, at such an age she had intercourse with her husband): she hid for five months, saying, “This is what the Lord has done to me” (Luke 1:24–25). So, the Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary, as it is written, in the sixth month after the conception of Elizabeth; but not at the end of the sixth month, but generally throughout the month, because neither the Gospel story says that the sixth month (when the greeting or annunciation to the Virgin took place) had already ended, nor Gabriel’s words to Her show this. For history says: in the sixth month an angel was sent; and the Angel says to the Virgin: and behold Thy little girl, and she conceived a son in her old age: and this sixth month is called unfruitful for her (Luke 1:36). But from here a new difficulty arises for us, and someone more ardent will object: “if the greeting or annunciation took place throughout the month, then why was it decided to celebrate it today, that is, on the twenty-fifth, and not on some other day of the month?” One could immediately answer such a person that one can ask the same about any other day. But since this question does not seem empty, we will try to give an answer to it, without, however, vouching for the truth of our answer and not adhering only to our opinion, but offering in its entirety what has come down to us, and at the same time leaving it to you to find the surest solution otherwise, which if you find, let ours remain unknown and not worthy of writing. This world, as created and measured by time, began with some kind of movement, and, without a doubt, had some beginning in time: for neither we call it eternal, nor do the Churches of God. And truly, nothing is eternal that in its parts is subject to decay and change - but what is perishable in its parts is perishable as a whole; since parts of the world are perishable, then, obviously, all of it is perishable. So it is not eternal. If the visible world is not eternal, then it had, as has been said, a beginning of being and origin: since it was necessary that the wisdom of God, which created and created everything in the right order, should give rise to creation, or time itself. For it also happened together with creatures, or at the same time, as there was still equality regarding the difference and division of time, and the highest uniformity, which the beginning of spring received from the creation itself, and still has, and which occupies the middle between cold and heat, and is free from troubles from the excess of both; and then it increases the light and the continuation of the day, and with the increase of light it drives away the darkness, because, without any doubt, light is superior to darkness; darkness does not exist, but light, not having existed before, received existence at the first voice of God, and it is testified about it that it is good (Gen. 1:3). Therefore, the Jews call this month the first, from ancient times, perhaps, according to tradition from the fathers, and then from Moses, who commanded them: this first month will be for you in the months of summer (Ex. 12:2), calling it in another place the month of new fruits (- 13:4), as reminiscent of the beginning of a new creation, and of what was created in the beginning; however, he also accepted from the fathers that this month was considered the beginning of time. In the history of the flood we find a clear name for the month following Nizan as the second month: for this is what they call the first month (which means Nizan: blooming, because Niza among the Jews means: color). So, the first month is the one that begins with the vernal equinox, being the first by nature, as the beginning of time, having been created along with the production of things. The equinox occurs when no part of the previous time remains in the solar current, and precisely on the twentieth day of the month of March. For this still happens, when the fourth year, called a leap year, completes the movement for a whole day. In the other three years, with the exception of this fourth, the equinox no longer occurs on the twentieth, but on the twenty-first day, and, consequently, it does not happen the same. Behind him spring begins, immediately transforming everything and stimulating it to a new beautiful existence. If this is so, then we conclude that the beginning of the visible world is the twentieth day of March. And what was created must have been created, no doubt, in the best of seasons. But the best of the seasons is spring, as the very feelings testify: for we see that then everything is excited to increase and multiply, obeying the first command: grow, multiply (Gen. 1:29). If spring is the best time of the year, and begins with the equinox, on which God began to create things, creating man on the sixth day: then we conclude that the creation of man was on the twenty-fifth day of the month of March, for the twenty-fifth day is the sixth from the twentieth. And if this is so, then what day should the One who created man in the beginning choose to unite with the flesh? If for salvation He voluntarily enslaved Himself to the flesh, birth and our suffering in order to free us, obsessed with sin; then it was fitting for His union to begin on the same day on which we (began) our existence. He is called the second Adam because he accepted everything characteristic of the first, except for one sin (1 Cor. 15:45). And if - everything: then why would He despise the time of origin, truly worthy of His wise providence for us? For it was fitting that the one who sinned should be recreated at the same time in which he was created. That is why on this day Gabriel was sent to proclaim to the Virgin the incorruptible birth, and to announce to Her the salvation that would be through Her to the tongues. Together with the greeting, the Word became flesh (John 1:14) in order to recreate the creation corrupted by sin, which entered along with the words of the evil serpent: for it was very fitting that the flesh corrupted by the hissing of the serpent should return to incorruption by the greeting of the Angel. And just as death took place through a woman, so salvation had to be accomplished through a woman. Through her, seduced by pleasure, we all died; and through This they were revived, having received not only what they had lost, but even much more and more abundantly, which the human mind cannot imagine, the eye cannot see and the ear cannot hear. This is what a holiday and what a celebration we are celebrating! - The Annunciation of this Holy and Immaculate Virgin, and the birth of the whole world: because everything is put in order, and the former disorder has received order. For He who created us became like us for us, in order to restore His dilapidated and damaged image, and transform it into the most excellent beauty, as if calling to us: “Since you, who were created today, were destroyed, then I, the Creator, for your sake today am being created, so that by this My flesh, which is now created, I will again lead you to your former life, having fought for this with death, and putting to death her as she should have." But in order to confirm our thoughts from the Fathers, and to give them, as it were, some decoration by which they could be liked, listen to what Gregory, who received his name from Theology, says about spring time. He, rousing us to the new feast of the Lord, in the word written for it says: "Let the heavens be new and the earth be new, so that you understand both everything else and their word. Look what is visible. The Queen of the Seasons sends and brings to the Queen of Days as a gift everything that is best and most pleasant." However, in order not to waste time and the sun, which has already come to the west, by conspiring, I will end the word here, so that, by talking a lot about this, I will not burden you and bore you. So, let us praise Him who became Incarnate for us, sending through Him and with Him honor and glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit, since praise, greatness and splendor are due to Him, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen 140. Combefis. Graecolat. Patr. Biblioth. Nov. Auctnar. tom. 1, pag. 650–659. Paris. 1648; compare Christian Reading 1841, 1 hour, countries. 376–388. You might be interested in: