Слово на Введение Приснодевы во храм. Святого Тарасия, архиепископа Константинопольского 28

Now is a bright and glorious celebration. Now a dwelling is being prepared before all ages for the sacrament that was foreordained and in the last times to be revealed. Now, according to the promise, the one born from Joachim and Anna is brought by them as an honest gift to the One who later deigned to be born from Her. Now, as the beginning of joy, the triflant is brought into the church, and the virgins precede Her with lamps. Now, as a gift, She who took away the ancient oath is brought into the Holy of Holies. Now, foretold by the prophets, accompanied by the high priest and the prophet Zechariah, she ascends into the Holy of Holies: where he entered once a year with fear, there She remained fearlessly all day long. Who wouldn’t marvel at this glorious miracle?.. This is a foreshadowing of God’s favor, this is a seal of our renewal. This is a change in our thorn-bearing life and the ancient saying: the ground is cursed in your deeds: I will multiply your sorrows and your sighs (Gen. 3:16, 17). So, we, the faithful, celebrate an all-honorable holiday - a bright triumph that illuminated the world with the mysterious knowledge of God, which made clear in three Persons one Divinity, the omnipotence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit... Having begun the word concerning the introduction of the Virgin into the church, we, as far as possible, will describe this event in detail and reveal the fulfillment of the law. Joachim, rich and righteous among the twelve tribes of Israel, brought his gifts to God; but since he was childless, the priests did not accept them, saying: “You should not bring gifts to God, since you have no descendants in Israel.” Confused and oppressed by grief, Joachim left the church, and, ascending one mountain, praying to God in solitude, he cried out with a contrite heart, saying: “You, Lord, the Knower of Hearts, are the Creator of everything visible and invisible, who stretched out the sky like a skin (Ps. 103:2)! With His Word he created the sun to shine during the day and the moon with the stars to shine at night, who commanded the clouds to produce rain and gathered the blows of the winds, who filled the sea with genera of fish, who populated the earth with dumb animals and birds and fed them at His discretion, who grew grass on the earth and decorated the trees with the flowers characteristic of each of them. Hear! me, O Compassionate One, have mercy and give me a child, grant me the guarantee of childbearing, so that flattering lips may be mute, speaking against the righteous iniquity, pride and humiliation “(Ps. 30:18, 19). Such were the appeals of the righteous man, such were the prayers of the forefather, such were the groans of the sad soul of Joachim... What about Anna? After all, it’s good to remember her broadcasts. Living with her husband from her blooming youth almost to old age, she was barren all the time. In the absence of her husband, this righteous woman, like a solitude-loving turtledove, cried out to the Creator and Creator: “Lord of hosts, who sits on cherubim (Dan. 3:54), carried by the darkness of the angels, glorified by thousands of thousands of heavenly armies and hymned by the seraphim, who created Adam with Your hand, who breathed life into him by His life-giving command, and from his rib He created a wife, and united two into one (Gen. 2:24), - He gave Your servant Abraham the son Isaac, in the days of his old age, during the barrenness of Sarah, and made him the father of many nations, - Anna, of the same name and of the same tribe, gave me, through the prayer of a son, the most beautiful and holy youth Samuel, Look down from Your holy house! Baruch. 2:16 ), the Most High, and open my womb for childbearing, drive away from me the sorrow of my barrenness and break the bonds of my childlessness, so that the fruit that is to be born from Your servant, male or female, I will bring to You as a gift, as fragrant incense, as a pure offering, as a precious gift, as a sacred donation, as a divine dwelling, as an immaculate lamb or as the firstborn lamb, like the new Isaac." When Joachim and Anna both cried out in this way, an angel of the Lord appeared to them with the good news of the conception of the All-Holy One and said: “The Almighty has heard your prayer and soon you will give birth to a Daughter, blessed from all generations, chosen into the dwelling of God.” After this news, Joachim came down from the mountain in joy and gladness of heart, and the exhausted Anna, beyond her hopes, turned out to be fertile and after nine months (as required by human nature) gave birth to the Most Pure Virgin and Mother of God Mary, intercessor for the salvation of the world. When the immaculate Mother of God was born to the righteous Joachim and Anna, and their vows were to be fulfilled, then one could see the godly Anna rejoicing and speaking to the Virgin in joy: “Who said that from me you will come, O Daughter, named for generations of generations? Who, seeing You on my breast, fed with milk, will not glorify Who gave You to me - old and childless? Who, seeing the breasts that did not exude milk, does not exalt the One who brought forth water to the thirsty people from the edge of the rock?... But come, Daughter, to the One who gave You to me; come, chamber of the word, to the church of the Lord, enter into the joy of the Lord; Who will you soon give birth to as a man? Blessed am I, that I am called the mother of such a Daughter. Rejoice in me, O tribes of Israel, that in my old age I have become the mother of the One who will be the mother of the Most High Virgin! with ten strings. David the Father of God! Praise the Virgin who came from your tribe, saying with a loud voice: Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house: and the king will desire your kindness” (Ps. 45:11, 12). Having said this and similar things, Anna joyfully took the triennial Virgin and Mother of God to the Church of the Lord and, sending out songs of thanksgiving with Joachim and calling a multitude of virgins carrying lamps, she stopped at the entrance to the Holy of Holies. Here, turning to Zechariah, as a prophet and performer of legal service and relative, the honest pair of parents joyfully said to him: “Receive, Zechariah, the honest, blameless one. Receive, priest, the ark of the Word intact. Accept, prophet, the censer of immaterial Fire. Accept, O righteous man, the fiery chariot of the Most High. Accept, immaculate, beautiful a branch of the vine that will grow an everlasting grape. Bring into the innermost part of the church of the Lord, and bring instead of the shrine the One that the Most High created for His dwelling. Bring into the Holy Place the One who will soon bear in the womb of the Invisible One, who will make all mortals blessed. works of God. Raise up the One who will deliver us from the curse that befell the foremother Eve. Meet the One Who, through Her humane birth, united us with God. Take in your hands the One who will snatch us from the mouth of the serpent. Prophecies about the One who appeared as the fulfillment of the prophets and the head of the gospel of God to people. She is the meal of divine bread, the wine of joy, the endless food, the pure dove, the animated sky, the much-bright lamp, the much-praised bride, the much-praised mother, the God-drinking olive tree. the holy tabernacle, the verbal lamb, the propitiation of God, the euphonious trumpet, the all-glorious treasure, the strewn mountain, the Divine fleece, the god-bearing cloud, the all-honorable city, the mental curtain, the God-lit lamp, the ladder to heaven (along which the Creator will descend among mortals), the holy chamber, the receptacle of grace, the abyss of miracles, the source of blessings, a rich sanctuary, the many-named and ever-virgin Mother of God. Bring Her into the Holy of Holies, bring Her to the King as an honorable gift; praise Her as the Queen of creation; adorn Her as the palace of the King of the universe; glorify Her as the guardian of all virgins. Place in the church made with hands the One Who will become the animated church of the Word, Who Created everything.” Such were the joyful praises of Joachim and Anna; such were their enthusiastic appeals to the prophet Zechariah! Having listened to them, Zechariah, as a priest, as a prophet of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke: “Oh, immaculate Maiden, pure Virgin, adornment of wives, beauty of daughters! Oh, holy Mother! Oh, blessed among women! You are the solution to Adam’s curse. You are the payment of Eve’s debt. You are the purest offering of Abel. You are the shameless hope.” Enoch. You are the joy of Enoch and the repose of the future life. You are the all-bright adornment of the kingdom and priesthood of Melchizedek. You are the obedient obedience of Abraham to the promise of childbirth. You are the new sacrifice and the mental burnt offering of Isaac. You are the beginning of Jacob’s ascent to the ladder. You are the chastity of Joseph and the overthrow of the ancient Egyptian. e. the synagogue of the Jews. You are the patient head of Job in adversity and the double reward of his wealth. You are the God-written book of Moses the lawgiver. You are the daughter of David, clothed in gold and covered with gold (Ps. 44:14). sixty mighty from the mighty of Israel (Song of Solomon 3:7). You are the beginning of Elijah’s ascension to heaven and the destruction of the mental Jezebel. You are a special blessing from Elisha’s mantle, with which he divided the streams of the Jordan and made the salt water usable. You are the salvation of Jonah in the whale and the repentance of the Ninevites and unenviable forgiveness. You are the mirror of the prophets and the fulfillment of their sayings. Ezekiel prophetically called you the closed gate, through which no earthly being has ever passed, except the only Lord, who will keep the gates closed (Ezekiel 44:1-3). The most powerful Isaiah prophetically depicted you as the root of Jesse, from which the flower - Christ - will come and will plant the field of knowledge of God, uprooting the tares of evil (Isaiah 11:1). Jeremiah foretold of You, saying: These days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which I commanded with their father (Jer. 31:31, 32), thus denoting the appearance of Your Son and calling the Gentile believers to glorify God to the end of the earth. You and the husband of desires Daniel (Dan. 10:11) prophetically called it a great mountain (- 2:34, 35), from which the cornerstone will be cut off and crush the head of the many-shaped serpent and scatter it. Three youths portrayed You in Babylon and, seeing in spirit the passion of Your Son, they remained unharmed in the cave kindled by the sevenfold, and rejoiced in the midst of the fire, as in a palace. Habakkuk calls you the mountain from Teman, from which the mighty royal scepters arose, in which the villages of Ethiopia and the blood of the land of Midian will shake (Habakk 3:3, 7). I praise You, the blameless lamb. I sing praises to You, the grace-filled one. I exalt You, the chosen bride of God from all generations. I sing to You, who will soon become a new heaven. I bring You as a pure treasure into the church of the Lord. I magnify You with a new covenant, in which the written Messiah Christ will destroy the letter of the law, initiate grace through baptism, and send down the Holy Spirit to those on earth.” Having honored the Virgin Mary with such sacred words, the Prophet of God elevated Her to the top step of the altar and presented Her to God. Therefore, the parents, Joachim and Anna, left the church with joy in their hearts, marveling at the intelligence, meekness and kindness of their daughter. Mary, during the past years of childhood, served the Creator alone and, staying in the church every day, she considered worldly behavior as if it were a spider’s web, - and achieving heavenly bliss, she renounced earthly wealth, - and daily contemplating the joy of the angels, she stood above the cares of this world, - and constantly seeing the Holy Spirit, she invisibly avoided many bad deeds. The Virgin accepted angelic food through an angel and, serving the Creator of the church, heaven and earth, with thanksgiving in the freedom of spirit she said: “I will sing to You, Most High, Creator, because You have taken away the reproach of My foremother Eve and, by Your ineffable mercy, have the power to send down Your Only Begotten Son to earth so that He may live with men!” His receptacle I will become pure and undefiled.” Where sin abounds, grace abounds (Rom. 5:20). Through my wife we ​​accepted death: through my wife everything will return to us again. Through the serpent we received the taste of bitter food: through Her we will again be satisfied with the food of immortality. Foremother Eve gave birth to Cain - the beginning of the leader of envy and vice: the Only Begotten Son of God became the firstborn of life and resurrection. Oh, wonderful miracle! Oh, unspeakable wisdom!... What shall we call the Virgin Mary? – Heaven: for She contained within Herself the Creator of heaven and earth. The sun: for She, the brightest of the sun, gave birth to the Sun of righteousness. The Moon: for She, incomparable beauty, gave birth to the fruit of beauty - Christ. Cloud: for She bore in her arms the Ruler of the clouds. A lamp: for She kindled a light in the darkness and the shadow of those who sat. Throne: for She, by the Holy Spirit, conceived Him who reigns invisibly on the throne of the Father. Pearls: for She has prepared pearls of great value for mortals. Paradise: for She opened Eden to the condemned and brings them into the eternal kingdom. Mountain: for without groaning She contained Him Who commands the mountains to smoke (Psalm 103:32). Earth: for She painlessly carried Him Who commands the earth to shake. A meal: for She motherly fed with milk the One who sends food to us. By the sea: for with Her lips She kissed Him Who united the waters into one... The Glorious Virgin Mary gave birth prenaturally to God and man (together); and we kiss the honest image of Her, as the Mother of the One who had communication with us in His flesh and rose from the dead. We venerate with dignity the image of the All-Holy One who gave birth: for She is truly Holy, as having ineffably given birth to the One Holy One (if God commanded Abraham to bring a three-year-old heifer for the purification of souls, then surely the Virgin, who was pre-chosen from the foundation of the world and brought to the church of the Creator, was not a pure offering of human nature?). Why did you, Jews, not recognize the Virgin Mary, who came from your tribe, as the Mother of God, and did not accept the eternal Son, carnally born of the Virgin, and, thus, did not give due glory not only to Her, but also to Him who was born of Her?... You have shown the whole world evidence of your malice, according to the word of the Savior spoken about you: Amen, amen I say to you: if you were the children of Abraham, you did the works of Abraham... If you believed Moses, you believed Me too: for that was written about Me (John 8:34, 39; 5:46). We, the people of God, chosen people (Tit. 2:14), the host of the Orthodox, children of grace, celebrating the Entry of the Virgin into the Church, with pure souls and undefiled lips let us honor this bright celebration, joyful for angels and praiseworthy for men, and “Rejoice” - Gabriel, with awe and joy we cry out to the All-Holy One. which the knowledge of God has appeared to the ends of the earth! Rejoice, holy dwelling of the Holy Spirit! Rejoice, most holy cherub and most glorious seraphim! Rejoice, glorious preaching of the apostles! славословие! Радуйся, святых высшее украшение! Радуйся, святителей величайшее служение! Радуйся, грешников нерушимое пристанище! Радуйся, плавающих преславный кормчий! Радуйся, болящих врач безмездный! Радуйся, умирающих воскресение надежное! Радуйся, матерей радость непорочная! Радуйся, старцев крепкий посох! Радуйся, юношей Божественная Driver! Rejoice, bright protection of babies! Rejoice, intercessor of all under heaven! Rejoice, all-glorious triumph of heaven and earth! Rejoice, joyful one! The Lord is with You, who came before You, from You, and with us! Glory to Him with the Father and the All-Holy and the good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen 29. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca. tom. XCVIII. col. 1481–1500. cp. Church led 1897 No. 46, pp. 1671–1676: “The first journey of the Eminence Porphyry to the Athos monasteries and monasteries,” part 2, appendices for the 2nd section of this part. Moscow, 188l, pp. 385–387. You might be interested in: