264. Слово в день Благовещения Пресвятой Богородицы

(Said in the Chudov Monastery on March 25; printed in the Works of the Holy Father of 1851 and in the collection of 1861) And Miriam said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, wake me according to thy word. And the Angel departed from her (Luke 1:38). Like every great church holiday, so too the current one, calls us to contemplate one of the sacraments of faith, which constitutes the object, soul, holiness, glory of the holiday, in order to derive benefit for the soul from this contemplation. For church holidays are not compiled for mere amusement, like worldly ones, but for consolation and edification, promoting the salvation of souls. On worldly holidays, what was collected on the days of labor is squandered: on church holidays, one can and should collect the spiritual treasure of contemplative and active wisdom as abundantly, or even more abundantly, than on non-holiday days. We usually express the mystery of this holiday by calling it the day of the “Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos,” that is, the message from God and the bringing by Archangel Gabriel to the Most Holy Virgin Mary of the good news that the incarnation of the Son of God will take place in her, and Christ will be born from her. But if it were only necessary to convey the message, then two words would be enough for the Archangel: give birth to Christ. That's not how things happened. The Archangel approached the Blessed Virgin with the greeting: “Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women” (Luke 1:28). The greeting is majestic but vague; conducive to expecting something miraculous, but no one knows what. The Most Holy Virgin, familiar with the Holy Scriptures, could remember that when the Angel approached Gideon with the greeting: “The Lord is with you” (Judges 6:12), he was preparing him for miraculous deeds and for the salvation of the people of Israel from their enemies. She was “confused” (Luke 1:29), as the Evangelist narrates, not with the confusion of doubt or unbelief, but with the confusion of a humble feeling in the face of a high unexpectedness. The bright spirit of the Archangel saw this feeling and hastened to return to the soul of the Blessed Virgin the peace and silence required to receive the strongest spiritual light: “Do not be afraid, Mariam: for you have found grace from God.” For this, in the heart of the Most Holy Virgin, as into a vessel prepared and opened, he pours out the Divine light in full measure: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, ... He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest, ... and will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:30-33). Thus, the great will of the Heavenly Father has been proclaimed; the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God is open: however, the annunciation has not yet been fully accomplished. A question arises in the soul of the Blessed Virgin; and the Archangel does not dare to leave until he resolves it; because the question is born not from mistrust, not from inquisitiveness, but from the ruling love for the purity of virginity; and because this sovereign love for perfect purity should be the companion of the sacrament of the incarnation of God the Word. This love for perfect purity expressed itself in Mariami’s question: “How will this happen if I don’t know a husband?” and she attracted a new stream of Divine light and power in the word of the Archangel: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:34–35). What could be stronger than this word? However, even having said this, the Archangel does not consider his embassy to be over: he awaits some more word from Mariami. Apparently, it was not enough that she unquestioningly accepted the heavenly message: it was necessary that the word of her consent be betrothed to the word of the Divine Gospel. To achieve this, the Archangel points her to an event, although far inferior, but also possible only through a miracle of God - to the fact that the righteous Elizabeth, barren, elderly, has already conceived a son, and in general to the miraculous omnipotence of God: “for with God every word fails.” So, finally, the humble will of Mariam is moved to meet the Almighty will: “speech... Mariam: behold the servant of the Lord, wake me according to your word.” Now, apparently, Gabriel was convinced that the work of the eternal council entrusted to him was completely completed: “and the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:37-38). At the same time, some may think: we hear the gospel about the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God, we see the acceptance of this gospel: but where is the mystery itself? It is not just the gift of God, but the Divinity itself that fulfills the Blessed Virgin: and how do we not notice the actual Divine appearance, nor the reflection of the light of God on Mariam’s face, nor the expression of delight on the Archangel? “Angel departed from her,” and that’s all. – It is easy not only for wisdom, but also for foolishness to ask questions that no wisdom can answer. “Who... understands the mind of the Lord, who can explain” (1 Cor. 2:16)? If you want to penetrate into the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God to its depth, or to bring this supernatural action down into a phenomenon comprehensible to you, then you want to be above the Angels; - an inappropriate claim, no doubt! For, as the Apostle says, even the Angels themselves only “desire... pierce" (1 Pet. 1:12), that is, they want to look into their depths, but do not penetrate; - they desire out of love for the Divine, but do not penetrate due to the incomprehensibility of the Divine, due to the disproportion of limited vision with the infinite object. - “She who contained the inconceivable God”, without a doubt, felt internally the light and glory and bliss of this unparalleled Communication of God; Probably, the gaze of the Archangel marvelously and delightfully felt the dawn of the Divine Light that had settled into her: but the incomprehensible had to remain incomprehensible; “the secret hidden from ages and generations” (Col. 1:26), the time has not yet come to reveal to many; and this is very blessed if the Mother of God covered the Divine light that had settled in her with a cloud of her humility, and if the Archangel only honored with silent reverence “the most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim.” Consideration of the conversation between the heavenly messenger and the Blessed Virgin can lead us into a different kind of research, more accessible to us and closer to our edification. Why was the Archangel not content with uttering a word of annunciation to her, but used, one might say, urgent means to achieve a word of her consent? Is it possible that without this word from Mariam the incarnation of the Son of God would not have taken place? Does the omnipotent will of God really need the permission of the human will? – The questions are apparently difficult: but they can be resolved simply. Their resolution can be found in the same place from which they were borrowed - in the gospel narrative. Archangel Gabriel, without a doubt, carried out exactly what God's commanding verb inspired him to do. But the Archangel, not limiting himself to the word of annunciation, did not stop his conversation with the Most Holy Virgin until he heard from her a word of agreement: “Wake me according to your word.” Consequently, it was God’s will. Consequently, it had to be so. Consequently, this was certainly required by God’s wisdom and God’s destiny. If we want to understand somewhat why the omnipotent will of God, in a matter that actually belongs to omnipotence, does not act without the consent of the human will: let us turn to the beginning and to the essential properties of human nature. Man is created in the image of God. An important feature of this image lies in its will: and there is rational freedom that distinguishes man from the lower creatures of God, who do not have the image of God. Therefore, God preserves the inviolable freedom of human will, preserving in it a feature of His image: and therefore, during the action of unlimited omnipotence, when its action should touch the inner, spiritual state of man, he takes into account the free will of man. And man, for his part, if for some reason he can be capable of close communication and union with God, then - by the power of God’s image in him; because the best in created beings, most worthy of God’s view and favor, approach to God and blissful union with Him, of course, is the image of God: and therefore, in order to achieve communication and blissful union with God, man must turn to Him his abilities, marked by the features of His image, direct his mind, will, heart towards Him, especially unite his will with His will, the movement of free will, through faith and love. The Prophet, having predicted the high communion with God of the blessed Virgin Mary through the incarnation of the Son of God in her, added: “the virgins will be brought to the King after her” (Ps. 44:15). The name “virgins” refers to souls that have not been corrupted by the love of the flesh and the world, or have been purified from it. This, if you like, is your souls, Christians, in so far as they retain the spiritual virginity into which they were born through baptism, or insofar as they return it through repentance. They must also be “brought to the King” God, although not next to the Queen of Heaven, Who is ahead of everyone, because she is above everyone, however, “in her wake”; by following to some extent her example, they should be brought to some degree of communion with God. Do not be remiss to take advantage of the advantage that is offered to you and is almost assimilated by the prophecy. Look carefully and really follow the trail of the Queen of Heaven. There is also an annunciation for you of its kind and degree; “The salvation of our God is preached to you day by day” (Ps. XCV. 2): receive the word of salvation as a thirsty land receives rain. He who descended to dwell in His Virgin Hypostasis still condescends to “dwell... by faith in your hearts” (Eph.3:17): do not remain inactive: “go out to meet the Bridegroom” (Matthew 25:6); greet the approaching grace of God with your heart's desire. He who created you without you determined to save you not without your will, thereby marking the loftiness of your nature even in its fall. His will, always saving, awaits your will to accept salvation. Do not delay, do not hesitate, decide firmly to subdue your will to the sovereign will of God through fear into obedience, to betray the all-good will of God through faith in the hope of finally uniting your will with love, “the bond of perfection” (Col. 3:14). Only in the air of the soul, purified from the darkness of self-willed, passionate, sensual, worldly lusts, will the blessed light of God shine. Only the will devoted to God will reign with God in heaven. And, on the contrary, if anything else in this life kindles hellish fire in a person, and must become his food in eternity: then this is a will that is disobedient to God. Amen. You might be interested in: