Омилия XXXVII 173 .

On the all-honorable Dormition of our All-Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary 174 And love and need compel me today to address your love with a speech, not only because I wish, out of my love for you and must, according to the sacred laws, to put a saving word into your God-loving ears and feed your souls with this, but also because if there is something that must and is loved by me, it is, together with praise from the Church, to tell the greatness of the Ever-Virgin and the Mother of God. And thus, this love, being not single, but double, motivates, calls and compels and inexorably demands what is due, although it is unable to comprehend what is beyond words, just as no eye can look directly at the sun; since, equally, on the one hand, it is not possible to express in words what is beyond words, on the other hand, it is possible, due to the philanthropy of those being praised, to bring praise to them, then if it is by no means impossible to comprehend the incomprehensible and repay the debt with words, then at least it will be possible to express love for the Mother of God in feasible praises. If the death of the saints is honorable, and the memory of the righteous is celebrated with praise, then how much more - the Holy of Holies and thanks to Whom - all sanctification of the saints, I want to say - should we commemorate the Ever-Virgin and Mother of God with the greatest praises? 175 So this is what we do, celebrating today Her holy Dormition or repose, by which She stood a little apart from the Angels 176, and all the Angels and Archangels and the super-mundane powers that exist above them without comparison surpassed Her closeness to God, who exists above everything, and from the ages the miraculous things written and performed regarding Her: because for Her sake are the divine prophecies of the divinely inspired Prophets; miracles presenting the future great miracle of the universe - This Ever-Virgin Mother of God; changes of peoples and situations, paving the way for the performance of a new (extraordinary) Sacrament in relation to Her; institutions of the Spirit, prefiguring the future Truth in various ways; the end, or better yet, the beginning and root of the earlier miracles, is the fulfillment of God’s promise given to Joachim and Anna, then existing elders, filled with extreme virtue: that they, who were barren from youth, would give birth in extreme old age, and then give birth to the One who will without seed give birth to the Son, born without beginning from God the Father before all ages; then, the vow of those who so miraculously gave birth to the One Who has an even more miraculous birth, the vow consisting in giving the Given One to the One who gave Her; by virtue of this most worthy vow, the extraordinary transfer of the Mother of God from childhood from her father's house to the House of God and a miraculous stay in the most Holy of Holies for long periods, where, under the supervision of Angels, she was fed with indescribable food, which Adam did not have time to taste, otherwise he would not have lost his life, just as this Most Pure One did not lose hers, although she was from his family, and then in order to show that She is his daughter, something yielding little to nature, like Her Son 177, now she has passed from earth to heaven. But, behold, after this ineffable food, there followed a dispensation regarding the betrothal of this Virgin, filled with the greatest mystery, and a kiss (of the Annunciation) strange and exceeding every word that came through the Archangel who came from heaven, and God’s plan and words, nullifying the condemnation of Eve and Adam and healing the curse that was upon them and turning it into a blessing; for the King of all, as David predicted, desired the mysterious beauty of this Ever-Virgin, and, bending the heavens, descended and overshadowed Her, or better to say, the hypostatic Power of the Most High arose in Her, for not through darkness and fire, as was the case with the God-beholder Moses, and not as was the case with the Prophet Elijah - He revealed His presence through a storm and a cloud; but directly, without any cover, the power of the Most High overshadowed the all-pure and virgin womb, and there was nothing between this, neither air, nor ether, nor anything from the sensory creatures, or those above them; and this is not overshadowing, but direct connection. Since it always happens in nature that what overshadows thereby imposes its form and its image on the overshadowed, then not only the union, but also the formation took place in the womb, and formed on the basis of both: i.e. the power of the Most High and that most pure and virgin womb, was the incarnate Word of God. Thus, it inexpressibly dwelt in Her, and from Her came the flesh-bearing Word of God, and appeared on earth and communicated with people, deifying our nature, and granting us, according to the word of the divine Apostle, then - “Angels desire to dwell in the Lord” (1 Pet. 1:12). And this is the glorification and glorious glory of this Ever-Virgin, which exceeds nature, before Whom every mind and word yields, even if it is angelic. And what happened after the ineffable birth, what word could express it again? Because cooperating and compassionating through Her with the perfect, highly creative exhaustion of the Word of God, She justly became co-glorified and co-exalted with Him, sharing in the excellent increase of greatness. But even after the ascension into heaven of the Incarnate One from Her, She, surpassing thoughts and words with the greatness that belonged to Her from Him, so to speak, as if competed with Him with the most consistent and manifold feat in virtues, prayers together and concerns for the whole world, and advice and encouragement given to the preachers of the Word of God to all ends of the earth; and She alone was a support and at the same time a consolation for everyone, both for those who heard about Her and for those who saw Her, and in every way contributed to the Gospel preaching; and thus revealed a life of the highest degree ascetic and an excellent way of life both in spiritual structure and in word. Therefore, Her death was life-giving, leading to heavenly and immortal life, and the commemoration of this death is a joyful holiday and worldwide celebration, not only renewing in memory the miraculous deeds of the Mother of God, but also representing the general and new confluence of the sacred Apostles, (taken) from all nations for Her all-sacred burial, as well as the divinely revealed hymns in Her honor from the lips of the divinely inspired these (Apostles); the honorable angelic guard and the chanting around Her and the service of those who precede, follow, help, hinder, protect, reflect, and co-sing and promote with all their might those who gave honor to this life-giving and God-receiving body, the saving medicine of our race, the object of the triumph of all creation, - who fight and oppose the Jews with a hidden hand, with the godless hand and will of those advancing and resisting; while the Lord of Hosts Himself and the Son of this Ever-Virgin was invisibly present and rendered the original honor to the Mother, into whose hands She betrayed Her blessed spirit, thanks to which not much time later Her body combined with it was transferred to the ever-living and heavenly village, as was natural and now in accordance with that Sacrament, which had effect in relation to Her. Because many from time immemorial have acquired divine favor and glory and power, just as David says: “I was greatly honored because Your friends, O God, greatly established their dominion. I will count them, and they will multiply more than the sand” (Ps. 137:17). Many, according to Solomon, acquired wealth and many daughters “created strength”; She has surpassed everyone and is above all men and women, and so much so that it is impossible to say: because She alone, having become a mediator between God and the entire human race, made the Son of God the Son of Man, and created people the sons of God, having enthused the earth and deified the human race 178, and She alone of all appeared by nature and at the same time above all nature - the Mother of God; as a result of Her unspeakable Nativity, She became the Queen of every peaceful and worldly creature; and thus those who are lower than Her, having raised in Her person and shown obedience on earth, not as earthly as it is heavenly 179, and She Herself became a participant in the best dignity and highest power and royal dedication by the action of the Divine Spirit from heaven, She became the Queen most exalted above the exalted and most blessed above the blessed race. Now having heaven as a proper dwelling, as a royal palace corresponding to Her, She today reposed there and appeared at the right hand of all the King, dressed in clothes gilded and adorned, according to the word spoken about Her by the Prophet Psalmist. In the expression: “golden clothes” - mean Her God-radiant body, “adorned” with all kinds of virtues; because She is the only one now with a God-glorified body who has abiding with the Son; because neither the earth, nor the tomb, nor death could finally hold the life-giving and God-receiving body, and an abode more beloved (to God) than heaven and the heaven of heavens. Because if the soul, which had the grace of God dwelling within itself, being released from this life 180, ascends to heaven, as was obviously revealed on the basis of many facts, and we believe in this, then how would it not only have received within itself the most eternal and only begotten Son of God, the eternal Source of grace, but also the body that gave birth to Him, will not be taken from earth to heaven? And being still three years old and not yet containing within herself the most heavenly Dweller, and not having yet given birth to the Flesh-Bearer, She dwelt in the Holy of Holies, having already become excellent in body with such and such gifts, will She really become earth, having undergone corruption? And who of those who intelligently examine the matter would find meaning in the fact that things should be like this? Therefore, the body that gave birth is rightly glorified with godlike honor with the one it gave birth to; and co-resurrects, - the agreement of the prophetic song, with Christ, who had previously risen after three days, - the Icon of His Shrine; and proof for the Disciples of Her resurrection from the dead are the shrouds and funeral clothes, the only ones left in the tomb, and the only ones found in it for those who came to look for (the body of the Lady), as previously was the case with Her Son and Master. But there was no need for Her to remain in the earth for a while longer, as there was a need for Her Son and God; Therefore, She was immediately taken from the tomb to the heavenly region, from where She again emits the brightest and most divine radiances and graces onto the earth, thus illuminating the entire earthly lot, and is worshiped, praised 181 and glorified by all the faithful. Because when God, wishing to set an image of all that is beautiful and to openly present His likeness to both Angels and people, then He truly made Her all-beautiful to such an extent, combining (in Her) as a whole all the features with which He adorned everything separately; revealing in Her a world created from a combination of visible and invisible beauties; better to say, revealing Her as a general combination and the highest beauty of all divine and angelic and human beauties, adorning both worlds, ascending from the earth and even reaching heaven, and by Her ascension from the grave to heaven even surpassing it, and connecting the earthly world with the heavenly, and filling the universe with Her wonderful deeds, so that if She was less than the Angels, as was said at the beginning, I mean by the fact that she tasted death, but this only added to the superiority of the Mother of God over everything; hence, everything justly triumphs and celebrates the triumph of victory over death. It was fitting, therefore, that She who contains the All-Fulfilling and Existing One above all, should herself surpass everything and be above all with Her virtues, the greatness of Her dignity. And, therefore, the One who all those gifts - which, being shared by all beautiful beings from time immemorial, was necessary for them in order for them to be beautiful, the gifts that are possessed individually by all those pleasing to God, both Angels and people - accepted in their entirety one, realized everything and even abundantly, I will say, succeeded in everything - it was fitting to prevail now also in this, as if a quality that exists above all others, namely: to become immortal after death and the only one with a body to remain in heaven with her son and God, and from there pour out the most abundant grace on those who worship Her; thereby granting them the ability to ascend to Her, who is the Sun 182 of such great graces; It was fitting that She, adding to her excellent gifts a stronger sense of mercy, should never cease this abundant mercy towards us and rich generosity 183. So, if anyone looks at this concentration and the source of all good, he recognizes that the Virgin gave the same perfection in virtue to those who live virtuously, which the sun produces in the sense of sensory light and in relation to those living under it. If someone, looking at the miraculously shining sun for people from this Virgin, Who possesses everything and whose nature surpasses those qualities that were acquired by Her by grace, transfers his mental gaze to Her, then he immediately proclaimed the Virgin to be heaven. She has acquired a more brilliant inheritance in comparison with all those divinely blessed 184 who are both under the sky and above it, just as much as the sky is more brilliant than the sun, and the sun is more luminous than the sky. What word will depict, O Virgin Mary, Your divinely radiant beauty; because what relates to You cannot be imagined either in thoughts or words? However, with Your philanthropic permission, it is possible to sing; because You are both the Receptacle of all graces and the Fulfillment of all noble beauty, and the Tablet and animated Image of all good, and all beauty, as the only one worthy to receive all the graces of the Spirit; it is better to say - and the only one who had Him who miraculously dwelt in Your womb, in Whom are the treasures of all graces, and which consisted of His wonderful tabernacle; and to Him today, through death, into immortality, and rightly reposed from earth to heaven, in order to dwell with Him in the heavenly tabernacles for eternity, from there caring for Your inheritance, and with vigilant prayers to Him, propitiating Him for everyone. Just as of all those who approach God, She is the closest, and greater than others, the Mother of God is awarded merits, I mean not only more than other people, but also most of all the angelic hierarchies. Because, behold, about the highest of their ranks, Isaiah writes: “And the Seraphim stood around Him” (Is. 6:2); and about Her, David says this: “The Queen stands at Your right hand” (Ps. 44:10). Do you see the difference in position? Based on this, you can conclude about the difference in the state of dignity: because the Seraphim are around God; close to Him Himself is only the Queen of all, Whom God Himself admires and praises Her, as if announcing Her to the surrounding (heavenly) powers, and saying, according to what was said in the Song of Songs: “How beautiful You are, My Neighbor,” the brightest of light, more full of flowering than God’s paradise, more beautiful than the entire visible and invisible world! Not only is She near Him, but, in justice, She is also at His right hand; because where Christ sat in heaven, i.e. - at the right hand of the Majesty, there She appeared, now ascending from earth to heaven; not only because She loves Him and is exceptionally mutually loved by Him, which follows on the basis of the very laws of nature, but also because She is truly His Throne; and where the King sits, there His Throne stands. Isaiah saw this Throne between His cherubic choir and called it “high and exalted,” demonstrating the superiority of the Mother of God over the heavenly powers. Therefore, he introduces those who praise God for Her and say: “Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place” (Ezek. 3:12). Patriarch Jacob, in a mysterious way, was his spectator: “How terrible is this place,” he said, “not this, but the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven” (Gen. 27:17). David depicted this in a different way: having combined in his person a multitude of saved ones and using, as it were, certain strings or different voices, from different generations brought by this Ever-Virgin into the harmony of a single faith, he begins an all-harmonious song in praise of Her, saying: “I will remember Your name in every generation and generation: for this reason people will confess to You forever, and forever and ever” (Ps. 44:18). Do you see that all creation glorifies the Virgin Mother, and not in passing years, but forever and ever? From this we can conclude that She will not cease in all ages to benefit all creation, and I am not only speaking in relation to us, but also in relation to the spiritual and supermundane (angelic) ranks themselves: because together with us they, because of Her alone, are participants (deification) and touch the Divinity, this inviolable Nature; Isaiah clearly presented this: because he saw that Seraphim did not directly take coal from the altar, but took it with the help of tongs, with the help of which he touched the lips of the prophets, giving (him) cleansing; This vision of ticks is identical with the great sight that Moses saw: a bush burning with fire and unscorched. Who does not know that this Virgin Mother is both this bush and these pincers, having neopalously conceived the Divine Fire, whose conception was served by the Archangel, who through Her united this Divine Fire with the human race and thereby took away the sin of the world, and by the power of this ineffable union cleansed us? So, She alone is the boundary between created and uncreated natures, and no one would come to God unless through Her he was truly illuminated by truly divine illumination; for it is said: “God is in the midst of it, and does not move” (Ps. 45:6). If rewards occur in accordance with the measure of love for God, and the one who loves the Son becomes loved by Him and His Father, and becomes the abode of both of them, mysteriously dwelling and walking in him, according to the Sovereign promise, then who loved Him more than His Mother did? And not only for the reason that He was Her only one, but also because She was the only one who gave birth without a spouse, so Her love contained a double love, which both father and mother have for their child 185 . And, on the other hand, who, more than the Mother, would be loved by the Only Begotten, and even then, who ineffably came from Her alone in recent times, just as He came from the one and only Father from all eternity? How can the manifestations of honor due to Her, on the basis of the law, be multiplied beyond the proper disposition by Him Who came down to fulfill the law? So, just as through Her alone He came to us, appeared on earth and lived among people, Who before Her was invisible to everyone, so in the future unceasing age, every outflow of divine illumination and every revelation of divine mysteries, and every form of spiritual gifts, besides Her, will not have a place for anyone. But She, the first, having received the fullest fulfillment of the Fulfiller of the universe, establishes for everyone a measure of fullness, distributing to each according to his strength, according to the correspondence and measure of purity of each, so that She would be the keeper and manager of the wealth of the Divine. Because since this is also an eternal law in heaven: that the lesser through the greater have a share in the Existence that is beyond them - the Virgin Mother is incomparably greater than all, then, therefore, through Her those who will be partakers of God will become participants; and those who know God will declare Her to be the Place of the Incontainable; and immediately after God she will be praised by those who praise God. She is both the Foundation of those who were before Her and the Leader of those who are after Her, and the Intercessor of the eternal. She is the Theme of the Prophets, the Beginning of the Apostles, the Establishment of the Martyrs, the Foundation of the Teachers. She is the Glory of those on earth, the Joy of those in heaven, the Beauty of all creation. She is the Beginning and the Source and the Root of ineffable blessings. She is the Top and Perfection of all that is holy. O Virgin Divine and now Heavenly, how can I express everything that relates to You? How can I glorify You, Treasure of glory? And the very memory of You has sanctified those who remember; and the very desire for You created the mind illuminated, immediately raising it to divine heights; through You the eye of the soul is enlightened; through You the spirit is illuminated by the influx of the Divine Spirit; because You have become the Manager and the Set of grace-filled gifts; not in the sense of keeping it for Himself, but in order to fill the entire universe with grace; because the manager of inexhaustible treasures is appointed for the purpose of distributing them: because why, of course, would he keep locked up that wealth that does not decrease? Therefore, generously bestow upon all Thy people, upon all Thy property, mercy and Thy gifts, O Lady! Solve the bonds that envelop us! See what and how many calamities we are exhausted: both personal and foreign, both external and internal. By your power, rebuild all this for the better: softening citizens and fellow tribesmen towards each other, and driving away those who attack from the outside like wild animals. Compare Your help and healing to our sufferings, granting to souls and bodies abundant grace that suffices for everything; and if we did not contain it, make us more capable of containing it, and measure it in such a way that, saved and strengthened by Your grace, we glorify the Eternal Word, from You for our sake incarnate, with His beginningless Father and the Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and to endless ages. Amen. PG.151:460–473. Homilia XXXVII. In sanctissimam dirmitionem Purissimae Domjnae nostrae Deiparae semperque Virginis Mariae. The real omilia is written in a solemn oratorical spirit and requires greater concentration of thought when reading it. Lat. lane - “with the greatest and eternal praise”; The word "eternal" is not found, however, in the current Greek text. Here lies the following thought: Angels have a nature that does not know death; The Mother of God had a mortal nature and therefore, having tasted death, in this taste of death she was somewhat less than the immortal Angels. But then this death turned into a solemn rise to heaven. Those. having tasted death for a short time. Lat. lane - “transforming the earth into heaven and raising the human race to the dignity of divinity.” Those. showing obedience. which the angels of heaven have. Lat. lane “breaking free from the fragile bonds of these things.” Original: “surprised”, “admired”. In Greek orig. stands for the word “o diskos”, meaning disk, mirror, and also the solar disk. The Latin translator translated this word as receptaculum, i.e. "container". We translated it as “sun” because further in the text the Mother of God is compared to the sun. Those. adorned with grace. Here is a free translation of the end of the phrase. You might be interested in: