Sermon on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Composition by St. Sophronius of Jerusalem’s “Sermon on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos” (50 chapters) is devoted mainly to the defense of the doctrine of the union in Christ of two natures into one Person and one Hypostasis and the preservation of Divine and human properties after the Incarnation. St. Sophronius denounces heresies that distort the dogmas about the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation, in particular Monophysitism (Eutychianism), Sabellianism and Macedonianism. The saint analyzes in detail the Gospel narrative of the Annunciation. Particular attention is paid to the virginity of the Virgin Mary before, during and after the birth of Christ. The sermon defends the dogma of seedless conception and the Divine birth of the Son of God from the Blessed Virgin, and also reveals the miracle of the Incarnation, in which the Divine and human natures are united inseparably and unchangeably in the person of Jesus Christ. *The title of the work in Latin is In Annuntiationem. 1. Good announcements (εὐαγγέλια), brethren, good announcements; and I will say again: good announcements; and I say this three times not only because it is more sublime than all other good announcements, more divine and brighter, and by its undoubted superiority it is superior to them; and not only because I, who proclaim them, are ennobled and decorated and my feet (the feet of the evangelist) are made beautiful 1 because these announcements are better than all blessings, more beautiful than all beautiful, more wonderful than all wonderful, most compassionate 2, more terrible and trembling than all terrible and leading to sacred awe 3, but also because the threefold repetition proclaims the most exalted and divine number of Persons of the Divine and Commanding Trinity over all. Because everything that is declared three times in sacred and divine dogmas or in godly sermons and holy proclamations is done in honor of the Blessed Trinity, namely: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - which is both the Trinity and is known as the Unity; and the Unity is and as the Trinity is understood: the first - because of the three hypostases, and the second - because of the one and only Divinity, that is, being and nature (one in all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity). 2. Because the one essence of the all-essential and life-primary Trinity is proclaimed, as raised into one and only Divinity. Therefore, the complete unity of both being, essence, and nature is preserved, and thereby multiplicity is not allowed. Because the Holy Trinity, which contains and governs all things and rules in a royal and divine manner over all creatures, is numbered according to Its hypostases. For She is and is believed to be the Trinity, and in Her being and nature, as well as in Her Divinity, She is above all calculation. Because the threefold calculation occurs not in relation to the Divine Being, but in relation to the Three Persons. And therefore She appears both divisible in hypostases, and at the same time remains indivisible in relation to Her nature, and at the same time differs in Persons. Each of the Persons is a special hypostasis, and by Their nature They manifest a single Divinity and are inseparable. From here, in a truly miraculous and amazing way, both division and unity occur; because it is not because of what is one with Them, namely Their nature, that Them is mixed into one and only hypostasis; nor, again, due to the Trinity, namely the three hypostatic 4 Persons, It is divided into natures alien to each other, but remains integral and indivisible, and does not allow any division or fusion. 3. Because this is what is wonderful and amazing about Her, that, being One and the same, according to Her nature and appearing as one God and one Divinity, She is found in Three Persons: not cutting Her nature or Divinity, but in Her hypostases or Persons expanding into a number that does not allow merging. Because just as the Father is God, and the Son is God, so the Holy Spirit is God. And since each of Them is called God, this reveals the one Being of three Persons, and since the Father and the Son and the All-Holy Spirit (because these are exactly the names of three Persons or three, in truth, of Her hypostases; by which names this Blessed Trinity is distinguished among themselves in relation to the Persons while preserving their inseparable nature 5 are, in truth, the Trinity and so we believe, then on the part of all faithful, as well as from the heavenly and invisible forces, is loudly proclaimed and glorified with three exclamations: “Holy, Holy, Holy”; the glorified (Deity), who has come together according to nature into one Dominion. For the six-winged Seraphim, aware more than we are of the fundamentals of theology, as being closer to God than we are, and participants in His pure radiance and enlightened by His pure illuminations, exclaimed: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts” (Isa. 6:3). Thus, on their part, the Most Holy Trinity is proclaimed Holy (ἀγιάξεται) and is revered with three proclamations of Her holiness and praises, and with the words: “Lord of hosts”, unmergedly united into one Dominion (Divinity). Because: “Holy, Holy, Holy,” proclaimed three times by the Seraphim themselves, reveals the sung number of Persons of the Blessed Trinity; thus: “Lord of Hosts,” spoken once and only in the singular, denotes their one and singular Lordship, according to which the Trinity is unmerged and glorified as one God, and one Divinity is revered in the Trinity. Why didn’t they stop there when they said “Holy” once? Having shouted this out twice, why did they not then fall silent? But they repeated this three times: “Holy”? - Because there is not one and only hypostasis of the Trinity - away, the abominable Sabellian wickedness! 7 - And also not only She has two Faces, - away, vile atheism of Macedonia! 8 - But three times they cry, as I said, and cry out: “Holy”; and with tireless tongues they proclaim this and with unsilent lips they proclaim this, since this signifies the Three Hypostases of the Blessed and Ruler of all Trinity; and Her Three Consubstantial Persons abide, and They have the one-honoured Divinity and the one equal Dominion, and They are the one Beginning of everything and have indivisible royal power. 4. Therefore, we, the least ones, being Her devoted admirers and servants, desiring with all our souls to announce to you good announcements, we pronounce these words three times, saying: “Good announcements, good announcements,” and once again we cry: “good announcements”; this expresses veneration of the Blessed Trinity, although we are talking not about the Holy Trinity, but about the economy (the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ) of One of the Persons of this All-Honorable Trinity, and it consists only in the good news of the Coming of the Word into the world. Because it is good and very useful for all those who are faithful in one or another subject to talk about each of them, and separately from each other; provide an explanation for both, i.e. - both that which relates to the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and that which relates to the dogma of the Incarnation of Christ, because the Word is one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, Who took upon Himself human nature and saved our human confusion 9, although presenting this with different and special concepts, as well as preliminary explanations, so that there would not be a confusion of concepts, some of which relate to theological principles dedicated to the Holy Mystery Trinity, and others - to the descent of the Word and God to us, the humble 10. 5. From our sacred praise of the holy theologians, let Sabelli, Marcellus 11, Arius, Eunomius 12, Eudoxia 13, Asteria 14 and all like them be driven away, absolute atheists, who have mixed theological concepts relating to the mystery of the Holy Trinity with dogmas relating to the Incarnation of Christ, and are themselves completely entangled in them, cannot find the truth; These also include Peters 15 and Seviras 16 and every kind of heresy of the Acephalians 17, who, in the most wicked and vile opposition to us, faithful and right-thinking about God, weaving the Cross 18 into the Trisagion chanting, mixed into one concept of the unmerged Trinity. Because they themselves said three times: “Holy, Holy, Holy,” they impiously added the Cross to these three “Holy” things. And if the Trisagion chant has become a hymn relating exclusively to the Trinity, then why, in an ignorant manner, do these truly ignorant people in relation to Divine wisdom add the Crucifixion to this? – After all, the Cross is not attributed to the entire Trinity, but this applies only to the humane Incarnation of the incarnate Son, the only One of the Persons of the Trinity, to Whom belong both the Cross and the Crucifixion, announcing His saving death, which He, being crucified for our sake, took up by dying in the flesh. 6. Not recognizing the Incarnation of the Word, and also not recognizing that there was a union of heterogeneous natures in Christ, namely: Divine with human, and also denying His birth from the Holy Virgin and, in truth, the Mother of God - i.e. everything that should precede the Cross, these unfortunates impiously introduce the Cross, wanting to mix the blasphemous concept of the suffering of God with the sacred dogmas 19. Because, sick with the heresy of the wicked and insane Eutyches 20, allowing complete confusion (of natures in the person of the God-man) and having completely drunk his many-turbid cup, they mixed everything up: they confuse concepts related to the Incarnation of the Son of God with theological concepts related to the Holy Trinity; and, conversely: they confuse concepts related to theological views about the Holy Trinity with concepts related to the Incarnation of God the Word; bringing both natures in Christ into one nature, they combine two beings into one being; depriving both natures - Divine and human - of their characteristic properties, they determine that in Christ there is only one nature and one being; so that the concepts of theology (relative to the Holy Trinity) do not remain damaged and inviolable, and the dogmas regarding the Incarnation of Christ do not remain free from their Eutychian, or better yet, Ditychian change and confusion. 7. We, the disciples of piety and opponents of the intricacies of these acephals, will firmly adhere to the paternal dogmas, and having become vigilant guardians of the apostolic traditions, taught the principles of theological thinking regarding the Holy Trinity, as well as being aware of the principles regarding the economy of the Incarnation of the Son of God, we will not confuse with them concepts that relate separately to either one or the other; but we will give to both what is due to them and determine to both their place and their time. In this way, we will remain beyond temptations and will not become participants in the error of heretics, but we will be free from the madness of those who do not think Orthodoxy; Let us stand firmly in our divinely inspired faith, unshakable from any influence on the part of evil spirits and from deviation into evil thoughts, into which our opponents pitifully fell as a result of the fact that they neglected good standing in the faith and ceased to firmly maintain paternal piety, and as a result of this they perished and are overwhelmed by waves of heretical wickedness. 8. So, we, who have wonderfully escaped the abyss of their wickedness, firmly established our feet on the unshakable stone of faith and ascended a high mountain and, on the basis of the Gospel and prophetic instructions, firmly stood on the soil of the highest dogmas, and, as far as it is in our power, or better yet: as far as God grants it to us, raising our voice, let us exclaim: “Good proclamation, good announcements"; and once again we will say: “good proclamation” and giving honor to the Trinity and chanting the condescension to us of the One Existing from the Trinity, namely, God’s Word. Because this, brethren, is our good message, which we have come to you, the most faithful, to preach and wish to proclaim to you today. But I exhort your love, having properly purified yourself, to accept these good announcements of ours. Because these our sacred good announcements do not shy away from the one who has properly purified himself, but make him a saving abode for himself and fill him with light and illumination, and create him as a holy church of God (albeit) existing by his nature as a man, and make him rich in the fact that God reveals Himself in him. Everyone get together, everyone get together, everyone hasten, everyone runs, everyone rushes, everyone gets ahead of each other; take wing so that you can fly away and wonderfully find rest in Christ; or move with your feet as quickly as possible, so that you can hear heavenly good announcements; in order to hear the good news from the mouth of the Angel who tells them; in order to receive with reverent hearing the announced coming of God to people; so that we, seeing your swift gathering and most zealous gathering to listen to our most sublime gospels, may also exclaim with joy and gladness: “good announcements, good announcements, good announcements,” strengthening the faith by proclaiming the gospel three times. 9 . Because on this basis Truth arises, and lies never receive civil rights and unbelief does not have room for its worst entrance; and there is nothing more dangerous than disbelief in divine words. This was the reason why the Jews fell; on the basis of which, the Samaritans were lost; on the basis of which the Hellenes (pagans) remain in darkness; on the basis of which, the heretics suffered ruin by the fact that they did not believe the good announcements of God, did not show obedience to the Gospels of God, but became enemies and adversaries of God, dead in both soul and body, unparticipated in eternal life and alien to the true light. Because a lie, as long as it consciously remains a lie, never comprehends the Truth; and in no way does darkness, as long as it remains darkness and is outside the light, be illuminated by light and remains completely devoid of luminous illumination. Therefore, our illuminating good announcements are announced loudly to you, who are able to receive the light; because they do not want to be exposed to the ears of unbelievers, and they do not want to dwell in the hearts of people immersed in darkness. 10. So, you, as children of light and pets and offspring of the divine light, listen to our bright and luminous good announcements. Because by virtue of them, you are already illuminated and their godly secret has already shone in your illuminated souls. You accepted it with a pure heart and became children of God, with faith and joy accepting the Son of God and knowing Him as our only Savior. The Evangelist says: The little ones received Him, and gave them the realm to become children of God, believing in His name: who were not born of blood, nor of carnal lust, nor of manly lust, but were born of God (John 1:12-13). So, you, as the brightest children of God, listen to the brightest good announcements flowing from God, by virtue of which you became children of God by grace 21 and, having rejected earthly ignobility, took on heavenly nobility and, putting aside human origin, received birth from God. So, listen to the sacred gospel, you who, on the basis of perfect faith in them, have been worthy of divine initiation. What are our good announcements and what benefit can we expect from them? Listen to our speech with attention, for we say what is most appropriate, as He Himself, now preaching the gospel to you, will give to you through us. 11. So, God, having at the beginning created the universe from nothing, everything that exists after Him and was brought into existence by Him, visible and invisible, sensory (material) and spiritual, heavenly and earthly, then creates man in His image, making him from a verbal (rational) soul and body. He established him as the image and likeness of His beauty (τῆς οἰκεῖας ἀγαθότητος), granting him to live by free will and dwell in the divine Paradise; and, having beautifully created him, He gave him a divine and saving commandment, doing this so that, due to the fact that he bears the image of God within himself, he would not become arrogant, but. on the other hand, so that, due to the fact that he was created in the likeness of God, he would not foolishly imagine that by nature he is a god. But he, having received such great gifts from God, who created him, for from Him he was appointed to be king over earthly creation; at the same time, of course, like all creation, being under God reigning and ruling over him 22, he did not rise to the height of the greatness of the gifts he received; but hastens to seize identity and equality with God; and created man desired to become a god, and having in the worst way dreamed, through the seduction of the serpent, to take possession of divine and sublime super-existent things, he found himself carried away into death and decay; and the one who wanted to steal God’s dignity for himself fell fiercely. And this was extremely fair, so that those who wanted to rise would be humbled by extreme humility. Because everyone who exalts himself will humble himself (Luke 14:11), as if he were trying to steal for himself what God did not give him. No one accepts honor for himself, as the great apostle said, but he who is called from God (who gives it) (Heb. 5:4). 12. And, behold, he became under the power of death, completely corrupted by corruption, originating from the earth, daring to steal the honor of God for himself, and returning again to the earth; today he comes into being by carnal birth, and tomorrow he dies by carnal death; today visible among the living, and tomorrow counted among the dead. And the man who wanted to commit a crime against God rightly suffered this sentence: he happened to suffer as a result of the actions he committed according to his own will and discretion; because he made bad use of the gift of free will, with which God, who created him, honored him by granting him that he bore within himself the most beautiful likeness in relation to Him and His bright image. Man died of his own free will, for God did not create death, and does not rejoice over the destruction of the living (Wis. Sol. 1:13). And he, in truth, became very unhappy and pitiful, who was once the happiest when he was the guardian of Paradise, when he was appointed to be the first inhabitant of Paradise, when he had a life free from labor and hardship, when he spent his life without the need for clothing, did not feel shame, because at that time both his body and soul were beautiful and immaculate, when he was not attacked by passions, when he did not suffer from illnesses, when he was alien to the slavery of man to man, when was free from the violence of the barbarians, when he did not hear demands from tax collectors, when he did not need to meet with moneylenders, when he was not afraid of being torn apart by wild beasts, when he enjoyed complete prosperity, when he tasted the fruits of paradise, when he abundantly enjoyed all the blessings, when he perceived God's light-illuminations, when he himself, being a creature, reigned over earthly creatures, when he bore within himself the image of God and the miraculous the image was adorned with the likeness of God. And so, after he violated God’s saving commandment 23, he, as alien to his former glory, is immediately expelled from Paradise and returns again to the earth, as having become mortal due to sin, and due to great foolishness, he is likened to cattle, having lost that primary honor with which the God who created him adorned him. And thus, whoever sets out to forcibly enrich himself with Divinity becomes a slave to corruption, and death, and passions. 13. But the One who created and brought him earlier from non-existence into existence, seeing him in such a (disastrous) situation, took pity on him and, having compassion, had mercy on him; and, having had mercy, shows mercy on him; and, having mercy, as a lover of mankind - because He is good and a lover of mankind - is prompted by His divine mercy to save him, to call him to his primary glory and dignity, and fulfills His ancient and at the same time humane plan (plan), which He has lovingly conceived since ancient times. Because He, as the Creator, could not bear to see His creation perishing and perishing in the earth and decay. 14. And what is this plan that God has planned for the salvation and redemption of people? - May the wonderful Isaiah proclaim this, who, predicting the seedless conception of God, and foreshadowing His virgin birth, singing a song of gratitude to God for the fulfillment of this divine plan, exclaimed: Lord my God, I will glorify Thee, I will glorify Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful works, the ancient true counsel: so be it. For you have laid solid cities in the dust, so that their foundations may fall; so that the city of the wicked may not be built forever. For this reason, poor people will bless You, and the cities of offended people will bless You. Thou art a helper to every humble city, and a covering for those who are weary because of poverty, and deliver them from evil men (Isa. 15:1-4). This, brethren, is the Divine good announcement; This is what we preach to you today, but not as something that will come true in the future, but as something that has already come true in a divine way and has saved man from the condemnation sentence and raised him to his original glory and bliss, and who created him, as it was before, a friend of God. 15. How is our salvation accomplished by God, or how is our proclamation accomplished? Listen carefully and thoughtfully (for this belongs to wisdom and wisdom, and surpasses all human wisdom, 24), delving into the Divine plan and into the dignity of the Divine announcement. He who created man in the beginning and created him in His own image, judges to save man and redeem His image in no other way than to Himself become human by nature and, having put on flesh, make His image His clothing. Based on this, immiscible elements are mixed; on the basis of this, elements that cannot merge with each other are inextricably mixed; on this basis, elements that are not connected to each other are connected to each other; on this basis, elements that cannot be connected with each other into one whole are connected with each other; on the basis of this, the divine becomes human, in order to make the human divine (Θειότερα); on the basis of this, God's Word, remaining God and God's Word, becomes matter (παχύνεται - “densifies”, “thickens”); on the basis of this, the Uncreated One, as Born from the uncreated God, remaining uncreated, becomes a creature; on the basis of this, the Most High is proclaimed as humble, and the Invisible is seen as visible, and the Intangible is touched, and the Incorporeal comes in the body, and the Immaterial is described in the flesh, and the Passionless is preached as subject to suffering, and the One who has an immortal nature is proclaimed as mortal by nature - so that human nature, subject to passions (and suffering) and death, to elevate into bright immortality and dispassion, and to reconcile man, who has become an enemy and adversary of God, with God and the Father. 16. And how is this fulfilled, accomplished and brought into action? For this is amazing and causes sacred awe, and for the ears of people who think by human standards to comprehend what is most divine seems incredible. But in relation to what God proclaims, human evaluation is not valid. For for God, everything that He would like to do is easy, possible and easily achievable. And this is the clearest and most distinctive sign of Divine power, which is completely not inherent in created nature, therefore, Divine deeds are wonderful and amazing and above human nature and surpass all power inherent in creation. How is this accomplished and brought to a wonderful end? The divinely inspired Luke clearly teaches us this, describing to us the most sacred of all the sacred good news that came to us, (doing this in order) so that no one would distrust the greatness of the thing; so that no one, being himself weak and powerless and unable to accept any work in which God’s omnipotence is more strongly reflected, 25 mistakenly considers that God is powerless to accomplish this. You recently heard what he proclaims, namely: In the sixth month 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). You hear that God sent him, and yet you want to disbelieve things? - Oh, don’t disbelieve God’s command, but rather, in the most pious way, believe that whatever God would like to do, He is very powerful to fulfill it. And from whom else could an Angel be sent, if, of course, only from God, who created him and brought him from non-existence into existence, as he created all angelic nature? So, if we realize that it is God who sent him, and it is proclaimed that the one sent was an Angel, then how can what he proclaims not be true? Let everyone marvel at this and let no one disbelieve the announcement, recognizing the power of God as truly omnipotent and omnipotent. 17. What does the most blessed Angel sent say to the Inexperienced Virgin? Or how does the appearance of such great good announcements announce to Her? And what gives birth, through Her, to this great work of God? He says to Her: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with You (Luke 1:28). The messenger of joy begins his speech to Her with joy. For he knows and knows that to all people, and equally to all creation, his proclamation will be a source of joy and an end to great sorrow, because he knows that on the basis of this Divine mystery the whole world will be illuminated; knows that the darkness of delusion will be dispelled; knows that the sting of death will be dulled; knows that the power of decay will decay; to know that hellish victory will be taken away from him; knows that a lost person, who from ancient times became a slave to those things, as a result of which he lost the pleasure of heaven and was expelled from his blissful residence there, will be saved. And therefore, he puts joy as a preface to his good announcements, therefore he begins his words with joy, and therefore, joy precedes these good announcements, that joy has to be true to everyone due to future events. Because he knows that Divine announcements should begin with words that bring joy, knowing the result of his good announcements, and that his words, if they come true, will bring worldwide joy. 18. What joy and what joyful feeling will not surpass this broadcast of the Angel, which was to the Blessed Virgin, the real Mother of joy? - Rejoice, O Mother of Heavenly Joy! Rejoice, O Mother of the highest joy! Rejoice, Founder (μητρόπολις) of saving joy! Rejoice, O Cause of immortal joy! Rejoice, inexpressible joy of the mysterious Refuge! Rejoice, unspeakable joy, greatly amazed Nivo! Rejoice, all-blessed Source of inexhaustible joy! Rejoice, God-bearing Treasure of eternal joy! Rejoice, life-giving joy, prosperous Planting! Rejoice, unbrided Mother of God! Rejoice, Virgin, who remained incorruptible at Christmas! Rejoice, most wonderful Sight of all! Who can express Your radiance? Who will take upon himself to proclaim Your wonderfulness? Who will have the boldness to tell Your greatness? – You have adorned human nature; You have surpassed the ranks of Angels; You have eclipsed the radiance of the Archangels; You showed the primacy of Thrones in second place; You have shown the exalted place of Dominion to those inferior to Your height; superiority of the Beginnings You are ahead; You have shown the power of the Powers to those inferior to You; You overpowered the strength of the Forces with greater strength; You have surpassed the many-eyed Cherubim with Your earthly eyes; You exceeded the six-wingedness of the Seraphim with Your god-moving wings of the soul; and You exalted yourself above all creation, as one who shone with purity more than all creation, and who received the Creator of all creation, and carried Him and gave birth to Him, and from all the former creation became the Mother of God. 19. Therefore, I say to You: Rejoice, full of grace, since You have become more grace-filled than all creation and since I recognize and know the reason for such joy and grace in You; Therefore, crying and saying, I bring to You: The Lord is with You. Lord, Who, as the Creator, rules over all creation; with You - as He who is contained in Your bosom and carried with Your womb in Your ineffable womb. The Lord is with You: Born in eternity from the Father and together with the Father always visible; with You - now in His conception by You and miraculously became flesh from You. The Lord is with You: first having the first birth in eternity; and now he who receives the second birth from You. The Lord is with You: together with the Father, He rules over all creation; from You, who is cast in the image of a slave and frees human nature from slavery (to sin and the devil). Because in order for the slave to be revealed as master by grace, the Lord becomes a slave. The Lord is with You: He who existed before, in truth, is beyond all creation; and now he is seen together with You, the created one, and through You he becomes one of creation: because the Uncreated is created in You, and from You, as created, comes the Creator. I see that in You the Uncreated is created as a creature, and I contemplate that the Incorporeal has become flesh. 20. He who sent me to You, O Virgin, in heaven was Immaterial and Incorporeal; here I see that He becomes flesh and body. In heaven - Uncreated and separated from every creature 26; here I find that He in You, the Virgin, invariably becomes 27 Creation and creature. In heaven I saw Him as God, not at all participating in human nature (because how could one see human nature in heaven? – Let the Origens not talk again; Let Didymus not go mad again; let the Evagrii not rage, telling empty tales and, together with the disgusting Greeks, inventing the pre-existence of souls) 28; here I see Him invariably becoming a man, and I contemplate a miracle in a miracle: that He is both the unchangeable God and the inexplicable Man: complete in nature, but not complete in hypostasis: having one and the same Face, cognizable in two natures; nor, because of the two natures existing in Him, is divided; nor, due to the fact that both hypostases of which He consists (Divine and human) constitute one and the same, single and indivisible hypostasis, producing a mixture of these natures; nor to the number of Persons of the Heavenly Trinity, which rules over everything, adding to the number of Persons in It; and, I find that He is both a man among men and at the same time God; and I am amazed at the greatness of the miracle. 21. Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you. And what could be higher than this joy, O Mother and Virgo? And what could be greater than the joy that You alone received as an inheritance from God? and what could be more joyful and brighter? – Everything yields to Your miracle; everything yields to Your grace; all the most chosen ones go into second place and occupy a lesser share of glory. God is with You; - who will dare to compete with You? God is from You; who will not immediately yield and, rejoicing even more, give You first place and superiority? Therefore, seeing Your superiority over all creatures, I proclaim to You the greatest things. Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Because from You joy flows not only for people, but it is also bestowed upon the Heavenly Powers. 22. Truly, Blessed are You among women: because You turned into a blessing the curse that Eve deserved; because You caused Adam, who was cursed, to now, thanks to You, receive a blessing. Truly, Blessed are You among women: because, thanks to You, the Father’s blessing extended to all people and freed them from the ancient curse. Truly, Blessed are You among women: because, thanks to You, Your Ancestors are saved: for You will give birth to a Savior who will bring about divine salvation for them. Truly, Blessed are You among women: because You have brought forth without seed the Fruit that bestows blessing on the whole earth and frees it from the curse of growing thorns. Truly, Blessed are You among women: because, being by nature a woman, You will become the Mother of God herself. For if He who has to be born of You is truly God incarnate, then You are rightly called the Mother of God, as having truly given birth to God. 23. But the Blessed and God-inspired Virgin, seeing the divine Angel thus coming to Her and addressing Her with such words, became confused in Her holy soul, and began to carefully ponder within Herself and seek an answer: what do the words of the Angel spoken to Her mean? Because She was surprised and amazed at how the Angel greeted Her. Because it is said (in the Gospel): She saw him and was troubled by his words, and thought about what this kiss would be like. She was, yes, she was full of human wisdom and did not leave anything that was spoken to Her without being examined. Because She was afraid and afraid, knowing about the seduction to which Eve had once been subjected, fearing that She, like that one, would not be deceived again by the seductive serpent; and therefore She prudently put everything to the test, so that it would not happen that the conversation of the serpent would remove Her from the divine light. 24. Seeing Her in such a state, the heavenly Angel sent to Her frees Her from any fear and fear, and removes all anxiety and excitement, and turns to Her with great joy and mercy and affection. – Do not be afraid, Mariam: I am not like the one who deceived Your Foremother; I am not like the one who once destroyed (or: “deceived”) a person; I am not like the one who previously took away the heavenly pleasure from your Ancestors; I am not like the one who deprived a person of a blissful life and combined it with this (earthly) painful vegetation; I am not like the one who, driven by envy, gave birth to death and made all people mortal; I am not like the one who created all the people who were on earth, whom the hand of God created, as transgressors of God’s commandment and thereby turned them back into the earth; I am not like the one who Adam, who at first was a friend of God, then revealed himself to be the enemy of God. I am the Angel of God Almighty, and I am the Archangel of the angelic powers, and among the Angels of God I am called: “Gabriel.” And to speak with You, the immaculate and most pure Virgin, I am sent from God the Father, the Almighty, in order to announce to You the descent into You of His Only Begotten Son, - Who brought everything into being and called everything from non-existence (or: from nothing) into being - and His glorious conception and His all-surpassing incarnation from You and the most wonderful womb-bearing, which is to take place in You in You and His incomprehensible birth from You. Thanks to this, all the enemy’s sophistications are destroyed; thanks to this, all the insidious plans of the enemy, together with him, their seeker, are destroyed; thanks to this, a person is saved and rises from mortal corruption; thanks to this, the night of delusion passes; thanks to this, a person who has become an exile from paradise is restored to paradise; thanks to this, a person who, as a result of the serpent’s advice, has lost friendship with God, again becomes a friend of God. And therefore to You, O Most Blessed Virgin and future Mother of God and Savior of all, I cry: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with You: blessed are You among women: in that You were worthy to receive such great things; the fact that heavenly joy from You will come to the world, and thanks to You, divine blessing flows to people, dulling the power of the ancient curse. 25. And I myself, O Mother of God, praise Your firmness and fully approve of Your prudence, which is reflected in the fact that You are afraid of the traps of a deceiver; that You are afraid of the tricks of the fierce misanthrope; that You are afraid of the secret arrows of the devil; that You experience anxiety and are afraid of all sorts of truly deadly influences of the serpent, (fearing) that You might end up in the position of Eve. Do not be afraid, Mariam: you will find grace from God that does not perish; You have found glorious grace from God; You have found the desired grace from God; You have found blessed grace from God; You have found saving grace from God; You have found from God unfailing grace; You have found unshakable grace from God; You have found invincible grace from God; You have found eternal grace from God. And although there were saints before You, none of them were filled with grace to such an extent as You; no one was so full of divinity as You; no one was so adorned with holiness as You; no one was as exalted as You, no one was as pre-purified as You; no one was so illuminated with light as You; no one was as illuminated as You; no one has risen as high as You. Because no one has come closer to God than You; and no one has been enriched with God’s gifts as much as You; No one has received as much grace from God as You. Everything beautiful that has ever been achieved by people, You have surpassed; You have magnified all the gifts given by God to anyone; because, more than anyone else, You have been enriched to become the Abode of God; no one could contain God within himself to such an extent as You; no one was so strong to accept God within himself; no one has been honored to such an extent with such illumination from God. And therefore, not only did You accept in Yourself God, the Creator of all and the Lord, but You already have Him in Yourself, miraculously incarnated and womb-bearing by You, and after this having to be born and free all people from their ancestral condemnation and grant them salvation, which will have no end. 26. And therefore I called to You and again I will say strongly: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with You: blessed are You among women. Don't worry when you hear my words; Do not be afraid, delving into the meaning of my conversation with You; I do not bring destructive deception to people; I did not come to arouse envy in my fellow slaves, this parent of death; put aside all anxiety in Your heart; drive away from You all hesitation; reject all fear in your soul; I came to You not frightening, although for everyone else I am very frightening; I did not appear in the dignity of my greatness; because I know: To whom I stand, I speak; I know: to whom I was sent from God; I know: Whom I am appointed to serve. On the contrary, it is I, contemplating You, who experience excitement and are filled with fear and trembling; on the contrary, it is - I am amazed at Your greatness and am obsessed with great fear; I fear the greatness of Your grace; I am amazed at Your radiance. I am God's servant and servant; You are the Mother of God, the Mother of my Lord and Creator; You are both the Parent and the Nourisher with Your virgin breast of the One who gives food to all flesh in due season (Ps. 144:15). I am a servant of God and a responsible executor of His will; You have God Himself in the flesh, dwelling in Your womb and as the Bridegroom, who comes from You and gives joy to everyone and gives divine illumination to everyone. Because in You, O Virgin, God - as if in some purest and shining sky - has established His settlement (Ps. 18:5); and from You, as the Bridegroom proceeds from His palace; and, imitating the flow of the giant, he will go through a path in life that will be salutary for all living, and stretching from one end of heaven to the other, and filling the universe with divine warmth and, at the same time, the illumination of life-giving light 29. 27. On this basis, I again bring to You this blessed call to joy: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is in You. I came, bringing joy to people, and not destructive horror: I am a servant of joy, and not a servant of sadness; I am a messenger of joy, not a herald of sorrow. Why are You afraid of me, who, on the contrary, is himself full of reverent fear of You? Why do you feel hesitant in front of someone who himself timidly looks at Your dignity? Why do you feel afraid of me, who is in awe of Your radiance? I am a slave and the least servant of Your Child and Progeny. He created me, who was not in existence; He Himself sent me from the heavenly region to You in order to announce to You His joy-bringing Coming; I proclaim to Thee His indescribable conception; I communicate to You His ineffable incarnation; I will tell you His birth, the real source of all joy. 28. And therefore I say to You, All-Singing Virgin: Do not be afraid, Mariam, for you will find grace from God. You have found grace, which not a single woman has ever found among all women in the aggregate; You have found grace such as no one has ever known; You have found grace that no one has ever perceived before. And what kind of grace is this? - Listen: Behold, conceive in your womb, and bear a Son, and call His name Jesus. This one will be great, and the Son of the Most High will be called: and the Lord God will give him the throne of His father David: and he will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. I was sent from heaven to tell You this; To clearly communicate this good news to You, the Word of the Father, which is to be born of You, sent me (today) to You, commanding me to announce it to You in words and speeches; This is what the Only Begotten Son of the Father commanded me to tell You. At the top (in heaven) He entrusted me with an embassy to You: and I see that He (already) dwells in You, Virgin. Eternal was the One who came to You, the Virgin; He was outside of time, Who in time is conceived by You; The one who is to be born in the flesh from You was incorporeal; indescribable was He Who in You accepts describability (material form). 29. Behold, you conceive in the womb. But do not think, O Virgin, that Your conception will be like the conception that happens to other women. Behold, You will receive in your womb a seedless conception, an unspeakable conception, an ineffable conception, a conception made by God, which did not come from congress with your husband, but a conception that no one can explain. Because how can those born according to the laws of nature explain what is above nature? So, when Your conception exceeds nature, do not examine it by the norms of natural concepts. Give birth to a Son, Who is not only subject to time and death, but moreover, Who is both eternal and above all that is temporal. And give birth to a Son, Who is not only visible in the flesh, but, moreover, Who is also incorporeal. And give birth to a Son, Who is not only Your, the Virgin, Son, but is known, moreover, as the Son of God. And give birth to a Son, Who is known not only as Man, but also as the believed true God. And give birth to a Son, Who does not need anyone else to save Him, but Who Himself grants salvation to all people. And - therefore - you will call His name Jesus: which name translated means: “Savior.” Because it must, O Virgin, that the Savior of all, born of You, should thereby have the name “Jesus”, i.e. – “Savior”; so that on the basis of His very name the power (or: purpose) of the Born One would be revealed, and the saving birth of Your Son would be significant for all people. 30. This one will be great, like the angel named by the Great Council, and as the mighty God, glorified, and glorified, as the Wonderful Counselor of the Father, and revealed as the Prince of Peace, as the Creator, Ruler over all creation and reconciling the heavenly with the earthly. Because He wears the successes of His Leaders on His frame and hands; because He achieves success not through the strength of anyone else, but through His own, exuding peace to everyone. But He is also the Father of the future age: one from one Father, the Parent, born and revealed by the Father of the future age and glorified with His Father before all ages. Having prefaced this, Isaiah prophetically announced, saying: To us a Son was born, and to us was given: Thy Son, O Virgin, whose birth I proclaim to Thee; His rulership was upon His frame, and His name was called: Great Angel of Council, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Ruler, Prince of Peace, Father of the Age to Come (Isa. 9:6). This one will be great: I do not say this in the sense that at the present time He, not being great, will later become great; but - in this: that, being always great, He will remain great. Because, being known by His nature as the Son of the great God and Father, He Himself is defined as “great,” and will be proclaimed as God by His nature: for, being consubstantial with God, His Parent, He will also fully assume identity with You in relation to the (human) nature He assumed. Because God could not have ever begotten a Son who was not equal or similar to Him in respect of the Divine nature, but wholly in everything consubstantial with Him and in everything similar to Him, and in all the properties inherent in nature, identical with Him. 31. This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. Because, in truth, He is always great and is called: the Son of the Most High, as born from the great God Himself and proclaimed as His Only Begotten Son. I say: “he will be” and “he will be called” not in the sense that now He is not such; do not suspect so; but - I say this because of His most wonderful birth and His fleshly incarnation from You. The words “will be” and “will be called” are expressions associated with the concept of time; and since He became a man like you, and like you, in truth, growing in His age, then the mentioned words 30 are used in the future tense, as referring to His human nature. In the same sense, the following words should be understood: “The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David: and He will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Because all this is proclaimed for the sake of His birth in the flesh, which was to be from You. Because if for your sake He appeared as a Man in everything similar to you, then He also took upon Himself all human properties, so that He could hear about Himself as a man, and be subject to human fate, so as not to seem illusory to those who listen to Him, or not to appear unreal to those who see Him; but (He accepted all human properties) in order to show you by the very things the greatness of His true descent to you; in order to present to you clear signs of His Incarnation, which was for your sake. Because how can a person who was not a participant in earthly birth and would not carry within himself an earthly, humble (humiliated) state, because he can be humbler than dust? 31, will he either be great, or will he be called the true Son of the Most High? or how does he inherit the throne of David, irreplaceable by successors? or how will He reign in the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will have no end? 32 Because in a mysterious sense, “David” and “James” mean Christ Himself. Because He Himself is a “mighty hand,” i.e. “by force” 33, and overthrew your enemies and gave you victory over them. With His help, those of the people who believe in Him will rightly receive primacy from the ancient Jewish people, and the fruits of the birthright, which for a long time belonged to them, will receive for themselves, as those who have fully believed in Christ. But He, who is eternal by His nature and having an incomprehensible birth from the Father, now, because of the God-wise incarnation from You, has - it is said - to perceive these provisions, so that those properties that He Himself possesses on the basis of His immortal nature, He, by Divine grace, could bestow upon you, with whom, by His love for mankind, He became akin and became of the same nature with you, according to the flesh He received from You, subject to suffering and death. 32. But the Virgin and All-Immaculate and Surpassing every creature, having received God in Her womb - having heard about the Divine conception and having learned about the miraculous pregnancy and having received the gospel regarding the amazing Nativity, marveling at what was spoken to Her and knowing the female nature and comparing with the conception that occurs in women according to natural laws, and taking into account the birth that happens to them, as never before without meeting with her husband, and at the same time seeing Herself untouchable and not having tasted such communication even in Her thoughts, she says to the Archangel Gabriel, who proclaims such greatness to Her, such great works of God, who reveals and proclaims to Her the good announcements of joy: How will this be, where I do not know a husband? How can I believe your speeches that speak about what is above human nature? I saw many women who gave birth to children, and I did not know one of them who would give birth without cohabitation with her husband. And how can this happen to Me without a combination of natural laws? And how will I be the Mother of the Son, the Man, when I have no contact with men? Perhaps you think, O Angel, that since I am betrothed to a husband according to the Law of Moses, I have also seen the marriage bed, on the basis of which conceptions and wombs and childbirth take place? But I in no way had marital relations with My betrothed and guardian. So, how do you proclaim to Me the conception and birth and, of course, the subsequent feeding of the Son who is to be born of Me? 33. But don’t you know, O servant of the Good Annunciations that transcend nature, that Mary did not share meals with men and did not have any communication and did not have conversations with young men? Know the grace of My virginity and do not tell Me about unartful conception. Know the greatness of My purity, and do not tell Me about unmarried womb-bearing. Know the impeccability of My chastity, and do not tell Me about a birth that exists outside of natural laws. Know My inviolable purity, and do not cry out to Me for incredible feeding from virgin breasts. Don’t you know that almost from My birth, I was raised in the Holy of Holies, where no man is, where no man enters, where no man of the male sex sets foot? Know My honorable way of life, and do not persuade Me to a carnal way of thinking. Know the purity of My behavior, and do not suspect in Me the custom characteristic of mothers. Virginity and marriage are not the same thing, O Angel; celibacy and cohabitation are not the same thing; All-sacred purity and the marriage bed are not the same thing. Because, although marriage is honorable and the bed, according to the Law of Moses, is undefiled (Heb. 8:4), however, behold, the grace of virginity is far superior to them. There is a big difference between the one and the other, and there is no comparison at all between the one and the other. So why do you nullify the dignity of virginity and proclaim to Me what pertains to marriage and the marriage bed? This is why I am afraid of your conversation; That’s why I’m afraid of your speeches; Therefore, I do not accept your greeting with the call to rejoice without (preliminary) reasonable research, without wise reasoning, without a true test of the subject - so that, having believed incredible words, I myself would not be deceived by the thought and not follow in the footsteps of My mother Eve and not become the culprit (or: “matchmaker”) for unfortunate people of even greater evils and even worse misfortunes. And on this basis I answer you, raising the question to the norms of natural laws: How will this happen if I don’t know my husband? and yet, as you say, I will bear a Man? Your speech is incredible; words do not correspond to the meaning and are alien to the general state of affairs. Therefore, I will not accept them unless you logically explain to me the meaning of what you said and explain to me how one can be combined with the other. So, explain to Me the meaning of your announcement, and then I will believe your words. The fall of Eve teaches Me to be more careful and prudent; the fall into which she, who was artless and gullible and alien to exploring words and thoughts, was drawn into by that seductive whispering of the beginnings of the evil serpent. Oh, may it not happen that I - having believed the extraordinary words - become the second Eve! 34. The Archangel, having heard the words addressed to him from virgin and immaculate lips, again meekly answers Her; and since these things are difficult to explain by natural laws, he provides the solution to the question as belonging to a sphere existing above nature, and thereby removes It from the study of concepts. I know, O Virgin, and I know well,” he says, “that the marriage bed is alien to You: I see the perfection of Your virginity; I contemplate the divine inspiration of Your way of thinking; I see the impeccability of Your integrity; I have Your absolute purity before my eyes. I know that You were raised and grown into the Holy of Holies, and from there you have holiness of body and soul. I know that Joseph was chosen by name only to be Your Betrothed: not in order to be the father of Your Son, but in order to be His faithful and God-loving servant. Why are you mentioning to me something that is not relevant in this case? “I tell You what is higher than the things You mentioned. You bring me the natural and the human; and I tell You (orig.: “I cry out”) the most sublime and divine. If You knew the meaning of my words, You would not bring me ordinary female states; would not mention to me their humble position; would not point out to me the laws of nature, apart from which a woman never gives birth. I know human customs, although I myself am not human by nature. I also know that communication between a man and a woman leads to the birth of a person. I am not ignorant of this, although I am completely alien to it: because one is an incorporeal nature, and the other, again, is a carnal nature; and one is what constitutes the law and is the way of life of the disembodied, and the other is the custom of the carnal. Leave me the lowly and earthly things, and look to me at the sublime and heavenly; Leave me the insignificant and very small, and look to me at the most wonderful and greatest. Today I do not preach to You a birth according to the laws of nature, but I proclaim to You a Nativity that transcends nature and custom. 35. I know that a virgin, O Virgin, has never given birth, but You will give birth like a virgin and remain a virgin. I know that without intercourse with a man, a woman has never given birth, but You will give birth, because God has determined so. Human nature did not create itself so as to dictate its own laws. God, who created it and determined the corresponding laws, can also, when He wishes, change the laws of nature, which He Himself created by creating. If God so desires, then who can resist the commandments of God? Yes, indeed, all women become mothers by first dating men. You, remaining a virgin, will become a Mother, based on God’s will. God will create another new conception in relation to You; God will reveal another birth 34 in relation to You. Because it is by no means impossible for Him to do anything that He would like to do; His very desire immediately becomes action, because none of the creatures can prevent Him, of which He is the omnipotent Creator. How could it be that God, Who can do everything, would not be able to make You, O Virgin, a mother? Is it only to the laws and definitions and regulations that He established in the beginning that He Himself submits and is in slavish obedience in relation to those laws that He wanted to govern the lives of people. But such an opinion will not do; it is not pious to resolve the issue in such a way; The following judgment is not worthy of God: to make God a slave, subject to His own laws; Submit God to those regulations to which he wanted people to submit. I rejoice in contemplating Your watchful caution; I rejoice, noticing Your inviolability; I rejoice, seeing Your prudence, although You object to my words. Because I judge this not because of their words of unbelief, and I do not see a contradiction (objection) in Your statements, but a wise and reasonable study and testing of the subject and prudence. 36. So, conceive in the womb, as I said; or better to say: as I see: and she has already conceived, - that’s why I greeted You with the word: Rejoice, and called You to joy; and give birth to a Son, Who created You when You were not yet, just as He created all creation before You. Because everything was by the Word of God (John 1:13); and You, O Virgin, will give birth to the Word of God and God, not as alien to human nature, as He was born from the Father in eternity, but as having become flesh and man without change (of His Divine nature) and confusion (of the Divine nature with the human nature He assumed), without transformation and carnal confusion (i.e., without the Divine nature absorbed human nature in Him; or, on the contrary, human nature absorbed the Divine, as the wicked Nestorians and Monophysites teach) 35 because God, the real omnipotent Creator of nature, is by His nature above this; for He determined the boundaries for you, and not for Himself. So, as I said before, You will give birth to the ever-present Son of God, Who is the Word of the Parent, and You will not give birth to Him incorporeal, but consisting of flesh and blood, having a rational and invisible soul and everything that man is by his being; Who in You, the Immaculate One, “like rain descending on the fleece” (Ps. 71:6) and receiving flesh from Your virgin blood, creating the soul Himself as He pleases, uniting this and combining in Himself hypostasis into the uncut hypostasis of the one Son, will be born from You in a miraculous way, preserving You, His Mother, virgin, and making You the unartful Mother of God. You will give birth when the period of pregnancy is completed, because the Lover of Mankind desires, desires in this too to be like people, in order to become a man in all respects; at the same time without ceasing to be God and without becoming involved in human sinfulness. So, no longer give me human judgment: How will this happen if I don’t know my husband? 37. For Her part, the Most Pure Virgin, having undaunted boldness, answers the Angel with fearless lips: Hear, O Herald of My miraculous conception and My virgin womb and birth: how can I not marvel at your words? How can I not be amazed at your words? - Because you tell Me things that transcend nature; something that has never happened among humans before. I know that whatever God wills, He is able to do it. But what you want to announce to Me in the words of your annunciation has not happened until today. Yes, often women suffering from infertility and therefore likened to barren stones, then, by the will of God, gave birth to children. The virgin, who has incorruptible integrity and is pure from marriage with a man, has not given birth to this day. I know that Sarah was barren for many years; but then she gave birth to Isaac, and this was when she came to old age and cited her gray hair as a witness to her many years: but God commanded so, and it was not possible that this would not be fulfilled. I know that Rebekah was barren; and then gave birth to two twins, when at the same time she gave birth to Jacob and Esau, descended from the same father and from the same apparently barren mother, and then when both were in advanced years. I know that Anna atoned for her childlessness (with many and great good deeds) and sobbed about her infertility, and mourned the death of her mother’s womb, and therefore did not want to eat or drink, since she was unable to bear the grief due to her infertility; but, behold, she, begging God with tears, received what she wanted and gave birth to Samuel and broke the bonds that bound her to infertility: because God heard the voice of her prayer and, as the Almighty, fulfilled her request. Among them I will include Mary, who gave birth to Me and, on the basis of prayers, gave birth to Me. Because she also bore the name: “Anna,” and along with her name, like her, she suffered from infertility. But she also intensely turned to God, Who is above everything, and offered up numerous prayers to Him, begging Him to help her become a mother; and, behold, by the command of God, she gave birth, breaking the bonds of childlessness that bound her. And I can list many barren wives who, based on the command of God, became mothers. But until today I have not heard that a virgin has ever given birth during her life: how is it that you - as you say - came to tell Me. 38. So, I do not disbelieve God’s command: because everything that He would like to do, He does. But I am amazed at the meaning of what you said and am amazed at the wonder and unnaturalness of this and the unheard of thing for the ears of people; and I rightly want to know how this will happen and how it will be fulfilled. And in view of the above, I do not answer you in this way: “this will not happen to Me, because I do not know the husband”; but I just ask you: How will this happen if I don’t know my husband? Because nothing like this had ever happened, and it was not known that a virgin would give birth; Therefore, I wanted to know: how can I, being a virgin, become a mother and give birth to a Child, without receiving the seed to give birth to a child and bring into the world? Therefore, asking in the most natural way, I tell you again: How will this happen to me, even if I don’t know a husband? Because I do not bring words of unbelief, but I want to be precisely guided. Tell Me how I will conceive and explain to Me what will be the reason for the birth, and you will find Me not disbelieving your words, but obeying your words. Because (I know) it is not possible that what God wants to do should not come to pass. 39. The announcer of these Good Proclamations, the Archangel, having heard this from the lips of the Mother of God who was truly the Mother of God, surprised by Her answer and Her prudence, answers Her: “Yes, in the highest degree beautiful and wise, O Virgin Mother of God, You remembered how in ancient times there were wives who were at first barren, and then became mothers of children and somehow surpassed their nature when God had mercy on them and took pity on them, being the Lord and Creator and Creator of nature. Because where God approves, the laws of nature give way. So, by God’s command, they overcame the shortcomings of their nature and, having put them aside, bore the fruit of the womb. So You too, who came from the barren Anna and conquered the nature of Your parent, being a pure Virgin and Virgin, remaining subsequently, miraculously, without a seed and without any extraneous influence, will give birth to a Son: because He Himself, who has to be born of You, prompts You to this. Because He Himself is also the Lord of nature, being its Creator and Provider. Because it was fitting for Him and had to, having become a Man out of love for mankind for the redemption of all people, to ensure that His birth occurred only from the Virgin, outside of marital pleasures and carnal descent, making a glorious and saving Incarnation from You. 40. If then (as You say) that a pure and immaculate Virgin has not given birth to this day and it was not known that the mother of a child conceived without a seed has ever existed, and this causes You uncertainty and You want to know whether it ever happened that a virgin gave birth, then I, for my part, ask You and seek an answer from You: did it ever happen before that God became human? or did God ever deign to become incarnate? or did God ever become a man? or was God ever conceived without a seed? or is God ever pregnant? or did God ever have a birth in the flesh from a woman? or was God ever suckled at a woman's breast? or did God ever cry, as babies tend to cry? or did God ever increase in age? or has God ever lived with you 36 people? or did God ever die for people? or was God ever crucified on the cross? or was God ever pierced in the side with a spear? or has God ever accepted a three-day burial? or has it ever been seen that God endured all this suffering in order to free man from all suffering and stop the violence of death and corruption, and restore His image, man, incorruptible and immortal? So, if all this, O Virgin, never happened before, but was saved for the present time and was announced from above, as if it were due, with Your help, to come to fruition, then what other virgin could have been before You, that You are seeking to receive from me identification and confirmation of Your virgin birth? No, oh Virgo, a virgin has never given birth, never; but even after You, no other virgin became, and after You, no virgin, O Virgin, will become the only Mother of God. Because you are the only one of all women who will give birth as a virgin, and you are the only one of all women who will be called the Mother of God. Because as one at the end of the ages (Heb. 9:26), the Only Begotten Son of God the Father will become man and reveal from You, and that alone, the miraculous Incarnation. 41. And the fact that this promise of God will come true thanks to You, and that alone, I will convince You with prophetic broadcasts. So the wonderful Isaiah, foreseeing the incarnation of the Word and God that would come from You, the Divine conception, and the feeding with milk ineffable, thus clearly foreshadowed: Behold, the Virgin will receive with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel (Is. 7:14), and this Virgin, and that only, is You, and before You there is no other There was no virgin, and after You there will not be. Because the divinely inspired Prophet does not say: Behold, the virgins will conceive and give birth to sons and call their name “Immanuel,” so that I could present to You (as an example) another virgin giving birth; (But the Prophet does not say so) because Emmanuel, whom You, O Virgin, will give birth to in the flesh, is the only one, and another Emmanuel was not born before This and will not be born after This; just as no other virgin will give birth miraculously; and You are the only one, O Virgin, His Divine Parent, and no other woman before You was called “Mother of God,” or will be so called after You. 42. So, in the most beautiful and appropriate way, I cried to You: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with You. Because what is said in Hebrew: “Immanuel”, in Greek translation means: “God is with us.” Because when will God be with people and numbered with you people, if not now, in the last times of the age, when He received from the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16) and took flesh from You? And the very word “Immanuel,” if we interpret it, contains a special meaning: it means two natures - Divine and human - of which He consists and in which He is known. Because the existing, perfect, pre-eternal God became a perfect Man in You, receiving human nature from You and uniting it with Himself in hypostasis, preserving unchanged the qualitative certainty (ποιότητα) of both of these natures, as well as the properties inherent in their nature and essence. Because God is the Word 37, united with Him hypostasis and combined with Him into an uncut confluence (being) of a single Person and a single Hypostasis, which union did not change the nature of the natures combined in Him (Divine and human) and did not reduce them into the identity of being 38. So, if Christ preserved the difference of natures and beings between one and the other of natures (His), however, He will appear from You to the world as one (hypostasis), Son and Christ, without showing the difference between (many) sons and Christs 39 . Because, just as He is the true God, so He will be born as a true Man, without revealing anything untrue in His assimilation of human properties, no matter what they are called or whatever they are (with the exception of sinfulness, which the fallen human race acquired on the basis of the transgression of the commandment of God in Paradise) 40 . Therefore, He will be called: “Immanuel,” as He is truly sublime in His nature: He is both God indescribable, and He is also man in truth: first, by being born in eternity from the Father; the second - according to the womb-bearing that exists in time and in the flesh by You, His Mother. Because in this way it pleased Him to save human nature; namely, He, the Inexhaustible, exhausted Himself to such an extent that humanity, miserably impoverished and sunk into the land of decay, could again be raised from the earth and made a participant in the heavenly destiny, instead of the (lost) pleasure that it had previously had in paradise. 43. And how this, O Virgin, who contains God, will happen, I will tell you and explain in words, since I came to tell you this too. - The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You: in the same way, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. - Behold, You have a clear answer to Your question; you have a true indication. “The Holy Spirit will descend upon You, Immaculate One, having the power to make You even more pure and give You the strength to bear fruit. The almighty Power of God will overshadow you, i.e. The Word of God and His Consubstantial Son. Because He is the “Hand” and “Shoulders” and “Strength” of God and the Father Himself and through Him, as through the Son, the Father did everything and everything that was created about Him (Col. 1:17), and He has to fulfill His ineffable Incarnation in You and reveal in You the unmarried conception and make His birth from You, which surpasses all understanding. 44. In the same way, the Holy One who is born will be called the Son of God. Therefore, if He who is to be born of You, the Virgin Mother of God, is called “Son of God,” then how can She who is to give birth to Him not be a virgin? - Because this will be clear evidence and an indisputable sign of His Divinity, which rules over everything; namely: that the Virgin, who is immaculate, will produce an ineffable birth and after an incorruptible birth will remain a virgin. For if the One who is born of You, the Virgin, is God - as, of course, He is and is proclaimed as God - then would He really not be able to do what He wanted to do? He is God, although he is born as a man; and He is a Man, although as God He will preserve You, His Parent, as a virgin. It is for this reason that I, Gabriel, was sent to You, the Virgin, in order to show You in my very name that He who is born of You, the Most Pure Virgin, is God and Man. Because both “Gabriel” in translation points to God and man 41 . And despite the fact that there are many angels in heaven, God did not want to send any of them as soon as He sent me one of their number, called “Gabriel,” so that with the words of my name I would clearly show You that He who has to be born of You is both God and man, and bears all things by His power (Heb. 1:3); and just as the “Holy One” will sanctify the birth of all people, and just as He is called “Son of the Most High,” so He will make those who believe in Him sons of the Most High by grace. So, O Virgin, believe my words, because they will be fulfilled entirely and by the thing itself. Because in proclaiming to You, I, as a proclaimer of the Truth and an Angel, speak the truth. And in order for You to remain unshakable in regard to faith, for greater confirmation and trust in the fulfillment of my speeches, I will present to You an indisputable sign, namely: Behold, Elizabeth is Your little girl, and she conceived a son in her old age: and this sixth month is called barrenness for her: for with God every word fails. (Luke 1:36–37). And this will serve as the strongest proof for You that all my words, my Good announcements to You, Most Honest in all respects, will find a true and saving conclusion for the sake of life and the redemption of all people. Because by the action of God's power, just as it is possible for barren women who are unable to give birth to be able to give birth, so it is for the unbrided Virgin to give birth. So, You, O gracious and God-inspired Virgin, rejoice in the fact that God and the Lord of all has blessed You and that You will give birth to the Son of God, Who will be a joy for the entire human race. 45. The Virgin Mary, believing him, as well as the fact that everything promised to Her from the Lord would fully come true, with readiness, meekly and at the same time humbly (for the Most Pure Virgin had to give birth to Christ, “meek and humble in heart” and She also had to be enriched by His humility and meekness) 42, and no less with the spirituality inherent in virginity, answered the Angel: Behold, the servant Lord: be unto me according to thy word. 46. And, behold, Gabriel the Archangel, having heard this from the Virgin Mary, returned to heaven, from where he was sent to Her. She conceived God, who sent him, who is mountain (in heaven) - we glorify together with the Father, but down (on earth) and kept by her in carnal pregnancy. Because together the Word and God descended to Her and, through the voice of an Angel, entered Her divine womb and became incarnate and without change put on the Body, receiving from Her flesh, which was not created on the basis of marriage, and, in truth, uniting it with Himself: flesh, spiritualized by the rational soul, however, before the unspeakable union with Him, which did not exist in itself. Because at the same time (simultaneously) – flesh; at the same time, she is the flesh (received) of God’s Word; at the same time - flesh, spiritualized by a rational soul; because in Him she (His flesh) acquired a hypostasis, and before the combination with Him did not exist. And none of the people like us ever had flesh (by itself), and which then combined with God’s Word and entered into union with Him; but at the same time there arose flesh, spiritualized by a rational soul, which flesh’s destiny was to become the flesh of God’s Word, spiritualized by a rational soul and received from the virgin and most pure blood of the Most Pure Virgin. Because for those who want to most wickedly divide the one Son and Christ into two sons and two Christs, there is no basis or premise on which they could affirm that the flesh of Christ ever existed in itself and had its own person and then thus came into unity in relation to nature with the Word and God. Such a statement is completely incorrect, because those who belong to different spheres and are in separation from each other never allow union with each other in relation to nature or hypostasis. When the union in relation to nature does not first take place and the combination according to hypostasis does not take place, then one and the same hypostasis does not appear and one and the same person is not proclaimed, inseparable and inseparable and not allowing any dissection 43 . 47. And the inseparable and inextricable union of two natures - Divine and human - occurring in the Incarnation of the Word, just as this kind of madmen does not reach the minds of this kind of madmen and completely excludes them from among the children of Piety (and such are Nestorius 44 and Pauls 45 and Theodora 46 and like-minded people of their atheistic frenzy) 47 and those who want to mix nature (Divine and human in the God-man) and those who try to make a single nature out of two natures, it excludes the pious from the assembly. Because, just as the Word, when incarnate, became incarnate - according to their madness - changing His (Divine) nature by turning it into a carnal one, so neither did He change the flesh, combined with the mind and soul, which it received from the Virgin, this Mother of God, into His Divine nature and turned it into a Divine being; but It remained unchanged and above any transformation and free from any confusion, and clothed itself in flesh consubstantial with us, and for our sake it became truly Man. The flesh also remained (accepted by Him from the Mother of God) unchanged and without any change or displacement (with the Divine nature of the Word) and corresponding to the Word for combination with it, and united with Him according to the inseparable hypostasis, and having one essence with us and preserving in relation to everything related to nature and essence and being an unchangeable similarity with us, not suffering any separation with the word or allowing cutting or separation (from Him); but being the own and personal flesh of the Word Himself and converging to unite with Him into one hypostasis, it is located and abiding within its own boundaries of (human) nature; showing, indeed, the difference with Him in relation to His Divine nature, but not knowing the difference with Him in relation to the Person, but truly becoming with Him into one and only hypostasis and Her unique and at the same time composed, because She is not simple and not uncomposed 48, but not constituting one composed nature with Him; because such a false judgment is the beginning of confusion and serves as the basis for heretical statements that speak of a change that occurs on the basis of the transformation of one of the two natures in Christ into another: Divine - into human or, conversely, human - into Divine. So, the Incarnate Word, just as it rejects those who divide and cut His one fast, so also rejects from the sacred fences of the Church those who merge both natures in the God-Man into one and speak of mixing them and changing one into the other. These are the Sevirs 49 and Eutyches 50 and Dioscorus 51, Apollinaris 52 and Polemons 53, and before them the former: Simons 54, Valentines 55, Marcions 56, Basilides 57, Manes 58 and Menanders 59, and now the harmfully invading, all leading to excitement, many-headed the heresy of the Akefalians, which, indeed, waging one, common war against Piety - Orthodoxy, and against itself is waging countless and incessant wars 60. So, these truly sacred and worthy of the sacred hearing of the pious, our good announcements, really sweetly console us, and drive away the bad and crazy ones from our celebration of the Annunciation, expelling them as wickedly thinking and heretically interpreting. 48. But I, the least one 61, who has come forward to announce them to you today, only to you, the only children of piety and faith, who piously accept what has been spoken, loudly cry out and clearly preach and broadcast: “Good announcements! Good announcements! Good Proclamation! Good announcements about our Savior; Good announcements about God incarnate for us; Good announcements about the coming of God to us; The good announcement that God took flesh from us; Good announcements about the seedless conception of God; Good announcements, by virtue of which we, the despised, are exalted and adored, and become gods by grace 62. We are no longer afraid of corruption, we are no longer afraid of suffering, we are no longer in awe of death, we are no longer afraid of the vile devil, we are no longer afraid of his hidden attacks, we are no longer terrified of his tyranny (violence), but we are all gods; We are all seen as citizens of the heavenly city of Jerusalem. Therefore, we will have our residence in heaven, where we will receive our inheritance and dwell in ineffable abodes. 49. Bringing, brethren, good announcements proclaiming all this, we today come to you, beloved. Because the good news now proclaimed to you is the beginning, and the root, and the foundation of everything that has been said above. Because from here, as you know, an abundance of blessings flows for us, emanating as if from some source and at the same time irrigating the entire universe, and cheering and satiating and elevating us to heavenly villages, and revealing us to be participants in the most divine abodes and blessed gifts there. And therefore, often, rejoicing, I cry loudly: “Good announcements! Good announcements! Good Proclamation! - to which I call and encourage you and wished you to celebrate (receiving) them today. Because this is where our salvation comes from; from here our liberation shines; from here our adoption to God is accomplished; hence our return to our former dignity and heavenly pleasure; from here the Word and God, having come to save us, begins the work of our salvation. Today He makes an introduction to His mercy towards us; today reveals the beginning of our deification, which for people there is nothing more precious; nothing more dear to the earthly; nothing more gratifying for mortals. For this reason, the Second Adam, having accepted the virgin earth (matter), creating Himself in the image of man, posits a second beginning to human nature, renewing the decrepitude of the first and showing us the second, ageless, which, although related to it, the first, and of the same tribe with it, however, in comparison with it, does not have the same vital forces and not the same dignity and glory. This (first), due to the first Adam, became condemned, and this (second), thanks to the Second Adam, is freed from condemnation 63. This, due to the first Adam, lost its divine radiance, and this, thanks to the Second Adam, was restored to heavenly glory. This, because of the first Adam, who was from the earth of earth (1 Cor. 15:47) and the earthly mind fell under the yoke of slavery, and this, thanks to the Second Adam, the Only Begotten Son of God, was worthy of adoption to God, and was enriched with the gift of crying out to Him: Abba, Father (Rom. 8:5). 50. So, brothers, are our good announcements small? Is it really of little value to announce our good announcements? Is it really not superior to any other radiance and does not prevail over any other luminosity and does not overshadow any other beauty? And so, therefore, I appeal to you, my accomplices and like-minded people: “Good announcements! Good announcements! Good Proclamation! - and I will never get enough of crying out like that. But I keep the word, which still wants to extend and flow further. Because I see that the listeners are tired, although they are not satisfied with listening to our sacred good announcements. Because your spirit is vigorous, but your flesh is weak: because you want to be satisfied with words, and at the same time you are no longer able to strain your attention. I know that the desire to be satiated with a word, no matter how divine and sublime it may be, meets an enemy in the form of a lack of attention among listeners, and especially if they are oversaturated with listening. So, let us sacredly and sublimely celebrate this sublime and sacred holiday - our receipt of these sublime and sacred good announcements, and we will honor it in a worthy and appropriate manner, so that thanks to this, we can easily achieve heavenly blessings, of which for us the root and source of promises 64 has become the current holiday - about Christ Jesus Himself, our Lord, Who is with the Father and the Holy Spirit glory, honor, power, splendor forever and ever. Amen. In the notes section, where the stories of heretics and heresies were cited, we used and made direct extracts from a number of manuals and works of famous authors, such as: prof. Kartashev “Ecumenical Councils”, prof. Posnov “History of the Christian Church”, “Great Orthodox Encyclopedia”, Encyclopedic Dictionaries (with articles by Prof. V. Solovyov, Prof. Andreev and several others), and we also used manuals in foreign languages. We took the liberty of making some clarifications ourselves. That is, God’s compassion for people who have fallen and been captured by the devil. The parentheses belong to the original. “Hypostatic”, i.e., possessing a complete, self-sufficient personality for its existence. The interpretation of this word is given by St. John of Damascus in his “Accurate Exposition of the Orthodox Faith”, and then by Michael Psellus in his work “On Various Subjects” (this work, among other theological works of Michael Psellus, is available in my translation). This word is rarely used, although it is found in our Slavic Menaions (see Dictionary of the Church Slavonic language by priest G. Dyachenko, vol. 1 p. 98). The parentheses belong to the original. "Clean." At St. For the Fathers, this also signifies the concept of immediacy. Sabellius was a heretic who lived around the middle of the 3rd century. He was a Libyan by birth and may have had presbyterian rank. He was an educated man and enjoyed great influence, which made his heresy very dangerous. Sabellius denied the three postases and, in the words of St. The Father “mixed three Divine positions into one Person.” The main position of Sabellius reads: “One and the same is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so that these three names are one and the same poststasy, just as the body, soul and spirit are in man.” God in Himself, being in a state of perfect peace or silence, is a pure monad, alien to any discrimination, but, emerging from His silence for creation and provision of the world, or becoming the speaking Word, He appears as the Father giving laws to people, in the New Testament He appeared as the Son saving people and continues to appear as the Spirit sanctifying them. Thus, the three Persons are not persons in the sense of real, independent persons, but in the sense of only external forms of detection in the world of the monad; and three faces, this is only a form of the appearance of the Divine monad in the world, and these very forms are only temporary. When the Father was revealed in the world, neither the Son nor the Spirit existed yet, and when the Son began to reveal Himself, the Father ceased to exist, and with the beginning of the revelation of the Spirit, the Son ceased to exist; the time will come when the Holy Spirit, having completed His revelation, will return to the indifferent Divine monad, where the Father and Son have returned. St. Dionysius of Alexandria strenuously fought against this heresy. The Council of Alexandria in 261 condemned Sabellius and his heresy. After this, the Roman Council in 262 also condemned Sabellianism, and Pope Callistus excommunicated Sabellius from the Church. Further information about him is unknown, although it is assumed, in view of his great popularity in the East, that he left Rome for the East. By the end of the 3rd century, Sabellianism had weakened, but as early as the 4th century, Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra and his disciple Fotim, were ready to restore Sabellianism, albeit in a slightly modified form. Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, recognizes the Church, as a heresiarch, of the so-called “Dukhobors”. He died before the Second Ecumenical Council of 381. Although some Sts. The leadership of this heresy, which teaches that the Holy Spirit is not in the real sense God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son, is attributed by the Fathers to some other heresy leaders, and some modern Church historians believe that Macedonius himself was not guilty of this heresy, but the undoubted authority of the Church considers him the leader of this heresy and anathematized him at the rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, along with others heresy leaders. Unlike Arianism, this heresy was short-lived and left no traces. Together with other heresies, it was condemned by the 2nd Ecumenical Council. “Human mixture” – that is, our human being. The translation of this phrase, of necessity, was made with a certain abbreviation of a very complex text, a literal translation of which would make reading needlessly difficult and complicated. Marcellus of Ancyra was a heretic who renewed Sabellianism, although in a slightly different form. The venerable bishop of the city where the meeting of the 1st Ecumenical Council was planned, an outstanding comrade-in-arms of St. Athanasius the Great, a man who played a large role at the 1st Ecumenical Council in the fight against Arius, he unexpectedly showed his face as a heretic. Having created his theological system, he presented his work to Emperor Constantine, to whom he dedicated his work. The Emperor gave it to the members of the Tirs and Jerusalem Councils for consideration. The fathers of the council found that Marcellus's work was heretical and breathed Sabellianism. Having deposed Marcellus, they appointed the famous lamp of Orthodoxy, Basil, to the Ancyra department. Marcellus builds his system, as he claims, only on the basis of St. Scriptures. He denies all other authorities except his own. He writes that Logos is the proper name of the not yet incarnate Deity. “Ethereal Logos” is not yet the Son; He became the Son only from the time of the Incarnation, when He took on the flesh that was created. The Logos is in the Father, He is laid down as “possibility”, as “power”. Then, this power manifests itself in the creation of the world. The act of creation of the world, as Marcellus puts it, is the “first oikonomia.” In the Divine there is only one Vposta: God exists as a Monad. His appearance in the Trinity is only a historical phenomenon. This is only the Trinity of revelation. The Trinity appears and reveals itself to us in connection with the economy of salvation, which brings the Trinity out for us from Its hidden transcendental existence. The “second economy” is coming; The Logos becomes the Son and becomes the head of creation in order to impart to it incorruptibility and immortality. For this reason, God accepted flesh “strange from God.” This flesh is not absolutely eternal. It may stop, because this “second economy” is something transitory. The Monad must return to its absolute rest by "collapsing itself." The Incarnation is temporary and the kingdom of the Son will cease and pass into the kingdom of God. To the question: “Where does the flesh go, which Christ assumed, taking on human nature?” Marcellus replies that: “Scripture tells us nothing about this.” Then Marcellus also invents a “third economy” to explain the actions of the 3rd Person – the Holy Spirit. He says: “before the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, He was in the Logos and in the Father. His appearance is a new expansion, revelation of the Monad. First, the Monad expanded into the Logos, and then the Logos Himself, continuing the expansion, opened in the Spirit. The appearance of the Spirit is already a double expansion. Therefore, the Holy Spirit proceeds “from the Father and the Son.” Thus Marcellus laid the foundation for the Roman Catholic filioque. Eunomius, Bishop of Cyzicus, originally from Cappadocia, was a 4th century heresiarch who preached extreme Arianism. Through the scientific works of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa, his teaching was refuted, he was deprived of his throne and exiled to his homeland, where he died in 398. He taught that our minds can have a completely correct concept of the nature of the Divine. The essence of this Divine nature is the unconditional originality, unproducedness or ungeneracy of the Divinity; from here he concluded that the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity, as Born, cannot be part of the Divine Being; The nature of the Son is not only not identical, but even dissimilar to the nature of the Father. Eunomius even avoids calling Christ the Son of God, so that this would not be considered as one in essence with the Father, but speaks only as “Begotten.” Baptism, which was performed in the name of the “Unborn,” corresponded to Eunomius’s concept that the only connection between God and us is faith based on reason; therefore, during baptism, only the upper part of the body was immersed, believing that the lower part of the body was not subject to salvation and should be left to the devil. The Eunomian sect flourished during the reign of Valens and was recruited from the upper classes of society, and soon died out. Eudoxius was an Arian. His works were found only in the last century. He was first bishop of Geramanicia in Syria (370), and then took the see of Constantinople; he enjoyed great influence at the court of Emperor Valens. He revealed himself as a fierce persecutor of the Orthodox. Asterius is a prominent Arian, a personal friend of Arius, whose teachings he diligently spread. He was a rhetorician, i.e. literature teacher. During the Diocletian persecution, he renounced his faith in Christ, and for this reason, subsequently, could not be elevated to the clergy. The works of Asterius have not reached us. Peter, nicknamed “The Clothmaker” (so named on the basis of his former profession), was a zealous Monophysite. To the Trisagion Song he added the words: “Crucified for us.” In 467, he appeared as a seeker for the See of Antioch during the lifetime of the Orthodox Patriarch Martyrius. The latter, unable to fight, left his pulpit, saying: “I retreat from the disobedient clergy, from the disobedient people, from the Church, which has lost its purity, reserving only the dignity of the priesthood.” But Peter the Clothmaker did not remain at the pulpit for long; he fled, fearing the royal wrath. Sevier (or North) - Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch (519–538). Having been baptized when he was already an adult, he became a monk and revealed himself as an ascetic. Using the support of Emperor Anastasius and his court, he came to Constantinople, where he gathered around himself adherents of Monophysitism. He preached a lot and these sermons were published as “Cathedral Sermons” in the Patrology Orientalis, and one day his monks, having invaded the court church, introduced there the singing of the Trisagion with the addition: “Crucified for us.” They wanted to do the same in St. Sofia, but the people did not allow this, jealous of the insult to their Orthodox patriarch. Sevier demanded that the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon be condemned, but his efforts were unsuccessful. With the accession of Justin, he fled to Alexandria; was deposed by the Council of Constantinople in 536, and died in Egypt in 538. Sevier was one of the most powerful representatives of Monophysitism, and left a sad memory of himself among the Orthodox (On Monophysitism, see note 20). Akephals were extreme monophysites; monks and clergy, ardent opponents of the Council of Chalcedon. They did not recognize the legitimate patriarch. Thus, they did not have a hierarchical leadership, which is what their name should be. They were led by two elders, Julian and John, and a layman, the sophist Paul. This fanatical heretical group did not last long, deprived of its legitimate leadership and consumed by internecine discord. Those. in the singing of the Trisagion (Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal) they insert “Crucified for us,” i.e., which can only refer to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, and not to the entire Holy Trinity. This method of singing the Trisagion was introduced by the Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch Peter the Clothmaker. During Sevier's stay in Constantinople, an attempt to impose such a distorted Trisagion in Constantinople failed because the Orthodox people did not allow it. Orthodox teaching speaks of two natures of the God-man: Divine and human. Human nature suffered and died on the cross, and then was resurrected, while the Divine nature in Christ remained “passionless,” i.e. – not subject to suffering and death. The Monophysites, denying the human nature in Christ, as completely absorbed by the Divine, so that in Christ there is only the Divine nature, thereby inevitably attribute the passions of Christ directly to His Divine nature, i.e. To the Divinity itself, and this is heresy and blasphemy, as St. Sophrony. Eutyches (or Eutychus) was a heresiarch of the Monophysite heresy. He was a highly influential archimandrite in Constantinople, where the Church remained for some time without a patriarch. He did not have a deep education, therefore, although he considered himself a faithful follower of St. Cyril of Alexandria, however, did not understand his theology and concluded that St. Cyril taught about one nature of the God-man, which, of course, St. Kirill did not teach. His theological views required a spiritual investigation, which took place at the end of 448. Although he avoided answering directly about his beliefs, he finally stated: “I confess that our Lord consisted of two natures before their union, and after the union I confess one nature.” The Council of Bishops sentenced Eutyches to defrocking and excommunication for this heresy. The resolution of the Council was signed by 32 bishops and 23 representatives of monasticism. Eutyches appealed to the Pope and the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem. He found his most ardent support in the person of the powerful Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who wanted to settle scores with the Patriarch of Constantinople and elevate his see. He managed to convince Emperor Theodosius, who was disposed towards him, to convene a new Ecumenical Council and provide him with full support. The council was convened in Ephesus in 449 and received the name “robber” in history. Dioscorus and his followers terrorized the Orthodox representatives. At this “council” Eutyches was restored and his confession of one nature in Christ was recognized as Orthodox. Those present at the council declared that they considered the only Orthodox formula of confession: “After the incarnation, Christ has one nature, although incarnate and made man,” and they condemn the doctrine of two natures after the incarnation. Eutyches' opponents were condemned as heretics. The decisions of the council were signed by the emperor, but the Church of Christ branded this council as heretical and carried out illegally and with violent measures against its participants who adhered to Orthodoxy. The new emperor, Marcian, saw the need to convene an Ecumenical Council, which took place in Chalcedon in 451 and went down in history as the 4th Ecumenical Council. Monophysitism as such was anathema. Dioscorus was deposed. The monument of the Council of Chalcedon is its remarkable definition: “We all teach in agreement to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, most perfect in Divinity and most perfect in humanity, true God and true Man, the same from the rational soul and body, consubstantial with the Father in Divinity and the same consubstantial with us in humanity. One and the same Christ, the Son of the Lord, the only begotten, in two natures, unfused, unchangeable, inseparably, inseparably cognizable, so that by the union the difference of the two natures is in no way violated, but all the more the property of each nature is preserved and united into one person and one hypostasis, not into two persons cut or divided, but one and the same Son and only begotten God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ." The Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council solemnly declared what this confession is: “This is the fatherly faith, this is the apostolic faith, this is the Orthodox faith, this is the faith that saved the universe.” “Children of God by grace,” i.e. - not children of God by nature, because by nature only Christ is the Son of God. Man is given God's grace, but not the Divine nature. God's commandment, given to our forefathers in Paradise, is called by the holy fathers “saving” or “protective,” because these commandments were supposed to indicate to the first people that they were under the authority of God and should not imagine themselves as if they had become gods themselves; this commandment had its good purpose to keep them in the saving spirit of humility in the consciousness that they are the creatures of God, and to remain in love for God, with the consciousness to what extent God exalted them above all other creation, gave them such a happy life in Paradise and the opportunity for such close communication with Himself, and honored them with the gift of free will, so He gave them a commandment with the invitation to follow it, while all other creation follows the very necessity to obey the laws of nature placed into it by the Creator. St. The fathers also see in this commandment the first commandment of fasting, expressed in the requirement of abstinence. Brackets belong to the text. The original here is much briefer: προς η ᾶ ιαν πρ ᾶ ξιν θειοτέραν ἀνίκακος, i.e. “not sufficient for any work more divine.” Lat., trans.: “He who is above every creature.” “Unchangeably,” that is, he becomes human without changing (decreasing) His Divine nature. As is known, Origen, like Didymus the Blind and then Evagrius Ponticus, all condemned by the Council of 543 and the 5th Ecumenical Council, shared the Hellenic belief in the pre-existence of souls that dwell in heaven and are then sent into the bodies of newborn babies. Paraphrase of the 18th Psalm, v. 5–7. Here we have translated the text in a free translation, trying not so much to follow the literal translation, but to correctly convey the general theological thought of the entire phrase. Brackets belong to the original. The Latin text gives an interpretation of this entire passage: “The meaning: how could it be possible to assert that He is a “man” or “will be great,” or will be called the true “Son of the Most High” or “will possess the throne of David and the everlasting kingdom,” unless the One about whom this is proclaimed becomes truly a man and has in himself all the properties inherent in man, and for this reason is not born as a man and does not accept the true image of the human condition." Note 29, col. 3255. For the meaning of Jacob's name, see Gen. 27, 36. Here is an undoubted typo in the Greek text, as the publisher of the manuscript notes. The text contains “”, i.e. “failure”, “failure”, “wreck”, this word should undoubtedly be replaced with “την ἀποτεξιν”, i.e. - “birth” Lat. the translation here reads “exstructionem”, i.e. “creation”, “construction”. We added the text in brackets. In the original: “with us,” which is undoubtedly a typo. That is, only the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, was incarnate, but not the entire Holy Trinity. That is, it did not merge both natures in the God-man into one nature, as was outlined in the heresy of Nestorius and completely resulted, although in the other extreme, among the Monophysites. For an explanation of this phrase, see chapter 46 of this sermon by St. Sophronia. The text in brackets has been inserted by us, but it corresponds to the thought of St. Sophrony, expressed further by him. The publisher of the manuscript notes in his note that St. Herman of Constantinople also pointed to the name of the Archangel Gabriel, as foreshadowing to the Most Holy Virgin the two natures of the God-Man who will be born from Her, or rather, to the fact that Christ will reconcile people with God. However, “Gabriel” in translation means “man of God.” The text belongs to the original, but for greater clarity we have placed this text in brackets and inserted it where it would have its proper place in the Russian text. Here St. Sophronius polemicizes with heretics who asserted all sorts of absurdities, such as, for example, that the flesh of Christ existed separately in heaven before the Incarnation, and then at the Incarnation was united with Him; or it was some other human flesh that the Logos took on during His Incarnation. St. Sophronius points out that elements belonging to different spheres could not converge into one and form one hypostasis. The Incarnation of Christ reveals the union of human flesh with God the Word in the mystery of the Divine embryo: this flesh of the God-man was the own flesh of the God-man, formed in the womb of the Mother of God. St. Sophronius polemicizes mainly with Nestorius and Paul of Samosata, whose heresy he reveals with particular force in his famous synodal message, reproduced in the acts of the 6th Ecumenical Council. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, heresiarch of the heresy named after him. He was a kind of rationalist who could not understand the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ and misinterpreted it. He was an educated man and possessed great eloquence and the impressive appearance of an ascetic. His appointment as Patriarch of Constantinople in 427 was accepted with joy. They hoped to see a second saint in it. John Chrysostom Fr. He set his goal to eradicate the heretics and passionately took up the persecution of the Arians, Macedonians and Apollinarians who remained in Constantinople. The previous patriarchs did not see the need for this, knowing that by the will of God, all these sects themselves would die out, and measures of violence do not lead to good. And so, this passionate persecutor of heretics, who considered himself a luminary of Orthodoxy, himself turned out to be a fierce heretic and found himself on trial. He denied that the born Christ was God, but saw in Him only a man, with whom only later the Divinity was united. Therefore, he and his followers did not allow the Mother of God to be called Theotokos. Hefele formulated the heresy of Nestorius in this way: “Nestorius, instead of recognizing in Christ the human nature with the Divine personality, constantly presupposes a connection between the human personality and the Divine. Having riveted his attention to the whole concrete idea of ​​​​man, he cannot rise to abstraction - to think of human nature without personality and to combine simply human nature with the Divine personality. Nestorius is inclined to assimilate to Christ the personality of sinful humanity; as all his images and comparisons show (church, clothing, instrument), Nestorius outwardly only connects the Divine nature with the human. The deity was not born from the Virgin, but as if passed through Her.” The predecessors of Nestorius, like Theodore of Mopsuestia and Diodorus of Tarsus, teach about two Sons, about two Christs. It seems that, despite the denial of this, Nestorius also taught this. Thus, Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, in his confession of faith wrote: “Those who proclaim either two Sons, or two hypostases, or two persons, and do not preach one and the same Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, existing in one hypostasis and in one Person, one Lord, we anathematize and recognize as alien to the Church and, first of all, we anathematize the wicked Nestoria." Through the works of St. Cyril of Alexandria and his associates, the heresy of Nestorius was revealed and condemned at the 3rd Ecumenical Council in 431, which approved the dogma of the Incarnation of Christ and solemnly named the Blessed Virgin Mary - Theotokos. (See our article in the Bulletin of the Russian Christian Movement, No. 137, pp. 19–26). Paul of Samosata, 3rd century heretic. A man of excellent education, he occupied the See of Antioch between 260–262. He enjoyed great influence at court and lived richly and luxuriously, holding a high secular position. He abolished the ancient hymns in honor of the Savior in his diocese and replaced them with hymns in honor of himself. He did not recognize the Son of God as having descended from heaven, but taught only about His earthly origin. According to his teaching, there is no distinction of persons in the Godhead; The Word and the Holy Spirit are in the Father in the same way as the mind and spirit are in man. When they say that “Son from eternity,” this means nothing more than a mental existence in Divine foreknowledge; birth means coming forward for activity. Jesus was a simple man; The Word dwelt in Him as in Moses and the prophets, only to a greater extent; He is called the Son of God only because He became so through the indwelling of the Divinity in Him. His teaching, which reflected both Sabellianism and outlined Arianism, was the subject of consideration at three Councils of Antioch (264, 267 and 269). His teaching was recognized as heresy and he was deprived of his bishopric. His heresy was still alive in the 5th century. Theodore of Mopsuestia, 4th century heretic. He, like Diodorus of Tarsus, was the “father” of Nestorianism. He was an educated man of impeccable life and a convinced follower of the Nicene confession, but he did not teach correctly regarding the Incarnation of Christ and passed on his heretical views to his disciple Nestorius. He taught about the Incarnation of Christ as follows: Christ consists of two separate natures, the unification of which can be thought of as follows: God the Logos took on an individual person, united with him to a certain extent, that is, inhabited Him. This infusion was not essential, substantial, but it was not only spiritual, but by grace; that is, God united with the man Jesus in a very special way, partly by analogy with His union with godly souls, that is, by His good pleasure, and came into contact with him. The Logos lived in Christ as in a church. Human nature has not changed substantially, but little by little it has developed and improved. This union was not physical in Him, but relative. Initially it was moral, but thanks to development, improvement and strengthening, it becomes, as it were, a single worshipable being or subject. There was no talk about the Incarnation in the proper sense, but we can only talk about the perception of man from the side of the Logos. Therefore, calling Mary the Mother of God, in the strict sense, is absurd. Everything in Christ's activity was clearly divided into Divine and human. Ultimately, Jesus became a “deified man.” In 544, Emperor Justinian, in full agreement with all church authorities, issued a decree, the second paragraph of which read: “If anyone does not anathematize Theodore of Mopsuestia and his dogmas and those who either philosophized or are philosophizing like him, anathema.” The Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553, having studied the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia, found the latter’s teaching heretical and anathematized it, i.e., it confirmed the decree of Justinian issued in 544. The Holy Church confesses the Incarnation of Christ in its entirety and in the complete (and not relative) union of the Divine nature with the human. The Most Holy Virgin Mary is the true Mother of God, as having given birth to God in the flesh. The flesh accepted by Christ did not need improvement or any kind of spiritual growth, although it had the properties inherent in the flesh, somehow grew in age, needed food and clothing, and suffered on the cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not a “deified man,” as the aforementioned Theodore of Mopsuestia said, but was the true God and Man, the God-man and our Savior. That is, the hypostasis of the Son is composed of the Divine and human natures of the God-Man. The parentheses belong to the original. Eutychius, see note. 20. “Eutychius” translated means “happy”, “having a happy destiny.” St. Sophronius calls him “Divtychios,” which means “ill-fated,” “unfortunate.” Dioscorus, see also note 20 about him. Apollinaris of Laodicea (d. 390) was a renowned theologian with a broad education built mainly on Plato and Aristotle. In the struggle between Orthodoxy and Arianism, he showed himself to be an ardent champion of the Nicene religion. But in his teaching later he fell into heresy and became, as it were, the founder of Monophysitism. Based on the Platonic trichotomy (spirit, soul and body) in man, Apollinaris replaced in Jesus Christ the third, highest part of human nature, the “human spirit” or “human mind,” with the Divine Logos, i.e., the Second Poststasy of the Holy Trinity. To save man, it was necessary for God to die as a man. And if in Christ a complete man was given, that is, with a human mind (“logos”), then He suffered as a man, and redemption would not have happened. Because where a complete person is, there is sin. The source of sin is in the soul. The human logos (mind), which governs the soul, is weak. A powerful logos is needed so that it is not defeated by the created human soul. It is necessary that in the place of the human spirit in the God-man there should be the Divine Logos. It is necessary that in Christ there be a sinless Logos. Christ is “one nature, one hypostasis, one energy, one person, all God, all man.” You cannot talk about two persons, about two natures. He (Christ) is the one nature of the Word incarnate. This is one nature - composed, merged. Thus Apollinaris taught that Christ did not fully assume human nature, but only partially. Meanwhile, according to St. Fathers, this was not so, because Christ accepted everything human in order to save and redeem the whole person, and if He had not accepted something characteristic of man, then what He had not accepted would not have been saved. The Church sings, saying to Him: “And Thou hast saved all mankind.” He expressed his heretical teaching (which he praised as the “New Faith”) back in 352. The Council of Alexandria in 362 was fundamentally against such a teaching, but did not want to delve into the errors of Apollinaris in more detail out of respect for his merits. The heresy was first condemned under Pope Damasus at the Council of Rome in 337, although without mentioning the name of its author, Apollinaris, again out of respect for him. The pope's argument against Apollinaris is formulated as follows. “If an imperfect (incomplete) man was accepted as the Son of God, then our salvation is also imperfect, because not the whole man is saved. If the whole person perished, then it is necessary that everything that perished be saved.” The mistakes of Apollinaris were noticed and pointed out by St. Athanasius the Great, and then, later, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Epiphany. Their main merit in this regard is that they proved the need to recognize the rational human soul in Christ. At the Second Ecumenical Council, the “Apollinarian heresy” was condemned along with a number of other modern and former heresies. Polemon, who lived from 97 to 153, was a Greek sophist who enjoyed great success as an orator. Having fallen ill with an incurable disease, he ordered himself to be buried alive. His funeral speeches have been preserved. He taught completely wrong things about Christ. Simon the Magus, Samaritan, contemporary of the apostles, founder of the Gnostic sect “Simonians” that existed in the 3rd century. According to the general opinion of ancient Christian writers, he was the founder of Gnosticism and all heresies in the Church. He was baptized St. Deacon Philip, when this apostle preached in Samaria (Acts 8:9-24). And then this man ascribed to himself some great qualities. Then, when the apostles Peter and John arrived from Jerusalem to bring down the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the baptized through ordination, Simon offered them money for giving him the gift of ordination. The apostles reproached him and showed him that he was on the path of destruction. From Samaria, Simon arrived in Tire, where he found a certain woman with a bad past and declared her “the creative thought of the Supreme Deity,” who through her gave birth to the archangels and angels who created our world. He presented himself as this supreme God, as manifested in the past, present and future. Applying Christian terms, Simon declared that he was “father,” “son,” and “holy spirit,” three manifestations of the one super-heavenly God: as a father, he appeared in Samaria in Simon’s own person; as a son - in Judea, in the person of Jesus, whom he left before the crucifixion; like the spirit of St. - he will enlighten the pagans throughout the universe. About the thought of God, inseparable from him, he said that the cosmic spirits created by her, driven by the love of power and ignorance, did not want to recognize her supremacy and, having imprisoned her in the shackles of a sensually corporeal existence, forced her to successively move from one female body to another. So she found herself in Tire in the body of a certain woman, Helen, whom Simon found and restored. In “Pseudo-Clementines” there are stories about the confrontation between Simon and St. Peter and about his tragic death, due to the miracle he failed to achieve. All this is recognized by modern science as fiction. Excerpts from his work “The Great Clarification” are filled with theosophical and ancient philosophical views. Everything is full of incredible absurdity, like everything that followed with the Gnostics, and now it seems strange that something like that posed a danger to the early Christian Church and required great efforts from ancient Christian writers to combat Gnosticism. He probably attracted people with his unhealthy mysticism, as we see in modern times. Valentine was the most important Gnostic philosopher and one of the most brilliant minds of the 2nd century. He was from Egypt, arrived in Rome in 140 and died there in 160. This is all that is known about him. His writings have not reached us, but his teachings are conveyed in the writings of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who strenuously fought against contemporary heresies. The basis of the Valentinian system is the general Gnostic idea of ​​absolute completeness, eternal existence or the world of eons, from which everything capable of perceiving truth comes and returns. At invisible and unspeakable heights the Perfect Aeon, the Forefather or the Depth eternally resides. Being above any definite being, as a positive something, or true infinity, this First Aeon has in itself the absolute power and possibility of any definite being, has it in itself as its thought and joy. In such an internal, unexpressed state, this thought of the Depth is called Silence. The incomprehensible of the Depth always remains in Silence, but the comprehensible becomes the beginning of everything, being from the potential thought of the First Aeon produced into reality by an act of his will. This second, produced beginning of everything is Mind, also called the Only Begotten and the Father of all. Together with it, an ideal objectification corresponding to it was produced - Truth. They, fertilizing each other, produce Reason (Logos) and Life, and these, in turn, give birth to Man and the Church. These four pairs: Depth and Silence, Mind and Truth, Reason and Life, Man and Church, forming a perfect “octagon”, produce another 22 aeons. All together, 30 eons - the female eon, Sophia - are kindled with a fiery desire to directly know and contemplate the First Father - the Depth. But this is accessible only to the first eon after the Depth, i.e., the Only Begotten Mind. The inability to penetrate, with a passionate desire for this, plunged Sophia into a state of bewilderment, sadness, fear and amazement, and in such a state she produced an entity corresponding to it - indefinite, formless and suffering. She herself, having lost her inner foundation and leaving the order of Completeness, would have expanded into a universal substance if in her immeasurable striving she had not met the eternal Limit, which brings everything into proper order and is also called the Purifier, the Vindicator and the Cross. As a result of everything, Sophia took her previous position in Completeness. The positive result of the disorder that occurred was the creation of two new eons: Christ and the Holy Spirit. The first taught all the aeons to distinguish the incomprehensible from the comprehensible in the First Father, and also taught them the law of sequence and combination of the aeons; The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, revealed to them their essential identity, and the power of which is all in each and each in all. Comforted, calmed and delighted by this revelation, the aeons showed their solidarity in practice, producing together, from the best of their forces, the total Fruit of Fullness and a joint Gift to her First Father - the aeon of Jesus or the Savior. He, as having come from all, is called All. Meanwhile, the child of Sophia, Achamoth, ejected from the Plenity, formless and formless, languished in complete darkness and ignorance. Christ took pity on him and, condescending, with his own power put into him some internal image of Completeness, as if some semi-conscious idea, so that the exile could feel the sorrow of separation, and at the same time the bright premonition of eternal life. Christ, having done this, returned to Fullness. The whole world is a reflection of the state of this female brainchild of Sophia, Achamoth. All the wet elements in our world are the tears of Achamoth, crying for Him; her grief and sadness froze and hardened in the solid nature of the world; from her fear arose Satan and demons; from her conversion and striving for the lost came the Dimiurge (cosmic mind) and other spiritual beings. She gave birth to her highest generation - the spiritual principle in our world, the seed of future spiritual people, pneumaticians or gnostics. And she inspired Dimiurge to create the world. At the end of the creation of the world, Dimiurge created his best creation - man, into whom three principles were embedded: material, spiritual, received from Dimiurge, and spiritual, invested by Sophia-Achamoth. These three principles are not realized evenly by all the descendants of the first person. In some people only the material principle is realized - these are carnal people, fatally predestined to evil and destruction; in others, the average is realized - the psychic principle - these are spiritual people, capable of both evil and good by their own choice; if they prefer good, they are saved by faith and works, but they can never achieve the highest perfection and bliss, which are intended for people of the third category, essentially spiritual. They do not need faith, because they have perfect knowledge (gnosis), nor do they need good deeds, because they are above this by virtue of their spiritual seed, which is embedded in them. The purpose of the Savior's coming to earth was precisely to gather these people with the highest knowledge. He came in a body, but only this body was illusory, fantastic, because the body is of a material nature, and Christ, as the highest eon, has nothing material in Himself. When all Gnostics know themselves and achieve perfection, the end of the world will come. Sophia-Akhmot, together with the Savior, will enter Completeness; the spirits of the Gnostics, having assumed a female character, in the image of Sophia, will enter into combination with the angels, and will also be perceived into Fullness. The Dimiurge and the “spiritual righteous” will be established forever in their kingdom of heaven, and the material world, with carnal people and with the prince of this world - Satan, will burn and turn into nothing. Thus, Gnosticism is a mixture of pagan beliefs with Christian teachings, with elements from ancient philosophy and even the wildest imagination. At the same time, although they recognized in some special understandings the Incarnation of Christ, they taught that the flesh of Christ was not real, not material, not valid, but only an appearance, a ghost, a fantasy. This is the essence of docetism. Marcion, one of the great Gnostics of the 2nd century, came from Pontus, arrived in Rome in 140 and for some time belonged to the Christian community of the capital. He came up with plans to reform the Church, but these plans were not respected, after which he separated and founded his own community. If other Gnostics are dominated by complete imagination in the creation of their systems and, at the same time, complete isolation and ignorance of the Christian Church, then the same cannot be said about Marcion, and for this reason he was even more dangerous for the Church. In his system, Marcion strives to completely tear the Old Testament away from the New Testament. He claims that the God of the Old Testament is completely different from the God of the New Testament. Using certain passages from the Old Testament, he paints the God of the Old Testament in black colors, and at the same time compares the actions and words of the Savior. There is no doubt that this repulsion from the Old Testament was due to anti-Judaism, which was also inherent in other Gnostics, and was also in the depths of the Church. Such a one-sided passion for the idea of ​​contrasting Christianity with Judaism inevitably pushed Marcion towards heretical dualism. Assuming the existence of two different gods: the God of the Old Testament, the Dimiurge, the Judge, and the God of the New Testament, unknown to the Old Testament, good and loving, Marcion also speaks of two Christs. Marcion by no means doubts the truth of everything that is said in the Old Testament; These miracles are the acts of the Old Testament God, the Dimiurge, the prophets are His messengers, prophecies are predictions about the Messiah, Who is the Christ of the Jews, and Who must appear to gather His people, subjugate all tribes to them and carry out a general judgment. But the Dimiurge, drawing up such plans, showed His ignorance, because he did not know the good, highest God, Who decided to save humanity, and for this sent His Christ to earth. Christ did not take on a true human body; He was only form and spirit; seemed to be something that it really was not. Although Christ was a ghostly phenomenon, however, His deeds and preaching made a strong impression on people and distracted them from the Dimiurge. Then Dimiurge decided to betray Him to his people, who crucified Him. The deceased was sent to hell, but He preached there too, found believers and took them with Him to the good Father. The Dimiurge closed the sun in anger and shook the earth. But that was all. Dimiurge, however, will also send his Messiah, who will establish a thousand-year kingdom. But this kingdom is nothing in comparison with the eternal kingdom of Christ, in which those who believe abide, laying aside their bodies as an unworthy burden. Those who do not follow Christ are placed at the disposal of the Dimiurge, in whose fire they burn. The idea of ​​the resurrection of the flesh is completely alien to Marcion, as well as to other Gnostics. But unlike the Gnostics, the doctrine of eons is completely alien to him. Outwardly, he organized his communities in the spirit of the Christian Church; communities were led by bishops and elders, baptism with water and anointing was performed, the Gospel of Luke and the 10 Epistles of the Apostle were accepted. Pavel. This external side made the Marcionite communities very similar to Christian churches, and the preaching of extreme asceticism and the ideal of celibacy aroused respect for them. This sect existed for a very long time; its communities existed as early as the 5th century, and then merged in the 6th and 7th centuries. with Manichaeism and resulted in the Paulician sect, which caused much turmoil in the Church in the 8th and 9th centuries. Paulicianism, in turn, resulted in Bogomilism, which passed into our history. Basilides, a 2nd century Gnostic who mixed Christian elements with pagan ones and with Greek philosophy. According to him, there is nothing real in the world: neither the Absolute Principle, nor creatures; all just ideas and potential possibilities. The first ruler and head of the world is the “Archon” and the second is the “Dimiurge”, who are obeyed by 365 astral angels who control the same number of stellar spheres. None of them knew about the existing higher spiritual potency until it manifested itself in the incarnation of Christ, who attracted to Himself the power of the Holy Spirit, connecting the lower world with the higher. The Gospel that Christ preaches reveals to the lower world the truth of absolute and ideal existence. Hearing this good news, the ruler of the visible world (Archon), who had hitherto considered himself a supreme being, experiences surprise and fear, and then comes to his senses and understands his submission. Spiritual beings, enlightened by the Gospel, ascend following Christ into the world of ideal existence, while the material world plunges into a state of impersonal peace and, as it were, non-existence. Manes is the founder of Manichaeism. In Greek texts and in our Church Slavonic texts, he is called “Manent”, due to the fact that his name is associated with a verb. “Μαίνομαι” - “to be in a frenzy” and on the basis of this they make a verbal participle, and what sounds normally in other cases is abnormally elevated to the nominative case (see Μάνης, genet. Μάνεντος: Greek Lehison of the Roman and Wuzantine Reperiods. E. A. Sophocles, p. 731). The biography of this Persian thinker is shrouded in legends. He was born in the first quarter of the 3rd century. One legend says that he was of low origin, and the other, on the contrary, speaks of his high origin and glory. Persian tradition says that he converted to Christianity and at one time was a presbyter of one of the Christian communities. But he neither understood nor appreciated Christianity, but created his own religion. Received with hostility by King Sapor I, he left Persia and preached for many years in Turkestan, China and India, founding communities everywhere. After the death of King Sapor, I-go returned to Persia. King Gormizda received him favorably and provided him with one castle to live in. Two years later, the place of the deceased Hormizda was taken by Baram I, who was hostile to Manes. Under the pretext of a dispute with the magicians, Baram I called him from the castle; At the actual debate, Manes was declared defeated and was crucified. This was in 276–277. The works of Manes have not reached us, but the general system of his teaching was conveyed by Sevier in his 123rd conversation, and excerpts from his writings are given by St. Epifania, near Bl. Augustine and others. Characteristic of the teachings of Manes, as well as of Gnosticism and other Eastern religions, is open dualism with equal rights of both good and evil, as well as a view of matter as evil, which is subject to cosmic destruction. These, so to speak, elements of the religion of Zoroaster, mixed with the Christian doctrine of the Redeemer and with Christian worship, Manes united in his system, no less fantastic than the systems of Valentinus, Basilides and Bardesan. The teaching of the Manichaeans is this: from eternity there exist two equal substances or gods with their separate kingdoms: Light and Darkness, Ormuzd and Ahriman, with numerous aeons. The God of light is good and holy, fills everything with light, like the beneficent sun; while the god of darkness - material nature and evil - is Satan with his demons. His kingdom includes five elements - pitch darkness, thick mud, stormy wind, destructive fire and suffocating smoke. This kingdom is dominated by mutual hostility and constant war. During this struggle, they (these elements) saw the upper light, which attracted them; They made an alliance with each other and decided to attack the kingdom of light. To protect against such an attack, the good god removes from his kingdom the “mother of life,” the highest world soul from which the First Man was formed. Equipped with five pure elements (light, fire, wind, water, earth), the first man began to fight the darkness, but the latter managed to tear off a particle of light from it, which mixed with matter and became the world-forming principle. As a result, a mixture of both kingdoms occurred. The “living spirit” came to help the first, which formed the visible world. Light matter is diffused in it, like a soul, also called the Son of God. Further development has the task of liberating, isolating from matter the light that has entered it and transferring the gradually liberated parts to the sun and moon. If all light matter is personified in the Son of God, then during the indicated process he bifurcates: he, enclosed in matter, is Jesus the Suffering, and since parts of the light are released and transferred to the sun, he is Jesus the Unsuffering. Jesus is helped in His work by the Holy Spirit living in the ether, while evil spirits, demons, hinder him in every possible way. Man is an image of a mixed world; there are two souls in it - a light soul and an evil soul. The King of Darkness collected most of the light that was with him and imprisoned it in Adam. Then he created Eve for him from silt with the intention of captivating Adam through passion, crushing the light nature living in him and making his liberation impossible through such weakening. The goal, apparently, was achieved: the light of the world soul was individualized in the offspring and was contained in numerous prisons (bodies), thus its power for exaltation weakened. Already the first marriage (fertilization) was the first sin. But people still did not die. The crime of the commandment - not to eat from the indicated Tree of Life, came from the good God. A person sins, but it is not he himself, but his body that dominates him - this is a prison with an evil soul. His sinfulness is the result of weakness, and therefore, repentance is enough for him to receive forgiveness. A captive light soul cannot free itself through itself. Christ reigning in the sun is a bright soul, not defiled by matter. “Jesus the Unsuffering” comes to people misled through paganism and Judaism. He perceived only the visible body, endured only apparent suffering. He taught how people should gradually free themselves from matter and how they would return to their Heavenly Fatherland. But His apostles did not properly understand His teaching. Subsequently, Christians distorted it even more. Foreseeing this, Christ, the Son of the eternal Light, the Son of Man, promised to send the Comforter, who now appeared in Manes to restore His perverted religion. The perfect ones, free from material bonds, move first of all to the sun and moon, then to the perfect ether and the purest kingdom of light. The rest must wander from one body to another, into plants, into animals. At the end of the purifying process, the visible creation will be destroyed through fire. We find such a presentation of the teachings of the Manichaeans in Prof. Posnova, with prof. I. Andreev and this teaching seems even more fantastic and strange. The Manichaeans completely rejected the Old Testament, and considered the New Testament to be partly unreal; sometimes they refer to the Gospels and St. Paul, but mostly on apocryphal writings. They recognized three Divine Persons; but this is only an external similarity with Christianity, because with them the Son and the Spirit are emanations-radiations of the Father. The Manichaeans preached extreme asceticism and celibacy. They had no altars or religious ceremonies. The management of the community resembled a kind of hierarchical system: at the head was the “great master” Manes, and then his successors. He was surrounded by 12 masters or apostles, below them stood bishops - 72, then presbyters, deacons, evangelists, and those elected in general. Manichaeism quickly spread across the face of the Roman Empire and was subjected to severe persecution. Imp. Diocletian in 296 issued a decree against the sect with orders to completely destroy all Manichians. But the sect has only grown, and we see famous and educated people among its members. Bl. Augustine belonged to this sect for 9 years. When he became a Christian, he fought in every possible way against the Manichaeans and in his writings revealed the lies and danger of Manichaeism. Christian emperors also passed harsh laws against them. This heresy gradually died out and was reborn into other sects in which the idea of ​​dualism dominated, with full recognition of the right to legal existence for evil and, even moreover, with the deification of evil, with demonism. Menander is a Samaritan, 1st century Gnostic, follower of Simon Magus, mentioned above. His writings, according to St. Irenaeus, influenced Basilides (about whom see above) and Saturninus, famous Gnostics. About Akefala, see note. 17. St. Sophronius remembers that the Acephalians, waging a joint war against the Orthodox Church, were torn apart by internecine quarrels and discord. The publisher of the manuscript believes that this expression "smallest" indicates that this sermon was written by St. Sophronius before his elevation to the patriarchal rank. Because, as he says, although there are known examples when bishops, when addressing other bishops, called themselves “the least,” it is impossible to imagine that the patriarch would speak of himself in this way when preaching to his flock (P Gr. 87 col. 3284, remark 45). But to this it must be said that the author of the note speaks in the spirit of the Latins, and not in the understanding of the Orthodox saints, who are usually characterized by humility. If ap. Paul called himself “the least of the apostles,” then, for example, St. John Chrysostom directly reviled himself, even humiliating his appearance, etc. So, in our opinion, St. Sophrony could call himself “the least,” despite his patriarchal rank. It seems to us that this word on the Annunciation was indeed written by the Saint before his patriarchate, but we conclude this for the reason that it does not contain any mention of monothelitism and any polemic with it, while any other heresy of St. Sophronius pays a lot of attention to refuting it, even in relation to such heresies that belonged to ancient times. It should be noted that St. From the Fathers we find the expression that people redeemed by Christ become “sons of God,” “deified,” “gods,” but at the same time it is added: “by grace,” that is, people redeemed by Christ become “sons of God,” not by nature, because the Son of God by nature is only our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the great mercy of God, they are awarded the honor of the complete restoration of the image in them and the likeness of God, and by this certain features of God are restored in them, which can be perceived by creation through the mercy of the Creator, such as, for example, bliss, dispassion, righteousness and happy eternity and happy immortality, and, undoubtedly, much more that man cannot even imagine. But in no way, as we have said, can man either become or be God; man is and will be man, but only in the most beautiful meaning and honor of Man. Orig.: “δια τὸν δευτερον Ἀδὰμ”; so the whole passage can be translated both: “thanks to the Second Adam (Christ); and as: “through the Second Adam (Christ)”, as well as: (“because of the Second Adam (Christ).”