Мария и Ева

Let's compare Mary and Eve. Both are blameless, both are filled with simplicity, but one became the fault of our death, and the other became the fault of our life. Eve separated simplicity from prudence and became foolish. The prudent Mary made her prudence salt for her simplicity. A word of simplicity without prudence is tasteless, a word of cunning without simplicity is hopeless and cunning. Every offense is not far from simplicity, and every sin is close to cunning. But simplicity and prudence, brothers, mutually adorn each other. Simplicity takes away the sharp taste from a cunning word, and prudence serves as a seasoning for the word of simplicity. Let the cunning be simple, and let the simplicity be cunning. And if they are not united together, then both are good for nothing, because in one there is no taste, and in the other there is no love. If they are interconnected, then both have a high price. They can be likened to two hands: when they act separately, they are powerless; and when they act together, then they have power over the world, subjugate the sea, subjugate the land, melt and turn honey into liquid, make iron soft, fill up the depths and turn them into hills, pierce and make mountains low. These two mothers have ten daughters - ten fingers, and through their powerlessness they conquer their strength. Their strength is insignificant, but their deeds are glorious. Although they are small in number, they, as numerous, accomplish many wonderful things, are majestic and beautiful in the images they produce. They are silent and prolix (long-winded) when they write books. They are naked and clothe mental calculations in visible numbers; you see an empty handful, and when doing calculations, the world and numbers are in it. They have a neighbor and a relative, a friend and a fellow tribesman, whose history is difficult to convey, he is alien to them, but is completely imprinted by them. He is their messenger, flies and flies without wings, not being feathered, soars in the air, in his depths hides the secret entrusted to him, speaks so that his voice does not reach the ear, which is also their messenger, because the ear is as important as the tongue. With his undisturbed peace, the word is alien to him; He has one language that is akin to him - silence. Just as a voice is not perceived by the eye, so silence is not perceived by the ear, but the seeing eye hears everything, and the silent ear sees everything. With her own eyes, Eve saw the beauty of the tree, and the insidious advice found access to her soul, but the end of the matter was bitter repentance. With Her hearing Mary saw the Hidden One Who came to Her. According to the word, She conceived in Her womb the Power embodied in Her. Death and Satan inquired about rumors about the Incarnate One. They stood in amazement and heard the Angels cry out for Him: “He puts to death death, He casts down Satan. He is the joy of those above, He is the hope of those below!” Death and Satan then looked at each other, and shuddered, and began to hold advice - where should they run, where should they hide? The evil one fled into the desert, death descended into the underworld. They fled from the Hidden One, but He came to their abodes. He came to the desert - and defeated the evil one there, descended into the underworld - and defeated death there in its den. Both death and Satan are brought into inaction, having stolen hope from man. Hope flourished on earth and joy in heaven when Angels descended to the earthly with joyful news. With the appearance of the luminary, the eye is illuminated, it becomes clear in its light, it is adorned with its radiance, it is clothed in beauty with its beauty. And Mary is like an eye. The Light dwelt in Her, washed Her mind, made Her thoughts pure, purified Her cares, sanctified Her virginity. The river in which He was baptized also mysteriously received Him into its bosom; The bosom of the waters purely received Him into itself, holy and gloriously they brought Him into the light. In the pure bosom of the river, know the Daughter of man, who conceived without a husband, who gave birth without seed, who by grace nourished the Lord of grace. He is the East in the river, the radiance in the tomb, shone on the top of the mountain, shone in the womb. And when he ascended and when he descended, he shone with His own light. The light with which Moses was clothed covered him from the outside. The river in which the Lord was baptized was clothed with light from within. The flesh in which He dwelt was completely permeated with light. If Moses, who saw only a small ray of the Divine, was so illuminated with glory, then should not the flesh in which the Lord dwelt, and the river in which He was baptized, be illuminated even more with light? The radiance with which tongue-tied Moses was surrounded in the desert did not allow the darkness to cover his booth with darkness, because the light from his face spilled onto everything that was in front of him, just as those on high do not require any other light for their eyes, but their eyelashes shed abundant light and brilliant rays, and they are covered with glory. Just as the sun dispels darkness with no alien light, just as the source of light has no need for another luminary, so on the day of resurrection the righteous will be enlightened, their robe will be light, their cover will be radiance, and they will become radiant stars for themselves. On that same day, brothers, the wicked will be clothed with all filthiness, covered with all uncleanness. They themselves will exude darkness and torment for themselves, just as a body, possessed by an illness, produces fever and other attacks from itself - this bridle to restrain recklessness, this rod to punish. O Good One, who arranged for us “the sun in the region of the day” and “the moon and” the shining stars “in the region of the night” (Ps. 135: 8-9), and to me, according to Your goodness, may the light of Your consolation shine. Give thanks to the Creator, Who created the heavenly bodies, glorify the Creator, Who in visible light showed us the image of the Light of our Savior. Illuminate with Your teaching both the voice of the one who speaks and the ear of the one who listens. Like the eyes, let the hearing, for which the voice is the same as a ray, be illuminated with light. The body and its entire composition are lent to the eye by the beauty of its actions, the beauty of its feelings, the harmony of its members. It is obvious that Mary is the Daughter of light, because through Her the world and its inhabitants, darkened through Eve, the culprit of all evil, were illuminated with light. These two wives are like two eyes in the body, one of which is dark and blind, and the other is pure, light and illuminates everything. This world is a body in which two eyes are installed. The left and blind eye is Eve, the right and bright eye is Mary. The whole world was darkened by a dark eye, and people walked gropingly. Whatever stopped them on the way, they considered God, and called lies the truth. But when the light shone for them in a pure eye from the Heavenly Light that had entered into it, then people turned and were filled with repentance, realizing that by their own invention they had lost their lives. You might be interested in: