On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Let us celebrate today the feast of royal mysteries. The whole creation rejoices together. The heavenly stars directed those who hurried to the celebration, the earth, represented by the shepherds, hurried to worship. Isaiah walked with the rapid pace of prophecy to show the Virgin to the triumphants. Jeremiah, although refusing, still marched, showing the very Lord of this celebration and saying: “This is our God” (Bar. 3:36). Zechariah hurried, bringing joy to the triumphant, announcing the command of the Lord's coming and saying: “Rejoice... daughters of Zion... behold, your King is coming to you... meek... always on the yoke and the young stallion" (Zechariah 9:9). Mary and Joseph placed a pearl of great price in a manger. The Magi, seeing and amazed at the beauty of the Baby, told Herod about Him as a worthy king; He, having heard and cunningly concealed the deadly worship, tried to see this pearl, but since he was unworthy, he did not receive what he wanted, and, as if ridiculed, he was at a loss what to do. The disembodied angels, rejoicing at this celebration, said: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:14). Oh, strange and wondrous miracle! Every language transcends the subject of the holiday to praise Mary, to whom the sent angel cried: “Hail, full of grace: the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). She, in awe, looked at the speaker with a confused eye, and, amazed at the vision, discussed in her mind the words spoken and what this greeting meant, saying: Oh, wanderer, you speak strange things in a strange voice. Either you don’t know the custom of greeters, or are you testing me to see if I’m easy to master? “Rejoice,” everyone who greets them says, but “graceful” is strange, especially for those who promise to preserve purity along with piety. Therefore, with a stern face and an angry gaze, turning threateningly to the speaker, she drove him out with the words: go away, go away, man, from my threshold; Is this how you began when you entered? You don’t please me, even if you thought otherwise. You want to captivate me like Eve, the mother of the human race; You cannot defeat the beauty of my face, nor the sense of duty that I have for my poor groom. Flee from my house before the old man comes; leave this place so that this old man does not accuse you, because he is jealous. It is better for you to leave, because if he sees that you are talking to me and promising me something that is impossible for human nature, then he will cause harm to himself and to me, sorrow and tears. But the angel fearlessly said: “Rejoice, full of grace.” Seeing his persistence, the Virgin listened to the words, wanting to know more precisely the purpose of the speaker, and after that, hearing “Hail, full of grace,” she accepted this greeting. The angel adds: “The Lord is with you.” As soon as the Virgin heard “The Lord is with you,” she immediately called the speaker inside. You say you brought the Lord with you - go inside and quickly tell us why you came. And the angel said to her: Behold, “conceive in your womb, and give birth to a Son, and call his name Immanuel. This one will be great” (Luke 1:31, 32), mighty God, prince of peace, ruler, Father of the age to come. And the Virgin answers: there is no marriage yet, no bridal chamber, and already birth? You don't know what you're doing. If you, as a wanderer, need something, then take it and go, and do not predict inappropriately what you do not know. In any case, if I conceive a son, it will certainly be from Joseph. Then the angel says: I am not deceiving you: “This one will be great.” How is it great? The Virgin answers: my betrothed is poor, and I am extremely poor; I have no property, we have no money, we are not from a noble family, and, moreover, we are forced to go to the census. Of course, as a tax payer, he will pay the didrachm, but you say: it will be great. Stop, stop making such promises. But the angel answered: you do not believe the lesser, so accept, even if you did not want, the greater: “He will be called the Son of the Most High.” And the Virgin: get away from my house, so that Joseph does not hear and tell the priests and, as one deprived of his marriage, cut off your neck with an ax, because you are speaking to me on the threshold of my monastery. Do you promise to bring me a groom from heaven? But what kind of heavenly being is disposed to marriage? All celestial beings are incorporeal spirits; How can the incorporeal be united with the corporeal? From the body and the incorporeal he will be called the Son of the Most High. Where, asks the Virgin, will he have a father who will be born, as you say, from me? This is, Virgin,” the angel answers, “the greatest miracle is that you will not know a husband and will give birth to the One I am talking about, and the child will not be an orphan; It will come out of your womb without damaging the seals, and you will not lose your virginity, you will nurse the one born to you, and you will carry the baby in your arms, and you will see Him sitting on the cherubim. To this one born of you, “the Lord God will give 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” (Luke 1:32, 33). And Virgo to him: against your will, you have fallen into contradiction. Your mouth accuses you and your speech convicts you. Not long before you said: “He who is to be born will be called the Son of the Most High,” but now you say: “Son of David.” What does this speech mean? Either you want to raise my mind to heaven, or bring me down again to earth. Which word should I believe? First or second? After all, you say: “The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and his kingdom will have no end.” No king was immortal, no one escaped the common end; He rules over all and death overtakes all; everyone is tormented by worms; none of the kings escaped the gates of hell; Death owns everyone, guards everyone in their graves; no one escaped her bonds, no one escaped her snares: neither Saul, who first consecrated the royal diadem, nor David, who was declared king through the anointing of the horn, nor Samuel, the father of kings, who through oil indicated the worthy and rejected the unworthy, nor the wisest Solomon, who with the sword exposed the lies of the harlot, nor Hezekiah, who with his tears averted the death sentence. How will My Son reign forever? And the angel answers: this is the wondrous mystery, Mary, that everyone has died, and your Son will conquer death, raise the dead, raise the dead, open the tombs, break the bars of hell and raise many bodies of the dead, because the immortal who is born of the immortal will put death to death by his death. So stop disbelieving, so as not to be accused. The one I am telling you about has already entered through your hearing into your belly, renewing it. And the Virgin answered: in order for me to agree with this, first assure me how he who is to be born of me without a father will be both the Son of the Most High and the Son of David, as you say, and what did you call the two fathers? First find out, the angel answers, and then contradict. When I say to you: Son of the Most High, I pointed out to you the one who was dispassionately born before the ages from the Father, and when I say: Son of David, I said so because you came from your father David. So, having received assurance, keep my words, because I am also a servant of the One whom you are about to give birth to. Having said this to the Virgin, the angel left her. And she, reflecting within herself, said: Should she tell Joseph or is it better to hide the secret? If the one who came lied, then I would irritate the elder’s tongue against myself. And when the Virgin thought like this, her womb expanded and the baby played in it. Worried about this, Mary covered her belly with many covers, wanting to hide it from Joseph, but she could not hide the hail lying at the top of the mountain. The sight of the womb struck Joseph, and he looked at the Virgin with a suspicious eye. He wanted to reproach her and was forced to remain silent; I wanted to reproach her for selling the treasure of her virginity, but her former life forbade her to do so. In the end, he tormented his soul with grief. Alas, he said, what should I do? The face is like that of a maiden, the appearance is like that of a maiden, the eyes are like that of a maiden, the laughter and speech are like that of a maiden, and the womb is not of a maiden, but of a mother. Alas for me, alas, I can no longer endure seeing this. Shouldn't we finally open the case and expose Maria? The shame will be shared. Should I not divulge it publicly, so as not to be called the father of a baby born without a seed? No one can blame the virgin, because he who is carried in the womb does not have a child. Perhaps it’s dangerous for me to remain silent and talk about it. What should I do? Should I call and ask, or declare without asking? I’d rather expose you, as Scripture commands: haven’t you committed a crime? So, calling her with a stern look, he became the judge of the Judge who was in the womb. Tell me exactly, he said, what happened to you. Don't hide from me what happened to you. No one can hear your words; I can keep secrets; no one will know the matter, just tell me everything is true. Where does what I see in you come from? Show me His father and I will free you from guilt; you will receive forgiveness, like a woman overcome by carnal desire. And the Virgin answered him: if you are looking for His father, you will never find Him, but if you consider Him an orphan, you will be mistaken in this too. Then Joseph says: You cannot, Mary, lie about anything: how can He not be an orphan and not have a father? And the Virgin answered: if you want to know who, Joseph, (since you do not know), then you will not believe me if I tell you the truth. You see the womb, but you do not see the Lord hidden in it; you notice the womb, and do not think about the one who was born before the star from the Father and who dwells in me. If I tell you what the angel told me, you will say: you are testifying about yourself, and your testimony is not true. Joseph says: Bring those who heard and were present, present true witnesses. And the Virgin said: if you want this, you will never find it: he was sent alone to me, and he alone spoke to me; no one was present, because no one had to be the father of the one being born. But since the Virgin’s words were not worthy of faith, then, after thinking, she came to another thought and said: my womb, the child who plays in my womb, accuses me, why should I stir up Joseph even more against myself? I will cover my lips with silence and reason invisibly with the angel: where are you now, who said to me: “Rejoice, full of grace”? What places do you find yourself in? Tell me to appear there and hang on your neck until you come and convince Joseph whose Son is he who plays in the bed of My womb. I cannot bear for the old man to look suspiciously and grumble. And I don't know where you hesitate; come and protect me. When Mary spoke in this way, an angel suddenly appeared to Joseph and, having given him assurance, forbade him to expel the Virgin, saying to Joseph: “Do not be afraid to accept Miriam your wife” (Matthew 1:20). I proclaim to you not participation in marriage, but the dispensation of divine mysteries. Are you not a father? Do not look for your father on earth, nor in heaven for your mother. Birth is free from all orphanhood, because He, one from one before the ages, exists in a unique way. Now one from one, as He knows He is one. Do not be embarrassed about Mary, do not grieve the one born from Mary, do not inquire about the method of birth, lest the baby do you harm, do not inquire about the ark, lest you lose the contribution. The vessel is immaculate, the treasure is undefiled, the alabaster is pure, the birth is seedless, the maiden is unmarried, the virgin does not know the bridal chamber, the rock is not cut, the garden is enclosed, the spring is sealed, the field is not sown, the vine is not planted, the birth is not planned. If you don't believe my words, wait for the time of birth. And if Mary weeps and groans, like other wives, then it is man, and not God, who is born of Mary. And Joseph said: if it is as you said, archangel, then “the nations are staggering and people have learned in vain” (Ps. 2:1)? And the angel said: if you want to know, find out now, because the Lord said to the one being born: “You are my son, I gave birth to you today” (Ps. 2:7), and to Him belongs glory forever and ever. Amen.