Three words of praise on the Dormition of Our Lady

In “Three words of praise on the Dormition of the Mother of God” St. John of Damascus glorifies the Mother of God as the Most Pure Virgin, the chosen vessel of the Incarnation, the “new Eve”, who corrected the sin of her ancestress with her obedience. He interprets Her death not as an ordinary death, but as a solemn transition to eternal life, overcoming corruption, similar to the Resurrection of Christ. It is especially emphasized that Her most pure body, which was the receptacle of God, could not be left to decay, but was resurrected and ascended to heaven by Her Son, preceding the general resurrection. Each of the 3 words develops these themes, revealing them from different sides. The first word (5 chapters) is dedicated to the rejoicing of all creation in connection with the Dormition of the Queen of Heaven. The second word (19 chapters) describes in detail the event of the Dormition, the meeting of the apostles, the descent of Christ for the soul of His Mother and Her bodily ascension, emphasizing Her unique position and involvement in the glory of the Son. The third word (5 chapters) speaks of the Mother of God as a vigilant Intercessor and Intercessor for the human race, inspiring believers to imitate Her purity and virtues. * Title of the work in Greek: ᾿Ιωάννου, ταπεινοῦ κα ἁμαρτωλοῦ μοναχοῦ, δούλου τῶν δούλων τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς παλαιᾶς λαύρας, εἰς τὴν κοίμησιν τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου λόγος α´-γ´. * Title of the essay in Latin: In dormitionem s. Dei genitricis Mariae 1-3. First word * Second word * Third word 1. “The memory of the righteous is with praise” (Prov. 10:7), says the wise Solomon. “The death of His saints is honorable before the Lord” (Ps. 116:6), the Godfather David said earlier. So, if the memory of all the righteous is celebrated with praise, then who will not bring praise to the source of righteousness and the treasury of holiness, not in order to glorify, but to be glorified with eternal glory? For the Tabernacle of God, the city of God, about which glorious things are proclaimed, does not need glorification from us, as the divine David said about it: “Glorious things are proclaimed about you, city of God!” (Ps. 87:3). After all, who should we mean by the city of the invisible and indescribable God, who contains everything in His handful, if not the only one who indescribably contained the super-essential Word of God, in a truly supernatural and super-essential image, about which the glory is proclaimed by the Lord Himself? And what could be more glorious than the perception of the ancient and true Council of God (Isa. 25:1)? 2. Neither the human tongue nor the mind of the worldly angels are capable of adequately praising the One through whom it is given to us to clearly see the glory of God (2 Cor. 3:18). So what? Will we remain silent, held back by fear, because we cannot offer worthy praise? Less in total. Will we go, as they say, without discerning the steps, will we forget about our inherent limits, will we boldly touch the inviolable, casting off the reins of fear? No way. It is better for us, mixing fear with love and weaving a single wreath from them, with sacred reverence, a trembling hand and a flaming soul, we will bring the undemanding fruit of our mind as a debt of gratitude to the Queen Mother, the benefactor of all nature. There is a story about how some farmers, plowing their field with oxen, saw a king walking past them, dressed in magnificent purple robes, adorned with a shining diadem, surrounded by a ring of countless bodyguards, and since they had nothing that could be presented as a gift to the ruler, one of them without delay scooped up water with his hands (and a plentiful stream flowed nearby) and presented it as a gift. autocrat. The king turned to him: “What is this child?” He boldly answered: “What I had, I brought, considering it best not to hide my zeal behind poverty. After all, you have no need for our [gifts] and do not want anything from us except reverence; for us, what I do is both duty and praise, because glory often follows well-meaning people.” Then the surprised king praised [such] wisdom, accepted the zeal favorably and generously repaid [the farmer] with many great gifts. Therefore, if that arrogant tyrant preferred reverence to pomp [gifts], then wouldn’t this truly good Lady, the Mother of the One Good God, whose condescension is limitless, who preferred two mites to many-valued offerings, all the more quickly accept our aspiration, despite its weakness (Mark 12:41-44)? She will truly accept what we bring as tribute and will reward us with an incommensurable measure. So, when everything prompts us to speak in order to fulfill our sacred duty, let us turn our word to Her. 3. What shall we call You, Lady? With what words shall we turn [to You]? With what praises shall we crown Your sacred and glorified head, Giver of blessings, Giver of [spiritual] riches, adornment of the human race, glory of all creation, through Whom it has found true bliss. And Whom the creation could not contain before, it did contain thanks to You, and Whom it was not able to look at, thanks to You it looks “with an open face, as in a mirror” (2 Cor. 3:18). O Word of God, open our tongue-tied lips, giving them a word filled with grace. Inspire us with the grace of the [Holy] Spirit, through which fishermen become rhetoricians and the ignorant speak wisdom that surpasses human understanding, so that we too, with our weak voice, may, albeit inaudibly, proclaim the greatness of Your beloved Mother. Having been chosen from ancient generations by the eternal Council without expiration and dispassionately giving birth to God the Father, She gave birth to You - propitiation and salvation, justification and redemption, You - life from life, light from light, true God from true God, incarnate from Her in the last times. This birth was extraordinary, the method of birth surpassing nature and understanding and saving for the world, but Her Dormition was glorious, truly sacred and all-praise. 4. The Father predestined Her, the prophets predicted by the Holy Spirit, and the sanctifying power of the Spirit by His invasion cleansed, sanctified and, as it were, watered in advance. And then You - “The Definition and Word of the Father” - indescribably moved [into Her] and elevated the insignificance of our nature to the infinite height of Your incomprehensible Divinity. Having received the firstfruits of our nature from the most pure, immaculate and spotless blood of the Holy Virgin, You formed Yourself flesh, animated by a thinking and rational soul, You Yourself appeared to the flesh as a Hypostasis, so that You became a perfect man, without ceasing to be perfect God and consubstantial with Your Father, who, by ineffable mercy, accepted our weakness. And You came from Her - One Christ, One Lord, One Son, He is the same God and man, together perfect God and perfect man, all God and all man, but one complex Hypostasis from two perfect natures - Divinity and humanity and in two perfect natures - Divinity and humanity. Not exclusively God and not just a man, but One Son of God and God incarnate, at the same time God and He is at the same time a man, who did not accept fusion and did not undergo separation, bearing in You Yourself the natural properties of two different natures, according to Hypostasis united unmerged and inseparable: createdness and uncreatedness, mortality and immortality, visibility and invisibility, limitation and limitlessness, the Divine will and the human will, Divine action, but also human action, two perfect freedoms, Divine and human, Divine miracles and human passions (I'm talking about [passions] natural and impeccable). After all, You, Lord, by Your gracious mercy, accepted the whole of Adam, free before the fall from sin: his body, soul, mind and their natural properties - in order to grant me salvation to all, for truly “what is not received cannot be healed.” But You, having become “a mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5), resolved the enmity and brought apostates to Your Father: you turned the lost, you enlightened the darkened, you renewed the broken, you changed the corruptible into incorruptibility; He freed the creation from the error of polytheism, made people children of God (1 John 3:2), revealed those who were humiliated to be partakers of the Divine glory, raised those condemned to remain in the depths of the earth “above all principality and power” (Eph. 1:21), those sentenced to return to the earth and to dwell in hell, he placed with Himself on the royal throne. So, who was the place of doing these immeasurable benefits, exceeding the mind and perception? Wasn't it the Ever-Virgin who gave birth to You? 5. Do you see, dear fathers and brothers of God, the grace of today? Do you see how high and worthy of veneration is She who is praised by us now? Aren't Her mysteries awe-inspiring? Are they not filled with the miraculous? Blessed are those who see them in the only possible and proper way. Blessed are those who have acquired spiritual feelings. What a radiance of light adorns this night! What angelic guards illuminate the Dormition of the Life-Giving Mother! What divine speeches of the apostles delight the burial of the body received by God! How the Word of God, who in His mercy deigned to become Her Son, serves the all-holy and divine Mother with His sovereign hands and receives Her sacred soul! O good Lawgiver! Not subject to the law, He fulfills the law that He Himself established. After all, He Himself legitimized that children should pay due respect to their parents. “Honor,” he says, “your father and your mother” (Ex. 20:12). That this is true is clear to anyone even a little initiated into the meaning of the divine words of the Holy Scripture. For if, as the divine Scripture says, “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God” (Wis. 3:1), then will She not, first of all, give the soul into the hands of Her Son and God? This word is true and above any objection. But, if you wish, we will tell you, to the best of our ability, who She is and where she comes from, how She was given to this world as the greatest gift and at the same time the most gracious of all the gifts of God, what occupations she had in this life and what sacraments she was awarded. For if the Hellenes, honoring the dead with epitaphs, collected with all possible zeal everything that could be found, so that the praise of the one being glorified would be due, and among those remaining [woke up] a zealous desire for virtue - while for the most part they weaved their story from myths and absurd fictions, even though those being glorified did not gain praise according to their own [merits] - then how come we did not Do we deserve universal condemnation and are not subject to the same punishment as someone who buried our talent if we hide, [as they say], in the depths of silence, that which is completely true and worthy of veneration, that which truly exists and brings blessing and salvation to everyone? Therefore, we will begin the word, taking care of its brevity, so that it does not turn out to be difficult for the ear, like excess food for the body. 6. Her parents were Joachim and Anna. Joachim, like a shepherd of sheep, herded and led his thoughts, like flocks, wherever he wanted. For he himself was shepherded by the Lord God like a sheep, and lacked no blessings. Let no one think that I call goods what is dear to most people, to which the mind of lovers of pleasure always strives, but which is not in the nature of lasting and which cannot make its owner better - the pleasures of present life, which cannot be durable, but decline and are immediately destroyed, even if someone had them in great abundance. No, it is not for us to admire such [things], and this is not the lot of those who fear the Lord. I am talking about goods that are desirable and attractive to truly prudent people, [about benefits] that are enduring, that are pleasing to God and bring ripe fruit to those who have found [them], I mean Virtues that in due time, in the next century, will give their Fruit - eternal life to those who bring due diligence and feasible labor. For work precedes virtues, and only then follows eternal bliss. In them, Joachim constantly grazed his thoughts in a green place, dwelling in the consideration of sacred prophecies, enjoying the water of rest, that is, divine grace, turning [thoughts] away from empty things and directing them “on the paths of righteousness” (Ps. 23:2-3). Anna, who means “grace,” was with her husband not only united in marriage, but also united in character. Although adorned with all the virtues, for some secret reason she suffered from the affliction of infertility. Indeed, truly, grace itself was then sterile, being unable to bear fruit in the souls of people, for “everyone turned aside and became equally useless,” there was neither one who understood nor sought God (Ps. 13:2-3). But the good God, having looked upon the creation of His hands, having mercy on it and desiring to save it, abolishes the sterility of grace, that is, the God-wise Anna, who brings into the world a daughter, such as was not before and such as will not be after. This abolition of sterility clearly showed that the world would be freed from sterility in good [deeds] and that the dry stump would produce the fruits of ineffable bliss. 7. Therefore, the birth of the Mother of God takes place according to a promise: an angel announces the conception of the One who is about to be born; for it was necessary that the future Mother according to the flesh of the One and truly perfect God should not be behind anyone and should not take second place in this either. Then She is dedicated to the sacred church of God and remains there, demonstrating a way of life [incomparably] better and purer than others, moving away from all communication with unrighteous husbands and wives. When she reached the age of blossoming and according to the law she was forbidden to be in the sanctuary, the priests handed her over to the betrothed or, in other words, the guardian of virginity Joseph, who, until his old age, impeccably, in comparison with others, kept the law. This sacred and pure virgin lived with him, doing household chores and knowing nothing about what was happening outside the house. 8. “But when the fullness” of times had come (Gal. 4:4), as the divine apostle says, “the angel Gabriel was sent from God” to this truly daughter of God and said to Her: “Rejoice, full of grace!” The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:26–28). Beautiful is the angelic greeting [addressed] to the One who is above the angels, for it brings universal joy. She was embarrassed by his words, not being used to communicating with men (after all, She firmly decided to keep her virginity). “And I thought to myself what kind of greeting it would be.” The Archangel told Her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God” (Luke 1:29–30). Truly You have found grace worthy of grace. You have found grace, Who labored, cultivating the field of grace, and reaped the abundant harvest of grace. You have found an abyss of grace, Who preserved the boat of pure virginity unharmed: after all, You preserved the virgin soul no less than the body; and hence the virginity of the body was preserved. “And you will give birth to a Son,” said the angel, “and you will call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:31), Jesus means Savior. “For He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). What does the Treasury of true wisdom answer to this? She does not imitate the foremother Eve, but, on the contrary, corrects Her indiscretion and, putting nature as an intercessor, this is how she responds to the words of the angel: “How will this be for [me] when I don’t know my husband?” (Luke 1:34), “You say the impossible,” She says, “for your words destroy the laws of nature that the Creator established. I don’t allow the thought of becoming the second Eve and disobeying the will of the Creator. And if you do not say anything contrary [to His will], then resolve the confusion by explaining the method of conception.” To this the messenger of truth [answered] Her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore, the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35), - “What is happening now is not subject to the laws of nature, for the Creator and Master of nature changes its limits with supreme power.” She, hearing with sacred reverence the name that she had always looked forward to and revered, feared punishment for disobedience and uttered words filled with awe and joy: “Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). 9. “Oh, the depth of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! – I will say here, together with the apostle. “How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways!” (Rom. 11:33). Oh, the inexhaustible goodness of God! Oh, His immeasurable love! He who calls “things that do not exist as though they exist,” who fills heaven and earth, Whose “heaven is his throne... and earth his footstool” (Rom. 4:17; Jer. 23:24; Is. 66:1), made the womb of His servant a spacious dwelling for Himself and in it He performed the most wondrous of all sacraments. After all, He, being God, becomes man, is supernaturally born at the [due] time of birth, opens the [mother’s] womb without destroying the constipation of virginity; and lifts up with earthly hands [He who is] “the radiance of glory and the image of the Person of the Father, holding up all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3) Oh, truly divine miracles! Oh, mysteries that are beyond nature and understanding! Oh, the glory of virginity, which surpasses human nature! What is this great mystery about You, sacred Mother and Virgin? “Blessed are You among women, and blessed is the fruit of Your womb!” (Luke 1:42). Blessed are you in the birth of childbirth, the only one worthy to be considered blessed. For behold, all generations will bless You, as You predicted (Luke 1:48). The daughters of Jerusalem saw you - I mean the Church - and the queens, that is, the souls of the righteous, pleased you, and they will praise you forever (Song. 6:9). For You are the royal throne, upon which stand thrones, or angels, looking to Your Lord, Master and Creator who sits on it (Dan. 7:9-10). Thou art the mental Eden, most sacred and most divine of ancient times; in him dwelt Adam "earthly," and in You - "the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:47). You were prefigured by the ark that kept the seed of the second world (Gen. 7:1–5), for You gave birth to the salvation of the world - Christ, who drowned sin and tamed its waves. You were ordained by the bush, the tablets written by God were foreshadowed, the ark of the covenant was foreshadowed, your clear prototype was the golden vessel, the lamp, the table and “Aaron’s rod that blossomed” (Heb. 9:2-4). From You [bodily] grew the fire of the Divine, the Definition and Word of the Father, the sweetest and heavenly manna, the nameless Name, which is “above every name” (Phil. 2:9), the eternal and unapproachable Light (1 Tim. 6:16), the heavenly “bread of life” (John 6:48), the uncultivated fruit. Was it not You who was foreshadowed by the furnace, which revealed a fire that was both watering and blazing - an image of the Divine Fire that Dwelled in You (Dan. 3:25-26)? The Tabernacle of Abraham quite obviously foretold You (Gen. 18:1–6). After all, to God the Word, Who created the tabernacle in Your womb, human nature brought bread baked in hot ashes, that is, the firstfruits of its fruits, and Your Most Pure Blood. [These first fruits] were, as it were, baked and made into bread by the divine Fire, which took them into His divine Hypostasis and brought them into the true existence of a body animated by a thinking and rational soul. I almost forgot about Jacob's ladder. So what? Isn’t it clear to everyone that it is known as your destiny and image? After all, just as [Jacob] saw heaven connected to the earth by the ends of a ladder, angels descending and ascending along it, and the truly Strong and Invincible One who wrestled with him in a figurative manner (Gen. 28:12, 32:24–31), so You combined what was divided, becoming a mediator and ladder for the descent of God to us, Who took our weak composition, combined and united with By Himself He made man a mind capable of seeing God. Thanks to this, the angels descended to serve Him as God and Master, and people, having accepted the angelic life, are raptured into heaven. Where should we place the prophets’ broadcasts? Shouldn’t we [should refer them] to You if we want to show their true meaning? For what is this fleece of David on which the Son of God, the King of all, co-originating and co-king with His Father, descended like rain (Ps. 72:6)? Isn't it you, All-Shining One? What kind of Virgin is this, whom Isaiah foresaw and foretold that She would “receive with child” (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:23) and give birth to God, who will be with us, that is, will remain God even after becoming man? What is this mountain of Daniel, from which the corner stone was torn away (Dan. 2:34) - Christ without the help of human hands? Is it not You, who gave birth without seed and still remains a Virgin? [Let] the divinely inspired Ezekiel come and show the closed gates, which he prophetically foretold that “the Lord has entered through them, and they will be shut” (Ezek. 44:2). Let him show the fulfillment of his words. He will certainly point to You, through which “God who is above all” passed (Rom. 9:5) and took on flesh without opening the gates of virginity; for truly the seal remains unbroken forever. So, the prophets preach You, the angels and apostles serve You, [and among them] the virgin and theologian - You, the Ever-Virgin and Mother of God (John 19:26-27). Today, when You went to Your Son, You were surrounded by angels, the souls of the righteous, patriarchs and prophets; You were accompanied by the honorary guard of the apostles and countless numbers of God-bearing fathers, gathered as if on a cloud by the divine command of Your Son from [all] ends of the earth to the divine and sacred Jerusalem and divinely inspired sacred hymns to You, the source of the life-giving Body of the Lord. 10. Oh, how is the source of life brought to life through death?! Oh, how She who at Christmas rose above the limits of nature now falls under its laws, and the immaculate body is subject to death! For he must put aside mortality itself and “put on incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:53), because Her Master Himself did not turn away from the trials of mortals; He dies according to the flesh, and through death He destroys death, through corruption He bestows incorruption, and He makes mortification the source of resurrection. Oh, how the sacred soul, separated from the God-receiving tabernacle, is received with His own hands by the Creator of the whole [world], rendering lawful veneration to the One Who, by the nature of a slave, He, in the unsearchable depths of His love for mankind, economically made the Mother, truly incarnate, invisibly becoming human. And [all] this, according to legend, was seen by the upcoming formations of angels, who expected Your removal from people. Oh, the most beautiful departure that the coming to God gives! For, although this is granted by God to all his [faithful] servants and to all God-bearing [people] - and we believe that it is granted - the difference between the servants of God and His Mother is immeasurable. Therefore, what name will we give to the Sacrament that was performed on You? Death? But even if, according to the laws of nature, Your most sacred and blessed soul moves away from Your glorious and immaculate body, and [the] body itself is given over to lawful burial, then it still does not remain in the realm of death and is not destroyed by corruption - For Her, whose virginity remained indestructible after birth, and whose body remained unharmed after repose; and [now] it moves on to a better and divine life, which is no longer interrupted by death, but endures for endless centuries. For just as the all-luminous, multi-luminous sun, when briefly hidden by the body of the moon, seems to disappear, becomes darkened and takes on darkness instead of brilliance, but in itself it is not deprived of its inherent light, for it has within itself an ever-flowing source of light, as God who created it established - so You are an inexhaustible source of true light, an inexhaustible treasury of Him Who is life itself, an abundantly flowing spring blessings, the cause and giver of all good things to us, although for some time you are covered with bodily death, you generously pour out on us continuous, pure and inexhaustible streams of boundless light, immortal life and true bliss, rivers of grace, sources of healing, eternal blessing. You are, after all, “an apple tree among the trees of the forest... and the fruits... Yours are sweet to the throat” (Song. 2:3) of believers. Therefore, I will not call Your sacred Dormition death, but repose or departure, or, more precisely, installation. After all, when you leave the body, you are at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). 11. Angels and archangels carried you. The unclean spirits of the air trembled at your ascent. By your passage the air is blessed, and the ether is sanctified from above. Your soul, rejoicing, is received by the sky, You are met by the [angelic] Forces with sacred hymns and with shining lamps of bright triumph, saying something like this: “Who is this, rising, white, shining like the dawn, beautiful like the moon, bright like the sun” (Song. 6:10). How decorated, how sweet! You are the flower of the valleys, like “the lily between thorns." Therefore, the maidens loved You. From the blessing of Your colors, we will run after You. The King brought You into His palace (Song. 1:3-4, 2:2), where the authorities surround You with honorary guards, the Principalities bless, the Cherubim are overwhelmed with joy and fear, and the Seraphim glorify the One who nature and true economy, you became the Mother of Your Master. After all, You did not ascend into heaven, like Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), and were not caught up to the third heaven, like Paul (2 Cor. 12:2), but has reached the very royal throne of Her Son, [where] you look at Him with your own eyes, rejoice and stand before Him with great ineffable boldness. You are an unspeakable joy for the angels and all the supernatural powers, unceasing joy for the patriarchs, inexpressible delight for the righteous, unceasing rejoicing for the prophets. You are the world-blessing, the whole [creation] sanctifying; You are relief for the weary, consolation for those who cry, healing for those who are sick, refuge for those driven by storms, forgiveness for those who sin, merciful calm for those who mourn, ready help for all who ask. 12. Oh, a truly supernatural miracle! Oh, things that fill you with wonder! Death, formerly disgusting and hateful, is now glorified and pleased. What previously brought grief and sadness, tears and depression, now turned out to be the cause of joy and complete triumph. For all the servants of God whose death is pleased, [precisely] with death comes the undoubted confidence that they have pleased God; therefore, their death itself is gratified. She reveals them as perfect and blessed, granting the immutability of their virtue, about which it is said: “Before death, do not call anyone blessed” (Sir. 11:28). However, we will not say this about You. After all, for You it was not death that became bliss, and it was not the end of perfection, and not the departure that bestowed confidence [in salvation]. The beginning, the middle, the end, the immutable and true confirmation of all blessings that exceed the human mind, for You were seedless conception, divine indwelling and incorruptible birth. You truly said that not from death, but from conception itself, “all generations will bless you” (Luke 1:48). Therefore, it was not death that made You blessed, but You made death bright, freeing it from despondency and filling it with joy. Therefore, when Your most sacred and immaculate body was given over to holy burial, the angels preceded it, surrounded it, followed it, doing everything that was fitting to serve the Mother of their Master. The apostles and the entire church [people] exclaimed divine hymns inspired by the [Holy] Spirit. “Let us be satisfied with the good things of Your house; holy is your church, wondrous in righteousness” (Ps. 64:5–6). And again: “The Most High has sanctified His dwelling place; the mountain of God is a fruitful mountain, a mountain on which God is pleased to dwell” (Ps. 45:5, 67:16–17). You, the true ark of the Lord God, was placed on the shoulders of the council of the apostles, as once in ancient times the priests placed the ark of transformation (Joshua 3:1–17) and, having laid it in a tomb, he transported it in it, as through a certain Jordan, to the true promised land - to “Jerusalem above,” the city - the mother of all believers, “whose artist and builder is God” (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 11:10). For Your soul did not descend into hell, and Your flesh did not see incorruption (Ps. 15:10). an all-immaculate body, but after Your repose You are installed in the heavenly royal abodes - Queen, Lady, Lady, Mother of God, true Mother of God. 13. Oh, how the sky accepted She who is more spacious than the heavens! How did the tomb contain the container of God? But [the sky] accepted, but [the coffin] contained! It was not by the size of her body that She became more spacious than the sky (really, how can a body the size of three cubits, and still shrinking all the time, be able to compete in width and length with the sky?), but by grace She surpassed the measure of all height and width, for the Divine is beyond comparison. Oh, sacred, wondrous, worthy of veneration and worship, which is still surrounded by angels, standing before it with fear and reverence, before which demons tremble, to which people resort with faith, paying veneration, worshiping, kissing with their eyes and lips with all the fervor of their souls, and draw an abundance of blessings. Just as precious myrrh, if placed on clothing or in some place, and then taken away, leaves a fragrant trace even after being taken away, so Your divine body: sacred, all-immaculate, filled with divine fragrance, an abundant spring of grace, being laid in the tomb, and then taken up into a better and higher region, did not leave [its] tomb without a gift, but imparted to it divine blessing and grace, left him as a source of healings and all kinds of benefits for all who come with faith. 14. Today we also surround You, Lady, Lady, and once again Lady, Mother of God without art; we have tied our souls with hope in You, as with the strongest and most unbreakable anchor, we offer You mind, soul and body - ourselves entirely; We glorify You “with psalms and... hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19), as much as we can, for we are not able to [honor You] according to our dignity. After all, if, as the sacred word has taught us, the honor given to our fellow slaves is evidence of love for our common Master, can diligent service to You, who gave birth to the Master, be abandoned? How could it not be more than others? coveted? How not to prefer it to the most necessary thing for life? Indeed, in this way we can better express our love for our Master. However, why am I talking to the Lord? Truly, for those who reverence You piously, the most precious gift of remembrance of You is self-sufficient, for it is the basis for inalienable joy. What joy, what blessings will not be fulfilled by the one who has made his mind a repository of remembrance of You? This is our thanksgiving offering, the best that we could select from our words, the fruit of our meager mind, moved by love for You and completely forgetting about our weakness. But accept love favorably, knowing that it surpasses strength. Look upon us, Good Lady, Mother of the Good Lord, lead and direct our affairs according to Your will, stop the attacks of our most shameful passions, stop [their] turmoil, lead us to the stormless harbor of the Divine will and honor us with future bliss, sweet illumination from the Face of You Himself, the incarnate God of the Word, with Whom is glory, honor and splendor to the Father with His All-Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. 1. There is no person who could adequately praise the sacred exodus of the Mother of God, even if he had tens of thousands of tongues and mouths; and even if all the languages ​​of people scattered in many places were united, they would not find the proper words of praise; for She surpasses all measure of praise. But since God is pleased with that which is brought [by us] to the best of our ability from love, diligence and good will, and the Mother of God is pleased with that which is kind and desirable to Her Son, then let us again turn to praise, obeying your commands, O best and most God-loving of shepherds, calling as an assistant from Her the incarnate Word, Who fills every mouth that is opened to Him, [The Word], Which was Her only adornment and all-glorious praise. For we know that when we begin to praise, we pay off a debt, and having paid it, we again find ourselves in debt, so that this debt is always renewed and has no end. May She Whom we sing, the Supreme of all creatures and the Lady of all creatures, be merciful to us, for She is the Mother of God - the Creator, Maker and Ruler of all. Forgive [me] and you, the assembly of those who love divine verbs, accept a good intention, welcome zeal, but treat with sympathy the weakness of [my] word. After all, if someone [comes] to the autocrat, who, by the will of God, has been entrusted with the helm [of rule] over his compatriots, whose table is always set and abounds with a variety of dishes, and whose palace is sweetly fragrant with precious aromas, and in winter brings him a violet, matching the color of crimson, or a rose - the most fragrant branch of the thorn, which has green buds and produces two-colored from them, little by little becoming red [flower] towards maturity, and by the time of harvest - a fruit as sweet as honey, then [the king] will pay attention not to the insignificance of the gift, but to its unusualness, and will be surprised at the beauty of the flower, and, being a good judge and a true connoisseur, will reward the farmer with gifts and favors - so do we, bringing flowers of speeches to the Queen in bad weather, straining our weak word for competitions in praise [Our Lady] and delivering to you, lovers of speech and listening, a certain weak spark arising, as from the friction of iron on stone, from love and reason, or [a certain] young wine of words [formed], as from the squeezing of unripe grapes, from the mind that gives birth to speech, may we be listened to even more favorably. For what can we bring to the Mother of the Word, except the word? Like rejoices at like, especially what is dear to it. Therefore, having finally left behind the barrier that holds back words, and slightly loosened the reins, let us send our speech on the road like a kind of horse. But be me, the Word of God, my helper, grant a word to my wordless mind, with [Your] word make my path smooth and direct my path to please You, to which every word and thought of the wise strives. 2. Today, in the most worldly and heavenly church, [That] holy and only Virgin is brought, who so desired virginity that in her, as if in some purest flame, she received her full expression. After all, every virgin, when she gives birth, violates her virginity. She remains a virgin before Christmas, during Christmas, and after Christmas. Today, the sacred and animated ark of the Living God - She Who carried Her Creator in her womb - rests in the church of the Lord not made by hands (Ps. 132:3); and David, Her forefather and Godfather, plays, with him the angels form a choir, the archangels applaud, the powers glorify, the principalities rejoice, the powers rejoice, the dominions rejoice, the thrones celebrate, the cherubim sing and the seraphim glorify; for they themselves are glorified all the more because they give glory to the Mother of glory. Today, the most sacred dove, an immaculate and gentle soul, sanctified by the Divine Spirit, having flown out of the ark, that is, from the God-receiving and life-giving body, found “a place of rest for her feet” (Gen. 8:8-9), retiring into the mental world and creating a dwelling for herself in the undefiled land of the [heavenly] lot. Today, the Eden of the new Adam hosts a verbal paradise in which condemnation has been abolished, in which the tree of life has grown, in which our nakedness is covered (Gen. 2:8–9). After all, we are no longer naked and stripped of clothing, as those who do not bear the lordship of the Divine image and are alienated from the abundant grace of the Spirit. And we will no longer say, mourning the ancient nakedness: “I threw off my tunic; How can I put it on again?” ( Song 5:3 ). There was no loophole for snakes in this paradise, rushing after the false deification of which we became like senseless cattle. The only begotten Son of God Himself, being God and consubstantial with the Father, made Himself man from this virgin and pure womb - and I, a man, became deified, a mortal became immortal and took off my skins (Gen. 3:21). For I have put off corruption from myself, and through the garment of God I have incorruption on me. Today, the Virgin, immaculate and unfamiliar with earthly passions, growing in thoughts of heavenly things, does not go to the earth, but, as having become truly animated by heaven, settles in heavenly dwellings. Shall we sin against the truth by calling It heaven, if not by securing genuine knowledge that It rises incomparably above the heavens? After all, the Creator and Sustainer of heaven, the Inventor of all peaceful and super-worldly, visible and invisible creation, - for Whom not one of all places is a place (if we define “place” as that which embraces what is within itself), - in Her, without seed, He made Himself a child and revealed Her as the spacious container of His all-filling and one indescribable Divinity. He completely dispassionately hid himself in Her, while remaining entirely outside [Her] and having Himself as an infinite place. Today the treasure of life, the abyss of grace - I don’t know how to say this with bold and fearless lips - is covered with life-giving death and fearlessly approaches it by She who in her womb carried the Destroyer of Death, if it is at all permissible to call Her all-sacred and life-giving departure death. Indeed, how could the One who poured out true life on everyone become subject to death? But She is subject to the law of the One born of Her, just as the daughter of the old Adam falls under the responsibility of her father, for Her Son, Who is Life Itself, did not reject this law.” However, as having become the Mother of the Living God, She is transferred with dignity to Him. After all, if God said: “Lest he [the first-created man] stretched out his hand, and also took from the tree of life, and ate, and began to live forever” (Gen. 3:22), then how will she not live in endless eternity, who received life itself, beginningless and unceasing, not limited by either beginning or end. 3. In ancient times, the Lord God, having expelled and forced the ancestors of [all] mortals to leave the Edenic paradise, who had abused the wine of disobedience, darkened the eye of the heart with the intoxication of crime, burdened the eye of the mind with a hangover of sin, and fallen asleep in the sleep of death. So will He not now accept into paradise the One who shook off [Herself] the pretext of every passion, who brought forth a child of obedience to God and the Father, and who laid the foundation for life for the entire [human] race? Will heaven not open [its] gates with joy? Of course yes. After all, Eve, who entrusted her hearing to the serpent’s message, who heeded the advice of the enemy and softened her senses with the pretext of false sweetness, accepts the punishment of sorrow and suffering, is obliged to suffer birth pangs, is condemned to death along with Adam and settles in the depths of hell. But how will death consume this truly all-blessed one, who inclined her ear to the word of God, who became non-idle by the action of the [Holy] Spirit, who had in her womb, according to the word of the Archangel, [the] Father's Benevolence, who conceived without pleasure and communication with her husband, the all-filling Hypostasis of God the Word, who gave birth without the usual pangs of labor and was completely united with God? How will hell accept Her inside? How does incorruption encroach on a life-receiving body? This is completely inappropriate and alien to Her God-bearing soul and body. Looking at Her, death was afraid, for from its attack on Her Son [death] learned from experience and, having already acquired [this] experience, became more prudent. The terrible paths of hell appeared impossible for [the Mother of God], but a straight, smooth and easy path to heaven was prepared for Her. For if Christ, Who is life and truth (John 14:6), says: “Where I am, there will My servant also be” (John 12:26), then how much more will [His] Mother dwell with Him. “Before the pain came,” She gave birth (Is. 66:7), and Her departure was painless. “The death of sinners is cruel” (Ps. 33:22), but about She through whom “the sting of death is sin” (1 Cor. 15:56) is killed, what can we say if not that [for Her death] is the beginning of an endless and better life? Truly “the road...the death of the saints” (Ps. 116:6) of the Lord God of hosts; the repose of the Mother of God is immensely precious. Now “let the heavens rejoice” and the angels applaud; now “let the earth rejoice” (Ps. 95:11), let the people rejoice. Now let the air, rejoicing, echo the chants, let the dark night put aside the sad and sorrowful darkness and let the joyful radiance of the day be likened to the flickering lights. For the Living City of the Lord God of hosts rises high, and from the church of the Lord from glorious Zion to the highest free Jerusalem - the kings, I mean the apostles, who became leaders of Christ throughout the whole earth, bring as a most colorful gift (Ps. 67:30) the ever-virgin Mother of God. 4. It seems appropriate to me (as far as it is in my power) to capture in words, reproduce and present in general terms the miracles performed on the Holy Mother of God, [information about which], very condensed and brief, passed on from father to son, we have received since ancient times. It is known that this holiest of saints and holiest of sacred, the sweet vessel of manna, or, better to say, its true source, reclined on a small bed in the divine and most glorious city of David, that is, in the universally known most beautiful Zion, in which the law of the letter was fulfilled and the law of the spirit was established, in which the Lawgiver Christ put an end to the transformative Passover, and - He - the God of the Old and New Testaments gave [to us] the true Easter; in which He dedicated His disciples to the Mystery of the Last Supper, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and for their sake He offered Himself as a sacrifice as a fat calf, and in a winepress squeezed out the fruit of the true vine; in which Christ appears to the apostles after the resurrection from the dead and assures [Thomas], and through him [all] the ends [of the earth], that He is God and Lord (John 20:26-28), bearing in Himself even after the resurrection from the dead two natures and two corresponding actions, and [two] free wills, abiding in boundless eternity. This [city] is a stronghold of churches. He is the refuge of [Christ's] disciples. In it, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles in a much-noisy, many-tongued, and fire-like appearance. In it, the Theologian, who took the Mother of God to himself, served Her in all that was due; this [city] - the mother of Churches throughout the universe - appeared as the dwelling of the Mother of God after the rising of Her Son from the dead. Finally, in Him, the blessed Virgin reclined on some happiest bed. 5. But here I have reached in my word the [place] where I must express my feeling [which I experienced] when, blazing with the hottest and stormy fire of love and overwhelmed by a certain excitement and tears of joy, I seemed to embrace this bed, blessed and beautiful, full of miracles, which had received a life-giving body and was worthy of sanctification from Your proximity, and [it seemed to me] that I was touching with my hands the very sacred, all-holy and godly tabernacle. My members touched the eyes, lips, forehead, body, cheeks, and I felt the touch produced as if by an existing body, although I understood that I could not see what I wanted with my eyes. For how [could one see] that which was caught up on high into the heavenly sanctuaries. And all this is the current [holiday]. 6. But what honors did He, Who commanded to honor parents, bestow upon Her? Those who were scattered throughout the whole earth, [who] caught people with many voices and various tongues of the Spirit, [who] with a net of words drew [them] from the abyss of delusions, [to lead] to the spiritual and heavenly table of the Last Supper, where [served] the sacred food of the spiritual feasts of the Heavenly Bridegroom, brilliantly, radiantly and royally arranged by the Father Equal and Only in Nature To the Son, [so these are them], by Divine command, from all corners of the earth a cloud was delivered to Jerusalem, like a net that drives and gathers eagles. For “where the corpse is,” said Christ, who is the truth, “there the eagles will gather” (Matthew 24:28). Although this saying was spoken about the second great and glorious appearance from heaven [of Christ], it will not be inappropriate to use the sweetness of this word now. So, the servants of the Word also arrived in order to dutifully serve His Mother and draw blessings from Her, as a valuable and precious inheritance, for who doubts that She is the source of blessing and the outpouring of all good things? Together with them came their followers and successors to share in both the service and the blessing: for whoever has common labor, accordingly, has [common] fruits. God's chosen society of Jerusalemites also appeared. But it was necessary that [they] should be accompanied, becoming part of this sacred guard, by the branch of the ancient righteous and prophets who foretold for our [salvation] from Her the former incarnation and humane birth of God the Word. The host of angels did not [remain] indifferent, because they, as those who observed voluntary obedience to the King and therefore were awarded the honorable presence of Him, had to accompany the guards and His Mother according to the flesh, truly the happiest and most blessed, above all generations and all creation. Before Her, with the radiant light of the [Holy] Spirit and luminous brilliance, were all those who fixed the pure gaze of their minds on Her with reverence, fear and unshakable love. 7. These are God-inspired and God-sounding speeches. These are the hymns that are godly and original. After all, it was necessary to sing on this occasion of God’s boundless goodness, a greatness that is above all greatness, an infinitely strong power, a condescension towards us that exceeds every degree and measure, a super-great wealth of incomprehensible goodwill, an inexhaustible abyss of love - how, without being separated from His own greatness, [the Son of God] descended to an exalting [us] exhaustion, about which together with Him the Father and the Spirit have pleased; how the All-Essential from the woman's womb is all-essentially realized; how, being God, He became man and is both; how, without leaving the essence of the Godhead, He, like us, became “partaker of flesh and blood” (Heb. 2:14); how He who fills all things, who exists above all things, and who contains all things by the word of His mouth (Heb. 1:3) dwelt in a cramped place; how the material and grass-like body of this glorified [Virgin] received the consuming fire (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29) of the Deity and, like genuine gold, turned out to be indestructible. All this happened according to the will of God, for everything is possible when God wants it, and impossible when He does not want it. On this occasion, a competition and struggle [of speeches] was aroused, not so that one would surpass the others - this is, after all, the property of a vain mind and far from what pleases God - but so as not to miss anything in the strong desire to glorify God and glorify the Mother of God. 8. Then, just then, Adam and Eve, the ancestors of our race, loudly exclaimed with joyful lips: “You, blessed daughter, have abolished the punishment for our crime. You, having inherited from us a corruptible body, gave birth to us a robe of incorruptibility. You, having received existence from our loins, gave us a blissful existence, quelled torment, tore apart the shrouds of death, and restored for us the ancient abode. We closed paradise, but you opened the way to the tree of life. Through us, sorrows came from blessings, and through You, even greater blessings were returned to us from sorrows. And how did you taste death, Immaculate One? You are a bridge to life: and a stairway to heaven; death will be for you a crossing to immortality. Truly blessed are You, O All-Blessed One. For who, if not [God] the Word, was offered [by You] to endure what He intended to do?” The whole crowd of the prophets also triumphed, [saying]: “You have fulfilled our prophecies; You brought long-awaited joy. Thanks to You, we have freed ourselves from the shackles of death. Come to us, divine and life-giving treasure. Come to us who desire [You], You who have fulfilled our desire.” But the many saints still in the body who surrounded [the Mother of God] distracted Her [attention to themselves] with words that were not inferior to others: “Abide with us, our consolation, our only joy on earth. Do not leave us orphaned, Mother, for the sake of our love for Your Son. May we have You as rest in our labors and relief in our perspirations. You can [stay] if you wish; there is no obstacle for You to leave if that is what you strive for. If You depart, O tabernacle of God, then let us also, who have become Your people through Your Son, depart with You. We have acquired You alone on earth with the consolation left to us. It is equally harmonious to live with You while living, and to die with You while dying. But what do we say “to a dying woman?” For for You death is life; and at the same time a better life and an incomparably superior life today. But what will be the value of this life for us if we don’t have communication with you?” 9. I believe that the apostles said something similar to the blessed Virgin with all the fullness of the Church. But when they saw that the Mother of God was in great haste towards Her departure, they, filled with Divine grace, turned to the original hymns, borrowing their lips from the Spirit, leaving the body and striving to depart with the departing Mother of God (2 Cor. 5:6-9, Phil. 1:25) and even, as it were, departing before [the appointed hour], as far as possible according to the strength of their desire. When everyone fulfilled both their desire and duty, and wove a multicolored, multicolored wreath of sacred hymns, they perceived the blessing, as well as the initial and final speeches of the Mother of God, as a kind of God-given treasure. They, as far as I know, proclaimed how fleeting and transitory the present life is, and revealed the hidden secrets of future blessings. 10. And after that, in accordance with and according to [the event], I believe, the coming of the King to His Mother should have taken place, in order to receive Her sacred soul, pure and immaculate, with the Divine and most pure hands. And She, as she should, said to Him: “Into Your hands, My Child, I commend My spirit. Accept My dear soul, which You have preserved immaculate. To you, and not to the earth, I commit My body. Preserve whole [the body] in which You deigned to dwell, and which, after Your Nativity, You preserved virgin. Submit Me to Yourself, so that where You, the offspring of My womb, abide, I too may be with You. For I hasten to You, Who Descended to Me without separation from the Father. Be a consolation in My departure for My beloved children, whom You were pleased to call brothers (Matthew 12:49). Add blessing upon blessing to them through the laying on of My hands.” Then She raised her hands and blessed those gathered and, after uttering these words, heard: “Come, My blessed Mother, into Your rest. “Arise, come, my beloved, fair... in wives, for now the winter has already passed... and the time has come to gather fruit... You are beautiful, My beloved, and there is no spot on You... The fragrance of Your ointments is better than all fragrances” (Song. 2:10–12, 4:7, 10). Hearing this, the Most Holy One gave up her spirit into the hands of the Son. 11. So what happens? I suppose the movement and change of the elements; voices, noise and hymns of angels befitting [the occasion], which precede, follow and accompany [the Mother of God]. Some of them form the guard of Her immaculate and all-holy soul and descend from the ascending one into heaven until they deliver the Queen to the royal throne, others surround the divine and sacred body of the saint and glorify the Mother of God with angelic songs. And what about those who stood before [Her] divine and most sacred body? With fear, love and tears of joy, they surrounded this holy and all-blessed village, hugged and kissed it, brought all their members closer to the body [of the Mother of God] and were filled with consecration and blessings from the touch. Then the diseases fled, and the regiments of demons, pressed from everywhere, were driven out into only underground dwellings. The air, ether and sky were sanctified by the ascension of the spirit, and the earth - by the position of the body. The nature of water did not turn out to be deprived of blessing. For [the body of the Mother of God] is washed with pure water, which not so much cleanses it as cleanses itself. There the deaf were given the same hearing as everyone else, the feet of the lame were corrected, the sight of the blind was restored, and the manuscripts (Matthew 11:5) of sinners who came with faith were torn apart. What then? The clean body is wrapped in shrouds and again the Queen rests on her bed. Then lamps, incense and accompanying hymns; the angels sing in natural languages ​​the hymn most appropriate for them, while the apostles and God-bearing fathers proclaim hymns pleasing to God and inspired by the Spirit. 12. Then, just then, the ark of the Lord departs from Mount Zion (Ps. 132:3, 13, 14) [and], moving on the glorious shoulders of the apostles, is transported to the heavenly sanctuary by means of the tomb. First, he is carried through the city, like a beautiful bride, adorned with the unapproachable radiance of the Spirit, and so he is brought to the most sacred village of Gethsemane, and the angels, covering the coffin with wings, precede and accompany him, and [with them] the entire fullness of the church. And how King Solomon, when lowering the ark in the church of the Lord that he had created, “called... to Zion all the elders of Israel... to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, that is, Zion...; and the priests lifted up the ark... and the tabernacle of the testimony; and the priests and the Levites carried them. And the king... and all the people walked before the ark, offering sacrifices from flocks and herds.... And The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the oracle of the temple, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim" (1 Kings 8:1-6). So now, in the position of the mental ark (not the covenant of the Lord, but the very Person of God the Word), the new Solomon himself, the Head of the world and the greatest Creator of the entire universe, today gathered in Jerusalem the finest regiments of heavenly spirits and the foremost [men] of the New Testament, I mean the apostles with all the people of the holy [their] disciples. And He brings the soul through the angels into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 8:2-5, 9:12, 23-24), the original, true and heavenly, - under the wings of the four-formed animals (Ezek. 1:5-8), - and sits near His throne “in the interior behind the veil, into which Christ Himself, as the forerunner, bodily entered (Heb. 6:19-20). As for the body, it was carried by the hands of the apostles, while the “King of kings” (1 Tim. 6:15) covered it with the radiance of the invisible Divinity, and the whole face of the saints followed ahead of him, uttering sacred exclamations and offering a “sacrifice of praise” (Ps. 106:22), until it was committed to the tomb, as a kind of bridal chamber, and through through it to the delightful Eden and heavenly dwellings. 13. There were also some Jews there who were not too unkind. It would not be inappropriate here to add to the narrative (as a seasoning for food) what is passed on through the mouths of many. They say that when those carrying the blessed body of the Mother of God found themselves at the side of the mountain, a certain Jew - a slave of sin and a follower of error, imitating the servant of Caiaphas (who struck the sovereign and divine face of Christ God) - became an instrument of the devil, so that, falling into a daring and reckless frenzy and being urged by an evil demon, he rushed to that most divine body, to which he The angels approached in trepidation, and, grabbing the bed with both hands - madly and uncontrollably - he set out to drag it to the ground (this impulse, of course, is the result of the envy of the prince of evil). But the fruit forestalled the matter, and [this Jew] plucked a bitter grape worthy of his prompting. After all, they say that his hands were lost, and one could see how the one who planned to commit a monstrous audacity with his own hands suddenly lost his hands, until he changed his intentions to faith and repentance. Those carrying the bed immediately stopped, and that unfortunate man, placing his hands on the life-giving and miraculous dwelling, again became healthy from being armless. After all, it is known that misfortunes most often give rise to wise and saving decisions. But let's get back to the subject [of the story]. 14. From there the body is transferred to the most sacred Gethsemane. Again kisses and embraces, praises and sacred hymns, conversions and tears, as well as streams flowing from mental struggle and longing so that one could see how sweat and tears competed with the streams [of water]. And thus the all-holy body is laid in the all-glorious and wondrous tomb; and from there on the third day he ascends to the heavenly abodes. For it was fitting that this godly dwelling, the undiscovered source of the water of forgiveness, the unplowed field of heavenly grain, the unwatered vine of immortality, the evergreen and beautifully fruitful olive tree of the Father’s mercy, should not be confined in the voids of the earth. But just as the holy and immaculate body of the Lord, which from Her became sub-hypostatic to the Word, rose from the tomb on the third day, so the Mother [had] to be taken away from the tomb and move to the Son. And just as He Himself descended to Her, so She [had] to ascend into the greatest and most perfect tabernacle “into heaven itself” (Heb. 9:11, 24). It was necessary that She Who strangely received God the Word in Her womb should Herself dwell in the divine tabernacles of Her Son; and just as the Lord said that He “must be in the things that belong to the Father” (Luke 2:49), so the Mother had to abide in the palaces of the Son, “in the house of the Lord, in the courts ... of our God” (Ps. 135:2), for if in Him is the dwelling place of all who rejoice (Ps. 87:5), then where [could] be the reason for joy? It was necessary that He who preserved [Her] virginity indestructible at birth should also keep [Her] body incorruptible after death. It was necessary that She who bore the Creator in her arms like a baby should live in divine villages. It was fitting that the Bride whom the Father had chosen should dwell in the heavenly bridal chamber. It was necessary that She who saw Her Son on the cross and accepted the sword of suffering in her heart (Luke 2:35), which she escaped at birth, saw Him co-seated with the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God should possess everything that belonged to the Son, and that She should be revered by all creation as the Mother and servant of God. For inheritance always passes from parents to children, but now, as a certain sage said, the sources of the sacred rivers flow backwards, for the Son has subordinated all creation to the Mother. 15. So, come, today we too will celebrate the original feast of the Mother of God without pipes and corybants and without performing Bacchic processions in honor of the Mother of the falsely named gods, whom they, madmen, imagine to have many children, but the word of truth presents as childless. They [these gods] are nothing more than demons and ghosts, like shadows, which maliciously appear to be what they are not, having received to their aid the stupidity of people who are in error. For how can an incorporeal [being] give birth through intercourse? And how can it be combined? And how can one be a god who, without being before, was created through birth? And the fact that the race of demons is incorporeal is quite clear even to the blind eyes of reason. After all, somewhere in his writings Homer said, describing the state of the gods he revered: For they do not eat the meat, nor do they partake of the grapes of wine. That is why they are bloodless and immortal. They do not eat meat, as he says, and do not taste wine that warms the soul, and as a result they are bloodless, that is, they have no blood, and they are called immortal. Homer’s words “they are reproached” are very true. They are only called immortal, without being what they are called. For they died an evil death. And the One whom we worship is the true God, the God who did not pass from non-existence into being, the eternally existing from the eternally existing, who is above all reason, words and concepts of both time and nature. We honor and honor the Mother of God, not attributing to Her the untimely birth of [the Son] according to the Divinity, - after all, the birth of God the Word is timeless and co-eternal with the Father - but we confess the second birth through the voluntary incarnation, of which we both know and call Her the cause. For the One who exists without beginning as an incorporeal being incarnates “for our sake and ours for the sake of salvation,” in order to save like by like; and, having become incarnate from this sacred Virgin, he is born without combination, Himself being all God and becoming all man: all God with His flesh and all man with His divine Divinity. So, knowing this Virgin as the Mother of God, we celebrate Her Dormition, but do not call Her a goddess - away from us such tales of Hellenic stupidity; After all, we also proclaim Her death, but we know Her as the Mother of God, because God became incarnate [from Her]. 16. Let us glorify Her today with sacred hymns, having received from Her the riches to be and be called the people of Christ. Let us honor Her with all-night standing. Let us please Her with the purity of soul and body, truly the purest of all after God; for like should be promised to like. Let us serve Her with mercy and compassion for those in need; for if we cannot serve God in anything other than through mercy, will anyone dispute that His Mother will be glad of the same? She showed everyone the indescribable abyss of God’s love for people. Thanks to Her, our long-lasting enmity with the Creator ceased. Thanks to Her, our reconciliation with Him was arranged, peace and grace were given to us, people rejoiced along with the angels, and we, previously condemned, became children of God. We plucked the grapes of life from Her; from Her they took the branch of incorruption. She became a mediator for us in all good things. In Her God became man and man became God. What's more surprising than this? What is more blessed than this? I faint with fear, trembling at what I'm talking about. With the prophetess Mariam, oh, young souls, let us go out with tympans (Ex. 15:20), mortifying the “earthly members” (Col. 3:5), for this is the mysterious tympanum. Let us exclaim with the exclamation of our souls at the Ark of the Lord God, and the walls of Jericho will collapse (Joshua 6:19), that is, the hostile strongholds of the opposing forces. Let us rejoice spiritually with David, for today the ark of the Lord rests (2 Samuel 6:12–15). Let us cry together with Gabriel, the leader of the angels: “Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with you;" (Luke 1:28). Rejoice, inexhaustible sea of ​​joy! Rejoice, united cessation of sorrow! Rejoice, medicine that relieves the pain of every heart! Rejoice, Thou who hast trampled death and brought [for us] life! 17. But you, after the life-giving tomb of the Lord, the most sacred of [all] sacred tombs, [you], who was the source of resurrection, speaking to you as if you were alive, [answer]: Where is the pure gold that the hands of the apostles hid in you? Where is the inexhaustible wealth? Where is the God-pleasing treasury? Where is the animated throne? Where is the new book in which God's Word was written ineffably without the help of hands? Where is the abyss of grace? Where is the sea of ​​healing? Where is the source of life? Where is the hotly desired and beloved body of the Mother of God? [The coffin responded as follows]: – What are you looking for in the grave, the One who ascended to the heavenly dwellings? Why are you demanding a report from the guards? It is not in my power to resist Divine commands. Having left [me] the shroud, [this] holy and sacred body [thereby] imparted sanctification to me, filled [me] with aroma and fragrance, made me a divine church, and [itself], being snatched [from me], withdrew, accompanied by angels, archangels and all the heavenly powers. Now I am surrounded by angels. Now divine grace dwells in me. I have become a hospital for the sick, driving away suffering. I am the eternal source of healing. I have become a city of refuge (Num. 35:11) for those who resort [here]. Come in faith, peoples, and draw gifts as from a river. Come, you who have acquired undoubting faith (James 1:6). “Thirsty! Go, all of you, to the waters; – Isaiah exhorts, “even you who have no silver, go and buy...without price” (Isaiah 55:1). I exclaim to everyone in the Gospel: “Thirst for healing from illnesses, liberation from spiritual passions, deliverance from sins, alienation from various misfortunes and peace in the heavenly kingdom, come to me with faith and draw from the powerful and multi-useful stream of grace (John 7:37-39). For just as the energy of water, being simple and united (just like [the energy of] earth, air and the dazzlingly bright sun), changes according to the nature of what receives it, and becomes wine in grapes, and oil in olives, so grace, being simple and united, benefits in various ways and according to the need of the recipient. I did not acquire grace from my own nature. After all, every coffin is full of stench, hospitable to despondency and hostile to joy, but I received the precious myrrh and perceived [part of] its fragrance, and this ointment is so fragrant and effective that [even] short-term proximity [to it] is granted an inalienable participation; “For truly the gifts of God are immutable” (Rom. 11:29). I became a host to the source of joy and was enriched by its eternal flow.” 18. You see, beloved fathers and brothers, with what a lengthy speech the omnipotent coffin addressed us. And that this [really] was so, the following is written down verbatim in the Euthymian History, Book III, Chapter 40: “It was said above that in Constantinople many churches of Christ were erected by St. Pulcherius. One of them is the church built in Blachernae at the beginning of the reign of the blessed fate of Marcian. When [the emperor and empress] erected a sacred house there for the All-Sung and All-Holy Mother of God and the Ever-Virgin Mary and decorated it with all sorts of decorations, they looked for Her all-holy and God-receiving body. And, calling the Bishop of Jerusalem Juvenal and the Palestinian bishops, who were then living in the reigning city because of the Council of Chalcedon, they said to them: “We have heard that in Jerusalem there is the first and special church of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary in a village called Gethsemane, where Her life-giving body was laid in a tomb. Therefore, we want to transfer these remains here under the protection of the reigning city.” In turn, Juvenaly answered: “The Holy and Divinely Inspired Scripture does not convey anything about the death of the Most Holy Theotokos Mary. However, from an ancient [and] most reliable tradition, we learned that during Her Glorious Dormition, all the holy Apostles, who were scattered throughout the universe for the salvation of nations, were instantly gathered through the air to Jerusalem and, when they were nearby, a vision of angels appeared to them and the Divine singing of higher powers began to be heard. Thus, with divine and heavenly glory, [the Most Holy Theotokos] gave up her holy soul into the hands of God in some indescribable way. Her divinely received body, carried out and buried with angelic and apostolic singing, was laid in a tomb in Gethsemane. And [at] this place, continuous angelic singing continued for three days. When, after three days, the angelic singing stopped, the apostles opened the tomb, since one of them, who was absent and arrived after the third day, wished to venerate the body receiving God. But they could not find Her all-sung body, so, having found only the funeral robes lying there and being filled with the indescribable fragrance [emanating] from them, they closed the coffin. Struck by the miracle of the sacrament, [the apostles] could only think that God the Word and Lord of Glory, who deigned to be incarnate according to hypostasis and become human from Her and be born according to the flesh, and after the Nativity, who preserved Her virginity unharmed, Himself deigned, even after the departure of the Mother of God, to honor Her pure and unblemished body with incorruption and transference before the resurrection common to all. Present there along with the apostles was His Holiness Timothy, [himself] an apostle and the first bishop of Ephesus, and Dionysius the Areopagite, as he himself testifies in the books addressed to the mentioned Timothy about the blessed Hierotheus, who was also there at that time, in the following words: “In the presence of our God-inspired hierarchs, as you know, we, he, and many of our sacred brothers gathered to see the life-giving and God-receiving body. Present were James, the brother of the Lord, and Peter, the chief and elder of theologians. Then, after seeing [the body], it was decided that all the hierarchs, as far as each could, glorify the infinitely strong goodness of God's original weakness. After the theologians, as you know, [Hierofei] surpassed all other sacred mysteries, completely withdrawing, completely losing his temper and experiencing genuine community with the one being sung, so that everyone who heard and saw him (whether they knew him or not) considered him a divinely enlightened and divine hymnologist. But why should I tell you what the theology was about there? After all, if I remember correctly, I often heard from you some parts of those divinely inspired chants.” Hearing this, the kings asked Archbishop Juvenal to send them that holy coffin sealed, along with the shrouds and clothes of the Glorious and Most Holy Theotokos Mary. And, having received it, they placed [it] in the sacred church built [in honor of] the Most Holy Theotokos in Blachernae. And that was it." 19. What will we answer to the coffin? Your grace is inexhaustible and eternal, but divine power is not limited to place, and the benefits of the Mother of God do not dwell only in the tomb. After all, if they limited themselves only to the coffin, then few would receive divine gifts, but now they are generously distributed throughout all earthly boundaries. So, let us make our memory a repository for the Mother of God. How can this be? She is a Virgo herself, and loves virginity. She herself is pure and loves cleanliness. Therefore, if we cleanse our memory along with our body, we will find Her grace dwelling in us. For she avoids all [filth] and turns away from unclean passions, abhors gluttony, is at enmity with adultery, rejects offensive speech, avoids obscene thoughts as the offspring of vipers, hates outbursts of anger, does not allow inhumanity, envy and strife; rejects vain vanity, opposes, as an enemy, all pride, hates rancor, which is hostile to salvation, considers all evil to be a deadly poison and rejoices in the opposite of it (after all, the opposite is the cure for the opposite). She delights in fasting, abstinence and psalm singing; rejoices in purity, virginity to chastity, keeps eternal peace with them and kisses them tenderly; embraces a peaceful and meek mindset; he embraces love, mercy and humility with his hands, like his nurses. In short, She is saddened and upset by every evil, and rejoices by every virtue as if it were her gift. So, if we turn away from former vices with all zeal, and love virtues with all our hearts and find them as interlocutors, then She, drawing with Her a collection of all good things, will often come to Her servants along with Christ, Her Son and King and Lord of all, so that He may dwell in our hearts (Eph. 3:17). To Him [befits] glory, honor, power, greatness and splendor with the Father and the Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. 1. Those who have a love for any subject tend to talk about it on their lips and imagine it in their minds day and night. Therefore, let no one reproach me if, in addition to the two previously spoken, I composed a third word of praise to the Mother of my God, bringing, as it were, some kind of gift to Her departure, not in order to do Her [with my word] a service, but to offer both myself and you, those present here, O divine, sacred assembly, a soul-saving and saving dish and to bring spiritual joy. We have suffered, you see, a lack of [spiritual] food. Therefore, I quickly prepare a meal, which, although not rich and unworthy of the One who called us, is at least capable of satisfying hunger in case of need. For it is not She who needs our praise, but we who need Her glory. Already glorified, how else can we glorify it? What kind of light should I use to illuminate the light source? But by doing this, we weave our own crown. “As I live,” says the Lord, “I will glorify those who glorify Me” (1 Samuel 2:30). Sweet, truly sweet is the wine drink and nutritious bread. The first one makes you happy, and the second one strengthens the human heart. But what could be sweeter than the Mother of my God? She captivated my mind, She captured my language, I imagine Her image in reality and in dreams. She, the Mother of the Word, was the giver of my word. She is the offspring of the barren, making non-bearing souls fruitful. And so we now celebrate Her sacred and divine repose. Come, let's climb the mysterious mountain. There, having risen above everyday and material images, having entered the divine impregnable darkness and then finding ourselves in the light of God, let us sing of the infinitely strong power; The One who, from an all-essential, immaterial and all-surpassing height, without leaving the bosom of the Father, descended into the womb of the Virgin, was conceived and incarnated; The One who, having gone through voluntary suffering, accepted death and, together with the body that had birth from the earth, and, having acquired incorruptibility through corruption, ascended again to the Father; The One who drew His Mother according to the flesh to His Father, ascending to the heavenly earth the One who truly was the earthly heaven. 2. Now the mental animated ladder, having descended along which, the Most High “appeared on earth and spoke among people” (Bar. 3:38), took advantage of death as a ladder and ascended from earth to heaven. Now the earthly table, which unartifically bore the Heavenly Bread of Life, the coal of the Divine, was taken from earth to Heaven, and the gates of Heaven met the gates of God, facing “the east” (Ezek. 44:1). Today the animated city of God is transferred from earthly Jerusalem to Heavenly Jerusalem. She who was born “before all creation” (Col. 1:15), the Only Begotten of the Father, gave birth from Herself as the firstborn and only begotten, is installed in the “Church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12:23) - the Ark of the Lord, animate and mental, is transferred to the Son’s rest. The gates of paradise open and accept the God-bearing earth, on which the tree of eternal life arose, trampling on Eve’s disobedience and the death of Adam. This tree is Christ. He, the reason for the life of all, accepts a den carved into the rock, an indestructible mountain, torn from which “without the help of hands... the stone... filled the whole earth” (Dan. 2:34–35). The bed of the divine incarnation of the Word rested in the glorious tomb as in a bedchamber, from where it ascended into the heavenly bridal chamber, so that, reigning with the Son and God, it left the tomb for those living on earth. Do you call a coffin a bed? Yes, it is a bed and more beautiful than any other bed, for it shines not with the brilliance of gold, not with the clarity of silver, not with the transparency of precious stones, not with silk threads, not with gold-woven clothing, not with purple dresses, but with the divine light of the All-Holy Spirit. This bed does not contribute to the carnal union of those who love earthly love, but provides to those who are captivated by the Spirit the life of holy souls, standing before God, the best and sweetest of all blessings. This tomb is more beautiful than Eden. I will not talk about what happened in Eden: about the seduction perpetrated by the enemy, about his, I dare say, “sensible” advice, about envy, deception, about Eve’s pliability and gullibility, about the simultaneously sweet and bitter bait, having tasted which, she darkened her mind and deceived her husband, about disobedience, exile, death (so that, while talking about this, we would not give grounds for sadness), but I will say that this coffin raised a mortal body from earth to heaven, and Eden brought down the ancestor from above to earth. For was it not in Eden that the condemnation was pronounced on those created in the image of God: “Dust you are, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19). This tomb is more precious than the ancient Tabernacle, for it received a mental and animate, God-brilliant candlestick, a life-giving table, which stored not the showbread, but the bread of heaven, not the material fire, but the immaterial fire of the Divinity. The destiny of this tomb is more enviable than that of the Ark of Moses, for it was honored to serve not shadows and images, but the truth itself. He took into himself an authentic golden vessel with manna from heaven (Ex. 16:33); an animated tablet on which the Incarnate Word, the Hypostatic Word, was sealed by the finger of God, that is, by the action of the omnipotent Spirit; a golden censer, which contained the Divine coal as a fruit and fragrant the whole creation. 3. Let the demons flee, let the thrice-unfortunate Nestorians and their leader, the new pharaoh, a cruel wicked man and tyrant, weep like the ancient Egyptians: the abyss of blasphemy has covered them. We, the saved ones, having crossed the salty sea of ​​wickedness with dry feet, will sing the original song of the Mother of God. Let Mariam (understand the Church by her) take the tympanum in her hands and begin a festive song. Let the young virgins of spiritual Israel come out with clanking “tambourines and rejoicing” (Ex. 15:20). “The kings of the earth... and judges with princes, young men and maidens, elders and youths” (Ps. 149:11–12) may they glorify the Mother of God. In all assemblies and in every word, in different languages, let the tribes and peoples sing “a new song” (Ps. 149:1). Let the air around you ring with spiritual pipes and trumpets, and let this day of salvation begin in fiery splendor. Let the heavens rejoice, and “let the clouds shed” (Isa. 45:8) joy. Ride, sheep of God's chosen flock, divine apostles, rising with sublime contemplations, like mountains soaring into the sky, and lambs of God, holy people, children of the church, rushing towards the apostles, like hills towards high mountains. How wonderful! Source of life, my Lord Mother died. It was necessary that what was formed from the earth should return to the earth and then move to heaven, receiving in the earth the gift of the purest life through leaving the body in it. It was necessary that the flesh, leaving the earthly and lightless burden of mortality and becoming incorruptible and pure in the crucible of death, shining with the light of incorruption, should rise from the grave. 4. Now she receives the beginning of the second being from the One who gave Her the beginning of the previous existence, She who gave the beginning of the second - I mean bodily - existence, which does not have a temporal beginning to His first and eternal existence (although He has the beginning of the Father as the cause of His divine existence). Rejoice, O Zion, divine holy mountain, on which dwelt the Divine Mountain, animated. Rejoice, new Bethel, where oil was poured on the stone - human nature anointed by the Divine. From You, as if from the Mount of Olives, Her Son ascended to the heavenly heights. Let a universal and worldly cloud be prepared, and let the wings of the winds bring the apostles to Zion from the ends of the earth. “Who are these who fly like clouds” (Isaiah 60:8) and like eagles to the departed body - the source of the resurrection of all, to serve the Mother of Leaders? Who is it that rises white, all beautiful, shining like the sun (Song. 8:5, 4:7, 6:10)? Let the lyres of the Spirit, the apostolic lips, sing; let the cymbals sound - the supreme theologians; the chosen vessel Hierotheus, sanctified by the Divine Spirit, having learned divine things in divine inspiration and then undergoing suffering, let him leave his body, let him be filled with zeal, let him exclaim songs of praise. “Clap your hands, all nations” (Ps. 47:2), sing the praises of the Mother of God! May the angels serve Her dead body! Daughters of Jerusalem, follow the Queen and, like Her virgin friends, young in spirit, enter with Her to the Bridegroom, stand to the right of the Lord. Come down, come down, Lord, and give the due reward to the Mother who fed You. Stretch out your divine hands; accept the soul of the Mother, You who gave up Your spirit on the cross into the hands of the Father; call to Her with a sweet voice: “Come, my beautiful neighbor, shining with the beauty of virginity brighter than the sun. You have given Yours to Me, come, enter, into My joy.” Come Mother to the Son. Come, reign together with Him who was born of You and suffered poverty with You. Go away, Lady, go away! Not like Moses, “go up... and die on the mountain” (Deut. 32:49–50), but first die and then ascend. Commit your soul into the hands of Your Son. Leave earthly things to the earth, so that they too may ascend with You. Lift up your eyes, people of God, lift up your eyes! Here in Zion is the ark of the Lord of hosts, and the apostles appeared bodily before it, burying the life-giving and God-receiving body. He is surrounded by immaterial and invisible angels, standing in fear like slaves before the Mother of their Lord. The Lord Himself is present here, omnipresent and filling everything, all-encompassing and not contained by any place, for “all things consist in Him” (Col. 1:17) as the creative and containing cause. Here is the Virgin, the daughter of Adam and the Mother of God, because of Adam she sends her body to the earth, and gives her soul to the heavenly abodes thanks to the Son. May the holy city be hallowed and, in addition to its already [existing] blessings, may it receive eternal blessing. Let the angels precede the passage of the divine tabernacle and arrange the tomb, which let it be adorned with the radiance of the Spirit. Let the spices be prepared and anoint the all-immaculate and all-fragrant body. Let pure streams flow and blessings be drawn from the purest source of blessings. “Let the earth rejoice” (Ps. 95:11) when the body [of the Mother of God] is placed in it, let the air bubble with the ascension of Her spirit, and let the winds blow, gentle as dew, and filled with grace. Let all creation solemnly praise the ascension of the Mother of God. Let the choirs of young men exclaim joyfully, let the mouths of orators burst into song, let the hearts of the wise philosophize about the miracle, let the elders, venerable with gray hair, in silence bring the fruit of their contemplations to the Mother of God. Let all creation contribute its tribute to the triumph. But all this cannot be, perhaps, even a small part of the due reward. 5. Come, let’s leave everything mentally with the departing one. Come, with the fervor of our hearts, let us descend together with the Descending One to the tomb. Let's stand around the sacred bed. Let us sing sacred chants, beginning with these words: “Rejoice, O Blessed One! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). Rejoice, predestined Mother of God! Rejoice, chosen before the ages by the council of God, the Divine branch of the earth, the Divine dwelling place of fire, the most sacred adornment of the Holy Spirit, the source of living water, the Garden of Eden for the tree of life, the animated vine of the Divine grape, exuding nectar and ambrosia, the river filled with the aromas of the Spirit, the field that produced the divine ear, the rose shining with virginity and smelling of incense grace, the lily from the royal robe, the Lamb who gave birth to the Lamb of God, who took upon himself the sin of the world, the place of our salvation, exceeding the angelic powers, the servant and the Mother. Come, let us surround this purest tomb and draw from it divine grace. Come, let us take the ever-virgin body with the hands of our souls, let us enter with it inside the tomb and die with it, that is, we will die to bodily passions and live a passionless and immaculate life. Let us hear divine chants heard from immaterial angelic lips. Let us enter, bowing, and learn the extraordinary secret of how the body of the Mother of God was taken from the earth, ascended and taken to heaven, how She stands before the Son above all angelic ranks - and there is no barrier between the Mother and the Son. I composed this third word to Your exodus (after the first two), Mother of God, in reverent love for the [Most Holy] Trinity, Whom You served, having conceived by the good will of the Father and by the action of the Holy Spirit the Beginning Word, God's omnipotent wisdom and power (1 Cor. 1:24). Accept the good intention, even if it has exceeded my strength, and grant me salvation, alienation from spiritual passions, relief of bodily illnesses, a peaceful state of life, enlightenment of the spirit. Kindle in us love for Your Son, make our life pleasing to Him, so that, having been worthy to receive Heavenly bliss and see You with the shining glory of Your Son, we can sing sacred hymns, rejoicing eternally and in a manner worthy of the Holy Spirit in the Church of those celebrating, to the One who completed the Economy of our salvation, Christ, the Son and our God. To Him belongs glory and power together with the Originless Father and the All-Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever and throughout the endless ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: