Surprised at first by Elizabeth’s words, the Most Pure Virgin remained for some time in silent contemplation; but then, delving into the meaning of Her greeting, and hearing in it the repetition of the words of the Angel who preached the gospel to Her, She was convinced that all these actions and words occurred by the permission of the Holy Spirit and tended to calm and glorify Her. With this conviction, the heart of the Blessed Virgin, together with a joyful feeling, was filled with that all-penetrating heavenly power, which makes it possible in an instant to embrace with one’s gaze the entire past and future, and, having understood all their secrets, to determine the great significance of the present! All the prophecies spoken at different times and by different persons now became completely clear to Her, and the entire distant future was depicted, in all its details, as if it were now taking place in Her eyes. Feelings are one the deepest of the other; sensations, one more joyful than the other, arose in Her mind and heart, and, overwhelming them, forced her to break the silence She loved!
The immense glory of the Mother of God, with the humble consciousness of His unworthiness; joy and tenderness at the thought of the deliverance of Israel and the reign of God's righteousness on earth; and most importantly, the conviction that the Holy Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God in Her, involuntarily by Her, but by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself, was revealed, together with the image of the salvation of people to Elizabeth, filled the heart of the Blessed One with such inexplicable delight that its excess poured out from Her lips, sealed with modesty, with the wonderful words of inspired prophecy! It is clear that God the Word, who dwelt in Her as the fruit of the womb, before His visible appearance, was revealed in Her as the fruit of Her lips, and His grace was poured out on Her lips, as the prophet says (Ps. 44:3).
Sending up Her words like incense to the Lord, the Most Holy Virgin exclaimed: My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for He has looked upon the humility of His servant, for from now on they will bless Me throughout my birth! With these words, all the greatness in which St. Elizabeth clothed Her, calling Her blessed among women and the Mother of the Lord, She attributes to Him alone, the Great and Beneficent to Her; and, recognizing Himself only as an instrument for the manifestation of His Glory, does not dare to exalt Him otherwise than with the soul exalted by Him, like David, who gratefully cried out: I will exalt Thee, for Thou hast lifted me up. And at the same time, His spiritual joy; felt at the naming of Her blessed for her faith in what was spoken to Her from the Lord, She is completely immersed in the grace-filled source of joy and salvation - in God, Her Savior. But not in the God who once revealed Himself to the trembling people in thunder and lightning, but in God the Savior, embodied in Her, for the cross and suffering, for the salvation of the world!
Rejecting all her personal merits and merits, She solemnly confesses that the Almighty, completely undeserved on Her part, looked only at the humility of His servant, that is, at the poverty and humiliated position in which She had hitherto found herself, not allowing the thought that it was precisely this abyss of humility that She called upon the abyss of grace, according to the words of the Prophet: The abyss calls upon the abyss (Ps. 41:8).
Having confessed the power of God and Her humiliation, the Most Pure Virgin, as if inspired by the spirit of holy foresight, looks through all times with a prophetic eye - until the end of the world, and sees Herself in them as the object of reverent veneration of believers! She, in humility before the greatness of the mystery of Her service, as if in wonder, exclaims: From now on all generations will bless Me. And recognizing, in the truth of the incarnation, the omnipotence of God, which deigned Her to become the animated Icon of the Divinity, and through this the beloved daughter of God the Father, the chosen Mother of God the Son, and by mysterious inspiration - the unmarried Bride of the Holy Spirit! - She adds with the same humility: For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and Holy is His Name.
Realizing that through Her, as a vessel of God's mercy, His mercy will be poured out on all those who believe in Him, and as if repeating that in Her God only looked upon humility, which, however, was not enough to attract such great mercy, but that this mercy, according to the law of mercy of the Heavenly Father, is poured out on the sons of the Jewish people, for the sake of their righteous fathers and ancestors, who deserved their The merits are that Her humility did not remain fruitless, but had the power to attract the gaze of God's mercy to Her and to the entire human race - she preaches that: His mercy throughout all generations of those who fear Him.
Touching upon the meaning of this mercy, the Blessed Virgin, with the inspired knowledge of ancient scripture, and in the prophetic foreknowledge of the future, depicts the future destinies of the Church of Christ, presenting it in the fight against the enemies of Christianity, and confirming this with ancient, historical examples, exclaims with inspiration: Create a power with Your arm; squander their proud hearts with thoughts; dethrone the mighty and exalt the humble. Fill those who hunger with good things and those who are rich let go of their vanities.
These words contain all the prophecies and everything contained under their cover regarding the future; - is illuminated clearly, as if in a modern version: the strong muscle of the Lord - is the destroyer of the hellish plans of the enemies of His Holy Church, turning their own weapons on themselves, and making from their machinations means for His wise and saving purposes, this muscle - strikes Satan in the very heart - with the Life-giving Cross, in which the enemies of Christianity thought to see their victorious trophy, and by the power of Which, after the ascension of the Divine body to him His own, He, according to His own prediction: I will be lifted up from the earth, I will draw everything to Himself (John 12:32) - He attracted all believers and overthrew the pagan world hostile to Christianity! The powers of the ancient world, famous for their strength: Babylon, Persia, pagan Greece and Rome, - as one political body, like a prophetic idol composed of various metals (Dan. 2:34-35), fell and crumbled to dust from the force of the blow of this muscle - a stone not made by hands, the Stone is Christ (1 Cor. 10:11)!
Meanwhile, in the new Christian Church, humble believers are raised to the heights of glory as the children of God and hungering for righteousness in it are filled with all spiritual blessings! Likewise, when Israel hungered in the desert, did He not fulfill all good things? meanwhile, how did he leave those who were hitherto rich not in God - the Chaldeans - with nothing? And then, when the people of God, turning out to be unworthy of the happy position given to them, were punished with heavy captivity - and, passing from the power of one conqueror to another, they already despaired of God’s help; when it seemed to him that the Lord had already abandoned His people, did it not suddenly turn out that He, having set the limit of punishment, now again accepted it into the bosom of His fatherly love, and fulfilled the promises given to the Holy Forefathers and Abraham, in their later descendants. And did this people perceive it as they had never perceived it before, even in its happiest time, that is, entering into the closest communication with it, through the perception of His flesh and blood from the seed of the same Abraham (Heb. 2:14-17)?
Having touched this side of God's mercy, the delight of the Holy Heart of the Mother of God turns into patriotic tenderness for Her people, who, above all other nations, are blessed with the invaluable gift of seeing the Messiah with carnal eyes, and who, for their sins, are not only not rejected from God, but for the sake of the merits of their ancestors, are accepted by Him as a beloved, albeit lost son. And therefore, the Blessed One concludes Her song with the words: Israel, His servant, will remember His mercy, just as He spoke to our fathers, Abraham and his seed, even unto eternity.
This sublime and God-inspired song, like a precious pearl of feelings of faith and humility of the Blessed One, is preserved by the Holy Church and, adding it with Angelic praise to the Ever-Virgin, the Most Honest Cherub and the Most Glorious, without comparison, the Seraphim, repeats in Her glory at every morning vigil.
Great Doxology
Slavic text
Russian translation