Слово на святое и честное Успение Преславной Владычицы нашей Богородицы и Приснодевы Марии. Св. Германа, патриарха Константинопольского

Good glory, as it is written, makes the bones fat (Proverbs 15:30). Therefore, the present story of the bodily dormition of the Mother of the Belly and the Ever-Virgin Mary, who was the fragrance of the most holy flesh of Christ, sanctifies those who glorify Her. Let us also briefly remember Her ever-memorable repose: for, truly, there is joy in hearing the story of it. When Christ our God wanted to transfer His Mother to Himself, then through an angel known to Her, He foreshadowed to Her the nearness of the time of Her dormition, so that death, coming suddenly, would not cause Her embarrassment when departing from the living: since the separation of the soul from the body also saddens the spirit of great people. So, so that, dying unexpectedly, she would not be alarmed, due to the natural property of the body, as one who did not foresee Her outcome, and who herself gave birth to the omniscient God, an angel is sent to Her from Christ with these words. “It is time for me,” says the Lord, to accept You, My Mother. Therefore, just as You, O Blessed One, filled the earth and those on earth with joy, so bring joy to those in heaven. Give joy to the dwelling of My Father, comfort the souls of the saints: for they, seeing Your solemn migration to Me, accompanied by angels, will be firmly convinced that their part will live in My light. Come with joy: rejoice now, as before, because in everything you have the dignity of the name - “grace-filled.” Just as it was announced to You: “Rejoice,” when You were about to conceive Me, so rejoice now that You are about to be taken by Me. Do not be embarrassed, leaving the corruptible world with its lusts: You will not be touched by its corruption, since You will not leave those who are in the world without Your help; but just as I, not being from the World, with merciful eyes see those who exist in the world and control them, so Your intercession will not be taken away from the world until its end. Let the mercilessness of the flesh not disturb You: You ascend to a more living life, to an undisturbed world, to dispassionate sweets, to the calmest eternity, to immortal pleasure, to unsetting light, to the unevening day, to Me Myself, the Creator of everything and Yours, for where I am, there is eternal life, incomparable joy, incorruptible life. So, where I am, there must also be You, inseparable Mother, in inseparable light; Where God is, there is all joy, all joy. No one who has seen My glory will desire to depart from it; no one who enters My rest will seek worlds that will perish. Ask Peter: is there any comparison between the world and Mount Tabor, when he was there for a short time as a spectator of My glory?.. When You lived in the corruptible world, I showed You My power in visions; when you depart from the world, I will show myself to you face to face. Without sorrow, give the earth what belongs to it. Your body is Mine, and since all the ends of the earth are in My hand, no one will snatch anything out of My hand. Entrust Your body to Me, for I have also entrusted My Divinity to Your womb. Your Divine soul will see the glory of My Father; Your immaculate body will see the glory of His Only Begotten Son; Your undefiled spirit will see the greatness of the Holy Spirit. Death will not boast about You, for You carried Life in your womb: it was My vessel; The sight of mortal fall will not crush him, nor will the shadow of darkness darken him. Come with readiness to the One born of You: I wish, out of filial duty, to please You, to give You a reward for hospitality in the mother’s womb, payment for feeding milk, reward for upbringing. Having acquired Me, the Only Begotten Son, desire more strongly, Mother, to dwell with Me. I made You the Virgin Mother, I will make You the Mother rejoicing over the Son. I will make the world Your debtor and will glorify Your name even more when You repose. I will build You as a wall for the world, a bridge for those overwhelmed, an intercessor for sinners and a ladder that can lead people to heaven... Go with joy: open paradise, which Your relative Eve has closed; enter into the joy of Your Son. Lying down in the Gethsemane tomb: I will not leave you in it as an orphan for a long time; I will soon come to You (as soon as, after completing what is due, You are laid in the tomb), not in order to be conceived from You, as He once dwelt in You, but in order to take You to Myself. Boldly place Your body in the place of Gethsemane, where I, before human suffering, bowed the knees of My body in prayer. Just as I then, after kneeling, entered into My life-giving and free death on the cross: so You, after the disposition of Your remains, will immediately be transferred to life. Behold, My disciples are flocking to You, the spiritual sons of My light, with whom You will be buried honestly and reverently: for it is not fitting for You to be buried by others, and not by My apostles, in whom the Holy Spirit lives, who will also replace My face at Your honest burial, All-Immaculate. Hearing this news, the Mother of God rejoiced with great joy, completely despising temporary human life. And, having lit many lamps in the house, She calls together her beloved relatives and neighbors, cleans the home and strews Her bed with flowers (like the chamber of a virgin marriage), diligently prepares what is needed for burial, announces the death, tells what was announced by the angel, shows the pledge given to Her: it was a palm branch, a symbol of victory over death and an image of unfading life (so that the Reposed One would be convinced that will conquer corruption, just as He who was born of Her conquered hell). The God-loving Jewish youths shook a palm branch when Christ approached death, as if he had to overcome it, and exclaimed: “Hosanna in the highest”; therefore, just as there the branches of dates symbolically foreshadowed the victorious death of Christ, so the palm branch given to the Mother of God was a certificate of victory over mortal corruption... Those called and gathered to Her (the Most Holy Theotokos) wept, begging Her not to leave them orphans. She said to them: “The will of My Son and God be done on Me. For this is my God, and I will glorify Him, God of My Father, and exalt Him. The Son, born in the flesh by Me, is the Creator and God of His Mother. So, if you, being the parents of mortal children, cannot endure a short separation from them, then how can I, who acquired the Son of God without a husband, gave birth to Him incorruptible and virgin, no more than you will be overcome by the attraction of the heart? You receive consolation from each other in the loss of your children: But I, who have been worthy to have God Christ, and this only begotten, how shall I not go away with joy to Him, who lives forever and gives life in this? Seeing Her, they reverently bowed to Her and, having received the news from Her about her departure, told Her the following: “Since we were comforted at the coming of this world, looking at You, Mother of God, as at Christ Himself, we are perplexed about Your repose. But since You are called by both the Divine command and the carnal attraction of the Mother to go to God, we rejoice both in what is fittingly fulfilled over You and in what will follow: for we receive in You the guarantee of eternal life and find in You an intercessor to God. And it was not fitting for the Mother of God to live among a rebellious and corrupt generation, but to go to heavenly tabernacles and imperishable dwellings.” Saying this, the apostles wept inconsolable tears. She said: “Rejoice, spiritual children of My Son. Remember His words, how He commanded you during your suffering not to turn the joys of the world into mourning (Luke 23:28). And when I now present myself to Him, do not make My joy sad, but bury My body as I lay Him in this place. Buried by you, His disciples, I will be buried by the hands of My Son Himself. "... Meanwhile, Paul the Apostle comes, having moved from a distant place of preaching, knocks on the doors of the house, and the doors are opened to him by the Apostle John, the steward of the house and who, like a virgin, received the virgin Mother back home. Seeing Paul, the apostles rejoiced in their souls and seated him in first place; Virgo accepts him with joy. Paul falls at Her God-bearing feet and, having learned what he has arrived at, with great and tearful sobbing, opening his teaching lips, majestically praises the Virgin. Here's some of that praise. “Hail, Mother of the Belly and honor of my preaching! Rejoice, the gift of my consolation: for although I have not seen Christ in the flesh, seeing You, Who served to clothe the Incorporeal with a body, I am comforted in my soul as if I had seen Christ Himself; I satisfy my desire to see Christ by contemplating Your face. Before this, I preached to the pagans that You gave birth to God in the flesh, but from now on I will teach about Your repose to Him, so that the pagans would know that their salvation is supported by Your intercession, so that they too would rejoice, having an immutable intercession before God.” After Paul had uttered many praises to the Mother of God, the Virgin uttered the last word to everyone - “forgive”, reclines on the bed laid out for her, gives Her body the appearance that she wanted, gives up the spirit, as in a dream, or better yet, in the waking state separates from the body, making Her body free from corruption. And when, by all accounts, She gave up Her immaculate spirit to Christ and God, Peter says a prayer, the rest of the apostles lift the bed onto their shoulders, with hymns and lamps, honestly and reverently carrying the body of the Virgin to the tomb. Countless people gathered for the burial of the Mother of the Belly. They were amazed at Her sudden departure, and they were amazed at the gathering of the apostles in the air from different places: for the rumor spread throughout Jerusalem that a cloud like a whirlwind poured them instantly into the house of the Virgin, like drops of rain and dew. However, even then, a certain vain Jew (for they are vanity of vanities, and iniquity is always in their hand. Ps. 25:10) shakes the bier, daring to attack the immaculate body, without hesitating to overthrow the embodied throne of the Most High; but his hands are suddenly cut off, and he becomes an example and horror for the Jews, who are always shameless against Christ. The ashes are approaching the tomb, but the apostles did not dare, out of the highest respect (they were possessed with such fear and reverence!) to touch the body of the immaculate Virgin, the vessel of God; and no one laid hands on Her, having before their eyes the insolence of the Jew set up as an example (the faithful among the people tried to take something related to the burial for their consecration). But, according to the common decision of the apostles, Peter and Paul, taking the shroud hanging from the bed, laid the remains in the tomb, reverently before the Son through the Mother and before Matter through the Son... From their hands, in the sight of everyone, the body of the Virgin was taken away, and the one who took it away was invisible to anyone: since it was the invisible God; the shroud seemed to rise easily in the air, on a light cloud, on that cloud about which there was a prophecy (Is. 19:1)... The disciples recognized the appearance of Christ with the angels to the Mother and, from here, making sure that She had been sent to Him, they gave glory to God in the praise of their voice and told the people the following... “Men of Israel! Let it be known to you about Mary, according to the flesh of the Mother of Christ, that She, having arrived with us and you at this tomb, was taken from our hands. So let no one appear to those who do not believe this; Let no one falsely accuse us of either stealing the body of Christ or stealing Her remains. But if this is heard by your hegemon and bishops, then create the truth without worry, and not a lie: be witnesses of what you saw. Be you too, who are now coming to the tomb, some new and carnal angels - inspire your tongue with the truth; You also say: “Here is the place where the Virgin was buried, but the Mother of Life, Mary, was laid to rest; here is the shroud, but without the One who was wrapped in it.” Be also myrrh-bearing wives for the One who passed away; Tetsite, announce Her transposition from the life-receiving tomb. Blessed are you too, O place of Gethsemane, which has acquired glory like the city of Joseph. There Peter and John, coming and seeing the burial shrouds, believed that Christ had risen; in you, Gethsemane, all of us, the disciples of the Savior, and the people who had gathered for this burial of the Ever-Virgin Mary saw that You were buried in a tomb and transfigured: therefore, it is immutable that You were taken from sight when the stone had not yet blocked the entrance to the tomb, so that, left without a seal and guards, You would not give the infidels a plausible reason for assuming abduction. But here She was laid in the tomb with singing and left the tomb empty, and filled the heavens with Her glory, and has the peace of heavenly life, and dwells among the sweets of the Divine.” These are the words of the apostles about You, Mother of God. But since boldness in the words I brought to You is enough for me (for a century would not be enough for anyone who wanted to praise Your deeds!), then I will end my praise here. Remember the Christians - Your servants; strengthen the petitions of all, Hope of all! Establish the faith, unite the churches, help the army, pacify the world, delivering everyone from troubles and temptations - grant everyone to appear uncondemned on the day of retribution. For to whom else shall we resort? – You are the intercessor for us to God, You, who have always done and never cease to do great things with us; and holy is Thy name, blessed by angels and men throughout all generations of generations, from now on until the age of ages. Amen 173. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, torn XCVIII, col. 359–372; compare Church Led. 1899, No. 33, countries. 1299–1304. You might be interested in: