Слово на Благовещение Пресвятой Владычицы нашей Богородицы и Приснодевы Марии. Из Пролога

Now it is necessary, brethren, to speak loudly to you the Apostolic word about a great matter, spoken through the Holy Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit: the night has passed away, and the day has come near (Rom. 13:12). Now the Son and Word of God, our Lord and God, is indescribably placed in the womb of the Virgin, desiring the creation, the creation of his hands, to deify with His incarnation and to build back into the ancient paradise. Now the Uncreated One fits into His creation. Now the Inconceivable One is placed in heaven in the womb of the Virgin. Now the Invisible becomes visible. Now the Intangible is conceived in the womb of the Virgin and becomes tangible. Now the Word of God accepts the flesh. The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin. He who, before all ages, was born of a Father without a mother, unspeakably, and who is in heaven, now marvelously and fearfully incarnates on earth in the womb of the Virgin, without a father. He is at the same time God and Man, truly: “God is with us!” But although for the sake of the salvation of man He came to earth by will, as God He, all of Him with the Father and the Spirit, dwells in heaven and all of Him on earth is equally glorified and worshiped. A wonderful and terrible secret! For no other age was born before from the Father without a mother, but the same is born from the Virgin, the Only Begotten Son of God, who shone forth to us from the being of the Father. Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten and not created, the Creator of Adam came to earth to find lost man: for, seeing us fallen into polytheistic names and enslaved by them, He did not suffer to see His flock plundered by the devil. He sent prophets first, so that they would announce His coming. Thus, through the prophet Isaiah He said: “Behold, the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call His name Immanuel,” which means: “God is with us.” And when the time came for this prophecy to be fulfilled, He sent His Archangel Gabriel from above and said to him: “Go to the Virgin Mary and say to Her: Rejoice, you who are overjoyed. The Lord is with You! Blessed are You among women and blessed is the fruit of Your womb! For Your sake the ancestral oath was destroyed. Through the wife Eve, all the disasters on earth appeared, and through You will now happen every good thing. Behold, you will conceive and bear a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” This is the grace we have received today, these are the blessings we have been granted! Now our enemy the devil is bound, and all service to demons has been destroyed. Now the doors of heaven are opening: and the flaming weapon that drove people away from there is withdrawn; and the human race, through faith in Christ and good deeds, again enters paradise. Now Adam rejoices, because he accepts into his kinship the Creator Himself. Now Eve tramples the head of the ancient seducer the devil and calls the whole world to joy, saying: “Rejoice with me, for now we have found unspeakable joy and liberation from all sins!” Now we, brethren, being filled with joy and adorning ourselves with good deeds, let us try to spend these holy days of fasting as we should, abstaining from overeating and drunkenness, from carnal lusts, from anger and slander, from resentment and envy, from long sleep: for such deeds darken the soul and remove us from God. So, putting all this aside, let us take care to spend these holy days in peace, so that the hour of death does not find us in laziness and sins. After all, it was not falsely said by the ancient Prophet: “Whatever I am found in, I will judge you in.” Therefore, I pray and urge you with love: let us stay soberly awake, fasting, so that the day of death will find us in good deeds, and not in bad ones. Behold, the Lord, the Distributor of heavenly crowns, is coming, and extends them to the one who fasts; and He rejoices when He sees that the church of God is full of people every day, that we, one before the other, rush into it. And in the church there is a font of repentance ready for us to wash away our sins; a meal has also been prepared, having a well-fed calf, slain for the whole world, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who appears on it and calls all the faithful to the holy festival and to the life-giving meal, which he who receives with faith will live forever. The Lord Himself said about this: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I am in him. And as I live for the Father’s sake: and he who eats Me, who eats My Body and Blood, will live forever (John 6:56-58); and through the Prophet He invites us, saying: taste and see that the Lord is good (Isaiah 33:9). Let us begin, like gentle infants, holding branches in our hands, that is, good deeds, and exclaim to Him: “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, God the Lord, and he has appeared to us!” Amen 152. Prologue. 1877 Moscow, under March 25th, l. l. 59–60: Wed. “Monuments of ancient Russian church teaching literature,” ed. prof. A. I. Ponomareva. Vol. IV Slavic Russian prologue; January–April. St. Petersburg, 1898, countries. 132–134. You might be interested in: