Слово на Рождество Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Святого Прокла, архиепископа Константинопольского

The reason for the present celebration produces joy and surprise: joy, because it opened the door of salvation for people, which was sealed - surprise: because Christmas conquered nature. According to the law of nature, only wives give birth: but grace preserved the one who gave birth as a virgin - she made her a mother, and did not damage incorruption. O land uninhabited and producing heavenly fruit! Oh, Virgin, who opened paradise to Adam! You are more glorious than paradise: for paradise was planted by God, and you made God Himself grow according to the flesh. Flow here, everyone, not to rejoice at the marriage of the Mother of the Lord (the Virgin is not involved in marriage!), but in order to honor the seedless birth of the Lord from Her. The Mother, and yet celibate, has not known a husband, and yet the One born of Her is not an orphan. The womb of the Virgin became more spacious than all creation; Uncontainable by the world, he was spaciously contained in the womb; He who carries everything in His hand is carried in the womb. The cornerstone (Dan. 2:34) supernaturally rests in the Virgin’s meager vessel, not only without damaging Her nature, but also strengthening the universe. Come, let us see the invisible path of the sailing ship, which plunged the ancient intruder into the abyss, and from the depths brought out the first-created man, and whose entrance is inaccessible, and the outcome is incomprehensible. Come, let us see the mental serpent moving away from the daughter of Eve with the handwriting of Adam’s crime. Come, let us see the light of the Divine, emerging from the womb, as from the east, and pouring out rays of grace. Hurry here, wives: for the Woman uproots the tree of death, giving birth to the fruit of life. Hurry, virgins: for He who is born of a Virgin glorifies the incorruptibility of virginity. Hurry, mothers: for the Mother and Virgin is raising the fallen foremother. Hurry, daughters: for the Daughter, by Her obedience, corrects the sin of disobeying the ancestor. Hurry, fathers: for to you, at the end of time, the Son has descended from the bosom of the Father and the Father of the future age. Hurry, little ones: the Baby in the manger is calling you. Hurry, shepherds: the Shepherd comes to you from a humble dwelling. He is meek as a lamb: a wolf with gaping jaws will rush against Him, gnashing its teeth at Him; however, it will not be possible to consume His immaculate flesh: for His flesh will not see incorruption (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:31). The Lamb will defeat the wolf, force the bloodthirsty beast to vomit from its belly everyone it has contained since the beginning of the world, and will bring them out of the depths of hell, like Jonah from the belly of the whale (John 2:14). Flock together, kings: for the King of glory is clothed with swaddling clothes as with scarlet. Flock together, princes: for the Prince of Peace (Ps. 9:6), having prepared for Himself in the virgin furnace a weapon of the flesh, and having secured it with an incorruptible Divinity, slew the hostile devil. Flock together, lords: for the lord of the earth has been replaced by the lord of heaven, whose splendid chariot is the Blessed Virgin Mary, his solemn vestment is seedless flesh, precious stones are the lives of saints, and inestimable margarets are the precious predictions of the prophets. He does not squander gold, which leads to intemperance, but pours out His mercy, which obtains our salvation. Flock together, citizens: for the Judge of the living and the dead took the form of a simple man, putting on the clothing of human flesh, in order to catch the predatory devil hiding in the oak groves of souls, and to take off all his armor. Wonderful clothes! Marvelous vestment! An extraordinary fabric that surpasses all human art! - Unfashionable Youth! How long ago did You receive the wave to pour out the clothing in which the Lord of creation has now clothed himself? Where did you find the tool to make this seamless tunic? - Nature! listen to my words and tell me the secret. "For me, says nature, the art of such wonderful composition is alien. I weave clothes that are subject to decay. Adam put on my clothes - and was naked, and out of shame covered himself with fig leaves." To renew the decayed clothing, Wisdom herself put on the clothing of flesh, having spent it in the chamber of the Virgin as an instrument of Divine art. But for the unbelieving Jews, I want to ask the Virgin too. Tell me, unbrided Virgin, how did You become a Mother and remain a Virgin? Confirm the Jews; stop the mouths of the infidels. Hear: She answers. Why do the Jews not believe in the virgin birth, when they believe that the waterless rod miraculously froze (Num. 17:8)? They see a rod that has vegetated without roots and without soil, and do not ask: where is this from, how is this? but they never cease to be curious about Me. Behold, the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son (Isa. 7:14). They see the Baby, but do not notice the Mother; they look for the Father, but they themselves read the prophecy about the Virgin giving birth. Are you, a Jew, looking for the Father of the Son who is now born? Listen to him who cries: The Lord speaks to Me: You are My Son, I have given birth to You this day (Psalm 2:7). I gave birth to You before the ages. Why are they now looking for another parent for You? Either He who is now born without a Father (Heb. 7:3) must be born, as indeed he is, or He must be called My Son: for one son is not born of two fathers. Today I gave birth to You. – Now the Sun of righteousness (Malach. 4:2) has shone from the virgin cloud, and the people sitting in darkness have seen a great light (Is. 9:2). Now the unsown grain has grown from the uncultivated land to satisfy the hungry world. Now all creation brings strange gifts to the fatherless Child: the earth - manger, caves - reservoirs of water, mountains - den, cities - Bethlehem, winds - obedience, sea - obedience, waves - silence, depth - fish, fish - statir, water - Jordan, springs - Samaritan, desert - John, animals - lots, birds - dove, wise men - treasures, wives - Martha, widows - Anna, barren - Elizabeth, virgins - Mary the Mother of God, shepherds - hymns, priests - Simeon, children - palm branches, persecutors - Paul, sinners - the tax collector, pagans - the Canaanite woman, the bleeding woman - faith, the harlot - fragrant ointment, fig trees - Zacchaeus, trees - cross, cross - the thief, the east - a star, the air - a cloud, the sky - Angels, Gabriel - the greeting: rejoice. O full of grace, the Lord is with You (Luke 1:28) and from You and before You. He dwelt in You according to His will, and from You came forth according to His will, He Who, before all ages, was born of God the Father incomprehensibly, ineffably, unchangeably, wonderfully, incomparably, most holy, impassively, unwitnessed, directly, in essence Divine - in heaven without a mother, on earth without a father. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14) now and always and unto ages of ages. Amen 66. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog Migne, series graeca, volume LXV, col. 707–716; compare “Christian Reading”, 1838, IV, 265–272 pp. You might be interested in: