PseudoCyril Alexandria Discourse on the Virgin Mary

A Discourse. Which our holy father, the honored one, according to this manner, Apa Cyril, the Archbishop of Rakote, delivered concerning the honor of the Mother of the Virgin, the holy Mary, who bore God, truly, revealing her great glory and the honor she received from God. In the peace of God, Amen. O my beloved, the people who love God, open the ears of your heart and listen to the honor of the mother of God, the queen of all women and the true bride, in whom the Son of God deigned to dwell. He came and dwelt in her womb for nine months, and she bore him for us in Bethlehem. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger of beasts. Animals saw him and recognized him, and they bowed down to him. She stretched out her right hand, took hold of him, and placed him in her left hand. She suckled him with her milk and her breast, bending down to him. She gave him the breast, as a father gives the breast in the heavens. She laid him on a bed. He lifted his eyes up to her face. He stretched out his hand and became her little finger. He put it into his mouth, sweeter than manna. The smell of her sacrifice was sweet to him, more than the incense of the sacrifice of the living. When he suckled from her little finger, which had no breast, he called to her.

Come, all of you, and see God calling Mary, 'My mother.' He is giving her milk to drink. And she gives him milk to drink in turn, calling him at all times, 'My Lord and my son,' and she worships him. For at the time when she gives him the breast, she would bend her head down to him as he stands, like a tower. And she also worships him, saying, 'My Lord and my son.' Then after these things, she took his hand and led him along the paths, saying, 'My sweet son, walk a little, a little, like all little children who are taught to walk.' But he himself, the true God, Jesus, followed her without being troubled, adjusting to her small steps, taking step by step, walking in the garments of Mary, his mother, he whom the whole universe fears. He who the whole universe fears would lift his eyes up to her face, and he would be fixed upon her. And she would also take him and carry him and walk with him. Come, all you women, and see Mary, with God leaning on her breast, lifting his face upward, giving her milk to drink. Walk, walk, daughter of Zion. I speak to you, O Mary. Behold, the King, the Christ, is on your lap. For the King, the Christ, has become, he has sat on your lap. The Father has become a companion, he has worked with you. The Son has become a kinsman with you.

The Holy Spirit separated from him. The angels submitted, saying, "He loved her." He rejoiced over her because of her purity. For she alone found grace before God among all women, because the Lord was with her. She lifted her hands upward and her eyes to the height. She took the form of God the Father, the image of his Son. She placed it upon her head, while the Holy Spirit led the way, walking outside.

in the whole world, proclaiming, saying, "Know him for yourselves, that he is the only son of God, whom I bore, O Mary. I knew that you were intent on the forms: 'Which woman asked God and he gave her the honor of humanity?' But you asked him for wisdom, and he gave you his gift, which is his son. You rejoiced. He gave you the milk of gazelles in the fields, which were born by a ewe. You yourself bore God, the king of the heavens and the earth. You renounced the world and its matter. God himself granted you the heavens and the earth. If you should adorn the garment of your son, they will worship him, and immediately the angels will worship you as well. O Mary, with the months and the years, you completed them to the end, while God gave you glory. Reveal a mystery to me, O Mary. Listen, she said, 'I will tell you. I kept silent from my youth. I renounced the world and its matter. My veil went out without a male. My gazelles became companions. I did not speak with children. I did not give milk to suckle. I did not rejoice to see my son. I did not know from where I had brought him forth. But I knew that he was a god whom I had borne. Gabriel the archangel feared as he proclaimed these things to me.'

He knows that it is a new thing. But I was not afraid; rather, I rejoiced. I knew joy when he greeted me, trembling. And I was filled with delight. He came, said Mary, and opened my mouth. He descended into my womb. And the archangel, the holy Gabriel, who was anointed at my door, was amazed at me, and he marveled at what was within me. If I were to hymn to God at night, the angels would hymn with me.

The time also when I would embrace my inner parts first, the powers of the heavens worship what is within me. At the time of the third birth, the Trinity gives me power until the day of birth. Joy and delight are what I have. At the time I would eat, manna of the blessed ones comes to me. In the sun also when it would set, it is manna of fragrance. I did not know that I would hymn to his mouth. The whole world gives glory to him. And all these things I knew and I partook of them. And the whole world gave glory to me, crying out, "Well done! The virgin has brought forth for us the name of the coming of our Savior Christ. Well done, she who is worthy to become for herself the throne of God. Well done, she who saved the whole world through her birth. Well done, the little daughter of the virgin, with whom God dwells. Well done, the mother of all monks and all nuns. The whole of humanity has been bound in the hand of the devil. She has hated the life of marriage. She has become mother of the true solitary. Your body has grown weak in ascetic practices. Your spirit, however, has rejoiced because God is with you. If the righteous one has loved, then none will remain who does not submit to her. If our feet rise up for God while he is in your pure womb, then truly they become pillars in the midst of Jerusalem of heaven.

If I had stood up under God while he was small, then truly I would be standing now beside the altar of the Son. If I had covered his face with my garments because of the air or the cold outside, then truly the cherubim and the seraphim would be standing upon the altar covering their faces with the fringe of their wings. If I had stood up for him in their midst and their path,

Indeed, now she sits upon a throne of glory, while the cherubim and the seraphim stand by her, hymning the one whom she bore. If she had wrapped him in the swaddling clothes of the virgin, then indeed his body, the body of God, and his precious blood are given to the mouth. What is the honor that they will seek before me? O woman of the sky and the earth, and the stars and the angels who are in the heights, submit to her because of the one who dwells within her. Listen to the one on the right of his father in the heavens, calling Mary, "My mother." He listens to Joseph in the midst of all, like a father. The angels serve him, yet he himself submits to his mother according to the flesh. All these things happened through you, O Mary, the perfect virgin. Come, all you women who desire virginity, behold the form of Mary, the mother of my Lord. Behold her manner of eating, which is sparing, and her manner of sleeping on the ground. She did not desire anything of this world. Her mind was always upon the priests. She never wavered in righteousness. She never gave adornment to her face. She never boasted in a garment of fine linen like all women who love boasting. She never took the crown of wine. She never sat at any time.

Her face is turned toward the east, gazing upon her Demiurge at all times. She never encountered a male at any time. If not for her father and her mother and her brothers, because of this, when Gabriel spoke with her, she was troubled at the word, saying, "How will this happen to me? I have never known a male at any time." Gabriel said to her, "It is a holy spirit that is coming upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Because of this, the one you will bear, O Mary, is the one who frees the race of Adam through his divine body and his precious blood. The one you will bear, O Mary the virgin, is the one who fashioned everyone with his divine hands." How will the mystery be hidden? Or how will it be revealed, O wise virgin? They proclaim your name throughout the whole world upon the holy table by the bishops and the priests, saying thus: "We make the memorial of your holy birth in Mary the virgin." Blessed are you, O Mary, the glory of the angels, the delight of the archangels, the hymn of the cherubim and the seraphim, the crown of all the saints. On the day you gave birth to the Son of God, who exists from eternity, who has neither beginning nor end. And we have heard hymns of joy and blessing.

in the army of heaven, for the glory of God is among the exalted. His peace is upon the earth, among the men of his will. All the peoples see the glory of God who begot him. Because of this, she is blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of the womb. O, that her womb had become a door for this one who has no beginning. Blessed are you, O virgin, for your womb rose up for the one for whom heaven is a throne and the earth is a footstool, according to what he said: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet." But you, your womb became a door for him, and for the earth, for your womb became a door for the one who fills heaven and earth. Who can compare to you, O wise virgin? O this great wonder and this great marvel! In heaven, he has no mother, but on earth, he has no father. He is a lord in heaven, he is an only-begotten on earth.

I will not cease, O holy virgin, to bless you in my heart. My great tongue will not be silent, O you who bore the one before whom the seraphim stand. What tongue of flesh can speak of your great exaltation? O lampstand filled with fire, yet not consumed! O dwelling place of God, and his abode! O you whom the prophet proclaims from afar concerning you: "This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous enter." The Lord looked out from heaven upon the whole world, and found none equal to you among all women. Therefore he entrusted his only begotten son to you. Hail, mother of the Lord! You who found grace before God. Hail, blessing and joy and delight! Hail, palace of the king of truth! Hail, workshop of the true craftsman! Hail, you who bore for us the life, while remaining a virgin! O this hidden mystery, revealed only in heaven! From the beginning, when God created the sky and the earth in six days, and rested from all his works on the seventh day—again, on the seventh day of the new month, according to the Roman calendar, which is the seventh of the month Parmoute—our Lord came down from heaven.

He took flesh in this virgin. O the wise virgin, I entreat you to receive the grace of God, which is his son, upon us. He will cast away our sins, and he will save us from all the snares of the adversary, the devil. All of us have come to your door. Will the devil ever rejoice over us? Will he drag us down with him into the gehenna of fire? O Mary, you are the one who intercedes with the king, Christ, and he will accept your entreaties.

... He is your son, and he is your beloved. For you bore him, and he called you "my mother." Indeed, a great honor truly it is, O Mary the virgin, beyond all women of the world, because the one who gave life to every living thing called you "my mother." You are exalted above the cherubim and the seraphim. Your blessedness surpasses the thrones, because Christ loved you. He rejoiced in you through the intercessions of the holy virgin Mary at all times, performing them on our behalf before her beloved son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, so that...