In nativitatem praecursoris

Of Our Holy Father Athanasius, On the Nativity of the Forerunner, and on Elizabeth, and on the Theotokos. A field that has been left fallow and abandoned to become a trampling ground for wild asses, an ox, drawing the plow with labor, cutting furrows, raises up the ridges; for as long as the land has remained uncultivated, so much more does the ox, standing to the plowing, bend under a more laborious toil, rubbing its yoke-bearing neck. But a woman who has become barren and grown old over long years, and has fallen into two evils, both childlessness and weakness—childlessness of nature and weakness of old age—the Creator God Logos, by word and not by toil, both renews the old age of the body and corrects the barrenness of nature. And my word is witnessed by the wife of the priest Zacharias, Elizabeth, who did not laugh like Sarah, but believed like Anna, who was renewed like an eagle in her slackened limbs; for she nurtured a notable child, a venerable one, a companion of the Jordanian streams. Truly great among women is Elizabeth, as a relative of the glorious Virgin, as you just heard Gabriel saying to the Virgin: "And behold, Elizabeth, your relative." O nobility of lineage! O discipline of piety! O purity of life! O chastity of body! O love of God in soul! O vessel bearing myrrh! The serpent tripped up Eve; for Elizabeth, the angel brought the best things. Truly great among women is Elizabeth, who both bore the Baptist John and reproached the unbelieving Zacharias.

And that the unbelieving Zacharias considered the weakness of the body more certain than the promise of God, you heard in the earlier passage of the evangelist Luke saying: "And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right of the altar of incense." The vision is a counselor of the contemplation. The angel stood on the right, because a right offspring was about to be born, proclaiming the right path of the kingdom of the heavens, according to the saying: "The ways on the right God knows; but those on the left are perverse"—not changing the path, but hinting at the manner. "And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right of the altar of incense." Let those present hear and understand that angels stand by the altar; and where there is a presence of angels, there is a dwelling of God. Zacharias the priest was performing his weekly service, attending the liturgy from day to day; not going through the whole, but serving in his weekly course. But the angels appointed by God to the altar do not perform a weekly service, but stand by the altar night and day without interruption. They know both the one who despises and the one who does not despise; they recognize both those who approach reverently and those who do not so run to it; they know both those who keep their oaths and those who break them; they seal both those who bear fruit and those who are sluggish. Do not consider that the altar is adorned with stones; for it is borne by angels, surrounded by archangels. For if every boundary of a nation is defined according to the number of angels, according to the saying:

He set the boundaries of nations according to the number of the angels of God; how much more is the altar filled with angels, where the mystical coal lies? Which the seraphim, passing through with the tongs of the spirit by means of the priest’s liturgy, grant cleansing of sins to the one who asks? And that the altar is among these, hear the prophet Isaiah crying out: “I was watching, and behold, one of the seraphim was sent to me, and he had a coal in his hand, which he took with the tongs from the altar; and he touched my lips, and said: Behold, I have touched your lips, and it removes your lawless deeds, and it will cleanse your sins.” You see who stand at the altar, and with what kind of eyes one must gaze within—pure, guileless, generous, loving the poor? What then does the evangelist Luke say? For it is good for us to take up the whole account: “An angel of the Lord appeared to him, he says, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. And seeing this, Zacharias was troubled, and fear fell upon him. And the angel said to him: Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your prayer has been heard, and behold, Elizabeth your kinswoman will bear you a son, and you will call his name John. And he will be joy and gladness to you and to all your people.” While the angel was declaring these things, Zacharias, seized at that moment by timidity and fear of God, answered the angel, saying: You command me to serve without fear, and you say to me: Do not be afraid, Zacharias; and how is this possible?

What I have never seen, I now behold for the first time: a fire that speaks, an incorporeal man, a painted face, an uncomposed visage, a form gathered from clouds, an air-walking runner, a wing-shedder, an attendant at the sacrifice. You utter a word and show fear; your words are fiery, and your promises are hard to believe. Elizabeth will conceive, and I shall be declared a father? When death is near, then the planting of a child? When the grandfather is the age, then the father is the expectation? There is no connection between word and offspring; the generative parts have been extinguished, nature has fallen asleep, remaining unroused to desire, and has wrought forgetfulness of itself. And I have inclined toward the earth in old age, and Elizabeth has hired a staff for support. Once the dry rod of Aaron blossomed, but not often. How shall I know this? And the angel said to him: Why do you babble, Zacharias? And you are a priest, and you doubt? Was not Abraham a hundred years old, and Sarah occupied with the deadness of her womb? Did not their fruit come forth? If you had no examples, you would rightly have doubted; but if you descend from them, why do you not consider what they did? The gentile Abraham believed, and you, the priest, do you doubt? He was anointed without incense, and you have been smoked in the sanctuary? He rejoiced in receiving an heir, and do you count John the Forerunner as nothing? He will deliver you from condemnation, he has redeemed you from the curse; he holds the key of your tongue; he will turn many to the Lord.

He himself will go forth in the power of the prophet Elijah, not driving a chariot of fire, but preparing the Jordanian bath for the great filth of sins. Therefore I was commanded to tell you: "Your prayer has been heard," because the time has come, long prophesied and now fulfilled: "A voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." Not an angel, not an elder, but the Lord himself will come and save us. For this reason, Zacharias, you are silenced, receiving the honor of punishment in the time of contradiction; but I pass from place to place, and am about to go to the Virgin, moving from military company to apostolic service. These things have been briefly prepared by me, friend, for the received account of Zacharias' disbelief. What then are the things just read? It is time to inquire. What are these? The things announced by Gabriel, believed by the Virgin, advanced by the Spirit, and by the Lord.

and sealed by the Father, and guarded by the pious. You have just heard the evangelist Luke saying: "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph." O betrothal pledges made to one and promised to another! O betrothal pledges that manifest joy and divide disturbance! You have just heard the evangelist Luke saying: "And entering the house, the angel greeted the Virgin and said: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.' And she, seeing him, was disturbed at his word, and reasoned within herself, what sort of greeting this might be." Did you see the joy of the angel raising disturbance? Not only disturbance, but also reasonings, and also doubt, and also things akin to these. For the suddenness of the angelic entry, and the strangeness of the appearance, and the unusualness of the encounter, and the excessive weight of the promise, and the unexpectedness of the hearing, cast the Virgin into timidity, as by the thought of her chastity she removed every base thought from the way. Therefore she was disturbed, and though disturbed, she remained undisturbed. What is this: "And though disturbed, she remained undisturbed"? Listen attentively. When Gabriel the angel, fulfilling his apostolic ministry, advanced with noiseless foot toward the virginal chamber—for the Virgin was present alone, dwelling in the house of her betrothed—

You all know clearly how the Virgin blushes at the beginning of the betrothal, casting her eyes downward, speaking softly, not refusing, attending to all modesty. Seeing her in this state, the angel says to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary," even if you were anxious, and as a virgin you have taken care for modesty, lest your betrothed, rushing in, condemn your reverence. Know this, Virgin, that you will have no union with your betrothed Joseph. Another thing awaits you, divine, lordly, ineffable, inexplicable, unable to be set forth in speech. You will be found a lordly shrine, you will be shown forth a mother without experience of marriage, you are about to receive the lord of heaven and earth, bearing an incorruptible child. "Do not be afraid, Mary," steady your reason, strengthen your soul, fix your heart. Do not imitate Zacharias, do not doubt as he did; you are the boast of women, you are the delight of the Israelite people, you are the ornament of the nations, you are the root of joy, you are the planting of blessing. You have found grace with God beyond all virgins. And, "Behold, you will conceive a Son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High." I have come as a messenger of these good things to you, even if what is said is beyond nature; but nevertheless with the creator of all creation nothing is crooked or tangled, but all things are straight and tending toward facility. The Virgin, ensnared by these promises and freed from every base thought, no longer remained silent as one without boldness, saying to the angel:

How will this be for me, that I do not know a man?" Why do you trouble my heart and speak strange words to my ears? Why do you announce what has not been heard from eternity? Shall I be found pregnant and not experience a man? "How will this be for me?" Shall I be called mother and be outside of maternal birth pangs? "How will this be for me?" Shall I give the breast and tighten swaddling clothes and nourish a child with milk, and not know what is in me? "How will this be for me?" Tell me the reasonable cause, so that I may understand the ambiguous pregnancy. The birth of Eve was strange, but yet she was taken from her husband; and it had the cause from which the mixture was known, that she was taken from him, and the proper place was filled by the proper. But the birth of Adam was more foreign; yet even this, having been made manifest, was handed down in writing, and how it immediately came to be was clearly known, that the creator, taking dust from the earth, fashioned the first-formed as a godlike living being. As those things are known, so clarify this; since what you have said to me surpasses what has been said: "How will this be for me, since I do not know a man?" And Gabriel to the Virgin: How will this be for you? Do you seek to learn the manner from me, Virgin? Can a servant know the purpose of a master? How will this be for you? I was sent as a messenger, not an interpreter. "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" I speak what I hear, I fabricate nothing of my own. How will this be for you? Do not seek the how concerning God. How will this be for you? As Isaiah foretold, saying:

Behold, the Virgin will conceive." The having in the womb he foretold to you, but I tell you that "you will bear a son and you will call his name Jesus." To him is the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.