Encomium in sanctam Mariam deiparam

Encomium to the Holy Mary the Theotokos. Our discourse is bright and filled with grace, since the assembly of the holy Fathers is also splendid. For while I was in great distress because of the lawless blasphemy of Nestorius, this manifold, varied, angelic, and heavenly theater pierced me through. These are the teachers of piety, the pillars and roofs of the faith, the unshaken towers, the ship-bearing harbors, the faithful and wise stewards, the wise architects, those who navigate the ethereal voyage and lead an angelic life on earth, the tent-companions of the prophets, the co-throned with the apostles, and the protectors of the holy Churches, the avengers of the foul blasphemy, the wise defenders of our poverty—or rather, of our good repute—those who occupy the fair-speaking and godly-formed throne of the high priesthood, those who pour forth honey-flowing streams, the spiritual orators of divine wisdom, those who have traversed the four-cornered world with untiring journey, whom neither burning heat, nor seas, nor the wild rage of raging waves, nor stormy triple-swells cast into indolence, but leaping with faithful steps they have come here, leaving all indolence behind out of desire—or rather, fear of the Lord—and taking up the cross as wise avengers of the Theotokos Mary, they have arrived here. Therefore, trusting in their holy prayers, let us greet this city with a few words, and thus I will extend my discourse to the encomia of the Theotokos.

Hail, O city of the Ephesians, rather sea-gazing, because instead of earthly harbors, angelic and heavenly harbors have come to you. Hail, boast of the Asian diocese, because you have been built around with temples of the saints like precious pearls, and now you are sanctified, being trodden upon by many holy Fathers and patriarchs. For truly the gates, and the streets, and the harbors are blessed by the sojourn of the holy Fathers. For where many shepherds drive, a great gathering of holiness is produced through them; and especially these God-loving and faith-loving and angel-like ones drive out every satanic energy and Greek idol-mania, both of the Porphyrians and Sabellians, of the Phrygians and Apollinarians, of the Photinians, and every abominable heresy simply is put to shame, while the boast of the orthodox faith is glorified. Hail also yourself, thrice-blessed John, apostle and evangelist, boast of virginity, teacher of chastity, exterminator of the deception of demons, destroyer of the temple of Artemis, harbor and champion of the Ephesians, nourisher of the poor, refuge of the afflicted, refreshment and rest of those near and far. Hail, immaculate vessel filled with temperance.

For to you also our Lord Jesus Christ, as he was being taken up on the cross, entrusted the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin, as to a virgin. Hail to you as well, Mary Theotokos, Virgin-Mother, Light-Bearer, undefiled vessel. Hail, Virgin Mary, mother and servant: virgin because of the one born from you, the Virgin; mother because of the one carried in your arms and nourished with your milk; servant because of the one who took the form of a servant. For the king entered your city, or rather your womb, and again departed as he himself willed, and your gate was closed. For you conceived without seed, and you gave birth in a manner befitting God. Hail, Mary, the demolished temple, or rather the holy one, as the prophet David proclaims, saying: "Your temple is holy, wonderful in righteousness." Hail, Mary, the treasure of the whole world; hail, Mary, the undefiled dove; hail, Mary, the inextinguishable lamp. For from you the Sun of righteousness was born. Hail, Mary, the place of the uncontainable, who contained the only-begotten God Logos, who sprouted the unfading ear of grain without plow and seed. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom prophets sing, through whom shepherds glorify, saying with angels that fearsome hymn: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men.

Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom angels dance, archangels leap, sending up most awe-inspiring hymns. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom magi worship, guided by a lamp-bearing star. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom the ten-rayed beauty of the apostles has been chosen. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom John, while still in the womb of his mother, leaped and worshipped, the lamp to the sleepless light. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom came forth the ineffable grace, concerning which the Apostle cried out, saying, “The grace of God, the saving grace for all men, has appeared.” Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom came forth the true light, our Lord Jesus Christ, who says in the Gospels, “I am the light of the world.” Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom light shone upon those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. For the people, it is said, who were sitting in darkness saw a great light. What light, if not our Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, which illuminates every man coming into the world? Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom it is proclaimed in the Gospels, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”; through whom also in cities and villages and islands churches of the orthodox have been founded. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom came forth the conqueror of death and the destroyer of Hades. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom came forth the creator of the first-formed man, and the corrector of his transgression, and the guide to the kingdom in heaven. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom the beauty of the resurrection blossomed and shone forth.

Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom the baptism of holiness, awe-inspiring and Jordanian, flowed forth. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom John and the Jordan are sanctified, and the devil is dishonored. Hail, Mary Theotokos, through whom every believing breath is saved. Hail, Mary Theotokos; for through you even the waves of the sea, calming and becoming still, bore our fellow servants and fellow ministers with joy and gentleness. For the earth, once trodden by robbers, has been transformed into peace by the arrival of the holy Fathers. For it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim peace! What peace? Our Lord Jesus Christ, the herald of peace, who says in the holy Gospels: I give you my peace. What peace? The peace which Nestorius blasphemed and did not accept, saying that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Word, was not born of the Virgin Mary, neither knowing the inviolate birth of virginity, nor believing the archangelic voice that says: Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you. For, likening himself to the Persian kingdom and attempting to deny the only-begotten Son of God, he mythologized these things to the ruin of many and the blasphemy of souls. But since in the previous passage I cackled much about this evil-slandering rooster, I also introduced to you the partridge, which the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed, saying: The partridge called, it gathered what it did not hatch.

And again that foul and blasphemous man, seeing the counts defending him, emboldened by them, took wing and, thinking to strike us with terror, only roused us more. Come, let us say with groans and tears, as is our custom: It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in rulers. For that man, that accursed one, having emptied his gold-embroidered quiver, stirred up against us consuls and counts, and the chorus of magistrates and empresses. But let us speak that prophetic saying: These in chariots, and these on horses, but we in the name of the Lord our God. For even if I must speak against the powers of the world, or even against the most pious emperor himself, I will not be ashamed, nor will I play the coward, having the prophet David constantly exhorting me and saying: I spoke before kings and was not ashamed. Who has heard such dreadful and terrible things? The Christ and God Word, proclaimed to us by prophets and apostles, now being transformed into a man, and the Theotokos being called anthropotokos! Let no one, then, tell me of the reckless audacity of the ungrateful and foul Jews, which they, the senseless ones, dared against Christ at that time. For who now has given license? The one who blasphemed the Word of God, saying: You crucified a man.

And also the error of the Greeks, and the lawless burnt offerings and unlawful sacrifices offered on stones—but this too is a practice of ingratitude—neither the bitter disease of Arius, nor the most abominable blasphemy of the Manichaeans, nor the pestilential practice of Sabellius and Porphyry and the evil-minded Photinus, did he examine, and yet he blasphemed thus: Alas! The wickedness of these has surpassed all, and the saying of that arrogant one has been fulfilled in him, who said: "I will tear down my storehouses and build greater ones." And it was said to him: "Fool, this night the angels demand your soul from you; and what you have prepared, for whom will it be?" For as much as you were raised to a height, being a defilement and of base birth, so much again were you cast down, having fallen into an abyss of blasphemy, which did not persuade Paul the apostle, the vessel of election, the ecclesiastical cicada, the evangelical and heavenly incense, the myrrh-bearing spring, the letter-bearer and letter-writer, who was blinded on the road and looked up entirely to the height of heaven through the knowledge of God, upon whom a vision of Christ cast light, and knowledge of God again led to faith, who established the whole world to believe in a consubstantial Trinity, in one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father, one Son, one Holy Spirit, an undivided essence, an uncontrived, incomprehensible divinity, God from God the Lord, light from light, radiance of glory, born of the Virgin Mary, according to the voice of the archangel saying: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." And again the same:

Spirit holy will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the child that is born will be called holy, Son of the living God. And not only through the archangel Gabriel, but also through the blessed David we hear him daily resounding in the churches and saying: The Lord said to me, You are my son; today I have begotten you. And the great-minded Isaiah, son of the prophet Amos, a prophet from a prophet, proclaimed saying: Behold, the Virgin will conceive in her womb and will bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us. But do you not believe prophets and apostles and evangelists and the archangel Gabriel? Even imitate your fellow demons, who shuddered at his power and cried out: What have we to do with you, Jesus Son of God? Have you come here before the time to torment us? For if even at that time the truth was spoken by the demon before the time, yet now it has come upon you. The Antichrist was to come, but quickly instead of him you have arrived. You did not even heed the devil who deceives you, saying: If you are Son of God, say that these stones become loaves. O fearful thing, full of astonishment! The demons together with their father the devil call the one born of Mary Son of God, and this one calls the Son of God

He leads a man astray, and having devised a certain subversion and evil madness, he sought to stir up the most pious emperor, who is a friend and servant of the orthodox faith, and also a chorus of holy empresses shining in faith; but he was unable to proceed to the end. For giving the possessions of the poor to the lovers of gold, he thought through them to conquer the truth, and through his splendid love of money he fell into a most terrible shipwreck; while in harbor, he was shipwrecked, not holding the rudders of faith. Hence he became submerged in evils, and a spectacle of tragedy for the whole world. For he thought through his utterly evil and most bitter disposition to persuade the workers of piety, not taking into his darkened mind to understand the teaching of the Fathers and Apostles and Evangelists, and the voices of archangels, having devised a certain ruthlessness and evil madness, and clothed in godlessness, he wished to ordain a plague and godless religion for the world. But he did not find us unprepared for his lawless and blasphemous design. For we do not trust in military weapons, nor in gold-like and splendid punishment, but we make our responses to him through the holy and God-inspired Scriptures. For our weapons are not fleshly nor earthly, but spiritual and heavenly, as the blessed Paul proclaimed. But let no one think that we say these things as rejoicing in your fall, most wretched one; for when you fell into the pit of this blasphemy, we extended a hand to you through letters, and you disobeyed our mediocrity.

Because of this you inherited the danger of disobedience. For that these things are truly so, let us provide a trustworthy witness, the most holy and archbishop of the whole world, Father and patriarch Celestine of the great city Rome, who himself also exhorted you through letters, telling you to desist from your most maniacal blasphemy. And you disobeyed him, and you boasted in the vanity of your madness, becoming a razor to the whole world, you disturbed the inhabited world of four continents, and you gathered all the saints into this place with great toil and fear. For you wrote evil, and not at all goodness. Therefore God will cast you down utterly from the priesthood, and you will be expelled from the wisdom of the Fathers, and having first been driven from the imperial city, then also from the throne of the high priesthood, which you unworthily occupied. Therefore the righteous will see and be afraid, and they will laugh at you and say: Behold a man who did not make God his helper, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and was strengthened in his vanity. But we, all who have followed the truth of the Gospel, will be, according to that prophetic saying, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, glorifying God the Father Almighty, and his only-begotten Son born of Mary, and the Holy Spirit, the life-giving one who provides life to all, submitting to the most faithful emperors, and honoring also the holy empresses who shine in virginity.

We shall pray for the son born to them in marriage, and that the God-loving, faithful, and orthodox imperial house may endure in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.