Homilia i de sancta Maria deipara

Homily of Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, on the holy Mary the Mother of God. Every grateful tongue appropriately greets the Virgin as Theotokos and imitates Gabriel, the chief of the angels, to the best of its ability. And one says to her "Hail," the other addresses her "The Lord from you," because of the Lord born from her and manifested with flesh to the human race. One names her Mother of Light, another Star of Life, another calls her Throne of God, another Temple greater than heaven, another Seat not inferior to the seat of the cherubim, another again Garden unsown, fertile, untilled, Vine with good clusters, flourishing, untouchable, Pure Turtle-dove, Undefiled Dove, Cloud conceiving the rain without corruption, Purse whose pearl is brighter than the sun, Metal from which the stone covering the whole earth comes forth with no one quarrying it, Ship laden with cargo and needing no pilot, Treasure that makes rich. Others similarly call her Lampstand kindling itself without a wick, Ark wider, longer, and more glorious than that of Noah: that was an ark of animals, this of life; that of perishable animals, this of imperishable life; that bore Noah, this bore the maker of Noah; that had two and three stories, this had the whole fullness of the Trinity, since the Spirit was present and the Father overshadowed and the Son was dwelling within, being carried in the womb. For it says, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the one born will be called holy Son of God." You see how great and of what dignity is the Virgin Theotokos.

For the only-begotten son of God, the maker of the world, was carried by her as an infant, and he refashioned Adam, sanctified Eve, vanquished the serpent, opened paradise, and secured the seal of the womb. Rightly and reasonably, each of these: for he opened paradise, since he was about to bring in the thief and to lead by the hand all the heirs of the kingdom into it. He secured the seal of the womb, being God and Word who was incarnate, he had no need of doors for entry or exit. To you, then, O Virgin, the prophets apportion their praises, and each of the God-inspired speaks as many of the mysteries of the wonders as he was entrusted with. And one calls you the Rod of Jesse, to hint at the inviolate and unbending nature of your virginity. Another compares you to a burning bush that is not consumed, to hint at the flesh of the only-begotten and the Virgin Theotokos: for it burned and was not consumed, because she gave birth and did not open her womb, conceived and did not corrupt her matrix, brought forth the infant and left her belly sealed, supplied milk and kept her breasts untouched, carried a child and did not know the child's father, became a mother and did not become a bride. A son was nourished and a father was not found; the field bore fruit and the fruit had no farmer, it yielded a harvest and received no seed; a river flowed and the spring was closed on all sides, as an indication that you became a mother and did not suffer what mothers suffer; you gave birth as a woman and were not corrupted as a woman.

You were carrying according to the law of nature, since you awaited the appointed time of birth pangs; but indeed you conceived contrary to the law of nature. Another has called you a Gate, closed but situated in the east, and bringing in the king while the doors are closed. Thus also bringing forth He has called you a Gate, because you became a door of the present life for the only-begotten, a Gate situated in the east, because "the true light that illuminates every man coming into the world" proceeds from your womb as from some royal bridal chamber. You brought in the king while the doors were closed, but you also brought him forth; for neither when he was conceived, nor at all when he was born, did the king of glory open the doors of your womb, nor did he loosen the bonds of your virginity. He named you "a Closed Garden" and "a Sealed Spring," the bridegroom from you, foretold in the Song of Songs "a Closed Garden," because neither the sickle of corruption nor of harvest touched you, but the flower from the rod of Jesse presents itself purely to the race of men and purely, cultivated for you only by the pure and undefiled Spirit; "a Sealed Spring," because a river of life proceeding from you filled the inhabited world, but a marital branch did not draw from your spring. David, playing the cithara for the one from you, does not cease concerning you: "Arise, Lord, into your rest, you and the ark of your sanctification." "Arise"—from where?

From the bosom of the Father, not that you might be separated from the Father—for this is not lawful either to think or to say—but that you might accomplish the economy which was ordained for you from above before the ages and before the generations. "Arise," that you might raise the fallen, that you might set upright those who have been tripped, that you might reclaim your own possession, which has been tyrannized by the enemy until now. "Arise, Lord, to your rest," which you appointed on earth and established in Bethlehem, the cave and the manger and the swaddling clothes; for in the heavens you have no need of rest, but you yourself are the rest of the whole creation; on earth, however, for our sake you suffer the things of the flesh; for did you not endure hunger and thirst and toil? But even while hungry you are the bread of life, and while thirsty you yourself are the refreshment of the thirsty—for you have become a river of incorruption—and while toiling you walk the paths of the dry land without toil, the waves of the sea. "Arise, Lord, to your rest, you and the ark of your sanctification"—the Virgin, the Theotokos, evidently. For if you are a pearl, fittingly she is an ark; since you are the sun, the Virgin will necessarily be called heaven; since you are an unfading flower, then the Virgin is a plant of incorruption, a paradise of immortality. To her Isaiah has just now proclaimed these things from God, saying: "Behold, the Virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel." "Behold, the Virgin"—which one?

The chosen one among women, the exceptional one among virgins, the dignified ornament of our nature, the boast of our clay, she who freed Eve from shame and Adam from threat, she who cut off the serpent's boldness; the smoke of desire did not touch her, nor did the worm of pleasure harm her. "Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb"—From where, O prophet? "I do not say," he says; "for this has been reserved for Gabriel. Many divide the wonders of the Theotokos, yet many of them are also omitted; but I have been entrusted with the birth of the Ever-Virgin, Micah with the place where the wonder occurred, David with the time; for he himself inserted the words 'From the womb before the morning star I gave birth to you' into the prophecy of the Psalms. Gabriel, then, will tell the 'from where'; for he descends from heaven, he is sent to the virgin for this very purpose, he is present at the time of the birth and is entrusted with necessarily explaining the substance of the birth. But if you wish to learn also from me, go through the rest of the prophecy: 'And she will bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel.' What is Emmanuel? 'God with us.' Therefore, God is not conceived from marriage and corruption, nor is he born or incarnated from a man and a bed.

She cannot. Not at all, but by the energy of God, by the visitation of the Most High, by the presence of the Spirit. Therefore, when the virgin said to Gabriel, "How will this be for me, since I know not a man?"—that is, "The wonder astounds me, the word overwhelms me"—and the angel's pronouncement confounds the virgin. "You speak wondrous things, but to me, because of their strangeness, they are suspect. I fear the novelty of the annunciation, I am troubled by the extreme unfamiliarity of what is said. How will this be for me, since I know not a man? How shall I be a mother, not having become a bride? I have not corrupted the flower of my youth, I have not loosened the girdle of virginity, I have not relaxed the bond of the womb, I have not undone the seal of my belly." And the angel immediately replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you"—that is, "If you had known a man, you would not have borne God, who deigned to take the form of a servant from you without corruption for your sake; you would not have become the instrument of the incarnation of the one who brought forth all things. But because you are pure from the marriage bed, because you have kept the temple incorrupt and the tent free from all defilement, the Father dwells with you, the Spirit overshadows you, and the Only-begotten is born from you with flesh.

Therefore, do not be troubled at all by the mysteries that follow; do not be troubled giving birth in a cave to the creator of the whole creation; do not be troubled setting in a manger him who sits upon the backs of the cherubim, having no place in the inn, though you are the mother of the king of those above and those below. For willingly he becomes poor from you, in order to curb the rich, and to become for the poor a basis of endurance and a teacher of thanksgiving. Willingly he is placed upon the manger, so that the beastly may run up and find the Word sitting upon the manger, so that they may take up from him the rational dignity, so that they may find grain when they expected chaff, so that as beasts they may run up, thinking to find handfuls of barley upon the manger, and eat the true bread, the nourishment of life, the banquet of light, the food of joy, the sweet taste of incorruption, from which come the knowledge of the kingdom, the pledge of adoption, the inheritance of the heavens, the communion of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.