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it is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for with God no word shall be impossible. The barrenness of Elizabeth was ended, contrary to hope, so that the ending of her condition might become a teacher of your inviolable virginity. The barren and old woman conceived the forerunner of the king who will be born of you, so that you might believe that you have the Lord in your womb. Go, learn of Elizabeth; and if you do not find her as I have said, do not believe my proclamation. What then, after these words, did 62.768 holy Mary, the virgin in body and in soul, the pious and reverent and obedient, the honor of human nature, the gate of our life, the author of our salvation? Having graciously received the voice of the angel, she says to him: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word. As a handmaid I am set before the master's command; as clay I am subject to the hands of the potter; as the creator wills with authority, let him do his will in me; as he wills with loving-kindness, let him work the wondrous conception in me. Let it be to me according to your word; let these words of yours become for me most manifest and true realities. And the angel departed from her, who having come down from heaven, catechized, prepared the virgin beforehand, taught her, as much as she could contain; he also heard from her what he was eager to learn; and again he ascended from whence he had descended, leaving below the one who sent him, and finding him again above in the heavens, worshipped by every angelic host.

What then do you say to these things, O Arius? Tell me, O wretched one, how was the uncontainable contained in a virgin's womb, how, being a virgin, did she conceive, and again was preserved a virgin, and she was enriched by the birth of the Savior, and she herself was co-enriched by grace. But you would not be able to say. For if the mother of the mystery did not comprehend the mystery to which she gave birth, how will you be able to comprehend it? If Gabriel the archangel, when asked by the mother of the Lord, 'How will this be for me, since I know not a man,' was not able to say more, but took refuge in the Holy Spirit, as he was able to declare nothing else more powerful, how will you find what to say, which Gabriel was not strong enough to interpret? But if no one is able to narrate worthily the birth of Christ according to the flesh, which happened in the last days, that generation, the heavenly, the timeless, the bodiless, the invisible, the impassible, the utterly ineffable and incomprehensible, how do you dare to meddle? Who has furnished you the seeds of such audacity? The angels worship the holy Trinity, unceasingly crying out, 'Holy, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of His glory.' They do not say, as you say: 'Holier is the Father, as he is older;' they do not say with subdued voices, 'Holy is the Son, as he is younger;' 'holy is the Paraclete, as he is lesser;' but they offer one and the same hymn to the equal Trinity. From where then did you alone, O Arius, learn to speak against the creation against the creator? But you reject the testimony of the heavens and of the angels. To what then do you adhere, tell me? Who pleases you as a judge of this doctrine? Whom do you want us to take as an impartial judge? Whose judgment concerning piety do you accept? Do you adhere to the Father, who knows His own Son more than all others? Therefore let us hear him crying out: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him. If he says, 'I and the Father are one,' listen to him; if he says, 'I am in the Father, and the Father is in me,' listen to him; if he says, 'He who has seen me has seen the Father,' listen to him; for the truth does not lie; if he says, 'The Father who sent me is greater than I,' do not apply the lesser to the divinity of the speaker, but to his humanity. You have heard, Arius, the judgment of the Father; hear also his only-begotten Son ratifying these words: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish,

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μὴν ἕκτος ἐστὶν αὐτῇ τῇ καλουμένῃ στείρᾳ· ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ πᾶν ῥῆμα. Ἐλύθη παρ' ἐλπίδα τῆς Ἐλισάβετ ἡ στείρωσις, ἵνα τῆς σῆς παρθενίας τῆς μὴ λυομένης ἡ λύσις τοῦ πάθους διδάσκαλος γένηται. Συνέλαβεν ἡ στεῖρα καὶ γραῦς τοῦ παρὰ σοῦ τεχθησομένου βασιλέως τὸν πρόδρομον, ἵνα πιστεύσῃς ὅτι σὺ τὸν Κύριον ἔχεις ἐπὶ τῆς σῆς γαστρός. Ἄπελθε, κατάμαθε τὴν Ἐλισάβετ· καὶ ἐὰν μὴ οὕτως αὐτὴν εὑρήσῃς, ὡς εἶπον, μὴ πιστεύσῃς μου τῷ κηρύγματι. Τί οὖν μετὰ τοὺς λόγους τούτους ἡ 62.768 ἁγία Μαρία, ἡ παρθένος τῷ σώματι καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ, ἡ εὐσεβὴς καὶ εὐλαβὴς καὶ εὐπειθὴς, ἡ φιλοτιμία τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, ἡ πύλη τῆς ἡμετέρας ζωῆς, ἡ πρόξενος τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν; Τὴν τοῦ ἀγγέλου φωνὴν εὐμενῶς δεξαμένη, λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἰδοὺ ἡ δούλη Κυρίου, γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου. Ὡς δούλη τῷ δεσποτικῷ πρόκειμαι νεύματι· ὡς πηλὸς ὑπόκειμαι ταῖς τοῦ κεραμέως χερσίν· ὡς θέλει μετ' ἐξουσίας ὁ πλάστης, ἐν ἐμοὶ πραττέτω τὸ βούλημα· ὡς θέλει μετὰ φιλανθρωπίας, ἐν ἐμοὶ θαυματουργείτω τὴν παράδοξον κύησιν. Γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου· γένοιτό μοι τὰ ῥήματά σου ταῦτα, καὶ πράγματα ἐναργέστατα καὶ ἀληθινά. Καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἀπ' αὐτῆς ὁ ἄγγελος, ὁ κατελθὼν οὐρανόθεν, κατήχησε, προκατήρτισε τὴν παρθένον, ἐδίδαξεν αὐτὴν, ὅσον ἐχώρησεν· ἤκουσε καὶ αὐτὸς παρ' αὐτῆς, ἅπερ ἐσπούδαζε μαθεῖν· καὶ πάλιν ἀνῆλθεν ὅθεν κατῆλθε, κάτω καταλιπὼν τὸν ἀποστείλαντα, καὶ πάλιν ἄνω εὑρὼν αὐτὸν ἐν οὐρανοῖς προσκυνούμενον ὑπὸ πάσης ἀγγελικῆς στρατολογίας.

Τί οὖν πρὸς ταῦτα λέγεις, ὦ Ἄρειε; εἰπέ μοι, ὦ ἄθλιε, πῶς ἐχωρήθη ὁ ἀχώρητος ἐν μήτρᾳ παρθενικῇ, πῶς παρθένος οὖσα συνέλαβε, καὶ παρθένος πάλιν διεφυλάχθη, καὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὸν τόκον ἐπλούτησε, καὶ αὐτὴ συνεπλουτίσθη τῇ χάριτι. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις εἰπεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸ μυστήριον, ὃ ἔτεκεν, οὐ κατέλαβε, πῶς σὺ δυνήσῃ τοῦτο καταλαβεῖν; εἰ Γαβριὴλ ὁ ἀρχάγγελος ἐρωτηθεὶς παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς τοῦ Κυρίου, Πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω, πλεῖον εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἐδυνήθη, ἀλλὰ κατέφυγεν ἐπὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὡς οὐδὲν ἕτερον δυνάμενος ἀποφήνασθαι ἰσχυρότερον, σὺ πῶς εὑρήσεις εἰπεῖν, ὅπερ ὁ Γαβριὴλ οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ἑρμηνεῦσαι; εἰ δὲ τὴν κατὰ σάρκα γέννησιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὴν γενομένην ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, οὐδεὶς κατ' ἀξίαν δύναται διηγήσασθαι, ἐκείνην τὴν γέννησιν, τὴν οὐράνιον, τὴν ἄχρονον, τὴν ἀσώματον, τὴν ἀόρατον, τὴν ἀπαθῆ, τὴν παντελῶς ἀνέκφραστον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον, πῶς τολμᾷς πολυπραγμονεῖν; τίς παρέσχε σοι τῆς τοιαύτης τόλμης τὰ σπέρματα; Οἱ ἄγγελοι τὴν ἁγίαν Τριάδα προσκυνοῦσιν ἀπαύστως βοῶντες, Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαὼθ, πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Οὐ λέγουσιν, ὡς σὺ λέγεις· Ἁγιώτερος ὁ Πατὴρ, ὡς πρεσβύτερος· οὐ λέγουσιν ὑφειμέναις φωναῖς, Ἅγιος ὁ Υἱὸς, ὡς νεώτερος· ἅγιος ὁ Παράκλητος, ὡς βραχύτερος· ἀλλὰ μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὑμνῳδίαν τῇ ἴσῃ Τριάδι προσφέρουσι. Πόθεν οὖν σὺ μόνος, ὦ Ἄρειε, ἔμαθες ἀντιφθέγγεσθαι τῇ κτίσει κατὰ τοῦ ποιητοῦ; Ἀλλὰ παραγράφῃ τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων τὴν μαρτυρίαν. Τίνι οὖν ἐμμένεις, εἰπέ; τίς ἀρέσκει σοι τοῦ δόγματος τούτου κριτής; τίνα θέλεις λάβωμεν ἀπροσωπόλητον δικαστήν; τίνος δέχῃ τὴν περὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐπίκρισιν; Ἐμμένεις τῷ Πατρὶ τῷ μᾶλλον πάντων εἰδότι τὸν οἰκεῖον Υἱόν; Οὐκοῦν ἀκούσωμεν αὐτοῦ βοῶντος· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε. Ἐὰν εἴπῃ, Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε· ἐὰν εἴπῃ, Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοὶ, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε· ἐὰν εἴπῃ· Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ, ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε· οὐ γὰρ ψεύδεται ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἐὰν εἴπῃ, Ὁ πέμψας με Πατὴρ μείζων μού ἐστι, μὴ τῇ θεότητι τοῦ λαλοῦντος, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι τὸ ἔλαττον προσαρμόσατε. Ἤκουσας, Ἄρειε, τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐπικρίσεως· ἄκουσον καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ Υἱοῦ τούτοις ἐπιψηφιζομένου τοῖς ῥήμασιν· Οὕτως ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὅτι τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν, μὴ ἀπόληται,