being seen; but Christ, the one of whom theology is spoken; He proclaims to us, therefore, the much-hymned economy of the Savior; that being God, through love for mankind He became man; not laying aside His pre-eternal dignity, but clothing Himself in the saving economy; He proclaims to us the much-hymned economy of the Savior, that a physician has visited the sick, not treating with medicines, but healing by a nod of love for mankind. He proclaims to us the much-hymned economy of the Savior; that to those who had gone astray the way of salvation has been revealed, to the despairing, the saving grace, variously benefiting all, seeking out those who have gone astray, enlightening those in darkness, giving life to the dead, freeing the slaves, ransoming the captives, and has become all things to all of us, the way [alt. into a way] of salvation; not because of our piety, but because of the goodness befitting the Benefactor Himself. For the Savior did all things, not that 10.1164 He might acquire virtue for Himself, but that He might obtain for us eternal life. For having fashioned man in the image of God, He commanded him to live in a paradise of delight; but he, deceived by the envy of the devil, and having become a transgressor of the divine commandment, became subject to death. Whence also those born from him, in succession were subject to the paternal debt, being required to pay the account of the condemnation [alt. being required]. For death reigned from Adam until Moses. But the philanthropic Lord, seeing His own creation held by death, did not turn away completely from him whom He had made in His image; but visiting in each generation, He did not cease; and formerly appearing among the Patriarchs, and being proclaimed in the Law, and being figured in the Prophets, He foretold the saving economy. But when the fullness of time came for His glorious presence, He sent forth the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to proclaim the good news. And he, coming from the ineffable powers above to the holy Virgin, first addressed her with, Hail, full of grace; and with the voice of, Hail, full of grace, spoken to her, the Holy Spirit entered through her hearing into the undefiled temple of the Virgin; and her mind was sanctified along with her members; and nature stood opposite, and intercourse from afar, beholding with amazement the Lord of nature working a thing against nature, or rather beyond nature, in the body; and by which weapons the devil fought, by their opposites Christ saved us, having taken up a body of like passions to ours, that to what was lacking He might grant a greater grace [alt. joy]. And where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And fittingly grace was sent to the holy Virgin. For thus also the saying of the evangelical history contains: And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house and lineage of David; and the name of the virgin, Mary, and the rest. But this was the first month for the holy Virgin; as it says in the book of the Law: This month shall be to you the beginning of months, it is the first for you among the months of the year. Celebrate [alt. you shall celebrate] a holy Passover to the Lord for all your generations. But the sixth month for Zacharias. And reasonably the holy Virgin was of the lineage of David, and possessed Bethlehem as her homeland, and was justly betrothed to Joseph according to the laws of kinship. And the betrothed was a guardian, and a housemate of incorruptible purity. And a very fitting name for the holy Virgin. For she was called Mary, which is interpreted as illumination. For what is more radiant than the light of virginity? Whence also those who consider their substances well call the virtues virgins. And if it is so great a good to have a virgin heart, how much more for the flesh with the soul to practice virginity? Thus also the holy Mary, being in the flesh, 10.1165 possessed an incorruptible way of life, and the things spoken by the archangel, by faith

ὁρώμενον· Χριστὸς δὲ, τὸ θεολογούμενον· εὐαγγελίζεται τοίνυν ἡμῖν τὴν πολυύμνητον τοῦ Σω τῆρος οἰκονομίαν· ὅτι Θεὸς ὢν, διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν· οὐ τὴν προαιώνιον ἀξίαν ἀποθέ μενος, ἀλλὰ τὴν σωτηρίαν οἰκονομίαν ἐνδυσάμενος· εὐαγγελίζεται ἡμῖν τὴν πολυύμνητον τοῦ Σωτῆρος οἰκονομίαν, ὅτι τοῖς κάμνουσιν ἰατρὸς ἐπεδήμησεν, οὐ φαρμάκοις θεραπεύων, ἀλλὰ νεύματι φιλανθρω πίας ἰώμενος. Εὐαγγελίζεται ἡμῖν τὴν πολυύμνητον τοῦ Σωτῆρος οἰκονομίαν· ὅτι τοῖς πεπλανημένοις ἡ ὁδὸς τῆς σωτηρίας ἀνεδείχθη, τοῖς ἀπεγνωσμένοις ἡ σωτήριος χάρις, διαφόρως πάντας εὐεργετοῦσα, τοὺς πεπλανημένους ἀναζητοῦσα, τοὺς ἐσκοτισμένους φω τίζουσα, τοὺς τεθανατωμένους ζωοποιοῦσα, τοὺς δού λους ἐλευθεροῦσα, τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἐξαγοράζουσα, καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἡμῖν τὰ πάντα γέγονεν, ἡ ὁδὸς [ἄλ. εἰς ὁδὸν] σωτηρίας· οὐ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν εὐγνωμο σύνην, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν αὐτῷ τῷ εὐεργέτῃ πρέπουσαν ἀγαθότητα. Πάντα γὰρ ἐποίησεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, οὐχ ἵνα 10.1164 ἑαυτῷ ἀρετὴν πραγματεύσηται, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἡμῖν περι ποιήσηται ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον. Ἐν εἰκόνι γὰρ Θεοῦ διαπλάσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐν παραδείσῳ τρυφῆς προσ έταξεν διάγειν· οὗτος δὲ φθόνῳ διαβόλου ἀπατηθεὶς, καὶ τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς παραβάτης γενόμενος, ὑπό δικος γέγονε θανάτου. Ὅθεν καὶ οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τικτό μενοι, κατὰ διαδοχὴν τῷ πατρικῷ χρέει ὑπέκειντο, τῆς καταδίκης τὸ λογοθέσιον ἀπῃτημένοι [ἄλ. ἀπαι τούμενοι]. Ἐβασίλευσε γὰρ ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι Μωϋσέως. Ὁ δὲ φιλάνθρωπος Κύριος, ἰδὼν τὸ πλάσμα τὸ ἴδιον ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου κρατούμενον, οὐκ εἰς τέλος ἀπεστράφη, ὃν κατ' εἰκόνα ἐποίησεν· ἀλλὰ καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν ἐπισκεπτόμενος, οὐ διέλει πεν· καὶ πρώην μὲν ἐν τοῖς Πατράσιν ὀπτανόμενος, καὶ ἐν νόμῳ κηρυττόμενος, καὶ ἐν προφήταις ὁμοι ούμενος, τὴν σωτήριον οἰκονομίαν προεμήνυεν. Ὅτε δὲ ἦλθεν τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν καιρῶν τῆς ἐνδόξου παρ ουσίας αὐτοῦ, τὸν ἀρχάγγελον Γαβριὴλ πρὸς τὴν Παρθένον Μαριὰμ εὐαγγελιζόμενον προαπέσταλκεν. Ὁ δὲ, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀφράστων ἄνω δυνάμεων πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον παραγενόμενος, πρῶτον, τὸ, Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, αὐτῇ προσεφώνησεν· τῆς δὲ φω νῆς, τοῦ Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, πρὸς αὐτὴν γενομέ νης διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς εἰσῆλθεν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον εἰς τὸν ἀμίαντον ναὸν τῆς Παρθένου· καὶ ἡγιάσθη ἡ ἔννοια σὺν τοῖς μέλεσι· καὶ ἔστη ἡ φύσις ἄντικρυς, καὶ ἡ συνου σία πόῤῥωθεν, μετὰ θάμβους θεωροῦσαι τὸν ∆εσπότην τῆς φύσεως παρὰ φύσιν, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπὲρ φύσιν πρᾶγμα θαυματουργοῦντα ἐν τῷ σώματι· καὶ δι' ὧν ὅπλων ὁ διάβολος ἠγωνίζετο, διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ὁ Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἔσωσεν, ἀναλαβὼν τὸ ὁμοιοπαθὲς ἡμῖν σῶμα, ἵνα τῷ λείποντι μείζονα χάριν [ἄλ. χα ρὰν] δωρήσηται. Καὶ ὅπου ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν ἡ χάρις. Πρεπόντως δὲ ἡ χάρις πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον ἀπέσταλται. Οὕτως γὰρ καὶ περιέχει τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἱστορίας τὸ λόγιον· Τῷ μηνὶ δὲ τῷ ἕκτῳ, ἀπεστάλη ὁ ἄγγελος Γαβριὴλ πρὸς παρθένον μεμνηστευμένην ἀνδρὶ, ᾧ ὄνομα Ἰωσὴφ, ἐξ οἴκου καὶ πατριᾶς ∆αβίδ· καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς παρθένου, Μαριὰμ, καὶ τὰ λοιπά. Πρῶ τος δὲ μὴν οὗτος πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον· καθώς φησιν ἐν τῇ νομικῇ βίβλῳ· Ὃ μὴν οὗτος ὑμῖν, ἀρχὴ μηνῶν, πρῶτός ἐστιν ὑμῖν, ἐν τοῖς μησὶ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ. Πάσχα ἅγιον ἑορτάσατε [ἄλ. ἑορτάσετε] τῷ Κυρίῳ εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν. Ἕκτος δὲ μὴν πρὸς Ζαχαρίαν. Εἰκότως δὲ ἡ ἁγία Παρθένος ἐκ γένους ∆αβὶδ ἐτύγχανεν, καὶ τὴν Βηθλεὲμ πατρίδα ἐκέκτητο, καὶ τῷ Ἰωσὴφ κατὰ νόμους συγγενείας δι καίως ἐμεμνήστευτο. Καὶ φύλαξ ἦν ὁ μνήστωρ, καὶ ὁ ἀφθαρσίας ἀκηράτου σύνοικος. Καὶ τῇ ἁγίᾳ Παρ θένῳ λίαν πρέπον ὄνομα. Μαρία γὰρ ἐκέκλητο· ὅπερ δὴ φωτισμὸς ἑρμηνεύεται. Τί γὰρ τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς παρθενίας λαμπρότερον; Ὅθεν καὶ τὰς ἀρετὰς παρθέ νους ὀνομάζουσιν, οἱ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτῶν ἀγαθῶς στοχα ζόμενοι. Εἰ δὲ τοσοῦτον ἀγαθὸν, παρθένον ἔχειν καρ δίαν, ἡλίκον ἡ σὰρξ μετὰ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν παρθενίαν ἀσκήσασα; Οὕτως καὶ ἡ ἁγία Μαρία ἐν σαρκὶ οὖσα, 10.1165 τὴν ἄφθαρτον πολιτείαν ἐκέκτητο, καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου λεχθέντα, πίστει