8

I am speechless and my mouth is silent; for a terrible wave, as if not from God, overcomes me. But may a sure hope, as you say, sustain you, all-ruling lady, mother of the Lord. But from one word another word comes forth; whom do I see here now directing his course? Ah, ah, whom do I now see approaching here, sad of face, filled with tears? {ANGEL} Lady maiden, mother of the Lord, the Word, do not hate me; not willingly, yet willing all the same, I will announce to you grievous new things in addition to the old. {THEOTOKOS} What is it? How you begin a prelude of woes for me. {ANGEL} Lady maiden, how shall I speak? How shall I tell you? For I bring you a word worthy of care and of intense grief and bitter pains. O venerable maiden, most revered virgin, how I lament for you, being a mournful initiate, yet faithful to the Initiator, even though I see him suffering. {THEOTOKOS} What is it? What new thing from the Hebrews do you report? {ANGEL} Your son is now no more, so to speak; yet he sees the light for a brief moment. {THEOTOKOS} How do you say? What is this you have said? And how do you know? Come, tell me, say by what fate you say Christ, the Son of the immortal Father, is now dying? For the hope was that he too would remain immortal and would be the deliverer of the whole race of Israel. {ANGEL} When, from the city of Solomon in this land, they left and came to the Paved Stones, an avenging mob dragging my king, immediately a crowd on the sky-reaching wood led him up, led him, led him to the very end; and it was fixed upright toward the upright sky. And to another, a transverse branch, straightway they stretched, they stretched out, they nailed his hands, and they nailed his feet on the fastened wood. And when they had the Lord hanging thus, some struck him with a mighty reed, having climbed a rock opposite like a tower, others with hyssop a sponge full of vinegar mixed with gall raised to his mouth. These, having not clearly received the sound in their ears, nor seen what wonders he performed among mortals, idly passed the time and shook their heads and beat their breasts ignorantly, in their lack of knowledge. But I followed the Lord at a distance, first sitting somewhere in a green grove the silent movements of his feet and the words from his tongue I was taking in, as I was seeing him, but not seen by the evil-working and blood-stained crowd; and seeing you standing and shedding tears, I have come to tell of the things that have not been done well. {THEOTOKOS} Woe is me, woe; Alas, alas, what shall I do? For my heart is gone; how, how do I still live and bear to hear these things? And how shall I, all-wretched, ever bear to see these things? Go, O women, children of the land of Galilee, address him and escort him from the earth. O come, my friends, come, let us leave fear behind. {CHORUS} For would you flee the people, lest you suffer something? {THEOTOKOS} And what further thing should I fear now? Let us go, then, let us go; let fear be gone; for what gain is there for us in living here any longer? But let us depart, so I may see my Son's sufferings. Woe is me, woe; women, the bright countenance of my Child I do not see; for his color has changed and his beauty is strange. Women, when I saw the grim eye of my Child, I long to die, and I can in no way bear to live any longer. Go, go, I can no longer bear to live. O you who appeared as a common benefit to mortals, beloved Child, for what do you suffer these things as a penalty? And for what transgressions do you pay the penalty? For you bear hands pure, pure of blood, and pure lips and every limb and mouth, an all-holy soul and a guileless heart. And how do I see you hanged together with thieves? not even from some induced harm from enemies, but a friend destroys you, not unwillingly but willingly, an initiate, whom you pointed out with the bread to your friends, sparing him, the wretched one, so that he might flee evil, though he did not understand, being entangled in snares. For what cause does the Father send you away from the earth? Why did he wish you to die so dishonorably? Wretched me, what a deed I now behold, not to be endured nor to be spoken of, but I am undone. Alas, alas, my Child, for your all-unjust slaughter; alas, alas, again, how wickedly you are destroyed, not having sinned yourself, but expiating the harm of the first woman's sin. I know, I know these things, but I do not know how to express them, and I understand what things these will quickly be; but grief is beyond my hopes, and I groan often, overcome by misfortune, and my eyelids are wet with hot tears; for the female nature is always more full of groaning and full of tears. {CHRIST} Behold, O best of all women, the virgin is here as a new son to you.

8

ἄφθογγός εἰμι καὶ παρεῖσ' ἐῶ στόμα· νικᾷ γάρ, ὡς οὐκ ἐκ Θεοῦ, δεινὸς κλύδων. Σὲ δ' ἐλπίς, ὡς φῄς, ἀσφαλὴς εἴθε τρέφοι, δέσποινα παγκοίρανε, μῆτερ Κοιράνου. Ἀλλ' ἐκ λόγου γὰρ ἄλλος ἐκβαίνει λόγος· τίν' ὧδε δ' αὖ δέδορκ' ἰθύνοντα δρόμον; ἂ ἄ, τίνα στείχοντ' ἀθρῶ νῦν ἐνθάδε στυγνοπρόσωπον, δακρύων πεπλησμένον; {ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ} ∆έσποινα κούρη, ∆εσπότου μῆτερ Λόγου, μή με στυγήσῃς· οὐχ ἑκών, ἑκὼν δ' ὅμως, λύπρ' ἀγγελῶ σοι πρὸς παλαιοῖς καὶ νέα. {ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΣ} Τί δ' ἐστίν; ὥς μοι φροιμίων ἄρχῃ κακῶν. {ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ} ∆έσποινα κούρη, πῶς ἐρῶ; πῶς σοι φράσω; σοὶ γὰρ μερίμνης ἄξιον φέρω λόγον σφοδρᾶς τ' ἀνίας καὶ πικρῶν ἀλγηδόνων. Ὦ πότνα κούρη, σεμνοτάτα παρθένε, ὥς σε στενάζω λυγρὸς ὢν μύστης, ὅμως τῷ Μυσταγωγῷ πιστός, κἂν πάσχονθ' ὁρῶ. {ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΣ} Τί δ' ἐστίν; Ἑβραίων τί μηνύεις νέον; {ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ} Παῖς νῦν σὸς οὐκέτ' ἐστίν, ὡς εἰπεῖν ἔπος· δέδορκε μέντοι φῶς ἐπὶ σμικρᾶς ῥοπῆς. {ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΣ} Πῶς φῄς; τί τοῦτ' ἔλεξας; οἶδας δ' αὖ πόθεν; ἄγ' εἰπέ μοι, φράσον τίνι θνῄσκειν μόρῳ Χριστὸν τανῦν φῂς Παῖδ' ἀθανάτου Πατρός; ὡς ἐλπὶς ἦν καὶ τόνδ' ἀθάνατον μένειν ῥύστην τ' ἔσεσθαι παντὸς Ἰσραὴλ γένους. {ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ} Ἐπεὶ πόλιν γε τῆσδε Σαλομὼν χθονὸς λιπόντες ἀφίκανον ἐς Στρωτοὺς Λίθους, ἄνακτ' ἐμὸν σύροντες ἀλάστωρ ὄχλος, αὐτίχ' ὅμιλος οὐρανοδρόμῳ ξύλῳ ἀνῆγον, ἦγον, ἦγον εἰς ἄκρον τέλος· ὀρθὸς δ' ἐς ὀρθὸν αἰθέρ' ἐστηρίζετο. Ἐς κλῶνα δ' ἐγκάρσιον ἄλλον εὐθέως ἔτεινον, ἐξέτεινον, ἥλωσαν χέρας, πόδας δὲ καθήλωσαν ἐν πηκτῷ ξύλῳ. Ὡς δ' ἔσχον οὕτως ∆εσπότην ἠρτημένον, ἄλλοι μὲν αὐτὸν καλάμῳ κραταιβόλῳ ἔβαλλον, ἀντίπυργον εἰσβάντες πέτραν, ἄλλοι δ' ὑσώπῳ σπόγγον ὄξους ἔμπλεον χολῇ κεκραμένου δ' ἀνῆγον ἐς στόμα. Οἵδ' ὠσὶν ἠχὴν οὐ σαφῶς δεδεγμένοι, οὔτ' εἶδον οἷ' ἔρεξε θαύματ' ἐν βροτοῖς, ἄλλως διῆγον καὶ διήνεγκαν κάρας καὶ στέρν' ἔτυπτον ἀμαθῶς ἀγνωσίᾳ. Ἐγὼ δὲ πόρρω ∆εσπότῃ γὰρ εἱπόμην, πρῶτον μὲν εἰς χλοηρὸν ἷζόν που νάπος τά τ' ἐκ ποδῶν σιγηλὰ καὶ γλώσσης ἄπο ἔσωζον, ὡς ὁρῶν νιν, οὐχ ὁρώμενος ὄχλῳ κακεργάτῃ τε καὶ μιαιφόνῳ· σέ τ' αὖ δακρυχέουσαν ἑστῶσαν ἰδὼν ἤλυθον εἰπεῖν οὐ καλῶς πεπραγμένα. {ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΣ} Ἰώ μοι, ἰώ· Αἲ αἴ, τί δράσω; καρδία γὰρ οἴχεται· πῶς πῶς δ' ἔτι ζῶ καὶ φέρω ταῦτα κλύειν; ἰδεῖν δὲ ταῦτα πῶς ποτ' οἴσω παντλάμων; Ἴτ', ὦ γυναῖκες, γῆς Γαλιλαίας τέκνα, προσείπατ' αὐτὸν καὶ προπέμψατε χθονός. Ὦ δεῦτε φίλαι, δεῦτε, λίπωμεν δέος. {ΧΟΡΟΣ} Σὺ γὰρ φύγῃς τὸν δῆμον, ὡς τί μὴ πάθῃς; {ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΣ} Κἀγὼ δὲ τόνδε λοιπὸν εἰς τί καὶ τρέσω; Ἴωμεν οὖν, ἴωμεν· ἀπέστω φόβος· τί γὰρ ἔτι ζῆν κέρδος ἡμῖν ἐνθάδε; Ἀλλ' ἀπίωμεν, ὡς ἴδω Παιδὸς πάθη. Ἰώ μοι, ἰώ· γυναῖκες, ὄψιν φαιδρὰν οὐχ ὁρῶ Τέκνου· χροιὰν γὰρ ἠλλάξατο καὶ κάλλος ξένον. Γυναῖκες, ὄμμα στυγνὸν ὡς εἶδον Τέκνου, ποθῶ τεθνᾶναι, ζῆν δ' ἔτ' οὐδαμῶς στέγω. Χωρεῖτε χωρεῖτ', οὐκέτι τὸ ζῆν φέρω. Ὦ κοινὸν ὠφέλημα θνητοῖσιν φανείς, Τέκνον ποθεινόν, τοῦ δίκην πάσχεις τάδε; ποινὰς δὲ ποίων ἀμπλακημάτων τίνεις; ἁγνὰς γὰρ ἁγνὰς χεῖρας αἱμάτων φέρεις, ἁγνά τε χείλη καὶ μέλος πᾶν καὶ στόμα, ψυχὴν πάναγνον ἄδολόν τε καρδίαν. Καὶ πῶς ὁρῶ λῃσταῖς σε συνηρτημένον; οὐδ' ἐξ ἐπακτοῦ τινὸς ἐχθρῶν πημονῆς, φίλος δ' ἀπόλλυσ' οὐκ ἄκονθ' ἑκουσίως μύστης, ὃν ὑπέδειξας ἄρτῳ σοῖς φίλοις, φειδεύμενος τάλανος, ὡς φύγῃ κακόν, κἂν οὐ συνῆκεν ἐμπαγεὶς βροχώμασι. Τίνος δ' ἕκητι γῆς σ' ἀποστέλλει Πατήρ; τί σ' ὧδ' ἀτίμως ἠθέλησε τεθνάναι; ∆ύστηνος, οἷον οἷον ἔργον νῦν βλέπω, οὐ τλητὸν οὐδὲ λεκτόν, ἀλλ' ἀπωλόμην. Αἲ αἴ, Τέκνον, σῶν πανταδίκων σφαγμάτων· αἲ αἲ μάλ' αὖθις, ὡς κακῶς διόλλυσαι, οὐκ ἐξαμαρτὼν αὐτός, ἀλλ' ἁμαρτίας πρώτης γυναικὸς ἐξιώμενος βλάβην. Οἶδ' οἶδα μὲν τάδ', οἶδα δ' οὐχ ὅπως φράσω, καὶ συνιῶ μέν, οἷα ταῦτ' ἔσται τάχει· ἄλγος δ' ὕπερθεν τῶν ἐμῶν ἐλπισμάτων, στένω τε πυκνὰ συμφορᾷ νικωμένη, δάκρυσί τε βλέφαρα θερμοῖς τέγγεται· ἀεὶ γάρ ἐστι τὸ γυναικεῖον φύλον πολύστονόν τε καὶ πολύδακρυ πλέον. {ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ} Ἴδ', ὦ γυναικῶν ἐξ ἁπασῶν βελτίων, ὁ παρθένος πάρεστιν υἱός σοι νέος.