38

of him. And see for me the depth of the mystery. The grace therefore of the Spirit, that is, the fire of the divinity, is of our Savior and God from his nature and his essence, but his body is not from there, but from the all-pure and holy flesh of the Theotokos and from her all-pure blood, from whom, having taken it up, he made it his own, according to the sacred saying: "And the Word became flesh". For this reason the son of God and of the immaculate Virgin also imparts to the saints from the nature and the essence of his co-eternal Father the grace, as has been said, of the Spirit, that is, the divinity, as he says through the prophet: "And it shall be in the last days, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh"—that is, that which has believed—and from the nature and essence of her who properly and truly gave birth to him, the flesh which he took up from her.

(91) And just as from his fullness we have all received, so also from the unblemished flesh of his all-holy Mother which he took up, we all partake; and just as Christ became her son and God and our God, and was named our brother, so also we—O the ineffable love for mankind!—become sons of the Theotokos his mother and brothers of him, Christ, as through the most blameless and most unknown marriage that took place with her and in her, the Son of God was born from her, and from him again all the saints. For just as from the union and seed of Adam, Eve first gave birth and from her and through her all men were born, so also the Theotokos, receiving the Word of God the Father instead of seed, conceived and gave birth only to him, the Only-Begotten from the Father before the ages and the only-begotten in the last times made flesh from her; and she having ceased from conceiving and giving birth, her Son both begot and begets every day those who believe in him and keep his holy commandments. For it was fitting, since our birth in corruption came about through the woman Eve, that our spiritual birth and recreation should come about through the man, that is, the second Adam and God. And see for me from this the precision of the argument; the seed of a mortal and corruptible man begot and begets corruptible and mortal sons through a woman; the immortal and incorruptible Word of an immortal and incorruptible God begot and ever begets immortal and incorruptible children, he himself first having been born from the Virgin, clearly in the Holy Spirit.

In this way, therefore, the Mother of God is the mistress and queen and lady and mother of all the saints, and all the saints are her servants, inasmuch as she is the Mother of God, (92) but her sons, inasmuch as they partake of the all-pure flesh of her Son. The saying is faithful: for the flesh of the Lord is the flesh of the Theotokos; and partaking of this deified flesh of the Lord, we both confess and believe that we partake of eternal life, unless perhaps we eat this unworthily and rather to our own condemnation. But the saints are her kinsmen in a threefold way: in one way, because from the same clay and the same breath, or rather soul, they have kinship; in a second, because from her assumed flesh they have communion and participation with her; and in another, because through the sanctification which comes to be in them according to the Spirit, each one, conceiving in himself through her, likewise has the God of all, just as she also had him in herself; for although she bore him physically, yet she always had him whole and spiritually in herself, and now has him ever and likewise, inseparable.

This, then, is the mystery of the wedding feast, which the Father, who is co-eternal and of equal honor, made for his only-begotten Son; and he called many and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, and they would not come.

38

αὐτοῦ. Καί ὅρα μοι τό βάθος τοῦ μυστηρίου. Ἡ μέν οὖν χάρις τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἤγουν τό πῦρ τῆς θεότητος, τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐστι καί Θεοῦ ἐκ τῆς φύσεως καί τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ, τό δέ σῶμα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖθεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τῆς πανάγνου καί ἁγίας σαρκός τῆς Θεοτόκου καί ἐκ τῶν παναχράντων αἱμάτων αὐτῆς, ἐξ ἧς ταύτην ἀναλαβών ἰδιοποιήσατο, κατά τό ὅσιον λόγιον· "Καί ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο". Ταύτῃ τοι καί μεταδίδωσι τοῖς ἁγίοις ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τῆς ἀχράντου Παρθένου υἱός ἐκ μέν τῆς φύσεως καί τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ συναϊδίου Πατρός αὐτοῦ τήν χάριν, ὡς εἴρηται, τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἤτοι τήν θεότητα, καθώς διά τοῦ προφήτου φησί· "Καί ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις, ἐκχεῶ ἀπό τοῦ Πνεύματός μου ἐπί πᾶσαν σάρκα" δηλαδή τήν πιστεύσασαν, ἐκ δέ τῆς φύσεως καί οὐσίας τῆς κυρίως καί ἀληθῶς ἀποτεκούσης αὐτόν, τήν σάρκα ἥν ἀνέλαβεν ἐξ αὐτῆς.

(91) Καί ὥσπερ ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν, οὕτω καί ἐκ τῆς ἀμωμήτου σαρκός τῆς παναγίας Μητρός αὐτοῦ ἥν ἀνέλαβε μεταλαμβάνομεν ἅπαντες· καί καθάπερ υἱός αὐτῆς καί Θεός ὁ Χριστός καί Θεός ἡμῶν γέγονεν, ἀδελφός δέ ἡμῶν ἐχρημάτισεν, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς ὤ τῆς ἀφράστου φιλανθρωπίας! - υἱοί τῆς Θεοτόκου μητρός αὐτοῦ καί ἀδελφοί αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γινόμεθα, ὡς διά τοῦ μετ᾿ αὐτῆς καί ἐν αὐτῇ γεγονότος ὑπεραμώμου καί ὑπεραγνώστου γάμου γεννηθέντος τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξ αὐτῆς, καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάλιν πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἐκ τῆς συνουσίας καί σπορᾶς τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἡ Εὔα πρώτη ἔτεκεν καί ἐξ ἐκείνης καί δι᾿ ἐκείνης πάντες ἐγεννήθησαν ἄνθρωποι, οὕτω καί ἡ Θεοτόκος τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Πατρός Λόγον ἀντί σπορᾶς δεξαμένη συνέλαβε καί ἕτεκε μόνον αὐτόν τόν Μονογενῆ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός πρό αἰώνων καί μονογενῆ ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτων ἐξ αὐτῆς σαρκωθέντα· καί παυσαμένη τοῦ συλλαμβάνειν καί τίκτειν αὕτη, ὁ Υἱός αὐτῆς καί ἐγέννησε καί γεννᾷ καθ᾿ ἑκάστην τούς πιστεύοντας εἰς αὐτόν καί φυλάσσοντας τάς ἁγίας αὐτοῦ ἐντολάς. Ἔπρεπε καί γάρ, ἐπεί ἡ ἐν φθορᾷ γέννησις ἡμῶν διά τῆς γυναικός Εὔας ἐγένετο, τήν πνευματικήν γέννησιν ἡμῶν καί ἀνάπλασιν διά τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἤτοι τοῦ δευτέρου Ἀδάμ καί Θεοῦ, γίνεσθαι. Καί ὅρα μοι ἐντεῦθεν τήν τοῦ λόγου ἀκρίβειαν· ἀνδρός θνητοῦ καί φθαρτοῦ ἡ σπορά φθαρτούς υἱούς καί θνητούς διά γυναικός ἀπεγέννησε καί γεννᾷ· ἀθανάτου καί ἀφθάρτου Θεοῦ ἀθάνατος καί ἄφθαρτος Λόγος ἀθάνατα καί ἄφθαρτα τέκνα ἀπεγέννησε καί ἀεί γεννᾷ, ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου πρῶτον αὐτός τεχθείς δηλονότι ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι.

Κατά τοῦτο οὖν δέσποινα καί βασιλίς καί κυρία καί μήτηρ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ Μήτηρ ἐστί, οἱ δέ ἅγιοι πάντες δοῦλοι μέν αὐτῆς εἰσι, καθό Μήτηρ ἐστί τοῦ Θεοῦ, (92) υἱοί δέ αὐτῆς, καθό μεταλαμβάνουσιν ἐκ τῆς παναχράντου σαρκός τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτῆς. Πιστός ὁ λόγος· ἡ γάρ σάρξ τοῦ Κυρίου, τῆς Θεοτόκου ἐστί σάρξ· καί ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς θεωθείσης τοῦ Κυρίου σαρκός μεταλαμβάνοντες, ζωήν αἰώνιον μεταλαμβάνειν ὁμολογοῦμέν τε καί πιστεύομεν, εἰ μή τι ἀναξίως καί εἰς κατάκριμα ἑαυτῶν ταύτην μᾶλλον ἐσθίομεν. Συγγενεῖς δέ αὐτῆς τρισσῶς οἰ ἅγιοί εἰσι· καθ᾿ ἕνα μέν τρόπον ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πηλοῦ καί τῆς αὐτῆς πνοῆς εἴτ᾿ οὖν ψυχῆς συγγένειαν ἔχουσι· κατά δεύτερον δέ, ὅτι ἐκ τῆς προσληφθείσης σαρκός αὐτῆς κοινωνίαν καί μετουσίαν ἔχουσι μετ᾿ αὐτῆς· καθ᾿ ἕτερον δέ, ὅτι διά τήν κατά Πνεῦμα ἐγγινομένην ἁγιωσύνην αὐτοῖς δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἕκαστος συλλαμβάνων ὁμοίως ἔχει τόν τῶν ἁπάντων Θεόν, καθάπερ κἀκείνη τοῦτον ἔσχεν ἐν ἑαυτῇ· εἰ γάρ καί σωματικῶς αὐτός ἀπεγέννησεν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅλον αὐτόν καί πνευματικῶς ἐν ἑαυτῇ πάντοτε εἶχε καί νῦν ἀεί καί ὡσαύτως ἔχει ἀχώριστον.

Τοῦτο τοίνυν τό τῶν γάμων μυστήριον, ὅ τῷ μονογενεῖ αὐτοῦ Υἱῷ ἐποιήσατο ὁ Πατήρ, ὁ συναΐδιος καί ὁμότιμος· καί ἐκάλεσε πολλούς καί ἀπέστειλε τούς δούλους αὐτοῦ καλέσαι τούς κεκλημένους εἰς τούς γάμους καί οὐκ ἤθελον ἐλθεῖν.