38

of Him. And behold for me the depth of the mystery. The grace of the Spirit, that is, the fire of the divinity, is of our Savior and God from His nature and His substance, but His body is not from there, but from the all-pure and holy flesh of the Theotokos and from her most-immaculate blood, from which, having taken it, He made it His own, according to the holy saying: "And the Word became flesh." For this reason, the son of God and of the immaculate Virgin imparts to the saints from the nature and substance of His co-eternal Father the grace, as was 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, upon those who have believed, and from the nature and substance of her who properly and truly bore Him, the flesh which He took from her.

(91) And just as from His fullness we have all received, so also from the blameless flesh of His all-holy Mother which He assumed, we all partake; and just as Christ became her son and God, and our God, and was called our brother, so also we—O the ineffable love for mankind!—become sons of the Theotokos His mother and brothers of Christ Himself, 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 in turn 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, having received the Word of God the Father instead of seed, conceived and bore only Him who is Only-begotten from the Father before the ages and only-begotten in the last times, incarnate from her; and when she ceased from conceiving and bearing, her Son both gave birth and gives birth every day to those who believe in Him and keep His holy commandments. For it was fitting, since our birth in corruption came through the woman Eve, that our spiritual birth and re-creation should come through the man, that is, the second Adam and God. And behold for me from this the precision of the argument: the seed of a mortal and corruptible man has begotten and begets corruptible and mortal sons through a woman; the immortal and incorruptible Word of the immortal and incorruptible God has begotten and ever begets immortal and incorruptible children, having first Himself been born of the Virgin, clearly in the Holy Spirit.

Accordingly, therefore, the Mother of God is 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) and her sons, inasmuch as they partake of the most immaculate 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 confess and believe that we partake of eternal life, unless we rather eat it unworthily and to our own condemnation. But the saints are her kinsmen in a threefold way: in one way, because they have kinship from the same clay and the same breath, or rather, soul; in a second, because they have communion and participation with her from the flesh she provided; and in another, because through the holiness according to the Spirit that comes to be in them through her, each one, conceiving in himself, likewise has the God of all, just as she also had Him in herself; for although she bore Him bodily, yet she always had Him whole spiritually within herself, and now she always and likewise has Him inseparably.

This, then, is the mystery of the wedding feast, which the Father, the 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.