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was brought to betrothal, if she were not descended from the same sceptre. Having shown, therefore, the descent of Joseph, he was satisfied. And it is necessary to know this, that it was the law, when a childless man died, for his brother to take the wife of the deceased to marriage and to raise up seed for his brother. The one born, therefore, was by nature of the second, that is, of the one who begot him, but by law of the deceased. From the line, therefore, of Nathan the son of David, Levi begot Melchi and Panther; Panther begot Barpanther, so surnamed. This Barpanther begot Joachim, Joachim begot the holy Theotokos. And from the line of Solomon the son of David, Matthan had a wife, from whom he begot Jacob. But when Matthan died, Melchi from the tribe of Nathan, the son of Levi and brother of Panther, married the wife of Matthan, the mother of Jacob, and from her he had Heli. Therefore, Jacob and Heli became brothers by the same mother—Jacob from the tribe of Solomon, and Heli from the tribe of Nathan. And Heli, from the tribe of Nathan, died childless; and Jacob, his brother from the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and begot Joseph. Joseph, therefore, is by nature the son of Jacob of the lineage of Solomon, but by law the son of Heli of the lineage of Nathan. Joachim, therefore, took the venerable and praiseworthy Anna in marriage. But just as the Anna of old, being barren, through prayer and promise begot Samuel, so too this one, through supplication and promise, receives from God the Theotokos, so that even in this she might not fall short of any of the renowned women; therefore grace (for this is what Anna is interpreted to mean) gives birth to the lady (for this is what the name Mary signifies; for she truly became lady of all creatures by being named mother of the creator). She is born in the house of Joachim at the sheep-pool and is brought to the temple. Then in the house of God, planted and made fruitful by the Spirit like a fruitful olive tree, she became a dwelling-place of all virtue, having turned her mind from every worldly and carnal desire, and thus kept her soul a virgin along with her body, as was fitting for her who was about to receive God into her womb; for being holy, he rests in holy places. Thus, therefore, she pursues holiness and is worthily shown to be a holy and wonderful temple of the most high God. And since the enemy of our salvation was watching virgins because of the prophecy of Isaiah: who said, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us," so that he might deceive the one who always prides himself on wisdom, "He who catches the wise in their craftiness," the maiden is given in betrothal to Joseph by the priests, the new scroll to one who knows letters; and the betrothal was both a protection for the virgin and a deception for the one watching the virgins. "But when the fullness of time had come," an angel of the Lord was sent to her, announcing the conception of the Lord; and so she conceived the son of God, the hypostatic power of the Father, "not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man," that is, of union and seed, but by the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit; and she supplied to the creator the being created, and to the fashioner the being fashioned, and to the son of God and God the being incarnate and becoming man from her pure and undefiled flesh and blood, fulfilling the debt of the first mother; for just as she was fashioned from Adam without union, so too this one brought forth the new Adam, born according to the law of gestation and beyond the nature of birth. For he who is without a mother from a father is born without a father from a woman; and that he is from a woman is according to the law of gestation, but that he is without a father is beyond the nature of birth; and that he is born in the accustomed time (for having completed the nine months and entered the tenth, he is born), is according to the law of gestation; but that it was without pain is beyond the rule of birth; for where pleasure did not precede, pain did not follow, according to the

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μνηστείαν ἠγάγετο, εἰ μὴ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ σκήπτρου κατήγετο. ∆είξας τοίνυν τὸ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ καταγώγιον ἠρκέσθη. Χρὴ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εἰδέναι, ὡς νόμος ἦν ἀγόνου ἀνδρὸς τελευτῶντος τὸν τούτου ἀδελφὸν τὴν τοῦ τετελευτηκότος γαμετὴν πρὸς γάμον ἄγεσθαι καὶ ἐγείρειν σπέρμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ. Τὸ οὖν τικτόμενον κατὰ φύσιν μὲν τοῦ δευτέρου ἤτοι τοῦ γεγεννηκότος ἦν, κατὰ δὲ νόμον τοῦ τελευτήσαντος. Ἐκ τῆς σειρᾶς τοίνυν τοῦ Νάθαν τοῦ υἱοῦ ∆αυὶδ Λευὶ ἐγέννησε τὸν Μελχὶ καὶ τὸν Πάνθηρα· ὁ Πάνθηρ ἐγέννησε τὸν Βαρπάνθηρα οὕτως ἐπικληθέντα. Οὗτος ὁ Βαρπάνθηρ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰωακείμ, Ἰωακεὶμ ἐγέννησε τὴν ἁγίαν θεοτόκον. Ἐκ δὲ τῆς σειρᾶς Σολομῶντος τοῦ υἱοῦ ∆αυὶδ Ματθὰν ἔσχε γυναῖκα, ἐξ ἧς ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰακώβ. Τελευτήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Ματθὰν Μελχὶ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Νάθαν, ὁ υἱὸς Λευί, ἀδελφὸς δὲ τοῦ Πάνθηρος, ἔγημε τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ Ματθάν, μητέρα δὲ τοῦ Ἰακώβ, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἔσχε τὸν Ἡλί. Ἐγένοντο οὖν ἀδελφοὶ ὁμομήτριοι Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἡλίὁ μὲν Ἰακὼβ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Σολομῶντος, ὁ δὲ Ἡλὶ ἐκ φυλῆς Νάθαν. Ἐτελεύτησε δὲ ὁ Ἡλί, ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Νάθαν ἄπαις· καὶ ἔλαβεν Ἰακώβ, ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Σολομῶντος, τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰωσήφ. Ὁ οὖν Ἰωσὴφ φύσει μέν ἐστιν υἱὸς Ἰακὼβ ἐτοῦ καταγωγίου τοῦ Σολομῶντος, κατὰ δὲ νόμον Ἡλὶ τοῦ ἐκ Νάθαν. Ἰωακεὶμ τοίνυν τὴν σεμνήν τε καὶ ἀξιέπαινον Ἄνναν πρὸς γάμον ἠγάγετο. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἡ πάλαι Ἄννα στειρεύσασα δι' εὐχῆς καὶ ἐπαγγελίας τὸν Σαμουὴλ ἐγέννησεν, οὕτω καὶ αὕτη διὰ λιτῆς καὶ ἐπαγγελίας πρὸς θεοῦ τὴν θεοτόκον κομίζεται, ἵνα κἂν τούτῳ μηδενὸς τῶν περιφανῶν καθυστερίζοιτο· τίκτει τοιγαροῦν ἡ χάρις (τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ Ἄννα ἑρμηνεύεται) τὴν κυρίαν (τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς Μαρίας σημαίνει τὸ ὄνομα· κυρία γὰρ ὄντως γέγονε πάντων τῶν ποιημάτων τοῦ δημιουργοῦ χρηματίσασα μήτηρ). Τίκτεται δὲ ἐν τῷ τῆς προβατικῆς τοῦ Ἰωακεὶμ οἴκῳ καὶ τῷ ἱερῷ προσάγεται. Εἶτα ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ θεοῦ φυτευθεῖσά τε καὶ πιανθεῖσα τῷ πνεύματι ὡσεὶ ἐλαία κατάκαρπος πάσης ἀρετῆς καταγώγιον γέγονε πάσης βιωτικῆς καὶ σαρκικῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὸν νοῦν ἀποστήσασα καὶ οὕτω παρθένον τὴν ψυχὴν τηρήσασα σὺν τῷ σώματι, ὡς ἔπρεπε τὴν θεὸν ἐγκόλπιον ὑποδέχεσθαι μέλλουσαν· ἅγιος γὰρ ὢν ἐν ἁγίοις ἀναπαύεται. Οὕτω τοίνυν ἁγιωσύνην μετέρχεται καὶ ναὸς ἅγιος καὶ θαυμαστὸς τοῦ ὑψίστου θεοῦ ἀναδείκνυται ἀξίως. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐπετήρει τὰς παρθένους ὁ τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας ἐχθρὸς διὰ τὴν Ἡσαΐου πρόρρησιν· «Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει», φήσαντος, «καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ, ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον Μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ θεός», ὡς ἂν δελεάσῃ τὸν ἐν σοφίᾳ ἀεὶ ἁβρυνόμενον «ὁ δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν», πρὸς μνηστείαν ἡ νεᾶνις τῷ Ἰωσὴφ ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων δίδοται, ὁ καινὸς τόμος τῷ γράμματα εἰδότι· ἡ δὲ μνηστεία φυλακή τε τῆς παρθένου ὑπῆρχε καὶ τοῦ τὰς παρθένους ἐπιτηροῦντος ἀποβουκόλημα. «Ὅτε δὲ ἦλθε τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου», ἀπεστάλη ἄγγελος κυρίου πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ κυρίου εὐαγγελιζόμενος σύλληψιν· οὕτως τε συνείληφε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐνυπόστατον δύναμιν, «οὐκ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς» ἤτοι συναφείας καὶ σπορᾶς, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς εὐδοκίας καὶ συνεργίας τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος· ἐχορήγησέ τε τῷ κτίστῃ τὸ κτισθῆναι καὶ τῷ πλάστῃ τὸ πλασθῆναι καὶ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεῷ τὸ σαρκωθῆναι καὶ ἀνθρωπισθῆναι ἐκ τῶν ἁγνῶν καὶ ἀμολύντων αὐτῆς σαρκῶν καὶ αἱμάτων, τὸ τῆς προμήτορος ἀποπληροῦσα χρέος· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκείνη συναφείας ἐκτὸς ἐξ Ἀδὰμ πεπλαστούργηται, οὕτω καὶ αὕτη τὸν νέον Ἀδὰμ ἀπεκύησε νόμῳ κυήσεως τικτόμενον καὶ ὑπὲρ φύσιν γεννήσεως. Τίκτεται γὰρ ἀπάτωρ ἐκ γυναικὸς ὁ ἐκ πατρὸς ἀμήτωρ· καὶ ὅτι μὲν ἐκ γυναικὸς νόμῳ κυήσεως, ὅτι δὲ ἄνευ πατρός, ὑπὲρ φύσιν γεννήσεως· καὶ ὅτι μὲν τῷ εἰθισμένῳ χρόνῳ (τὸν γὰρ ἐννεαμηνιαῖον τελέσας καὶ τῷ δεκάτῳ ἐπιβὰς γεννᾶται), νόμῳ κυήσεως· ὅτι δὲ ἀνωδίνως, ὑπὲρ θεσμὸν γεννήσεως· ἧς γὰρ ἡδονὴ οὐ προηγήσατο, οὐδὲ ὠδὶν ἐπηκολούθησε, κατὰ τὸν