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Homilia ii de sancta Maria deipara (homilia 6)

Of Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, on the holy Mary the Theotokos

1 Every memory of the righteous is all-glorious and every festival of the God-loving is renowned, all have excelled in piety, all have undertaken labors for the sake of the true confession, all have reveled in dangers for the crowns of truth, but the present day of the feast is exceedingly glorious; for it contains the festival of a virgin, who so far surpassed all that she willingly received even God the Word himself, contained by her without constraint. To whom before all else Gabriel of the archangels first cried out: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; for behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name” Emmanuel. The good tidings from Gabriel were an immediate beginning of joy for her; for since the first virgin was enclosed in the griefs of the sentence for the transgression, and the multitudes of groans sprouted from her, and every woman through her was in pain and every childbirth through her in bitterness, the second virgin by this address pushed away all that was grievous for the female sex and blocked every source of sorrow in childbirth and scattered the cloud of despondency over the childbearing of women and flashed the lights of joy upon her fellow women, having heard from Gabriel: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”

2 She did not receive the greeting quietly but having heard such a voice, and seeing the archangel in the house unexpectedly, and her thoughts about the birth having been shaken by the voice, she naturally put forth such words as these to the archangel: “All things,” she said, “I see today in you are paradoxical and strange,” and this: “How did you dare to approach a virgin not betrothed with such audacity and to speak the proclamation of your unbelievable words? For you say that I am to bear a child without seed. You said I am to conceive without marriage, that the field of my womb is to bear fruit without the encounter and company of a man. Who has seen, who has ever heard from the beginning of time an uncultivated field blossoming with an ear of grain, or an unplanted earth sprouting a cluster of grapes, wine without a vine, or a river flowing forth without a spring? That which no one in former ages has either heard with their ears or witnessed with their eyes has come to pass. How shall I believe you, who are mocking me?”

3 What then did Gabriel say to her in her disbelief? - “What I learned, I have said; what I heard, I speak: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God,' as existing with respect to him, as with respect to whom all creation is, as creator and maker of all things, as father of the ages, as begetter of the world, as maker of the universe, as more ancient than the heavens, as creator of the angels, as molder of humanity, as 'savior of the perishing.' I am not able to report anything more than these things; for I was not commanded to say how, O virgin, but to minister to you the facts of the good news. Wonder, therefore, with me at the mystery and receive the good news without hesitation.” And she says: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Let us, therefore, also be disciples of the archangelic words of Gabriel concerning the master's birth, let us journey behind in his paths, as he did, let us extol without prying the power of the birth.

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Homilia ii de sancta Maria deipara (homilia 6)

Ησυχίου, πρεσβυτέρου Ἱεροσολύμων, εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν Μαριὰμ τὴν θεοτόκον

1 Πᾶσα μὲν μνήμη δικαίων πανεύφημος καὶ πᾶσα πανήγυρις θεοφιλῶν

εὐκλεής, πάντες ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἠρίστευσαν, πάν τες τοὺς πόνους ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθοῦς ὁμολογίας ὑπεδέξαντο, πάντες διὰ τοὺς τῆς ἀληθείας στεφάνους τοῖς κινδύνοις ἐνεβάκχευσαν, ἡ δὲ παροῦσα νῦν ἡμέρα τῆς ἑορτῆς ὑπερένδοξος· παρθένου γὰρ περιέχει πανήγυριν, ἥτις τοσοῦτον ὑπερέβαλε πάσας ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν θεὸν Λόγον ἐθελοντὶ ὑποδέξασθαι χωρηθέντα παρ' αὐ τῆς ἀστενοχωρήτως. Πρὸς ἣν πρὸ τοῦ παντὸς ὁ τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων Γαβριὴλ ἀνεβόησε πρῶτος· «Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ κύριος μετὰ σοῦ· ἰδοὺ γὰρ συλλήψῃ ἐν γαστρὶ καὶ τέξῃ υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ» Ἐμμανουήλ. Χαρᾶς εὐθὺς ἀρχὴ πρὸς αὐτὴν τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Γαβριὴλ εὐαγγέλια· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ πρώτη παρθένος ταῖς τῆς ἀποφάσεως ἐπὶ τῇ παραβάσει περιεκέκλειστο λύπαις, καὶ τὰ τῶν στεναγμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀνεβλάστανον πλήθη, καὶ πᾶσα γυνὴ δι' αὐτὴν ἐν ὀδύνῃ καὶ τόκος ἅπας δι' αὐτὴν ἐν πικρίᾳ, ἡ δευτέρα παρθένος διὰ τῆς προσηγορίας τὸ τοῦ θήλεος πᾶν θλι βερὸν ἀπώσατο καὶ πᾶσαν λύπης πηγὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς τόκοις ἐνέφραξε καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀθυμίας ἐπὶ τῇ τεκνογονίᾳ τῶν γυναικῶν διεσκέδασε νέφος καὶ τὰ τῆς χαρᾶς τὰς ὁμοφύλους περιήστραψε φῶτα, παρὰ τοῦ Γαβριὴλ ἐπακούσασα· «Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ κύριος μετὰ σοῦ.»

2 Οὐχ ἡσυχῆ τὸν ἀσπασμὸν ἐδέξατο ἀλλὰ τῆς τοιαύτης φωνῆς ἐπακούσασα, καὶ τὸν ἀρχάγγελον θεωρήσασα κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν παρὰ πρόθεσιν, καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸν τόκον τοὺς λογισμοὺς συγκλονη θεῖσα φωνῆς, τοιαύτας τινὰς πρὸς τὸν ἀρχάγγελον ὡς εἰκὸς προὐ βάλλετο ῥήσεις· «Ὅλα, λέγουσα, παράδοξα καὶ ξένα ὁρῶ σήμερον ἐπὶ σοῦ», καὶ τό· «Πῶς ἐτόλμησας μὴ μεμνηστευμένῃ αὐθάδως ἐπιβῆναι παρθένῳ καὶ τῶν ἀπίστων σου ῥημάτων τὸ κήρυγμα φάναι; Λέγεις γάρ με τίκτειν ἄνευ σπόρου παιδίον. Ἄνευ γάμου ἔφης συλλαβεῖν, ἄνευ συντυχίας καὶ ὁμιλίας ἀνδρὸς καρπογονῆσαι τὸ τῆς μήτρας χωρίον. Τίς εἶδε, τίς ἤκουσεν ἐξ ἀρχαιογονίας τὸ πρότερον ἄρουραν ἀγεώργητον ἐξανθήσασαν ἄσταχυν, ἢ γῆν ἀφύτευτον βότρυν βλαστήσασαν, οἶνον ἄνευ ἀμπέλου, ἢ ποταμὸν ἄνευ πηγῆς προϊόντα; Ὅπερ οὐδεὶς πρώτων αἰώνων ἢ τοῖς ὠσὶν ἤκουσεν, ἢ κατώπτευσε τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς γεγονός. Πῶς πι στεύσω σοι πρὸς ἐμὲ κωμῳδοῦντι;»

3 Τί οὖν ὁ Γαβριὴλ πρὸς αὐτὴν δυσπιστοῦσαν; - «Ὅπερ ἔμαθον εἶπον, ὅπερ ἤκουσα λέγω· "Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι· διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώ μενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται υἱὸς θεοῦ", ὥσπερ ὑπάρχων πρὸς οὗ, ὡς πρὸς ὃν πάσης κτίσεως, ὡς κτίστης καὶ δημιουργὸς τῶν ἁπάντων, ὡς τῶν αἰώνων πατήρ, ὡς τοῦ κόσμου γεννήτωρ, ὡς τοῦ παντὸς ποιητής, ὡς τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀρχαιότερος, ὡς τῶν ἀγ γέλων δημιουργός, ὡς τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος πλάστης, ὡς "τῶν ἀπολ λυμένων σωτήρ". Οὐδὲν πλέον τούτων ἀπαγγέλλειν ἰσχύω· οὐ γὰρ τὸ πῶς λέγειν προσετάχθην, παρθένε, ἀλλὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελισμοῦ πρὸς σὲ διακονῆσαι τὰ πράγματα. Θαύμαζε οὖν σὺν ἐμοὶ τὸ μυστήριον καὶ ἀνενδοιάστως δέχου τὰ εὐαγγέλια.» Ἡ δέ φησιν· «Ἰδοὺ ἡ δούλη κυρίου· γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου.» Τοῖς ἀρχαγγελικοῖς τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς μαθητεύσωμεν λόγοις τοῦ Γα βριὴλ περὶ τῆς δεσποτικῆς γεννήσεως, ταῖς ἐκείνου τρίβοις κα τόπιν ὁδεύσωμεν, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ἐκθειάζωμεν ἀπεριέργως τοῦ τό κου τὴν δύναμιν.