Mother of God

[Ode 9, Pascha]

A Homily On the Blessed
Virgin Mother of God, Mary

More Spacious than the Heavens (Platytera)

by Mar Jacob, Bishop of Serugh (+521)

O GOOD ONE, Whose door is open to the wicked and to Sinners,
Grant me to enter in with wonder to behold Thy fairness.
O Storehouse of blessings whence even the ungrateful are filled,
May I be nourished on Thee, for all of Thee is life to him that tastes Thee.
O Cup that makest the soul drunken with Thy drink, and she forgets her passions,
Let me drink of Thee, and be made wise by Thee, and tell Thy generation.
Thou Who dost not begrudge our race, although unworthy, to rise to high honor,
May my speech be honored with fair hymns to Thee.
O Son of Greatness, Who becamest the Child of littleness,
Allow my littleness to speak about Thy greatness.
Son of the Most High, Who willingly becamest one of the lowly,
May my speech be exalted by Thee to the height, that it may tell of Thee.
Our Lord art Thou, the rational Word which is full of life,
And the great Discourse Who givest riches to him that hears Thee.
All whom Thou enablest to speak, speak on Thine account,
For Thou art the Word and the reason of every mind and understanding.
Neither apart from Thee do thoughts stir in the soul,
Nor except by Thee does the tongue rouse up its discourse.
Without Thy command, lips give forth no voice,
Nor, without Thy gift, hath the ear any hearing.
Behold, Thy riches are dispersed unto them that are afar off and to them that are near,
And Thy door is open for the good and the wicked to enter in unto Thee.
In Thee all are rich; and Thou enrichest all without measure:
May my speech be enriched by Thee with beauty to speak of Thee.
O Son of the Virgin, grant me to speak of her that gave Thee birth,
Though I acknowledge that speech concerning her is too much for us.

A TALE OF WONDER has now stirred within me to be told:
Hearken lovingly, O men of discernment, with the ear of the soul.
Mary’s history has been roused in me with wonder, that it might reveal itself:
Prepare your minds with discretion.
The holy Virgin hath bid me speak of her this day;
Let us purify our hearing for her pure account, lest we bring dishonor upon us.
She is a second Heaven; for in her womb the Lord of the
Heights has dwelt,
And dawned from her to drive the darkness from every quarter;
The blessed among women, by whom the cursing of the earth was torn out by the roots,
And the full term of the sentence was thenceforth fulfilled;
Grave, venerable, filled with the virtues of holiness,
Whose history my mouth is too little to tell;
The daughter of the poor, who became the Mother of the Lord of kings,
And gave riches to the needy world for it to live by;
The Ship bearing treasures and blessings from the House of the Father,
Which came and poured out riches on our destitute realm;
The good Field that seedlessly yielded a crop,
Whence abounded a great harvest, being yet untilled;
The second Eve who gave birth to Life among those subject to death,
Redeeming and rending the bond of Eve her mother;
The young Maiden who gave her hand to the eldress who had been cast down,
And raised her up from the fall into which the serpent had thrust her;
The daughter who wove a robe of glory and gave it to her father,
And he who had been stripped naked among the trees covered himself;
The Virgin who wondrously became a mother without union;
The Mother who remained in her virginity without change;
The fair Palace that the King built and entered in to dwell,
And whose gates were not opened before Him when He issued forth;
The Maiden who became like unto the chariot of celestial beings,
Solemnly bearing the Mighty One Who beareth all creation;
The Bride who conceived-though husband was never seen by her-
And begat a Babe while never having set foot in the country of His Father.

HOW SHALL I PAINT the image of this most fair Maiden
With dull colors of a blending unfit for her?
The image of her beauty is too high and glorious for mixtures such as mine,
Nor dare I rashly paint the image of her that my meager understanding could depict.
Easier were it to paint the sun with its light and its heat,
Than to tell the account of Mary in all its glory.
Perhaps that wheel of glittering beams can be confined in pigments;
But the discourse concerning Mary cannot be bounded by orators.
A man may describe her in whatever rank he dare,
And she can be spoken of in any order she is associated with:
Whether with virgins, and women consecrated and grave,
Or with the wives of husbands, and birth-givers and mothers.
The body of that glorious Maiden both bears the seals of virginity and gives milk;
The birth is perfect, and the womb is sealed, and who is sufficient for her?
When she appears standing in the assembly of maidens,
I see her giving milk to a Babe as do mothers;
When I hear that Joseph her husband dwells with her,
I mark that she has never been yoked in marriage.
When I seek to number her in the order of virgins,
A voice comes to me saying that she draws nigh to give birth.1
I have the thought to call her a married woman because of Joseph,
But I count it worthy of credit that she never had experience of a mortal man.
I see her bearing the Son of maternity,
Yet she appears to me standing in the rank of virginity.
She is a virgin, a mother, a man’s wife, and yet unwedded:
How shall I speak of her, save to say that she is past all finding out?
Love rouses me to speak of her, for she is fair;
But the loftiness of any discourse about her overwhelms me; how shall I proceed?
I shall openly cry out that I can never be sufficient unto her:
But then I shall turn again for love’s sake to tell the story of the exalted one.
Only love is not blameworthy when it speaks,
For its offering is dear and enriches whoever hears it.
I shall speak of Mary with astonishment and fear,
That the daughter of the lowly has ascended to such great stature.
But now, was it grace only! that inclined the Son towards her,
Or was she so well-pleasing as to become the Mother of the Son of God?
That God came down to earth by grace is manifest,
But Mary was so exceeding pure, that she it was who received Him.
Because of her humility, her meekness, and her purity,
He looked upon her and dwelt in her, for it is easy for Him to dwell in the humble.
“Upon whom shall I look,” He saith, “save on the meek and the humble?”
He looked upon her and dwelt in her, because she was more humble than any that are born.
She herself said that in her lowliness He regarded her and dwelt in her;
Wherefore let her be praised who was so well-pleasing.
Humility is the end of perfection;
For a man takes heed of God first, and only then becomes humble.
The great Moses was meek above all men,
And God in a revelation descended to him on the mountain.
Humility was seen also in Abraham,
Who called himself “dust and ashes” although he was a right¬eous man.
Humble also was John, when he proclaimed
That he was not worthy to unloose the sandals of the Bride¬groom his Lord.
By humility the illustrious were well-pleasing in their sundry generations,
For it is the great way whereon a man draws near to God.
But no one ever before so humbled himself as Mary,
Whence it is plain that neither was any so exalted as she?
According to one’s humility, the Lord bestoweth revelations;
Yet her He made His Mother, so who is like her in humility?

Jacob's Ladder

HAD THERE BEEN another purer than she and meeker,
He would have dwelt in her, and declined to dwell in Mary.
If there had been any soul nobler and holier than hers,
Then He would have chosen that one, and left Mary alone.
When our Lord came down to earth, He regarded all women,
But chose one only, who was the most well-pleasing of them all.
He searched her out and found in her humility and holiness,
Guileless motions and a God-loving soul,
A pure heart and all the thoughts of perfection;
And by reason of these He chose that pure Maiden full of all beauty.
He stirred from His place and couched in that most glorious among women,
For there was none like her in the world who might be compared with her:
One humble, pure, innocent, and without spot:
For she and none other was worthy to become His Mother.
He regarded how exalted she was, and pure of all wicked deeds,
And that no motion stirred in her inclining to lustful desires,
Nor any thought that gave way to lewdness,
Nor any dealing with the world, which engenders woeful loss,
Nor did love of the vain world burn within her,
Nor did she occupy herself with childish things.
He saw that in all the world there was none like her to be compared with her,
And He took her for a mother, that from her He might suckle pure milk.
The discerning Maiden was full of love for God;
For where there is no love, our Lord does not dwell.
When the Great King set His face to come to our land,
He dwelt in a temple purer than all the world, well-pleasing in His sight,
Which had an untainted womb adorned with virginity,
And thoughts worthy of holiness.
She was full of all beauty both in her nature and in her will,
For she was never defiled with ignoble desires.
From her childhood, she abode in unblemished uprightness,
And faultlessly walked in the way without slipping.
Her nature was kept whole with her will to virtue;
The seals of virginity were ever in her body, and sanctity in her soul.

THE DEED brought to pass in her gives me occasion
To speak the following things of this fair Maiden that cannot be spoken of.
That she became the Mother of the Son of God, I have perceived,
And I firmly believe that in all the world she is the one woman free of every stain.
From the time she learned to discern good from evil,
She abode in purity of heart and upright thoughts.
She turned not aside from the righteousness of the Law,
Nor did despicable carnal passions move her.
From her infancy the impulses of holiness stirred within her,
And in her discernment she fostered them vigilantly.
All her days the Lord was set before her eyes;
To Him she looked, to be enlightened by Him, and to delight in Him.
And since He saw how pure and innocent her soul was,
He willed to dwell in her, for she was unsullied by wicked deeds.
Since no woman like her was ever seen,
In her was done that astonishing deed that is greater than any other.
Out of all womankind, one daughter of man was required,
And she was chosen, because she was fairer than all.
The Holy Father, having willed to prepare a mother for His Son,
Would not neglect such a one as her whom He chose to become His mother:
A maiden filled within and without with ineffable beauty,
Whose heart was pure for her to see the mysteries wrought in her.

NOW, THIS IS VIRTUE: That a man is virtuous of his own free will,
And that the virtues of perfection shine forth by his own choice.
However much any virtue might be made by God to increase,
It is not worthy of praise if free will is not near by.
The sun is fair, but is not praised by its beholders,
Because it is evident that it is not its own will that has provided it with light.
If anyone is praised for being virtuous,
It is because he is virtuous of his own free choosing, and has attained to the virtues.
For God truly loves the virtue that cometh of volition,
And extols a good will that is well-pleasing before Him.
And this Virgin, concerning whom we now speak,
By means of her good volition became well-pleasing and elect.
God came down to become man from a daughter of man,
And because she was well-pleasing, she was chosen to be His Mother.
And while His own grace far surpasses the measure of mortals,
Mary’s virtue ought greatly to be praised, for she became His Mother.
Because of her humility, her purity, her integrity; and her good volition,
She was well-pleasing before Him and chosen by Him.
Had some other pleased Him more, He had chosen her,
For the just and upright Lord is not a respecter of persons.
Had there been in her soul any spot or flaw,
He had sought someone else as His mother, in whom there was no spot.
It is through a good volition that such virtue, purer than any other,
Abides with whoever attains to it:
Therefore it is fitting that all should marvel at that glorious Maiden,
Who was so well-pleasing that the Lord chose her for His Mother.
So far as nature lends a hand to virtue, she was virtuous;
But to attain to such a stature was not merely of her own volition.
She strove earnestly towards the highest degree of virtue attainable to man;
But that God should shine forth from her was not of her own doing.
In the excellency of her soul,
That all-fair Maiden drew as near to God as the just can draw near;
But that the Lord should dawn forth bodily from her
Was by the grace of Him Who is to be praised for the greatness of His mercy.

MARY’S VIRTUE is of such a stature
That another2 greater than she hath never arisen in the whole world.
Thus, henceforth let us ascribe righteousness to the Lord,
Who has shed abroad His grace without measure on all creation.
It is affirmed of the Son that all generations are not sufficient unto Him,
And of Mary, that there is not among mothers any greater than she.
She kept herself pure like John and Elisseus
And Elias and Melchizedek of great renown.
She ascended in virtue to such a degree as did those exalted ones,
And then was chosen to become Mother to the Son of the Holy One.
Of her own she approached the limit of excellence,
And then a grace that has no limit made its dwelling in her.
The Lord saw her, that she was filled with the virtues of holiness,
And He willed to dwell holily in her pure womb.
From the Heavenly Legions He sent forth a watcher,
To bring the good tidings to the blessed and most fair Mary.
Gabriel, the Chief Commander of the Hosts,
Stirred and came down to her as sent by the Most High.
For she alone was worthy of that great mystery,
Being rich in divine revelations.
Mary received that spiritual revelation
While in prayer, in calm, and in simplicity;
Being consecrated, and standing with wonder in the presence of God,
Pouring out her heart with love before Him in prayer.
She was in prayer, as Daniel also was in prayer
When that fiery watcher descended unto him.
The priest Zacharias, as he stood in the Holy of Holies
To pray before God, was visited by the watcher.
And this Maiden, who was equal to the great revelation,
Was in prayer when she received the watcher who descended unto her,
In pure prayer, taking counsel with God,
Speaking to Him, attending to Him, and sustained upon Him.
The watcher descended when Mary was standing in prayer,
And gave her the salutation as he had been sent to do by the Most High.
“Peace to thee, O Mary, the Lord is with thee, O blessed one!
Blessed art thou, and blessed is the fruit of thy virginity!”
On hearing this, she discerningly pondered
What could be the reason for this uncommon greeting.
The watcher says, “Be not troubled, O most compassionate one;
The Lord hath willed concerning thee that thou shouldst become
His Mother in thy virginity.
Henceforth thou shalt conceive chastely
And bear the Great One Whose Ruling Power [vasileia] shall have no end.”
Mary says, “How shall that be which thou sayest?
Since I have never known a man, how shall I bring forth?
Thou hast brought me tidings of a son; yet I have no experience of wedlock;
I have heard about a child, but have never known union.”
Full of wonder was that moment when Mary stood
Uttering her answers to Gabriel.
A humble daughter of the poor and an Angel
Met together and spoke on matters wholly wondrous.
A pure virgin and a fiery watcher marvellously spoke a speech
That made peace between those of earth and those of Heaven.
One from among women, and the Commander of all the Hosts,
Made a covenant concerning the reconciliation of the whole world.
The two stood between those above and those below,
And they who had been at enmity spoke, and hearkened, and made peace.
The Maiden and the watcher met together and turned the matter over,
Till they had brought to nought the conflict between the Lord and Adam.
That great contention which fell out amidst the trees [of paradise]
Came forth to be examined, was wholly done away, and peace was established.
An earthly being and a heavenly spoke with love,
And the quarrel between both sides ceased, and they were reconciled.
That baneful age, which had slain Adam, was transformed,
Succeeded by another age and a gracious, wherein he might revive again.
Instead of that serpent, Gabriel rose up to speak,
And instead of Eve, Mary came forth to receive him.
Instead of the deceiver, who brought in death by the tale that he set forth,
One rose up who was true, to herald life by the tidings that he brought.
On behalf of the mother who signed herself into debt among the trees,
The daughter repaid all the debts of Adam her father.
Eve and the serpent were succeeded by the watcher and Mary,
And the history that had gone awry from the beginning was put in good order.
Consider Eve inclining her ear and harking to the voice
Of that wily one as he hisses falsehood at her;
Then come see the watcher pouring life back into Mary’s ear,
Delivering her from the creeping of the serpent and giving her comfort.

THE EDIFICE that the serpent had torn down, Gabriel built up anew,
And Mary set aright the foundations that Eve had pulled down in Eden:
Two virgins who received tidings from two envoys
Sent forth in two generations, one countervailing the other.
Satan by the serpent sent secret counsel unto Eve;
While the Lord by the watcher sent good tidings unto Mary.
Gabriel refuted in Mary’s ear that tale which the serpent told,
Countervailing the evil one with regard to Eve;
He brought in a new chapter to the history, resolving by his words her objections,
Speaking truth and abolishing all falsehood.
In Eden a virgin was beguiled by the mischief-maker,
And her ear became a whistling of great treachery.
In the stead of that virgin, another was chosen,
And the truth was spoken in her ear by a heavenly being.
By the same door that death had entered, life entered in,
And unbound the great knot that the evil one had tied there.
Where sin and death had multiplied from the beginning,
Grace also abounded, to quicken Adam,3
When the serpent spoke with Eve, he gave her not the greeting “Peace,”
For there is no peace in that way that is filled with death.
He hymned her with perfidy, he inspired her with falsehood, he poured iniquity into her,
With evil advice and lying arguments,
Sowing enmity and murderous counsel and blood-wrath
Between Adam and Eve by the discourse he set forth;
Countervailing which, that watcher, the emissary of the Son of God, came in and stood,
Bringing Mary tidings of life from God.
He greeted her with peace, sowed salvation in her, and proclaimed reconciliation to her;
With love did he encounter her, and brought to an end all that went before,
The wall of iniquity that the serpent built,
The same did the Son of God tear down by His descent, that it never be raised up again.
When He came down, He broke through the middle wall of partition set between both sides,4
That there might be peace between those of earth and of Heaven.
Thus the watcher greeted Mary with peace,
As the earnest of a great peace for the whole world.
“Peace to thee, O Mary, the Lord is with thee,” he tells her,
“Thou shalt conceive and give birth to a Son in thy virginity.”

SHE SAYS to him, “How shall it be as thou sayest?
For I am a virgin, and virgins bear no fruit,”
At that moment it was very needful to ask that question,
That the generation of the Son be made clear to her when He was to dwell in her.
Mary asked, so that we might learn from the Angel
Of that conception whose generation cannot be explained.
Behold how full of virtues Mary is for whoever considers her,
And how beloved all that pertains to her is, to those who have discernment!
She asked to learn from Gabriel concerning her conception,
Both to her own profit, and to his who hearkens to it.
Eve did not question the serpent when he led her astray;
She deliberately kept silent, and believed the lie.
This Maiden heard the truth from him that is truthful,
Yet even so inquired of him diligently concerning the explanation.
That one heard about becoming a goddess from the tree,5
But said not, “How shall that be which thou sayest?”
Whereas to this one, a watcher said that she was to conceive the Son of God,
But she assented not to him till she had learned the truth.
Adam’s virgin hesitated not concerning the lie
That she would ascend on her own to the degree of Godhead;
Whereas to this one it was said that she would bear God’s Son,
And she searched it out, and asked, and diligently inquired, and learned, and only then she held her peace.
Now consider how much fairer she is than that other,
And how, because of her virtue, the Lord chose her for Himself and made her His Mother.
It was easy for her both to be silent, and to inquire,
And in her discernment, she learned the truth from the Angel
As blameworthy as Eve is in her history, so is Mary glorious;
And as the folly of the one is evident, so also the wisdom of the other.
As much as that first one is to be reproved for her deed,
So is this one unashamed in the generation of the Son of God.
To any that hath understanding, this one is as wise as that other was foolish;
For everything that one owed to God, this one repaid.
Through that first one, the Fall, through this other, the Resurrection came to our whole race:
Sin through Eve; but from Mary, righteousness.

BY THE SILENCE of Eve came condemnation and infamy:
By the speech of Mary, life, light, and innocence restored.
She answered the watcher, “How shall that be which thou sayest?”
And he began to declare the path of the Son of God and His descent unto her.
“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee in holiness:
And the Power of the Most High shall dwell within thee, thou Full of Grace.”6
Here the measure of the discourse has overflowed the capacity of the tongue,
And it is not to be spoken except with believing wonder.7
The account requires thoughts uncommonly sublime,
And wise love whereby it can be told without contention.
Here is a saving inquiry concerning the saying of the Angel:
Why was it necessary for the Holy Spirit to come to Mary before the Only-begotten?
First, the Spirit, and then the Power dwelt in the pure one,
As he told her, “The Spirit shall come upon thee and the Power shall dwell within thee.”
Now, the Power of the Most High is He that is begotten of the Most High,
Even He Who dwelt within her that He might be born according to the flesh,
Christ Himself is the Power of the Father, as it is written,8
And before Him the Holy Spirit came unto Mary.
Thus did the watcher, who came from the Father, bring her tidings
That the Spirit would come and then the Power of the Most High would dwell within her.
The Holy Spirit came unto Mary to loose from her
That first sentence of Eve and Adam.
He sanctified her and purified her, and made her blessed among women,
And set her free from Eve her mother’s curse of pains.9
She was called to become Mother to the Son of God;
And the Holy Spirit hallowed her and then the Son made His abode within her.10
The Spirit freed her from that condemnation,
That she might be above all offense when He dwelt in her chastely.
He refined11 His Mother in the Holy Spirit when He dwelt in her,
That without sin He might receive a pure body from her.
Lest there be any tarnish in the flesh that He put on according to nature,
He scoured the Virgin with the Holy Spirit and then couched within her.
As the Son of God willed to become her kindred,
By the Spirit He rendered her body free of sin beforehand.
The Word came down to become flesh,12
So He refined by the Spirit her from whom He became flesh,
That when He descended He might be like unto us in all things,
Except that His pure body is without sin.13

GOD HIMSELF willed to become as a son of man,
And purified a certain virgin in the Spirit and made her His Mother,
So that the world might receive from God a second Adam,
Who would give a hand of help to that first one whom the serpent overthrew;
And so that when He should go in to speak with the prince of the condemned world,
He might not find in Him sin,14 which opens the door to death;
And so that as a son of man not subject to the sentence,
God might proceed from a daughter of man into the world.
For this reason He sanctified by the Spirit
That holy, all-gracious, pure Virgin of great renown,
Making her pure, limpid, and blessed,
As Eve had been before the serpent spoke with her.
He gave her that ancient beauty which her mother had possessed
Before she ate of the tree that is laden with death.
The Spirit Who came to her made her like the first Eve,
When she had not yet hearkened to the serpent’s counsel and his vile speech.
He established her in the state wherein Adam and Eve had stood before they sinned;
And then He took up His dwelling in her.
That adoption which Adam our father had,
He gave to Mary through the Holy Spirit when He dwelt in her.
As our father Adam brought forth our mother Eve without union,15
So did she also bring forth, being like Adam before he sinned.
The Holy Spirit-Who was breathed into Adam’s face,16
And he brought forth Eve-the Same did she receive, and she brought forth the Son.
The purity that had been Adam’s did Mary also acquire,
Through the coming of the Spirit; and without any motion of desire she gave birth.
Without union, Adam gave birth to the Mother of Life,
And he depicted the generation of the very Fount of Life, our Lord.
From the beginning, He knew Eve and Adam, and fashioned them
After the image of His Only-begotten Son.
Adam chastely begat the virgin Eve,
And by way of prophecy called her by the name, “Mother of Life”;17
For from her, Life riseth up for the world through a second begetting,
And through her who, also in her virginity, begets the Son of God.
In Adam’s prophecy our Lord was prefigured,
Since He Himself is Life, and the Virgin Mary became His Mother.
Adam gave Eve the name, “Mother of all that liveth,”
So prophesying that she brings forth Life for us, our Lord, Who is Jesus.
Mary ascended to the purity proper to that giving of birth,
For the Spirit hallowed her and then the Son of God dwelt in her.
He sanctified her body and made her free of hateful desire,
As the virgin Eve had been before she knew desire.
Sin, which had entered into Adam and Eve through the motions of desire,
The same did the Holy Spirit cast out of her when He came unto her.
He wiped away from her that addition made by the serpent who studieth to do evil,
And He filled her with holiness and innocence.
He made her new, and the Lord saw her, that she was very good,18
As the first woman had been, whereupon He dwelt within her and received a body.
For this reason the Angel told Mary that the Spirit would come
Before the descent of the Word to dwell in her.
Blessed is Mary: for by the inquiry she made of Gabriel
The world learned this mystery which had been hid.
Had she not asked him, “How shall this thing be?”
Neither should we have learned the explanation of the Son’s generation.
That fair revelation concerning His generation is of her doing:
And she became the means for us to be enlightened by the Angel.
With that inquiry, the wise Maiden became the mouth of the Church,
And learned the explanation on behalf of all creation,
If Mary had not had exalted stirrings,
She would not have drawn near before the watcher to speak.
Had she not acquired virtue both within her and without,
Neither would she have applied herself to speak with Gabriel.
Of her own, she ascended to such a stature
As that the Spirit, the Perfecter of all, should come unto her.
She was filled with grace by God, Who is over all,
And in her womb dwelt the Only-begotten, that He might renew all.

MARY SEEMETH to us like some sealed epistle,
Wherein were concealed the secrets and the deep things of the Son of God.
She offered her pure body like an untainted parchment,
Whereon the Word inscribed Himself bodily.
The Son is the Word, and she, the epistle, as we have said,
Whereby pardon was sent to the whole world.
An epistle was she; not one imprinted with a seal after being written:
But which the Divine Persons had already sealed, and then wrote.
They sealed it and wrote it, and it was read without ever being opened,
For in it the Father revealed mysteries extraordinarily sublime.
The Word entered within those inviolate seals and dwelt in her:
The tokens of virginity were in her body, and in her womb, a conception wholly wondrous.
By her, the Father sent us fair tidings full of blessings,
And by her, forgiveness to all debtors of their bonds.
Through her, the deeds of manumission were sent to Adam, who was in servitude,
And he became an heir, and entered in among the sons as he had been before.
Through her, the inhabitants of Heaven and earth made reconciliation,
And the two sides that had been at enmity found great peace.
Through her, confusion of face was removed from womankind,
And the reproach passed away from all women of all generations.
By her the way to Eden, which had been blocked up, was found out again;
The serpent took to flight, and mankind passed over unto God.
Because of her, the Cherub withdrew his spear,19 no more to guard the Tree of Life,
Which of itself dropped down its fruit to those who eat thereof.
She gave us the sweet fruit filled with life,
That we might eat of it and live for ever with God.
From her rose up the great Sun of Righteousness,20
The glorious Light that drove out the darkness from every quarter.
The Father willed in her that she should be Mother to His Only-begotten,
Therefore greater is her blessedness than that of all that are begotten.
“Henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,”21
Said Mary in the illumination of her soul concerning the fruit she was to bear.
She considered within herself to what high degree she had ascended,
And how the world with great wonder would call her blessed.
She foresaw what things should come to pass and spoke them,
Saying that the peoples of the earth would call her virginity blessed.
She learned in the Spirit that her Son is the King of all peoples,
And she levied blessing as tribute from every tongue.
Therefore let us also ascribe blessedness to the blessed one,
Whose blessedness is beyond every mouth in the world:
Blessed is she who received the Holy Spirit, Who purified and scoured her
And made her a temple for the Lord of Heaven to dwell in her habitation.
Blessed is she whose virginity’s noble beauty abideth,
And whose renown is mightily celebrated for ever.
Blessed is she at whose hands restoration came to the house of Adam,
And through whom arose the fallen, who were cast out of the House of the Father.
Blessed is she who is high above the wedlock of married women,
And who hath boldness with an Offspring beloved of all mothers.
Blessed is she whose body was never defiled with desire,
And who is now illustrious for the desirable Fruit of her virginity.
Blessed is she in whose small and destitute womb that Great One dwelt
By Whom the Heavens are both filled and yet transcended.
Blessed is she who brought forth the Ancient One Who brought forth Adam,
And through whom all creation, waxen ancient, was made new.
Blessed is she who gave drops of milk from her breasts
To Him at Whose behest the floods of the vast sea gushed forth.
Blessed is she who held and embraced and caressed as an Infant
The Almighty and Eternal Who upholdeth the earth by His hidden might.
Blessed is she from whom the Redeemer rose upon the captivity,
And bound fast the captor in His zeal, granting peace to the earth.
Blessed is she who placed her pure mouth upon the lips of Him
From Whose Flame the fiery Seraphim cover themselves.22
Blessed is she who reared as a babe with her pure milk
The great Nourisher23 from Whom the ages suckle life.
Blessed is she whose Son bestoweth blessedness on all the blessed:
Blessed is He Who chastely dawned forth unto us from her purity. Amen.

End of the Homily on the Mother of God and Holy Virgin Mary

NOTES:

1 Syriac, “that the pangs of travail seize her,” contrary to the doctrine of the Church. Compare footnote #8, however, where Mar Jacob seems to suggest that she was released from the pains of childbirth.
2 The Syriac here is masculine/common gender, meaning that Mat Jacob is not restricting her greatness to her own gender.
3 See Romans 5:20.
4 See Ephesians 2:14.
5 The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. See Genesis 3:5·
6 Compare Luke 1:35. All Syriac translations of the Gospel translate “The Power of the Most High shall ovetshadow thee” by the Syriac verb aggen, which means “to cover over, rest upon,” and “to dwell in, take up one’s abode,” which provides the basis for Mar Jacob’s following argument. A fuller treatment of this may be found in Sebastian Brock’s The Luminous Eye, Cistercian Studies Series No. 124, pp. 110-112. St. Ephraim also identifies “The Power of the Most High” as the Son of God (Brock, p, 110).
7 Lit., “the wonder of faith.”
8 Compare I Cor. 1:24. Pious Byzantine Emperors built three churches in Constantinople dedicated to our Saviour with names based on this Scriptural passage: the renowned “Hagia Sophia,” or “Holy Wisdom,” which still stands; “Hagia Eirene,” or “Holy Peace,” which was made into an Ottoman Armory Museum; and “Hagia Dynamis,” or “Holy Power,” which was pulled down by the Moslems.
9 See Gen. 3:17 (LXX)/ 16 (Hebrew).
10 In Syriac “Spirit” is feminine, and the verb “hallowed” agrees with the feminine noun; whereas “made His abode” agrees with a masculine.
11 The Syriac verb means, “to strain, filter free of dross, dregs.”
12 See John 1:14.
13 See Hebrews 4:15.
14 See John 14:30.
15 See Genesis 2:21-22.
16 See Genesis 2:7-22,
17 See Genesis 3:20.
18 Compare Genesis 1:31.
19 See Genesis 3:24. The Syriac word Mar Jacob uses is not “sword” as in Genesis, but “lance, spear,” as that which was used to pierce the Saviour’s side, an association common among the Syriac Fathers: by the piercing of the Lord’s side, Paradise was opened again.
20 See Malachi 4:2
21 Luke 1:48
22 See Esaias 6:2

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The History of the Wonderworking Icon

Quick to Hear

Whose Feast is kept on October 1

THE ICON OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS called Quick to Hear is found in the holy Monastery of Docheiariou on the Holy Mountain Athos, being specially honoured there as the protectress of the Monastery on account of the ever-flowing grace that is given through it and the many miracles performed quickly and readily in every place and time for all who invoke our Lady with longing and faith. The Most Holy Theotokos herself called it Quick to Hear, under the following circumstances.

Outside of the common refectory of Docheiariou, on the right of the entrance, from time immemorial there was an icon that had been painted on the wall (a fresco), portraying the Most Holy Theotokos; according to the eldest Fathers it had been made in the days of Saint Neophytos, the founder of the Monastery, that is, somewhere in the eleventh century. Yet despite the passage of so much time, and the intervening destruction and restoration of the Monastery, the form and sharpness of this sacred icon had not been harmed; indeed, it was not even as worn as its great age and the passage of so many years should have warranted. From this it is manifest that it had been foreordained by divine providence that it should be preserved unharmed so many years – even if it was shown only ordinary and moderate reverence – so that it might appear in the last times in greater glory, as a worker of miracles, illustrious, and, after God, the fervent protectress of the Monastery and its defender and guide, as she herself made plain to the attendant of the refectory, when for the sake of a certain dispensation she worked a miracle for him.

Now, before this wonderworking icon there was a passageway through which the Fathers went when entering the refectory. The monk in charge of the refectory passed that way more often than the others, night and day, to discharge his duties, as his task required; at night he would light a torch to be able to see what he was doing. In the year of our salvation 1664, Nilos, the then steward of the refectory, as his custom was, one night was passing by the holy icon with a lit torch, when he heard a voice saying to him, “Do not come this way with a torch again, darkening my icon with smoke.” Not understanding that the voice came from the icon, but thinking it was a human voice, that is, that one of the brethren was playing a joke on him, he paid it little attention and went out as usual.

But after hearing the voice for the first time, not many days passed before he heard it a second time, saying to him, “Unmonastic monk, how long will you irreverently and disdainfully defile my image with smoke?” And with the sound of the voice, he was smitten with blindness; and upon being blinded, the unfortunate monk remembered the voice he had heard before, and he acknowledged that he had suffered this justly, because he had not heeded the command of our Lady the Theotokos, but had neglected it out of ignorance.

When morning came, the brethren found him prostrate on the floor of the passageway before the holy icon, unable to see them. When they learned the cause from him, fear and trembling seized them all. From then on, they used great reverence when they passed that way, and hanging a perpetually-burning lamp before the holy icon, they commanded the new steward of the refectory to cense it every evening. Yet the blinded steward of the refectory desired neither to return to his cell, nor to give himself the least rest, but he remained in his stall before the holy icon night and day calling upon the Most Holy Theotokos with tears and lamentation, as the exceedingly compassionate Mother of God the Word and mediatress for the race of man, to forgive him the sin committed in carelessness and, as a sign of his forgiveness, to grant sight to his eyes again, so that looking upon her holy icon, he might glorify and praise with thanksgiving the divinely-glorified prototype thereof.

In fact he was not disappointed of his good hopes, nor did he remain disgraced to the end after so many prayers and torrents of tears, which he poured out for a considerable time before the holy icon. That fountain of compassion and mercy, the speedy help and consolation of all the afflicted, our Lady the Theotokos, inclining her tenderly merciful ear, graciously hearkened to her servant’s fervent prayers offered with a contrite heart, and one day she revealed the following to him, sounding forth from her icon for a third time, “Monk, your prayer to me has been heard; be forgiven, and receive your sight as before. And declare to the other Fathers and brethren struggling here, that I am the Mother of God the Word and, after God, the shelter and help and mighty protection of this sacred Monastery of the Archangels, providing for it as its defender and guide. And henceforth let the monks flee to me for their every need, and I will quickly hear them and all Orthodox Christians who flee to me with reverence, for I am called Quick to Hear.”

Straightway then, with the gracious divine sound of those gladdening words, the monk’s eyes were opened and all were amazed and marvelled, so that the whole Holy Mountain was shaken, and many monks came to Docheiariou from all the other monasteries that they might be eyewitnesses of such a prodigious miracle worked in their own days; and venerating the Most Holy Theotokos, the worker of wonders Quick to Hear, they also saw the monk who had been blinded and then regained his sight, and they marvelled. And when he revealed to the Fathers of the Monastery all that the wonderworking Quick to Hear had bid him tell them, they all went as one man before the wonderworking icon of the Quick to Hear, and offering her thanksgiving with supplicatory canons, incense, and candles, they blocked off that passageway into the refectory and reverently walled about that space where the icon was in a manner worthy of it.

They also raised up a beautiful and marvellous church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Quick to Hear and worker of wonders, not in front of the icon, since it faces west and there was no room in that place, but immediately at the side, on the right hand of the wonderworking icon, in which church an appointed Hieromonk is always present, or one of the more reverent and tried Fathers, called a “Prosmonarios,” to be there the greater part of the time at the shrine of the wonderworking Quick to Hear and to chant supplicatory canons before the holy icon every evening and every morning, tending the chapel and trimming the lamps.

The miracles worked through this holy icon for those who come to it with faith are beyond reckoning. It has given sight to the blind, has made the lame to walk, healed paralytics, made barren women mothers, preserved many from shipwreck, set captives at liberty, has often driven away locusts from crops, and worked an innumerable multitude of other miracles for all Orthodox Christians fleeing to it with reverence.* The original icon, which is the glory of Docheiariou Monastery, is shown on the front cover of the present printing, cleaned and with its riza (silver cover) removed.

Not only is the icon renowned throughout the Holy Mountain and Greece, but it is held in great veneration in the Slavic lands, Russia, and the whole Orthodox world. The people of Bulgaria in particular have such a reverence for it that Saint Nicodemus mentions it in the second Troparion of Ode Three of the Canon, “All Bulgaria preacheth the mercies and miracles … “

This icon also has a special place in the history of our own monastery, for it was the favorite icon of our Elder and grandfather in the Schema, Joseph the Cave-dweller of the Holy Mountain. In the early days, before we had begun translating the Church services into English, the founding Fathers regularly chanted this Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos Quick to Hear. In time the Great and Small Supplicatory Canons were translated into English according to the meter of the original and became part of our monastery typicon. We are thankful to an anonymous donor for giving us the occasion to translate this Supplicatory Canon also into English after all these years, and to present it to the Orthodox faithful. May our Saviour recompense our benefactor’s faith, and may His holy Mother always quickly hear all of us in all the trials of life, and guide us to the eternal Kingdom of her Son. Amen.

* Thus far the account is taken from the Megas Synaxaristes (in Greek), Athens, 1985, pp. 37- 42.

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by Saint John Maximovitch

Translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose

Available from St. Herman of Alaska Press

“For He hath looked upon the lowliness of His handmaiden; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

—(Luke 1:48)

A right understanding of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not possible without a right understanding of Mary, the Birthgiver of God. When her image is distorted, the image of her Son also becomes distorted.

This concise work is a classic exposition of how the Church has venerated the Mother of God throughout the ages, and the chief errors that have attacked this veneration: both ancient heresies and the modern deviations of Western heterodoxy. It clearly tells why the Virgin Mary should be honored by all generations, but not considered a co-redemptress along with Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world.

This book is of special value in that it was written by a saint and miracle-worker of modern times who had direct spiritual contact with the Mother of God. The sources of St. John’s theology are the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Fathers (especially the great Fathers of the 4th and 5th centuries), and the divine services of the Orthodox Church.

From apostolic times, all who truly love Christ give veneration to her who gave birth to Him, raised Him and protected Him in the days of His youth. In THE ORTHODOX VENERATION OF MARY THE BIRTHGIVER OF GOD, St. John traces her veneration from the time of the Apostles to the present.

+++

St. Dionysios the Areopagite writes of the immeasurable joy, the outer and inner radiance, and the indescribable fragrance that he sensed in the presence of the Holy Theotokos when he visited her in Jerusalem. In his zeal, he says that if he had not known the One True God, he would have recognized her, the Holy Virgin Mary, as God. The Holy Virgin made such a powerful and unique impression on men during her earthly life-and she received an incomparably greater power and glory after her physical death when, by the will of God, she was exalted above the heavenly hosts. Her power comes from her ceaseless prayer for the faithful, for all those who turn to her for help. When St. John of Novgorod and his people prayed to her for help against a hostile army, he understood that she was simultaneously praying to the Lord with tears in their behalf, and Novgorod was miraculously saved. As she was compassionate toward her crucified Son, so the Holy Most-pure One is also compassionate toward all those in need, to, where, after the priest prayed over him before the icon of the Holy Theotokos, he received his sight. The first monk at Pochaev saw a fiery pillar extending from earth to heaven, and in that flaming pillar he saw the Holy Theotokos. She was standing on a rock. On the spot where she stood, a spring of healing water sprang forth: even today, it heals many of the sick. – September 8th Prologue reading.