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METHODIUS
ORATION CONCERNING SIMEON AND ANNA
[Translated by the Rev. William R. Clark, M.A., Vicar of St. Mary Magdalen,
Taunton.]
ON THE DAY THAT THEY MET IN THE TEMPLE.(1)
I. ALTHOUGH I have before, as briefly as possible, in my dialogue on
chastity, sufficiently laid the foundations, as it were, for a discourse on
virginity, yet to-day the season has brought forward the entire subject of
the glory of virginity, and its incorruptible crown, for the delightful
consideration of the Church's foster-children. For to-day the council
chamber of the divine oracles is opened wide, and the signs prefiguring
this glorious day, with its effects and issues, are by the sacred preachers
read over to the assembled Church. Today the accomplishment of that ancient
and true counsel is, in fact and deed, gloriously manifested to the world.
Today, without any covering,(2) and with unveiled face, we see, as in a
mirror, the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of the divine ark itself.
To-day, the most holy assembly, bearing upon its shoulders the heavenly joy
that was for generations expected, imparts it to the race of man. "Old
things are passed away"(3)---things new burst forth into flowers, and such
as fade not away. No longer does the stern decree of the law bear sway, but
the grace of the Lord reigneth, drawing all men to itself by saving long-
suffering. No second time is an Uzziah(4) invisibly punished, for daring to
touch what may not be touched; for God Himself invites, and who will stand
hesitating with fear? He says: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden."(5) Who, then, will not run to Him? Let no Jew contradict the
truth, looking at the type which went before the house of Obededom.(6) The
Lord has "manifestly come to His own."(7) And sitting on a living and not
inanimate ark, as upon the mercy-seat, He comes forth in solemn procession
upon the earth. The publican, when he touches this ark, comes away just;
the harlot, when she approaches this, is remoulded, as it were, and becomes
chaste; the leper, when he touches this, is restored whole without pain. It
repulses none; it shrinks from none; it imparts the gifts of healing,
without itself contracting any disease; for the Lord, who loves and cares
for man, in it makes His resting-place. These are the gifts of this new
grace. This is that new and strange thing that has happened under the
sun(8)--a thing that never had place before, nor will have place again.
That which God of His compassion toward us foreordained has come to pass,
He hath given it fulfilment because of that love for man which is so
becoming to Him. With good right, therefore, has the sacred trumpet
sounded, "Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new."(3)
And what shall I conceive, what shall I speak worthy of this day? I am
struggling to reach the inaccessible, for the remembrance of this holy
virgin far transcends all words of mine. Wherefore, since the greatness of
the panegyric required completely puts to shame our limited powers, let us
betake ourselves to that hymn which is not beyond our faculties, and
boasting in our own(9) unalterable defeat, let us join the rejoicing chorus
of Christ's flock, who are keeping holyday. And do you, my divine and
saintly auditors, keep strict silence, in order that through the narrow
channel of ears, as into the harbour of the understanding, the vessel
freighted with truth may peacefully sail. We keep festival, not according
to the vain customs of the Greek mythology; we keep a feast which brings
with it no ridiculous or frenzied banqueting(10) of the gods, but which
teaches us the wondrous condescension to us men of the awful glory of Him
who is God over all.(11)
II. Come, therefore, Isaiah, most solemn of preachers and greatest of
prophets, wisely unfold to the Church the mysteries of the congregation in
glory, and incite our excellent guests abundantly, to satiate themselves
with enduring dainties, in order that, placing the reality which we possess
over against that mirror of thine, truthful prophet as thou art, thou
mayest joyfully clap thine hands at the issue of thy predictions. It came
to pass, he says, "in the year in which king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the house was full of His
glory. And the seraphim stood round about him: each one had six wings. And
one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door were moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. And I
said, Woe is me! I am pricked to the heart, for I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And one of the seraphim was sent unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off
the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy
lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, anti thy sin is purged. Also I
heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I strict, and who will go
unto this people? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And He said, Go, and
tell this people, Hear ye indeed, bat understand not; and see ye indeed,
but perceive not."(1) These are the proclamations made beforehand by the
prophet through the Spirit. Do thou, dearly beloved, consider the force of
these words. So shalt thou understand the issue of these sacramental(2)
symbols, and know both what and how great this assembling together of
ourselves is. And since the prophet has before spoken of this miracle, come
thou, and with the greatest ardour and exultation, and alacrity of heart,
together with the keenest sagacity of thine intelligence, and therewith
approach Bethlehem the renowned, and place before thy mind an image clear
and distinct, comparing the prophecy with the actual issue of events. Thou
wilt not stand in need of many words to come to a knowledge of the matter;
only fix thine eyes on the things which are taking place there. "All things
truly are plain to them that understand, and right to them that find
knowledge."(3) For, behold, as a throne high and lifted up by the glory of
Him that fashioned it, the virgin-mother is there made ready, and that most
evidently for the King, the Lord of hosts. Upon this, consider the Lord now
coming unto thee in sinful flesh. Upon this virginaI throne, I say, worship
Him who now comes to thee by this new and ever-adorable way. Look around
thee with the eye of faith, and thou wilt find around Him, as by the
ordinance of their courses,(4) the royal and priestly company of the
seraphim. These, as His bodyguard, are ever wont to attend the presence of
their king. Whence also in this place they are not only said to hymn with
their praises the divine substance of the divine unity, but also the glory
to be adored by all of that one of the sacred Trinity, which now, by the
appearance of God in the flesh, hath even lighted upon earth. They say:
"The whole earth is full of His glory." For we believe that, together with
the Son, who was made man for oar sakes, according to the good pleasure of
His will,(5) was also present the Father, who is inseparable from Him as to
His divine nature, anal also the Spirit, who is of one and the same essence
with Him.(6) For, as says Paul, the interpreter of the divine oracle,(7)
"Cod was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them."(8) He thus shows that the Father was in the Son,
because that one and the same will worked in them.
III. Do thou, therefore, O lover of this festival, when thou hast
considered well the glorious mysteries of Bethlehem, which were brought to
pass for thy sake, gladly join thyself to the heavenly host, which is
celebrating magnificently thy salvation.(9) As once David did before the
ark, so do thou, before this virginal throne, joyfully lead the dance. Hymn
with gladsome song the Lord, who is always and everywhere present, and Him
who from Teman,(10) as says the prophet, hath thought fit to appear, and
that in the flesh, to the race of men. Say, with Moses, "He is my God, and
I will glorify Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him."(11) Then, after
thine hymn of thanksgiving, we shall usefully inquire what cause aroused
the King of Glory to appear in Bethlehem. His compassion for us compelled
Him, who cannot be compelled, to be born in a human body at Bethlehem. But
what necessity was there that He, when a suckling infant,(12) that He who,
though both in time, was not limited by time, that He, who though wrapped
in swaddling clothes, was not by them held fast, what necessity was there
that He should be an exile and a stranger from His country? Should you,
forsooth, wish to know this, ye congregation most holy, and upon whom the
Spirit of God hath breathed, listen to Moses proclaiming plainly to the
people, stimulating them, as it were, to the knowledge of this
extraordinary nativity, and saying, "Every male that openeth the womb,
shall be called holy to the Lord."(1) O wondrous circumstance! "O the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"(2) It became indeed
the Lord of the law and the prophets to do all things in accordance with
His own law, and not to make void the law, but to fulfil it, and rather to
connect with the fulfilment of the law the beginning of His grace.
Therefore it is that the mother, who was superior to the law, submits to
the law. And she, the holy and undefiled one, observes that time of forty
days that was appointed for the unclean. And He who makes us free from the
law, became subject to the law; and there is offered for Him, who hath
sanctified us, a pair of clean birds,(3) in testimony of those who approach
clean and blameless. Now that that parturition was polluted, and stood not
in need of expiatory victims, Isaiah is our witness, who proclaims
distinctly to the whole earth under the sun: "Before she travailed," he
says, "she brought forth before her pains came, she escaped, and brought
forth a man-child."(4) Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such
things? The must holy virgin mother, therefore, escaped entirely the manner
of women even before she brought forth: doubtless, in order that the Holy
Spirit, betrothing her unto Himself, and sanctifying her, she might
conceive without intercourse with man. She hath brought forth her first-
born Son, even the only-begotten Son of God, Him, I say, who in the heavens
above shone forth as the only-begotten, without mother, froth out His
Father's substance, and preserved the virginity of His natural unity
undivided and inseparable; and who on earth, in the virgin's nuptial
chamber, joined to Himself the nature of Adam, like a bridegroom, by an
inalienable union, and preserved His mother's purity uncorrupt and un
injured--Him, in short, who in heaven was begotten without corruption, and
on earth brought forth in a manner quite unspeakable. But to return to our
subject.
IV. Therefore the prophet brought the virgin from Nazareth, in order
that she might give birth at Bethlehem to her salvation-bestowing child,
and brought her back again to Nazareth, in order to make manifest to the
world the hope of life. Hence it was that the ark of God removed from the
inn at Bethlehem, for there He paid to the law that debt of the forty days,
due not to justice but to grace, and rested upon the mountains of Sion, and
receiving into His pure bosom as upon a lofty throne, and one transcending
the nature of man, the Monarch of all,(5) she presented Him there to God
the Father, as the joint-partner of His throne and inseparable from His
nature, together with that pure and undefiled flesh which he had of her
substance assumed. The holy mother goes up to the temple to exhibit to the
law a new and strange wonder, even that child long expected, who opened the
virgin's womb, and yet did not burst the barriers of virginity; that child,
superior to the law, who yet fulfilled the law; that child that was at once
before the law, and yet after it; that child, in short, who was of her
incarnate beyond the law of nature.(6) For in other cases every womb being
first opened by connection with a man, and, being impregnated by his seed,
receives the beginning of conception, and by the pangs which make perfect
parturition, doth at length bring forth to light its offspring endowed with
reason, and with its nature consistent, in accordance with the wise
provision of God its Creator. For God said, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth." But the womb of this virgin, without being opened
before, or being impregnated with seed, gave birth to an offspring that
transcended nature, while at the same time it was cognate to it, and that
without detriment to the indivisible unity, so that the miracle was the
more stupendous, the prerogative of virginity likewise remaining intact.
She goes up, therefore to the temple, she who was more exalted than the
temple, clothed with a double glory--the glory, I say, of undefiled
virginity, and that of ineffable fecundity, the benediction of the law, and
the sanctification of grace. Wherefore he says who saw it: "And the whole
house was full of His glory, and the seraphim stood round about him; and
one cried unto another, and said. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
the whole earth is full of His glory."(7) As also the blessed prophet
Habakkuk has charmingly sung, saying, "In the midst of two living creatures
thou shalt be known: as the years draw nigh thou shalt be recognised--when
the time is come thou shalt be shown forth."(1) See, I pray you, the
exceeding accuracy of the Spirit. He speaks of knowledge, recognition,
showing forth. As to the first of these: "In the midst of two living
creatures thou shalt be known,"(2) he refers to that overshadowing of the
divine glory which, in the time of the law, rested in the Holy of holies
upon the covering of the ark, between the typical cherubim, as He says to
Moses, "There will I be known to thee."(3) But He refers likewise to that
concourse of angels, which hath now come to meet us, by the divine and ever
adorable manifestation of the Saviour Himself in the flesh, although He in
His very nature cannot be beheld by us, as Isaiah has even before declared.
But when He says, "As the years draw nigh, thou shalt be recognised," He
means, as has been said before, that glorious recognition of our Saviour,
God in the flesh, who is otherwise invisible to mortal eye; as somewhere
Paul, that great interpreter of sacred mysteries, says: "But when the
fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons."(4) And then, as to that which is subjoined,
"When the time is come, Thou shalt be shown forth," what exposition doth
this require, if a man diligently direct the eye of his mind to the
festival which we are now celebrating? "For then shalt Thou be shown
forth," He says, "as upon a kingly charger, by Thy pure and chaste mother,
in the temple, and that in the grace and beauty of the flesh assumed by
Thee." All these things the prophet, summing up for the sake of greater
clearness, exclaims in brief: "The Lord is in His holy temple;"(5) "Fear
before Him all the earth."(6)
V. Tremendous, verily, is the mystery connected with thee, O virgin
mother, thou spiritual throne, glorified and made worthy of God.(7) Thou
hast brought forth, before the eyes of those in heaven and earth, a pre-
eminent wonder. And it is a proof of this, and an irrefragable argument,
that at the novelty of thy supernatural child-bearing, the angels sang on
earth, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards
men,"(8) by their threefold song bringing in a threefold holiness.(9)
Blessed art thou among the generations of women, O thou of God most
blessed, for by thee the earth has been filled with that divine glory of
God; as in the Psalms it is sung: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, and
the whole earth shall be filled with His glory. Amen. Amen."(10) And the
posts of the door, says the prophet, moved at the voice of him that cried,
by which is signified the veil of the temple drawn before the ark of the
covenant, which typified thee, that the truth might be laid open to me, and
also that I might be taught, by the types and figures which went before, to
approach with reverence and trembling to do honour to the sacred mystery
which is connected with thee; and that by means of this prior shadow-
painting of the law I might be restrained from boldly and irreverently
contemplating with fixed gaze Him who, in His incomprehensibility, is
seated far above all.(11) For if to the ark, which was the image and type
of thy sanctity, such honour was paid of God that to no one but to the
priestly order only was the access to it open, or ingress allowed to behold
it, the veil separating it off, and keeping the vestibule as that of a
queen, what, and what sort of veneration is due to thee from us who are of
creation the least, to thee who art indeed a queen; to thee, the living ark
of God, the Lawgiver; to thee, the heaven that contains Him who can be
contained of none? For since thou, O holy virgin,(12) hast dawned as a
bright day upon the world and hast brought forth the Sun of Righteousness,
that hateful horror of darkness has been chased away; the power of the
tyrant has been broken, death hath been destroyed, hell swallowed up, and
all enmity dissolved before the face of peace; noxious diseases depart now
that salvation looks forth; and the whole universe has been filled with the
pure and clear light of truth. To which things Solomon alludes in the Book
of Canticles, and begins thus: "My beloved is mine, and I am his; he
feedeth among the lilies until the day break, and the shadows flee
away."(13) Since then, the God of gods hath appeared in Sion, and the
splendour of His beauty hath appeared in Jerusalem; and "a light has sprung
up for the righteous, and joy for those who are true of heart."(14)
According to the blessed David, the Perfecter and Lord of the perfected(15)
hath, by the Holy Spirit, called the teacher and minister of the law to
minister and testify of those things which were done.
VI. Hence the aged Simeon, putting off the weakness of the flesh, and
putting on the strength of hope, in the face of the law hastened to receive
the Minister of the law, the Teacher(1) with authority, the God of Abraham,
the Protector of Isaac, the Holy One of Israel, the Instructor of Moses;
Him, I say, who promised to show him His divine incarnation, as it were His
hinder parts;(2) Him who, in the midst of poverty, was rich; Him who in
infancy was before the ages; Him who, though seen, was invisible; Him who
in comprehension was incomprehensible; Him who, though in littleness, yet
surpassed all magnitude--at one and the same time in the temple and in the
highest heavens--on a royal throne, and on the chariot of the cherubim Him
who is both above and below continuously Him who is in the form of a
servant, and in the form of God the Father; a subject, and yet King of all.
He was entirely given up to desire, to hope, to joy; he was no longer his
own, but His who had been looked for. The Holy Spirit had announced to him
the joyful tidings, and before he reached the temple, carried aloft by the
eyes of his understanding, as if even now he possessed what he had longed
for, he exulted with joy. Being thus led on, and in his haste treading the
air with his steps, he reaches the shrine hitherto held sacred; but, not
heeding the temple, he stretches out his holy arms to the Ruler of the
temple, chanting forth in song such strains as become the joyous occasion:
I long for Thee, O Lord God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who hast
deigned, of Thine own glory and goodness, which provides for all, of Thy
gracious condescension, with which Thou inclinest towards us, as a Mediator
bringing peace, to establish harmony between earth and heaven. I seek Thee,
the Great Author of all. With longing I expect Thee who, with Thy word,
embracest all things. I wait for Thee, the Lord of life and death. For Thee
I look, the Giver of the law, and the Successor of the law. I hunger for
Thee, who quickenest the dead; I thirst for Thee, who refreshest the weary;
I desire Thee, the Creator and Redeemer of the world.(3) Thou art our God,
and Thee we adore; Thou art our holy Temple, and in Thee we pray; Thou art
our Lawgiver, and Thee we obey; Thou art God of all things the First.
Before Thee was no other god begotten of God the Father; neither after Thee
shall there be any other son consubstantial and of one glory with the
Father. And to know Thee is perfect righteousness, and to know Thy power is
the root of immortality.(4) Thou art He who, for our salvation, was made
the head stone of the corner, precious and honourable, declared before to
Sion.(5) For all things are placed under Thee as their Cause and Author, as
He who brought all things into being out of nothing, and gave to what was
unstable a firm coherence; as the connecting Band and Preserver of that
which has been brought into being; as the Framer of things by nature
different; as He who, with wise and steady hand, holds the helm of the
universe; as the very Principle of all good order; as the irrefragable Bond
of concord and peace. For in Thee we live, and move, and have our being.(6)
Wherefore, O Lord my God, I will glorify Thee, I will praise Thy name; for
Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and
truth; Thou art clothed with majesty and honour.(7) For what is more
splendid for a king than a purple robe embroidered around with flowers, and
a shining diadem? Or what for God, who delights in man, is more magnificent
than this merciful assumption of the manhood, illuminating with its
resplendent rays those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death?(8)
Fitly did that temporal king and Thy servant once sing of Thee as the King
Eternal, saying, Thou art fairer than the children of men, who amongst men
art very God and man.(9) For Thou hast girt, by Thy incarnation, Thy loins
with righteousness, and anointed Thy veins with faithfulness, who Thyself
art very righteousness and truth, the joy and exultation of all.(10)
Therefore rejoice with me this day, ye heavens, for the Lord hath showed
mercy to His people. Yea, let the clouds drop the dew of righteousness upon
the world; let the foundations of the earth sound a trumpet-blast to those
in Hades, for the resurrection of them that sleep is come.(11) Let the
earth also cause compassion to spring up to its inhabitants; for I am
filled with comfort; I am exceeding joyful since I have seen Thee, the
Saviour of men.(12)
VII. While the old man was thus exultant, and rejoicing with exceeding
great and holy joy, that which had before been spoken of in a figure by the
prophet Isaiah, the holy mother of God now manifestly fulfilled. For
taking, as from a pure and undefiled altar, that coal living and ineffable,
with man's flesh invested, in the embrace of her sacred hands, as it were
with the tongs, she held Him out to that just one, addressing and exhorting
him, as it seems to me, in words to this effect: Receive, O reverend
senior, thou of priests the most excellent, receive the Lord, and reap the
full fruition of that hope of thine which is not left widowed and desolate.
Receive, thou of men the most illustrious, the unfailing treasure, and
those riches which can never be taken away. Take to thine embrace, O thou
of men most wise, that unspeakable might, that unsearchable power, which
can alone support thee. Embrace, thou minister of the temple, the Greatness
infinite, and the Strength incomparable. Fold thyself around Him who is the
very life itself, and live, O thou of men most venerable, Cling closely to
incorruption and be renewed, O thou of men most righteous. Not too bold is
the attempt; shrink not from it then, O thou of men most holy. Satiate
thyself with Him thou hast longed for, and take thy delight in Him who has
been given, or rather who gives Himself to thee, O thou of men most divine.
Joyfully draw thy light, O thou of men most pious, from the Sun of
Righteousness, that gleams around thee through the unsullied mirror of the
flesh. Fear not His gentleness, nor let His clemency terrify thee, O thou
of men most blessed. Be not afraid of His lenity, nor shrink from His
kindness, O thou of men most modest. Join thyself to Him with alacrity, and
delay not to obey Him. That which is spoken to thee, and held out to thee,
savours not of over-boldness. Be not then reluctant, O thou of men the most
decorous. The flame of the grace of my Lord does not consume, but
illuminates thee, O thou of men most just.(1) Let the bush which set forth
me in type, with respect to the verity of that fire which yet had no
subsistence, teach thee this, O thou who art in the law the best
instructed.(2) Let that furnace which was as it were a breeze distilling
dew persuade thee, O master, of the dispensation of this mystery. Then,
beside all this, let my womb be a proof to thee, in which He was contained,
who in nought else was ever contained, of the substance of which the
incarnate Word yet deigned to become incarnate. The blast(3) of the trumpet
does not now terrify those who approach, nor a second time does the
mountain all on smoke cause terror to those who draw nigh, nor indeed does
the law punish relentlessly(4) those who would boldly touch. What is here
present speaks of love to man; what is here apparent, of the Divine
condescension. Thankfully, then, receive the God who comes to thee, for He
shall take away thine iniquities, and thoroughly purge thy sins. In thee,
let the cleansing of the world first, as in type, have place. In thee, and
by thee, let that justification which is of grace become known beforehand
to the Gentiles. Thou art worthy of the quickening first-fruits. Thou hast
made good use of the law. Use grace henceforth. With the letter thou hast
grown weary; in the spirit be renewed. Put off that whic his old, and
clothe thyself with that which is new. For of these matters I think not
that thou art ignorant.
VIII. Upon all this that righteous man, waxing bold and yielding to the
exhortation of the mother of God, who is the handmaid of God in regard to
the things which pertain to men, received into his aged arms Him who in
infancy was yet the Ancient of days, and blessed God, and said, "Lord, now
lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine
eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of
all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people
Israel."(5) I have received from Thee a joy unmixed with pain. Do thou, O
Lord, receive me rejoicing, and singing of Thy mercy and compassion. Thou
hast given unto me this joy of heart. I render unto Thee with gladness my
tribute of thanksgiving. I have known the power of the love of God. Since,
for my sake, God of Thee begotten, in a manner ineffable, and without
corruption, has become man. I have known the inexplicable greatness of Thy
love and care for us, for Thou hast sent forth Thine own bowels to come to
our deliverance. Now, at length, I understand what i had from Solomon
learned: "Strong as death is love: for by it shall the sting of death be
done away, by it shall the dead see life, by it shall even death learn what
death is, being made to cease from that dominion which over us he
exercised. By it, also, shall the serpent, the author of our evils, he
taken captive and overwhelmed."(6) Thou hast made known to us, O Lord, Thy
salvation,(7) causing to spring up for us the plant of peace, and we shall
no longer wander in error. Thou hast made known to us, O Lord, that Thou
hast not unto the end overlooked Thy servants; neither hast Thou, O
beneficent One, forgotten entirely the works of Thine hands. For out of Thy
compassion for our low estate Thou hast shed forth upon us abundantly that
goodness of Thine which is inexhaustible, and with Thy very nature cognate,
having redeemed us by Thine only begotten Son, who is unchangeably like to
Thee, and of one substance with Thee; judging it unworth of Thy majesty and
goodness to entrust to a servant the work of saving and benefiting Thy
servants, or to cause that those who had offended should be reconciled by a
minister. But by means of that light, which is of one substance with Thee,
Thou hast given light to those that sat in darkness(8) and in the shadow of
death, in order that in Thy light they might see the light of knowledge;(1)
and it has seemed good to Thee, by means of our Lord and Creator, to
fashion us again unto immortality; and Thou hast graciously given unto us a
return to Paradise by means of Him who separated us from the joys of
Paradise; and by means of Him who hath power to forgive sins Thou hast(2)
blotted out the handwriting which was against us.(3) Lastly, by means of
Him who is a partaker of Thy throne and who cannot be separated from Thy
divine nature, Thou hast given unto us the gift of reconciliation and
access unto Thee with confidence in order that, by the Lord who recognises
the sovereign authority of none, by the true and omnipotent God, the
subscribed sanction, as it were, of so many and such great blessings might
constitute the justifying gifts of grace to be certain and indubitable
rights to those who have obtained mercy. And this very thing the prophet
before had announced in the words: No ambassador, nor angel, but the Lord
Himself saved them; because He loved them, and spared them, and He took
them up, and exalted them.(4) And all this was, not of works of
righteousness(5) which we have done, nor because we loved Thee,--for our
first earthly forefather, who was honourably entertained, in the delightful
abode of Paradise, despised Thy divine and saving commandment, and was
judged unworthy of that life-giving place, and mingling his seed with the
bastard off-shoots of sin, he rendered it very weak;--but Thou, O Lord, of
Thine own self, and of Thine ineffable love toward the creature of Thine
hands, hast confirmed Thy mercy toward us, and, pitying our estrangement
from Thee, hast moved Thyself at the sight of our degradation(6) to take us
into compassion. Hence, for the future, a joyous festival is established
for us of the race of Adam, because the first Creator of Adam of His own
free-will has become the Second Adam. And the brightness of the Lord our
God hath come down to sojourn with us, so that we see God face to face, and
are saved Therefore, O Lord, I seek of Thee to be allowed to depart. I have
seen Thy salvation; let me be delivered from the bent yoke of the letter. I
have seen the King Eternal, to whom no other succeeds; let me be set free
from this servile and burdensome chain. I have seen Him who is by nature my
Lord and Deliverer; may I obtain, then, His decree for my deliverance. Set
me free from the yoke of condemnation, and place me under the yoke of
justification. Deliver me from the yoke of the curse, and of the letter
that killeth;(7) and enrol me in the blessed company of those who, by the
grace of this Thy true Son, who is of equal glory and power with Thee, have
been received into the adoption of sons.
IX. Let then, says he, what I have thus far said in brief, suffice for
the present as my offering of thanks to God. But what shall I say to thee,
O mother-virgin and virgin-mother? For the praise even of her who is not
man's work exceeds the power of man. Wherefore the dimness of my poverty I
will make bright with the splendour of the gifts of the spirits that around
thee shine, and offering to thee of thine own, from the immortal meadows I
will pluck a garland for thy sacred and divinely crowned head. With thine
ancestral hymns will I greet thee, O daughter of David, and mother of the
Lord and God of David. For it were both base and inauspicious to adorn
thee, who in thine own glory excellest with that which belongeth unto
another. Receive, therefore, O lady most benignant, gifts precious, and
such as are fitted to thee alone, O thou who art exalted above all
generations, and who, amongst all created things, both visible and
invisible, shinest forth as the most honourable. Blessed is the root of
Jesse, and thrice blessed is the house of David, in which thou hast sprung
up.(8) God is in the midst of thee, and thou shalt not be moved, for the
Most High hath made holy the place of His tabernacle. For in thee the
covenants and oaths made of God unto the fathers have received a most
glorious fulfilment, since by thee the Lord hath appeared, the God of hosts
with us. That bush which could not be touched,(9) which beforehand shadowed
forth thy figure endowed with divine majesty, bare God without being
consumed, who manifested Himself to the prophet just so far as He willed to
be seen. Then, again, that hard and rugged rock,(10) which imaged forth the
grace and refreshment which has sprung out from thee for all the world,
brought forth abundantly in the desert out of its thirsty sides a healing
draught for the fainting people. Yea, moreover, the rod of the priest
which, without culture, blossomed forth in fruit,(11) the pledge and
earnest of a perpetual priesthood, furnished no contemptible symbol of thy
supernatural child-bearing.(12) What, moreover? Hath not the mighty Moses
expressly declared, that on account of these types of thee, hard to be
understood,(13) he delayed longer on the mountain, in order that he might
learn, O holy one, the mysteries that with thee are connected? For being
commanded to build the ark as a sign and similitude of this thing, he was
not negligent in obeying the command, although a tragic occurrence happened
on his descent from the mount; but having made it in size five cubits and a
half, he appointed it to be the receptacle of the law, and covered it with
the wings of the cherubim, most evidently presignifying thee, the mother of
God, who hast conceived Him without corruption, and in an ineffable manner
brought forth Him who is Himself, as it were, the very consistence of
incorruption, and that within the limits of the five and a half circles of
the world. On thy account, and the undefiled Incarnation of God, the Word,
which by thee had place for the sake of that flesh which immutably and
indivisibly remains with Him for ever.(1) The golden pot also, as a most
certain type, preserved the manna contained in it, which in other cases was
changed day by day, unchanged, and keeping fresh for ages. The prophet
Elijah(2) likewise, as prescient of thy chastity, and being emulous of it
through the Spirit, bound around him the crown of that fiery life, being by
the divine decree adjudged superior to death. Thee also, prefiguring his
successor Elisha,(3) having been instructed by a wise master, and
anticipating thy presence who wast not yet born, by certain sure
indications of the things that would have place hereafter,(4) ministered
help and healing to those who were in need of it, which was of a virtue
beyond nature; now with a new cruse, which contained healing salt, curing
the deadly waters, to show that the world was to be recreated by the
mystery manifested in thee; now with unleavened meal, in type responding to
thy child-bearing, without being defiled by the seed of man, banishing from
the food the bitterness of death; and then again, by efforts which
transcended nature, rising superior to the natural elements in the Jordan,
and thus exhibiting, in signs beforehand, the descent of our Lord into
Hades, and His wonderful deliverance of those who were held fast in
corruption. For all things yielded and succumbed to that divine image which
prefigured thee.
X. But why do I digress, and lengthen out my discourse, giving it the
rein with these varied illustrations, and that when the truth of thy matter
stands like a column before the eye, in which it were better and more
profitable to luxuriate and delight in? Wherefore, bidding adieu to the
spiritual narrations and wondrous deeds of the saints throughout all ages,
I pass on to thee who art always to be had in remembrance, and who boldest
the helm, as it were, of this festival.(5)
Blessed art thou, all-blessed, and to be desired of all. Blessed of the
Lord is thy name, full of divine grace, and grateful exceedingly to God,
mother of God, thou that givest light to the faithful. Thou art the
circumscription, so to speak, of Him who cannot be circumscribed; the
root(6) of the most beautiful flower; the mother of the Creator; the nurse
of the Nourisher; the circumference of Him who embraces all things; the
upholder of Him(7) who upholds all things by His word; the gate through
which God appears in the flesh;(8) the tongs of that cleansing coal;(9) the
bosom in small of that bosom which is all-containing; the fleece of
wool,(10) the mystery of which cannot be solved; the well of Bethlehem,(11)
that reservoir of life which David longed for, out of which the draught of
immortality gushed forth; the mercy-seat(12) from which God in human form
was made known unto men; the spotless robe of Him who clothes Himself with
light as with a garment.(13) Thou hast lent to God, who stands in need of
nothing, that flesh which He had not, in order that the Omnipotent might
become that which it was his good pleasure to be. What is more splendid
than this? What than this is more sublime? He who fills earth and
heaven,(14) whose are all things, has become in need of thee, for thou hast
lent to God that flesh which He had not. Thou hast clad the Mighty One with
that beauteous panoply of the body by which it has become possible for Him
to be seen by mine eyes. And I, in order that I might freely approach to
behold Him, have received that by which all the fiery darts of the wicked
shall be quenched.(15) Hail! hail! mother and handmaid of God. Hail! hail!
thou to whom the great Creditor of all is a debtor. We are all debtors to
God, but to thee He is Himself indebted.
For He who said, "Honour thy father and thy mother,"(16) will have most
assuredly, as Himself willing to be proved by such proofs, kept inviolate
that grace, and His own decree towards her who ministered to Him that
nativity to which He voluntarily stooped, and will have glorified with a
divine honour her whom He, as being without a father, even as she was
without a husband, Himself has written down as mother. Even so must these
things be. For the hymns(17) which we offer to thee, O thou most holy and
admirable habitation of God, are no merely useless and ornamental words.
Nor, again, is thy spiritual laudation mere secular trifling, or the
shoutings of a false flattery, O thou who of God art praised; thou who to
God gavest suck; who by nativity givest unto mortals their beginning of
being, but they are of clear and evident truth. But the time would fail us,
ages and succeeding generations too, to render unto thee thy fitting
salutation as the mother of the King Eternal,(1) even as somewhere the
illustrious prophet says, teaching us how incomprehensible thou art.(2) How
great is the house of God, and how large is the place of His possession!
Great, and hath none end, high and unmeasurable. For verily, verily, this
prophetic oracle, and most true saying, is concerning thy majesty; for thou
alone hast been thought worthy to share with God the things of God; who
hast alone borne in the flesh Him, who of God the Father was the Eternally
and Only-Begotten. So do they truly believe who hold fast to the pure
faith.(3)
XI. But for the time that remains, my most attentive hearers, let us
take up the old man, the receiver of God, and our pious teacher, who hath
put in here, as it were, in safety from that virginal sea, and let us
refresh him, both satisfied as to his divine longing, and conveying to us
this most blessed theology; and let us ourselves follow out the rest of our
discourse, directing our course unerringly with reference to our prescribed
end, and that under the guidance of God the Almighty, so shall we not be
found altogether unfruitful and unprofitable as to what is required of us.
When, then, to these sacred rites, prophecy and the priesthood had been
jointly called, and that pair of just ones elected of God--Simeon, I mean,
and Anna, bearing in themselves most evidently the images of both peoples--
had taken their station by the side of that glorious and virginal throne,--
for by the old man was represented the people of lsrael, and the law now
waxing old; whilst the widow represents the Church of the Gentiles, which
had been up to this point a widow,--the old man, indeed, as personating the
law, seeks dismissal; but the widow, as personating the Church, brought her
joyous confession of faith(4) and spake of Him to all that looked for
redemption in Jerusalem, even as the things that were spoken of both have
been appositely and excellently recorded, and quite in harmony with the
sacred festival. For it was fitting and necessary that the old man who knew
so accurately that decree of the law, in which it is said: Hear Him, and
every soul that will not hearken unto Him shall be cut off from His
people,(5) should seek a peaceful discharge from the tutorship of the law;
for in truth it were insolence and presumption, when the king is present
and addressing the people, for one of his attendants to make a speech over
against him, and that to this man his subjects should incline their ears.
It was necessary, too, that the widow who had been increased with gifts
beyond measure, should in festal strains return her thanks to God; and so
the things which there took place were agreeable to the law. But, for what
remains, it is necessary to inquire how, since the prophetic types and
figures bear, as has been shown, a certain analogy anti relation to this
prominent feast, it is said that the house was filled with smoke. Nor does
the prophet say this incidentally, but with significance, speaking of that
cry of the Thrice-Holy,(6) uttered by the heavenly seraphs. You will
discover the meaning of this, my attentive hearer, if you do but take up
and examine what follows upon this narration: For hearing, he says, ye
shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see, and not
perceive.(7) When, therefore, the foolish Jewish children had seen the
glorious wonders which, as David sang, the Lord had performed in the earth,
and had seen the sign from the depth(8) and from the height meeting
together, without division or confusion; as also Isaiah had before
declared, namely, a mother beyond nature, and an offspring beyond reason;
an earthly mother and a heavenly son; a new taking of man's nature, I say,
by God, and a child-bearing without marriage; what in creation's circuit
could be more glorious and more to be spoken of than this! yet when they
had seen this it was all one as if they had not seen it; they closed their
eyes, and in respect of praise were supine. Therefore the house in which
they boasted was filled with smoke.
XII. And in addition to this, when besides the spectacle, and even
beyond the spectacle, they heard an old man, very righteous, very worthy of
credit, worthy also of emulation, inspired by the Holy Spirit, a teacher of
the law, honoured with the priesthood, illustrious in the gift of prophecy,
by the hope which he had conceived of Christ, extending the limits of life,
and putting off the debt of death--when they saw him, I say, leaping for
joy, speaking words of good omen, quite transformed with gladness of heart,
entirely rapt in a divine and holy ecstasy; who from a man had been changed
into an angel by a godly change, and, for the immensity of his joy, chanted
his hymn of thanksgiving, and openly proclaimed the "Light to lighten the
Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel."(1) Not even then were they
willing to hear what was placed within their hearing, and held in
veneration by the heavenly beings themselves; wherefore the house in which
they boasted was filled with smoke. Now smoke is a sign and sure evidence
of wrath; as it is written, "There went up a smoke in His anger, and fire
from His countenance devoured;"(2) and in another place, "Amongst the
disobedient people shall the fire burn,"(3) which plainly, in the revered
Gospels, our Lord signified, when He said to the Jews, "Behold your house
is left unto you desolate."(4) Also, in another place, "The king sent forth
his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city."(5) Of
such a nature was the adverse reward of the Jews for their unbelief, which
caused them to refuse to pay to the Trinity the tribute of praise. For
after that the ends of the earth were sanctified, and the mighty house of
the Church was filled, by the proclamation of the Thrice Holy, with the
glory of the Lord, as the great waters cover the seas,(6) there happened to
them the things which before had been declared, and the beginning of
prophecy was confirmed by its issue, the preacher of truth signifying, as
has been said, by the Holy Spirit, as it were in an example, the dreadful
destruction which was to come upon them, in the words: "In the year in
which king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord"--Uzziah, doubtless, as an apostate,
being taken as the representative of the whole apostate body--the head of
which he certainly was--who also, paying the penalty due to his
presumption, carried on his forehead, as upon a brazen statue, the divine
vengeance engraved, by the loathsomeness of leprosy, exhibiting to all the
retribution of their loathsome impiety. Wherefore with divine wisdom did
he, who had foreknowledge of these events, oppose the bringing in of the
thankful Anna to the casting out of the ungrateful synagogue. Her very name
also presignifies the Church, that by the grace of Christ and God is
justified in baptism. For Anna is, by interpretation, grace.
XIII. But here, as in port, putting in the vessel that bears the ensign
of the cross, let us reef the sails of our oration, in order that it may be
with itself commensurate. Only first, in as few words as possible, let us
salute the city of the Great King(7) together with the whole body of the
Church, as being present with them in spirit, and keeping holy-day with the
Father, and the brethren most held in honour there. Hail, thou city of the
Great King, in which the mysteries of our salvation are consummated. Hail,
thou heaven upon earth, Sion, the city that is for ever faithful unto the
Lord. Hail, and shine thou Jerusalem, for thy light is come, the Light
Eternal, the Light for ever enduring, the Light Supreme, the Light
Immaterial, the Light of one substance with God and the Father, the Light
which is in the Spirit, and in which is the Father; the Light which
illumines the ages; the Light which gives light to mundane and supramundane
things, Christ our very God. Hail, city sacred and elect of the Lord.
Joyfully keep thy festal days, for they will not multiply so as to wax old
and pass away. Hail, thou city most happy, for glorious things are spoken
of thee; thy priest shall be clothed with righteousness, and thy saints
shall shout for joy, and thy poor shall be satisfied with bread.(8) Hail!
rejoice, O Jerusalem, for the Lord reigneth in the midst of thee.(9) That
Lord, I say, who in His simple and immaterial Deity, entered our nature,
and of the virgin's womb became ineffably incarnate; that Lord, who was
partaker of nothing else save the lump of Adam, who was by the serpent
tripped up. For the Lord laid not hold of the seed of angels(10)--those, I
say, who fell not away from that beauteous order and rank that was assigned
to them from the beginning. To us He condescended, that Word who was always
with the Father co-existent God. Nor, again, did He come into the world to
restore; nor will He restore, as has been imagined by some impious
advocates of the devil, those wicked demons who once fell from light; but
when the Creator and Framer of all things had, as the most divine Paul
says, laid hold of the seed of Abraham, and through him of the whole human
race, He was made man for ever, and without change, in order that by His
fellowship with us, and our joining on to Him, the ingress of sin into us
might be stopped, its strength being broken by degrees, and itself as wax
being melted, by that fire which the Lord, when He came, sent upon the
earth.(11) Hail to thee, thou Catholic Church,(12) which hast been planted
in all the earth, and do thou rejoice with us. Fear not, little flock, the
storms of the enemy(13) for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom, and that you should tread upon the necks of your enemies.(14)
Hail, and rejoice, thou that wast once barren, and without seed unto
godliness, but who hast now many children of faith,(1) Hail, thou people of
the Lord, thou chosen generation, thou royal priesthood, thou holy nation,
thou peculiar people--show forth His praises who hath called you out of
darkness into His marvellous light; and for His mercies glorify Him.(2)
XIV. Hail to thee for ever, thou virgin mother of God, our unceasing
joy, for unto thee do I again return.(3) Thou art the beginning of our
feast; thou art its middle and end;(4) the pearl of great price that
belongest unto the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of
the bread of life. Hail, thou treasure of the love of God. Hail, thou fount
of the Son's love for man. Hail, thou overshadowing mount(5) of the Holy
Ghost. Thou gleamedst, sweet gift-bestowing mother, of the light of the
sun; thou gleamedst with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity,
bringing forth in the end that which was conceived of thee before the
beginning, making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the
invisible Son of the Father--the Prince of Peace, who in a marvellous
manner showed Himself as less than all littleness. Wherefore, we pray thee,
the most excellent among women, who boastest in the confidence of thy
maternal honours, that thou wouldest unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O
holy mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in thee, and who
in hymns august celebrate the memory, which will ever live, and never fade
away. And do thou also, O honoured and venerable Simeon, thou earliest host
of our holy religion, and teacher of the resurrection of the faithful, be
our patron and advocate with that Saviour God, whom thou wast deemed worthy
to receive into thine arms. We, together with thee, sing our praises to
Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying, Thou art the true
Light, proceeding from the true Light; the true God, begotten of the true
God; the one Lord, before Thine assumption of the humanity; that One
nevertheless, after Thine assumption of it, which is ever to be adored; God
of Thine own self and not by grace, but for our sakes also perfect man; in
Thine own nature the King absolute and sovereign, but for us and for our
salvation existing also in the form of a servant. yet immaculately and
without defilement. For Thou who art incorruption hast come to set
corruption free, that Thou mightest render all things uncorrupt. For Thine
is the glory, and the power, and the greatness, and the majesty, with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 6, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.
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