Homilies on the Dormition of the Mother of God · §2.11 · John of Damascus

Homily II — Angels, healings and the washing of the body

And what happens? A stirring and changing of the elements, as it seems to me at least; voices and sounds and crashes, and fitting hymns of angels, as they run ahead, escort her and follow after. Some formed a guard of honour for the blameless and all-holy soul and went up with it as it went up to heaven, until they presented the Queen at the royal throne; others encircled the divine and sacred body and hymned the Mother of God in songs fit for angels.

And what of those who stood beside the all-holy and most sacred body? With fear and longing and tears of joy they ranged themselves around that divine and all-blessed tabernacle; they embraced it, they kissed every limb, they pressed close to the body, and from its touch they were filled with holiness and blessing. Then diseases fled away, and swarms of demons were put to flight, driven together from every side into the regions under the earth, and there alone. Air, ether and heaven were sanctified by the ascent of her spirit, and earth by the laying down of her body. Nor did the nature of water go without a share in the blessing, for she is washed in pure water, which does not cleanse her but is rather itself made pure. Here hearing was restored to the deaf, the lame were made firm on their feet, sight was renewed for the blind, and for sinners who drew near in faith the records of their debts were torn up (Colossians 2:14).

What then? The pure body is wrapped in pure linen cloths, and the Queen is laid once more upon a bier. Then come torches and perfumes and hymns of escort: the angels singing in their own tongues the hymn most fitting for them, and the apostles and God-bearing fathers singing songs worthy of God, struck up by the Spirit.

Greek

Καὶ τί γίνεται; Στοιχείων, ὥς γέ μοι δοκεῖ, κίνησις καὶ ἀλλοίωσις, φωναί τε ψόφοι, καὶ πάταγοι, καὶ ἀγγέλων ὕμνοι ἐπάξιοι, προτρεχόντων, συμπροπεμπόντων, παρεπομένων· τῶν μὲν τῇ ἀμωμήτῳ καὶ παναγίᾳ ψυχῇ τὴν δορυφορίαν πληρούντων, καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀνιούσῃ συνανιόντων, ἕως ὅτε τῷ θρόνῳ τῷ βασιλικῷ τὴν βασιλίδα παρέστησαν, τῶν δὲ, τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἱερὸν κυκλούντων σῶμα, καὶ ᾠδαῖς ἀγγελοπρεπέσιν ὑμνούντων τὴν Θεομήτορα. Τί δὲ οἱ παρεστῶτες τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ἱερωτάτῳ σώματι; Φόβῳ τε καὶ πόθῳ, καὶ ἀγαλλιάσεως δάκρυσι τὸ θεῖον καὶ πανόλβιον περιστοιχίσαντες σκήνωμα, περιεπτύσσοντο, κατησπάζοντο ἅπαν μέλος, προσῆγον τῷ σώματι, ἐκ τῆς ἁφῆς ἁγιασμοῦ τε καὶ εὐλογίας πληρούμενοι. Τότε δὴ νόσοι μὲν ἐδραπέτευον, δαιμόνων στίφη ἐφυγαδεύοντο, πάντοθεν συνελαυνόμενα πρὸς μόνα τὰ καταχθόνια· ἀὴρ, αἰθήρ τε καὶ οὐρανὸς ἡγιάζοντο τῇ ἀναβάσει τοῦ πνεύματος, γῆ δὲ τῇ καταθέσει τοῦ σώματος. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἡ τοῦ ὕδατος φύσις τῆς εὐλογίας ἠμοίρησε· λούεται γὰρ ὕδατι καθαρῷ, οὐκ αὐτὴν καθαίροντι, ἁγνιζομένῳ δὲ μάλιστα. Ἐνταῦθα κωφοῖς μὲν ἡ ἀκοὴ ἀπηρτίζετο, χωλοῖς αἱ τῶν ποδῶν κατηρτίζοντο βάσεις, τυφλοῖς δὲ ἀνεκαινίζετο ἡ ὅρασις, ἁμαρτωλοῖς πίστει προσιοῦσι χειρόγραφα διεῤῥήγνυντο. Εἶτα τί; Σινδόσι καθαραῖς τὸ καθαρὸν ἐνειλίττεται σῶμα, καὶ κλίνῃ αὖθις ἡ βασιλὶς ἐπιτίθεται. Εἶτα λαμπάδες καὶ μύρα, ὕμνοι προπόμπιοι, ἀγγέλων μὲν ταῖς οἰκείαις γλώτταις μελῳδούντων ὕμνον τὸν αὐτοῖς προσφορώτατον, ἀποστόλων δὲ καὶ θεοφόρων Πατέρων ᾠδὰς ᾀδόντων θεοπρεπεῖς, καὶ κροτουμένας τῷ Πνεύματι.

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About this text

John of Damascus's three sermons on the falling asleep of Mary, preached at her tomb at Gethsemane: praise of the Mother of God, the story of her last days and burial, and the old account in which Juvenal of Jerusalem tells the empress Pulcheria that the apostles found the tomb empty.

English translated from the Greek of Migne, Patrologia Graeca 96, cols. Where the printed Greek is plainly wrong, the English follows the reading that the sense and Migne's facing Latin require; each such place is listed below. Psalm numbers are given in the English (Hebrew) numbering.

Printed text used

Translated from Migne, Patrologia Graeca 96 (Paris, 1860), cols. 699-762 (Greek · All three homilies)

Where the prints differ

Homily II, section 1 — Printed διαιρέσεως ('division'); the English follows προαιρέσεως ('a good will'), with the facing Latin 'probaque voluntate'.
Homily II, section 2 — Printed ἐνδέδυμαι ('I have put on') is read as ἐκδέδυμαι ('I have put off' the garments of skin), with the facing Latin 'exui'; printed ὑπερέρχεται is read as ὑπέρχεται ('undergoes'); printed ἀχειροτμήτῳ is taken in the sense 'not made by hands'.
Homily II, section 4 — Printed θέσματα ('ordinances') is rendered 'wills', with the facing Latin 'voluntates'.
Homily II, section 10 — Printed 'our hands' is read as 'my hands', since Mary is speaking (facing Latin 'manuum mearum').
Homily II, section 13 — Printed ἀμελητί ('carelessly') is read as ἀμελλητί ('at once').
Homily II, section 14 — Printed ἐλαίου ('oil') is read as ἐλέου ('mercy'), as Migne's own note directs; printed γεύμασιν is read as ῥεύμασιν ('in their flowing'), with the facing Latin 'fluentis'.
Homily III, section 2 — Printed κλίματι is read as κλίμακι ('ladder'), ἐδείξατο as ἐδέξατο ('received'), and 'fruits of the presence' as 'the bread of the presence', each with the facing Latin.

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