Homilies on the Dormition of the Mother of God · §2.19 · John of Damascus

Homily II — Make your memory her dwelling

And what shall we say in reply to the tomb? Your grace is unfailing and ever-flowing; but the power of God is not confined to places, nor are the benefits of the Mother of God. For if they were bounded by the tomb alone, the gift would have been bestowed on only a few. But now it has been shared out without stint in all the ends of the world. Let us then make our memory a chamber for the Mother of God. And how will this be? She is a virgin, and loves virginity; she is pure, and loves purity. If, then, together with the body we purify the memory too, we shall have her grace dwelling within us.

For she flees all filth and turns away from the muddy passions. She loathes gluttony; she is the enemy of the passions of most shameful fornication; its foul thoughts she flees as from a brood of vipers (Matthew 3:7). She thrusts away shameful and coarse words and songs (Ephesians 5:4). She shakes off the perfumes of harlots. She hates the swellings of anger; she will not admit inhumanity and strife. She turns away from vainglory that labours for nothing. She sets herself as an enemy against swollen pride. She hates the remembering of wrongs, the adversary of salvation. Every evil she counts as a deadly poison, and she rejoices in their opposites; for opposites are the cures of opposites. She delights in fasting and self-control and the songs of the Psalms; she rejoices with purity and virginity and sober self-restraint. With these she keeps unending peace and greets them warmly. Peace and a gentle mind she embraces; love and mercy and humility she takes in her arms, as her own nurses. In short, at every evil she is grieved and downcast, but in every virtue she exults as in a gift of her own.

If, then, we eagerly shun the vices named first and love the virtues with all zeal, and make them our companions, she will come often to her own servants, drawing with her the whole company of all good things; and she will bring with her Christ, her Son, the King and Lord of all, to dwell in our hearts. To him be glory, honour, might, greatness and majesty, with the Father who is without beginning, and the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Greek

Τί δὲ πρὸς τὸν τάφον ἡμεῖς ἀντιφήσομεν; Ἡ μὲν σὴ χάρις ἀνελλιπὴς καὶ ἀέναος, ἀλλ' οὐ τόποις ἡ θεία περιορίζεται δύναμις, οὐδὲ αἱ τῆς Θεομήτορος εὐεργεσίαι· εἰ γὰρ μόνῳ τῷ τύμβῳ περιεγράφοντο, ὀλίγοις ἂν ἡ δωρεὰ ἐπεθειάζετο. Νῦν δὲ ἐν πᾶσι τοῦ κόσμου τοῖς πέρασιν ἀφθόνως διανενέμηται. Τὴν μνήμην τοίνυν τὴν ἡμετέραν ταμεῖον τῆς Θεοτόκου κατασκευάσωμεν. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔσται πῶς; Παρθένος αὕτη, καὶ φιλοπάρθενος· ἁγνὴ πέφυκεν αὕτη, καὶ φίλαγνος. Ἂν οὖν σὺν τῷ σώματι καὶ τὴν μνήμην ἁγνίσωμεν, ἐνηυλισμένην τὴν αὐτῆς χάριν κτησόμεθα. Φεύγει γὰρ ἰλὺν ἅπασαν, καὶ τὰ βορβορώδη πάθη ἐκτρέπεται. Γαστριμαργίαν βδελύσσεται, τῆς αἰσχίστης πορνείας ἐχθραίνει τοῖς πάθεσι· ταύτης τοὺς μυσαροὺς λογισμοὺς ὡς ἐχιδνῶν φεύγει γεννήματα· λόγους αἰσχρούς τε καὶ εὐτραπέλους ἀπωθεῖται καὶ ᾄσματα· μῦρα πορνικὰ ἀποσείεται· μισεῖ θυμοῦ τὰ οἰδήματα, ἀπανθρωπίαν καὶ ἔριδας οὐ προσίεται· κενοδοξίαν τὴν ματαιόπονον ἀποστρέφεται· ὄγκῳ ὑπερηφανίας ἐχθρωδῶς ἀντιτάσσεται· μνησικακίαν μισεῖ, τὴν σωτηρίας ἀντίπαλον· πᾶσαν κακίαν ὡς ἰὸν θανατηφόρον λογίζεται, τούτων δὲ χαίρει τοῖς ἐναντίοις. Τὰ γὰρ ἐναντία τῶν ἐναντίων ἰάματα. Νηστείᾳ, καὶ ἐγκρατείᾳ, καὶ ψαλμικοῖς ἐπιτέρπεται ᾄσμασιν· ἁγνείᾳ, καὶ παρθενίᾳ, καὶ σωφροσύνῃ συγγήθεται. Καὶ πρὸς ταύτας εἰρήνην ἄγει ἀέναον, καὶ φιλοφρόνως ταύτας ἀσπάζεται. Εἰρήνην καὶ πρᾶον περιπτύσσεται φρόνημα, ἀγάπην, καὶ ἔλεον, καὶ ταπείνωσιν ὡς οἰκείας τροφοὺς ἀγκαλίζεται. Καὶ συνελόντα φάναι, ἐπὶ πάσῃ μὲν κακίᾳ, κατηφείᾳ δυσχεραίνουσα, πάσῃ δὲ ἀρετῇ ὡς οἰκείῳ χαρίσματι ἐπαγάλλεται. Εἰ οὖν τὰς προτέρας ἐκθύμως κακίας ἐκκλίνωμεν, τὰς δὲ ἀρετὰς πάσῃ σπουδῇ ἀγαπήσωμεν, καὶ ταύτας συνομίλους κτησώμεθα, θαμινὰ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους οἰκέτας ἐλεύσεται, τὴν ἁπάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν σὺν αὐτῇ ἐφελκομένη ὁμήγυριν, καὶ Χριστὸν τὸν αὐτῆς Υἱὸν, καὶ τῶν ἁπάντων Βασιλέα καὶ Κύριον ἐνοικοῦντα ταῖς ἡμετέραις καρδίαις συμπαραλήψεται· ᾧ δόξα, τιμὴ, κράτος, μεγαλοσύνη τε καὶ μεγαλοπρέπεια, σὺν τῷ ἀνάρχῳ Πατρὶ, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Report a mistake in this passage

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.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake