Homily III — A third hymn for the Mother of God
It is the habit of those who love something passionately always to have it on their tongue, and to picture it in their mind by night and by day. So let no one find fault with me if, after the two that came before, I have made this present hymn a third for the Mother of my God, as a kind of parting gift. For I do this not as a favour to her, but to myself and to you who are here, O divine and holy assembly: I set before you a dish that profits the soul and brings salvation, suited to this holy night, and so I win spiritual delight. For a shortage of food, as you see, had overtaken us. That is why I am putting together this feast in haste: not lavishly, nor worthy of her who has invited us, but one that can at least comfort our hunger as need requires.
For she has no need of praises from us; it is we who need the glory that comes from her. For how can what is already glorified be glorified? How can the spring of light be given light? Rather, by what we do we weave a crown for ourselves. 'For as I live, says the Lord, those who glorify me I will glorify' (1 Samuel 2:30). Sweet indeed, sweet to drink is wine, and bread is nourishing as food; for the one gladdens, and the other strengthens the heart of man (Psalm 104:15). But what is sweeter than the Mother of my God? She has taken my mind captive; she has carried off my tongue as spoil; waking and dreaming I picture her. She is the Mother of the Word, and has become the giver of words: the child conceived by the barren woman, who makes barren souls fruitful. Hers is the holy and divine passing that we celebrate today.
Come, then, let us go up to the mystical mountain (Isaiah 2:3). Let us rise above the impressions of this life and of matter, and pass into the divine and incomprehensible darkness (Exodus 20:21), and, coming to be in the divine light, let us hymn the power that is boundless in might. How is it that he who came down from the surpassing height that is immaterial and beyond all things, into the virgin's womb, without leaving the Father's womb; who was conceived and took flesh, and of his own will travelled through sufferings to death; who won incorruption for what was corruptible, and went back up to the Father with a body that had its birth from the earth: how is it that he drew his Mother according to the flesh to his own Begetter, lifting her, who had been called an earthly heaven, up to the heavenly land?
Greek
Ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς ἐρωτικῶς πρός τι διακειμένοις, ἐπὶ γλώσσης ἀεὶ τοῦτο φέρειν, καὶ τῷ νῷ, νύκτωρ τε καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν φαντάζεσθαι. Μή μέ τις οὖν εὐθυνέτω, εἰ τρίτον ἐπὶ τοῖς προλαβοῦσι δυσὶ τὸ παρὸν ἐποιησάμην ἐφύμνιον τῇ Μητρὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ μου, ὥσπερ τι δῶρον ἐξόδιον· οὐ γὰρ αὐτῇ χαριζόμενος, ἀλλ' ἐμαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ὑμῖν, ὦ θεῖον καὶ ἱερὸν σύστημα, ὄψον ψυχωφελὲς καὶ σωτήριον προτιθεὶς τῇ ἱερᾷ ταύτῃ νυκτὶ κατάλληλον, καὶ πνευματικὴν θυμηδίαν ἐμπορευόμενος. Σπάνη γὰρ ἡμᾶς, ὡς ὁρᾶτε, κατειλήφει τῶν ἐδωδίμων. Διὸ δὴ σχεδιάζω τὴν πανδαισίαν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πολυτελῶς, μηδὲ ἀξίως τῆς κεκληκυίας, ἀλλά γε τὴν πεῖναν ἀναγκαίως δυναμένην παραμυθήσασθαι.
Οὐ γὰρ αὕτη τῶν ἐγκωμίων προσδεὴς τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν, ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς τῆς παρ' αὐτῆς δόξης ἐπιδεεῖς. Τὸ γὰρ δεδοξασμένον πῶς δοξασθήσεται; Ἡ πηγὴ τοῦ φωτός, πῶς φωτισθήσεται; Ἀλλ' ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς, δι' ὧν δρῶμεν, πλέκομεν στέφανον. Ζῶ γὰρ ἐγώ, λέγει Κύριος, καὶ τοὺς δοξάζοντάς με δοξάσω. Ἡδὺ μὲν γὰρ ὄντως, ἡδὺ ποτὸν οἶνος, καὶ τρόφιμος ἄρτος εἰς βρῶσιν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ εὐφραίνει, ὁ δὲ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου στηρίζει. Ἀλλὰ τί τῆς Μητρὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ μου ἡδύτερον; Αὕτη μου τὸν νοῦν εἷλεν αἰχμάλωτον· τὴν γλῶσσαν αὕτη ἐληΐσατο· ταύτην ὕπαρ τε καὶ ὄναρ φαντάζομαι. Αὕτη τοῦ Λόγου Μήτηρ, καὶ λόγου καθέστηκε χορηγός· τὸ τῆς στείρας κύημα, τὸ καρποφόρους τὰς στειρευούσας ψυχὰς ἐργαζόμενον. Ταύτης τὴν ἱεράν τε καὶ θείαν μετάστασιν ἑορτάζομεν σήμερον.
Δεῦτε τοίνυν, ἀναβῶμεν πρὸς τὸ μυστικὸν ὄρος, καὶ τῶν βιωτικῶν καὶ ὑλικῶν ἐμφάσεων γεγονότες ὑπέρτεροι, καὶ τὸν γνόφον ὑπεισελθόντες τὸν θεῖον καὶ ἄληπτον, ἐν φωτὶ τῷ θείῳ γενόμενοι, τὴν ἀπειροδύναμον ὑμνήσωμεν δύναμιν. Πῶς ὁ ἐκ τῆς περιουσίου περιωπῆς τῆς ἀΰλου καὶ πάντων ἐπέκεινα, τῆς πατρικῆς γαστρὸς ἀνεκφοιτήτως εἰς τὴν παρθενικὴν νηδὺν καταβάς, συλληφθείς τε καὶ σαρκωθείς, καὶ διὰ παθῶν ἑκουσίως ὁδεύσας πρὸς θάνατον, καὶ μετὰ σώματος ἐκ γῆς τὴν γέννησιν ἔχοντος, καὶ φθορᾷ κτησάμενος τὸ ἄφθαρτον, πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα πάλιν ἀναφοιτήσας, τὴν αὐτοῦ κατὰ σάρκα Μητέρα πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ γεννήτορα ἐπεσπάσατο, οὐρανὸν ἐπίγειον χρηματίσασαν, πρὸς τὴν ἐπουράνιον γῆν μετεωρίσας;