Homily I — She found grace and answered the angel
Truly she found grace, she who was worthy of grace. She found grace who had tilled the labours of grace and reaped a rich harvest. She found grace who brought forth the seeds of grace and reaped the full-flowing harvest of grace. She found a depth of grace, she who kept safe and whole the ship of her twofold virginity: for she kept her soul a virgin no less than her body, and that is why the virginity of her body was also kept. “And you will bear a son,” he says, “and you shall call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31). Jesus means Saviour, “for he will save his people from their iniquities” (Matthew 1:21).
And what does the treasure of true wisdom say to this? She does not imitate Eve, her first mother; rather, she sets right Eve's carelessness, and calls on nature as her advocate, arguing against the angel's word in some such way as this: “How will this be for me, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34). “You speak of impossible things,” she says. “Your word breaks the boundaries of nature that the One who fashioned it set in place. I will not bear to be called a second Eve and to cheat the will of the Maker. But if what you say is not against God, tell me the manner of the conception and resolve my doubt.” To her the angel of truth replies: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). What is being done here is no slave to the laws of nature. For the Creator and Master of nature changes the boundaries of nature by his own authority. And she, hearing with holy reverence that name ever longed for and honoured, spoke words of obedience full of fear and joy: “Here is the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
Greek
Ὄντως εὗρε χάριν, ἡ ἀξία τῆς χάριτος. Εὗρε χάριν ἡ τοὺς πόνους τῆς χάριτος γεωργήσασα, καὶ πολὺ δρεψαμένη τὸν ἄσταχυν. Εὗρε χάριν, ἡ τοὺς σπόρους τῆς χάριτος γεννήσασα, καὶ πολύχουν δρεψαμένη τὸν ἄσταχυν τῆς χάριτος. Εὗρε χάριτος ἄβυσσον, ἡ σῶαν τὴν ὁλκάδα τῆς διπλῆς παρθενίας τηρήσασα, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν γὰρ παρθένον ἐτήρησεν, οὐ τοῦ σώματος ἔλαττον. Ὅθεν καὶ ἡ τοῦ σώματος παρθενία τετήρητο. Καὶ τέξῃ, φησὶν, υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν· Ἰησοῦς δὲ σωτὴρ ἑρμηνεύεται· αὐτὸς γὰρ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν ἀνομιῶν αὐτῶν. Τί πρὸς ταῦτα τῆς ἀληθοῦς σοφίας ὁ θησαυρός, τὴν μὲν Εὔαν οὐ μιμεῖται τὴν προμήτορα, ἐπανορθοῦται δὲ μᾶλλον τὸ ταύτης ἀφύλακτον, καὶ συνήγορον τὴν φύσιν προβάλλεται, ὧδέ πως τῷ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἀντιῤῥητορεύουσα ῥήματι· Πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω; ἀδύνατα φθέγγῃ, φησίν. Ὁ γε σὸς λόγος τοὺς ὅρους λύει τῆς φύσεως, οὓς ὁ πλαστουργήσας ἐπήξατο. Οὐκ ἀνέχομαι Εὔα χρηματίσαι δευτέρα, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ποιήσαντος παρακρούσασθαι βούλημα. Εἰ δὲ μὴ λέγεις ἀντίθεα, τὸν τρόπον εἰπὼν τῆς συλλήψεως, λῦσον τὴν ἀπορίαν. Πρὸς ἣν ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας ἄγγελος· Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ δύναμις Ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι. Διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται Υἱὸς Θεοῦ. Οὐ δουλεύει φύσεως νόμοις τὸ τελούμενον. Ὁ γὰρ Δημιουργὸς καὶ δεσπότης τῆς φύσεως, κατ' ἐξουσίαν τοὺς ὅρους ἀμείβει τῆς φύσεως. Ἡ δὲ, τὸ ἀεὶ ποθούμενον καὶ τιμώμενον ὄνομα, μεθ' ἱερᾶς εὐλαβείας ἀκούσασα, τῆς ὑπακοῆς ἐπηφίει φόβου καὶ χαρᾶς γέμοντα ῥήματα, Ἰδοὺ ἡ δούλη Κυρίου, γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου.