Homilies on the Dormition of the Mother of God · §2.16 · John of Damascus

Homily II — Let us keep her feast in song and purity

Let us praise her today with sacred songs, we who have been given the riches both of being and of being called the people of Christ. Let us honour her with vigils through the night. Let us delight her with purity of soul and body, her who after God is truly pure above all; and it is somehow natural for like to rejoice in like. Let us serve her with mercy and compassion for those in need. For if God is served by nothing so much as by mercy, who will deny that his Mother too is gladdened by the same?

She made known to all the unspeakable abyss of God's love for us. Through her the long war against the Creator has been ended for us. Through her our reconciliation with him was sealed, peace and grace have been given, human beings dance with angels, and we who before were dishonoured have become children of God. From her we gathered the cluster of life; from her we plucked the shoot of incorruption. She has become for us the go-between who brings us every good thing. In her God became man, and man became God. What is more astonishing than this? What more blessed? I grow dizzy with fear, in awe of what I am saying.

With Miriam the prophetess, O maiden souls, let us dance with timbrels (Exodus 15:20), putting to death our members that are on earth (Colossians 3:5); for this is the mystical timbrel. Let us raise a shout at the ark of the Lord God with the shouts of our souls, and the walls of Jericho will fall (Joshua 6:20), I mean the hostile strongholds of the opposing powers. With David let us leap in the Spirit (2 Samuel 6:14); for today the ark of the Lord has come to rest. With Gabriel, the first in rank among the angels, let us cry aloud: 'Rejoice, you who are full of grace; the Lord is with you' (Luke 1:28). Rejoice, inexhaustible sea of joy. Rejoice, you who alone wipe away sorrow. Rejoice, healing medicine for the pain of every heart. Rejoice, you through whom death is driven out and life is brought in.

Greek

Ταύτην ᾄσμασι ἱεροῖς εὐφημίσωμεν σήμερον, οἱ Χριστοῦ λαὸς καὶ εἶναι πεπλουτηκότες, καὶ λέγεσθαι. Ταύτην παννύχοις τιμήσωμεν στάσεσι· ταύτην ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος ἁγνότητι τέρψωμεν, τὴν ὄντως ἁγνὴν μετὰ Θεὸν ὑπὲρ ἅπαντας· πέφυκε γάρ πως τοῖς ὁμοίοις τὰ ὅμοια ἐπαγάλλεσθαι. Ταύτην ἐλέῳ καὶ συμπαθείᾳ τῶν ἐνδεῶν θεραπεύσωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπ' οὐδενὶ ὡς ἐλέῳ Θεὸς θεραπεύεται, τίς ἀντερεῖ μὴ τοῖς ἴσοις καὶ τὴν τούτου Μητέρα ἐπιφαιδρύνεσθαι; Αὕτη τὴν ἄφατον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀγάπης ἐδημοσίευσεν ἄβυσσον. Διὰ ταύτης ἡμῖν ὁ πρὸς τὸν Κτίστην πολυχρόνιος καταλέλυται πόλεμος. Διὰ ταύτης ἡμῖν αἱ πρὸς αὐτὸν καταλλαγαὶ ἐκροτήθησαν, καὶ εἰρήνη, καὶ χάρις δεδώρηται, καὶ ἀγγέλοις συγχορεύουσιν ἄνθρωποι, καὶ τέκνα Θεοῦ οἱ πρὶν ἠτιμημένοι κατέστημεν. Ἐκ ταύτης τὸν βότρυν τῆς ζωῆς ἐτρυγήσαμεν· ἐκ ταύτης τῆς ἀφθαρσίας τὸν βλαστὸν ἐδρεψάμεθα. Αὕτη πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡμῖν προμνήστρια γέγονεν. Ἐν ταύτῃ ὁ Θεὸς μὲν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ Θεὸς ὁ ἄνθρωπος γέγονε. Καὶ τί τούτου παραδοξότερον; τί τούτου μακαριώτερον; Ἰλιγγιῶ τῷ φόβῳ, δεδιὼς τὸ λαλούμενον. Σὺν Μαριὰμ τῇ προφήτιδι, ὦ νεάνιδες ψυχαὶ, μετὰ τυμπάνων χορεύσωμεν, νεκροῦντες τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ μυστικὸν τύμπανον· ἀλαλάξωμεν ἐπὶ τῆς κιβωτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ψυχῶν ἀλαλάγμασι, καὶ τείχη πεσοῦνται Ἱεριχούντια, τῶν ἐναντίων λέγω δυνάμεων τὰ δυσμενῆ ὀχυρώματα. Μετὰ Δαβὶδ σκιρτήσωμεν Πνεύματι· ἡ κιβωτὸς γὰρ Κυρίου σήμερον καταπέπαυται. Μετὰ Γαβριὴλ τοῦ τῶν ἀγγέλων πρωτοστάτου βοήσωμεν· Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ. Χαῖρε, τὸ τῆς χαρᾶς ἀδαπάνητον πέλαγος. Χαῖρε, τὸ μόνον τῆς λύπης ἐξάλειπτρον. Χαίροις, πάσης καρδίας ἀκεσώδυνον φάρμακον. Χαίροις, δι' ἧς παρωθεῖται μὲν θάνατος, ἡ δὲ ζωὴ εἰσκεκόμισται.

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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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