Homilies on the Dormition of the Mother of God · §2.18 · John of Damascus

Homily II — Dionysius at the tomb; the robes sent to Blachernae

'There were present then with the apostles the most honoured Timothy, apostle and first bishop of the Ephesians, and Dionysius the Areopagite, as the great Dionysius himself testifies in the discourses he laboured over, addressed to the apostle Timothy just named, concerning the blessed Hierotheus, who was also present then. He speaks thus: "For even among our God-possessed hierarchs themselves, when, as you yourself know, we and many of our holy brothers had come together to behold the body that was the beginning of life, and James the brother of God was there too, and Peter, the chief and most venerable summit of the theologians, it then seemed good, after the beholding, that all the hierarchs should hymn, each as he was able, the goodness, boundless in power, of the strength of the Godhead. After the theologians, as you know, he surpassed all the other initiates in sacred things, wholly transported, wholly outside himself, undergoing communion with the things he hymned; and all who heard and saw him, both those who knew him and those he did not know, judged him to be possessed by God and a divine singer of hymns. And what should I tell you of the things spoken of God there? For unless I have forgotten even myself, I know that I have often heard from you some parts of those inspired hymns."

When the sovereigns heard this, they asked Archbishop Juvenal himself to send them that holy coffin, securely sealed, with the garments of Mary, the glorious and all-holy Mother of God, that were in it. And when it had been sent, they laid it in the venerable house of the holy Mother of God that had been built at Blachernae. So much for these things.'

Greek

Παρῆσαν δὲ τότε σὺν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις, ὅ τε τιμιώτατος Τιμόθεος ὁ ἀπόστολος καὶ τῆς Ἐφεσίων πρῶτος ἐπίσκοπος, καὶ Διονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης, καθὼς αὐτὸς ὁ μέγας Διονύσιος μαρτυρεῖ ἐν τοῖς περὶ τοῦ μακαρίου Ἱεροθέου καὶ αὐτοῦ τότε παρόντος, πρὸς τὸν ῥηθέντα ἀπόστολον Τιμόθεον πονηθεῖσι λόγοις, οὑτωσὶ λέγων· Ἐπεὶ καὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς τοῖς θεολήπτοις ἡμῶν ἱεράρχαις, ἡνίκα καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὡς οἶσθα καὶ αὐτὸς, καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἡμῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν τοῦ ζωαρχικοῦ σώματος συνεληλύθαμεν· παρῆν δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀδελφόθεος Ἰάκωβος, καὶ Πέτρος, ἡ κορυφαία καὶ πρεσβυτάτη τῶν θεολόγων ἀκρότης. Εἶτα ἐδόκει μετὰ τὴν θέαν ὑμνῆσαι τοὺς ἱεράρχας ἅπαντας, ὡς ἕκαστος ἦν ἱκανὸς, τὴν ἀπειροδύναμον ἀγαθότητα τῆς θεαρχικῆς εὐσθενείας. Πάντων ἐκράτει μετὰ τοὺς θεολόγους, ὡς οἶσθα, τῶν ἄλλων ἱερομυστῶν, ὅλος ἐκδημῶν, ὅλος ἐξιστάμενος ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ ὑμνούμενα κοινωνίαν πάσχων, καὶ πρὸς πάντων, ὧν ἠκούετο, καὶ ἑωρᾶτο, καὶ ἐγινώσκετο, καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκε, θεόληπτος εἶναι καὶ θεῖος ὑμνολόγος κρινόμενος. Καὶ τί ἄν σοι περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ θεολογηθέντων λέγοιμι; καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ καὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιλέλησμαι, πολλάκις οἶδα παρὰ σοῦ καὶ μέρη τινὰ τῶν ἐνθεαστικῶν ἐκείνων ὑμνῳδιῶν ἐπακούσας. Καὶ ταῦτα οἱ βασιλεῖς ἀκούσαντες, ᾔτησαν αὐτὸν τὸν ἀρχιεπίσκοπον Ἰουβενάλιον τὴν ἁγίαν ἐκείνην σορὸν μετὰ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τῆς ἐνδόξου καὶ παναγίας Θεοτόκου Μαρίας ἱματίων βεβουλλωμένην ἀσφαλῶς αὐτοῖς ἀποσταλῆναι· καὶ ταύτην ἀποσταλεῖσαν κατέθεντο ἐν τῷ ἐν Βλαχέρναις δομηθέντι σεβασμίῳ οἴκῳ τῆς ἁγίας Θεοτόκου. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως. »

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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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