Homily II — Paradise opens to the new Eve
Long ago the Lord God sent out of the paradise of Eden as exiles (Genesis 3:23) those who began the mortal race: they had drunk their fill of the unmixed wine of disobedience, had let the eye of the heart drowse in the drunkenness of transgression, had the eyes of their mind weighed down by the stupor of sin, and had slept the sleep of death (Psalm 13:3). But now she has shaken off the assault of every passion, has brought forth the shoot of obedience to God the Father, and has become the beginning of life for the whole race: will paradise not receive her? Will heaven not throw open its gates for joy? Indeed it will. For Eve lent her ear to the serpent's message and listened to the enemy's counsel; her senses were charmed by the onset of a false and deceitful pleasure; and so she carried away a sentence of grief and sorrow, underwent the pangs of childbirth (Genesis 3:16), was condemned to death with Adam, and was made to dwell in the depths of Hades. But this woman, truly all-blessed, bent her ear to the word of God, was filled with the working of the Spirit, carried in her womb through an archangel the good pleasure of the Father, conceived without pleasure or union the person of God the Word, who fills all things, gave birth without the pangs of nature, and was wholly united to God: how could death swallow her? How will Hades admit her? How could corruption dare to touch the body that received life? These things are alien and wholly foreign to the soul and body that bore God. Death is afraid even to look at her. For when it attacked her Son, it learned from what it suffered (Hebrews 5:8), and, taught by experience, it has come to its senses. For her the gloomy roads down to Hades are untrodden, and a straight, smooth and ready road to heaven has been prepared. For if Christ, the life and the truth (John 14:6), said, 'Where I am, there will my servant be also' (John 12:26), how much more will his mother dwell with him? 'Before she was in labour, she gave birth' (Isaiah 66:7); and her departure from this life is also without pangs. 'The death of sinners is evil' (Psalm 34:21); but what shall we call the death of her in whom sin, the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:56), had been put to death, if not the beginning of a life that is unending and better? 'Precious' indeed 'is the death of the holy ones' of the Lord God of hosts (Psalm 116:15); but the passing of the Mother of God is beyond all price. Now let the heavens rejoice (Psalm 96:11), and let the angels clap their hands; now let the earth be glad, and let mortals leap for joy; now let the air ring gladly with songs, and let the lightless night strip off its cheerless, mourning-clad gloom, and brightly imitate the brilliance of day with the flashing of fire. For the living city of the Lord God of hosts is lifted on high; and kings bring a most precious gift (Psalm 68:29) from the temple of the Lord, from renowned Zion, to the Jerusalem above, the free, their own mother (Galatians 4:26): the kings are those whom Christ set up as rulers over all the earth (Psalm 45:16), I mean the apostles; the gift is the Mother of God, the ever-Virgin.
Greek
Πάλαι μὲν Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς τοῦ βροτείου γένους κατάρξαντας, καὶ τῆς παρακοῆς ἐμφορηθέντας τὸ ἄκρατον, καὶ τῇ μέθῃ τῆς παραβάσεως τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν τῆς καρδίας ἀπονυστάξαντας, καὶ τῇ κραιπάλῃ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῆς διανοίας βαρηθέντας τὰ ὄμματα, καὶ κοιμηθέντας ὕπνον εἰς θάνατον, ἐξορίστους τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς Ἐδὲμ ἐξεπόρευσε. Νῦν δὲ ταύτην τὴν πάθους παντὸς ἐκτιναξαμένην τὴν προσβολὴν, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ὑπακοῆς προαγαγοῦσαν τὸ βλάστημα, καὶ τῆς ζωῆς παντὶ τῷ γένει κατάρξασαν, οὐ παράδεισος ὑποδέξεται; οὐκ οὐρανὸς χαίρων ἀναπετάσει τὰς πύλας; πάνυ μὲν οὖν. Εὔα μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἀκοὴν ὑποθεῖσα τῇ ἀγγελίᾳ τοῦ ὄφεως, ἀκουτισθεῖσα δὲ τοῦ δυσμενοῦς τὴν παραίνεσιν, καὶ τῆς ψευδοῦς τε καὶ ἀπατηλῆς ἡδονῆς τῇ προσβολῇ θελχθεῖσα τὴν αἴσθησιν, λύπης καὶ ἀνίας ἀπόφασιν ἀποφέρεται, καὶ τόκων ὠδῖνας ὑφίσταται, καὶ σὺν τῷ Ἀδὰμ θάνατον κατακρίνεται, καὶ ἐν ᾅδου μυχοῖς κατοικίζεται. Ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἀληθῶς παμμακάριστον, τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγῳ τὴν ἀκοὴν ὑποκλίνασαν, καὶ τῆς ἐνεργείας πλησθεῖσαν τοῦ Πνεύματος, καὶ δι' ἀρχαγγέλου τὴν πατρικὴν εὐδοκίαν ἐγκυμονήσασαν, καὶ ἡδονῆς πάρεξ καὶ συναφείας συνειληφυῖαν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τὴν πάντα πληροῦσαν ὑπόστασιν, καὶ προσφυῶν ὠδίνων ἄνευ γεννήσασαν, καὶ ὅλην Θεῷ ἑνωθεῖσαν, πῶς καταπίῃ ὁ θάνατος; πῶς ὁ ᾅδης εἰσδέξεται; πῶς διαφθορὰ τοῦ ζωοδόχου κατατολμήσειε σώματος; ἀλλότρια ταῦτα, καὶ πάντῃ ξένα τῆς θεοφόρου ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος. Ταύτῃ καὶ προσβλέπων ὁ θάνατος δέδοικε. Τῷ γὰρ αὐτῆς Υἱῷ προσβαλὼν, ἔμαθεν ἀφ' ὧν ἔπαθε, καὶ πείρᾳ μαθὼν, σεσωφρόνισται. Ταύτῃ ᾅδου μὲν ἀστιβεῖς αἱ ζοφεραὶ κάθοδοι, εὐθεῖα δὲ καὶ λεία, καὶ εὔτρεπτος ἡ πρὸς οὐρανὸν πορεία ἡτοίμασται. Εἰ γὰρ, Ὅπου ἐγώ εἰμι, ἐκεῖ καὶ ὁ διάκονος ὁ ἐμὸς ἔσται, ἔφη ὁ Χριστὸς ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἡ μήτηρ σὺν αὐτῷ αὐλισθήσεται; Πρὶν ὠδίνησεν, ἔτεκεν, ἐκτὸς ὠδίνων καὶ ἡ αὐτῆς ἀποβίωσις. Θάνατος ἁμαρτωλῶν πονηρός· ἐν ᾗ δὲ τὸ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία νενέκρωτο, τί φήσομεν, ἢ ζωῆς ἀρχὴν ἀλήκτου καὶ κρείττονος; Τίμιος ὡς ἀληθῶς ὁ θάνατος τῶν ὁσίων Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν δυνάμεων· ὑπέρτιμος δὲ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ μητρὸς ἡ μετάστασις. Νῦν οὐρανοὶ εὐφραινέσθωσαν, καὶ κροτείτωσαν ἄγγελοι· νῦν ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ γῆ, καὶ σκιρτάτωσαν ἄνθρωποι· νῦν ἀὴρ γηθόμενος ὑπεχείτω τοῖς ᾄσμασι, καὶ νὺξ ἀφεγγὴς περιαιρείσθω ζόφον τὸν ἀμειδῆ καὶ δυσείμονα, καὶ μιμείσθω φαιδρῶς τὴν τῆς ἡμέρας στιλπνότητα τοῖς ἐκ πυρὸς ἀμαρύγμασιν. Ἡ γὰρ ζῶσα πόλις Κυρίου Θεοῦ τῶν δυνάμεων μετάρσιος αἴρεται, καὶ βασιλεῖς ἀπὸ ναοῦ Κυρίου τῆς περιβλέπτου Σιὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν ἐλευθέραν τὴν ἑαυτῶν μητέρα δῶρον προσάγουσι τιμαλφέστατον, οἱ πρὸς Χριστοῦ πάσης τῆς γῆς καταστάντες ἄρχοντες, τοὺς ἀποστόλους φημὶ, τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ μητέρα τὴν Ἀειπάρθενον.