Homily II — Juvenal of Jerusalem and the empty tomb (the Euthymius History, cols. 747-750)
You see, dear fathers and brothers, in what terms this most glorious tomb addresses us. And that this is so is also written, word for word, in the Euthymius History, book three, chapter forty: 'It was said above how Saint Pulcheria built many churches to Christ in Constantinople. One of them is the church built in Blachernae at the beginning of the reign of Marcian, of divine memory. When they had built there a venerable house to the all-hymned and all-holy Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, and adorned it with every ornament, they began to search for her all-holy, God-receiving body; and summoning Juvenal, the archbishop of Jerusalem, and the bishops from Palestine who were then staying in the imperial city because of the council that had been held at Chalcedon, they say to them: "We hear that in Jerusalem there is the first and most distinguished church of the all-holy Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, in the place called Gethsemane, where her life-bearing body was laid in a tomb. We wish, then, to bring this relic here, to be a protection for this imperial city."'
Juvenal took up the word and answered: 'In holy and God-inspired Scripture the facts of the end of the holy Mother of God Mary are not recorded; but we have received from an ancient and most truthful tradition that at the time of her glorious falling asleep all the holy apostles (there was no small grief in the midst over this, Pulcheria not knowing these things), as they were traveling through the world for the salvation of the nations, were gathered in an instant, lifted up on high, to Jerusalem; and as they stood by her, an angelic vision appeared to them, and a divine hymnody of the higher Powers was heard. And so, in divine and heavenly glory, she gave up her holy soul into the hands of God, in a manner beyond words. And her God-receiving body, carried out and buried with angelic and apostolic hymnody, was laid in the tomb in Gethsemane; and in that place, for three days, the choir and hymnody of the angels continued without ceasing.'
'After the third day, when the angelic hymnody had ceased, the apostles who were present (one of them, Thomas, had been left behind, and arrived after the third day, and wanted to venerate the God-receiving body) opened the tomb. And her all-hymned body they could not find at all; finding only her grave-cloths lying there, and filled with the ineffable fragrance that came from them, they secured the tomb. Struck with wonder at the mystery, they could only conclude that the One who was pleased to take flesh in his own person and become man from her, and to be born in the flesh, God the Word and Lord of glory, and who after the birth kept her virginity incorrupt, himself was pleased, after her departure from this life, to honour her undefiled and unstained body with incorruption, and with a translation before the common and universal resurrection.'
Greek
Ὁρᾶτε, φίλοι Πατέρες καὶ ἀδελφοί, οἷα πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ πανευκλεὴς ἀποτείνεται τάφος· καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει, καὶ ἐν τῇ Εὐθυμιακῇ Ἱστορίᾳ τρίτῳ λόγῳ, κεφαλαίῳ τεσσαρακοστῷ οὕτως αὐτολεξεὶ γέγραπται· Εἴρηται μὲν ἀνωτέρω, ὡς πολλὰς ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἀνήγειρε τῷ Χριστῷ ἐκκλησίας ἡ ἐν ἁγίοις Πουλχερία. Μία δὲ τούτων ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ ἐν Βλαχέρναις οἰκοδομηθεῖσα ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ τῆς θείας λήξεως Μαρκιανοῦ. Οὗτοι τοιγαροῦν ἐκεῖσε σεβάσμιον οἶκον τῇ πανυμνήτῳ καὶ παναγίᾳ Θεοτόκῳ καὶ Ἀειπαρθένῳ Μαρίᾳ οἰκοδομήσαντες, καὶ παντὶ κόσμῳ κοσμήσαντες τὸ ταύτης πανάγιον καὶ θεοδόχον ἀνεζήτουν σῶμα· καὶ μετακαλεσάμενοι Ἰουβενάλιον τὸν Ἱεροσολύμων ἀρχιεπίσκοπον, καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Παλαιστίνης ἐπισκόπους τότε ἐν τῇ βασιλευούσῃ ἐνδημοῦντας πόλει, διὰ τὴν τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἐν Χαλκηδόνι γενομένην σύνοδον, λέγουσιν αὐτοῖς· Ἀκούομεν εἶναι ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις τὴν πρώτην καὶ ἐξαίρετον τῆς παναγίας Θεοτόκου καὶ Ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας ἐκκλησίαν ἐν χωρίῳ Γεθσημανῇ καλουμένῳ, ἔνθα τὸ ζωηφόρον αὐτῆς σῶμα κατετέθη ἐν σορῷ. Βουλόμεθα τοίνυν τοῦτο τὸ λείψανον ἀναγαγεῖν ἐνταῦθα εἰς φυλακτήριον τῆς βασιλευούσης ταύτης πόλεως.
Ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ἰουβενάλιος, ἀπεκρίθη· Τῇ μὲν ἁγίᾳ καὶ θεοπνεύστῳ Γραφῇ οὐκ ἐμφέρεται τὰ κατὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τῆς ἁγίας Θεοτόκου Μαρίας· ἐξ ἀρχαίας δὲ καὶ ἀληθεστάτης παραδόσεως παρειλήφαμεν, ὅτι ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἐνδόξου κοιμήσεως αὐτῆς, οἱ μὲν ἅγιοι σύμπαντες ἀπόστολοι, ἐπὶ τούτου οὐ μικρὰ λύπῃ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, Πουλχερίας ταῦτα μὴ εἰδυίας, σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην διαθέοντες, ἐν καιροῦ ῥοπῇ μετάρσιοι συνηθροίσθησαν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν οὖσιν, ὀπτασία αὐτοῖς ἀγγελικὴ γέγονε, καὶ θεία ὑμνῳδία ἠκούετο κρειττόνων Δυνάμεων. Καὶ οὕτω θείᾳ δόξῃ καὶ ἐπουρανίῳ εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ τὴν ἁγίαν παρέθετο ψυχὴν ἀρρήτῳ τινὶ λόγῳ. Τὸ δὲ θεοδόχον αὐτῆς σῶμα μετὰ ἀγγελικῆς καὶ ἀποστολικῆς ὑμνῳδίας ἐκκομισθὲν, καὶ κηδευθὲν, ἐν σορῷ τῇ ἐν Γεθσημανῇ κατετέθη· ἐν ᾧ τόπῳ ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων χοροστασία καὶ ὑμνῳδία διεμείνεν ἄπαυστος.
Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ὑμνῳδίας παυσαμένης, παρόντες οἱ ἀπόστολοι, ἑνὸς αὐτοῖς ἀπολειφθέντος Θωμᾶ, καὶ μετὰ τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν ἐλθόντος, καὶ τὸ θεοδόχον σῶμα προσκυνῆσαι βουληθέντος, ἤνοιξαν τὴν σορόν. Καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα αὐτῆς τὸ πανύμνητον οὐδαμῶς εὑρεῖν ἠδυνήθησαν, μόνα δὲ αὐτῆς τὰ ἐντάφια κείμενα εὑρόντες, καὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀφάτου εὐωδίας ἐμφορηθέντες, ἡσφαλίσαντο τὴν σορόν. Καὶ τὸ τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸ θαῦμα ἐκπλαγέντες, τοῦτο μόνον εἶχον λογίζεσθαι, ὅτιπερ ὃ εὐδόκησας κατ' ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν σαρκωθῆναι καὶ ἐνανθρωπῆσαι ἐξ αὐτῆς, καὶ γεννηθῆναι σαρκὶ Θεὸς Λόγος καὶ Κύριος τῆς δόξης, καὶ μετὰ τὸν τόκον τὴν αὐτῆς ἄφθορον παρθενίαν διαφυλάξας, αὐτὸς εὐδόκησε καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀποβίωσιν, τὸ ταύτης ἄχραντον καὶ ἀμίαντον σῶμα τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ τιμῆσαι, καὶ μεταθέσει πρὸ τῆς κοινῆς καὶ καθολικῆς ἀναστάσεως.