ACC ~ Luke 1 v34 - 35
EXCEEDING ALL UNDERSTANDING
LEO THE GREAT: But the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ exceeds all understanding and goes beyond any precedent. SERMON 30.4.2. [1]
[1] FC 93:128-29*.
MARY’S VOW OF VIRGINITY
AUGUSTINE: Indeed, her virginity was itself more beautiful and more pleasing, because Christ, in his conception, did not himself take away that which he was preserving from violation by humanity; but, before he was conceived he chose one already consecrated to God of whom he would be born. HOLY VIRGINITY 4. [1]
[1] FC 27:146*.
THE VIRGIN BIRTH A DIVINE MYSTERY
AMBROSE: Here Mary seems to have disbelieved, unless you pay close attention, for it is not right that she who was chosen to bear the only-begotten Son of God should seem to have been without faith. And how could this be? Although the prerogative of the Mother, on whom a greater prerogative is straightway to be conferred, is intact, how could it be that Zechariah who had not believed was condemned to silence, but Mary, if she had not believed, would be exalted by the infusion of the Holy Spirit? But with a greater prerogative, also a greater faith must be reserved for her. But Mary must both believe, and not so heedlessly usurp. She must believe the angel and not usurp divine things. Nor is it easy to know “the mystery which has been hidden from eternity in God,” [1] which the higher powers could not know either. Nevertheless she did not deny the faith, she did not refuse the duty, but she conformed her will, she promised obedience. For truly when she said, “How shall this be?” she did not doubt concerning the outcome but sought the nature of this same outcome. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 2.14. [2]
[1] Eph 3:9; cf. Col 1:26.
[2] EHG 40*.
GABRIEL SHOULD FEAR MARY, NOT MARY GABRIEL
THEOPHANES: Theotokos: Make plain to me, how I, a virgin, shall bear him?
The angel: You seek to know from me the manner of your conceiving, Virgin, but this is beyond all interpretation! The Holy Spirit will overshadow you in his creative power and shall make this come to pass!
Theotokos: When she accepted the suggestion of the serpent, my mother Eve was banished from divine delight. Therefore I fear your strange greeting, for I take care that I not slip.
The angel: I am sent as God’s messenger to disclose the divine will to you. Why are you afraid of me, undefiled one? I rather am afraid of you! Why do you stand in awe of me, O lady, who stand in reverent awe of you? CANON OF ANNUNCI-ATION. [1]
THE IMPREGNATING SPIRIT
PRUDENTIUS:
He had to be redeemed: my Spirit came down
And impregnated flesh made from the dust
With the divine nature; God has assumed
Humanity, joining it with divinity,
And kindled in men’s hearts new love of me.
AGAINST SYMMACHUS 2.265-69. [2]
[1] FM 450**.
[2] FC 52:149.
JESUS’ BIRTH PREFIGURES OUR BIRTH TO NEW LIFE
PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: “Who was born from the Holy Spirit.” Precisely thus is Christ born for you, in such a way that he may change your own manner of birth. … Formerly, death awaited you as the setting sun of your life; he wants you to have a new birth of life.
“Who was born from the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.” Where the Spirit is begetting, and a virgin giving birth, everything carried on is divine; nothing of it is merely human. SERMON 57. [1]
[1] FC 17:107.
THE WATER OF BAPTISM IS LIKE THE VIRGIN’S WOMB
LEO THE GREAT: Each one is a partaker of this spiritual origin in regeneration. To every one, when he is reborn, the water of baptism is like the Virgin’s womb, for the same Holy Spirit fills the font, who filled the Virgin, that the sin, which that sacred conception overthrew, may be taken away by this mystical washing. SERMON 24.3. [1]
[1] NPNF 2 12:135*.
FREEDOM THROUGH THE VIRGIN BIRTH
AUGUSTINE: The first sinner, the first transgressor, begot sinners liable to death. To heal them, the Savior came from the Virgin; because he didn’t come to you the way you came, seeing that he did not originate from the sexual appetite of male and female, not from that chain of lust. The Holy Spirit, it says, will come upon you. That was said to the Virgin glowing with faith, not seething with carnal lust. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Being overshadowed like that, how could she be seething with the heat of sexual desire? So, because he didn’t come to you the way you came, he sets you free. SERMON 153.14. [1]
FRUITFUL BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
PRUDENTIUS:
When God’s coming draws near, the angel Gabriel advances
From the Father’s high throne and enters the house of the Virgin.
“Mary,” he says, “the Holy Spirit will render you fruitful,
And you shall give birth to the Christ, O glorious Virgin.”
SCENES FROM SACRED HISTORY 25. [2]
[1] WSA 3 5:65.
[2] FC 52:187.
HOVERING SPIRIT SANCTIFIES FALLEN CREATION
EPHREM THE SYRIAN: It was fitting that the Architect of the works of creation should come and raise up the house that had fallen and that the hovering Spirit should sanctify the buildings that were unclean. Thus, if the Progenitor entrusted the judgment that is to come to his Son, it is clear that he accomplished the creation of humanity and its restoration through him as well. He was the live coal, which had come to kindle the briars and thorns. [1] He dwelt in the womb and cleansed it and sanctified the place of the birth pangs and the curses. [2] The flame, which Moses saw, was moistening the bush [3] and distilling the fat lest it be inflamed. The likeness of refined gold could be seen in the bush, entering into the fire but without being consumed. This happened so that it might make known that living fire which was to come at the end, watering and moistening the womb of the Virgin and clothing it like the fire that enveloped the bush. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 1.25. [4]
[1] See Gen 3:18; Is 9:18.
[2] See Gen 3:16.
[3] Ex 3:2-3.
[4] ECTD 53*.
MARY NOW REPRESENTS TEMPLE, TABERNACLE AND ARK
THEOPHANES: The angel: Rejoice, lady; rejoice, most pure virgin! Rejoice, God-containing vessel! Rejoice, candlestick of the light, the restoration of Adam and the deliverance of Eve! Rejoice, holy mountain, shining sanctuary! Rejoice, bridal chamber of immortality!
Theotokos: The descent of the Holy Spirit has purified my soul; it has sanctified my body; it has made me a temple containing God, a divinely adorned tabernacle, a living sanctuary and the pure mother of life.
The angel: I see you as a lamp with many lights; a bridal chamber made by God! Spotless maiden, as an ark of gold, receive now the giver of the law, who through you has been pleased to deliver humankind’s corrupted nature! CANON OF ANNUNCIATION. [1]
[1] FM 455**.
THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS A NEW CREATION
JOHN OF DAMASCUS: And through the invocation the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost becomes a rainfall for this new cultivation. For just as all things whatsoever God made he made by the operation of the Holy Ghost, so also it is by the operation of the Spirit that these things are done which surpass nature and cannot be discerned except by faith alone. “How shall this be done to me,” asked the blessed Virgin, “because I know not a man?” The archangel Gabriel answered, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.” And now you ask how the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine and water the blood of Christ. And I tell you that the Holy Ghost comes down and works these things which are beyond description and understanding. ORTHODOX FAITH 4.13. [1]
[1] FC 37:357.
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