Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna

ON THE DAY THAT THEY MET IN THE TEMPLE:

ALTHOUGH I HAVE ALREADY: as briefly as possible, in my dialogue on chastity, laid the foundations, so to speak, for a discourse on virginity, yet today the season has brought before us the whole subject of the glory of virginity and its incorruptible crown, for the joyful reflection of the Church’s children. For today the council chamber of the divine oracles is opened wide, and the signs that foretold this glorious day, with its effects and results, are being read by the sacred preachers to the gathered Church. Today the fulfillment of that ancient and true purpose is gloriously shown to the world in fact and deed. Today, without any covering, and with unveiled face, we behold, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, and the majesty of the divine ark itself. Today the most holy assembly, carrying on its shoulders the heavenly joy that generations had awaited, shares it with the human race. Old things have passed away, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17. New things have burst into flower, and they do not fade away. No longer does the stern decree of the law rule, but the grace of the Lord reigns, drawing all men to itself by saving long-suffering. No second Uzziah is invisibly punished for daring to touch what may not be touched, as in 2 Samuel 6:7, for God Himself invites us, and who will stand back in fear? He says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,” in Matthew 11:28. Who, then, will not run to Him? Let no Jew oppose the truth by looking at the type that went before in the house of Obededom, as in 2 Samuel 6:10. The Lord has plainly come to His own. And seated on a living ark, not an inanimate one, as on the mercy seat, He comes forth in solemn procession upon the earth. The tax collector, when he touches this ark, goes away justified. The harlot, when she comes near it, is reshaped, so to speak, and becomes chaste. The leper, when he touches it, is made completely well without pain. It turns no one away. It shrinks from no one. It gives the gifts of healing without catching any disease itself, for the Lord, who loves mankind and cares for man, makes His resting place in it. These are the gifts of this new grace. This is that new and strange thing that has happened under the sun, a thing that never happened before and will never happen again. That which God, in His compassion toward us, foreordained has come to pass. He has brought it to fulfillment because of that love for man which so rightly belongs to Him. Therefore the sacred trumpet has sounded with good reason, “Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new,” according to 2 Corinthians 5:17. And what shall I imagine, what shall I say that is worthy of this day? I am struggling to reach what cannot be reached, for the memory of this holy virgin goes far beyond all my words. Therefore, since the greatness of this praise completely overwhelms my limited power, let us turn to that hymn which is not beyond our ability, and, glorying in our own unchangeable defeat, let us join the rejoicing chorus of Christ’s flock, who are keeping the feast. And you, my divine and holy hearers, keep careful silence, so that through the narrow channel of your ears, as into the harbor of understanding, the ship loaded with truth may sail in peace. We are keeping a festival, not according to the empty customs of Greek mythology. We are keeping a feast that brings with it no ridiculous or frenzied banqueting of the gods, but one that teaches us the wondrous condescension toward us men of the awesome glory of Him who is God over all, according to Romans 9:5.

COME: then, Isaiah, most solemn of preachers and greatest of prophets. Wisely unfold to the Church the mysteries of the congregation in glory, and strongly stir up our honored guests to satisfy themselves with lasting delights. Then, as we place the reality we possess beside that mirror of yours, truthful prophet that you are, you may joyfully clap your hands at the outcome of your prophecies. "It came to pass," he says, "in the year in which King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and the house was full of His glory. And the seraphim stood around Him; each one had six wings. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. And the doorposts were shaken at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe is me! I am pierced to the heart, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And one of the seraphim was sent to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? Then I said, Here am I; send me. And He said, Go, and tell this people, You indeed hear, but do not understand; and you indeed see, but do not perceive." These are the proclamations announced beforehand by the prophet through the Spirit. Dearly beloved, consider the force of these words. Then you will understand the outcome of these sacramental symbols, and know both what this gathering of ourselves is and how great it is. And since the prophet has spoken beforehand about this wonder, come, and with the greatest eagerness and joy, and readiness of heart, together with the sharpest insight of your mind, approach Bethlehem the renowned, and set before your mind a clear and distinct picture, comparing the prophecy with the actual outcome of events. You will not need many words to understand the matter; only fix your eyes on the things taking place there. "All things truly are plain to them that understand, and right to them that find knowledge." Proverbs 8:9 For behold, like a throne high and lifted up by the glory of Him who fashioned it, the virgin mother is there made ready, and most clearly for the King, the Lord of hosts. On this throne, consider the Lord now coming to you in sinful flesh. On this virginal throne, I say, worship Him who now comes to you by this new and ever-adorable way. Look around you with the eye of faith, and you will find around Him, arranged as by the order of their ranks, the royal and priestly company of the seraphim. These, as His bodyguard, are always accustomed to attend the presence of their King. Therefore, in this place they are said not only to sing with their praises of the divine substance of the divine unity, but also of the glory of that one of the sacred Trinity who is to be worshiped by all, and who now, by the appearing of God in the flesh, has even come down to earth. They say, "The whole earth is full of His glory." For we believe that, together with the Son, who was made man for our sake according to the good pleasure of His will, the Father also was present, who is inseparable from Him in His divine nature, and also the Spirit, who is of one and the same essence with Him. For, as Paul says, the interpreter of the divine oracle, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them." 2 Corinthians 5:19 He thus shows that the Father was in the Son, because one and the same will was at work in them.

THEREFORE: lover of this festival, when you have carefully considered the glorious mysteries of Bethlehem, which were brought to pass for your sake, gladly join yourself to the heavenly host that is magnificently celebrating your salvation. Second Samuel 6:14. As David once did before the ark, so do you also, before this virginal throne, joyfully lead the dance. Sing a glad hymn to the Lord, who is always and everywhere present, and to Him who, from Teman, as the prophet says, has seen fit to appear in the flesh to the human race. Habakkuk 3:3. Say with Moses, "He is my God, and I will glorify Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him." Exodus 15:2. Then, after your hymn of thanksgiving, let us usefully ask what cause stirred the King of Glory to appear in Bethlehem. His compassion for us compelled Him, though He cannot be compelled, to be born in a human body at Bethlehem. But what necessity was there that He, as a suckling infant, He who, though in time, was not limited by time, He who, though wrapped in swaddling clothes, was not held fast by them, what necessity was there that He should be an exile and a stranger from His country? If you wish to know this, most holy congregation, you upon whom the Spirit of God has breathed, listen to Moses plainly proclaiming to the people, stirring them, as it were, to the knowledge of this extraordinary nativity, and saying, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." Exodus 31:19. O wondrous circumstance! O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Romans 11:33. Indeed, it was fitting that the Lord of the law and the prophets should do all things in agreement with His own law, not making the law void but fulfilling it, and rather joining to the fulfillment of the law the beginning of His grace. Therefore the mother, though superior to the law, submits to the law. And she, the holy and undefiled one, keeps that time of forty days appointed for the unclean. And He who makes us free from the law became subject to the law; and for Him who has sanctified us, a pair of clean birds is offered, in testimony of those who approach clean and blameless. Luke 11:24. Now Isaiah is our witness that that childbirth was polluted by nothing, and stood in no need of expiatory victims. He clearly proclaims to the whole earth under the sun, "Before she travailed," he says, "she brought forth; before her pains came, she escaped, and brought forth a man-child." Isaiah 66:7. "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?" Therefore, the most holy virgin mother entirely escaped the manner of women even before she brought forth, no doubt so that the Holy Spirit, betrothing her to Himself and sanctifying her, she might conceive without intercourse with man. She has brought forth her firstborn Son, even the only-begotten Son of God. I mean Him who in the heavens above shone forth as the only-begotten, without mother, from out of His Father's substance, and preserved the virginity of His natural unity undivided and inseparable. And on earth, in the virgin's nuptial chamber, like a bridegroom He joined to Himself the nature of Adam by an inalienable union, and preserved His mother's purity uncorrupt and uninjured. Him, in short, who in heaven was begotten without corruption, and on earth was brought forth in a manner altogether beyond words. But to return to our subject.

IV: Therefore the prophet brought the virgin from Nazareth, so that she might give birth in Bethlehem to her child who brings salvation, and brought her back again to Nazareth, so that the hope of life might be made known to the world. For this reason the ark of God moved from the inn at Bethlehem. For there He paid to the law that debt of the forty days, due not to justice but to grace, and rested on the mountains of Zion. There, receiving into her pure bosom, as on a lofty throne and one beyond the nature of man, the Monarch of all, she presented Him there to God the Father as the joint-partner of His throne and inseparable from His nature, together with that pure and undefiled flesh which He had assumed from her substance. The holy mother goes up to the temple to show to the law a new and strange wonder, that child long expected, who opened the virgin's womb and yet did not break the barriers of virginity; that child who was above the law and yet fulfilled the law; that child who was at once before the law and yet after it; that child, in short, who was incarnate from her beyond the law of nature. For in other cases, every womb is first opened by union with a man and, being made pregnant by his seed, receives the beginning of conception. Then, through the pains that complete childbirth, it finally brings forth to the light its offspring, endowed with reason and consistent with its nature, according to the wise provision of God its Creator. For God said, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." But the womb of this virgin, without having been opened before or made pregnant with seed, gave birth to an offspring that went beyond nature, while at the same time being akin to it, and did so without harm to its indivisible unity, so that the miracle was all the more astonishing, while the privilege of virginity also remained untouched. Therefore she goes up to the temple, she who was more exalted than the temple, clothed with a double glory—the glory of undefiled virginity, and that of ineffable fruitfulness, the blessing of the law, and the sanctification of grace. Therefore he who saw it says, "And the whole house was full of His glory, and the seraphim stood round about Him; and one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." Isaiah 6:3 The blessed prophet Habakkuk also has wonderfully sung, saying, "In the midst of two living creatures You shall be known: as the years draw near You shall be recognized—when the time has come You shall be shown forth." See, I ask you, the great exactness of the Spirit. He speaks of knowledge, recognition, and showing forth. In the first statement, "In the midst of two living creatures You shall be known," Habakkuk 3:2 he refers to that overshadowing of the divine glory which, in the time of the law, rested in the Holy of Holies on the covering of the ark, between the symbolic cherubim, as He says to Moses, "There will I be known to you." Exodus 25:22 But he also refers to that gathering of angels which has now come to meet us, through the divine and ever-adorable manifestation of the Savior Himself in the flesh, although in His very nature He cannot be seen by us, as Isaiah had already declared. But when he says, "As the years draw near, You shall be recognized," he means, as has been said before, that glorious recognition of our Savior, God in the flesh, who is otherwise invisible to mortal eyes; as Paul, that great interpreter of sacred mysteries, says somewhere: "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Galatians 4:4-5 And then, about the words that follow, "When the time has come, You shall be shown forth," what explanation is needed, if a man carefully directs the eye of his mind to the feast we are now celebrating? For then You shall be shown forth, he says, borne in royal splendor by Your pure and chaste mother in the temple, and in the grace and beauty of the flesh You assumed. Summing up all these things for greater clarity, the prophet cries out briefly: "The Lord is in His holy temple;" Habakkuk 2:20 "Fear before Him, all the earth."

TRULY: great is the mystery connected with you, O virgin mother, you spiritual throne, glorified and made worthy of God. You have brought forth, before the eyes of those in heaven and on earth, a supreme wonder. This is proved by an unanswerable argument: at the new and supernatural birth of your child, the angels sang on earth, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," Luke 2:14. By their threefold song they brought in a threefold holiness. Blessed are you among the generations of women, O you most blessed of God, for through you the earth has been filled with that divine glory of God; as it is sung in the Psalms: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, and the whole earth shall be filled with His glory. Amen. Amen." And "the posts of the door," says the prophet, "moved at the voice of him that cried." By this is signified the veil of the temple drawn before the Ark of the Covenant, which was a type of you. This was so that the truth might be opened to me, and also so that I might be taught, by the types and figures that went before, to approach with reverence and trembling and honor the sacred mystery connected with you. It was also so that, by this earlier shadow-picture of the law, I might be kept from boldly and irreverently gazing with a fixed stare at Him who, in His incomprehensibility, is seated far above all. For if such honor was given by God to the ark, which was the image and type of your sanctity, that no one but the priestly order had access to it or was allowed to enter and see it, since the veil set it apart and kept the vestibule like that of a queen, then what great veneration is due from us, who are the least in creation, to you, who truly are a queen? To you, the living ark of God, the Lawgiver; to you, the heaven that contains Him whom nothing can contain? For since you, O holy virgin, have dawned on the world like a bright day and have brought forth the Sun of Righteousness, that hateful terror of darkness has been driven away. The power of the tyrant has been broken. Death has been destroyed. Hell has been swallowed up. All enmity has been dissolved before the face of peace. Harmful diseases depart now that salvation appears. And the whole universe has been filled with the pure and clear light of truth. Solomon refers to these things in the Song of Songs and begins like this: "My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feeds among the lilies until the day breaks and the shadows flee away," Song of Songs 2:16-17. Since then, the God of gods has appeared in Sion, and the splendor of His beauty has appeared in Jerusalem; and a light has sprung up for the righteous, and joy for those who are true of heart. According to the blessed David, the Perfecter and Lord of the perfected has, by the Holy Spirit, called the teacher and minister of the law to minister and testify to those things that were done.

THEREFORE THE AGED SIMEON: putting off the weakness of the flesh and putting on the strength of hope, hurried before the law to receive the Minister of the law, the Teacher with authority, the God of Abraham, the Protector of Isaac, the Holy One of Israel, the Instructor of Moses. I mean Him who promised to show him His divine incarnation, as it were His hinder parts, Exodus 3:23. Him who, in the midst of poverty, was rich. Him who in infancy was before the ages. Him who, though seen, was invisible. Him who in comprehension was incomprehensible. Him who, though in littleness, still surpassed all greatness. Him who was at one and the same time in the temple and in the highest heavens, on a royal throne and on the chariot of the cherubim. Him who is both above and below continually. Him who is in the form of a servant, and in the form of God the Father. A subject, and yet King of all. He was entirely given up to desire, to hope, and to joy. He was no longer his own, but belonged to Him who had been looked for. The Holy Spirit had announced the joyful tidings to him. And before he reached the temple, carried aloft by the eyes of his understanding, as though he already possessed what he had longed for, he rejoiced with joy. Led on in this way, and in his haste treading the air with his steps, he reached the shrine held sacred until now. But not heeding the temple, he stretched out his holy arms to the Ruler of the temple, singing words fitting for the joyful occasion: I long for You, O Lord God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who have graciously chosen, out of Your own glory and goodness, which provides for all, and out of Your gracious condescension, with which You bend toward us as a Mediator bringing peace, to establish harmony between earth and heaven. I seek You, the great Author of all. With longing I wait for You who, with Your word, embrace all things. I wait for You, the Lord of life and death. For You I look, the Giver of the law, and the Successor of the law. I hunger for You, who makes the dead alive. I thirst for You, who refreshes the weary. I desire You, the Creator and Redeemer of the world, Isaiah 43:10. You are our God, and You we adore. You are our holy Temple, and in You we pray. You are our Lawgiver, and You we obey. You are God of all things, the First. Before You there was no other god begotten of God the Father. Neither after You shall there be any other son consubstantial and of one glory with the Father. And to know You is perfect righteousness, and to know Your power is the root of immortality, Wisdom 15:3. You are He who, for our salvation, was made the head stone of the corner, precious and honorable, declared before to Sion. For all things are placed under You as their Cause and Author, as He who brought all things into being out of nothing, and gave to what was unstable a firm coherence; as the connecting Band and Preserver of what has been brought into being; as the Framer of things different by nature; as He who, with wise and steady hand, holds the helm of the universe; as the very Principle of all good order; as the irrefragable Bond of concord and peace. For in You we live, and move, and have our being, Acts 18:28. Therefore, O Lord my God, I will glorify You. I will praise Your name. For You have done wonderful things. Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. You are clothed with majesty and honor. For what is more splendid for a king than a purple robe embroidered with flowers, and a shining diadem? Or what for God, who delights in man, is more magnificent than this merciful assumption of manhood, lighting with its radiant rays those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death? Isaiah 42:7; Luke 1:79. Fittingly that temporal king, and Your servant, once sang of You as the King Eternal, saying, You are fairer than the children of men, who among men are truly God and man. For by Your incarnation You have girded Your loins with righteousness, and anointed Your veins with faithfulness, You who are Yourself true righteousness and truth, the joy and exultation of all, Isaiah 11:5. Therefore rejoice with me this day, you heavens, for the Lord has shown mercy to His people. Yes, let the clouds drop the dew of righteousness upon the world. Let the foundations of the earth sound a trumpet blast to those in Hades, for the resurrection of those who sleep has come, Isaiah 45:8. Let the earth also cause compassion to spring up to its inhabitants. For I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful, since I have seen You, the Savior of men, 2 Corinthians 7:4.

WHILE THE OLD MAN WAS SO JOYFUL: rejoicing with very great and holy joy, the holy mother of God now plainly fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah had spoken earlier in a figure. For she took that living and ineffable coal, clothed with human flesh, from a pure and undefiled altar, and held Him out in the embrace of her holy hands, as if with tongs, to that righteous man. And she addressed him and urged him, it seems to me, with words like these: Receive, reverend elder, most excellent among priests, receive the Lord, and enjoy in full that hope of yours which has not been left widowed and desolate. Receive, most distinguished among men, the treasure that does not fail, and the riches that can never be taken away. Take into your embrace, wisest of men, that unspeakable might, that unsearchable power, which alone can support you. Embrace, minister of the temple, the infinite Greatness and the incomparable Strength. Fold yourself around Him who is life itself, and live, most venerable of men. Cling closely to incorruption and be renewed, most righteous of men. This attempt is not too bold, so do not shrink back from it, most holy of men. Be satisfied with Him whom you have long desired, and delight yourself in Him who has been given to you, or rather who gives Himself to you, most divine of men. Joyfully draw your light, most godly of men, from the Sun of Righteousness, who shines around you through the stainless mirror of the flesh. Do not fear His gentleness, nor let His mercy frighten you, most blessed of men. Do not be afraid of His mildness, nor shrink from His kindness, most modest of men. Join yourself to Him eagerly, and do not delay to obey Him. What is spoken to you and held out to you is not marked by over-boldness. Do not be unwilling, then, most honorable of men. The flame of my Lord's grace does not consume you, but gives you light, most just of men. Exodus 3:2 Let the bush, which set forth me as a type, teach you this, with regard to the truth of that fire which had not yet come into being, you who are best instructed in the law. Daniel 3:21 Let that furnace, which was like a breeze pouring out dew, persuade you, master, of the divine arrangement of this mystery. And besides all this, let my womb be proof to you. In it was contained Him who was never contained in anything else, and from its substance the incarnate Word (Logos) still was willing to become incarnate. The blast of the trumpet, Exodus 19:16, no longer terrifies those who approach. Nor does the mountain covered in smoke again cause fear to those who draw near. Nor does the law mercilessly punish those who would boldly touch. What is present here speaks of love for man. What appears here speaks of the divine condescension. So then, receive thankfully the God who comes to you, for He will take away your iniquities and thoroughly cleanse your sins. In you, let the cleansing of the world first take place, as in a figure. In you and by you, let that justification which is by grace be made known beforehand to the Gentiles. You are worthy of the life-giving firstfruits. You have made good use of the law. From now on use grace. With the letter you have grown weary; in the Spirit be renewed. Put off what is old, and clothe yourself with what is new. For I do not think you are ignorant of these things.

VIII: Then that righteous man grew bold, and yielded to the urging of the mother of God, who is the handmaid of God in the things that concern men. He received into his aged arms Him who, though in infancy, was yet the Ancient of Days. He blessed God and said, "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel" (Luke 2:29-32). I have received from You a joy unmixed with pain. Receive me rejoicing, O Lord, and singing of Your mercy and compassion. You have given me this joy of heart. I render to You with gladness my tribute of thanksgiving. I have known the power of the love of God. Since, for my sake, God begotten of You, in a manner beyond words and without corruption, has become man. I have known the greatness of Your love and care for us, a greatness beyond explanation, for You have sent forth Your own bowels to come to our deliverance. Now, at last, I understand what I had learned from Solomon: "Strong as death is love." For by it the sting of death shall be done away. By it the dead shall see life. By it even death shall learn what death is, being made to cease from that rule which it exercised over us. By it also the serpent, the author of our evils, shall be taken captive and overwhelmed (Song of Songs 8:6). You have made known to us, O Lord, Your salvation, causing the plant of peace to spring up for us, and we shall no longer wander in error. You have made known to us, O Lord, that You have not to the end overlooked Your servants. Neither have You, O beneficent One, entirely forgotten the works of Your hands. For out of Your compassion for our low condition, You have poured out upon us abundantly that goodness of Yours which is inexhaustible, and akin to Your very nature, having redeemed us by Your only begotten Son, who is unchangeably like You, and of one substance with You. You judged it unworthy of Your majesty and goodness to entrust to a servant the work of saving and benefiting Your servants, or to cause those who had offended to be reconciled by a minister. But by means of that Light, who is of one substance with You, You have given light to those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, so that in Your light they might see the light of knowledge. And it has seemed good to You, by means of our Lord and Creator, to fashion us again to immortality. And You have graciously given us a return to Paradise by means of Him who separated us from the joys of Paradise. And by means of Him who has power to forgive sins (Mark 2:10), You have blotted out the handwriting that was against us (Colossians 2:4). Lastly, by means of Him who is a partaker of Your throne and who cannot be separated from Your divine nature, You have given us the gift of reconciliation and access to You with confidence, so that, by the Lord who recognizes the sovereign authority of none, by the true and almighty God, the subscribed sanction, as it were, of so many and such great blessings might make the justifying gifts of grace sure and unquestionable rights for those who have obtained mercy. And this very thing the prophet had announced before in the words: "No ambassador, nor angel, but the Lord Himself saved them; because He loved them, and spared them, and He took them up, and exalted them." And all this was not of works of righteousness which we have done (Titus 3:5), nor because we loved You. For our first earthly forefather, who was honorably entertained in the delightful dwelling of Paradise, despised Your divine and saving commandment, and was judged unworthy of that life-giving place. And, mingling his seed with the bastard offshoots of sin, he made it very weak. But You, O Lord, of Yourself, and of Your love toward the creature of Your hands, a love beyond words, have confirmed Your mercy toward us. And, pitying our estrangement from You, You were moved at the sight of our degradation to take us into compassion. Therefore, from now on, a joyous festival is established for us, the race of Adam, because the first Creator of Adam has of His own free will become the Second Adam. And the brightness of the Lord our God has come down to dwell with us, so that we see God face to face and are saved. Therefore, O Lord, I ask You to let me depart. I have seen Your salvation. Let me be delivered from the bent yoke of the letter. I have seen the King Eternal, to whom no other succeeds. Let me be set free from this servile and burdensome chain. I have seen Him who is by nature my Lord and Deliverer. May I then obtain His decree for my deliverance. Set me free from the yoke of condemnation, and place me under the yoke of justification. Deliver me from the yoke of the curse, and of the letter that kills (2 Corinthians 3:6), and enroll me in the blessed company of those who, by the grace of this true Son of Yours, who is equal with You in glory and power, have been received into the adoption of sons.

IX: So then, he says, let what I have said so far in brief be enough for the present as my offering of thanks to God. But what shall I say to you, O mother-virgin and virgin-mother? For even the praise of her who is not man's work goes beyond the power of man. Therefore I will brighten the dimness of my poverty with the splendor of the gifts of the spirits that shine around you. And offering to you what is your own, I will pluck from the immortal meadows a garland for your sacred and divinely crowned head. With your ancestral hymns I will greet you, O daughter of David, and mother of the Lord and God of David. For it would be both shameful and ill-omened to adorn you, who excel in your own glory, with what belongs to another. Receive, therefore, O lady most kind, gifts that are precious, and such as are fitted to you alone, O you who are exalted above all generations, and who, among all created things, visible and invisible, shine forth as the most honorable. Blessed is the root of Jesse, and thrice blessed is the house of David, in which you have sprung up. God is in the midst of you, and you shall not be moved, for the Most High has made holy the place of His tabernacle. For in you the covenants and oaths made by God to the fathers have received a most glorious fulfillment, since by you the Lord has appeared, the God of hosts with us. That bush which could not be touched, Exodus 3:2, which beforehand foreshadowed your figure endowed with divine majesty, bore God without being consumed, who showed Himself to the prophet only so far as He willed to be seen. Then again, that hard and rugged rock, Exodus 17:6, which pictured the grace and refreshment that has sprung out from you for all the world, brought forth abundantly in the desert, from its thirsty sides, a healing drink for the fainting people. Yes, moreover, the rod of the priest which, without cultivation, blossomed forth in fruit, Numbers 17:8, the pledge and earnest of a perpetual priesthood, gave no small symbol of your supernatural child-bearing, Hebrews 9:4. What more? Has not the mighty Moses plainly declared that on account of these types of you, hard to be understood, Exodus 25:8, he stayed longer on the mountain, so that he might learn, O holy one, the mysteries connected with you? For when he was commanded to build the ark as a sign and likeness of this thing, he was not negligent in obeying the command, although a tragic event happened on his descent from the mountain. But having made it five and a half cubits in size, he appointed it to be the receptacle of the law, and covered it with the wings of the cherubim, most clearly pointing beforehand to you, the mother of God, who conceived Him without corruption, and in an ineffable way brought forth Him who is Himself, as it were, the very consistence of incorruption, and that within the limits of the five and a half circles of the world. This was on your account, and on account of the undefiled Incarnation of God, the Word, which by you had place for the sake of that flesh which immutably and indivisibly remains with Him forever, Hebrews 9:4. The golden pot also, as a most certain type, preserved the manna contained in it unchanged, and kept it fresh for ages, though in other cases it was changed from day to day. The prophet Elijah likewise, 2 Kings 2:11, foreknowing your chastity, and through the Spirit striving after it, bound around himself the crown of that fiery life, and by the divine decree was judged superior to death. And Elisha, prefiguring you, Sirach 48:1, having been instructed by a wise master, and anticipating your presence though you were not yet born, by certain sure indications of the things that would take place hereafter ministered help and healing to those who needed it, by a power beyond nature. Now with a new cruse that contained healing salt, he cured the deadly waters, to show that the world was to be made new by the mystery revealed in you. Now with unleavened meal, answering in type to your child-bearing, without being defiled by the seed of man, he drove from the food the bitterness of death. And then again, by acts beyond nature, he rose above the natural elements in the Jordan, and so showed beforehand in signs our Lord's descent into Hades, and His wonderful deliverance of those who were held fast in corruption. For all things yielded and bowed to that divine image which foreshadowed you.

BUT WHY DO I WANDER OFF AND MAKE MY SPEECH LONGER: letting it run on with these different examples, when the truth of your subject stands before our eyes like a pillar, and it would be better and more profitable to take delight in it? Therefore, saying farewell to the spiritual accounts and wonderful deeds of the saints throughout all ages, I turn to you, who are always to be remembered, and who hold, as it were, the helm of this festival.

BLESSED ARE YOU: most blessed, desired by all. Blessed by the Lord is your name, full of divine grace and greatly pleasing to God, Mother of God, you who give light to the faithful. You are, so to speak, the boundary of Him who cannot be bounded; the root of the most beautiful flower, Isaiah 40:1; the mother of the Creator; the nurse of the One who nourishes; the circle of Him who embraces all things; the one who upholds Him who upholds all things by His word, Hebrews 1:3; the gate through which God appears in the flesh, Ezekiel 44:2; the tongs of that cleansing coal, Isaiah 6:6; the small bosom of that bosom which contains all things; the fleece of wool, Judges 6:37, whose mystery cannot be explained; the well of Bethlehem, 2 Samuel 23:17, that fountain of life for which David longed, from which the drink of immortality flowed out; the mercy-seat, Exodus 35:17, from which God in human form was made known to men; the spotless robe of Him who clothes Himself with light as with a garment. You have lent to God, who needs nothing, that flesh which He did not have, so that the Almighty might become what it pleased Him to be. What is more splendid than this? What is more exalted than this? He who fills earth and heaven, Jeremiah 23:24, to whom all things belong, has become in need of you, for you have lent to God that flesh which He did not have. You have clothed the Mighty One with that beautiful armor of the body, by which it has become possible for Him to be seen by my eyes. And I, so that I might freely come near to behold Him, have received that by which all the fiery darts of the wicked one will be quenched, Ephesians 6:16. Hail! Hail! Mother and handmaid of God. Hail! Hail! You to whom the great Creditor of all is a debtor. We are all debtors to God, but to you He Himself is indebted.

FOR HE WHO SAID: "Honor your father and your mother," Exodus 20:12, would certainly have kept untouched that grace, and His own decree toward her who served Him in that birth to which He willingly stooped. And He would have glorified with divine honor her whom He Himself recorded as mother, since He was without a father just as she was without a husband. These things must be so. For the hymns we offer to you, O most holy and wonderful dwelling place of God, are not useless or ornamental words. Nor is your spiritual praise mere worldly trifling, or the outcry of false flattery, O you who are praised by God. You were nursed by God. He who by birth gives mortals their beginning of existence has done this. These things are of plain and evident truth. But time would fail us, and even the ages and the generations that follow, to give you the greeting that is fitting for you as the mother of the Eternal King, 1 Timothy 1:17, just as the glorious prophet says somewhere, teaching us how beyond understanding you are: "How great is the house of God, and how large is the place of His possession! Great, and without end, high and immeasurable." For truly, truly, this prophetic oracle, and this most true saying, concerns your greatness. For you alone were considered worthy to share with God the things of God. You alone bore in the flesh Him who from God the Father was the Eternal and Only-Begotten. Those who hold firmly to the pure faith truly believe in this way.

BUT FOR THE TIME THAT REMAINS: my very attentive hearers, let us bring forward the old man, the receiver of God, and our godly teacher. He has come safely, as it were, from that virginal sea and put in here. Let us refresh him, since his divine longing has been satisfied and he is giving us this most blessed theology. And let us continue the rest of our discourse ourselves, steering our course without error toward our appointed goal, under the guidance of God Almighty. Then we will not be found altogether fruitless and unprofitable in what is required of us. When prophecy and the priesthood had been called together to these sacred rites, and that pair of righteous ones chosen by God—I mean Simeon and Anna, who very clearly bore in themselves the images of both peoples—had taken their place beside that glorious and virginal throne, something important was shown. For by the old man was represented the people of Israel, and the law now growing old. But the widow represents the Church of the Gentiles, which up to this point had been a widow. The old man, indeed, in the role of the law, seeks dismissal. But the widow, in the role of the Church, offered her joyful confession of faith and spoke of Him to all who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem. Thus the things spoken of both of them have been fittingly and excellently recorded, and are fully in harmony with the sacred feast. For it was fitting and necessary that the old man, who knew so exactly that decree of the law in which it is said, "Hear Him, and every soul that will not listen to Him shall be cut off from His people," should seek a peaceful release from the guardianship of the law. For truly it would be insolence and presumption if, when the king is present and speaking to the people, one of his attendants should make a speech against him, and the king's subjects should turn their ears to that man. It was also necessary that the widow, who had been enriched beyond measure with gifts, should return her thanks to God in festival songs. And so, the things that took place there were in agreement with the law. But for what remains, we must ask how it is said that the house was filled with smoke, since the prophetic types and figures bear, as has been shown, a certain likeness and relation to this great feast. The prophet does not say this in passing, but with purpose, as he speaks of that cry of the Thrice-Holy uttered by the heavenly seraphs. You will discover the meaning of this, my attentive hearer, if you take up and examine what comes after this account: "Hearing, you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing, you shall see, and not perceive." Therefore, when the foolish Jewish children had seen the glorious wonders that, as David sang, the Lord had done in the earth, and had seen the sign from the depth and from the height coming together without division or confusion, as Isaiah had declared beforehand—namely, a mother beyond nature, and an offspring beyond reason; an earthly mother and a heavenly Son; a new taking of man's nature by God, and childbearing without marriage—what could be more glorious and more worthy to be spoken of in all creation than this? Yet when they had seen it, it was the same as if they had not seen it. They closed their eyes, and were sluggish in giving praise. Therefore the house in which they boasted was filled with smoke.

AND BESIDES THIS: when they not only saw the spectacle but even more than that heard an old man—very righteous, very trustworthy, worthy also to be imitated, inspired by the Holy Spirit, a teacher of the law, honored with the priesthood, and distinguished by the gift of prophecy—who by the hope he had conceived of Christ stretched out the limits of life and put off the debt of death; when they saw him, I say, leaping for joy, speaking words of blessing, completely changed by gladness of heart, and wholly carried away in a divine and holy ecstasy; who by a godly change had been turned from a man into an angel, and because of the greatness of his joy sang his hymn of thanksgiving and openly proclaimed, "A light to give light to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel"—not even then were they willing to hear what was spoken in their hearing and held in honor even by the heavenly beings themselves. Therefore the house in which they boasted was filled with smoke. Now smoke is a sign and sure proof of wrath, as it is written, "Smoke went up in His anger, and fire from His countenance devoured"; and in another place, "Among the disobedient people the fire shall burn." This, in the holy Gospels, our Lord plainly showed when He said to the Jews, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." Also, in another place, "The king sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." Such was the hostile reward the Jews received for their unbelief, which made them refuse to pay the Trinity the tribute of praise. For after the ends of the earth were sanctified, and the mighty house of the Church was filled with the glory of the Lord by the proclamation of the Thrice Holy, as the great waters cover the seas, then the things that had been declared beforehand happened to them, and the beginning of the prophecy was confirmed by its outcome. The preacher of truth, as has been said, signified by the Holy Spirit, as if by an example, the dreadful destruction that was going to come upon them, in the words, "In the year in which King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord." Uzziah, no doubt, as an apostate, is taken as the representative of the whole apostate body, of which he certainly was the head. He also paid the penalty due for his presumption, carrying on his forehead, as on a bronze statue, the divine vengeance engraved by the ugliness of leprosy, showing to all the punishment of their hateful impiety. Therefore, with divine wisdom, he who had foreknowledge of these events set the bringing in of thankful Anna against the casting out of the ungrateful synagogue. Her very name also points beforehand to the Church, which is justified in baptism by the grace of Christ and God. For Anna, when interpreted, means grace.

BUT HERE: as in a harbor, bringing in the ship that bears the sign of the cross, let us shorten the sails of our speech so that it may be in proper measure. But first, in as few words as possible, let us greet the city of the Great King, together with the whole body of the Church, since we are present with them in spirit and are keeping the holy feast with the Father and the brothers most honored there. Hail, city of the Great King, in which the mysteries of our salvation are brought to completion. Hail, heaven on earth, Zion, the city that is forever faithful to the Lord. Hail, and shine, Jerusalem, for your light has come: the Eternal Light, the everlasting Light, the Supreme Light, the Immaterial Light, the Light of one substance with God the Father, the Light that is in the Spirit, and in which is the Father; the Light that lights the ages; the Light that gives light to earthly and heavenly things, Christ our true God. Hail, city sacred and chosen of the Lord. Keep your feast days with joy, for they will not multiply so as to grow old and pass away. Hail, most blessed city, for glorious things are spoken of you. Your priest shall be clothed with righteousness, your saints shall shout for joy, and your poor shall be filled with bread. Hail! Rejoice, Jerusalem, for the Lord reigns in your midst. That Lord, I say, who in His simple and immaterial Deity entered our nature, and from the virgin's womb became incarnate in a way beyond words; that Lord, who shared in nothing else except the lump of Adam, which had been tripped up by the serpent. For the Lord did not lay hold of the seed of angels, those, I say, who did not fall away from that beautiful order and rank assigned to them from the beginning. He came down to us, that Word who was always with the Father, God existing with Him. Nor, again, did He come into the world to restore, nor will He restore, as some ungodly defenders of the devil have imagined, those wicked demons who once fell from the light. But when the Creator and Maker of all things had, as the most divine Paul says, laid hold of the seed of Abraham, and through him of the whole human race, He was made man forever and without change, so that by His fellowship with us, and our being joined to Him, the entrance of sin into us might be stopped, its power gradually broken, and sin itself melted like wax by that fire which the Lord sent upon the earth when He came. Hail to you, Catholic Church, planted throughout all the earth, and rejoice with us. Do not fear, little flock, the storms of the enemy, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, and that you should tread on the necks of your enemies. Hail, and rejoice, you who were once barren and without seed for godliness, but who now have many children of faith. Hail, people of the Lord, chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, peculiar people. Show forth His praises, who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, and glorify Him for His mercies.

HAIL TO YOU FOREVER: virgin mother of God, our unceasing joy, for I return to you again. You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and its end. You are the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom. You are the richness of every sacrifice, the living altar of the bread of life. Hail, treasure of the love of God. Hail, fountain of the Son's love for man. Hail, overshadowing mountain of the Holy Spirit. You shone, sweet mother who gives gifts, with the light of the sun. You shone with the unbearable fires of a most fervent love, bringing forth at the end what was conceived in you before the beginning, making known the hidden and unspeakable mystery, the invisible Son of the Father, the Prince of Peace, who in a marvelous way showed Himself to be less than all littleness. Therefore we pray to you, most excellent among women, who glory in the confidence of your honors as a mother, that you would keep us continually in remembrance. O holy mother of God, remember us, I say, who glory in you, and who with solemn hymns celebrate your memory, which will always live and never fade away. And also, O honored and venerable Simeon, earliest host of our holy religion and teacher of the resurrection of the faithful, be our patron and advocate with that Savior God whom you were counted worthy to receive into your arms. Together with you, we sing our praises to Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying: You are the true Light, proceeding from the true Light; the true God, begotten of the true God; the one Lord before Your taking of humanity, and yet the same one, after Your taking of it, who is forever to be adored; God from Yourself and not by grace, but also for our sakes perfect man; in Your own nature the absolute and sovereign King, but for us and for our salvation existing also in the form of a servant, yet immaculately and without defilement. For You who are incorruption have come to set corruption free, so that You might make all things incorrupt. For Yours is the glory, and the power, and the greatness, and the majesty, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.