Saint Theodore the Studite – Encomium on the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos.

1. To do justice to the holy celebrations proclaimed for today, my friends, our words call for the sound of the trumpet, for the voice of the horn sounding out more loudly and echoing to the ends of the earth; yet I fear they must be borne by the weak instrument of our own voices. Still, the queen and mistress of the world cares little for honor, and may well accept our short, poor discourse, offered here in her service, as graciously as the long and splendid works of great orators. For she is moved by the prayers of those who have asked me to speak, since she values true goodness, after all, and looks only at our intentions.

But come, gather around me, everyone under heaven – all you hierarchs and priests, monks and people of the world, kings and rulers, men and women, young men and maidens, of all nations and tongues, of every race and every people – change your clothes for the robes of virtue, wrap yourselves in them as in “bright garments fringed with gold” (Ps 44:13 [LXX]), and come with hearts rejoicing to celebrate the festival of the burial and the passing [into glory] of Mary, the Mother of the Lord. For she has gone away from here and draws near the eternal mountains, she who is the true Mt. Sion, where God was pleased to dwell, as the Psalmist’s lyre sings (Ps 131:14 [LXX]). Today she who was heaven on earth is wrapped in a cloak of incorruptibility; she has moved to a better, more blessed dwelling-place. Today the spiritual moon, shining with the light of God, has come into heavenly conjunction with the “sun of righteousness,” eclipsing her temporary home in this present life; rising anew in his home, she is radiant with the dignity of immortality. Today that ark of holiness, wrought with gold and divinely furnished, has been lifted up from her tabernacle on earth and is borne towards the Jerusalem above, to unending rest; and David, the ancestor of God, poet as he is, strikes up a song for us and cries, “Virgins” – meaning souls – “will be led to the King” – to you, О God – “behind her” (Ps 44:14 [LXX]).

2. Now the Mother of God shuts her material eyes, and opens her spiritual eyes towards us like great shining stars that will never set, to watch over us and to intercede before the face of God for the world’s protection. Now those lips, moved by God’s grace to articulate sounds, grow silent, but she opens her [spiritual] mouth to intercede eternally for all of her race. Now she lowers thiose bodily hands that once bore God, only to raise them, in incorruptible form, in prayer to the Lord on behalf of all creation. At this moment her natural form, radiant as the sun, is hidden; yet her light shines through her painted image, and she offers it to the people for the life-giving kiss of relative veneration,{1} even if the heretics are unwilling. The holy dove has flown to her home above, yet she does not cease to protect those below; departing from her body, she is with us in spirit; gathered up to heaven, she banishes demons by her intercession with the Lord.

Long ago, death took charge of the world through our ancestor Eve; but now it has engaged in combat with her blessed daughter and been beaten away, conquered by the very source from whom it had received its power. Let the race of women rejoice, then, for it has received glory in place of shame! Let Eve be glad, for she is under a curse no more, having produced in Mary a child of blessing. Let the whole of creation jump for joy, drinking the mystical flood of incorruption from that virgin spring and putting an end to its mortal thirst. These are the things we celebrate today, this is the subject of our solemn song: Mary provides it for us – the root of Jesse who bore the flower Christ; the rod of Aaron with its sacred bud; the spiritual Paradise containing the tree of life; the meadow alive with the fragrance of virginity; the blooming vine, cultivated by God, which became the ripe grape flowing with life; the high, exalted cherubim-throne of the universal king; the home full of the glory of the Lord; the sacred veil of Christ; the bright land of sunrise. She has fallen asleep in peace and righteousness – fallen asleep, I say, but she is not dead! She has passed on from us, yet she does not cease to protect her people.

With what language should we speak of your mystery? We are incapable of conceiving it, too weak to describe it, too stunned to write of it; it is strange, sublime, above all human thoughts! For it is not as if it could be included or compared with other events, so that we could make easy explanations, drawing from our own experience; but receiving reverently from above what we have learned about you, we ascribe to you alone privileges beyond what is human! By that ineffable act of generation, you have transformed nature; for who has ever heard of a virgin conceiving without seed? О wonder! See, now: the mother giving birth is also still an incorrupt virgin, because God was the cause of her conceiving! So in your lifegiving sleep, since you are different from all the rest, you alone have rightly found incorruption for both [body and soul].

3. Let Sion, then relate the miraculous events of this day. The measure of her life was finished; the hour of her dissolution had come. Because she was Mother of God, the holy one knew in advance the course of her passing – friends of Christ, in comparison with any other seer who serves the Lord, could one not ascribe this knowledge all the more to the Mother of God and chief of prophets? And since she perceived and knew this, what may our minds imagine that she said? “The day of my Exodus has come, the time of my journey to you. Let those who will celebrate my burial come, О Lord; let the ministers who will carry out my funeral stand at my side. ‘Into your hands I commend my spirit’ (Ps 30:5 [LXX]), but into the hands of your disciples I commit my unsullied body, God’s vessel, from which you came forth as the rising sun of immortality. Let those who are scattered to the earth’s ends, the heralds and servants of your Gospel, come near to console me. And if it was your good pleasure to transfer the just Enoch (to heaven), while still alive, in his time of need (see Gen 5:24), or to raise up Elijah the Tishbite in a fiery chariot from this visible world to a place unseen (2 Kg 3:11), where both of them await the time of your awful and splendid second coming; if you worked the miracle of transporting the prophet Habakkuk from Jerusalem to Babylon in an instant because of the needs of Daniel, and then back again (“Bel and the Dragon” [Dan 12] 33-39) – what can be impossible to the mere act of your will?”

When the celebrated one had said such things, the apostolic band of Twelve appeared, borne from every direction on the wings of the Spirit, like clouds rushing towards the cloud of light, and coming to rest near her. What did she say then, that woman whose names are so many, so great and so divine? As she lay in her bed, she raised her eyes and looked around, and seeing those she had sought for, she said: “My soul rejoices in the Lord, and this will be a title of rejoicing for me, a cause of praise and exultation among all nations of the earth: for he has gathered the pillars of the Church around me here, he has brought together for me the rulers of the universe, as the wondrous ministers of my funeral. О great and marvelous sign! О proof of a mother’s sanctification! О gift of a Son’s devotion! Heaven has been revealed as my home, for it contains in itself all the bright lights of earth; the Lord’s temple above us has appeared, presenting to me these holy celebrants, these priests of the sacred rites. The Jewish establishment will no longer plan violence against me; the council of their priests will no longer prepare armed assaults against me, hoping to kill me. For according to their scheme, those bloodthirsty people would have destroyed the Mother with the Son long ago, but they failed in their plan because Providence prevented them from on high. Now I go from here to a safe dwelling- place, to a place of security, peace and rest, where the enemy will no longer lay his snares, where I will see the delights of the Lord and where I, who am myself his radiant temple, will gaze upon his temple [in heaven].”

4. But this is what the blessed Apostles answered to her, either speaking on their own or quoting the words of the prophets:{2}

(1) “Hail,” one said, “ladder set up from earth to heaven, on which the Lord came down to us and returned to heaven again, as in the vision of the great patriarch Jacob (Gen 28:12)!

(2) “Hail, miraculous bush where the angel of the Lord appeared in flames of fire, where the flame burned without consuming, as Moses realized, who alone saw God face to face (Ex 3:2)!

(3) “Hail, fleece moistened by God, from which a basinful of heavenly dew flowed forth, according to Gideon, that worker of wonders (Jg 6:37-8)!

(4) “Hail, city of the great king, which all the admiring sovereigns praised, according to David the psalmist (Ps 47:2,5 [LXX])!

(5) “Hail, spiritual Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, ‘from whom the glorious king came forth who was to become ruler of Israel, and whose goings-forth were from the beginning, from eternal days,’ according to the divine Micah (Mic 5:2)!

(6) “Hail, shady mountain of virgins, from which the holy one of Israel appeared, according to Habakkuk, whose proclamation was divine (Hab 3:3)!

(7) “Hail, shining golden lamp radiating light, from which the inaccessible light of God has shone out on those in darkness and the shadow of death, according to the inspired Zechariah (Zech 4:2; Lk 1:79)!

(8) “Hail, altar of purification for all mortal creatures, through which ‘the Lord’s name is glorified among the pagans from the rising of the sun to its setting,’ and where ‘a sacrifice is offered to his name in every place,’ according to the holy Malachi (Mai 1:11)!

(9_ “Hail, ‘light cloud where the Lord dwells,’ according to Isaiah, who spoke the most sacred things (Is 19:1)!

(10) “Hail, holy book of the Lord’s commands, newly- written law of love, through which we can know what pleases God, according to the mournful Jeremiah (Jer 25:13; 38:33 [LXX])!

(11) “Hail, locked gate, through which the Lord God of Israel comes in and out, according to Ezekiel, who gazed on God (Ezek 44:2)!

(12) “Hail, unquarried mountain-peak, higher than human hands, from which that rock was cut which became the corner-stone, according to Daniel, that great teacher about God (Dan 2:45; Ps 117:22)!”

What mind can receive, what speech can do justice to what those teachers of divine truth sang and said, and to how they blessed God? But when they performed all the appropriate sacred rites in a sacred way, when they had completed the holy ceremonies in holy fashion, suddenly the Lord was there among them in all his glory, with all the hosts of heaven. The bodiless spirits celebrated their invisible liturgy, while the Apostles used their bodily voices to sing the praises of God’s greatness. The heavenly rejoicing mingled with the earthly feast, my brothers and sisters (and let no one be shocked by our attempt to describe these divine mysteries): angels, archangels, dominations, thrones, principalities, powers, virtues, cherubim and seraphim, apostles, martyrs, holy men and women, some walking ahead, some coming to meet them, some leading or acting as advance guard, some following or walking alongside, all crying out in one joyful voice, “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord! Blessed be the Lord on his righteous and holy mountain (see Ps 47:1 [LXX])! Let heaven be raised on high!” Who has ever heard, from all eternity, such a funeral hymn, О friends of Christ? Who has ever seen such a burial procession? Who has ever witnessed such a passing as this, which-was accorded to the “Mother of my Lord” (Lk 1:43)? And it is not undeserved, since no one has ever been judged higher than she, who is greater than all others.

My spirit trembles when it reflects on the greatness of your passing, О Virgin; my mind is struck dumb with amazement as it considers the wonder of your falling-asleep. My tongue is held fast, when it tries to recount the mystery of your return to life. For who is the person who can worthily express your praise, who can narrate all your wonders? What mind can find words lofty enough to speak in your honor? What tongue can utter words grand enough, can speak of your goodness, can make your deeds come alive, can do justice to your life in human speech or approach your wonders in sacramental mysteries, celebrations, feasts, narrative or festal oratory? So, too, in this present festival our words are weak, lifeless, inaccurate, obviously off the mark. For you are beyond us, you exceed our powers; you incomparably surpass in height and greatness the summit of heaven, in holy brilliance the light of the sun, in the full realization of freedom the ranks of angels and all the immaterial, spiritual race of intellectual powers.

6. O, what a radiant, brilliant festival! It is only joy that lets me speak at all! О great sign of your passing, moving us to wonder! О burial of the bearer of light, life and the gift of endless incorruption! As you rise through the clouds on your way to heaven, as you enter the holy of holies with cries of joy and praise, О Mother of God, remember to bless the bounds of this earth. By your intercession temper the air, give us rain in due season, rule over the winds, make the earth fruitful, give peace to the Church, strengthen orthodox faith, defend the Empire, ward off the barbarian tribes, protect the whole Christian people. And have pity, too, on my rashness; for it is but the fulfillment of your word, О Mother of God, of your prophetic incantation, that “henceforth,” as you said, “all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). Since your inspired word cannot have been spoken in vain, receive the words that I, your unworthy servant, have uttered as best I can. And “give me the joy of your salvation” (Ps 50:14), support me with the strength of your intercession, along with my excellent Father{3} here and with this, the flock under his care, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and honor and power, with the almighty Father and the life-giving Spirit now and always and for the ages of ages.

Amen.

 

On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies. Translation and introduction by Brian E. Daley, S.J. Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1998, p. 249-257.

 

{1} Theodore is clearly alluding to the veneration by the faithful, in the place where he is preaching, of an icon depicting Mary’s Dormition. “Relative veneration” (σχετικὴ προσκύνησις) is a term used elsewhere by Theodore and his contemporaries for the kind of veneration properly due to icons, as opposed to the adoration (λατρεία) due God alone: see Theodore the Studite, Epist. 2.85 (PG 99.1329A); Antirrhetikos 1.20 (PG 99.349C); cf. ibid. 1.12 (344C), on the “relative” identity of the icon with its subject.

{2} Theodore now presents, as coming from the assembled Apostles, a series of acclamations (χαιρετισμοί) to Mary, which apply to her twelve familiar images from the Old Testament – a poetic technique familiar from the earlier Akathistos hymn in praise of the Mother of God.

{3} Theodore seems to be preaching in the presence of a major bishop, perhaps even of the Patriarch of Constantinople. During an important period in Theodore’s time as hegumen of the monastery of Studios, this was St. Nikephorus I (806-815).

28.08.2024