DEATH THROUGH ONE WOMAN, LIFE THROUGH ANOTHER. BEDE: The first cause of human perdition occurred when a serpent was sent by the devil to a woman who was to be deceived by the spirit of pride. Moreover, the devil himself came in the serpent, who, once he had deceived our first parents, stripped humankind of the glory of immortality. Because death made its entrance through a woman, it was fitting that life return through a woman.
The one, seduced by the devil through the serpent, brought a man the taste of death. The other, instructed by God through the angel, produced for the world the Author of salvation. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.3.17
1:30-33 Gabriel Announces Jesus’ Conception
aloud, “Let it be to me according to your word, and I shall bear him that is without flesh, who shall borrow flesh from me, that through this mingling he may lead humankind up to his ancient glory, for he alone has power so to do!” STICHERA OF THE ANNUNCIATION.19
MOTHER YET VIRGIN. PRUDENTIUS:
A heavenly fire engenders him, not flesh Nor blood of father, nor impure desire.20 By power of God a spotless maid conceives, As in her virgin womb the Spirit breathes.
The mystery of this birth confirms our faith That Christ is God: a maiden by the Spirit Is wed, unstained by love; her purity
Remains intact; with child within, untouched Without, bright in her chaste fertility,
Mother yet virgin, mother that knew not man.
Why, doubter, do you shake your silly head?
An angel makes this known with holy lips.
Will you not hearken to angelic words?
The Virgin blest, the shining messenger
Believed, and by her faith she Christ conceived.
Christ comes to men of faith and spurns the heart Irresolute in trust and reverence.
The Virgin’s instant faith attracted
Christ into her womb and hid him there till birth.
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 566-84.21
JESUS IS SON OF GOD AND SON OF MAN. BEDE: We should carefully note the order of the words here, and the more firmly they are engrafted in our heart, the more evident it will be that the sum total of our redemption consists in
them. For they proclaim with perfect clarity that the Lord Jesus, that is, our Savior, was both the true Son of God the Father and the true Son of a mother who was a human being. “Behold,” he says, “you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son”—acknowledge that this true human being assumed the true substance of flesh from the flesh of the Virgin! “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”—confess too that this same Son is true God of true God, coeternal Son forever of the eternal Father! HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.3.22
JESUS WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM SIN. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The words
“in the sixth month” are reckoned in relation to Elizabeth’s pregnancy. “The angel was sent to a virgin,” and he said to her, “Behold, in your virginity you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” He was speaking about him who was to appear in the body. He did not say to her, “that name which is called Jesus,” but “you shall call his name.” This shows that this name is of the economy which is through the body, since Jesus in Hebrew means “Savior.” For the angel said, “You shall call his name Jesus,” that is, Savior, “for he shall save his people from sins.” This name therefore refers not to his nature but to his deeds.
COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 25.23
MARY’S CONCEPTION OF JESUS HERALDS THE RE-CREATION OF THE
WORLD. ANONYMOUS: The captain of the angelic hosts was sent by God Almighty to the pure Virgin to announce the good tidings of a strange and secret wonder: that God as man would be born a child of her without seed, fashioning again the whole human race! Proclaim, people, the good tidings of the re-creation of the world! EXAPOSTEILARION OF THE ANNUNCIATION.24
MARY CONCEIVES THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS. ANONYMOUS: Gabriel flew down from the vault of heaven and came to Nazareth; standing before
the virgin Mary, he cried to her, “Rejoice! You shall conceive a son more ancient than Adam, the Creator of all things and Savior of those who cry to you. Rejoice, pure virgin!”
Gabriel brought from heaven good tidings to the Virgin, and he cried out to her, “Rejoice! You shall conceive him whom the world cannot contain; he shall be contained within your womb. You shall bear him who shone forth from the Father before the morning star!”25
The coeternal Word of the Father who has no beginning, not being parted from the things on high, has now descended here below, in his boundless love taking pity on fallen humankind. He has assumed the poverty of Adam, clothing himself in a form strange to him. STICHERA OF THE ANNUNCIATION.26
MARY’S GENEALOGY: HOUSE OF DAVID AND LEVI. EPHREM THE SYRIAN:
From what the angel said to Mary, namely, “Elizabeth, your kinswoman,” it could be supposed that Mary was from the house of Levi. Nevertheless up to this, the prophecy was established within the framework of the husbands.
The family of David continued as far as Joseph, who had espoused her, and the birth of her child was reckoned through the framework of the men, for the sake of the family of David. It is in Christ that the seed and family of David are brought to completion. Scripture is silent about Mary’s genealogy since it is the generations of men that it numbers and reckons. If Scripture had been accustomed to indicate the family line through the mothers, it would be in order for one to seek the family of Mary. But, lest the words
“Elizabeth, your kinswoman” were to show that Mary was also from the house of Levi, take note that the Evangelist has said elsewhere, concerning Joseph and Mary, that “they were both of the house of David.”27 The angel did not say to Mary that Elizabeth was her sister but “Elizabeth, your kinswoman.” COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 1.25.28
THE MYSTERY OF THE TIMELESS ENTERING TIME. JOHN THE MONK:
Wonder! God is come among humanity; he who cannot be contained is contained in a womb; the timeless enters time, and great mystery: his conception is without seed, his emptying past telling! So great is this mystery! For God empties himself, takes flesh and is fashioned as a creature, when the angel tells the pure Virgin of her conception: “Rejoice, you who are full of grace; the Lord who has great mercy is with you!”
STICHERA OF ANNUNCIATION.29
THE HOUSE OF DAVID AND JACOB IS THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH. BEDE: The time had come when, having redeemed the world through his blood, he was to be acknowledged as king not of the house of David alone but also of the whole church; moreover, that he was maker and governor of all generations.
Hence the angel properly said afterwards, “and the Lord God will give him the seat of David his father,” and he immediately added, “and he will reign in the house of Jacob forever.” Now the house of Jacob refers to the universal church, which through its faith in and confession of Christ pertains to the heritage of the patriarchs—either among those who took their physical origin from the stock of the patriarchs or among those who, though brought forth with respect to the flesh from other countries, were reborn in Christ by the spiritual washing. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.3.30