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Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna

Methodius of Olympus

On the Day that They Met in the Temple.

About this work

Author: Methodius of Olympus

Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna

On the Day that They Met in the Temple.

Blessed art thou, all

Section 1 ›

-

blessed

,

and

to

be

desired

of

all

.

Blessed

of

the

Lord

is

thy

name

,

full

of

divine

grace

,

and

grateful

exceedingly

to

God

,

mother

of

God

,

thou

that

givest

light

to

the

faithful

.

Thou

art

the

circumscription

,

so

to

speak

,

of

Him

who

cannot

be

circumscribed

;

the

root

of

the

most

beautiful

flower

;

the

mother

of

the

Creator

;

the

nurse

of

the

Nourisher

;

the

circumference

of

Him

who

embraces

all

things

;

the

upholder

of

Him

who

upholds

all

things

by

His

word

;

the

gate

through

which

God

appears

in

the

flesh

;

the

tongs

of

that

cleansing

coal

;

the

bosom

in

small

of

that

bosom

which

is

all

-

containing

;

the

fleece

of

wool

,

the

mystery

of

which

cannot

be

solved

;

the

well

of

Bethlehem

,

that

reservoir

of

life

which

David

longed

for

,

out

of

which

the

draught

of

immortality

gushed

forth

;

the

mercy

-

seat

from

which

God

in

human

form

was

made

known

unto

men

;

the

spotless

robe

of

Him

who

clothes

Himself

with

light

as

with

a

garment

.

Thou

hast

lent

to

God

,

who

stands

in

need

of

nothing

,

that

flesh

which

He

had

not

,

in

order

that

the

Omnipotent

might

become

that

which

it

was

his

good

pleasure

to

be

.

What

is

more

splendid

than

this

?

What

than

this

is

more

sublime

?

He

who

fills

earth

and

heaven

,

whose

are

all

things

,

has

become

in

need

of

thee

,

for

thou

hast

lent

to

God

that

flesh

which

He

had

not

.

Thou

hast

clad

the

Mighty

One

with

that

beauteous

panoply

of

the

body

by

which

it

has

become

possible

for

Him

to

be

seen

by

mine

eyes

.

And

I

,

in

order

that

I

might

freely

approach

to

behold

Him

,

have

received

that

by

which

all

the

fiery

darts

of

the

wicked

shall

be

quenched

.

Hail

!

hail

!

mother

and

handmaid

of

God

.

Hail

!

hail

!

thou

to

whom

the

great

Creditor

of

all

is

a

debtor

.

We

are

all

debtors

to

God

,

but

to

thee

He

is

Himself

indebted

.

For He who said, “Honour thy father and thy mother,” will have most assuredly, as Himself willing to be proved by such proofs, kept inviolate that grace, and His own decree towards her who ministered to Him that nativity to which He voluntarily stooped, and will have glorified with a divine honour her whom He, as being without a father, even as she was without a husband, Himself has written down as mother. Even so must these things be. For the hymns which we offer to thee, O thou most holy and admirable habitation of God, are no merely useless and ornamental words. Nor, again, is thy spiritual laudation mere secular trifling, or the shoutings of a false flattery, O thou who of God art praised; thou who to God gavest suck; who by nativity givest unto mortals their beginning of being, but they are of clear and evident truth. But the time would fail us, ages and succeeding generations too, to render unto thee thy fitting salutation as the mother of the King Eternal, even as somewhere the illustrious prophet says, teaching us how incomprehensible thou art. How great is the house of God, and how large is the place of His possession! Great, and hath none end, high and unmeasurable. For verily, verily, this prophetic oracle, and most true saying, is concerning thy majesty; for thou alone hast been thought worthy to share with God the things of God; who hast alone borne in the flesh Him, who of God the Father was the Eternally and Only-Begotten. So do they truly believe who hold fast to the pure faith.

Notes

85
Isa. xl. 1.
86
Heb. i. 3.
87
Ezek. xliv. 2.
88
Isa. vi. 6.
89
Judg. vi. 37.
90
2 Sam. xxiii. 17.
91
Exod. xxxv. 17.
92
Ps. civ. 2.
93
Jer. xxiii. 24.
94
Ephes. vi. 16.
95
Exod. xx. 12.
96

[Apostrophes like the above; panegyrical, not odes of worship.]

97

1 Tim. i. 17.

98

Baruch iii. 24, 25.

99

[This must have been interpolated after the Council of Ephesus, a.d. 431. The whole Oration is probably after that date.]