IX. And what of the prophets, who, if they had not received the gifts of the Virgin, could not have been freed from the fetters of hell? Truly holier is the blessed Virgin of the Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim. For if God is the reward of holiness, a reward which, although it is given to all equally, is given to a greater extent to those who have shown greater zeal, then the Virgin necessarily predominates in holiness for the feats suffered. Holiness is measured by closeness to God. It is said that the Cherubim surround God and receive the light that proceeds from Him, but they do not dare to look. In a new and ineffable way, the Virgin received Him in Herself, Who is not encompassed by any place. And it was not some splendor and glory, but She Herself who received the Divine Hypostasis. And as much more clearly than to the Cherubim, God appeared to the Virgin much more than it is possible to express, so much more She is necessarily holier and more sacred.

Likewise, of those things in which Divine Wisdom is predominantly manifested, She overcomes in purity and holiness. For even in the visible world, that which is near the light is seen as purer than the rest. And although God is equally present in all things, it is possible to point out the difference in His appearance to creatures. If this is so, who will deny that the Virgin is holier than all men and angels? And if through angels the covenant of God, the Old Law, was given to men [... Through the angels, the word proclaimed was firm... Paul (Hebrews 2:2)], and all the other signs of justice and power, the Virgin did not proclaim God only within these limits, but revealed to people the Divine Wisdom of God Himself, not in signs and images, but directly God Himself, the Saviour, and [revealed] not only to men, but also to the Principalities and Powers, so that now she might be made known, as the Apostle says. Paul-... and to the principalities, and to the powers in heaven, the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10). And he didn't say, "... that it might be made more famous than before, when it was known, however imperfectly," but simply "that it might be made known," showing, I think, that the knowledge which existed before the Blessed Virgin was so obscure that it could not be measured with the other knowledge which had been grown. And, as befits it, it shone the Sun of righteousness not only for people, righteous and unrighteous, evil and good, but also for the most mundane Powers.

Thus, the Virgin is so much higher than all creatures, as that which the Saviour has made as the economy of our salvation cannot be compared with anything else that exists. For if She made the angels so perfect in comparison with themselves, that, according to the judgment of the Apostle, their former blessedness cannot be compared with the latter, then let us appreciate Her superiority as it really is.

For if the lesser is blessed by the greater (Hebrews 7:7), what is the difference between doing good and receiving good deeds? That is why the prophet saw the Virgin as the Throne of God, high and exalted, with the Seraphim standing around the Throne (cf. Isaiah 6:12). And they didn't just stand there, but with fear and trembling, not daring to look directly at him. It is also written that they never sleep, and there is no end to their praises to God. And all this is all the more true for the Blessed One, the more She received the Divine Light. And I say this not only in reference to what happened after Her departure from here, but also in relation to Her sojourn in this world, for She does not fall asleep as well as the Powers that are before God, and manifests a pre-eminent zeal for God over others, in order to enjoy all the Divine gifts. Wherefore that which befits the other saints after separation from the body, that which is indispensable to possess virtue and goodness, is acquired by the Virgin even before leaving the body.

X: And, of course, it was in accordance with [Her dignity]. For the body that was able to be so far away (from the ordinary lot) surely surpassed its name. It was no longer a spiritual body or anything like it, but, according to the saying of Ap. Paul, the spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44), for the Spirit began to dwell in him and changed all the boundaries of nature. In addition, that which does not allow the saints to change inwardly while being present, was abundantly inherent in the Blessed Virgin. For even the saints, being filled with every desire to be near the limit of what they desired, when all the power of reason was directed to the contemplation of the truly Existent, could not give room to any other [desire], nor turn away their eyes and minds, even though everything visible was set before them. Who does not know that all this was inherent in the Virgin to a degree beyond reason, and that She alone accepted God in an indescribable way?

From this it is clear that even before Her repose, She was invariably possessed of this wondrous virtue and pre-natural good. And she was a partaker of the good things to come, and in the present age she reigned in the kingdom prepared for the righteous, and lived a life hidden in Christ, revealed to Her, a steady life in the midst of the fluid. After all, it behooved the Blessed One to possess all that was named in a new way, before which the laws of nature would have receded. This was shown by Her Own when She sang the Divine blessings received by Her: "The Mighty One hath made Me great" (Luke 1:49).

XI. Oh, New Rewards! Oh, their labors are equal to them! For after the rewards and crowns, I mean the Sun of Righteousness, Whom She received and with Whom She was united, and instead of the joy that was set before Her (cf. Hebrews 15:2), She knew sickness and sorrow for our sake. She became a partaker of the Son in the disgrace and reproach, in the poverty which He had endured, and in every experience which He had received with long-suffering in the presence of the named parent [Joseph], sharing the fate of the Son for the good of my salvation. She was with Him both at the beginning of miracles and at the correction of [our] nature. She had compassion for Him, who endured ill-will from those He had favoured, so that She Herself was not immune to the hatred with which He was hated. She was the first, out of an abundance of love for mankind, to move the Son to good deeds [to the human race], even to the time when He said, "My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4). In this way He clearly showed what freedom of appeal to Him He gave to the Mother, so that She could change the boundaries of the times that He Himself had set.

What great sorrows did the Virgin partake of when the Saviour endured terrible passions for us and submitted to death? What kind of arrows pierced her? For even if Her Son had been a man and nothing else, nothing more bitter could have been done to the Mother. But now He is the Son, and Her Alone, and Himself Alone, miraculously born, who has caused no grief to Her or to anyone at all, but has obtained such blessings to all that they have surpassed all expectation. What must the Blessed One have felt in Her soul, seeing in such misfortunes the Son, the Benefactor of all human nature, Meek, Humble in heart (Matt. 11:29), Who did not cry out or raise his voice (Isaiah 42:2), To Whom no one could impute any guilt, drawn by these wild beasts, naked, lashed, as in tyranny, contrary to all laws and law, condemned by the most criminal voices [of judges] to the most shameful death, to die among notorious evildoers? I don't think there has ever been such sorrow in people. After all, if it is necessary to mourn the unjustly injured, then there is nothing further from justice than the death of the Savior. Indeed, none of us has suffered wholly unjustly, for though he was not conscious of anything of what he had been condemned for, he had done that for which he might justly have been accused. But of the Saviour the prophet says, "He did not commit sin" (Isaiah 53:9 LXX).

Then, if it is impossible not to be hurt by the misfortunes of our loved ones, then let us remember that no one was so close to anyone as the Virgin was to the Savior. That is why the Virgin, such as no other man, the Righteous Mother, who saw the unrighteous judgment seat, endured a sorrow that exceeded the powers of nature and was greater than the measure of description.

XII. It behooved her to share with the Son in his providence for us continually. And just as She gave Him Her flesh and blood, and on Her part became a partaker of His blessings, so She likewise partook of all sorrows and sorrows. He, being nailed to the Cross, was pierced in the ribs by a spear, and Her heart was pierced by a sword, as the divine Simeon had proclaimed. And those dogs added other torments common to the Son and the Mother, remembering His former words, calling him a flatterer and trying to convict him of deceit. Thus, having become the first partaker of the death of the Saviour, as a result of this she became a partaker in the Resurrection before anyone else.

For She was vouchsafed to contemplate and greet the Son, who crushed the power of hell and was resurrected, and accompanied Him as He ascended to Heaven as long as it was possible, and after His ascension She replaced His Apostles and other companions of the Savior with common blessings with Him, making up for the lack of Christ (cf. Col. 1:24) better than anyone else. After all, who else but the Mother should have done this?

It was fitting that this all-holy soul should be freed from the all-holy body. It resolves and unites with the Son, with the First Light, the second. And the body, after a short sojourn in the earth, itself departed with it. She had to walk all the paths that the Saviour had traveled, to shine forth alive and dead, to sanctify nature in full, and to receive again its proper place. Therefore, the tomb received Her for a short time, and then Heaven raptured this new earth, the spiritual body, the treasury of our life, more glorious than the Angels and the holiest of the Archangels. And the Throne was restored to the King, Paradise to the Tree of Life, the disc to the Sun, the Tree to the Fruit, the Mother to the Son, in all things worthy of Her offspring.

XIII. What word will suffice to speak of Thy righteousness, O Blessed One, of the gifts of the Saviour to Thee, and to Thy assemblage of men (to all men)? None, even if anyone spoke in the language of men and angels (1 Corinthians 13:1), as Ap. Paul. It seems to me that She has a share in the eternal bliss reserved for the righteous, but of course the Virgin knows this and proclaims it to her. For eye has not seen, ear has not heard (1 Corinthians 2:9), and the world cannot contain (cf. John 21:25), as the great John testifies. Only there can we rightfully see Thy wonders, where there is a new heaven and a new earth, where is the Sun of righteousness, which does not set and is not covered with darkness. The rhetorician of Thy deeds is the Saviour Himself, and those who applaud are the Angels. Only there can you meet a voice worthy of (You). It is impossible for people to do this, but we begin to speak about Thee, inasmuch as it contributes to the sanctification of the tongue and the soul. For even the mere word that refers to Thee, or the remembrance of Thee, restores the soul, purifies the mind, and makes us from the fleshly spiritual, from the sinful to the holy.

Oh, the fullness of the blessings known to us in this life and those that we will know when we depart from here!