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!

O Virgin, who stood at the beginning of bliss and holiness and opened the way for others!

Oh, the salvation of men, the light of the world, the way to the Saviour, the gates, the life, and other worthy names, which for the sake of the salvation accomplished by the Saviour can be applied to Thee. For He is the Culprit, and Thou art the author of my sanctification, and of all that I have received from the Saviour through Thee, and which I have received from Thee alone. Thy Blood is the Blood that washes away the sins of the world; From Thee is the Body in which I have received sanctification, in which is the New Covenant, in which is all hope of salvation. Your womb is the kingdom of God. But, O supreme of all praise and of all appellation, accept the song, do not neglect zeal, grant that the best things may be thought of and sung of Thee both now, in this life, and hereafter, in eternal life. Amen.

Translated by Prot. Patrologia Orientalis Tome XIX - Fascicule 3 - N 9 Paris, 1925: 377-392.