Entrance to the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre.

Your Son will be great, and "the Son of the Most High shall be called..." (Luke 1:32) What honor, what dignity! And yet, what is She thinking about? What does he say? With childlike humility She answers: "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord!" as if She were saying: "I am unworthy not only to be, but also to be called the Mother of the Lord My Creator; I am unworthy not only to reign with Him, but even to stand before Him; unworthy not only to bear Him in My womb or in My arms, but also to gaze upon His most holy face, at which even the Seraphim look with trembling — "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord!" And on whom shall I look, – says the Lord, – "but on the meek and humble" (Isaiah 66:2). And so, He looked upon the humility of His Servant (Luke 1:48), for His humility He chose Her as His Mother, and by humility He raised Her into His Heavenly Kingdom. And now, in the person of the Most-Pure Virgin, humility reigns where pride was cast down.

The third, highest step of Her to heaven is Her love for God. And how She loved God — no tongue can explain, no mind can comprehend. Love is one of the unknown mysteries of the heart, known only to the One God, Who searches the hearts and wombs. She loved God with all her heart, with all her soul, and with all her mind. She loved God with the warmest love more than all the saints of God who had ever lived on earth before and after Her. For this reason God also loved Her more than anyone else, as He Himself said: "I love Me who love Me." And he set Her closest to Himself; "The Queen stands at Thy right hand..."

This, beloved, are the three steps (not to mention the others) by which the Mother of God now ascends to the mountain abodes: to God the Holy Spirit through virginal purity, to God the Son through humility, to God the Father through love, or rather, through all three steps She ascended to the One God in the Trinity. For with what She pleased God the Holy Spirit, She pleased both God the Son and God the Father. As She pleased God the Son, so pleased both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And with what she pleased God the Father, she pleased both God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We, marveling at Her ascent, cry out with trembling: "O wondrous miracle.. A ladder to heaven is a grave!"

(From the works of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov)

486. Suffering Virtue

"And the king sent a speculator, and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the virgin, and the maiden gave it to her mother" (Mark 6:27-28)

In the very middle of a life spent in the strictest fulfillment of the law of God, before seeing "the Kingdom of God come in power" (Mark 9:1), for which all the righteous of the Old Testament would be ready to rise from the graves, suddenly lose their lives to please a shameless adulteress, and give their head to the dish of a speculator (armor-bearer), so that it would serve as a spectacle in the midst of a mad feast — can there be a more deplorable fate than this fate? And who suffered such a fate? The most holy preacher of truth and virtue, the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Son of God, the one greater than whom, according to the testimony of Christ Himself, "I have not risen in the pains born of women" (Matt. 11:11).

Can we know these laws? We can and must. God's Providence has many mysteries, but in this respect there is enough light for the most short-sighted eyes. In order that we may have no reason to murmur and bear each of our own crosses more complacently, in the word of God both the causes and the purpose of innocent suffering in this world are clearly revealed to us. Let us reveal this for the consolation of those who suffer, and for the admonition of those who cause others to suffer innocently.

That innocence should be followed by joy and peace, and not persecution and tears, is an eternal law, the immutability of which our heart recognizes in spite of all the wisdom of the obstinate mind, in spite of all examples of persecuted virtue and triumphant vice. Involuntarily and willingly one believes that there was a time when virtue and blessedness were one, and that there will again be a time when they will be one. On the other hand, who, without taking his eyes off the face of the Heavenly Father, can say that the source of suffering for the righteous originated in heaven, from Him, our all-wise and all-good Father? Who can say that? No! Man himself did not want to preserve his happiness and bliss, he became unhappy himself and spread misfortune all over the face of the earth. Since then, the righteous have suffered. Since then, the wicked have triumphed. Much here is out of place and does not happen as it should be: the right has become left, and the left has become right; Darkness is called light, and light is called darkness. After this, to seek in our fallen world a strict order of truth, a true combination of happiness and virtue, would be to seek prudence in the house of the mindless. "But," they say, "where is Providence?" — Wherever there are those who need it. — "What does he do?" — Everything that is necessary for the good of the persecuted, and even the persecutors.

In fact, all that one should desire now and that one can rightly hope for from God's Providence is that a limit should be set to human madness, that the sufferings of virtuous people should be as little as possible, and that they should be turned for the good of those who suffer, that evil should be buried in its very triumph, and that truth should rise with glory from its very grave. But all this was done by God's Providence, and moreover, in such a way that the most demanding mind cannot wish for more and better. And, in the first place, how far can the ferocity of the fiercest persecutors of mankind extend over people? Not further than before the taking away of the life of the body, as many martyrs suffered, John the Baptist Himself and the Saviour Himself: "More than that," in His own words, the torturers cannot "do" (Luke 12:4); it is not in their power to touch the soul, much less conscience always remains the property of man, inaccessible to any external power. But how much does the loss of the mortal body, which in a few years even without torment must become a prey to disease and decay, does the loss of this body mean much for the spirit, which knows no death and no end, and, having cast off the mortal tabernacle of the body here, where it burdens it unceasingly, immediately finds for itself "a tabernacle not made with hands, eternal," created by God Himself "in heaven" (2 Corinthians 5:1)

The whole task of the suffering, therefore, is to be able to endure suffering in the spirit of faith and to turn it to their spiritual benefit, to the purification of their hearts and consciences, so that through suffering they may be more closely united with their Lord and Saviour, Who is the leader, model and friend of all those who suffer in His name. Whoever suffers in this way, in the spirit of faith and love, without murmuring against Providence, without hatred for his persecutors, has every reason to rejoice, for he is clearly in the midst of the royal path; The banner of victory is already waving over him, the gates of paradise are already open to him!

Let us apply these truths to the joyful and sad event that we remember. John, in his zeal for truth and the law, could not but denounce Herod; Herod and Herodias, in their malice and corruption, were not able to profitably accept the rebukes of the holy man. Truth met in this way and fought with vice: everyone, so to speak, did his job, and everyone got his own. In John was revealed all the power of faith and virtue; in Herod the predominance of earthly power manifested itself. The power of faith was not afraid to denounce the vice covered by the royal purple, the power of the earth was not ashamed to behead the one who, according to everyone, was the greatest of the Prophets. The victory seems to have remained on the side of wickedness: the voice crying in the wilderness was silenced, the lamp of light was extinguished; and vice remained in the silent darkness that was dear to him. But in fact the opposite happened: John was caught up from the wilderness to paradise, from the locusts to eternal bliss; the speculator was like an angel who placed on him the crown of martyrdom. Herod continued to feast, feasted for several years, and then he saw a speculator above him, who tore his soul out of his body and threw him into a place where the fire is not extinguished and the worm does not die. Who has gained now, and who has lost? Herod or John?

If the murderer of John had been asked to return to earth, what deaths would he not have agreed to endure, if only to return the insane command given against John? And John? His crown of martyrdom is so majestic that he has no reason to return to earth, even for all the crowns in the world. And among us now, in spite of our weakness in virtue, who, if it were necessary to choose one of the two, would want to stand in the place of Herod, and would not prefer the fate of John? The very name of the latter already arouses reverence and love in all; on the contrary, the name of Herod has always meant and will always mean monsters who play with humanity. Thus, brethren, innocence always suffers here — it suffers temporarily in order to receive an eternal reward — it suffers because unrighteousness cannot tolerate it, just as it itself does not tolerate unrighteousness, it suffers in order to perfect itself in the unselfish service of God.