A HOMILY FOR THE FOREFEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION
(March 25/April 6)
About the Exaltation of Human Nature by the Incarnation of God
Brothers and sisters!
Today is the fifth Sunday of the Great Fast, when ordinarily we would commemorate our venerable mother Mary of Egypt. This year, however, the fifth Sunday of Lent coincides with the eve of Annunciation, the great feast of the Incarnation of God the Word, so the service to Saint Mary is abbreviated and relegated to Compline. During the rest of the divine services, it is the Forefeast of the Annunciation that is celebrated, with the Resurrection of Christ. Therefore, my word to you today, beloved Christians, will not be about Saint Mary, but about the most astounding and important event to occur since the beginning of time, the Incarnation of God the Word by the Holy Spirit from the Ever-Virgin Mary, and about the consequences of the Incarnation for the race of man: namely, for you and for me.
In the person of the incarnate Lord, our race has been supremely exalted, dear brothers and sisters. The Son of God has assumed our human nature not temporarily, but forevermore, uniting it inseparably to His divine hypostasis. As a result, in the Logos after the Incarnation there are two natures, the divine and the human, united indivisibly but without confusion and constituting a single person. Therefore, even though He has become true man in time, the Son of God remains true God, as He was from eternity. Furthermore, on account of the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ, the Lord’s humanity is utterly divinized and participates in everything communicable in the Godhead. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ being true man, His humanity has not been deprived of its proper characteristics, of its human finitude; only, it has been enriched by His Godhead with infinite wisdom, holiness, lifegiving power, and all the other divine perfections. For this reason we do not simply worship Christ’s divine nature, but His entire person, divine and human, for, as I said, His humanity – our humanity in Him – has been perfectly divinized. Now and unto all eternity the Lord Jesus sits in glory in His human nature at the right hand of God the Father; now and unto the ages all power is given to Him in heaven and in earth,[1] not just as God, but as man: as the God-man.
What day, then, could be loftier, more wondrous, or more significant, than the day of the Son of God’s Incarnation, “the fountainhead of our salvation and the manifestation of the mystery which was from eternity”? For on the day of the Annunciation to the Virgin and the Incarnation of God, the preeternal counsel of the Trinity was fulfilled and the Divine Seed was planted in the Virgin’s womb: the Seed that would blossom forth the deification of all those who share Christ’s human nature and who put on Christ.
Besides this, it is imperative that we understand, as fully as possible, how highly and to what an astonishing degree our nature was likewise exalted in the person of the Most Holy Virgin. For from the moment of the Lord’s conception in her womb, it was the humanity He took entirely and precisely from her that was inseparably united with the divine nature in His divine hypostasis. Consequently, the Virgin conceived, carried in her womb, and bore not a simple man, but the true God; therefore, she is verily the Theotokos, in the fullest sense. Afterwards, it was most specifically her humanity in Himself that the Lord elevated beyond the heavens to the throne of the Father. How perfect, then, must that humanity have been, even from the moment of Christ’s conception! From the womb of her mother Saint Anna, the Most Holy Virgin underwent the most intense preparation for the purpose of worthily giving flesh to the Preeternal Logos, and this process was completed when God the Word descended into her virginal womb, at that instant utterly purifying her. For this cause, she is exalted above all creation, not only the earthly, but the celestial as well, and most worthily extolled as more honorable than the cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim. So perfect, so full of grace is she, that at the Annunciation she became the very boundary between the created and the increate. In truth, she is the first after God, the Queen of heaven and earth, the splendor and perfection of our race!
But what is also most astonishing is how, if not to the same degree as is the case with Christ or the Theotokos, human nature can now be exalted in each and every one of us, in consequence of the Incarnation of God the Word, if only we believe truly in the Incarnation and live accordingly. If one of the daughters of men was deemed worthy to become the Mother of God, then all we the faithful have become brothers and sisters to Christ, children of His Father, and partakers of His Spirit. In Holy Baptism we were born again as offspring of God and were robed in Christ. In the Mystery of Chrismation we were granted the gift of the Comforting Spirit. In the Holy Eucharist we are united soul and body with Christ, so that He abides in us and we in Him. If after this we remain steadfast in piety, as Christians should, then we will cease to live for ourselves, and Christ will come to live in us more and more. And so it is that now are we the sons of God,[2] heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.[3] As such we shall reign with Him,[4] seated with Him on the throne of His glory.
After all this, brothers and sisters, should I add a moral exhortation to my homily? Is it not completely obvious that if these things be true, and that the Lord has so elevated human nature in His own person and in the person of His immaculate Mother, then He can greatly exalt each of us who share that nature with Him? For this, He only requires our cooperation, because He respects our freedom of choice. And so, let us choose to esteem our own nature and His as we should, and begin to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the honor He has bestowed upon it. Let us never forget that it is through piety that the potential bestowed on us by the Incarnation becomes living reality, enabling the fallen to mount up to heaven. The best example of this is the saints. Let us determine to follow the Saviour up to heaven as did they, so that the “good word” of the All-Holy Virgin’s Annunciation and Christ’s Incarnation is translated into good deed in us. This way, the blessed day of the Annunciation will become for each of us in all truth the fountainhead of our salvation. Amen.
[1] Matt. 28:18
[2] I John 3:2
[3] Rom. 8:17
[4] II Tim. 2:12
