Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
Homily VI. On what is written: "But when Elizabeth had conceived, she hid herself," down to the place where it says, "He will be great." "When she conceived she hid herself for five months, saying: Thus the Lord has done for me in the days in which he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men." I ask for what reason, after she understood that she was pregnant, she
hid herself. Unless I am mistaken, this is the reason: even those who are joined in marriage do not have every season free for intercourse with one another, but there is a time when they refrain from the work of marriage. For if the husband is an old man and the wife an old woman, it is a matter of the greatest shame for them to serve lust, to serve the marriage bed, which by the decay of the body, by old age, and, it seems, by the will of God, have been taken away.
But she, because at the word of the angel and by the dispensation of God had once again been joined to her husband, was ashamed that, an old woman and nearly decrepit, she should have returned to the work of the young. Hence she also hid herself for five months, not all the way to the ninth month, until the birth came upon her, but only until Mary also had conceived. For when Mary had conceived and came to her, and the greeting was made
to her, the infant leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb, and she prophesied. And filled with the Holy Spirit she spoke the things which the account of the Gospel describes. And these words were spread abroad through all the hill country. For when a report went out among the people that she had in her womb a prophet, and that what she was carrying was greater than a man, then she is not hidden, but with complete freedom
reveals herself and rejoices that she has in her womb the forerunner of the Savior. Then the scripture recalls that in the month in which Elizabeth had conceived, Gabriel was sent by God into a city of Galilee, whose name was Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, from the house of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary. Turning this over again in my mind, I ask why God, when he had once decided that the Savior should be born of
a virgin, did not choose a girl without a betrothed, but rather chose above all one who had already been betrothed. And unless I am mistaken, the reason is this: he had to be born of that virgin who not only had a betrothed but, as Matthew writes, had already been given over to a husband, though the husband did not yet know her, so that her outward state itself might not display the virgin's shame, were she to appear a virgin with a swelling womb. Hence elegantly
I found it written in the letter of a certain martyr - I mean Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, second after Peter, who in the persecution at Rome fought with beasts: "The virginity of Mary was hidden from the ruler of this age; it was hidden on account of the marriage, it was hidden because she was thought to have a husband. For if she had not had a betrothed and, as was supposed, a husband, she could by no means have been hidden from the ruler of this world." For at once a thought
would have crept silently into the devil's mind: how is this woman, who has not lain with a man, pregnant? This conception must be divine, something more sublime than human nature must be at work. On the contrary, the Savior had so arranged his dispensation that the devil should not know of the assumption of his body; hence also at his birth he concealed it from him, and afterward instructed his disciples not to make him known. And when by him
when he was tempted by the devil, he nowhere confessed himself to be the Son of God, but only replied: it is not fitting that I worship you, nor that I make these stones into bread, nor that I throw myself down from the height. And while saying these things, he kept silent throughout about his being the Son of God. Look also in another scripture, and you will find that it was Christ's will that the devil should remain ignorant of the coming of the Son of God,
so that the devil would not know it. For the Apostle, asserting that the hostile powers were ignorant of his passion, says: "we speak wisdom among the perfect, but not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing; but we speak the wisdom of God, concealed within a mystery, a wisdom none of the rulers of this age has come to know. For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory." The mystery of the Savior, then, was hidden from the rulers of this age. But as for what
can be raised as an objection from the opposite side, it seems to me that I ought to resolve it before someone else brings it forward: by what reasoning is it that what escaped the notice of the rulers of this age did not escape the notice of the demon, who was speaking in the gospel: "have you come here to torment us before the time? We know who you are - the Son of God"? But consider this: the one who is lesser in malice recognized the Savior, whereas the one who is greater in wickedness, and cunning, and evil,
is prevented, precisely by the fact that he is greater in evil, from knowing the Son of God. We too, if we have less evil in us, can more easily make progress toward virtue; but if there is more evil in us, we must sweat with immense toil in order to be freed from the greater malice. So much, then, for the fact that Mary had a betrothed. But as for the angel greeting Mary with a new form of words, which
I have not been able to find anywhere else in scripture, a few things must be said about this too. For as to what he says, "Hail, full ," I do not recall having read this elsewhere in Greek; nor indeed was such a phrase - "hail, full of grace" - ever addressed to a man; this greeting was reserved for Mary alone. For if Mary had known that a similar expression had been used toward anyone else -
since she indeed had knowledge of the law, and was holy, and had come to know the prophets' utterances through daily meditation - she would never have been terrified by the greeting as by something unfamiliar. For this reason the angel says to her: "do not fear, Mary! for you have found favor before the Lord. Behold, you will conceive in the womb, and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and the Son of the Most High." It is also said of
John: "he will be great," and the angel Gabriel testifies to this very thing; but when Jesus came, truly great, truly exalted, the one who had previously been "great" became lesser. For, it says, "he was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light." The greatness of our Savior did not appear then, when he was born, but only now, after being
oppressed, as it seemed, by his adversaries, has it shone forth. Behold the greatness of the Lord: "into all the earth has gone out the sound of his teaching, and to the ends of the world his words." Our Lord Jesus, because he is the power of God, has been spread throughout the whole world, and is present with us even now, according to what we read in the Apostle: "when you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus." The power of the Lord Savior
He is with those who, in Britain, are separated from our world, and with those who are in Mauretania, and with all who under the sun have believed in his name. See, then, the greatness of the Savior, how it has spread through the whole world — and indeed I have not yet set forth his true greatness. Ascend into the heavens and see him, how he has filled the heavenly places: for he “appeared”
to the “angels.” Descend in thought into the depths, and you will see that he has descended there too. For “he who descended is himself also the one who ascended, that he might fill all things,” “so that every knee should bend at the name of Jesus, whether of beings in heaven, upon earth, or beneath the earth.” Consider the power of the Lord, how he has filled the world — that is, the heavenly, the earthly, and the infernal — how he has both penetrated heaven itself and ascended to the heights.
For we read that the Son of God passed through the heavens. If you see these things, you will likewise perceive that it was not said in passing, “he will be great,” but that the word has been fulfilled in deed. Great is our Lord Jesus, both present and absent, and he grants a share of his strength even to this assembly and gathering of ours; that we too, each one, may be worthy to receive it, let us beseech the Lord Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for
ages of ages. Amen.