Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
On what is written: "And Mary rose up and went with haste into the hill country," down to the place where he says: "there will be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken." The better come to the lesser, so that by their arrival they may confer some benefit upon them. So too the Savior came to John, that he might sanctify his baptism; and Mary, as soon as she heard the angel announcing
that she had conceived the Savior and that her kinswoman Elizabeth was with child, rising up with haste went into the hill country, and entered the house of Elizabeth. For Jesus, who was in her womb, was already hastening to sanctify John, who lay in his mother's belly. And so, before Mary came and greeted Elizabeth, "the infant did not leap in the womb"; but as soon as Mary spoke the word which
the Son of God in his mother's womb had prompted, "the infant leapt for joy," and then for the first time Jesus made his forerunner a prophet. It was fitting too that Mary, most worthy of bearing God's offspring, should after the angel's address ascend into the hill country and dwell among the higher places. Hence it is written: "Mary, rising up in those days, went into the hill country." It was also fitting that she, being of unslothful diligence, should hasten eagerly and, full of the Holy
Spirit, be led up to the higher places and be protected by the power of God, by which she had already been overshadowed. She came therefore into the city of Judah and into the house of Zechariah, and greeted Elizabeth. "And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leapt in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit." There is no doubt, then, that she who was then "filled"
with the Spirit was "filled" on account of her son. For the mother did not first merit the Holy Spirit; rather, when John, still enclosed in the womb, had received the Holy Spirit, then, after her son's sanctification, she too was "filled with the Holy Spirit." You will believe this the more readily if you learn something similar also concerning the Savior. Blessed Mary is found, as we have discovered in a number of copies, to prophesy. For we are not unaware that according to other
manuscripts these words are uttered as a prophecy by Elizabeth. Mary, then, was filled with the Holy Spirit the moment she began to carry the Savior within her womb. For as soon as she received the Holy Spirit, the maker of the Lord's body, and the Son of God began to be in her womb, she herself too was filled with the Holy Spirit. “The infant” therefore “leapt in Elizabeth's womb; she was filled with the Holy Spirit, crying out with a loud voice, and”
said: "Blessed are you among women" — this, so that simple souls may not be led astray, refutes what the heretics are accustomed to object. For someone or other has burst out into such madness as to assert that Mary was repudiated by the Savior, on the ground that after his birth she was joined to Joseph; and he has said what he said with whatever mind he had — he himself knows, the one who said it. If, then, the heretics
should ever raise some such objection against you, answer them and say: Surely Mary is hailed as "blessed among women" by the Holy Spirit — how then did the Savior repudiate her? Furthermore, as for their assertion that she married after giving birth, they have nothing by which to prove it; for those who were called Joseph's sons were not born of Mary, nor is there any scripture that records any such thing. "Blessed are you among"
...blessed are you among women, and the fruit of your womb is blessed. And whence is this granted to me, that my Lord's mother should visit me?" She says, "Whence is this granted to me?" — and though she was filled above all with the Holy Spirit, it is not that she failed to know that the Lord's mother had come to her by God's will; rather she is speaking in this sense: What good have I done? What great works of mine are there,
that my Lord's mother should visit me? By what righteousness, from what good deeds, by what faithfulness of mind have I deserved this, that my Lord's mother should visit me? "For behold, as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant leapt for joy in my womb." The soul of blessed John was holy, and though still enclosed in his mother's womb
he already knew the one who was coming into the world, whom Israel did not know; hence he "leapt," and not simply "leapt," but "in joy" — for his Lord had come, in order to sanctify the servant before he came forth from his mother's womb. Would that it might happen to me, that I be called a fool by unbelievers for having believed such things. The work itself and the truth show that I have believed not in folly but in wisdom, because this thing, which is thought
foolish among them, becomes for me an occasion of salvation. For unless the birth of the Savior had been heavenly and blessed, unless it had possessed something divine, something surpassing human nature, his teaching would never have penetrated the whole world. If he had been only a man in Mary's womb and not the Son of God, how could it have come about that both at that time and now not only diseases of bodies, but also
the many diseases of souls were healed? Which of us was there who does not now, because of the mercy of God, have understanding and know God? Which of us was not a stranger to righteousness, who now, because of Christ, has righteousness and follows righteousness? Which of us was not wandering and astray, who now, because of the coming of the Savior, does not waver and is not troubled, but is on the way — namely, in him
who says, "I am"? And gathering these things together, we can see that everything written about him is recounted as worthy of divine admiration, because his birth and his nurture and his power and his passion and his resurrection are at work in us not only at that time but even now. Who gathered you, catechumens, into the church? What goad drove you,
to leave your homes and come together into this assembly? For we do not go around your homes one by one, but the almighty Father, by an invisible power, instills into the hearts of those whom he knows to be worthy this ardor, so that you come to the faith as though unwilling and holding back, especially at the outset of your life in religion, when, as if trembling and afraid, you receive the faith of salvation with fear. I beg you, catechumens: do not
hold back; let none of you be afraid and fearful, but follow Jesus who goes before you. He draws you to salvation, and gathers you into the church — now, indeed, upon earth, but if you bear worthy fruits, into "the church of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven." "Blessed is she who believed," and blessed is he who believes that there will be a fulfillment of the things "that were spoken to her by the Lord" — the Lord Jesus. "My soul magnifies" the Lord, "and my spirit" rejoices in "God."
...may have their interpretation, if the Lord grants it, when we gather again in the church, so that you come joyfully to the house of God and lend your ears to the divine reading; we will inquire, we will winnow, we will discuss, in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.