Homily 53: On the Entry of the Mother of God into the Holy of Holies

By: St. Gregory Palamas

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 1 hr and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

This sermon is Homily 53 in the surviving corpus, and may be found in the complete edition (with notes) in Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (2009 and 2014), and an earlier translation (without the notes) may also be found in Mary the Mother of God: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas (2005), which is also available in Kindle format. See Sample Passage: "She lived, as though in paradise, in a place removed from the earth, or rather, as though in the courts of heaven, for that sanctuary was a symbol of those courts. Thus she led an unencumbered life without cares or occupation, free from sorrow, with no share in base passions, above that pleasure which is inseparable from pain. She lived for God alone and was sustained and preserved only by Him who was to pitch His tent among us through her. Obviously she saw only God, making God her delight and continually waiting on Him. "With profound understanding she listened to the writings of Moses and the revelations of the other prophets when, every Saturday, all the people gathered outside, as the law ordained. She learnt about Adam and Eve and everything that happened to them: how they were brought out of non-being, settled in paradise, and given a commandment there; about the evil one’s ruinous counsel, and the resulting theft; about their expulsion from paradise on that account, the loss of immortality, and the change to this way of life full of pain. In addition, she saw that as time passed, life continued under the inherited curse and grew ever worse, God’s creature made in His image was estranged from the Creator and became more and more closely associated with the one who had evilly schemed to crush him. (Alas for the evil one’s power over us and his insatiable rage against us! Woe to our insensitivity and our inclination to return to the earth!) No one was capable of putting an end to this impulse which brings destruction on all men alike, or to the uncheckable rush of our race towards hell. When the Holy Virgin Maid heard and understood this, she was filled with pity for humanity and, with the aim of finding a remedy to counteract this great affliction, she resolved at once to turn with her whole mind to God. She took it upon herself to represent us, to constrain Him who is above compulsion, and quickly draw Him towards us, that He might remove the curse from among us, halt the advance of the fire burning men’s souls, weaken our enemies, answer our prayers, shine upon us with light that never sets and, having healed our sickness, unite His creature with Himself."