Vigils Reading

O ADONAI

From a sermon by St Gregory of Nazianzus

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The very Son of God, older than the ages, the invisible, the

incomprehensible, the incorporeal the beginning of beginning, the light of light,

the fountain of life and immortality, the image of the archetype, the immovable

seat the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the Father: he it is who

comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and

unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul to purify like by like.

He takes to himself all that is human except for sin. He was conceived by the

Virgin Mary, who had been first prepared in soul and body by the Spirit; his

coming to birth had to be treated with honor, virginity had to receive new honor.

He comes forth as God, in the human nature he has taken, one being, made of

two contrary elements, flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity, flesh received it.

He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that

I may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied

for a brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness. What is this wealth

of goodness? What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of

God, but failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh, to bring salvation to the likeness

and immortality to the flesh. He enters a second union with us, a union far more

wonderful than the first.

Holiness had to be brought to us by the humanity assumed by one who is

God, so that God might overcome the tyrant and so deliver us and lead us back

to himself through the mediation of his Son. The Son arranged this for the honor

of the Father, to whom the Son is clearly obedient in all things. The Good

Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, came in search of the straying

sheep to the mountains and hills on which we used to offer sacrifice.9

Christ, the light of all lights, follows John, the lamp that goes before him.

The Word of God follows the voice in the wilderness; the bridegroom follows the

bridegroom’s friend, who prepares a worthy people for the Lord by cleansing

them by water in preparation for the Spirit. We need God to take our flesh and

die, that we might live. We have died with him, that we may be purified. We have

risen again with him, because we have died with him. We have been glorified

with him, because we have risen again with him.