“Whatever has taken place in the history of salvation – whatever was done by Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit – must also take place within me. That’s what it means for me to participate in the life of God. For example, to the extent that I have emptied myself (cf. Phil. 2.7), I experience what the Mother of God felt when she said to the angel: Let it be done to me according to your word. I experience, in other words, her total self-surrender to that which was beyond her capacity to understand. How shall this be? she asked; How can I give birth, since I am a virgin and have not known a man? Was there anything she could understand? The angel replied: The Spirit will overshadow you and you will give birth (cf. Lk. 1.34-38). Did she understand anything? Nothing at all. That is what is meant by Let it be done to me according to your word, which means: ‘whatever you say, just as you said it. Even though I cannot understand it, let it happen just as you say.’”
- Elder Aimilianos, The Way of the Spirit, p. 36
O Theotokos and Virgin,
Rejoice, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
for thou hast born for us the Saviour of our souls.
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