Blessed be the Glory of the Lord from His Throne
Ezequiel 3:12
When I read St Gregory Palamas’ homily, ‘On the Entry of the
Theotokos Into the Holy of Holies’ , I am awe-struck! Actually, ever
since I read his homily for the first time, I have not stopped thinking
about the glory and grace which adorns Her who is more spacious
than the heavens.
The psalmist sang, “Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in Gold
of Ophir. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty…,She shall be
brought into the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her
companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. I will make thy
name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people
praise thee for ever and ever.” Psalm 45:9,11,14,17
My heart leaps for joy when I consider the greatness of the gift. Our
beloved Theologian, St Gregory, is full of the Holy Spirit when he
praises the Theotokos saying, “For where Christ took His seat in
heaven on the right hand of the majesty on high, she stands too, not
just because she longs for Him, and is longed for in return, more than
all others, even according to the dictates of nature, but because she
is truly His throne. And where the king sits, there stands the throne.
Isaiah saw this throne in the midst of the choir of cherubim, and said
it was high and lifted up (Isa.6:1), showing that the mother of God is
far exalted above the heavenly powers. If the highest order of the
heavenly hierarchies were allotted second place immediately after
her, still they are not second in order with regard to honor. Otherwise,
although they would be inferior compared to her, she would only be
slightly better than they, whereas now she is immeasurably superior
to them, Just as we have no other luminary to put second after the
sun’s orb for abundance of light except the moon, even though it gives
very little illumination, so, in the same way there are no other divinely
radiant beings which can be considered second to her except the
seraphim.
But to anyone who examines the matter carefully, the comparison will
hardly appear worthy as though a torch were being likened to a beacon
visible far and wide. That is why the prophet presents the angels
themselves glorifying God in her account, saying, ‘Blessed be the glory
of the Lord from his throne’ Ezequiel 3:12.
Do you see how the whole creation gives thanks to the Virgin Mother,
not in years gone by, but for ever and ever to endless ages? From this
it can be understood that she too will never cease throughout the ages
to do good to the whole creation, not just our own, but also to the
immaterial, supernatural orders.
For Isaiah gave clear proof that they, like us, only commune with, and touch, the intangible divine nature through her. He did not see the seraph taking the burning coal (the burning coal is a figure or type of the divine Eucharist) directly from the altar, but taking it by means of tongs, with which he also touched the prophet’s lips and bestowed cleansing (Isa. 6:6-7). The vision of the tongs is equivalent to the great vision seen by Moses of the burning bush which was not consumed
(Exodus 3:2). Surely, everyone is aware that the Virgin Mother is both that burning bush and those tongs, as she conceived the divine fire without being consumed by fire. An archangel also ministered at that conception, and through her he united Him who takes away the sins of the world with the human race, thoroughly cleansing us by this union.”
From St. Gregory Palamas, The Homilies p.430-431, Edited and Translated by Christopher Veniamin, Mount Thabor Publishing 2009.
God has indeed bestowed great gifts to men! Silence and wonder shroud my heart as I bow down to Her and praise Her, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His throne!”.
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