It was not because the Virgin did not believe that she
said, How shall this be? Rather, it was because she was wise and astute, and
sought to understand the manner in which this would take place. For nothing
like this had ever happened before, nor would it again. This is why the angel
forgives her, and does not chastise her as he did Zacharias, but instead
explains to her how it would come about. It was fitting that Zacharias was
chastised, for he knew many examples of barren women who had given birth. But
for the Virgin, there was no precedent. The Holy Spirit, he says, shall come
upon thee, rendering thy womb fertile, and creating flesh for the Word Which is
one in essence with the Father. The power of the Most High, that is, the Son of
God, for Christ is the power of God, shall overshadow thee, encompassing thee
about from all sides. Just as the hen overshadows her chicks, taking them all
in under her wings, so too the power of God completely encompassed the Virgin.
This is what it means to overshadow. Someone else perhaps will say that just as
a painter first shadows in the image and then completes it with color, likewise
the Lord, in creating flesh for Himself and fashioning the icon of man, first
drew the shadow of the image in the womb of the Virgin, incorporating flesh
from the blood of the Ever Virgin, and then little by little gave it form. But
this is unclear. Some say that when the Lord overshadowed the Virgin in her womb,
immediately there was a completed infant. But others do not accept this. Listen
to what the angel says: Therefore also that Holy Thing Which is begotten of
thee, in other words, that Holy Thing Which is growing within your womb in
extraordinary manner, and does not at once exist in completed form. Here the
mouth of Nestorius is sealed. For that man said that the Son of God did not
take flesh by dwelling in the womb of the Virgin, but that a mere man was born
of Mary, and only later was this man "accompanied" by God. Let
Nestorius hear, therefore, that that Holy Thing Which is being begotten in the
womb is the Son of God. That which was carried in the womb and the Son of God
are not two separate entities, but one and the same, the Son of the Virgin and
the Son of God. See how the angel revealed the Holy Trinity by naming the Holy
Spirit, the Power which is the Son, and the Most High which is the Father. (pp.
17-18)
Which respect to “Which is begotten
of thee”:
To gennōmenon, here translated as Which is begotten, is the present passive participle of the verb gennaō, which means "to beget, to bear, to bring forth." The single Greek word encompasses the entire nine month process from conception to giving birth. The interpretation which Blessed Theophylact provides depends upon the force of the Greek present passive participle, which could be more literally expressed in English by the phrase "that Holy Thing Which is being begotten," or "Which is being brought forth." (Ibid., 17 n. 24)
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