Because he is merciful like the
Father and because their wills are one, the Son did as the Father said. He came
to Mary and took flesh from her, when through the Holy Spirit he had purified
her of all stains of sin. He came forth from her into the world and dwelt among
human beings, even as the prophets had said that he would. (Theodore Abū Qurrah,
“On Our Salvation,” in Theodore Abū Qurrah [trans. John C. Lamoreaux; Brigham
Young University Middle Eastern Texts Initiative; Library of the Christian East
1; Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2005], 133)
Christ’s body is “the sun of
righteousness,” even as the prophets said. Similarly, Christ’s body is to the
divinity as the sun’s body is to the light. Even as God created the light on
the first day and then created the body of the sun on the fourth day and made
that light he had created on the first day to take up residence in it, so also
this body taken from Mary became the dwelling place of the divinity: from it,
its light shone forth, and it manifested its deeds and words to the angels and
to the whole of creation. This body was not taken from the Virgin Mary until
the Holy Spirit had purified her of all stains of sin. The eternal Son took it
from her as something immaculate, pure, and cleansed, ready for the divinity to
reside in it. After the divinity took up residence in it, it became a fount,
from which there flowed all the exalted features of the divinity, such as
righteousness, wisdom, and might. (Theodore Abū Qurrah, “On Our Salvation,” in Theodore
Abū Qurrah [trans. John C. Lamoreaux; Brigham Young University Middle
Eastern Texts Initiative; Library of the Christian East 1; Provo, Utah: Brigham
Young University Press, 2005], 138)
