Some of the commentators of the
divine Scriptures render this, “See, the young woman will conceive.” Jews at
any rate think that the mother of the Lord should be referred to by the term “young
woman” and not be called virgin; they believe that it is proper to
undermine the force of the mystery by using “young woman” instead of virgin.
But there are many ways in which you could detect their ignorance; first, even
if the virgin were spoken of as a young woman, she would not be excluded from
being a virgin. Then they claim that it is in reference to the wife of Ahaz
that the prophet says, “See, the young woman will conceive and bear a son,”
their purpose being that we may take Hezekiah as the one born of him. In failing to examine the text of the prophecy closely, however, they adopt an
ill-advised opinion and then decide to reinforce their own interpretation on
this basis alone. Fine fellows that you are, anyone could instead reply to you,
“Who referred to Hezekiah as Immanuel? On what grounds could it be
proved that before knowing good or evil, he will desert evil to choose the
good?”
Let us begin, therefore, by
bidding adieu to their humbug and adopting what is right and true, in our
belief that it is the holy Virgin that is referred to by God in the passage
before us. In this way, in fact, the sign will be truly unparalleled and
extraordinary, both for depth or for height in terms of the divine
promise; the only Son, born of God the Father on high by nature, emptied himself
and emerged from the virginal womb according to the flesh, his birth the result
not of human insemination but of the power and operation of the Holy Spirit. It
is in these terms, in fact, that it was said to the holy Virgin in the
statement of blessed Gabriel, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you.” So she will bear a son, he
says. (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Isaiah, 3 vols. [trans. Robert
Charles Hill; Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2008], 1:168-69)
