Virginity And Virtue

Ὅτι ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν τῆς δούλης αὐτοῦ· ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μακαριοῦοί με πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί. Ἀλλ' οἷον τὸ τῆς παρθενίας χρῆμα; Τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλας ἀρετὰς ἀσκῆσαι θέλων ἕκαστος, ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου ῥυθμίζεται, δὲ παρθενία, τὸν νόμον ὑπερβᾶσα καὶ μείζονι σκοπῷ τὴν ἀγωγὴν τῆς πολιτείας ἔχουσα, γνώρισμα μέν ἐστι τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, εἰκὼν δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων καθαρότητος. Πολλὰ μὲν οὖν εἰπεῖν τις ἔχοι περὶ αὐτῆς· ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἐν φανεροῖς ἐνδιατρίβω λέγων, ἓν ἀντὶ πάντων τοῦτ’ εἰπών, τῆς ἀρετῆς ταύτης δείξω τὸ μέγεθος. Ὁ γὰρ Δεσπότης τοῦ παντὸς ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος, θέλοντος τοῦ Πατρὸς ἀνεγεῖραι καὶ ἀνακαινίσαι τὰ πάντα, μητέρα τοῦ σώματος οὗ ἔμελλε φορεῖν οὐδένα πλὴν παρθένον ἠθέλησε γενέσθαι καὶ γέγονε· καὶ οὕτως ἡμῖν ἅνθρωπος ἐπεδήμησεν ὁ Κύριος· ἵν’ ὥσπερ τὰ πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, οὕτω καὶ παρθενία ἐξ αὐτοῦ γένηται καὶ δι’ αὐτοῦ πάλιν εἰς ἀνθρώπους χάρις αὕτη δοθῇ καὶ αὔξουσα διαμείνῃ. Ὅσον τοίνυν καύχημα παρθένων ἐστὶ τοῦτο καὶ γνώρισμα τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ θεότητος, ἔξεστιν ἐκ τούτου μαθεῖν· Εἰ τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων οἱ γονεῖς εἶσι περίβλεπτοι διὰ τὴν τῶν υἱῶν ἀνδρίαν καὶ χαίρει Σάρρα τεκοῦσα τὸν Ἰσαάκ, καὶ μακάριοι ὅσοι ἔχουσιν ἐν Σιὼν σπέρμα καὶ οἰκείους ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ, ὥς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, πόσον ἄν τις εἴποι τὸ καύχημα τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου καὶ θεοειδοῦς Μαρίας, ὅτι μήτηρ Λόγου κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν τῆς σαρκὸς γέγονέ τε καὶ χρηματίζει; καὶ γὰρ τὸν θεῖον τόκον τοῦτον στρατιὰ μὲν ἀγγέλων ὕμνησε· γυνὴ δὲ τὴνφωνὴν ἐπάρασα ἔλεγε· Μακαρία κοιλία ἡ βαοτάσασά σε καὶ μαστοὶ οὓς ἐθήλασας. Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ κυριοτόκος Μαρία καὶ ἀειπάρθενος, εἰδυῖα τὸ έν αὐτῇ γενόμενον, ἔλεγεν· Ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μακαριοῦσί με πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί. Ὃ δε γέγονε τῇ Μαρίᾳ, τοῦτο πάσαις ταῖς παρθένοις εἰς εὔκλειάν ἐστιν. Αὗται γὰρ ὡς ἀπὸ ρίζης ἐκείνης λοιπον κλάδοι κρέμανται παρθενικαί. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος ο Μέγας, Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Λούκαν Εὐάγγελιον, Ἐκλογή Source: Migne PG 27.1393a-c

For He has looked on the humility of His handmaiden, and behold now all generations will call me blessed. 1 But what sort of thing is this virginity? If someone wishes to exert themselves in some other virtue, they are directed by the law, but virginity, which exceeds the law, even works the establishment of a greater goal of life, indicating the future life, it being an image of angelic purity. I might say many things in support of this, but lest I delay too much in speaking of obvious things, one thing among all I shall speak of that I might show that this virtue is superior to all the others. For God the Word, the Lord of all, when the Father wished to renew and raise up all things, chose for the mother of the body He would bear nothing else but virginity, which was done and so the Lord dwelt as a man among us, whence as everything was made through Him, 2 so virginity was lifted up by Him, and through Him was given as a grace to men and guarded for growth. That virginity is so glorious that it is an indication of His Divinity, one may learn by considering that if the parents of the holy martyrs are amazed by the fortitude of their children, if Sarah rejoiced to give birth to Isaac, and blessed is every seed of Sion and the families of Jerusalem, as the Prophet says, 3 how much more might one say and proclaim it of the glory of the Holy Virgin and blessed Mary, who was the mother of the Word according to the birth of the flesh? Indeed that Divine birth was celebrated by a host of angels, 4 and a woman with raised voice said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that gave you suck.' 5 For indeed that bearer of the Lord, the ever virgin Mary, when she knew she carried Him in herself, said: 'From now all generations will call me blessed.' 6 He whom Mary carried, is the glory of all virgins. For from that root they hang as virgin branches. Saint Athanasius The Great, Fragment on Luke 1 Lk 1.48 2 Jn 1.3 3 Isaiah 35.10 4 Lk 2.13-14 5 Lk 11.27 6 Lk 1.48