32. But thou wonderest at the event:
even she herself who bare him wondered at this. For she saith to
Gabriel, How shall this be to me, since I know not a man?
But he says, The Holy Ghost shall came upon thee, and the power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing
which is to be born shall be called the Son of God Luke i. 34, 35.. Immaculate and undefiled was His
generation: for where the Holy Spirit breathes, there all
pollution is taken away: undefiled from the Virgin was the
incarnate generation of the Only-begotten. And if the heretics
gainsay the truth, the Holy Ghost shall convict them: that
overshadowing power of the Highest shall wax wroth: Gabriel shall
stand face to face against them in the day of judgment: the place
of the manger, which received the Lord, shall put them to shame.
The shepherds, who then received the good tidings, shall bear witness;
and the host of the Angels who sang praises and hymns, and said,
Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace among men of His good pleasure Luke ii. 14.: the Temple into which He was
then carried up on the fortieth day: the pairs of turtle-doves,
which were offered on His behalf Ib.
ii. 24. In Lev. xii. 8
one pair only of turtles is prescribed, to be offered for the mother,
not for the child. But the reading τὰ ζεύγη in Cyril is
confirmed by that in St. Luke, τοῦ
καθαρισμοῦ
αὐτῶν. See the authorities in
Tischendorf.: and
Symeon who then took Him up in his arms, and Anna the prophetess who
was present.