Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/62

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THE NESTORIANS AND THEIR RITUALS.

sons subsist in the one Parsopa of this one Filiation. And as there are in the Godhead three Persons, One Self-existent, so the Filiation of the Son is of two natures and one Parsopa. Thus doth the Holy Church teach us to confess of the Son, Who is the Messiah. Therefore, O Lord, we worship Thy Divinity and Thy Humanity, without dividing them; for the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is one, the sovereignty is one, the will is one, and the glory is one." Anthem taken from the Khudhra, and appointed to be used from the first Sunday in Advent until Epiphany.

§ 2. "Blessed art thou, O Virgin, daughter of David, since in thee all the promises made to the righteous have been fulfilled, and in thee the race of prophecy has found rest; for after a wonderful manner thou didst conceive as a virgin, without marriage, and in a wonderful way thou didst bring forth the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written. The Holy Spirit formed Him in thee, and the Word dwelt in Him by union, without conversion or confusion, the Natures continuing to subsist unchanged, and the Persons also, by their essential attributes,—the Divinity and Humanity subsisting in one Parsopa of Filiation. For the Lord is one, the power is one, the dominion ruling over all is one, and He is the ruler and disposer of all by the mysterious power of His Divinity, Whom we ought ever to thank and worship, saying: Blessed is the righteous One, Who clothed Himself with Adam, [humanity] and made Him Lord in heaven and in earth." From the Gezza, in the service for the Holy Nativity.

§ 3. "When the angel assured her [the Virgin] that her wonderful conception should be of the operation of the Holy Ghost, she believed that what had been announced to her would take place; and forthwith the Word made for Himself a reasonable abode, and made it His temple. Not that He first formed it, and then afterwards dwelt in it; for He wove a temple to clothe Himself withal, and clothed Himself therewith when He wove it, that this His clothing might not be any other than the clothing of the Word, which He wrought for Himself. But the descent [of the Word] is inexplicable, and is beyond the examination of all inquirers; and the union so exalted that no words can express it. There is plurality in the Natures, but these subsist