Proclus of Constantinople

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Proclus of Constantinople (died 446) was an archbishop of Constantinople. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Oriental Orthodoxy.  Saint Proclus was the friend and disciple of Saint John Chrysostom who ordained him deacon and priest.   In 429, on a festival of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), Proclus preached his celebrated sermon on the Incarnation, which was later inserted in the beginning of the Acts of the Council of Ephesus.  Proclus was cited by Cardinal John Henry Newman for his work on Mariology and his strong support of the conciliar dogma on the Theotokos.

Writings:

  • Various Homilies

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Quotes and Excerpts:

“O man, run through all creation with your thought, and see if there exists anything comparable to or greater than the holy Virgin, Mother of God. Circle the whole world, explore all the oceans, survey the air, question the skies, consider all the unseen powers, and see if there exists any other similar wonder in the whole creation. Count, then, the portents, and wonder at the superiority of the Virgin: she alone, in a way beyond words, received into her bridal chamber him before whom all creation kneels with fear and trembling.”
-Homily 5:2

“He who was divinely generated by the Father before all ages, the Same is generated by a Virgin today, for our salvation’s sake. There above, he is the only Son, generated according to divinity, by the only Father; here below he is God, but not just a man according to humanity. There above, he is with the Father in an inexpressible way; here below, he is born from his Mother in an unspeakable way. There above, he has no mother; here below, he has no earthly father. Above, the Firstborn, before all ages; below, the firstborn of a Virgin, according to the mystery of the Incarnation.“
-Homily 24

“Precisely for this reason, the Virgin is Mother of God. Thus, even
after giving birth, she remained a virgin. The birth is inexplicable
because of the inaccessible mystery, but the Word became visible
through the event of his Incarnation. Consider that he remained
what he was and became what he was not, passible and impassible together, according to what was seen, remaining consubstantial with the Father according to his divinity and consubstantial with us according to his humanity, except in the matter of sin.”
-Homily 24

“I am not telling you that a woman could give birth to God, but that the incarnate God could have been borne by a woman. For to God all things are possible.”
-Homily 2:5

“O Virgin, unmarried maid, mother without the corruption of birth, where did you get the wool from which you prepared the garment that today clothed the Master of the world? Where did you find the uterine loom on which you wove the seamless garment?”
-Homily 4:2

“In being born, Christ made the former entranceway of sin into a portal of salvation. For, in the place where the serpent had injected its venom through disobedience, the Word, entering by his obedience, built a living temple. Whence had emerged Cain, the firstborn of sin, thence without seed sprang Christ, the Redeemer of the human race.”
-Homily 1:2

“Thanks to her, all women are blessed. It is not possible that woman should remain under her curse; to the contrary, she now has a reason to surpass even the glory of the angels. Eve has been healed; . . . Elizabeth is called blessed for having
carried the Forerunner, who leapt for joy in her womb, and for having giving witness to grace; Mary is venerated, because she became the Mother, the cloud, the bridal chamber, and the ark of the Lord.”
-Homily 5:3

“You alone cured Eve’s sorrow; you alone wiped away the tears of travail; you alone bore the world’s ransom.”
-Homily 5:3

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