The Shepherd, December 2004
THE TELLING OF
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
OF THE MOST IMMACULATE VIRGIN THEOTOKOS AND THE NEWLY-BORN DIVINE INFANT, 1
From the Divine Gospels, from the Holy Fathers
and Collected Authenticated Commentaries
WHEN THE WISE MEN had departed from Bethlehem, the Angel of the Lord appeared in his sleep to Joseph, telling him to flee with the Newly-born Infant Jesus Christ and His Mother, the All-pure Virgin Mary, into Egypt, and to remain there until he was told to return again, for Herod wished to apprehend the Child and destroy Him (Matt. 2:13-14). Then Joseph arose and took the Young Child and His Mother by night, and fled into Egypt.
But firstly, before their departure into Egypt, everything that was required by the Law was fulfiled in Jerusalem, in the Temple of Solomon, for the days of the purification of the Most Pure and Most Immaculate Mother of God had to be completed, and it was there too that Simeon the Elder and Anna the Prophetess met Our Lord. Also after that which was written in the Law had been completed, they made their way to their home in Nazareth. Concerning this, St Luke says: “When they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth” (Luke 2:39). From this it is clear that they did not go straight from Bethlehem to Egypt, but went first to the Temple of the Lord, then to Nazareth, and from thence to Egypt.
Explaining this, in his commentary on Matthew, Saint Theophylact writes as follows:- “Question: How is it that Luke says that after the Lord was born, He completed the forty days, was held in the arms of Simeon, and then went down to Nazareth? But here [Matt. 2:23] Matthew says that after the return from Egypt He went to Nazareth? Answer: Learn, therefore, that Luke spoke those things on which Matthew was silent. I will give an example: after the birth, He completed the forty days, and then went down to Nazareth. This is what Luke says, Matthew speaks of what took place afterwards, that He fled into Egypt, and then returned from Egypt to Nazareth. They do not contradict each other. One of them, Luke, speaks of the descent from Bethlehem to Nazareth, while the other, Matthew, speaks of the return from Egypt to Nazareth, which took place later.”
For after leaving the Temple of the Lord, they first set out in the direction of Nazareth, hastening to reach their home; they took the required route by night, that they might not be observed by the neighbours that lived roundabout, but then hastened to make their way into Egypt. So that he might serve them, they took with them James, the eldest son of Joseph, who was later called the Brother of God, and this is known from Triphologus, and on 23rd October we sing as follows: “Thou was shown to be the Lord’s brother in the flesh by His own desire, O wise one, His disciple and an eye-witness to Divine mysteries, having fled with Him to Egypt, with Joseph and the Mother of Jesus. With them, pray that we be saved.” From this it is manifest, that James journeyed with the refugees into Egypt, ministering to them along the way.
The Lord made this flight into Egypt to make manifest that He was truly a man and flesh, and not a spirit or an apparition. Thus Saint Ephraim declares: “If He were not flesh, whom did Joseph take and flee into Egypt? - thus instructing us to flee from the wrath and the fury of men, rather than to proudly withstand them.” Also Chrysostom teaches that by fleeing into Egypt the Lord teaches us to give place to wrath, that is to flee from the wrath of men, for in that the Almighty Himself flees, He instructs us not proudly to place ourselves in danger. [He fled there] both that He might sanctify Egypt from her idols, as says the holy Pope Leo, and that without them the land might be prepared for the mystery of that special sacrifice, the saving sign of the Cross and the Lord’s Pascha, of which mystery she had herself of old provided the prototype with the sacrifice of the lamb. Again, that the prophecy of Esaias might be fulfiled: “Behold the Lord will ascend upon a light cloud, and will enter into Egypt. And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence” (Es. 19:1). Saint Ambrose opines that the cloud signifies the All-pure Virgin, for in her hands the Lord was brought into Egypt, and the idols of the gods of the Egyptians then fell. This cloud, the All-pure Virgin, is light, because she was not weighed down with any sin, nor with any carnal desire, nor with the knowledge of the burden of marital life
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