A But the sight of those who are listening draws me on to speak. Since, therefore, the festival is brilliant, and the theater crowded, and our gathering is fervent in faith, I shall turn with confidence to the beginning of my discourse, especially with the Father praying, the Church joining in the struggle, and the holy martyrs strengthening this weakness of mine. For these [martyrs] have persuaded even the aged to finish a long journey with much sweat; they constrained them to support their faltering steps with the staff of the Word; they encouraged the female sex to travel alongside the young men; and they brought the infant age, still crawling, to this place, leaping against death, mocking at swords, tearing apart the tyrant’s rage, snatching away death as the provider of immortality, B and in their own fall taking possession of the victory, through body C indeed, the city has almost entirely moved hither, and neither did the fear of a master hold back the servant, nor the necessity of poverty the poor man, nor the weakness of age the old man, nor the softness of their nature the woman, etc. Daring to trample [on death] with feet—this is indeed that of the discourse—to ears which the divine Word himself has in no way covered, as are those of the majority of men, but with feet, as one might say, clear and manifest, treading, D [it]—
A dispersing their members so that they might tighten their souls, having broken the bars of life so that they might open the keys of the heavens. Whosoever disbelieves that death has been destroyed, that Hades has been trampled upon, that its bonds have been shattered, that the tyrant is bound—let him look at the martyrs leaping in the face of death, and singing the triumphs of Christ’s victory. O the miracle! From the moment Christ despoiled Hades, men have trodden upon death. Where, O Death, is thy sting? Where, O Hades, is thy victory? Hades and the devil have been despoiled; he has been stripped of his ancient armor; he has been cast out of his own dominion; and just as Goliath was decapitated by his own sword, so also the devil, who brought forth death, is overthrown by death; and he finds the easy method of his own deceit to be a powerful instrument of his own undoing. Just as if he had been pierced like a hook by the Divinity, and had swallowed the customary bait, he who thought he was doing the catching is himself clearly caught, having seized God instead of man. Therefore, the martyrs leap upon the head of the dragon, and despise every kind of torment. For from the moment that the second Adam led the first out from the depths of Hades like Jonah from the whale, and showed the one who had been deceived to be a citizen of heaven, to the shame of the deceiver; from that moment the gates of Hades were closed, and the gates of heaven were opened, yielding their entry unhindered to those who ascend with faith. B Formerly, Jacob saw a ladder set up to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending; but now, because for man’s sake the Philanthrope became man, having kicked the misanthrope with the foot of the Divinity, and lifted up man with the hand of His Christ-hood, He has prepared the impassable ether to be traversed by human feet. Then, the angels were ascending and descending; but now, the Angel of great counsel does not ascend and descend—for whence could He depart, He who is present everywhere, who fills all things, and who holds in His hand the ends of the [world]? For once did He descend and once did He ascend; not C acting via a change of nature, but by condescension—somehow from that point He began to dwell D
A in our midst, this holy discourse, and now and from that point; [the Word] sitting with the Father, and the Word dwelling in the womb, and the Word found everywhere, and never separated from the God of all. The devil once laughed a broad laugh at human nature, and rejoiced at our calamities as if at festivals. But his laughter was for three days, while his lamentation is eternal; and his broad laugh prepared for himself a broader wail, an incessant tear, an inconsolable mourning, a dart in the heart. B This dart, in the virgin furnace, just as He willed, and as He willed, through fire did the Commander of the battle forge against the enemy; and having sharpened it with the energy of His unconquered divinity, and dipped it in the water of the immaculate baptism, and whetted it with passionless sufferings, and polished it through the mystical resurrection, by Himself, with all His host, He slew the destroyer. What word, then, can describe either our joy or his calamity? For he who was once an archangel is now a devil; he who once dwelt in the heavens is now seen crawling on the earth like a serpent; he who once rejoiced with the cherubim is now confined in the pen of swine, suffering. C We shall reverse his condition by thinking the opposite of his intentions, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
On the spiritual ladder
When you hear of an iron ladder, remember that spiritual ladder which the patriarch Jacob saw extending from earth to heaven: by that one, angels descended; by this one, however, martyrs ascend: the Lord is leaning upon both. Those saints could not have endured their torments had they not been leaning upon Him. And by that one, indeed, angels ascend and descend; by this one, however, it is manifest to everyone that martyrs ascend. D