A only for lacking a splendid and magnificent offering, but for also being devoid of a grateful mind—a thing which seems to me far more disgraceful. For one might perhaps grant pardon for the simplicity of a discourse, since wisdom is not given to all, just as knowledge is not, but to those to whom it is granted by the Spirit. But if we are accused of ingratitude, as being useless and fruitless, I do not know what kind of speech will deliver us from condemnation; just as those who, in the Old Testament, did not contribute according to what each man had in his power, were not delivered either. I find, however, that the same sacrifices were not imposed and commanded to all alike, but that they were more sumptuo- B -siora to some, and more modest to others, according to each one’s means, as I believe. Thus do I feel about this matter; and I would gladly move each one of you to proclaim the power of God according to his strength, and to pour forth the memory of His goodness, that in this way we may profess our service and our sense of the benefits received, from which an even greater kindness of the Lord and a more abundant overflow of good things shall redound to us.
3. But since these things, which we have set forth as a foundation, seem sufficient, come, what shall we build upon it that is worthy of the house of God and the Church, other than that which squares with the cornerstone? Our reason knows a twofold creation: the one, a bringing forth from non-being into being; the other, a trans- C -lation from being in an evil state to being in a better one. And the former is such that nature receives its essence, while the latter consists in the amendment of the will and purpose; yet neither lacks reason and wisdom. D "The heavens declare" this, "established by the word of the Lord," and all things made "through the Word," and "created in wisdom," and those who are created according to God, founded in Christ, the wisdom of God, the Word "the firstborn of every creature," and who receive the whole building aptly connected with Him, then also grow into a holy temple, and are perfected as a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit. Of this creation—I mean of the restoration of morals—Paul and those who from the beginning were ministers of the word, and the teachers who followed them, are the wise architects; who arranged all things pertaining to the Churches in the Spirit of wisdom, no less than that Bezaleel, who showed to those who held these things the things that pertained to the passing tabernacle, and to God dwelling and walking among them.
4. Moreover, to recount other things would be both longer than the present time allows, and more sublime than both our understanding, and our tongue, and our hearing. But having discussed briefly the forty days' fast, we shall then also add some things concerning the adoration of the Cross, which is indeed the subject of our discourse. For those men, being well aware how the Son of God, for our sake, clothed Himself in our nature and became like unto us, in order that we might be made like unto Him, having put off all things that are ours, and how not only did He come as our own
supply for our need and indigence, and to repair our defects, furnishing force and strength; but also taught how one must use the power that has been imparted. His fasting, undertaken for our sake, they have made our own as far as possible, by which the disorder of the flesh is bridled, its bond is weakened, the captive mind is rescued, and the one who took it captive is despoiled and confounded. He pursues it even now, but the spirit does not dominate and prevail over the flesh as before—for the flesh is no longer so corrupt, A nor does it find it as it once did; wherefore it stands afar off, seeing God at the same time with the one who fasts, because it is accustomed to dwell in the spirit of man when the flesh has withdrawn.
5. Hence all we who have been called by the new and royal name of Christians, taking up this fast as a paternal inheritance, observe it—beginning from the second day of the week (since it has been ordained on account of matter, in order that it might consume this, and present the mind, when it has cast itself pure upon the pure, to the struggle), and ending on the sixth day of the week, the day of the cosmic completion; that we may learn that the end of fasting is the fulfillment of divine works, and the restoration of our world, so that the man within us may be perfected B for every good work. What sixth day, then, do I say is this? Truly that after which is the bright resurrection of Lazarus, after which He who destroyed our enemy and avenging death (so named because it was the retribution for our sin), receives from the mouth of infants and sucklings the praise that is truly perfected; since this too is a complete proclamation, the hymning from such mouths, not admitting of being slandered as having happened in a human manner, and not by some more divine inspiration.
6. What then, does one say; shall we not count the days after this sixth day as fasting days, just as also those before it? By all means, C but not as a part of those previously run, but as something particular and an exceptional offering for the passions of the Impassible One suffered for our sake, in order that, just as they bestowed an exceptional benefit upon us, so also they might be adorned by us with singular honor. For this reason, the forty-day period which ends at the sixth day prior to the miracle wrought upon Lazarus, D [is honored].
Jacobi Gretser’s notes. (1) The Lenten fast of the Greeks begins on Monday, which is the second day of the week, and they end on the sixth day of the week: because the Greeks do not fast on Sundays or on Sabbaths. But Theophylact is not speaking here of this limit of individual weeks, but of the more remote one, which is the sixth day of the week on the eve of the raised Lazarus, that is, the Friday before the feast of Palms. For on the Sabbath of Palms the Greeks celebrate the memory of the raised Lazarus. Therefore he says that the Quadragesimal fast ends on this sixth day. If, however, anyone counts all the days from the Monday after the Sunday (the day on which the Greeks begin the Quadragesima) up to the sixth day of the week, which precedes the feast of Lazarus, he will not find forty days, but forty-seven. If he omits the Sabbaths and Sundays, he will have thirty-five. But it is customary to call it Quadragesima, both that space which gradually exceeds the number of forty, and that which gradually falls short of it. (2) We call it Major. What then? he asks. Shall this week not pertain to the fast? Indeed yes: but because in this week the human race received singular benefits from God, it is fitting that it should honor it with a fast distinct from the rest. Other Greeks do not distinguish the Quadragesima in this way, but call the whole space from the Monday [of the week of] Cheese-eating up to Pascha, the Quadragesima.
A For the fast of the Lord in the desert has been established as an imitation; we celebrate the miracle wrought upon Lazarus only after this, and not before, so that we may not celebrate the resurrection during the time of the fast. We await the end of the fast, and thus we perform the mystery of the raising of him who was the friend of the Lord; for after the fast, and from the fast, our own resurrection also comes to exist.
But the days that follow are set aside as fasting days for those who await the Lord’s resurrection. To introduce a relaxation and loosening of the fast during these days seems quite contrary to reason and fairness; indeed, it is the mark of those who neither perceive the pains sustained by the Lord for our sake, nor weigh the majesty of the divine Word, and who inappropriately introduce that saying of the Wise Man: "Music in mourning" [Eccli. xxii, 6]. B Wherefore, some who are more fervent in spirit are accustomed to consecrate all the days near the Lord’s Passion to perfect fasting and abstinence.
7. But if something must also be said concerning the number of the days of the fast, we shall find that this is not irrational, whether it was prefigured by Moses [Num. xxx, 14], or completed by Elijah [III Reg. xix, 8], or fulfilled and ended by Christ, or delivered and prescribed to us who have followed Christ by Christ Himself. Furthermore, we shall be taught a more perfect account of this matter when we have no remaining element of imperfection in us, and as perfect friends of the perfect Father, we recline at His table, eating the bread of wisdom and the sacrifices, and drinking the wine which He has mixed in the C cup, strengthened and confirmed in heart, and caught up out of ourselves by a certain divine rapture, receiving and yet not receiving. As much, therefore, as I can grasp for the while—I who, like the small pupil of an eye, attempt to gaze upon the whole expanse of heaven—this fast is circumscribed by the number of forty days, so that we may not know the commandments without the works of the virtues, nor practice the virtues without the commandments, but that we may join and cement these together, and become ourselves, as it were, stars before God, shinings in word and life, and be deemed worthy to be counted in some number and value by Him.
8. It is known that there are ten more primary commandments, and four that are more general; D and so, any man who has the commandments known [to him], but does nothing according to the prescription of the commandments, would seem like that wicked and slothful servant who indeed possesses the talent, but neglects the trading. Just as action outside the prescription of the laws is fruitless and unworthy of reward—for no one is crowned unless he has competed legitimately [II Tim. ii, 5]—yet one competes legitimately who justly pursues what is just. Therefore, one should not embrace the knowledge of the commandments alone, since "faith without works is dead" [Jac. ii, 20]; nor, likewise, should one pursue an action devoid of reason and doctrine, since works without faith are also dead; and if both...
A are joined and mingled, like soul and body, they constitute the perfect man according to God. Even the Jew fasts, but they heard this: "Your fasts and your silver and your feasts my soul hateth" [Isa. i, 13-14]. For what reason? "Because your silver is not approved": for what word of theirs could be approved, who slew the Word? Which the Word Himself also casts in their teeth. He says, forsooth [Isa. i, 15]: "Your hands are full of blood," having not only done no good work, but having moreover killed the Lord. Heretics also fast, but without crown or reward; for their struggle is not according to law. The orthodox also gets drunk [on vice], but he shall be beaten with many stripes, as one who knows the will of the Lord and does it not [Luc. xii, 47].
B 9. Therefore, brothers, one must also embrace virtues together with the knowledge of the commandments; for the number of the days of fasting symbolically wills this for us, multiplying the four by ten and vice versa. But since we have spoken sufficiently about fasting, and this was not established by the founders and moderators of the Church without wisdom, come, let us also discuss, as far as possible, the adoration of the Cross. For that the instrument of our salvation, sanctified by the divine body and blood, must be adored, is neither worthy of inquiry nor does it require a logical argument for the sake of faith. But that it is proposed in the middle of the fasting days for the common adoration of all, this is something that those C who have more delicate ears will ask to have explained as a sweet delight. For what is this special assignment, to be established for universal adoration neither before this time nor after, but in the middle?
10. Or is it clear that this too is from the Spirit? For since He knows that human nature, though usually beginning anything with greater fervor, does not maintain an even pace in its progress, but as it were grows numb and becomes practiced in doing nothing, and lest we start the fasts vigorously and then slacken as we proceed, the Cross is set in the D middle, both to receive the past labors and to strengthen us for the future (doing something like those in the gymnastic contests who rouse the athletes, whether truly exhausted or thought to be so, with shouts and encouragements), and often, standing in the middle of the stadium, to be also a reminder of the passions of the great God and Savior, and to be, as it were, a trainer saying to the one who is running well: "If the Lord was nailed to the cross, was given gall to drink, was pierced in the side, and endured everything that was of shame, both in deeds and in names, do not you yourself collapse, nor let your feet be moved by the hand and work of the sinner, nor let your steps be poured out; but run with patience the race that is set before you" [Hebr. xii, 1]. Run as one not uncertainly; for the resurrection is manifest, to which the cross leads the way, being of the passions and
ignominy, and which perpetually casts its splendor upon the cross.
11. Then, too, we learn from the present adoration the mediation which the cross has mediated for us, reconciling us—whom we had made enemies to ourselves through disobedience—to God and the Father. For since we were being wrestled down by the enemy using these two things as if they were two hands—pleasure and grief—and were falling into a collapse worthy of pity, we were visited by the Dawn from on high through the bowels of mercy of our God. Immediately, even at the beginning, the adversary was maimed and, as it were, mutilated; since neither did pleasure defile the conception of our Emmanuel (for neither did iron nor the cutting of virginity, nor any human hand or marital act ascend to the divine altar of Mary), nor did grief afflict Him; for where no pleasure has preceded, there it is necessary that grief should follow where pleasure has preceded; just as it is necessary that pleasure should follow where grief has preceded. And this is the inviolable and indissoluble law of nature itself, given not without equity, so that neither should the overflow of hilarity be without bridle and governor, nor should sadness be altogether incurable and deadly; but that B the former should have as an admonition the grief accustomed to arise from it and the impression of injury, while for the latter, the sweetness should be a remedy for dispelling despair.
12. But since, having been manifested in the Jordan, He was purified with the purification ordained for us servants by a servant, and received the Spirit for our sake—He who is never separated from Him (so that He might show that the Spirit is borne upon the waters even when we are baptized, and might persuade us to run to such a laver, as to a true and perfect cleansing, which receives the Spirit of God)—He is led by the Spirit into the desert (for he who has been cleansed has need of tranquility, lest he be muddied again by the silt of the mire, and have need of a second cleansing). He receives the temptations of the tempter brought through pleasure—not through debates and thoughts (for the mind of God is impervious to these), but by the tempter personally attacking—and through the three C falls of the wrestler, He is crowned for our sake, being served by angels; so that you might learn what honor you shall be honored with, having vanquished him who is dishonored and inglorious among the angels. But the Victor, having bestowed the power and strength against pleasure upon His brothers, thus then hastened to the task of teaching. For it was necessary that He should prepare and purify nature as a kind of vessel, so that it might become capable of holding the Word, having overthrown ambition after the gluttony of the belly, and after ambition, the desire and love of possession: which are the three daughters of that leech which sucks dry our whole life. At the same time, He also instructed us teachers and institutors not to undertake the province of teaching before we have vanquished the tempter by actual deed. D
A 13. There remained for the adversary the hand of sorrow B, which he used hereafter: he stirred up the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, and the very deserters against Him, having concerted various accusations and calumnies, having cast stones at Him, and having set forth sophistries and frauds—for what did he not contrive against Him? Finally, he brought it about that He was reckoned with the wicked, having procured for Him the most shameful of all deaths; and he so traduced Him that He was considered cursed, as one hanging on wood; and what is more, in the manner of the wicked, he poured out against Him every kind of blasphemy, malediction, and injury. I deem this trial and testing, placed in harsh and bitter things, much more difficult than the former, in as much as it is harder to endure sorrows and things devoid of all pleasure. The tempter himself makes this plain; for he would not have reserved this for the last place unless he had known well that it was the more powerful one. But when He came forth from this trial also as victor, not only having suffered all things with the most composed spirit, but also having prayed to God for His murderers—and then our nature obtained the most certain victory, having been crowned like a wreath by the glorious deeds of Him who had conquered the world—this is truly the most perfect trophy and the most absolute salvation which the cross procured for us. For up until the time of the cross, some hope remained for the enemy, who, puffed up by pride, was feeding himself on vain expectations.
14. From then on, that hand remained powerless, and truly at that time the swords of the enemy failed at the end. C For through the death of the Son we were reconciled to the Father. For since Adam died justly (because death came to him by compact: "For in the hour," He says, "that you eat of the wood, you shall die," for it was a penalty for transgression and sin), but the Lord, who did not commit sin (for how could He have committed sin, who did not exist through pleasure and pain, around which two things sin centers, being far superior to both?), was unjustly killed through the cross, and by this unjust death He wiped out the death justly decreed for us. We rightfully ascribe our salvation to the cross. For one who was without sin died for all, and for this reason was not subject to death. For the sting of death is sin, being like a sword in the hand of a soldier, and it easily pierces those who touch it too softly. D Which is also the chief point of philanthropy: that He who owed nothing discharged our debt. For the Lord also declared this in the words at His departure: "The prince of the world is coming," He says, "and has nothing in Me; but just as the Father has commanded Me, so I do." For God so loved the world that He gave His own Son as an exchange to death. O the depth of wisdom and the wealth of goodness! From love for men follows the death of the Son; from the death comes again the reconciliation
A in such a way that He might seem to have been reconciled justly in every respect, both as one in debt and as one who remits and forgives nothing.
15. The mediator and conciliatrix of this reconciliation was the Cross; the Cross, which tacitly intimates this mediatorial office, is now set forth and adored in the midst of the fast B. If you wish, let the fast also be a paradise to you, in the middle of which the tree of life is still planted, accessible to all in equal measure, except for the one whose god is his belly [* Philipp. III, 19]; for the Apostle considers such a one an enemy of the Cross. But the Cross calls even him, and receives him, intending to consume the swelling of his pride and to persuade him not to yield everything to the pleasures of the belly, while he looks upon the vinegar which He who was fixed to the cross tasted; and intending to persuade him not to seek relaxation and pleasure everywhere, as he contemplates the nails and the wounds of the lance, into which, as if inserting the finger of retribution, and in place of the belly, he might proclaim God and Lord as the author and finisher of this bitter and painful life, since from the beginning He was crucified for sinners and for those who have fallen; and, having joined all spirits, He bound them both to one another and to the Lord.
16. The Cross has height, and depth, and that extension which reaches out to the breadth on both sides; C in this way, it brings together to Christ the Creator things celestial, subterranean, and terrestrial, from the rising of the sun unto its setting, so that there may no longer be two kinds of creatures, angels and sons of men, the things accustomed to be shaken and those that are not to be shaken, things in heaven and things on earth, things near and things far, but that there might now be one creation of all who have been renewed in Christ. All things are now exempt from shaking and agitation, both the celestial and the nearby. These are the gifts of the Cross, not granted only once, nor seen for a brief time; but they are always being bestowed and always seen; and they always proclaim the magnificence of Him who worked our salvation on the cross: and they shall cease then only, when the power of God shall also be weakened. But as long as that power remains, D and strengthens things that are weak, so long will the Cross be able to bestow such and so great gifts upon those who are saved; to whom the Apostle testifies the cross to be the power of God. For he says [* I Cor. I, 18]: The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness; but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
17. This is also called the armor of benevolence [* Ephes. VI, 11] for the soldiers of Christ, whom God wills to treat with kindness, given also as a crown against enemies; for at the same time it arms and crowns: and this we are taught by David. This is also a mark for those who fear God, and who crucify their flesh. For they have no other sign by which they can be recognized as belonging to Christ, than if they [mortify] the bulk of the flesh,
and are crucified to passions and desires. And Paul bears witness to this, as he glories in this as in a royal sign; and for this reason, he is no longer Paul, but is recognized as Christ. For he says, "I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me." And this, then, was what the Lord also said, that one must deny oneself, take up the cross, and choose to follow Him. This is also the wisdom of God, even if it is decried as foolishness by the Greeks. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men. This is also the footstool of His feet, as the resting place of His incarnation. And it is the place where the feet of the Lord stood, and the movements toward our salvation; for what need was there to move any further, since He had already reached the end and had accomplished the salvation through which victory comes?
18. But let no one be excluded, neither from the sight, nor from the falling down and adoration; let the eyes be sanctified thereby, the other members [be sanctified by] bowing and bending, and the lips [be sanctified] by touching it. Let the tongue also be sanctified, both that which sings and that which teaches. Let the hearing also be sanctified, being struck by the chants of the cross and transmitting them to the mind. Are you a king? Come to the scepter of Christ; learn that you are a servant bought at a great price. B Recognize the Master, and treat those subject to you as fellow servants; for we have been bought by one blood. Learn that the most honorable habit of royal dignity was mocked at the time of the cross; consider the crown adorned with gems to be irritated by thorns and cares, and think your scepter and all [your] appearance to be a fragile and empty reed; consider the purple, for which you are highly exalted, to be a borrowed good flowing from blood; for it is soldiers who wrap it around you. Consider the genuflections by which you are honored, and the acclamations, to be for the most part fictitious, and [coming] from those who would not only gladly strike that head, but also cut it off. Learn these lessons when you worship the cross. For it is fitting that even the diversions in Christ should be serious for us, so that we may have an occasion to instruct ourselves from every side.
19. Have you been appointed as a soldier? Take the armor of good will, so that you may flee from before the bow, whether it be that of the intellect, which seeks our understanding and wounds with the display and representation of sensible C things all those who are not fortified; or whether it be the visible one, which strikes and destroys that which falls under the gaze. Do you abound in the good things of the earth? Accept the admonition from the cross, which shows your Master nailed to it naked; and since you wish to appear as a follower and disciple of Him, follow in the footsteps of that same Master, and take up your own cross, having renounced all things. Are you afflicted by poverty? The consolation is near D; for this very weight of poverty upon you is an involuntary cross.
It is forced, it is true, but make it voluntary, so that it may bring you a more abundant reward. You will accomplish this if you do nothing dishonorable on account of your poverty, and if you bear that affliction with thanksgiving. What labor and effort do you not undertake and expend for the sake of a short and fleeting span of time, to protract it, so that members swollen and weighed down by dropsy may appear slimmer and lighter? Now you are already relieved from that source, liberated from the dropsy of money; do not, therefore, be dejected in spirit if you live healthy with a slender body; and do not call blessed the empty swelling that is seen in the body of the wealthy, lest you appear to be likewise A devoid of understanding.
20. Furthermore, the cross instructs those who are brilliant in glory, exhorting them to look back to the Lord of glory, whom the princes of this age crucified, out of a love for false glory, not bearing the true glory of His works; and it exhorts them to fear the lot and end of those men, lest they themselves, too, might kill Christ for the sake of worldly glory. For this reason they are warned to seek glory from God alone; and by this means to cover, crown, and fashion the image of the glory of the Only-Begotten, having become children of God through works that are luminous and resplendent in the glory of the heavenly Father. Are you pained if you are inglorious, and are you unable to bear with a calm mind that you are surpassed by your neighbor? Why do you not gaze upon the Crucified, and the ignominies which He endured, and the spittings, and the blows, and the opinion which they conceived of Him as a seducer? And learn that it is a glorious and divine thing to be held in contempt and ridicule in this world; and that, subsequently, He rose again to reign, having put on beauty, and that He was assumed in glory, and seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty, and that He will come in glory, and that every knee of those in heaven, B and of those on earth, and of those under the earth shall bow to Him, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.
21. Are you living in comfort and ease? Looking at the cross, consider human weakness, which cannot pursue the course of tranquility and relief without slipping and falling; and remember how our indulgent excess in paradise gave birth to sin, on account of which the Immortal has died. Considering these things, draw yourself in, and shudder at the mystery accomplished for your sake, lest perchance by being too indulgent you make the death of the Lord fruitless for yourself; and lest Jesus, who is corrupted within you, should one day complain and say: “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to corruption?” Are you sad? Recall to memory the goods of the Jerusalem above, for which you have been deemed worthy through the cross, and be mindful of God and exult, to whom you will come not long after, about to appear before His sight, and you will pass into the place of a wonderful tabernacle, C in the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of those feasting. And this, the sadness of the world, like filthy vermin or soot from smoke, shake off. Rebuke that part of your soul which is prone to passions and disturbances: “Why are you sad, O my soul? And why do you disturb me?” And do not rebuke
it only, but also teach it to hope in God; for divine hope is the conqueror of sadness. But if any sadness must be entertained, be sad that you were sad over vain things, and toward brothers who are crushed and afflicted, show your compassion.
22. Be a Jeremiah or a Paul, weeping for those wounded by sin, the enemies of the cross. B Lament those who are perishing in Jerusalem, and in this Church of ours acting upon the earth, so that the sign which you adore may be placed upon your forehead. For the philanthropy of the cross was treated with ingratitude by those who were beneficiaries; and what such great good having received, have you suffered in return anything as great as what Christ has both done well and been ill-treated for? Nevertheless, he even sought forgiveness for those who both plotted and perpetrated those horrific things against him. “Forgive them, Father,” he said, “this sin,” leading forth ignorance as something more persuasive toward forgiveness, for he stood as a priest for the ignorances of the people, or rather, was being offered as a priest.
23. What then for us who are of the bema? Are we taught but trifles by the cross? Or is it by so much the better and more perfect, as we are also an imitation of Christ, and for the people we are always sacrificing, renewing that perfect sacrifice once fulfilled, and using the cross for all things, and signing and sanctifying this people? Let us fear, therefore, lest, while we promise to fortify others against all ambushes with this seal, we ourselves appear exposed to ambushes, being as it were without the seal, and bearing no sign of a crucified life. For monastics, the cross is especially kindred; for their whole life is affliction and mortification, and blessed mourning, and dishonor, and the subjection that is accustomed to exalt, and whatever other such things are concurrent with the cross. It is not, therefore, an alien good, but your own treasure that you should stash in your bosom, O monk, and do not suffer others to snatch it away from you first. Nor you, who are from the people and the multitude of the simpler folk, stand far from the cross; for even for you this was fixed and is set forth. Be filled with this; do not seek to be curious about anything else; judge not that you know anything more than Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and as you go to bed, and rise from the bed, and sit, and awake, and perform any work, and rest, and begin a journey, and turn aside, and take food, and after food, D arm yourself with this sign. If you do so, you will not fear from terror by night, from an affair walking in darkness, from a mishap and a noon-tide demon. For the sign of the cross dissipates all these, and there is no remedy so effective for driving away demons as this. For once crushed by it, they fear; and although they are very impudent, they nevertheless dare not look upon its power, and for this reason they place their safety only in flight.
A 24. The Cross of Christ also invites the tax collectors. Who knows if they will entertain the Lord, having spent all their wealth on that feast, and themselves appear as the Gospel of Christ, demonstrating miracles in themselves and announcing the power and energy of the Cross? Approach it, for it loves you more intensely. Even the thief comes to the Cross: for it is accustomed to doing good even to thieves. Confess and appoint as the King of all and your own, the One who was crucified, and you shall hear that most pleasant voice: "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luc. xxiii, 43). O the goodness, O the grace! How many years of sins did one cry of repentance and confession wash away! Who will despair of himself, seeing a thief saved, and entering into paradise as if by force with the One who had called him?
B 25. Let us all adore and fall down, not only with our bodies bowed, but before all with the knees of our heart, and let us characterize our service not only by the lowering of the body, but by the execution of the Lord’s commandments. For the Jews also feigned this, but they heard Isaiah proclaiming to them: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Isa. xxix, 13). And our Savior grants the entrance into the kingdom of heaven not to the one who calls Him Lord, but to the one who does His works. But let us learn something more mystical from the bending of the knees: as often as we bow and rise, we bring to mind the death and resurrection of the Lord; and by this, we ourselves die to sin and rise to righteousness, falling to the worse part and rising to the better, according to the great prophecy which Simeon uttered concerning Christ. Again, the kingdom of heaven is opened, and now exists within us C when, by the benefit of the Cross, we are masters of our passions; and it will be revealed then, at the last, when the Judge comes accompanied by the Cross, to render it to all who, through works performed by themselves, have prepared it for themselves, or who have been prepared for it from here.
26. The supper is prepared for all, and now both that which is accomplished at this mystical table, to which the Cross leads, and which is, and is truly preached as, our Passover; and after that, the other one, which will be performed at the heavenly altar, of which those who serve this tabernacle and this passing world have no authority to eat (Hebr. xiii, 10): D which supper is the most perfect and most divine Passover. The kingdom is set before us; and how is he not miserable who is excluded from it? The supper is prepared, furnished with bulls and fatlings, and who will not hasten to enjoy it? Will deceivers and impostors pull us away, just as [they did] those who were called in the Gospel? And what...
[alt-version omitted]
this? For our helper is not far off. A Let us drive these away with the cross, let us intensify our appetite with fasting, and let us wash our hands in the blood of the slaughtered sinner and of the carnal spirit; and let us delight in the Lord, being satisfied when his glory shall appear, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ORATION ON THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED MARY
OF THE MOST WISE ARCHBISHOP OF BULGARIA, LORD THEOPHYLACT, ORATION ON THE FEAST OF OUR MOST HOLY LADY THE THEOTOKOS, WHEN SHE WAS BROUGHT TO THE TEMPLE BY HER PARENTS.
B 1. Since it often happens that even those who undertake to adorn with praises the memory of a single righteous person are found to have fallen far short of his dignity—for the discourse does not always nor in all cases equal the deeds—how, when we purpose to celebrate the memory of the Queen of all the righteous, and the Mother of God, the King of righteousness, with praises, might I find a discourse that touches even a small part of her worthiness? For I think that if there are any discourses of angels—if indeed there are such things as angelic discourses, as they are true messengers of divine mysteries—even these would not be able to attain to the graces of the Mother of God. For she whose holiness has surpassed the entire creation, no discourse of a creature could worthily praise. Shall we then be altogether silent? And shall we thus irrationally pass by the Mother of the Word, and the cause of our life according to reason? C