to make it manifest to all, the star appears again to the Magi, A until it came and stood over the infant in the stable, or rather in heaven. For where Christ is, there is heaven; for the stable was seen to be heaven on earth. And they, having seen the star, or rather the Savior, rejoiced with great joy, and bowing down they worshipped, and bringing forth their gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Gold, indeed, as to a king; frankincense as to God; and myrrh as to one mortal; or rather, that they might also signify the burial of Christ, the Creator and Maker of all, whom the heavenly bride Mary brought forth, who is heaven and temple and throne of the divinity, the ineffable jewel of paradise. The angels used to reproach Eve, but now they glorify Mary; she who has truly made the weakness of women glorious, who raised up the fallen Eve, and sent Adam, who had been cast out of paradise, into the heavens; she who opened the closed paradise, B and through the thief planted Adam there again. For through you, O holy Virgin, the middle wall of the hedge has dissolved the enmity; through you heavenly peace has been given to the world; through you men have become angels; through you men have been called friends, and servants, and children of God; and through you men have been deemed worthy to become fellow-servants of the angels and companions; through you heavenly knowledge and doxology are sent up from earth to the heavens; through you men have boldness in heaven towards the Most High; through you the cross shone forth over all the world, on which your infant, Christ our God, was suspended; through you death is trampled underfoot, and Hades is despoiled; through you the idols have fallen, and heavenly knowledge has been raised up; through you we have known the only-begotten Son of God, C whom you brought forth, all-holy Virgin, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom all angels and men, worshipping, call the Father without beginning, the Son without beginning, the Holy Spirit without beginning, glorifying the inseparable and consubstantial Trinity unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Fragment of the Discourse of our Holy Father Epiphanius, Bishop, regarding the Palms.
He who is unceasingly sung and glorified by the angels, below, as a man, bends his knees to the Father and prays; while above, he himself receives prayers and genuflections from every visible and invisible creature. Below, he hungers as a man; but from above, the same one having come as heavenly bread, he thirsts economically; yet he himself is the fountain of life in a manner worthy of God. Below, he labors according to his assumption [of human nature]; yet he himself is the rest of those who labor and are heavy laden. D This is he who today comes voluntarily to death, that by his own death he might abolish him who has the power of death, and grant immortality to those who had died by his [the enemy's] work, and who had been enticed by the hope of immortality. For this purpose he came, not bearing scepters and trumpets, but the extreme
A poverty, showing forth the ultimate humility, not wielding swords, arms, and spears, but bearing the highest gentleness; not having men-at-arms, golden-plated shields, crests, or breastplates, but the highest mildness, immeasurable innocence, and moderation beyond measure—the Lord Christ, God in Sion. *And the whole city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowds were saying, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."* And entering the Temple, he who was truly the Temple himself, and more sacred than the Temple, he cast out the impious, wicked, and corrupt priests. But the children, most sacredly and divinely standing in the Temple of God, cried out: Hosanna to the God of the Temple, to Christ Jesus; Hosanna to the son of David, bestowing peace in heaven and glory in the highest. O blessed expectation of the Churches! O blessed hope of Christians! Those who believe in the Prince of Peace, and who possess the riches of peace, have become fellow-citizens of the angels; Christ has commingled the highest with the lowest; he has joined the earthy with the incorporeal. Rejoice in Christ, rejoice; I will say it again: Rejoice. Rejoice exceedingly, daughter of Sion, thou B new Jerusalem, thou Church of God; behold the more mystical realities of this thy feast; run beyond all that is visible, so that thou mayest know, in an anagogical sense, the things being performed through sensible signs.
For what reason did Jesus, who was accustomed to travel everywhere only on foot, now for this one time sit upon a beast, being himself lifted up, and signifying his own lifting up upon the Cross? What is the village opposite? It is certainly the disposition, contrary and opposed to the world, which man, situated in the region of Paradise, had acquired. To this [village] the Lord sends two of his disciples, namely, his Old and New Testaments—the two Testaments. What is the donkey? It is certainly the ancient and adulterous Synagogue, which dragged out its life burdened by the weightiest loads, upon whose back Christ sat for a time. Who, moreover, is the colt? It is I, the new and untrained people of the nations, upon whom no man had sat; that is, no law, no fear, no angel, no prophet, no Moses, no Scripture, C but God the Word himself, who lay with us humans in the same manger at Bethlehem, so that he might liberate us from our irrational stupidity and thereafter make us knowledgeable in divine things. Then what is the loosening of the colt? There is no doubt that this is the liberation from the worship of idols, and the ending and cessation of the shedding of sacrificial blood, which the touch of the woman suffering from the issue of blood also signified. Who are those who murmured and cried out at the loosening of the colt, saying: *Why are you loosening the colt?* They are the Jews and the demons. What, furthermore, is the spreading of the garments by the children? It signifies, clearly, the stripping off of the old man and the shameful denudation and desolation of the Synagogue. Who are the children who speak so loftily about God? They are the faithful people of the Church, the offspring of Christ. Who are their mothers? The fonts of baptism, which regenerate the faithful. D What are the breasts of these mothers? The two Testaments, both being our teachers, feeding us with spiritual and heavenly milk.
offspring, shadow forth. What are their mothers? None other, clearly, than the fonts of baptism, by which the faithful are born again. And what, furthermore, are the breasts of these mothers? They are the two Testaments, whose disciples we are, which supply us with spiritual and heavenly milk.
What is the significance of Christ’s descent from the Mount of Olives, which is nothing other than the descent of the divine Word from heaven, accommodating Himself to us? What is the meaning of the olive branches? They are the souls of the merciful. What is the way in which they clearly strew their virtuous deeds, stripping off the old man? What are the palm branches? They are the sincere hearts of the just, which blossom like palms and multiply like the cedars of Lebanon—planted in the house of the Lord, flowering and ever looking upward toward the true Palm, A signifying the victory won over the tyrant and Hades, themselves having been liberated from their tyranny by the power of Christ the victor. Who are those going before? The just prophets. Who are those following? The apostles, and we ourselves who have believed with them from among the Gentiles. The city is the Jerusalem above; the temple is the kingdom of heaven, from which Christ cast out the Jews as unworthy. B In this way, grasp the meaning of your feast; in this way, guard the mystery of the Master. And by all means, let us run together with the angels, dancing, with the crowd applauding, with the colt leaping, with the mothers marveling, with the apostles proclaiming, going out to meet Christ as He enters Jerusalem, praising, blessing, saying, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes, and who shall again come in the name of the Lord to judge His world." To Him be glory, with the Father, and with the Spirit, unto the ages. Amen.
VII. Discourse of Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus, on the Holy Resurrection of Christ (79).
Now the mourning of the dead has been banished, and the light of the resurrection has shone forth, in which the sum of God’s love for us is demonstrated. For Christ, by dying, destroyed the death which man owed, giving the price of redemption for the soul, and body for body, and the whole man for man, and death for death. And who among the just has ever died for the unjust? Who has offered himself to death as a father for a son, or as a son for a father? This, indeed, the Lord did for us, not only forming us with His own hand in Adam, but also regenerating us C through the Spirit in His own passion. And the impious people of the Jews killed their own benefactor, repaying Him with evils for good, with tribulation for joy, and with death for life. For Him who raised their dead, and healed the multitudes, and gave sight to the blind, they killed, hanging Him upon the wood. Look now, O men, look, I say, all you nations, at the new and unheard-of D acts of the impious; they suspended Him who suspended the whole earth; they affixed to the wood Him who made the world solid; and they measured Him who measures the heavens; they bound Him who looses sinners, and in His thirst gave Him vinegar to drink, Him who provides righteousness as a drink; and they gave gall as food to Him who nourishes righteousness; they defiled the hands and feet of Him who healed their own hands; they forced Him to close His eyes who opened their sight, and they buried Him who called the dead back to life. O new mystery and stupendous miracle! The Judge is judged, and He who looses the bound is bound; He who made the earth firm is nailed to the cross; and He who suspends the whole universe is suspended. He is measured who measures the heavens; He is fed with gall who feeds life; He who produced all things living is dead, and He who restored life to the dead is buried. For when the Lord was suspended upon the wood, the tombs were broken open.