believing in the Lord, we shall know his ascent into heaven, and his sitting at the right hand of the Majesty, and we shall see the subjection of the angels, and his second coming with glory A which angels announce, saints celebrate; and all who see him exult, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, through whom to the Father be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
OF ATHANASIUS ON THE PASSION
"Death reigned from Adam until Moses." But now, having dared against the Lord, it B sees itself cast out of the whole, and trampled upon by all, and crushed under our feet. But the great and paradoxical thing is that, even while the Lord was hanging on the cross itself (for the body was his, and in it was the Word; the sun was darkened, and the earth trembled, the rocks were split, and the veil of the temple was rent, and many bodies of those who had fallen asleep were raised), yet no one, as the Arians now dare to do, reasoned whether one should obey the Word made flesh; but even seeing him as a man, they recognized him as their Creator; and hearing a human voice, they did not say because of his humanity that the Word was a creature; but rather they trembled, and knew none the less that he was speaking from his holy temple; for a creature does not worship a creature; nor again, because of the flesh, did it refuse to worship its Lord, but it saw its own Creator in the body; and at the name of Jesus Christ every knee bowed and shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; for the flesh did not bring dishonor upon the Word—far from it—but rather it has been glorified by him; nor, because the Son, who existed in the form of God, took the form of a servant, was he diminished in his divinity, but rather he became the liberator of all flesh and of all creation; who, even being crucified, was testified to be the Lord of creation; with the sun withdrawing its rays, and the earth trembling, and the rocks splitting, and the executioners recognizing C that he who was crucified was truly the Son of God; for the body that was seen was not that of any man, but of God; in whom, existing even when he was being crucified, he raised the dead; when the sun, being indignant and unable to bear the physical outrages inflicted upon the common Lord of all, which he willingly endured for our sake, turned away; and having withdrawn its rays, showed that day to be without a sun.
D Omitted, therefore, are the parts already fully edited, yet I have thought it right to bring these remarkable additions to light. I do not stay to consider another sermon on the day of Preparation, which is read in the same volume of Athanasius, p. 585, which is neither worthy of the name of Athanasius, nor does it pertain to our excerpts.