Homily on the Passion of the Lord

necessity of words. The cock shall rebuke your boasting; ^A he shall be the advocate of the Lord’s words; he shall stand against your empty boasts by crying out. The facts followed the words. A young maid speaks, and the head of the apostles is troubled, and Peter is rebuked. A girl speaks, and the Rock is tossed by a tempest; a girl whispers, and Peter denies. Peter hoped the girl would trust his oath, but the bird does not accept oaths; it stops the mouth of him who swears with its cry; it does not respect apostolic dignity, ^B for it reverences the prophecy of the Lord: "Before the cock crows, you shall deny me thrice." I have received, O Peter, the signal for your accusation. Even if I do not wish to be silent, I have no power to cry out. O the waves of words that appeared to Peter! The one whom the waves feared, the cock has exposed. For where the Lord commands, the sea serves its fellow-servants. Where the Lord opposes, even cocks are armed. For all things follow the nods of the Maker. "Even if it be necessary for me to die with you, I will not deny you," and after: "I do not know the man." See the words, confused by fear and love. Did you not know, O Peter, the Lord? Therefore, did the Lord not know Peter? O fear that overcomes love! Consider for me that trepidation of Peter, ^C that you may learn who it is that bestows boldness. Let nature be put to the test, that grace may appear; let the infirmity be shown, that the author of virtue may appear, to whom be glory and power, both now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

NOTICE ON THE FOLLOWING SERMON

OF OUR HOLY FATHER ATHANASIUS, SERMON ON THE PASSION OF THE LORD ON HOLY FRIDAY

1. Great indeed is the creation of the heavens, ^D and first among things visible called into being by God. Great also and wonderful is the nature of the angels, crowned with invisible ornaments. The sun competes with those things we have mentioned, clothing itself with the daily torches of light, and the heavenly

^A course it drives. The earth strikes the mind with wonder, suspended by the command of God, and this heavy element borne upon the waters. And what is one to say, seeing the sea spread out, and bound by the sand, but governed by the winds? ^B Yet all things are indeed beautiful, and very beautiful, the handiwork of the Creator's wisdom; but man defiled the beauty of these things by the excess of the honor paid to them, having brought insults upon those once honored. For the creature, pursued with excessive admiration, cast disgrace upon those things that were formerly in honor. Thus, the creature unwillingly became the mother of error. But the Lord, having pity on the wanderer, brought the cross into the midst, an instrument for men of the knowledge of God, more powerful than the creatures themselves. And so, the heaven was ineffective for the correction of impiety. The sun was ashamed at being worshipped, but it had not the power to prevent those who worshipped it. The earth brings forth medicines for the body, but it cannot bring aid to the ailing soul. The sea was proven unequal to curing this malady. For the blind man went about the creature, and whatever he happened upon by feeling, that he worshipped: and he could not find God, whom the entire gathering of creatures, while proclaiming Him to be God, was unable to lead to the doctrine of the one God. But what the heaven could not do, this the cross was able to accomplish: whom the sun did not teach, the cross, shining forth, enlightened: a vile piece of wood, when planted, cultivated the world—which had been given over to impiety—unto piety. The wood, an instrument of condemnation, procured freedom for the condemned. The creature was powerless for the salvation of men, but the cross appeared as a physician that had come in. For since death, having long ago used wood as a staff, had laid siege to the root of mankind, having found a way for penetration through the transgression that occurred by the forbidden food; then, the way having thus been opened for death, the human race followed it, and those who were partakers of nature were the same heirs of punishment. But God, that Fashioner, had pity on His creature, and granted a wood as a remedy against the wood by nature, and brought in a passion as a panacea for passion, and by a death that he had armed against the ruling death, he conquered it; and again man is free, having found immortality by those very things through which he was bound to death: for by those things through which he was condemned, through them he was released.

^C 2. O truly divine wisdom, and heavenly ^D machine! The cross was fixed, and idol-worship was destroyed: the cross was raised, and the diabolical power was condemned: the cross was fixed, and the pride of the Jews was turned to ruin; so that you might learn that it is not the wood simply that is the cause of so many miracles, but He who used the wood for the victory. For the passion is not of itself saving, but He is saving who, through the passion, willed to dispense salvation. For to you, indeed, death becomes a ransom from death, but He changed the nature of things

^A who fixed the boundaries of nature. The cross, and the passion, and the lance, and the nails, and death—these become the swaddling clothes of immortal life; by these the second man was brought forth into life. By those things through which the first Adam was condemned, by the same the second Adam was liberated; through whom the beginning of men fell, through them the first-fruits of men are exalted. Today the Master and Lord is led as one condemned, and is sent from tribunal to tribunal; and Caiaphas pronounces the sentence, and Pilate receives the vote. And Christ does not refuse the judgment, that He might dissolve the condemnation of the world.

3 O stupendous miracles! Christ receives the sentence of death, and immediately Barabbas is released. From the very outset, the cross grants liberty to the condemned. Do not look, I pray, at the malice of the Jews: nor that, while condemning their benefactor, they prefer the murderer; but rather observe that the beginning of condemnation was the beginning of liberation for the condemned. For He who took upon Himself the condemnation of the guilty is declared the just Judge of the living and the dead alike: “Because He has appointed a day on which He is about to judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained, giving assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts xvii, 31). The Jews, then, passing over other modes of death, rushed upon the cross, having devised an instrument of both punishment and disgrace; and they join the curse of the Law to the death by the tree, thinking thereby to increase the gravity of death. But they were ignorant that they were adorning the cross as a glorious symbol of victory. And not content with these things, they compel thieves to become sharers in His death, ^B so that the fellowship of death might turn to the disgrace of His end. They were ignorant, forsooth, that by crucifying a thief with Christ, they were appointing a herald of the kingdom of Him who was being crucified: “Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.” (Luke xxiii, 42). As a thief were you crucified, and were you shown forth as an evangelist? As a king do you honor Him whom you were set to dishonor? “Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.” What are you saying, O thief? Are you ignorant of what you yourself are suffering? Have you forgotten the nails? Do you not feel the torments? Do you supplicate as if you were praying in a temple, and not hanging on a tree? I saw, he says, the true God, and I longed to supplicate Him. I recognized ^C the dignity from the inscription. I saw a condemnation proclaiming a kingdom. I saw the grace of a diadem flashing in the accusation. For if, while being crucified, He reigns, who shall He be when He is crowned? Creation makes known His kingdom. The sun sees Him being crucified, and dares not shine; it takes away its light from the cruci

crucifiers, warring on behalf of the Lord; in an unexpected night it condemns the iniquity of the Jews. The earth, being shaken, is troubled, and by an earthquake casts down those who crucified the Lord. How should I not be convinced? The title proclaims Him to be the King who is being insulted. Creation bears witness. What I read in the letters, I recognize in the events. "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."

4. O robber, bitter accuser of the Jews! O robber, advocate of justice! O robber, merchant of the kingdom! O robber, guardian of paradise! O robber, far more resolute than Adam concerning creation! O robber, more steadfast than your progenitor concerning paradise! He, having inopportunely extended his hand to the tree, brought death into the world; but you, having opportunely spread out your hands on the cross, recovered that ^B paradise which had been lost. O robber, who recovered the lost ancestral inheritance in one happy moment! O robber, who were the first to obtain the confession of the kingdom! O robber, confessor and heir of the kingdom, imitator of the martyrs! O robber, who with a tiny word opened heaven! O robber, who employed a strange charm to obtain a strange treasure! O robber, who made heaven an accessory to the cross! O robber, teacher to men of a lawful robbery! O robber, who teach a praiseworthy robbery! O robber, who taught men how they might snatch the kingdom by theft! O robber, teacher of theft, most pleasing to Him from whom the thing is stolen! O robber, who earned a great reward for your theft! O robber, who showed the great fruit of confession! O robber, who believed slowly and confessed quickly: you came last and were crowned first! O robber, who showed the swiftest efficacy of faith! ^C O robber, who taught the delivery of faith, needing no time to bring forth offspring! O robber, bitter accuser of Judas! O robber, who appeared more grievous to the betrayer than the noose itself! O robber, who imitated the betrayal of Judas against the devil! O robber, who used his own art wondrously against him! O robber, who justly purchased Christ and brought the cross as a witness of your possession! O fellow soldier of Peter and companion in the mysteries of the apostles!

5. Furthermore, the tomb received Him, having no experience of burial. O tomb, place of immortality! O tomb, workshop of the resurrection! O tomb, des- ^D truction of tombs! O tomb in which death ceases to be death! O tomb in which life, which has no end, springs forth! Rightly is the tomb new: for this was the counsel of divine grace. For indeed, lest the multitude of corpses should make the one who rose again doubtful, and lest the Jew should from this grasp an occasion for calumny, the tomb is seen void of corpses, restraining the Jewish tongue, and all but saying such things to the Jew.

[1061-1062] ...you! What do you say, O slanderer? Do you not see another Dead One? Therefore, worship the One who is rising! Behold Him raised, and acknowledge His lordship. You delivered a dead man to me; I return an immortal one to you. But this did not satisfy the Jew ^A, for he adds seals to the tomb. O miserable, and most miserable man, does He who loosed the pangs of death not loose seals? Does He who despoiled Hades fear seals? Seal the tomb, mark the stone, station soldiers, besiege the grave. You make my achievement greater: you are preparing spectators of the resurrection, you are bringing witnesses of the rising, you are fashioning my own heralds, even your own ministers!

6. Come then, brethren, let us wait for the pangs of the tomb. Let us see Joseph offering gifts, and Nicodemus running alongside, wrapping the Lord of all in a clean shroud, with linen cloths and a sweat-cloth, bringing myrrh and aloes, those symbols of immortality. Let us see the resurrection being carried in the womb. Let us see the womb of the tomb, the mother of the resurrection. Let us wait to see Christ ^B emerging from the tomb bearing a trophy, and having bound up the victory over death and the tyrant. Therefore, let us come with joyful hearts to the joy-bringing, rising Christ. For to Him is due all glory, honor, and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to the ages of ages. Amen.

ADMONITION TO THE FOLLOWING HOMILY

OF OUR HOLY FATHER ATHANASIUS

Homily on the holy Fathers and prophets, and on the most venerable Church, and on the thirty-fourth Psalm.

1. The faith which leads to the path of the knowledge of God, and to a virtuous and incomprehensible life, ^C is not of recent origin, as those impious and wicked Jews say; but it began long ago from the holy and pious Fathers—I mean Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and all the other righteous men. This is certainly...