devil, the devices of your ancient deceit? Whither has the sophistical serpent gone for you, A so that he might separate Eve from paradise, he who whispered: "On whatever day you eat, you shall be as gods" (Gen. iii, 5)? You have become an unwilling prophet of good things to me. For the promises you used for deception, these I have gained in reality; the fantasy of the promise has become truth for me through experience. O incredible miracles, alien to nature! To those for whom paradise was closed, to them heaven has been opened. He who shortly before stood before Pilate as judge, today in heaven occupies the throne as Judge. He who was mocked by the Jews sits at the right hand of the Father above the cherubim, celebrated by the throngs of angels. He whose head was crowned with Jewish thorns is bound with the diadem of divine dignity. Oh, how often the sounding harp of David predicted these present things! "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet" (Ps. cix, 1). B Now truly the strikes [of the harp] have become realities; and what he formerly desired to see in melody, today he saw in actual events; and heaven has become the minister of the songs, taking upon its back him who is commemorated by that singer; although even at the very birth, heaven looked upon the infant being born through the star, as though it were hastening before the time to receive him who was concealed in a cave. But it was necessary for the times and seasons of the dispensation to be observed.
2. It is a source of wonder to me C how he converted the infamy of our race into honor; how great a benevolence he brought from God’s indignation toward us. God fashioned us with his own hands, appointed us possessors of spontaneous food, granted us the authority of pleasure, the ministry of the earth, the service of the air, he provided the wealth of the sea, the rays of the sun, the beams of the moon, the courses of the stars, and the subjection of all animals. A certain enemy passed through the midst, who, accusing God of envy, persuaded by trickery. The one deceived passes over to his side, suffers from the disease of impiety against God, makes a pact in secret against God, and stretches out his hand against the commandments of God. D God appears, confounds the wicked hope; the beginning of our race flees his sight and evades the reproach, and hides under a tree, fearing the sound, she who had wickedly imagined divinity. Therefore, God, having stripped man of his dignity, casts him out of paradise, speaking to him almost in these terms: "It was not for such hopes that I fashioned you; nor for these did I mold you with my hands, transforming the clay into the nature of man. But you, taking the hand I gave you, have stretched it out against my command, and have become…
A a fellow-mystic of the devil, having conspired against the Creator. Depart, therefore, from your dignity; withdraw from this honorable place. You are earth, and to earth you shall return. Turn back to her, having imagined things that were above you; let nature return again; learn that the earth is your mother, being sent back to her by death. These are the rewards of diabolical deceit; these are the marks of the beginning of our race; this is the wretched drama that entered into nature. But the Creator did not endure to behold His workmanship worn away forever; but He took pity on nature, which was ashamed and mourning, and He had mercy on the image that was wandering in creation. What, then, does He do? He fashions another Adam, raising up from nature a protector for nature; and, having borrowed dust from a Virgin, He forms within Himself, as a newer image, the embryo being fashioned. He fashions and remains, and, weaving a garment B in the womb as if in a royal bridal chamber, He puts on the image, so that He might cover the nakedness of the image. For He brought forth one stronger than deceit and superior to sin, immortal even after death, and a liberator from the tombs, having been in a tomb Himself. And crowning him with immortality, today He has carried him up into the heavens, bestowing upon creatures a shared splendor, by gifting them with the first-fruits of nature.
3. Shall anyone say, then, that the Creator, when the transgression was still fresh, loathed the image, and, having hated the decision, condemned nature; but now, with time having passed, having put aside indignation and with a settled mind, treats the one who had transgressed with kindness? By no means; for neither were those former things anger, nor does this proceed from a passion of repentance; but looking from above, He dispenses order to things. For, seeing nature prostrate under the condemnation of death, and the tomb ready as a receptacle for human sorrows, and the riches of Hades becoming the prey of men, and death spreading daily; God, resolving the sharpness of the threat, immediately offers hope of immortality to the race. And having snatched Enoch from the midst of men, He showed that the death of men is overcome; and He taught C mortal nature to expect the boundaries of immortality, and thus it learned that the course of death could be hindered; and the translation of the righteous man became a stay of death. This, occurring in the midst of mourning, taught nature to sing a palinode and to take up a better hope. Lest, however, the long passage of time again wash away the memory of that miracle, and, having erased the traces of hope, increase despondency, and death appear more fearful to men once again; He repeats the miracle and doubles the gift, and Elias was present, called as a victor against death; who, traversing the clouds with his voice,
threatened the heavens with drought, and by a word binding nature, A became the charioteer of the elements, with a small tongue contracting the rudders of creation. Then a great miracle is displayed—heaven itself reverencing man; for lest the lowliness of the man should steal away the perception of the victory won over death, He first makes him known to all creation, and then, mounting a chariot of fire, he leaves death behind in a miraculous flight and course, and the dignity of grace changes the law of nature. For Elias was taken up as if into heaven, and Scripture has proclaimed the miracle, transmitting it with its voice to all ages.
B 4. But do you, beloved, consider the precision of the words, and let not the wealth and power of the scriptural syllables escape you, nor, by passing over the expression, think the servant equal in honor to the Master. For Elias does not ascend into heaven, nor, having traversed the firmament, does he dwell in the regions there; but listen to what He who leads him upward says: "And when the Lord was taking up Elias, as if into heaven." And again, a few words later: "He set Elias, who was being carried to the heights." For it suffices that the Prophet be honored in figure. For heaven does not admit the servant before the Master; for "no one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven." For heaven was reserved for the firstfruits of men, for the sake of the Creator of men. C Thus, then, did God cheer men with good hope through those concerning Enoch and Elias, since they were men and He made the course of the air passable for them. Yet He did not stop even at these in providing faith for things above nature, but He also prepares men to become accustomed to the miracle through daily observation.
For what does He do? He commands the writer Moses to become a painter of creation, and enjoins him to imitate the Creator through the Tabernacle; so that the outward appearance of the Tabernacle might be an image of the earth and of the things on earth, but the interior of the Tabernacle, veiled by curtains (leaving a certain hidden order of heaven to men), He attributes to the part of heaven that is not seen. And thus, commanding the image of heaven and earth to be shadowed forth by figures, and willing that those things which were in the holy of holies should be inaccessible to men, D He opens the entrance to the mysteries to the high priest alone, thus making the entrance of the high priest a figure of the ascent into heaven; so that, seeing the heaven divided in figure at that time, and the high priest alone daring to penetrate the inaccessible places, the people might be accustomed to the sight and not resist the miracles. Reminding the Jews of these things, Paul, the teacher of the inhabited world, cried out in his writing: "Into the first tabernacle the priests always entered, performing the duties of the sacrifices; but into the second, the high priest alone once a year, not without blood, which he offers for his own and the people's ignorance." But Christ, having appeared as high priest of the things to come, etc.
A through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation; nor by the blood of bulls and goats; but by His own blood, entered once into the holy places." And again, after a few words: "For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."
5. He knows how to confound the incredulous even by types, and to confirm miracles with miracles. Thus Christ ascended into heaven; thus He fulfilled the types by the truth of the deed itself. It was necessary, then, that the ascension should be joined to the resurrection of the Savior, and that the conqueror of hell should immediately take possession of heaven. But lest the swiftness of the events might steal away the perception of what was done, He wills that the miracles be impressed upon the minds of the apostles by means of contemplation for a certain time, and that faith be insinuated into the soul by the constant gaze of the eyes. He eats with His disciples, He takes food, although He is in no need of it; He offers His body to be felt, and admits as witnesses of the truth not only eyes, but even fingers. Therefore, by the duration of His presence, He removes the suspicion of a phantasm, and having spoken with the apostles as was fitting concerning His departure, He admits the disciples as witnesses of His ascension. For it was necessary that the heralds of miracles should carry an undoubted knowledge of the things they were to preach. Thus the Savior was being lifted up; the disciples stood looking down below; a cloud, running under His feet, became a vehicle for Him in that course. O unheard-of miracles! The air is traversed, the ether receives Him, angels running alongside celebrate with triumphal chants, and persuade the disciples, astonished at the sight, to celebrate a festival: "Why do you stand looking into heaven?" C Why do you stand? Preach the miracle throughout the world, the coming by the departure: "So will He come, in the way in which you have seen Him going into heaven." Paul, having heard these words, releases the trumpets of his voice, exclaiming in his writings: "Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." To this he adds the case of men, saying that "they shall be caught up in the clouds into the air, to meet the Lord." For indeed, the righteous shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. From the Lord's Assumption, therefore, of our Savior and Lord and true God Jesus Christ, encouraged by similar hopes, let us say to Him: "How magnified are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom You have made them all." To You be glory and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.