Elias divided the Jordan with his sheepskin and crossed over, that he might ascend into heaven. The blessed Elisha returned, having taken the sheepskin of his master, after he had petitioned him, saying: "Let the spirit that is in thee be doubled in me." He said to him: "Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou seest me taken up, it shall be so for thee" (4 Kings 2:9, 10). That is to say: "Thou shalt be deemed worthy to have a double operation of the Holy Spirit." Then he was taken up. The sheepskin was raised on high and fell to the disciple; A he received the pledge, and arrived at the river: he attempted to divide the Jordan, but the water did not obey. B Struck with dismay, Elisha says, "Where is the God of Elias?" and after the second time he smote the water, and the Jordan was divided. Why, therefore, did the water not obey the first time? Lest one might think that it had obeyed on account of his own previous dignity which he had possessed, but he invoked God and said: "Where is the God of Elias?" But why did he say, "Where is God?" Did the prophet not know that God is in heaven and on earth and everywhere? But because Elias had said to him, "If thou seest me taken up, it shall be so for thee." ****
ON THE PHARISEE AND THE HARLOT. Delivered on the Holy and Great Wednesday.
Every time is suitable for anyone wishing for repentance; for it is permitted to every man, if he wills, even in the spring to send forth the germs of a good life, in summer to gather the sheaves of salvation, in autumn to examine the damages and corruption of the soul, in winter to flee the winter of iniquities, and in any season of the year to provide for a conversion to better things; in the night of sin to decline the night, and in the day to run to the light of a pure conscience, and to flee for refuge to the Creator. But the present time, fortified by abstinence and fasting, is more opportune for repentance, though not for all. For a certain voice sounds forth almost like this: "If anyone comes to me, I will lead him to the common Creator." Let us, then, equip ourselves with the wings of faith and repentance, that we may fly toward our Maker, and let us, as the firstborn sons of the Church, and you, who lie like fetuses in the womb of the Church, desiring to arrive at a blessed and painless birth C (a), and to be sons of Him who struggled for us (for the grace of faith is necessary even for you who are about to attain the same goods): let us, indeed, wash away with tears the royal tunic which we have defiled; and you, that you may be able to put it on and keep it pure from every stain; for without pure faith no one can attain to the benignity of God. My words are confirmed both by other things and by that harlot, who, holding faith and repentance like two lamps, and running to the heavenly bridegroom, in one day became the bride of Christ. But because I have mentioned that blessed harlot, whom I call by this shameful name in the meantime; that we may know what she formerly was, and what she was afterward, I wish to bring her into the holy Church; that through her we may learn how we ought to approach Christ, that we may be washed from our sins. For what she did are clear instructions of what we ought always to do: and the Savior's conversation with her will be a consolation to sinners. For who, hearing that a woman defiled with six hundred stains, because she fled to Him, and poured forth burning drops of tears at His feet, attained the merit of virginity, would not display the same manner, that he might pluck the same fruit? Who, contemplating her transformation and reward, would not assume the same purpose, that he might attain an equal retribution? For what else is a harlot than a plague and a manifest affront to nature? Than a public triumph over the female sex, a destruction of bodies and souls, a pestilence that uses pleasure, a whited sepulchre, an insatiable mouth of hell, the threshold of death adorned, a voluptuous poison, a bold impudence, a shameless modesty, a beautiful destruction, a bait for scheming lust, a snare for youths, a trafficker of her own members, a deep of wickedness, a desired shipwreck, a common calamity in every sin, a wanton workshop, a teacher of every iniquity, a conciliatrix of enmity with God, the mistress of the fire of eternal hell? Nevertheless, she who was the minister of so many and so great evils, because she loved chastity beyond custom, is commemorated as written in the books of the Gospels. Unrolling these, let us enjoy her history, as she herself, hearing Christ, produced fruit. "A certain man of the Pharisees asked Jesus that He might eat with him. And having entered into the house of the Pharisee, He reclined" (Luke D 7:36). Who saw the servant nourished by the one served? Who saw such height descending to such humility? O great astonishment! O divine indulgence! He did not say to the Pharisee who invited Him: "Do you invite Me to a meal, who invite all men to the heavenly meal? Do you invite Me to a meal, who sated the whole people with five loaves? Do you invite Me to a meal, who give food to all flesh?" The Savior said none of these things; but sitting in silence, He reclined in the house of the Pharisee. He knew, indeed, with what meal He was to be refreshed; He knew that the harlot was about to run to Him, that she might attain salvation; and He was looking around on every side, observing the hunt, and almost shouting to those reclining: "I am about to eat food which you will see shortly thereafter; I am about to eat food, namely, the salvation of the woman about to come. For My food is the conversion of men; My food is the life of My servants; My banquet is the repentance of sinners; My pleasure is the release of the condemned; My banquet is the redemption of the captives." While the Savior was saying these things on His couch, both with His eyes and His demeanor, He says, "Behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner." According to the scope of the heavenly King, the hunt is offered: the hunter had sat down prepared, and the prey was hastening to Him. "And behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner": two grave evidences of wickedness. Tell us, evangelist, her name, write the woman's name, that we may learn how she was called. She had the sin itself for an appellation, and her name was from her evil work. She, seeing that Jesus was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, said to herself: "Inside is Christ, the spring of benignity, the fountain of mercy: inside is Christ, who heals by a word, and cures by a voice: inside is Christ, who is celebrated by the angels, and passes His life with men as one of them: inside is Christ, who sits with the Father, and is a guest of the Pharisee: inside is Christ, who feeds all by His divinity, and is fed by His humanity: inside is Christ, who tolerates the Pharisaic table, and who fills every table with good things; and He has deigned to enter the tabernacle of the Pharisee, the sinless one has deigned to feast with sin. I am filled with good hope concerning my evil deeds: for He who appeared such toward the Pharisee, will certainly be mild and benign toward me."
A I will enter into the heavenly Physician, I who am despaired of by all; I will enter to the heavenly Physician, I who am sick in the midst of health: for He, seeing me, is able to apply to my ailments a medicine capable of lulling every pain to sleep. I will show the wounds to Him who knows them, and I will receive the medicine. I will enter to the only Life, I who have cut myself off from life through a most base life; I will enter to the philanthropic Judge, I who am condemned. Before the resurrection from the dead, I will discharge my responsibilities; before the fearsome judgment, I will escape the judgment; before the awesome tribunal, I will steal away the scourges; before I see Christ pronouncing judgment, I see Him discoursing in a philanthropic manner; let me fear Him as judge, let me flatter Him as present. B I am not the first to venture into conversation with Him; already another, as I have heard, the Samaritan woman, living illicitly according to the law, met the Fountain at the fountain, and departed having drawn (the water of) the knowledge of God. And again, another woman of the race of the Canaanites, a free sprout of that cursed and servile seed, entering with intercession against the demon tyrannizing her only daughter, returned having received authority against the demon, and the mother became doctor to the daughter, and that savage and barbarous demon dared no longer approach the maiden, fearing the decree of Christ’s voice. May I, therefore, imitate her, and come to Him who grants everything, and is able and willing; I will use the custom of shamelessness for my own advantage; I will appear, self-invited, at the feast of the Savior, just as if I had the appearance of someone among the many guests; I will loosen my hair, and I will mourn my own wretchedness; I will slacken the complex nets, that I may hunt for mercy without stint; I will weep well once, I who have often laughed badly; I will weep now before the philanthropic Judge, so that I may not weep at the last to no avail; I will mourn a little now, so that I may not mourn much then; I will drench the feet of Christ with tears, so that He may wash away my iniquities with His words; I will wipe the tears with my locks, so that some sanctification may accrue to them from this; I will kiss the immaculate footprints, which even the sea kissed, so that with chaste kisses I may spit out the venom of lascivious kisses; I will embrace the divine members, the virginal ones, those from the Virgin, that I may draw into my own members, which are condemned, a drop of righteousness from those holy members. C The compassionate One will be bent toward these things; He will have mercy on the one falling before Him, whom He did not punish when she was sinning; He will have mercy on the one kneeling, whom He continued to benefit while she was dancing about; He will have mercy on the one wishing to be saved, whom He carried gently when He found her perishing. He cannot overlook genuine tears, He cannot fail to appear as He is—compassionate—even toward me; a groan rising from the depth of the soul is powerful before Him; repentance has great boldness toward Him; He will surely speak to me also something mild and serene, and fitting to His divinity. These things the wise woman pondered, these things the faithful one did. And having dressed herself in womanly attire, virginally, but not harlot-like, and having thus hidden all her appearance that before this had been laid out for all as in a theater, and having looked around securely on all sides, lest any harlot-like form enter with her to the Lord to accuse her, she ran into the Pharisee’s chamber, and standing at the Master’s feet, she fulfilled the plan she had pondered. For, it says, "bringing an alabaster jar of ointment, and standing behind at his feet," D "and weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment," speaking with silence, and crying out with quiet, and saying to the soul, to Him who knows how to hear pained souls even when lips are not speaking, writing such a supplication as is expected, with tears: "I have strayed like a lost sheep; but I have recognized You as Master, my shepherd and Lord; I became game for the beast by my own will, but I gained perception to escape the bitter bites of the wolf; I have often shipwrecked by my own will, but I was saved from the shipwreck, holding fast to Your presence as an anchor. But I have no boldness, for every sinner is without boldness; I have no defense, for every sinner and transgressor is without defense; I have no voice, for every condemned one is voiceless; the wicked conscience blocks my mouth, which my corrupted life has corrupted; the accusing wealth chokes the tongue—crying out from within me always: 'shut up your word with your lips; the mouth of sinners toward intercession is void of boldness, and the condemned tongue is unfitting for supplication, and the counterfeit word is uncomely for petition.' I show by silence my affairs to You who know all things; I speak with the mind, I cry out with the form; with my eyes I preach my iniquities, with my tears I confess my transgressions, with my sighs I proclaim You who alone are able to be hidden. As a captive with all my weapons I fall before You, the King of the heavens; and all my members, through which I waged war against You, or rather against myself, I offer to You, O Philanthropic One. Have mercy on this head. 'For my iniquities have gone over my head'; have mercy on these hairs, which You formed; have mercy on these eyes, which You created; have mercy on this clay, which You indeed formed for beauty, but I misused for unseemly deformity; have mercy on Your image, with which the enemy toyed as he pleased; have mercy on Your stele, which Your enemy dragged around as if it were masterless; accept these tears as a ransom, and loosen the charges as You are good; only will it, and I am loosed; only nod, and I am redeemed; command, and what I desire is accomplished. For Your will is action, and Your word is deed. I will receive freedom from Your immaculate feet, as the woman with the issue of blood stole healing from Your fringes, You having willed this to be stolen; may I also become a narrative for those after me of Your philanthropy. Commend me and my affairs to later generations, a good memorial of Your mercies; let all say that a harlot who was once lawless and condemned, having approached Jesus, was justified by Him; and seeing (it), let all approach with me, and let them seize Your gifts. O Judge, just and philanthropic, and who because of great philanthropy conversest with the condemned, I have approached You here as Judge, here dictate my forgiveness; do not triumph over my sins before all creation, do not publish my iniquities at the coming tribunal; do not send me to the eternal fire, which possesses as fuel the life of the deep-minded. Jesus Christ, Son of the Virgin Mary, and Creator of the Virgin, because of the Virgin, and Your mother, and again virgin, reclaim because of that holy one me who am polluted, and (make me) a holy poem. From a woman you were born also, as You alone know, and You know the weakness of men." Such things the faithful woman said within herself and prayed, while the Savior, being near, granted to the one desiring it to feast on the desire, and to entrust her feet to her for insatiable enjoyment, being on the couch, and feasting on her weeping, and reveling in the tears of repentance, and hungering with the thirst of her soul for mercy. Thenceforth the Pharisees whispered softly to one another, saying: "What is this strange and paradoxical spectacle? Who taught this harlot to be temperate? Who persuaded the one poured out toward foul pleasures to think such things? Is this not the notable disgrace of our city? Is this not the woman for any who desire her? Is this not the accuser of each one’s sin? Is this not the enemy of temperance, and the burglar of legitimate marriages? Is this not she who plunders men with flattery? How then will such an one come to be from such? How did the laughter-loving and pleasure-loving one appear tear-loving and grief-loving? How did the unwise, and untimely, and with form and glance and carriage and curious gaits, and with all her members betrothing all to death, fall into this temperate posture and action? O the heedless change! O the strange transformation!" The servants used such words; but the Pharisee who had invited Jesus, weaving blasphemous thoughts in his own soul, said: "If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman she is who touches him, for she is a sinner." By way of simple statement, he says, and as it happened
the Pharisee accepts such great kindness as though it were ignorance, and bestows indulgence in the name of ignorance, while he himself labored under an ignorance of the events taking place. A And Jesus, answering, said to him: "I have something to say to you" [Luc. 7, 40]. I know what you are saying while saying nothing; I know what you are bringing forward while silent; I know what you are shouting while quiet; I know what this woman here is saying in her mind; I know, too, how many reasonings you are forging in your soul against me. I will recount the sayings of your thoughts, I will declare your blasphemies, I will make public the sentiments of your mind, since I am present to the thoughts of your soul. Thus you say: "If he were a prophet, he would certainly know who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, for she is a sinner." These are the words of your mind. How, therefore, would I know the reasonings that are being moved and agitated in the depths of your mind, if I were not God, the Creator of all? Since you now suspect B it from my response, know who I am, I who answer you while you speak not. I reveal the words of your mind. If I were a prophet, would I know who and what kind of woman she is? What need is there of prophetic illumination for a thing that falls under sight? Do I not know her who is stationed in the forum? Do I not know her who is manifest to all? Do I not know her on whose account I came to you? I know certainly who and what kind of woman she is; for nothing, indeed, escapes the eye of divinity, neither the greedy man, nor any crime. I know who and what kind of woman she is, and that she is a sinner; for this reason I rejoice while I am held by her, in order that I may bestow salvation upon her who holds me in devotion, as befits God. I am not defiled by her hands; rather, I render her pure. For the sun is not darkened by mud; the pearl C does not change because of the mire; an impeccable nature is not stained by sin. Did I not touch the leper, and the disease departed? Was I therefore made a leper because I approached the leper? Thus, too, I who perform my accustomed miracles, convert her to holiness, nor am I changed into her quality while I suffer myself to be touched by her hand. For I am a physician; a physician not of wounds, not of putrefaction, not of pus, but one who brings salvation to those who labor under diseases of the soul. I am Creator, and I spare my creature; I am Lord, and I do not endure that an handmaid who loves her Lord should suffer harm. I am a Shepherd, and I rightly rejoice at finding my sheep that was wandering; I am a harbor, and I receive all those who sail to me. "Simon, I have something to say to you. Two debtors were to a certain creditor" [Luc. 7, 41]. Meanwhile, you have been placed in the same rank as her. Why do you fight against her, as if you alone had ascended D the citadel of virtues? Meanwhile, to me you are a debtor, so why do you condemn her, as if you alone were innocent? You are two debtors, you and she; I am the creditor to you and to the little woman; I have lent this life. "One owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty." She owes five hundred denarii, for she has sinned much; you owe fifty, for you have stumbled but little; nevertheless, you are obligated to render a reckoning of your life. "But as they had nothing to return, he forgave both" [v. 42]. I have forgiven you your debts; I forgive this woman her sins; in this my arrival you are enjoying, let her also enjoy my indulgence. Or would you wish me to be humane toward you, but inhuman toward her? But I will not take you on as a manager of my kindness. If you were in her place, and she in yours, would you wish her to say such things of you as you feel about her? Have you not heard that: "What you would not wish to suffer, do not do to another"? For this is indeed the law of our common nature. "Who, tell me, will love him more?" He gave. The Savior said to him: "You have judged rightly" [v. 43]. Therefore, abide in those things which you yourself first judged. And turning to the woman, he said to Simon: "Do you see this woman?" [v. 44]. I no longer call her a harlot, she who has cast aside both the fact and the name. Do you see this woman, who came to us uncalled, who exhibited a praiseworthy impudence, who exercised a lovable audacity, the leader of a life and piety tending toward me, a mistress of repentance? Who teaches by deed itself, who incessantly weeps, the confidence of my mercy, the herald who has turned your house into a church, who alone prays to the Only One, who, looking up at a man, supplicates him as if he were God, who, seeing neither satellites nor judicial tribunal, bends the knee to me as Judge, and worships the reclining One. Do you see this woman, indefatigable, an operator of good things, who, through her tresses and her tears, has woven for herself a garment of immortality, who through all her members prays for herself, insatiable in those things in which one ought not to see, more insatiable in those in which immoderation is proclaimed blessed? Weigh your deeds, and consider her acts, and with me you shall crown her who crowned herself. If you do not admire her piety and facts, censure my mercy. I entered into your house, I Christ, who am above and below and everywhere and here, and I have honored both you and your house by my arrival; and you gave no water for my feet. You did not pour out upon my feet what was at hand and easy and of no value. But this woman, who is branded by you with disgrace, has watered my feet with tears, which even the seas and the waves of water have not wetted. You see a new irrigation poured out upon my feet; you see a wondrous rain, not sent down from the clouds, but created by the eyes of a woman. What spring flows with so many streams as she does with tears? What spring that brings forth so many drops? She watered my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and prepared a new linen cloth from her tresses, and made a wondrous towel for my feet from her tresses. "You did not give me a kiss" [Luc. v. 45]; you did not deign to join your lips to my lips; but she, from the moment she entered, has not ceased to kiss my feet. O equable assiduity! O divine kisses! O spiritual kisses, which have purged former embraces! "You did not anoint my head with oil" [v. 46]; you did not moisten the nobler part of my body with simple oil; but she has anointed my feet with ointment. What, therefore, does it seem to you? Shall I loathe her who has brought such gifts to me? Shall I shake off gifts dear to me? Shall I not revere such and so great an affection? Shall I not revere faith higher than heaven? Shall I despise so many and so great good things? Shall I contemn miserable groans? But I am not born so. Shall I contemn fountains of tears? But I cannot. Shall I contemn a form covered with tears? From sheer kindness I took the form of a servant. Shall I deny myself on your account? Shall I hold in hatred her who so sincerely loved me? Shall I reject her who thus embraces my feet? Shall I expel the suppliant who hoped she would not be turned away? Shall I fulfill the will of the devil? Shall I bestow on the enemy the prey? Shall I send back my dove to the hawk? Shall I not pity her who says nothing other than "have mercy on me"? Shall I not pity her who thus flees from the devil, and flies for refuge to me? Why, therefore, did I descend from heaven? Why am I thus more friendly to this visible body? Why did I enter into your house? If I were to reject her who is present and wishes to be taken in the hunt, why did I seek the place of capture? But, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" [Matth. 9, 13]. Therefore I say to you: "Her sins are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who loves little, will be loved little" [Luc. 7, 47]. Having thus addressed the Pharisee, Christ deigned to look upon the prostrate woman with a kind look and a mild tone; and toward her who was hiding herself and entreating, inclining himself a little, he uttered the hoped-for sentence, by which he forgave her sins: "Your sins are forgiven." Receive at last, O woman, the petition granted and sealed; receive the recompense of faith; receive the rewards of obedience; receive the gifts of piety; receive the crown of repentance; receive the sweetest fruit of bitter groans; receive the most delectable harvest of sad seed. You have sown in tears, in exultation you have reaped. "Your sins are forgiven." The cords of an impious life have been broken; the chains of iniquity have been loosed; you have been freed from crimes and from rendering accounts; you have fled from the inextinguishable furnace of fire; with a few tears you have extinguished so great a flame; you have trampled upon the head of the wicked enemy; you have victoriously overcome the adversary.
condemn? I am the judge, the guarantor of forgiveness; who is it that shall overturn my judgment? I am the judge, I set you free; who is it that shall condemn? Take heart, daughter: with yourself consider how you have been exalted. How you came as one condemned, and were held worthy to be freed from condemnation, and to become a daughter of Me, the King of heaven. You came as one wounded to receive the remedy, and as a queen to wear a royal crown. You were regenerated without a womb; you were refashioned without clay; you were recast without fire; you were baptized without a laver. You created for yourself a laver out of tears; My word has become your baptism; My speech is the illumination of your countenance. Take heart, daughter; your faith has saved you. As you believed, so you drew; as you desired, so you received; as you willed, so you were made a queen. You looked through the lattice, and became full of light. Your faith has saved you. For faith is the beginning of salvation, faith is the herald of immortality, faith is the pure eye of the knowledge of God, faith sees the invisible. Your faith has saved you. Would that the Jews had imitated your faith! Would that the pagans had emulated your resolve! Would that all men might learn to believe as you do! Go in peace. Since you have wished it, you shall have Me always with you and in you; if you remain thus pure, never will I be separated from your mind. If you keep this purity undefiled, I shall abide with you forever. If you remain a virgin bride, I shall be for you a virgin bridegroom, the guardian of incorruptibility. If you do not break the dowry completed between us today, I shall not depart from your company; if you do not play the whore against Me, I shall not cast you out from My intimacy; if you do not bring upon Me an adulterous thought, as a heavenly suitor I shall grant you heavenly gifts; if you keep the conscience towards Me unwounded, you shall enjoy My favor forever. Go in peace. Remember this present day, in which you enjoyed freedom; remember these good tears, through which you arrived at such brightness; remember this repentance, through which you found the dignity of a daughter. Go in peace. I have reconciled you, having for a long time before this been grieved towards you because of you. Do not break this good peace with evil deeds; do not fight against Me again with your own limbs; do not again braid your hair like Satan; do not whiten your face like a wall A with the artifice of an elaborate and destructive adornment; do not offer, as in a marketplace, your touch to the merchants of shameful pleasures; do not send forth your eyes, like a hunter, against those who are willingly hunted; do not use your lips, like arrows, against those who are pleasantly wounded; do not make your mouth death; do not condemn your hands to unseemly embraces; do not sentence your feet to shameful paths; do not overturn the good path with evil courses; do not scatter the pearls of purity which you chose without labor; do not become again a workshop of corruption; do not return to your ancient deceit; do not take back your former tent; do not ill-build what you have built well; do not admit the serpent as a counselor, so that you might not be stripped naked like Eve; do not abandon for pleasure the fountain of faith, so that the many-shaped dragon might not cast his venom upon you; do not fall into the sleep of self-indulgence, so that you do not stir against yourself My just anger; B do not, after such ointment, pour ordure upon yourself; do not become again what you were; you were once purified, you were once recast: remain a new-wrought image of temperance, so that you might not be recast in the fire. Go in peace; tell those you meet how good I am and how loving to mankind; show to those who do not know Him the One who wiped away your filth; become henceforth a net of life. Up to this day you hunted the young toward perdition; from this day forth, fish for all men toward salvation; cry out before Paul, as one who was netted before Paul: *This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am first* (1 Tim. 1, 15). Let us all emulate her repentance, that we might obtain the same boldness; let us break off our injustices, as she did her hair; let us shed such tears, that we may receive such remedies; so let us love the Master, that we may be so loved by Him; let us too grip with the hands of faith the One who is gladly gripped, and never leave Him, until He says to us, in the very things themselves, *Your sins are forgiven.* Take heart, children; your C faith has saved you. And let us inscribe her faith upon our own minds, sending up glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
On the Three-Day Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
Our Lord Jesus Christ rose on the third day, bestowing life upon the world; and behold, some of the guard came to the Jews and said: Jesus, who is called Christ, has risen from the dead. And the mindless Jews say to the soldiers: Why did you not hold him? The soldiers say: You, having held him, what gain did you have, unless it be the destruction of your own souls? For He said that He must die and on the third day rise again, and these things He has fulfilled, having risen with great glory from the dead. The ungrateful Jews say: You received money from His disciples, and betrayed His body. And the soldiers say: You have such unbelief, you who are lawless? You did not believe Him when He said that, *It behooves me to die, and on the third day to rise.* Woe to you, O Jews, because He came now, and you did not believe Him, because He came D for this reason, that every Scripture might be fulfilled concerning Him saying [that he must rise again]. When therefore He comes in His second coming again, what will you do, you lawless ones? How indeed were we able to hold Him, having become like dead men from the fear of His glory? For at His rising the place was shaken from its foundations, and the hosts of angels surrounded His divine tomb; and an angel approaching rolled back the stone from the door of the monument; and behold, Jesus came forth as a bridegroom from his chamber, and shining like lightning. And we heard the angel saying to the women: Fear not you; go, tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He goes before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him. Behold then, He is in Galilee. If you are able, go and hold Him. Behold then, we have told you the truth, which we heard from the angel. The Jews, having heard these words, became like dead men from fear and astonishment; and having deliberated among themselves, they gave sufficient money to the soldiers, and urged them, saying: Say that His disciples came by night and stole Him while we were sleeping. And if this be heard before the governor, we shall persuade him, and we shall make you free of care. O lawless Jews, can you persuade the whole world? Woe to you, wretches, because you have devised an evil counsel, because you were called children, and have become dogs; woe to you, stiff-necked and uncircumcised, because, being the chosen people of the Lord, you have become wolves, and have sharpened your teeth against the Lamb of God, and have become strangers to His glory; woe to you, mindless ones, because you have loved Hades and the eternal fire. For Hades, after the going forth of those who were in his treasuries, awaits you in their stead, saying: May none of the Hebrews rest, they who stretched out hands against Christ, and made me a captive? For if they had not devised evil against the Lord, I would not have suffered such things. When I receive them, I shall bring them down to my lowest parts, where their father the devil is shut up in the eternal fire and the unceasing worm; that they might learn not to arm themselves against the Lord of glory, nor to speak injustice against God, nor to lift up their horn to the height of pride.