A had a spectacle set before our eyes, a light gleams forth, catching the gaze, which is gathered from myriads of torches; thus, all the blessing of Christ, shining of itself like a torch, produces for us this great light, which is tempered together from many and various rays of Scripture. For it is possible to take from each of the divinely inspired proofs that which is fitting for the present holy feast. Do you seek the blessing of Abraham? You have what you seek, by looking at what is present. Do you see the stars of heaven—these, I say, the stars that have recently risen for us from the Father and have suddenly made the Church a heaven, B by whose flashing grace of the soul the rays of the torches are signified? And if someone were to say that these are truly the children of Abraham born to him by promise, those who are likened to the stars of heaven, he will not err from the truth. And do you admire the exalted Moses, who comprehended all the creation of God by the power of knowledge? Behold for you the blessed Sabbath of the first creation of the world. Recognize through that Sabbath this Sabbath, the day of rest which God blessed above other days. For on this day the Only-Begotten God truly rested from all His works, having kept the Sabbath in the flesh through the dispensation concerning death; and having returned again to what He was, through the resurrection He raised up with Himself all that was lying fallen, becoming life, and resurrection, and dawn, and day for those sitting in darkness and in the C shadow of death. Indeed, the history is full of the related blessing: the father of Isaac not sparing that beloved one, and the Only-Begotten becoming oblation and sacrifice, and a lamb being slaughtered in his stead. For it is possible to see in the history the whole mystery of piety. The lamb was hanging from the wood, held by its horns; but the Only-Begotten carried upon Himself the wood of the whole burnt offering. You see, He who carries all things by the word of His power, He Himself also carries the load of our wood, and is lifted up upon the wood, carrying as God, and being carried as a lamb; thus the Holy Spirit divided the great mystery typically between both—both to the beloved Son and to the sheep shown simultaneously—so that there might be demonstrated in the sheep the mystery D of death, and in the Only-Begotten, life, which is not broken by death. And if you wish also to take Moses himself, tracing out the cross by the stretching forth of his hands, and how by this figure Amalek was overthrown, it is possible for you to see in truth the type, and Amalek submitting to the cross. You have also Isaiah, who contributes to you no small grace regarding the present one. For from him you were taught beforehand of the unwedded mother, the flesh without a father, the painless labor, the undefiled birth; as the Prophet said thus: Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means, God with us. And that the birth existed without pain, the very fairness of the matter will teach you. For since every pleasure has pain joined to it, it is necessary that in things that so
A clearly appear, if the one is not present, neither does the other exist. Where, therefore, the pleasure of birth did not lead the way, neither did pain follow. Furthermore, the word of the Prophet also confirms the account, which runs as follows: *Before the pain of her labor came, she escaped, and brought forth a male child.* Or, as another of the interpreters says, *Before she felt labor pains, she brought forth.* Of this Virgin mother, he says, *A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government was upon his shoulder, the Angel of the great counsel, God the mighty, the powerful, the Prince of peace, the Father of the age to come.* This child, this Son, B *was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer he was dumb.* Or rather, as Jeremiah says, *This is the lamb, the innocent one, which is led to be sacrificed.* This is the bread into which they cast the wood, they who are the enemies of both the bread and the wood. But rather, let us take that which is better known and clearer than all from the Prophet, by which the mystery is clearly set forth—I mean the example of Jonah, who went down into the whale without harm, and rose up from the whale without suffering, and who, having remained in the belly of the whale for three days and as many nights, prefigured the Lord’s sojourn among the dead. These things, and things like these, you must search out and select from every part of Scripture. For you see all those former things through the lens of the present; and in the current joy, as we read in the Gospel, C *the whole law and the prophets hang,* as the Gospel says somewhere; and all divinely inspired Scripture and law are recapitulated in this grace, according to the voice of Paul. For this is both the end of evil things and the beginning of good things. What kind of thing do I mean? *Death reigned from Adam,* having taken the beginning of its pestiferous empire, and its tyrannical dominion persisted even until Moses, with the law in no way dulling the evil power of death. The kingdom of life came, and the power of death was dissolved. And another generation has come to be, another life, another manner of living, a transformation of our very nature. What generation is this? That which *is not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.* How, you will ask, can this be? Hear, for I shall explain it in a few words. This fetus is conceived D through faith; it is brought into the light through the regeneration of baptism; its nurse is the Church; it sucks its doctrine and institutions as though they were breasts; its food is the bread from above; its completion of age is the sublime life; its marriage is the companionship of wisdom; its children are hopes; its house is the kingdom; its inheritance and wealth are the delicacies of paradise; and its end is not death, but that life which is prepared for the worthy, most blessed and eternal. Seeing this beginning of the transformation into something better, the great Zacharias hesitates about what name to give it, and how he ought properly to call the present grace. For, seeing those things which…
A pertain to the torture and death he had discoursed upon, he says this regarding that time: "Neither day," he says, "nor night." By these words he indicates that it cannot be called day, since the sun is not present, nor night, since there is no darkness, for God called the darkness night, as Moses says. Consequently, since by time there is night, but by light there is day, for this reason the Prophet says: "And not day, and not night." If, therefore, this time is neither night nor day, according to the Prophet's word, then the present grace is necessarily something else besides these, and is so named. Do you wish me to say what I have conceived? This is the day which the Lord has made; this is a different day than those that were at the beginning. For in this day God makes a new heaven and a new earth, as the Prophet says. What heaven? The firmament of the faith in Christ. What earth? I mean the good heart, as the Lord said, the earth that drinks the rain coming upon it and brings forth the multi-folded ear of corn. In this creation, the sun is the pure life; the stars are the virtues; the air is the transparent manner of life; the sea is the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge; the herbs and sprouts are the good teaching and the divine doctrines, which the people of the pasture, that is, the flock of God, graze upon; and the trees bearing fruit are the observance of the commandments. In this day the true B man is created, he who was made in the image and likeness of God. Does not this beginning become a world for you, "This is the day which the Lord has made," concerning which the prophet Zacharias says that it is neither a day like other days, nor a night like other nights? And thus did the Word proclaim the excellence of the present grace. This broke the pains of death. This brought forth the firstborn of the dead. In this the iron gates of death were smashed. In this the bronze bars of Hades were broken to pieces. Now the prison of death is opened. Now release is proclaimed to the captives. Now sight is given to the blind. Now the "dayspring from on high" visits those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death. Do you wish to understand something also about the three-day limit? Let us be content to have said this much: that such a brief interval of time was enough for the omnipotent wisdom, while dwelling in the heart of the earth, to render foolish that great mind which resided therein. For thus the Prophet names him, calling him a great mind and an Assyrian. Since, therefore, the heart C is a sort of dwelling-place of the mind (for in it the ruling principle of the soul is believed to be), for this reason the Lord stays in the heart of the earth, where the heavenly dwelling of that mind is, in order to make his counsel foolish, as the Prophet says, and "to take the wise in their craftiness" and to turn their wise attempts to the contrary. For since it was impossible for the prince of darkness
to approach the pure presence of the light without perceiving some portion of flesh in Himself, for this reason, A when He saw the God-bearing flesh, and beheld the miracles of the Godhead being wrought through it, he hoped that if he could overcome the flesh through death, he would also overcome all the power that was in it. And for this reason, as he gaped at the bait of the flesh, he was pierced by the hook of the Godhead, and thus the dragon was led by the hook, as Job says, who foretold what was to come through him, saying, "You shall draw out the dragon with a hook."
Let us hear from the voice of the Prophet what these counsels were that this heart of the earth formed against the whole, when it opened its jaws against the flesh of the Lord. What does Isaiah say to him, refuting his thoughts? "You said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven (I will sit on a lofty mountain above the clouds), and I will be like the Most High." These things the wicked heart plotted against itself. And even before these, what the great mind in malice, the wicked Assyrian, uttered to himself, let us again hear from the voice of Isaiah. He said: "By the strength of my hand I will do it, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their strength, and I will shake the inhabited cities, and I will take hold of the whole world like a nest, and as eggs that have been left I will take them up, and there is no one who shall escape me or speak against me." B By this hope, he received into himself the One who, through philanthropy, dwelt on earth among us. But what happened to him instead of what he hoped for, the prophecy clearly signifies, declaring his calamity, saying: "How has Lucifer, who rose in the morning, fallen from heaven? How has he been broken unto the earth? Corruption is spread under him, and his garment is a covering of worms," and whatever else is detailed regarding his destruction, which it is permitted for anyone who wishes to learn with precision from the scriptures of the Prophet. But I must return the discourse to my proposed goal.
For this reason, the true wisdom enters into this arrogant heart of the earth, that it might utterly destroy from it that great mind in malice, and that the darkness might be illuminated, C and that the mortal might be swallowed up by life, and that evil might depart into non-existence, once the last enemy, which is death, has been abolished. These things have been accomplished for you in the prescribed space of three days. Does this grace seem slow? Has such a great good been brought to pass after too long an interval? Do you wish to recognize the preeminent power by which these things were accomplished in such a short space of time? Enumerate for me all the ages of men that have existed from the very first origin of evils until their destruction, how many men there were in each age, and how many thousands of men there were in all the ages. The number of the multitude cannot be reckoned D through whom malice was, in a sense, propagated by a kind of inheritance, so that the riches of wicked depravity, distributed among individuals, grew through the zeal and labor of each, and thus...
spreading through the multitude to infinity, A until, having arrived at the height of evil, it took possession of the entire human nature. Thus the Prophet pronounced universally, saying: *All have gone aside, they have together become unprofitable*; and there was nothing among existing things that was not an instrument of wickedness. Therefore, this huge heap of evil, gathered together from the foundation of the world until the economy of the Lord’s passion—did He who dissolved and overthrew it in three days give you a small demonstration of His surpassing power? Or rather, did it not appear more powerful than all the wonder-workers celebrated in historical records? For just as we admire the deed of Samson the more, not only because he mastered the lion, but because he overcame it without labor and, as if in sport, tore the beast apart with naked and unarmed hands B—so the power of the Lord excelled in this: that He wiped out such great wickedness without any exertion. For there were no opening of the cataracts above, nor abysses overflowing their own bounds, flooding the earth with their surges, nor was the entire inhabited world, like a ship with its crew, swallowed up into the deep, nor were mountains rendered submarine and their summits plunged beneath the waves. Nor, as happened in the days of the Sodomites, did a rain of fire and flame cleanse and purge what was corrupt, nor did any other such thing occur; but a simple and incomprehensible journey, the mere presence of life and light to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, brought about the total eclipse and disappearance of both darkness and death. C Shall I add something else to what has been said? Evil sprouted in the serpent. The woman was deceived by the snares of the dragon. The man, after this, was defeated by the woman. In these three steps evil had its birth. Why do I focus on the memory of these? It is possible to perceive a certain order of the good through the order found in evil. I see these three receptacles of evil: first, that in which it first stood; second, that into which it flowed; third, that in which it afterwards resided. Since, therefore, wickedness overflowed in these three—namely, in the diabolical nature, in the female sex, and in the fullness of men—it was appropriate that the disease should be expelled in the space of three days, a day being allotted for the healing of each of the categories afflicted by the wickedness: in one day men are cleansed of the disease; in the second, the race of women is healed; and in the last, the final enemy, death, is brought to naught, D and around him the principalities, and powers, and forces of the opposing powers and their rulers are also wiped out. And do not marvel if the creation of the good is distributed over intervals of time. For at the first generation of the world, though the divine power was not weak such that it could not have perfected all things in an instant, it still associated intervals of time with the creation of beings, so that, at the first day, one part of them might be constituted, and on the second, another, and thus in succession the rest, until...
A all things were made perfect and absolute by that number of days which is written, as God brought all things to completion; so also here, by that plan of wisdom which cannot be explained by words, evil is cast out and excluded in three days from men, women, and the race of serpents, in whom the nature of vice first had its origin.
We have reflected thus upon the reason for the number of these three days: whether rightly or not, let it be for the judgment of our hearers. For we do not claim that our words possess a certain method of demonstration, but rather that we are exercising ourselves in inquiry. But if you wish to see clearly in fact the predetermined number of these days (for it lacks little, if you consider the time after the ninth hour of the Preparation, the hour at which the Lord committed His spirit into the hands of the Father), attend for a little while, and perhaps you will find what you seek. By what means, you will say? Consider the greatness of the divine power, and you will understand what you desire to know. Remember what the Lord pronounced concerning Himself, and you will recognize that it was His own power, so that by will, and not by the necessity of nature, He separates the soul from the body. "No one," He says, "takes my soul from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again." 30 With this established for us, that which was sought will become clearly evident.
For He who arranges all things according to His masterful authority C does not wait for the necessity looming from betrayal, nor the predatory rush of the Jews, nor the iniquitous sentence of Pilate, so that their malice might become the beginning and cause of the common salvation of men; but He anticipates that rush by His economy, according to an ineffable mode of priestly service, invisible to men, and He offered Himself as a host and victim for us, being at once the priest and the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. When did He perform this? When He evidently offered His own body as food for the disciples who were gathered, to show that the sacrifice of the Lamb was already complete. For the body of a sacrificial victim is not suitable for eating if it is still animate. Wherefore, when He offered the body to be eaten and the blood to be drunk to the disciples, the body had already been sacrificed in an arcane and invisible manner, as it had pleased the power of Him who performs the mystery. And the soul was with those in whom the power of the One arranging it had placed it, together with the divine virtue that was conjoined with it, moving in that region of the heart. Therefore, if anyone begins to measure the time from that point, when the sacrifice was made to God by that great Prince of priests, who, in a manner that could be explained neither by words nor perceived by the eyes, offered Himself as a lamb for the common salvation of men, he will not depart from the truth. For it was evening when they ate that sacred and holy body; and the night which preceded the Preparation followed that evening. Then the day of the Preparation, by the intervention
of the darkness of that night, is divided into two days and one night. A For if God called the darkness "night," and for three hours darkness happened over the whole earth, that space established in the middle of the day was night, which, by its own sections on either side, defined two days: one indeed from the sunrise until the sixth hour, and the other from the ninth hour until the evening. So that until this point, we have two nights and two days. Then, the night before the Sabbath, and after this the day of the Sabbath; you have the three nights. Seek out for me, then, the hour of the resurrection, and you will find the truth in the things spoken of. When, therefore, was this? "Late on the Sabbath," cries Matthew. This truly is the hour of the resurrection according to the voice of the angel. This is the boundary of the Lord's sojourn in the heart of the earth. B For as the evening was already deep—and the beginning of that night was the evening, which the day of the Sabbath succeeds—then the earthquake happens. Then the angel, radiant in his garments, rolls away the stone from the tomb. But the women, rising early when the light of the day was already appearing and the splendor of the rising sun could be seen, then go to see the resurrection, which had already happened; and they recognized the miracle, but they were not taught the hour. For the angel said to them that He was raised, but he did not add the "when" in his speech. But the great Matthew alone of all the evangelists marked the time with precision, saying the evening of the Sabbath was the hour of the Resurrection.
If these things are in such a state, the limit stands for us, C from the evening after the fifth [day] until the evening of the Sabbath, as the time is measured out, with the intercalated night, as has been said, dividing the Preparation into two days and one night. For it was fitting, under Him who reigns in the authority of his aeon, that the works should not be extended by necessity to the fixed measures of time; but that the measures of time should be innovated according to the need of existing things, and, the divine power accomplishing the work of good things more quickly, the measures of time should be fashioned to be shorter; so that the time might not be counted as less than three days and as many nights. Since the mystical and secret discourse requires this number, [and] the divine power [ought] not to be hindered in the speed of its action by waiting for the D accustomed intervals of days and nights. For He who had the authority both to lay down His soul and to take it up again when He wished, had the authority, as the maker of the aeons, not to be a slave to time through His works, but to make time according to His works. But the discourse has not yet touched upon the greatest of the heads. For it is likely that those who are more eager for learning [will] inquire how, in the same time, the Lord gives Himself in three places: to the heart of the earth, to paradise with the thief, and to the Father’s hands. For to the Pharisees indeed, just as...
A it is said, "As Jonas was in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth" for the three-day interval of time; to the thief, "Today you shall be with me in paradise"; and to the Father, "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." For one would not say that paradise is in the underworld, nor the underworld in paradise, so as to be in both places at the same time, or that these are called the Father's hands. But to those who consider these things piously, perhaps they do not even seem worthy of questioning. For He who is everywhere by divine power is present to all things and excluded by no place.
But I remember learning another reason for this, which, if it pleases you, I shall briefly explain. When the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, so that the new man might be born in her—who for this reason is called new, because he was created by God beyond human custom, so as to be a dwelling for God not made by hands; for the Most High does not dwell in things made by hands, that is, those constructed by the labor of men—then, while Wisdom was building herself a house, and the building had been established within as if by the impression of a seal by the overshadowing of the power, the divine power was mingled with both parts of which human nature consists (I mean soul and body), commingling itself equally with each. For it was necessary that, since both parts were subject to the punishment of death on account of sin (since the death of the soul is the separation from true life, and the death of the body is its corruption and dissolution), it was necessary, I say, that the communion of life should expel death from both parts.
Thus, with the divinity coupled to each part of man, evidence of the excellent nature appeared clearly in both. For the body, curing diseases by its touch, displayed the divinity; while the mind, by that powerful will, indicated the divine virtue. For just as the sense of touch is proper to the body, so the motion of the will is proper to the mind. The leper comes, already dissolved and wasted in his body. How is he cured by the Lord? The soul wills, the body B touches. In both ways the disease is expelled. For immediately, as it is written, the leprosy departed from him. Again, when so many thousands of people were sitting with Him in the wilderness, He did not wish to send them away fasting. Therefore, with His hands He broke the loaves.
You see how the divinity, conjoined to each part, is manifested through both, when the body acts and the soul wills? But it is not necessary that we recount all the marvelous things performed in the same way. For they are known to all. Wherefore, we shall return to that for the sake of which we are mentioning these things. The question is how the Lord was at the same time both in the underworld and in paradise. The one solution to this question is to say that there is nothing inaccessible or unapproachable to God, in whom all things consist. But C D
A Since God, by his union with the whole human nature, had transformed it into the divine nature, at the time of the economy of the Passion, he did not withdraw from either part of that which he had once assumed (for the gifts of God are without repentance); rather, the Divinity voluntarily separated the soul from the body, while showing that it remained in both. For through the body, in which it did not admit the corruption resulting from death, he overthrew him who had the power of death; and through the soul, he prepared for the thief the entrance into paradise. Both are brought about by him, with the Divinity accomplishing the good through both: through the incorruption of the body, the dissolution of death; and through the soul, which was hastening to its own abode, the return of men into paradise. B Since, therefore, the composition of man is twofold, while the nature of the Divinity is simple and uniform, at the time of the separation of the body from the soul, the indivisible is not divided along with the composite, but the reverse occurs. For by the unity of the divine nature, which is equally present in both, things that were separated again grow together into one another. And thus it happens: death comes from the division of things that were joined, and the resurrection from the union of things that were divided. But if you ask how, while being in paradise, he commends himself into the hands of the Father, the sublime Isaiah will explain to you the point in question. For he spoke in the person of God concerning the Jerusalem above, which we believe to be nothing other than paradise: "I have," he says, "described thy walls upon my hands." If, therefore, Jerusalem, which is paradise, has been described upon the hands of the Father, it is clear that he who is in paradise dwells entirely in the hands of the Father, in which the divine city has its description. And of these things, let this suffice.
On the keeping of the Passover and the utility of the unleavened bread.
But because the Jews vehemently accuse our custom with strong charges, it would be appropriate to add a few words to the argument. For they say in the discourse concerning the Passover that it was ordained for the Jews by Moses to observe the fourteenth day of the lunar cycle, and the eating of unleavened bread for seven days, and to use the herb of bitter greens as a side dish for the unleavened bread. D "If, therefore," says the Jew, "the observance of the fourteenth day is a concern for you, let the bitter greens and the unleavened bread be kept along with it." But if these things are worth ignoring, what is the point of being so diligent about the day? For it should not be said that what was ordained by the same lawgiver is to be approved in part as just and beneficial to the soul, while another part is deemed useless and to be rejected; so that it is necessary that either everything that was commanded regarding the Passover should be accomplished by us, or that we should observe none of it. What, then, shall we say to these things? Let us remember him who commanded us not to fear the reproach of men, nor to be overcome by their disparagement. For we know the soul-beneficial observance of the unleavened bread, and the profit of the bitter herbs, or
the usefulness of the fourteenth day. And this is the argument, which we shall examine in a few words: The law, having a shadow of good things to come, looks to one primary goal, so that through the diverse commandments man might be purified of the malice that has adhered to him. This is accomplished in circumcision, this in the Sabbath, this in the observance of foods, this in the diverse sacrifice of animals, this in all the ceremonies and institutions of the law. It would be a long task to recount in detail those things which the law prescribes enigmatically, signifying the purity of the soul. Just as, therefore, through circumcision, which is performed in the spirit, nature casts off its passions, cutting away the life of the flesh, and through the Sabbath we are taught B rest from sins, and the slaughter of animals teaches us to slaughter our disturbances and vices, and the prohibition of unclean foods warns us to withdraw from an impure and defiled life: so also this celebration points out to you that celebration for which the soul is prepared through unleavened bread, while it is commanded to abstain from leaven for seven days. The enigma of this is as follows: The number of seven days signifies this passing time of life, which revolves through weeks. In it, one must take care, through diligence, that no remnant of yesterday’s malice is preserved in the present day, lest the mixing of old wickedness produce any bitterness or sourness in today's dough. *Do not let the sun go down upon your anger*, says the Apostle, who commands us to celebrate the feast, *not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth*. And what we have learned concerning one kind of malice, we must consider to be said in like manner of the remaining kinds of malice. For bitterness banishes torpor and sloth from life, and in their place introduces a strong, hard, and C rough manner of living, since all discipline at first seems to bring not joy, but sorrow. Therefore, he who spends the week of his whole life unmixed with old malice, and cleansed of its leaven, using temperance in his diet as a seasoning, separates himself from every dark mixture. This is what the fourteenth day of the lunar course signifies. For since the entire course of the moon is completed in twenty-nine days and a half—in which space the moon, by increasing, completes its circle, and then, by decreasing, diminishes until it entirely fails of light—it is clear that the half of the aforementioned number is fourteen days and a little more. When, therefore, proceeding in its own course during the nightly interval, it has thus filled its orb with light, so that it joins its own brightness to the splendor of the day, it follows that it does not allow any darkness to be interposed either in the evening or in the morning, by which the continuous series of light might be interrupted, since in the elements there is a perpetual [light].
For before the solar ray has exactly set, the moon appears opposite the sun according to the diameter, and shines with its own light upon what lies beneath. And again, before its cycle has entirely crossed the horizon, the dawn of the day is mingled with the remnants of the lunar light. And thus, on that day of the full moon, darkness disappears, both at dawn and in the evening, being illuminated by the alternation of the heavenly bodies. A What therefore happens to the sensible light on the fourteenth day—that through the entire night and day there is no admixture of darkness—that the spiritual law wishes to be a symbol for those who celebrate spiritually, so that through the entire week of our life, we might celebrate one glorious Pascha, most remote from darkness, and pass the entire span of time in the light. For this is the arrangement and observance of celebrating the Pascha among Christians. For this reason we look to the fourteenth day, so that through this sensible and material light, we might understand the light which is separated from matter and grasped by the mind alone; and while we seem to be looking for the full moon, which provides for us a light that is continuous throughout the entire night, we must not think that we are prescribing any other law for ourselves by this act, except that all the time which night and day measure out, we should spend as illuminated and brilliant with virtues, and untainted or unpolluted by any dark deeds. And concerning these things, enough.
B But as for the thoughts contained in the cross, through which the mystery of the passion is perfected, who could easily explain them in words? For were there not countless ways leading to death, by which it was possible for the plan of the death for our sake to be fulfilled? Yet out of all, this one was chosen by Him who, with authority, determined for Himself the passion. For, He says, it is necessary that the Son of Man [must suffer]. He did not say, "The Son of Man will suffer such and such," as one might simply speak when predicting the future, but by the word "must" He declares that it is necessary and due according to a certain ineffable reason, in saying that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected and be crucified and on the third day be raised. C Understand for me the meaning of "must," by which it is discovered that the passion decreed could in no way come to pass other than through the cross. What then is the argument concerning this? It belongs only to the great Paul, he who was instructed by ineffable words, he who was initiated in the secret depths of paradise, to declare the mystery concerning this, just as he partially hinted at the hidden truth through his words to the Ephesians, saying: "That you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length, the depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." For not in vain did that divine eye of the Apostle [contemplate] the figure of the cross. D But on that matter...
A he showed clearly that anyone who has cast from his eyes the scales of ignorance perceives the truth itself clearly. For he knows that this figure, marked out by the four extensions from the junction in the center, signifies the power and providence of Him who was manifested therein, which passes through all things; and for this reason he calls each extension by its own name. For he calls that which turns from the center downward "depth," and that which rises upward "sublimity," while he calls those which extend transversely on either side "breadth" and "length"—so that one side from the middle is named "breadth," and the other is called "length." By these, he seems to me to clearly signify in his discourse that there is nothing in created things B which the divine nature does not keep safe—neither what is above the heavens, nor what is beneath the earth, nor what extends crosswise to the very extremities of all things on every side. For by "sublimity" he signifies what is above; by "depth," what is beneath the earth; and by "length" and "breadth," the extremities between these, which are held together by the power that sustains the whole universe.
Let the proof of these things be found in what occurs within your own soul concerning your conception of God. For look up to heaven and contemplate in your mind the deep regions below; extend your thought to the sides and to the edges of the structure of the universe, and consider what power it is that binds and contains all these things like a bond of the universe. You will see that, C of its own accord, the conception of the divine power is inscribed upon your mind and intellect in the figure of the cross, descending from the highest parts to the depths, and extending crosswise to the limits of the ends.
This figure did great David also celebrate in words concerning himself: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven" (this is the sublimity), "thou art there. If I descend into hell" (this is the depth), "thou art there. If I take my wings in the morning" (that is, at the rising of the sun; this is the breadth), "and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea" (for thus he names the west; this is the length). Do you see how he delineates the figure of the cross through these words? "Thou art," he says, "He who passes through all things, and the bond of things that come into being, holding all things D within Thyself, and grasping the ends. Thou art above, Thou art present below; in this extremity is Thy hand, and in the other Thy right hand guides."
For this reason, also, the great Apostle, when all things have been filled with faith and knowledge, says that He who is above all things is to be adored in the name of Jesus Christ, by those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth; by which words he divides the adoration of Christ according to the figure of the cross. For the celestial region offers the worship of adoration at the high part of the cross, the earthly in the middle parts, and the infernal pertains to the depth. This also is what that *iota* signifies in my opinion, if it is considered joined with the apex, which is more stable than heaven, firmer than the earth, and more certain than the full constitution of all things. For heaven and earth shall pass away,
and the fashion of this whole world A passeth away; but the iota from the Law, and the apex, do not pass away. The vertical line, descending from above to the depth, is called an iota; but that which is led transversely on the side is called the apex, as it is possible to learn this even from those who sail. For the timber that lies transversely on the mast, upon which they spread the sail, they call the apex, naming it from the shape. Therefore, it seems to me that the divine voice of the Gospel looks to this: for that is the thing in which all things have consisted, which is more eternal than the things contained in it, and which, by its own power that preserves all things, points out through a riddle and a sort of mirror the shape of the Cross. For this very reason He says that it is necessary for the Son of Man, not simply to die, but to be crucified, so that the Cross might become for those with sharper vision a theologian, proclaiming by its shape the omnipotent authority of Him who was shown upon it, and who is all in all.
Let us not pass over, brethren, even that honorable counselor, Joseph of Arimathea, who, having received the gift of that immaculate and holy body, wraps it in a clean shroud and lays it in a clean B tomb. Let the deed of that honorable counselor be a law to us, so that we also may likewise take counsel, so that when we receive that gift of the Body, we do not receive it in a shroud of conscience that is soiled, nor allow it to be deposited, smelling of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness, in the tomb of the heart; but, as the Apostle says, let each one test himself, so that the grace may not become a judgment to the one who receives it unworthily.
But as I speak, I feel myself struck by the bright garment of the angel, and that sweet earthquake, which rolled away the heavy stone of the human tomb, through which the door of the resurrection is opened to all, shakes my heart with joy. Let us also run to the sight of the wondrous spectacle; for the Sabbath is already past; let us not encounter it behind the women. Let there be also in our hands the spices of faith and conscience. For in these consists the good odor of Christ. Let us no longer seek the living among the dead. For the Lord rejects and keeps away the one who seeks Him in such C a manner, saying, "Touch me not; but when I shall ascend to the Father, then you may touch me." [That is, when you shall have believed in Him, no longer in the bodily and servile form, but in Him who is in the glory of the Father, who is in the form of God, and the Word of God, then you shall adore me, and not the simple form of a servant.]
Let us hear the good tidings which the woman brings to us, who, having preceded the man through faith—and having done this well, so that by setting out toward the good she might make apology for the cause of the evil—arrives. What, therefore, is the Gospel of the woman? Truly not from men, nor through men, but through Jesus Christ. "Hear," she says, "what the Lord has commanded me to report to you, whom He even names His brothers. I ascend," He says, "to my Father and your Father, and my God and my God D your God."
A O notable and good tidings! He who for our sake became man, though He is the Only-Begotten, in order to make us His brothers, brings Himself as man to the true Father, so that through Himself He might draw all His kindred with Him, so that it may no longer be cast in their teeth that they worshiped those who are not gods by nature. For since they have been recalled to worship the living and true God, they cannot be excluded as rejected and castaways from the paternal inheritance, because through adoption they have followed the true Son. Having made Himself, among many brothers, the firstborn of creation through the flesh, He drew to Himself the whole of human nature, of which He wished to be a partaker, by the bond of the flesh He assumed. But since the unleavened bread before the Passover has bitter herbs for a side-dish, let us see with what sweetness the bread after the resurrection is sweetened. Do you see in the hands of the Lord, as Peter is fishing, bread and a honeycomb? Consider from this into what the bitterness of life is changed. Wherefore, let us also hasten from the fishing of the words of God to that heavenly bread, which the honeycomb of hope makes sweet in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
ORATION II
On the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the evangelists are in no way contrary to one another, though they have recorded in different ways the things that happened at the resurrection of Emmanuel.
C Although almost all of you, beloved, approve of the reading from the holy Gospels concerning the resurrection of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, which was introduced by us suitably and appropriately on the night of the Lord's Day, some, however, do not deny that they have felt some benefit, but say they are troubled because they think that they have sometimes been taught more obscurely and cryptically, since the evangelists do not say the same things about the same event, but rather contrary things, which lead the listener more into disbelief. For whom should one believe? Matthew, who writes that the resurrection happened in the evening of the Sabbath? Or John, who has recorded that this same thing happened in the morning, while it was still dark? Or Luke and Mark, of whom the latter named the rising of the sun, and the former the deep dawn, as the same moment of time in which these things happened? Therefore, for the solution of the proposed doubt, and of other questions arising from the examination of these words, it is necessary to be awakened by God, who rose again, even though we are weak, and to provide a clear interpretation. For it is just that He who sowed the seed of the reading, and spread it in the ears of all, should also render an account of the questions that have arisen from it. This, indeed, I shall strive to do, and to bring the solution from the very things that those who doubted have said. For the holy writers of the Gospels did not say that the Lord rose either in the evening of the Sabbath, or when the greater part of the night had passed, or again at dawn, or after the emergence of the sun's ray; for in that case there would be a contradiction, if the one event was not recorded by the writers as having happened in one...
A place, but rather in different times. But they wrote that the women came to the tomb at different times, and not at the same moment; for how could those who came at different times all have heard alike from the angels concerning the Savior, that "He has risen, He is not here," without the time being added? As if, on that divine night, it happened by common consent and agreement; but since no one marked the hour, it was unknown to all, except to the God who rose, and to the Father who alone knows the Son as He Himself is known by the Father—and [except] to the Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of God. For Matthew said that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came B late on the Sabbath to see the tomb; and that there was a great earthquake; and that an angel had descended from heaven, his appearance like lightning, and his garment like snow, so that by his terrible aspect he might strike the guards with fear (who, unable to bear the sight, nearly perished, becoming as dead men from terror), while by his radiant appearance he might invite the women, and impart confidence to those who were timid and fearful by nature, and might joyfully announce the resurrection through that very form. For he had been sent for these reasons as well. For having rolled aside the stone, he found that the Lord had risen, leaving the tomb closed and protected by seals, and guarded C by a military watch, departing in a manner befitting God, just as He later entered to the disciples when the doors were shut. Therefore he also said: "He is not here, but He has risen"; the angel indicating that the resurrection of the Savior had already occurred in a marvelous way before his own arrival, which He had accomplished as God by His own power, fulfilling the economy without needing angelic assistance. For if this were not so, he would have said, "Behold, He is rising," indicating that it was happening at that moment; but since it had preceded, he used the past tense and said: "He is not here, but He has risen."
And from this it is also shown clearly that the apostles, when preaching the Gospel, said that Christ was raised D by the Father because of the weakness of those hearing, thus making the message acceptable and easy to receive. But the angel, breaking forth with the voice announcing the resurrection, revealing the naked and most God-befitting authority of the One who had risen, cried out: "He is not here, but He has risen." And the fact that it is said He was raised by the Father manages, as I said, the weakness of the hearers; but it contains the same meaning, and not a different one. For in whom does the Father work? In His own power, evidently. And what is the power of the Father? No one other than Christ; for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Therefore the Savior raised Himself, even if He is said to have been raised by the Father. And the phrase "late on the Sabbath" does not signify the evening that follows the setting of the sun; for neither in the singular...
did he say "late on the Sabbath," but in the plural, "late on the Sabbaths." The Hebrews are accustomed to calling the whole week "Sabbaths"; for, not to go too far, the Evangelists say "the first of the Sabbaths," when they should have said "on the first day of the week." A Indeed, we also use this in common custom, calling the second and third days of the week the "second of the Sabbaths" and the "third of the Sabbaths." Therefore, he did not say "late on the Sabbath" or "in the evening of the Sabbath," to signify the evening of that day, but "late on the Sabbaths," so that he might signify a later time, and one that is long past.
For sometimes we also are accustomed to say this, as for instance: "You have arrived late in time," or "late in the hour," or "late as to the need"—not signifying the evening or the time that is after the setting of the sun, but signifying that something happened later, or after the need, or late in the time that usage and necessity had demanded. B And just as in common parlance, "late in time" and "late in the hour" and "late in the need" denote that a thing has occurred later than necessary, so too "late on the Sabbaths" signifies a time long and far removed from the completed week. Each week is completed at the setting of the sun following the Sabbath. Furthermore, Matthew, wishing to signify the point in time that is far removed from the end of the completed week, and as it were interpreting himself, added, "which is dawning toward the first of the Sabbaths." The night, he says, had passed to such a degree that it was the time of the cock-crowing, which song precedes the light of the coming day. Therefore, at this very C point in time, and not in the evening after the Sabbath, do we finish our fasts and begin to delight and rejoice, a custom which has prevailed among all confirming this matter.
Since, then, this was the point in time, Mary Magdalene and the other woman of the same name came to the tomb, and they saw the angel who had descended from heaven, as has been said, who, having rolled back the stone, was sitting upon it; and invited by him, they saw the place where the Lord had been laid. And having been commanded to run and deliver the instructions they had received to the disciples, they went out quickly from the tomb and ran; and as they were running, Jesus met them and called out to them, saying, "Hail!" D For it was fitting that the female sex should first receive the good news of the resurrection from the angel, and see the Lord, and hear the first voice from Him, "Hail." Because a woman also was the first to hear the deception of the serpent, and saw the fruit of the forbidden tree contrary to the commandment, and was condemned to the penalty of sorrow and pain. For this reason, also, the Savior allowed them to worship Him and to take hold of His feet and handle them, as they were the first to fall away and be alienated from Him; and He commanded them to announce the joy to the disciples, wishing that the woman, who had been a minister of sorrow to Adam, should be a messenger of joy to men, healing contrary things by contrary means. But as they were going, he says, to announce it to the disciples, behold, some of the guard came
ἐλθόν τες εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἀπήγγειλαν τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσιν A ἅπαντα τὰ γενόμενα. Καὶ συναχθέντες μετὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων, συμβούλιόν τε λαβόντες, ἀργύρια ἱκανὰ ἔδωκαν τοῖς στρατιώταις λέγοντες· Εἴπατε ὅτι οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ νυκτὸς ἐλθόντες ἔκλεψαν αὐτὸν ἡμῶν κοιμωμένων, καὶ ἐὰν ἀκουσθῇ τοῦτο ἐπὶ τοῦ ἡγεμόνος, ἡμεῖς πείσομεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ὑμᾶς ἀμερίμνους ποιήσομεν· οἱ δὲ λαβόντες τὰ ἀργύρια, ἐποίησαν ὡς ἐδιδάχθησαν, καὶ διεφημίσθη ὁ λόγος οὗτος παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις μέχρι τῆς σήμερον.
ΕΝ Τῌ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΕΙ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ Β
Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἄλλη Μαρία (ταύτην δὲ εἶναι τὴν Θεοτόκον πιστεύειν ἀκόλουθον, ὅτι μηδὲ ἀπελείφθη τοῦ πάθους, ἀλλ᾽ ἵστατο παρὰ τῷ σταυρῷ, ὡς Ἰωάννης ἱστόρησεν, ᾗ καὶ ἔπρεπε τὰ τῆς χαρᾶς εὐαγγελίσασθαι, ῥίζῃ τῆς χαρᾶς οὔσῃ, καὶ καλῶς ἀκουσάσῃ τὸ, Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ), τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ Κυρίου πληροῦσα, τοῖς μαθηταῖς πάντως ἀπήγγειλεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν θέμις μὴ πληρωθῆναι τὸ οὕτω σοφῶς οἰκονομηθέν τε καὶ προσταχθὲν, εἰ καὶ ἠπίστησαν οἱ ἀκούσαντες. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἔπεται τοῦτο πολλάκις τῇ τῶν ἀπαγγελλομένων θαυμάτων ὑπερβολῇ. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀργοὶ διέμειναν, εἰ ἐπίστευσαν.
Ἡ δὲ Μαγδαληνὴ συμπορευομένη τῇ Θεοτόκῳ, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν ὁμοίως ἐπειγομένη, πέπονθέ τι καὶ ἀνθρώπινον· καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Πέτρος ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου συλληφθείς, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου τῶν ἁλύσεων λυθεὶς αὐτομάτως, καὶ τῆς φυλακῆς ἔξω γενόμενος, καὶ ἐπιπολὺ βαδίσας, ὡς καὶ τὴν τῆς πόλεως πύλην διελθεῖν, ἀληθὲς οὐκ ᾤετο τὸ γινόμενον, ἀλλ' ἐνόμιζεν ὅραμα βλέπειν· οὕτω καὶ αὕτη τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ θαύματος οἱονεὶ ἄκαιρόν τινα λογισαμένη, καὶ ἅμα τῶν φυλάκων ἐπιφθασάντων, καὶ ἀρξαμένων μετὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων τὴν συκοφαντίαν ὑφαίνειν κατὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως· αἰσθομένη πάντως τοιούτου τινὸς ἐπιψιθυριζομένου, τοὺς τῆς ἀμφιβολίας παρεδέξατο λογισμούς, καὶ τῆς ἀπαγγελίας ὀλιγωρήσας, καὶ τοῦ σωτηρίου προστάγματος, πρὸς τὸν τάφον ἐχώρει πρωὶ, σκοτίας ὅτι οὔσης, ὡς Ἰωάννης φησίν. C Ὥσπερ γὰρ συνεχώρησεν ὁ Κύριος τὸν Θωμᾶν ἐξ ἀπιστίας εἰπεῖν, Ἐὰν μὴ ἴδω ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὸν δάκτυλόν μου εἰς τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὴν χεῖρά μου εἰς τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω· καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου πολυπράγμονος ἀπιστίας καὶ ἐπαφῆς, ἡμεῖς εἰς τὴν πίστιν ἐβεβαιώθημεν, ἐν ᾧ σώματι πέπονθεν, ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐγηγέρθαι πιστεύσαντες τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ, τοὺς τῆς δοκήσεως μύθους ἀποπεμψάμενοι· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τὴν Μαγδαληνὴν Μαρίαν πρὸς ἀπιστίας ὑπονοστήσασαν, καὶ μεγαλευχερῶς τοῦτο παθοῦσαν (οὐκ ἄδηλον γὰρ τὸ τῆς γυναικείας εὐόλισθον φύσεως), συνεχώρει διὰ τῆς περιέργου ζητήσεως, πιστότερον ἐργάσασθαι τὸ θαῦμα τῆς ἀναστάσεως, πίστεως ὑπάρχον πέρα καὶ παντὸς λογισμοῦ. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τῆς ἀμφιβόλου διανοίας ἐλθοῦσα, καὶ ἰδοῦσα μόνον τὸν λίθον ἀποκυλισθέντα
ἀποκυλισθέντα A τῆς θύρας τοῦ μνήματος, οὐ μὴν ἄγγελον ἐπ' αὐτῷ καθάπερ ἤδη καθήμενον, δέδωκε τῇ ἀπιστείᾳ τὸ κρατεῖν, φαντασίαν οἰηθεῖσα τὴν θέαν καὶ ἔκστασιν, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἀληθῆ, ἀλλ' ὡς ψευδῆ· καὶ δραμοῦσα πρὸς τὸν Πέτρον καὶ τὸν ἄλλον μαθητήν, ὃν ἐφίλει Ἰησοῦς, ἐβόα λέγουσα· Ἦραν τὸν Κύριον ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου, καὶ οὐκ οἶδα ποῦ ἔθηκαν αὐτόν.
B Ὁρᾶς ὡς ἐκ τῶν λογοποιηθέντων νύκτωρ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις μετὰ τὴν τῶν φυλάκων παραγγελίαν περιηχηθεῖσά τι τοιοῦτον, παρηνέχθη τὸν λογισμόν· καὶ ᾠήθη τοὺς ἐναντίους κλέψαι τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἵνα τὴν κλοπὴν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐπιφημίσωσι. Πλὴν ὁ Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἑτοίμως διανέστησαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον ἔδραμον. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν παράδοξον τὸ λεγόμενον, ἵν᾿ ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀπιστήσωσι· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πιστὸν καὶ οὐκ ἀπᾷδον τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς κακουργίας. Ἀφόβως δὲ τοῦτο ἐποίουν, καὶ ἡσυχίας ὑπαρχούσης καὶ ἔτι σκότους ὄντος, καὶ πρὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ θαῤῥεῖν λαβόντες. Ἀλλὰ ἐλθόντες εὗρον ἐναργῆ τὰ σημεῖα τῆς ἀναστάσεως. Ὁρῶσι γὰρ ἐν τῷ μνήματι τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα· τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐγένετο, κλαπέντος τοῦ σώματος. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τοῖς κλέπταις φίλον τὸ λωποδυτεῖν· ἔπειτα δὲ, τὸ ταχέως ἐνεργεῖν ἄγαν τὴν κλοπήν, ἵνα μὴ φωραθῶσι καὶ τὰ πάνδεινα πάθωσι. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ γέγραφεν ὁ Ἰωάννης ὧδέ πως· Ἔδησαν αὐτὸ ἐν ὀθονίοις μετὰ τῶν ἀρωμάτων, καθὼς ἔθος ἦν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐνταφιάζειν. C Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἐργῶδες τοῖς κλέπτουσι τὸ λύειν τοὺς δεσμούς, καὶ τὸ σῶμα τῶν ὀθονίων ἀπογυμνοῦν, προσκεκολλημένων καὶ δυσαποσπάστως ἐχόντων, καὶ πρὶν ἀπαμφιασθῆναι ρηγνυμένων; Μίγματι γὰρ ἁλόης καὶ σμύρνης συνεπλέκησαν, ὅπερ ἐκόμισε Νικόδημος. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σουδάριον, ὃ ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, οὐ μετὰ τῶν ὀθονίων κείμενον, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς ἐντετυλιγμένον εἰς ἕνα τόπον, οὐδένα θόρυβον ὡς ἐπὶ κλεπτῶν ἐδήλου λαβόντων τὸ σῶμα. Ποῦ γὰρ σχολὴν εἶχον οἱ κλέπται καὶ τοιαύτην ἄδειαν, ὡς καὶ τὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς κάλυμμα κατὰ τάξιν εἱλεῖν καὶ τιθέναι χωρίς; Ὥστε καὶ τοῦτο συνίστησι σαφῶς τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἅμα δὲ καὶ μυστήριον παρεδήλου θεοπρεπές, ὡς ἡ κεφαλὴ τῆς θεότητος τάξιν ἐπέχουσα (κατὰ D τὸν «Η κεφαλὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁ Θεός»), καὶ οἱ περὶ αὐτῆς λόγοι μένουσι καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν οἷον ἐνειλημμένοι καὶ ἀδιάλυτοι· κἂν τὰ κάτω τὰ περὶ τὴν ἔνσαρκον οἰκονομίαν, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς μετὰ ἀνθρώπων ἀναστροφήν (ὧν τύπος ἦν τὰ ὀθόνια), κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν διαλέλυταί τε καὶ ἐψηλάφηται. Καὶ ταῦτα ἰδόντες οἱ περὶ τὸν Πέτρον ἐπίστευσαν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κρείττονι νῷ καὶ ἀποστολικῷ θεασάμενοι. Πλήρης γὰρ ἦν ὁ τάφος φωτός, ὥστε καὶ νυκτὸς οὔσης ἔτι, διπλῶς θεάσασθαι τὰ ἔνδον, καὶ αἰσθητῶς καὶ πνευματικῶς. Εἰ γὰρ φῶς δικαίοις, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, διὰ παντὸς, πολλῷ μᾶλλον
A τῷ τῶν δικαίων Θεῷ. Οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν δέ, φησίν, ἐπεὶ μηδέπω ᾔδεισαν τὴν Γραφὴν, ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῆναι. Καὶ μὴν ᾔδεισαν τοῦ Σωτῆρος αὐτοῖς πολλάκις προειρηκότος, ὡς ἀναστήσεται· ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὡς ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς πεπεισμένοι καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν φερομένων χρησμῶν (οὓς μὴ ἐκβῆναι τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἦν), ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐκλάζοντες.
Παρίστησι δὲ τὸ γυμνὸν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀναστῆναι, τῶν ὀθονίων χωρὶς, τὸ μηδαμῶς αὐτὸν ἔτι κατὰ B σάρκα γνωσθήσεσθαι τροφῆς ἢ ποτοῦ δεηθησόμενον, ἢ ἐνδυμάτων περιβολῆς. Εἰ καὶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν πληρῶν, τούτοις ἑκὼν ὑπέθηκεν ἑαυτὸν, ὡς τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως κοινωνήσας ἡμῖν, ἔπειτα δὲ δηλοῖ καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀποκατάστασιν, ὅτε γυμνὸς ἦν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ καὶ οὐκ ᾐσχύνετο. Λοιπὸν γὰρ ὡς Θεὸς, εἰ καὶ σεσαρκωμένος, δόξῃ τῇ θεοπρεπεστάτῃ περιεβέβλητο, αὐτὸς ὢν ὁ ἀναβαλλόμενος φῶς ὡς ἱμάτιον, ᾗ φησιν ὁ προφήτης Δαβίδ. Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης πιστωθέντες ἐκ τῶν τεθεαμένων, ἀνεχώρουν οἴκαδε· τῇ Μαρίᾳ δὲ εἶπον οὐδέν. Ὠκονόμει γὰρ ὁ μόνος σοφός, ὡς ἀπιστοῦσαν ἐκ θέας αὐτὴν προσάγεσθαι μᾶλλον, ἢ ἀκοῆς. C Εἱστήκει τοίνυν πρὸς τῷ μνήματι ἔξω κλαίουσα, καὶ παρακύψασα εἶδεν ἀγγέλους δύο λευκοὺς καὶ φαιδροὺς τῇ στολῇ, καθεζομένους ἕνα πρὸς τῇ κεφαλῇ, καὶ ἕνα πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶν, ὅπου ἔκειτο τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ· καὶ δέον τὸν ὀδυρμὸν εἰς εὐφροσύνην μεταβαλεῖν, τῶν δακρύων οὐκ ἔληγεν, ὥστε τοὺς ἀγγέλους οἱονεὶ μετ᾿ ἐπιτιμήσεως εἰπεῖν· Γύναι, τί κλαίεις; ὡσανεὶ ἔλεγον· Γυναικεία ταῦτα τὰ δάκρυα, οὐκ εὔφρονος νοῦ. Ποῦ γὰρ χώραν ἔχει τὸ μετὰ τοιαύτην θέαν ὀδύρεσθαι; Κἀκείνη τῆς αὐτῆς ἀπιστίας ἐχομένη (παρετείνετο γὰρ τὸ πάθος, ἵνα τοῖς κατὰ μικρὸν προτιθεμένοις εἰς πίστιν τελείως ἐκκαθαρθείη), πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἶπεν ὅτι Ἦραν τὸν Κύριόν μου ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου, καὶ οὐκ οἶδα ποῦ ἔθηκαν αὐτόν. D Καὶ ταῦτα εἰποῦσα ἐστράφη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, καὶ θεωρεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἑστῶτα, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδει ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστι· τοῦτο μὲν ἐκ τῶν δακρύων ἐπισκοτουμένη, καὶ οἷον ἀχλύν βεβαρημένη, τοῦτο δὲ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ οἰκονομοῦντος τὸ μὴ γνωσθῆναι αὐτῇ· διὸ καὶ εἶπε· Γύναι, τί κλαίεις; Τίνα ζητεῖς; Ἐκείνη δοκοῦσα ὅτι ὁ κηπουρός ἐστι, λέγει αὐτῷ· Κύριε, εἰ σὺ ἐβάστασας αὐτὸν, εἰπέ μοι ποῦ ἔθηκας αὐτὸν, κἀγὼ αὐτὸν ἀρῶ. Τάχα δὲ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ πρέποντος κηπουρὸν ὑπέλαβεν εἶναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ἦν αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ παραδείσου γεωργὸς ἀληθὴς καὶ ἀθάνατος, ἐν τῷ τοῦ μνήματος κήπῳ καθάπερ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τὴν γυναῖκα, τὴν ἐξ ἀπιστίας τὸν Ἀδὰμ τὸν πρῶτον κηπουρὸν ἀπατήσασαν, διορθούμενος. Οὕτως οὖν ἅπαντα μυστηριώδη, καὶ λόγων ἔμπλεα θειοτέρων καὶ ὑψηλῶν.
ὑψηλῶν. A But when Mary had said these things, and was still lingering in anxiety about the search for the body, and had turned away more resolutely, so as to even depart, He who penetrates even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and who knows how to judge the thoughts and movements of the heart, perceiving her to be sufficiently terrified and distraught, cut off her unbelief with a single word and sharpened the woman’s gaze for recognition, saying only, as He alone knew, with a tone that stirred reverence: "Mariam." And she, having turned instantly, addressed Him, "Rabboni," which is to say, "Master," and she sought to take hold of those divine feet, and heard: "Do not touch me. For as yet I have not ascended to my Father." This, He says, "is a gift you have already obtained, for you have already touched me along with the other Mary, and have worshipped, and held my feet, yet you despised it so much that you did not even believe, and conceived nothing great about me in your mind, but were still seeking at the monument Him who was divinely above with the Father. And now, do not touch me if, with that same state of mind, you think that the ascension to the Father is still lacking for me. For I have not yet, as you think, ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, and your Father, and B my God, and your God." Since I have become, He says, by flesh the first-born among many brothers, not for myself now, but for you who are my brothers, I shall corporally ascend to my Father, and your Father, and my God, and your God. For unless He had been called my God, having seen in me the innocence of human nature—inasmuch as, just as in the beginning of the race, I knew no sin—as in the first-fruits of the race, He would not have been called your Father, or the God of those who had been alienated from Him. Wherefore also Paul, writing to the Hebrews, said: "For Christ has not entered into holy places made by hands, which are copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, that He might now appear in the presence of God for us." Mary Magdalene then comes and announces to the disciples that she has seen the Lord, and that He had said these things to her. C And having arrived and announced it, she again finds Mary of James, and Joanna, and certain others with them, hastening to the tomb with the preparation of spices and ointments, as the darkness had receded and it was deep dawn (that is, accurately, even just beginning), as Luke says; and having joined herself with them, she went along, and because of the burning desire for Jesus, she seemed to be their leader, and is numbered first among the evangelists because of the prominence gained from this event. For she desired that they also should have faith in the resurrection, not from what they had heard from her and the other Mary, but from those things which they themselves might see, or from the presence of angels; and she was with them, prudently keeping silent and saying nothing while they made their way, but waiting for the event that Mary expected, and believing that to them too, with their own eyes, some information would be given. And indeed, the stone having been rolled away...
A they entered, and not finding the body of Jesus, and being perplexed, they see two men standing by them in garments flashing like lightning; and they heard from them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen,” and the rest. And returning, he says, from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. But as they were a confused crowd, they rather leaned toward incredulity, and they mocked the report and rejected it. For their words seemed like nonsense, and they did not believe them, so that Peter, even himself, somewhat disturbed and shaken by their unbelief, arose, and running again to the tomb, B and looking in, and again seeing the linen cloths lying—which he had already entered and examined more accurately, and so, being content with only looking in, and seeing nothing different, he went away, wondering and amazed at what had happened, and glorifying Him who had ordained and administered these things. And again, Mary Magdalene, just as she had gone with those about Joanna, in the deep dawn, bearing the ointments and spices which they had prepared before the Sabbath, in the same way also with Salome, a woman foreign to the others who were named, though late, having bought spices, yet after the Sabbath, she ran diligently with the same intention, having taken with her also Mary of James, so that they might seem to have been partners even in the purchase of the spices. For as they were companions on the journey, they considered the whole affair C to be a common endeavor: “And very early on the first day of the week they come to the tomb.” It is contained in the more accurate copies, indicating that in addition to the visits that had already taken place, this arrival of the women at the tomb also occurred. Now, explaining “very early,” Mark added, “when the sun had risen.” And they were saying, he says, among themselves: “Who will roll the stone away for us from the door of the tomb?” And looking up, they see that the stone has been rolled away. For it was very great. For since Salome was justly perplexed, as one who had not approached the tomb at all, and was saying this to those walking with her, they—keeping silence in the way mentioned above, and lifting their eyes D—made the answer with their gaze; for indeed, the stone appeared rolled away before their eyes. But because they were going together and the journey to them was a common one, it is written that they had said and questioned among themselves, if we consider the nature of things and the truth of history, and discern to whom it belonged to be perplexed. For it was not probable that those who had already seen the stone rolled away many times should be concerned about this. But since, among these women in Mark, the person of Salome, who ignores it, is introduced, the argument possesses its probability incontestably. Since it is not consistent for those others to say, “Who will roll away, very early,
the stone,” A seeing that the Jews had sealed the entrance to the tomb, and had set a guard of soldiers, and the third day was upon them. For those wretches said to Pilate, “We remembered that that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I shall rise.’” If, therefore, the women had known of the miracle that had occurred through the angel, and of the moving of the stone, and of the death-like stupor and departure of the guards from fear, how would they have been anxious about the rolling away of the stone? But if they were ignorant of the miracle, they ought to have considered the military guard and not have imagined the opening of the monument. But, as I said, Salome was ignorant of this too, and those words were hers alone. B For Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, having sat opposite the tomb, as Matthew has recorded, and having attended with great zeal and industry, had observed with their own eyes both the seals of the Jews and the guard of the soldiers. And having entered, Salome, with both Marys, saw a young man sitting on the right, clothed in a white robe, and they were all struck with fear: she, indeed, because she stood in need of faith and was affected in a more human way; but the others, because they had frequented the monument often, and henceforth seemed to pry more than was necessary or required into the resurrection. C For this reason also a youth appeared, who was able to terrify and strike them with fear by his stature, and mixing liveliness and joy with terror through the whiteness of his robe—both on account of the festival, and so that they should not be frozen by fear—he addresses them more sharply, chastising them with words and admonishing them not to be inquisitive after so many sights, but rather to remain firm in what they had seen: “Go, therefore,” he says, “tell his disciples and Peter (the disciples, inasmuch as they had often disbelieved; Peter, as one who had come a second time to the tomb with your same curiosity), that he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as he said to you.” To you women, he appeared late on the Sabbath, as the day was dawning into the first of the Sabbaths, as Matthew wrote. D For nowhere does it appear that he said to the disciples that he would appear to them in Galilee after the resurrection, unless perhaps one says that which Matthew and Mark wrote: that after the mystical supper, when they had gone out to the Mount of Olives after singing a hymn, it was said by the Savior in some way like this: “But after I have risen, I will go before you into Galilee.”
Having gone out of the tomb, the Marys and Salome, seized with trembling and astonishment, became fugitives, and said nothing to anyone. For they were afraid, partly because of the terror of the youth, and partly because the day had already progressed, and the Jews, as is likely, were wandering up and down, ready to kill. In the more accurate copies, the [text] after Mark
"For they were afraid," has its end. In some, however, these things are added: A *But when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.* This seems to contain a certain contradiction to what we have said before. For, the hour of the night being unknown at which the Savior rose, how is it written here that he rose "early"? But the text will not appear contradictory at all, if we read it with understanding. For one must punctuate it sagely: "But when he had risen," and then add accordingly: "early on the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene," so that the word "having risen" may have, in harmony with Matthew, reference to the preceding time; while the word "early" should be assigned to the apparition that happened to Mary, B who had seen the Lord first together with the other Mary, and again by herself—for "early" is the whole interval that exists after the crowing of the cock.
Since, therefore, there are four times and as many arrivals by which the women came to the tomb, the Holy Spirit arranged and ordained the matter in such a way that each evangelist should record a single point in time. And Matthew indeed recorded those who came to the tomb in the evening of the Sabbath, and one angel having descended from heaven and rolled away the stone; but John recorded that Mary Magdalene came alone in the darkness before dawn, and saw two angels inside the tomb; C Luke, others at that very time, at early dawn; and Mark, yet another as the sun was rising, with some joined in who had already arrived before. And to the former, two men stood by them; but to the latter, they saw a young man sitting on the right, and all were clothed in white robes. So that one can, by assembling what has been written by each according to the order of the times, create one harmony and one body of the whole history, just as if one person had written the whole account and not many. For if all four had mentioned one arrival of the women that had happened at one moment of time, and had said that the same angels appeared, or if they had all said that there was one and the same appearance—that is, a vision—D and claimed that it had happened at different times, not mentioning each one’s own time, the account would have been open to the reproach of disagreement. But if both the persons and the times were different, and the countenances of those who appeared were not the same (God having willed to confirm the incredible miracle of the resurrection through many ways), and one evangelist pursued the history of what another had omitted, how is it not the case that the whole narrative is pure and free from every reproach?
Since, moreover, mention of many Marys is made in the Gospels, one must understand that there are three in all...
A we ought, as John has summarized them, saying: *There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene* (John xix, 25). For we believe that Mary, who is called by the other evangelists the mother of James and Joses, is the Theotokos and no other. For since it was so ordered and destined, that the divine birth should be overshadowed, and that it should not be revealed to the bloodthirsty Jews that, at the very time she was to be led to the marriage bed, the Virgin had conceived of the Holy Spirit—just as it is written in the Scriptures, B or rather, just as Joseph was called her husband and the father of Jesus—in the same way was the Theotokos called and named the mother of Joses and James, who were children of the carpenter Joseph from a prior marriage and were still of a tender age when his wife had died. It was for this reason that the Jews, slandering the Savior, said: *Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?* (Matt. xiii, 55). And therefore John, as one who was writing the divine history freely, called her who stood by the cross what she was in reality: the mother of Jesus. But the rest of the evangelists, who labored much over the dispensation, with a set purpose called her the mother of James and Joses (for these were the first and well-known sons of Joseph), Scripture clearly signifying by this that, C due to this dispensation and plan, and the opinion conceived from it, Mary attended the saving passion without danger. For if the crowd had known her to be a virgin, she would perhaps have been destroyed by the envious Jews. You will also find that she is called by the evangelists the mother of only one of the sons of Joseph, namely Mary of James and Mary of Joses. But Mark called her the mother of James the Less and of Joses, because there was another James, the son of Alphaeus, who was therefore "great" because he was numbered among the twelve apostles; for the "less" was not among their number.
But someone might perhaps not unreasonably doubt concerning this: how did the Savior, who promised to the disciples, partly through angels and partly by his own voice, that he would go before them into Galilee and appear to them, D appear to fulfill the promise in Jerusalem as well? For according to Luke, he appeared on the very day of the resurrection to the eleven gathered together; but as John writes, he grants an apparition both on that day and on the eighth day, standing in their midst and saying, *Peace be unto you*, and even offering himself to be touched by Thomas. Yet this shows the riches of his generosity and humanity; it does not contain the charge of falsehood. For he did not say, "They will see me only in Galilee," nor, having appeared in Jerusalem, did he fail to appear in Galilee as he had promised (for this would be to make his own words false by lying); but if even in Jerusalem, being shut inside [a room]
a house because of fear of the Jews, he appeared to those who were in need of his presence, and fulfilled his promise by appearing in Galilee, he can escape all accusation, both occurring benignly and at the same time truly.
Now it seems to me that the statement made by Matthew regarding the disciples, namely, "That they should go into Galilee, and there they shall see me," contains a great and hidden significance. For since there were to be many appearances to them, the words of the promise looked toward one as being special and superior to the others—that according to which he was about to appear to them on the mountain. For then, when they had approached him and worshiped him, though some doubted, he said with authority worthy of God, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." For those things which he possessed naturally as God, he is said to receive as having become man, in accordance with the dispensation. Therefore he also said, "Glorify me, O Father, with thyself with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." For if he did not possess it as his own, as God, it would have been impossible for him to receive it as something foreign, since God and the Father says through the prophet, "My glory I will not give to another." B And afterwards he adds the words by which they were to ensnare, as it were, the whole inhabited world, and in which consists the entire mystery of piety. "Go," he says, "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to keep all things whatsoever I have commanded you." And he adds then the things which guarantee the end and the outcome of these words: "And behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
For these reasons he said, "Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me." Toward this vision, as being something proper and special, as I said, he was aiming, and for more than that, he foretold it through other words which are not contained in the evangelical writings. For if this were not so, Matthew would not have said, "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them," since nowhere in the Gospels is the Lord promised to make the manifestation upon a mountain. For before this manifestation which happened on the mountain, he appeared to them also at the sea of Tiberias, which is in Galilee, C being seven in number—to Peter, and Thomas, and Nathanael, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of the disciples, as John recorded. But the word, "There they shall see me," looked toward the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, commanding and enjoining in an address full of divine majesty: "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
And indeed, it does not seem to me to be without purpose that these words were spoken on the mountain of Galilee and not elsewhere. For Galilee is interpreted in the Greek tongue as "rolling." Therefore also "Gelgel" is called a wheel. Just as, therefore, from a high mountain D
A exactly as these words were uttered by the mouth of the Savior, they rolled out to the inhabited world like a wheel and ran through everything; and all were baptized, both nations and cities, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
But having heard these words, the disciples did not immediately set out for any nation, but remained in Jerusalem until Pentecost, awaiting the advent and presence of the Holy Spirit, who came upon them in tongues of fire. For as He appeared to them and gathered them together in various ways for forty days, as Luke says in the beginning of the book of Acts, He commanded and enjoined them, saying, "Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." And the expression "not to be separated" is very beautiful, meaning not to stand far off nor to be at a distance, yet He did not say they were not to leave Jerusalem at all. For how could He have said this, who had commanded them to go into Galilee? As for that which is said at the end of the Gospel of Luke: "And it happened, while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven." B Likewise, also that which is written in Mark: "So then the Lord, after He had spoken to them, was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God." This must be understood as having taken place on the fortieth day, according to what is recorded in the Acts. For the things that they spoke briefly and concisely in the Gospels are explained and clarified with a wider narrative. These are the things contained in the Gospel readings of the Lord’s night, which could trouble one who is ignorant, and which we have paid to you as a debt. But what you are going to do after hearing these things—I blush to say, when I consider the rush to the spectacles and the frenzy of the multitude. But may the Lord provide us with the strength to turn away from evil and to do good, by the grace and loving-kindness of the Lord and God and Savior of us, Jesus Christ: to whom be glory and dominion with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ORATION III
C *On the holy feast of Pascha and on the Resurrection, delivered on the Great Sunday.*The poor among men, being lovers of feasts, and with a willing and ready mind, and with splendid demeanor and dress, frequent gatherings and celebrations; and even if they cannot provide for themselves the expenses for the elegance that they desire, yet by borrowing all that is magnificent and precious from acquaintances and relatives, they ensure that nothing is lacking for their present use. The same thing, I think, happens to me on this present day. For having nothing magnificent in the
way of praise to offer from myself to the sacred song which we just now sang, I shall take refuge in that source. From there, using the occasion, I shall pay my debt by weaving in my own words—if indeed any praises happen to be found with the poor servant—as thanksgiving to the Master. A David, then, was saying just now, and we with him: "Praise the Lord, all nations; praise him, all you peoples" (Ps. cxvii, 1). He calls every human being from Adam to the hymn, leaving no one outside the call; but he leads the Westerners, the Easterners, those on either side, and whoever is a neighbor of the North or an inhabitant of the South, all together in the psalm. And elsewhere he indeed addresses certain men specifically, either calling the saints or rousing the children to the hymn; but in the present case he gathers nations and peoples with the psaltery. For when, according to the Apostle, "the fashion of this world passes away" (1 Cor. vii, 31), B and Christ, King and God, appears to all, making every unbelieving soul fully persuaded and bridling the blasphemous tongue, and stays the vanity of the Greeks, and the error of the Jews, and the indomitable bitterness of the heresies; then indeed, then all nations and the peoples from all ages will bow down, and all at once will send up their worship, and there will be a wondrous harmony of glorification—as the saints customarily hymn, and the impious, out of necessity, petition. And then truly the triumphal hymn will be sung in harmony by all, both by the defeated and by the victors; then also that author of the disturbance, the servant who imagined and arrogated to himself the dignity of the Master, will be seen by all as a C scourge-bearing slave, dragged by angels to his punishment, and all the ministers and accomplices of his wickedness will be subjected to the fitting punishments and penalties. But one King and Judge will appear, whom all will confess as the common Master; and there will be a settled silence, just as when a ruler is sitting on a tribunal, the herald signals for silence, and the people, straining both their eyes and ears, wait to hear the address. For this reason, "Praise the Lord, all nations; praise him, all you peoples." Praise [Him] as powerful, praise [Him] as merciful, because He brought back to life those who had fallen and were dead, and restored the broken vessel again, and fashioned the stench of the remains that were in the tombs into an incorruptible living being, D and led back the soul which had left the body four thousand years ago, as if from a long sojourn, to its own house, not finding it at all strange after such time and forgetfulness toward its own instrument, but rather hastening toward it more swiftly than a bird flies to its own nest. For let us speak of the things proper to the festival, so that in accordance
A with things themselves we may celebrate appropriately. For that which is improper and foreign, besides being of no benefit, is disorderly and absurd, not only in discourses concerning religion and piety, but even in external matters and those pertaining to worldly wisdom. For what orator is so foolish and ridiculous that, having been invited to a wedding full of cheerfulness and joy, he would abandon the fitting and pleasant style of speech—which is suited to the occasion and, as it were, congratulates the hilarity and festivity of the gathering—and instead recite sad and mournful songs, or chant calamities drawn from tragedy at a wedding feast and in the bridal chamber? Or, on the contrary, being commanded to perform funeral rites for someone deceased and deliver a funeral oration, he should forget the present circumstance and show himself pleasant and cheerful before a gathering full of sadness? But if in worldly affairs an orderly and knowledgeable approach is becoming, it is surely much more appropriate in great and heavenly matters. B Christ therefore, God, impassible and immortal, has risen for us today (and you, pagan, pause a little, and put aside your wanton and insolent laughter until you have heard everything), not having suffered from necessity, nor being compelled to descend from heaven, nor having obtained the resurrection as an unexpected and unforeseen favor beyond hope, but as one who knew the end of all things, and having thus made his beginning, having in the eyes of his divinity the knowledge of things set before him. Even before descending from heaven, he saw the disturbance of the nations, the hardness of Israel, Pilate sitting before the tribunal, Caiaphas rending his garments, the seditious mob inflamed with rage, Judas betraying him, Peter fighting for him, and after a little while himself being transformed by the resurrection into the glory of immortality. Having everything that was to come prescribed in his knowledge, he did not delay in bestowing the favor upon man, nor did he put off the stewardship of these things; but just as those who see someone weak being swept away by the force of a torrent and whirlpool, though not ignorant that it might happen that they themselves become entangled in the muddy torrent and be injured by the blows of the stones which the water carries along with it, nevertheless, C because of their compassion for the one in danger, do not hesitate to enter in; so too our philanthropic Savior, of his own volition and accord, undertook insults and ignominy, so that he might save him who had perished through deceit. He descended into this life because he foresaw also the glorious ascent. He allowed himself to die for the human race because he also foresaw the resurrection and had it in his mind's eye. For he did not, like one of the common run of men, recklessly expose himself to dangers, entrusting the outcome to the uncertainty of the future, but as God he governed the matter set before him, with the end fixed and known.
This, then, is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it. On it, let us not engage in drunkenness and revelry, not in dances and insane debauchery, but in God-inspired D thoughts. Today, one may see the whole world like a single house, in harmony with one
another as if by some agreement, and as if a signal had been received, everyone has been brought to the pursuit of prayer. The highways A are empty of travelers; the sea today is deserted of sailors and voyagers; the farmer, having cast aside his mattock and plow, has adorned himself in the manner of one celebrating a feast; the taverns are free from the business of commerce; the anxieties of life have been dissolved like winter upon the appearance of spring; the clamor, the disturbances, and the storms of life have given way to the peace of the feast. The poor man is adorned like the rich; the rich man appears more radiant than is his custom; the old man runs like a youth to take part in the joy; the infirm man even does violence to his sickness; the young child celebrates the feast through the change of his clothing, since he cannot yet do so in his mind. The virgin B rejoices exceedingly in her soul, because she sees the remembrance of her own hope so splendidly honored; the married woman, keeping the feast with the entire fullness of her house, rejoices; for now she herself, and her husband, and her children, and her servants, and all who dwell under her roof are exultant. And just as a new and newly-born swarm of bees, first having come out from their hiding places or their hives, flies up together into the air and the light, and having been gathered in one mass, settles upon the branch of a tree; so, on the occasion of this feast, entire families hasten together to their homes. And truly, the present day is rightly referred to and compared by imitation to the future one. For both are a gathering place for men—the former of all, the latter of individuals. But C if we are to speak the truth, as far as it brings gladness and cheerfulness, this one is more graceful and pleasant than that which is awaited, for at that time it is necessary for those who are lamenting also to be seen, whose sins are being uncovered; but the joy of the present day admits of no one who is sad or downcast in spirit. For both the righteous man rejoices, and he who does not have a pure conscience expects the correction that comes from repentance, and all sorrow is lulled to sleep on this present day. No one is so overcome by pain that he cannot find relief in the magnificence of the feast; now the prisoner is set free; the debtor is released; the slave is liberated by the good and philanthropic proclamation of the Church, not being shamefuly struck D on the cheek and being set free only from blow to blow, nor being paraded before the public on a high platform as is done in a procession, having insult and shame as the beginning of his freedom; but he is set free so decorously that he is known and benefited, even he who still remains in servitude. For even if one’s sins are many and grievous, surpassing request and forgiveness, the Master, revering the calmness and philanthropy of the day, receives the cast-off and those seen among the dishonored, just as Pharaoh did the cupbearer from the prison. For He knows that, at the time appointed for the resurrection—to the likeness of which we honor the present day—He himself also has need of the Master's long-suffering and goodness, and by lending mercy here, he looks for the repayment in due time. Have you heard, masters? Keep this word as a good thing; do not denounce me to the servants as someone falsely eulogizing the day. Take away the
A sorrow from the afflicted souls, as the Lord takes away the death of the bodies; transform the disgraced into honor, the afflicted into joy, those who lack boldness into boldness. Bring out from the corner those who have been cast away as if they were in tombs; let the beauty of the feast blossom like a flower for all. For if the birthday of a human king opens the prison, shall the victory day of Christ, having risen, not set free those who are oppressed? You poor, embrace your nurse; you who have injured, corrupted, or mutilated bodies, greet the healer of your calamities, since on account of the hope of the resurrection, virtue is pursued and vice is hated; for with the resurrection removed, one saying will be found to prevail among all: "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die." B
Looking toward this day, the Apostle despises the temporary life and desires and strives for the future one, counting as nothing the things that are seen, saying: "If in this life only we have hoped, we are of all men most miserable." Because of this day, men become heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ. Because of this day, the part of the body which carnivorous birds may have eaten a thousand years ago will be found not missing; and that which dogs, or whales, or other marine animals have devoured, will rise again together with the resurrected man; furthermore, whatever fire has burned up, and whatever the worm has consumed in the tombs, and in a word, all bodies whatsoever that corruption has destroyed and removed from the midst after their birth, shall be given back from the earth whole and lacking no part of themselves; and as Paul teaches, the resurrection will be completed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." The twinkling of an eye is the closing of the eyelids. And there could be nothing swifter than this speed. Nor, calculating according to your own human capacity, imagine in your mind how many intervals of time you write out in your soul: first, that C the bones which have rotted and turned to dust might be compacted into their original hardness and smoothness, and that, having been united from the fracturing, they might again come together into a resonant harmony and their natural conjunction; and then further, you might observe the covering of flesh, and the extended connections of nerves, and the thin and delicate ducts of veins and arteries woven underneath the skin; and the unspeakable and innumerable multitude of souls flying from certain secret habitations, each one recognizing its own body as a special garment, and quickly dwelling in it again, and using an unerring discernment amidst such a multitude of spirits of the same kind. For reflect upon the souls from Adam, and from him the bodies, a multitude of so many houses having been dissolved, and the masters of the houses returning from a long sojourn, and all things being accomplished miraculously; for neither does a house delay in being rebuilt, nor does the inhabitant wander or stay outside, seek- D
- A ing his own private possessions; but he proceeds straight to it, like a dove to its own tower, even if many and frequent ones are distinguished by the same marks around the same place. Whence, again, comes the recollection and the reckoning of the former life, and the thought of each action, being so swiftly reconstituted with the animal [body] that has been dissolved for so many ages? And yet, a man awakened from a deeper sleep for a little while does not know who he is or where he is staying, and forgets familiar things, until wakefulness, having dispelled the stupor, rekindles the power of memory and its efficacy once again.
These things, and such like these, entering into the reasonings of many, fill the mind with surpassing wonder, and yet at the same time they bring disbelief into the wonder. For because the mind does not find the solution to the things that are questioned and sought, nor is it able to find and satisfy its own curiosity, it eventually proceeds toward disbelief in the weakness of its own reasonings, casting out and denying the truth of the matters. But since the discourse, advancing on its path, reached the question that is frequently discussed, and it is a topic appropriate and kindred to the present B feast, come, let us draw back the subject to a beginning fitting for this discussion, and let us attempt to provide full assurance to those who wrongly doubt concerning manifest things.
The Creator of all things, wishing to create man, did not bring him into being as a creature worthy of contempt, but as one more precious than all others, and appointed him king of the creation under heaven. Having purposed this, and having fashioned such a wise and godlike being, and having adorned him with much grace, did He bring him into being with such an intention, that once born he should perish, and undergo total destruction? But the purpose is vain, and it is highly unworthy to attribute such a thought to God. For in this way he is likened to little children, who build with haste and quickly pull down the structure, their mind reaching no useful end.
But we have been taught the exact contrary: that He created the first-formed man immortal. But when the transgression and the sin occurred, C He deprived him of immortality as a penalty for the offense; then the fount of goodness, overflowing with love toward mankind, and moved toward the work of His own hands, adorned him with wisdom and knowledge, and He was pleased to restore and renew us into the ancient state.
These things are both true, and worthy of the opinion that it is right to hold concerning God. For they testify not only to His goodness, but also to His power. For neither is it the way of men who are good and of the best character to be unmoved and harsh toward those who are under their rule and committed to their care. Thus, the shepherd wills that the flock committed to him be vigorous, and (continued in next page)
and the cowherd increases his cattle with various cares; the goatherd prays that his goats may bring forth twin kids at any time; and every overseer of a flock simply desires that his flock remain with him and thrive, looking toward some useful end. Since this is the case, and since it has been shown from the things just said by us that it is B most fitting for the Artificer and Creator of our race to reshape and restore his corrupted work, it is evident that those who disbelieve in the following matters do not fight and oppose for any other reason than that they think it impossible for God to resurrect that which is dead and dissolved. Truly, their mindset is dead and senseless, as they calculate that something is impossible or unachievable for God, and attribute the infirmity of their own nature to the omnipotent majesty. But in order that we may strike at their folly with refutational arguments, let that which is future—but is not believed to be future—be demonstrated from things present and past. You have heard that dust was fashioned C and became a human being. Teach me, then, I pray you, you who claim to embrace all things with your wisdom, by what reasoning the fine, scattered dust was gathered together; how the earth became flesh, and the same matter formed bones, skin, fat, and hair; how, while flesh is one thing, the forms of the limbs, as well as their qualities and textures, are diverse; how the lung is soft to the touch and livid in color, the liver solid, firm, and unyielding, and red; the heart is a contracted and very hard particle of flesh; the spleen is porous and black; the caul is white and woven by nature like a fisherman's net? Let us also consider D those matters: how the first woman, from a small part of a rib, became a whole creature, similar to the perfect and first, and how the part sufficed for all and constituted the whole, small as it was; how the rib became head, hands and feet, the bent and complex shaping of the viscera and intestines, flesh, hair, eye, nose, mouth—all things, in short, so that I may not draw out the argument too long—all of them wonderful and contrary to common opinion and sense, and exceeding the grasp of our mind, we who are but a small, tiny part of the universe when compared to God. Yet with God, the rationales of fabrication are ready and easy, excluding all doubt, and are very certain. How, then, will those who possess a sound mind appear to be reasonable when they grant that a human was made from one rib, but do not believe that he can be renewed from the material of a whole human being? It cannot be, it cannot be that the divine power in the performance of things can be explored and investigated by the stirrings of the human mind. For if all things could be perceived and comprehended by us, He who excels would not excel us. What do I say regarding God? We do not even compare in any way with the irrational animals regarding certain powers and faculties, but we are even inferior to them. Do not go further; horses, dogs, and many other animals surpass us in running; likewise, camels and mules surpass us in strength, donkeys in the recognition of paths, and the keenness of vision and sharpness of eyes that gazelles possess is not found in our eyes.
A Therefore, it is the part of candid, grateful, and sound-minded men to have faith in the things that are spoken by God; but as for the modes and causes of His actions and works, since they exceed our understanding, one ought not to demand them. For it will be said to any of these inquisitive people: "Show me by your own reason and speech how these things that we see were brought into essence. Tell me by what art He created this multiform work." For if you search for these things and discover them, you justly hesitate, perplexed and entangled, and you are angry and indignant that you are ignorant of the transformation of regeneration, you who are not ignorant of the reason for generation. But if those things are to you nothing more than a dream and a fantasy, and knowledge of them is hard to attain from every side, do not be indignant if, when you are ignorant of the reason for their construction, you also do not perceive the correction of that which has been corrupted. The same craftsman is the author of both the first creation and the second transformation. He knows how He will again join together His own work, which has undergone dissolution, and bring it back to its original state. If there is need of wisdom, the fountain of wisdom is with Him; if there is need of power and strength, He has no need of a partner or an assistant. This is He who, according to the voice of the most wise prophet, hath measured out the water with His hand, and with a span the great and B boundless heaven, and the earth in His fist. Observe the images, which provide evident signs of an ineffable power, inducing despair in our reasoning that we are able to imagine anything worthy of the nature of God. He both is and is called Omnipotent. For perhaps you will not struggle against this, but will grant that it holds true as accepted knowledge. And to One who can do all things, nothing is perplexed, nothing is such that it cannot be explained or brought to completion. You have many pledges of faith which necessarily compel you to assent to the things said by us: first, the whole varied and complex creation, which proclaims more clearly and significantly than the voice of any herald that He who fashioned the things that are seen is a great and wise craftsman. And since God is provident toward this creation, and also looks from afar upon the souls of the unbelievers, He confirmed the resurrection of the dead by the deed itself, having restored the soul to many bodies of those who had died. For this reason Lazarus, already four days dead, leapt from the sepulcher; and that only son of the widow, from the bier on which he was being carried out, was called back to the living and restored to his mother; and ten thousand others whom it would be tiresome to enumerate now. What shall I say about God and the Savior, C when, in order that those who doubt might be even more affected and moved, He granted to His servants, the apostles, the power of raising the dead? The demonstration, therefore, is clear and manifest. And why, you contentious ones, do you cause us trouble, as if we were authors of arguments that cannot be demonstrated? As one was raised, so also ten; as the ten, so three hundred; as three hundred, so also many. For the craftsman of one statue will easily be the creator of ten thousand. Have you not seen the mechanics, how they remodel the shapes and forms of great and marvelous structures in a little wax? And the rationale in the small has the same power in the many and great constructions. Great is the heaven, a skillful work of God. And since God created man as a rational animal...
A so that by the comprehension of his works he might glorify their wise and skillful maker, you may see the astronomer’s small sphere—moved, however, in the hand of the expert just as the heaven is moved by God—and the smallest construction becomes an image of the great creation; and in small things the reason interprets the sublime things that exceed our perception. But why did I recount these things? In order that you may know that if you also ask me how the resurrection of bodies that have existed from the beginning of time will come to pass, you may quickly hear: How was the four-day-old Lazarus raised? For it is manifest that he who is sound in mind will accept, in the many, the same assurance that is accepted in the one. Assuming God is the one who acts, you will say that nothing is impossible; nor should you think that the wisdom of the Incomprehensible can be grasped by your own intellect. For to Him nothing is infinite, whereas to you the things pertaining to the question of the infinite are inscrutable and unsearchable. B We shall see this argument well if, in addition to what has been said, we examine and seek out the mode of our own generation—not that first and most ancient one provided and established by God, of which these things have been spoken above, but that which is accomplished by nature consistently up to this present time. For this is inexplicable and inaccessible to human thought. For by what rationale, when the matter is wet, raw, and formless, does the seed grow into a head, harden and solidify into shins and ribs, and effect a tender and porous brain, and the bone that contains it, so hard and resistant, and the varied construction of the animal—to speak briefly, lest I be excessive in pursuing each detail individually? As, therefore, the seed, existing formless at the beginning, is fashioned into a shape and grows into masses, being prepared by the ineffable art of God; so it is not only not discordant or absurd, but even highly consistent and probable, that the matter which is in the sepulchers, which at one time existed in form, should again be renewed into its pristine shape and the dust again become a man, just as he certainly obtained his generation from it at the beginning. Let us concede to God the ability to accomplish as much as the potter is able; for let us consider what the latter does. Taking raw and formless clay, he makes it into a vessel, and placing this before the sun's rays, he dries and hardens it. The object being fashioned or formed is, for example, a pitcher, a bowl, or a jar; but if something should fall upon it carelessly and overturn it, it collapses and is broken, and becomes formless earth, losing its shape. But the craftsman, if he so wills, quickly corrects and remakes that which was corrupted by chance, and again...
A by his art in molding the clay, he makes a vessel no worse than the first. And yet this potter is but a small creature of God’s power, and God is not believed when He promises that He will renew the dead? Much folly is it to make such a pronouncement.
Let us also consider the example of the wheat, by which the all-wise Paul instructs the foolish, saying: "Fool, what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare grain, as it may happen, of wheat or of some of the other seeds; but God gives it a body as He has willed." Let us attend closely to the generation of wheat, and perhaps we shall be taught the account of the resurrection. The wheat is cast into the earth. It decays in the moisture, and, as one might say, it dies, and passes into a certain milky substance, which, having thickened a little, becomes a sharp and white center; and when it has grown enough to emerge from the earth, it changes gradually from white to a verdant green. Then it becomes grass and the foliage of the clods; and spreading out over them and scattered moderately, it nourishes the root below with many divisions, preparing a support and aid for the weight to come. And just as the masts of ships are stretched on all sides by B many cables, so that they may remain firm, balanced by the tension of the ropes, so too the cord-like outgrowths of the root become both the support and the stays of the ears of corn. When the wheat rises into a stalk and strives to reach for height, God reinforces it with knees and nodes, securing it like a building with joints, for the sake of the expected weight of the foliage. Then, when the strength is prepared, having split the sheath, it brings forth the ear. And there again are greater miracles. For the wheat is constructed growing in rows, and each of the grains has its own special storeroom; and lastly, the beards are cast out, sharp and thin—weapons, I think, against the seed-stealing birds, so that being pricked by their points, they may cease to damage the fruit. Do you see how much of a miracle one grain that has decayed contains, and how, though it fell alone, it rises with many? C But man receives nothing more than he had; he receives what he already possessed, and for this reason our renewal appears easier than that which happens in the agriculture of wheat.
From there, pass to the notion of trees, how winter is for them each year instead of death. For the fruit falls, the leaf drops, and the wood remains dry and stripped of every grace. But when the time of spring arrives, a most pleasing flower grows upon them, and after the flower comes the covering of leaves; and then, as a fair sight, it draws to itself the eyes of men, and becomes a workshop for singing birds, which sit upon the petals, and a marvelous grace shines about them; so that many have even left their homes decorated with gold and Thessalian and Dacian stone, and have preferred instead the life for themselves beneath the trees. D For this reason, also, the patriarch Abraham pitched his tent under an oak—not, surely, because he lacked a house, but rejoicing in the pleasure of the branches.
A The life of serpents also leads me to a confirmation of my proposed argument. Vital energy in those creatures is deadened during the winter season, and for the six months they lie hidden in their dens, completely motionless. But when the appointed time arrives, and thunder is heard in the world, they perceive it as a sort of signal of life, and rapidly leap out, and after a long interval they perform their customary activities. What is the logic behind this? Let the investigator and scout of God’s works tell me, and instruct me, by what reasoning he concedes that snakes are revived from the dead by the crash of thunder, but does not admit that men, at the sound of the trumpet of God resounding from heaven, can receive back their soul and be vivified, just as Divine Scripture says: *For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again* (1 Cor. xv, 52). And elsewhere more clearly: *And he shall send his angels with a great trumpet blast, and shall gather together his elect* (Matt. xxiv, 31).
Ne B get us not, therefore, distrust changes and renewals. For the life of plants and diverse animals, and indeed of humans themselves, teaches us that nothing subject to generation and corruption remains in the same state, but is constantly being turned and changed into something else. And first, if you please, let us observe and consider the change that occurs within our own ages. We know well what a nursing babe is like. A short time later, he gains the power to crawl, and differs not at all from little puppies, supporting himself on four limbs. Around the third year, it happens that he walks upright and tall, and emits a voice that is in some way stammering, lisping, hesitant, and impeded: then he articulates and pronounces words perfectly, and becomes a charming young boy and child: from that age he emerges into a beardless youth; then, as down covers his cheeks and chin, he becomes bearded and hairy, one stage after another; finally, he becomes a fully adult man, rough and capable of toil. When forty years have passed, the beginning of the decline arrives, and greyness little by little whitens the head, and strength declines toward infirmity, and at last comes old age, the final abolition of vigor. The body bends and curves toward the earth, just like ears of grain that have withered too much: what once was straight and light becomes wrinkled and contracted, and he who had once stood out in the vigor of his age and strength becomes a child again, stammering, foolish, wandering in mind, crawling on hands and feet just as before. C What do all these things seem to you? Is it not an alteration? Are these not various mutations? Are these not diverse novelties that transform the mortal animal even before death? Furthermore, how could our sleep and wakefulness not become, for the wise man, a lesson concerning what is sought? For sleep is an image of death; waking is a likeness of the resurrection. For this reason, some of the wise men from outside have called sleep the brother of death, because of the similarity of the conditions that occur from both. For forgetfulness is the same in both, and the ignorance of the
past and of the future happens in either. The body lies without sensation, knowing no friend, ignoring any enemy, seeing neither those standing around nor those looking on; it is A relaxed, dead, devoid of all vital activity, and in no way different from those things that have been deposited in tombs and graves. Wherefore if you wish, you can even rob the sleeper as if he were dead; you can empty the house and strip it bare, you can cast chains upon him, and yet none of the things being done is perceived by his senses.
But a little while later, when some respite or relaxation of the condition occurs, the person rises up as if having just been created alive; gradually he returns to a consciousness of himself and of things, slowly resuming his activities, being, as it were, resuscitated by the rekindling of wakefulness. If, while the living creature still exists and is present, so many night-time and day-time trances, alterations, B changes, fits of forgetfulness, and recoveries are fixed in human life, it is most foolish and contentious not to believe God, who promises the final renewal, since He is the one who also fashioned our first formation.
Now, that which especially armors those who gainsay and makes them prepared for unbelief is, as I think, this above all: the thinking that a complete annihilation of bodies takes place. But it is not so. For it is not completely annihilated, but it is dissolved into the things from which it was composed; and it is in water, in air, in earth, and in fire. Since the primary elements remain, and those things which after dissolution have joined with them, in which the parts in their entirety are preserved, it is most easy for God—not only to create from things that do not exist (for C thus did all things receive their genesis in the beginning)—but to form things from the existing building blocks of nature, which is surely much more easy and simple. Let us not, therefore, destroy the noble hope of mankind, the correction of our weakness, and the second birth, if one might call it such, that is free from death, nor let us insult the good and philanthropic promise of God through an excess of love of pleasure.
For to me it seems that those who are opposed to the subject at hand are friends of vice and enemies of virtue, lecherous and avaricious, and intemperate in their eyes, and in their hearing and smell, and in all their senses, drawing in upon themselves the pleasure that flows toward them.
Since the discourse of the resurrection has the judgment set before it, and they hear the sacred books stating expressly that our life is not exempt from inquiry and examination, D but that when we have been renewed to the other life, it will come to pass that we shall all be presented before the tribunal of Christ so as to receive at the hands of that Judge the returns for our way of life according to their worth—they, being conscious to themselves of most shameful deeds, worthy of many punishments, abolish the resurrection out of hatred for the judgment. Just like those wicked servants who, having squandered their master's estate and being destined for death and ruin at their lord's hand, invent empty reasonings for their own desires.
A But no person of sound mind would think this way. For what is the benefit of justice, and truth, and goodness, and every excellence? For what sake do men toil and practice philosophy, mastering the pleasure of the belly, embracing continence and temperance, indulging in sleep for only a brief time, and enduring cold and heat, if there is no resurrection? Let us say with the words of Paul: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." If there is no resurrection, and death is the end of life, then take away from me accusations and censures; give the murderer the authority to act without hindrance; allow the adulterer to plot against marriages with boldness; let the greedy rich man insult his adversaries; let no one restrain the reviler; let the perjurer swear constantly, for death awaits the just, the religious, the pious, and the observer of oaths alike. Let everyone lie as much as they wish, for there is no fruit of truth. Let no one pity the poor, for mercy is without wages. B Such sentiments and thoughts introduce a confusion worse than the flood; they cast out all sound reason and sharpen and confirm whatever madness and robbery may be imagined. For if there is no resurrection, then neither is there judgment; and if judgment is abolished, then the fear of God is cast out along with it. And where fear does not restrain, nor keep men in their duty, there the devil dances with sin and leads the chorus. And very fittingly and aptly, David wrote that psalm against such people: "The fool has said in his heart: There is no God. They are corrupt, and have become abominable in their pursuits." If there is no resurrection, then Lazarus and the rich man are a fable, as are the fearful chasm, the unbearable burning and inflammation of the fire, the burning tongue, the longed-for drop of water, and the finger of the beggar. C For it is evident that all these things depict for us the future resurrection. For the tongue and the finger are not understood as members of the incorporeal soul, but as parts of the body. And let no one think that these things have already occurred, but that it is a prediction of what is to come; it will happen then, when the transformation, having restored life to the dead, brings each person to account for their life, being composed just as before, consisting of both soul and body. Furthermore, the God-inspired Ezekiel, that spectator of great visions, to what purpose was he led when he saw that great and widely stretching plain filled with human bones, over which he was commanded to prophesy? D Flesh was immediately formed over them, and what had been dissolved and scattered in disorder was gathered and knit together into proper order and composition. Is it not clear that through such words he sufficiently indicates to us the resurrection of this flesh? But those who hold contentiously to this argument seem to me not only impious, but also deranged. For the terms "resurrection," "revivification," "transformation," and all such names, carry the concept towards the body which is subject to corruption. As for the soul itself according to
if it be examined and tested by itself, it will never rise, since it does not die but is exempt from destruction and corruption. Since it is immortal, it has a mortal body as a partner in its actions; and therefore, before the just judge, at the time of the rendering of accounts, it will again dwell with its partner, so that it may receive with it common punishments or rewards. B But in order that our argument may be more consistent, let us consider the matter in this way: what do we call a human being? The two combined, or one of the two separately? But it is manifest that the union of the two characterizes the living creature. For it is not fitting to use superfluous language regarding matters that are known and contain no controversy. Since this is so, let us further consider this as well: whether the things that men commit and perpetrate—for example, adultery, murder, theft, and whatever is akin to these, or, on the contrary, sobriety, continence, and every action opposed to vice—we call the effects of both, or whether we restrict the actions to the soul alone?
But even in this, the truth is manifest. For nowhere does the soul, separated from the body, either practice theft or break through walls; nor, on the other hand, does it alone give bread to the hungry, or provide drink to the thirsty, or willingly hasten to the prison to minister to him who is afflicted in prison. C But in every action, both are yoked together to one another and mutually accomplish what is done. How then, since these things are so, and you concede that there will be a judgment of the things done in life, do you tear one away from the other? And since they are partners in what has been accomplished, do you restrict the court of judgment to the soul alone? But if one were to be an accurate judge of human transgressions, and were to examine carefully whence the first causes of sin arise, perhaps he would first find the body to be in the wrong in the crimes. For when the soul is often at rest and possesses undisturbed calm, the eye, moved by passion, sees things which it would have been better not to have seen, and having transmitted the disease to the soul, changes its quiet into storm and turbulence. D Likewise, the ears, having listened to certain shameless or provocative words, pour into the thoughts, as if through certain conduits, the mire of turbulence or of disorder. There are also times when the nose, through its sense of smell and the attraction of vapors, causes great and unspeakable evils to the inner man. The hands, too, know how to weaken the strength of a robust soul through physical touch. And as I proceed thus little by little and examine it, I find the body to be the cause of a large part of many sins. Yet it also endures labors for the sake of virtue, and toils and is afflicted in the struggles for noble things, while it is cut by iron, scorched by fire, scourged by whips, laden with grievous bonds, and undergoes every injury, so that it may not betray the sacred philosophy, like some city with beautiful towers besieged by the war of vice. If, therefore, it toils with the soul in good deeds, and
does not remain absent in its sins, by what reasons and arguments do you bring only the incorporeal soul into judgment? But this is neither a just speech nor one of sound men. If it sinned alone and naked, let it be punished alone; but if it has a manifest accomplice, a just judge will not dismiss him. D Now I also hear Scripture teaching this, that just punishments will be inflicted upon those who are condemned: fire, and darkness, and the worm. For all these are punishments and torments of composite and material bodies; but fire would never touch the soul by itself, nor would darkness trouble it, as it is deprived of eyes and the instruments of sight. And what would the worm do, which has a corrupting force upon bodies, not spirits? And therefore, we are compelled from all sides by these consistent considerations and reasonings to the acceptance of the resurrection of the dead, which God will accomplish at the proper times, confirming His own promises by the very facts. Let us, therefore, believe Him who says: For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise; and again: The hour is coming, in which all who are in their graves will hear His voice, and those who have done good will come forth to a resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment. For He does not promise only, but also by the works which He performs daily, He teaches clearly B that He is omnipotent. For He neither laboured and became weary in the beginning while creating, nor will He lack wisdom in transforming. Let us consider the present, and we shall not withhold faith from the future. For since every divine act involves wonder and astonishment, then it is a great and inexplicable miracle when we see the likenesses of fathers and ancestors transitioning exactly into the forms of their descendants, and the children becoming as it were casts from their ancestors. Then, indeed, I am struck with overwhelming wonder at the all-wise craftsmanship of the C most excellent Artificer, God, and Saviour, how the imitations of those archetypes, which neither exist nor are apparent, are created and formed in an ineffable mystery, raising up, as it were, other persons who are dead through the efficacy of their forms. Often, moreover, the properties of many persons are expressed and formed together in one body: the nose of the father, the eye of the grandfather, the gait of the uncle, the sound of the voice and speech of the mother. And one man is viewed as a certain plant, which, having received in itself the grafted shoots of many trees, offers D also countless kinds of fruits to those picking and gathering them. All these things are indeed wonderful, and the manner in which they occur is unknown to us, but they are easy and ready for the Creator, and, as we know, are accomplished by Him with no difficulty. But it is very strange and ignorant, while admitting that the markings of bodies that have already rotted and perished are raised up in those growing from day to day, and that the traits of others pass into others, yet when it comes to the specific and peculiar traits of those who once possessed them, one does not agree that they are being renewed and brought back to life, but on the contrary, one invalidates and disputes this, and considers the promise a myth and not a rational account, on the part of Him who established all this that is seen and
adorned it as He willed. We, however, believe in the resurrection, rendering glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ORATION IV. On the Holy and Saving Feast of Pascha.
The true rest of the Sabbath, which received the blessing of God, in which the Lord rested from His works, having been idle after breaking the efficacy of death for the salvation of the world, now has an end; and He has demonstrated His own grace to our eyes, to our ears, and to our heart—the feast having been accomplished for us through all these things by which we saw, by which we heard, and by which we received joy into our heart. For that which was seen by the eyes—the light—was borne along for us in the night by the cloud of fire through the lamps. The word that resounded through the entire night B to our ears in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, flowing into the soul through the hearing like a stream of joy, filled us with good hopes. And the heart, gladdened by the things being spoken and seen, was shaped into an ineffable blessedness, being led by the hand through the things that appeared to Him who cannot be seen. Thus, the good things of this rest are an image C of those good things—those which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have they ascended into the heart of man—confirming through themselves the ineffable hope of those things that are laid up for us. Since, therefore, this night is luminous, having mingled the rays of the lamps with the morning beams of the sun and made one continuous day, not divided by the interposition of darkness, let us consider, brethren, the prophecy that says: *This is the day which the Lord has made.* In which the work proposed is not anything heavy or difficult to accomplish, D but is joy and gladness and exultation; the Scripture speaking thus: *Let us exult and rejoice in it.* O noble things! O sweet legislation! Who would delay to obey such commands? And who would not consider the delay of these things for even a short time a loss? The work is gladness, and the command is exultation; by which the condemnation for sin is dissolved, and painful things are transformed into joy.
This is the notable saying of wisdom, that on a day of gladness there is an oblivion of evils. This day has brought about a forgetting of the first sentence pronounced against us—or rather, an abolition, not a forgetting. For it has blotted out and, as it were, erased every memory of the condemnation made against us. Then, childbirth was in sorrows; now, the birth occurs without the pangs of labor. Then, we were born as flesh from flesh; now, that which is born is spirit of the spirit. Then, we were sons of man; now, we have been born as children of God. Then, unto the earth we were released; now, the heavenly One and His heavenly followers...
as well. Then, through sin death reigned; now, conversely, righteousness receives the empire through life. Then, one gave place for death to enter; through one, now, life is also introduced. Then, through death we fell away from life; now, by Life, death is destroyed. Then, for shame we hid ourselves under the fig tree; now, through glory we approach the tree of life. Then, on account of disobedience we were cast out of paradise; now, through faith we are admitted into paradise. Once again, the fruit of life is spread before us for our enjoyment at will. Once again, the fountain of paradise, divided fourfold by the evangelical rivers, irrigates the entire face of the Church, so that even the furrows of our souls—which He who sows the seed of the word has cut with the plow of doctrine—are inebriated, and the seedlings and fruits of virtue are multiplied. What, then, is it fitting to do in view of these things? What else, but to imitate B the prophetic mountains and the hills in our leaping? For the mountains, he says, leaped like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock. Come, therefore, let us exult in the Lord, who has broken the strength and power of the enemy and has raised up the great trophy of the cross for us in the ruin of the adversary. Let us shout; for a shout, or jubilance, is a propitious and joyful acclamation made by the victors against the vanquished. Since, therefore, the enemy’s battle line has been laid low, and that very one who held the empire of the wicked army of demons has perished, has been blotted out, and has now passed into non-existence, let us say that the Lord is a great God and a great King over all the earth, who has blessed the crown of the year of His goodness, and has led us into this C spiritual choir and assembly through Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
ORATION V. On the illustrious and holy resurrection of our Lord and God.
Blessed be God. Let us speak good words, and let us celebrate today the only-begotten Son of God, the true Creator of the heavenly hosts: He who emerged from the hidden recesses of the earth and covered the whole world with His most brilliant rays. Let us celebrate today the burial of the Only-Begotten, the resurrection of the Victor, the joy of the world, and the life of the nations of the world. Let us celebrate today Him who put on our sin. Let us celebrate today the Word of God, D who convicted the world’s wisdom, confirmed the prediction of the prophets, connected the bond of the apostles, and unfolded the calling of the Church and the grace of the Spirit. For behold, we who were once strangers to the knowledge of God have acknowledged God, and what was written long ago is fulfilled: All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord: and all the families of the nations shall worship in His sight.
A What will they remember? The ancient fall, the new resurrection, the primal transgression, and the later correction; the death of Eve, the birth from the Virgin, the restoration of the nations, the forgiveness of sinners, the prophecy of the prophets, the preaching of the apostles, the regeneration of the font, the indwelling of paradise, the return to the heavens, the Creator arising, He who laid aside indecency, He who by divine magnificence exchanged the corruptible for incorruption. And what indecency did He lay aside? That which Isaiah spoke of in these words: *And we saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness. But His appearance was dishonored, failing beyond the sons of men.* When was He dishonored? When He consorted with the wicked Jews, and was called a Samaritan and one possessed by a demon; when Judas Iscariot and the offspring of darkness laid hold of Him for slaughter, Him whom no place can contain. Not without reason did John say to them: *Offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?* For truly the wrath of God shall remain upon them. B When was He dishonored? When the bud of meekness received a blow, and when, amidst oaths, they interrogated Him who is the judge of oaths. When was He dishonored? When the Judge was being judged, and the Arbiter of the world was being condemned; when the servant questioned, and the Master was silent; when the Light rested, and the darkness exulted; when the creature acted boldly, and the Creator endured. When was He dishonored? When the bulls were horning and the calf stood by; when the lion roared and the bulls acted proudly, as it is written: *Many bulls have encompassed me, fat bulls have beset me round. They have opened their mouth against me, as a ravening and a roaring lion.* When was He dishonored? When the dogs barked, and the Lord did endure; when the wolves tore, and the sheep stood by; C when a robber was called to life, and the Life of the world was dragged to death; when they shouted that disordered and fatal cry: *Take him away, take him away, crucify him! His blood be on us and on our children!* The slayers of the Lord, the slayers of the prophets, the fighters against God, the haters of God, the despisers of the law, the enemies of grace, the strangers to the faith of the fathers, the advocates of the devil, the offspring of vipers, the whisperers, the backbiters, those darkened in their minds, the leaven of the Pharisees, the council of demons, the reprobates, the utterly base, the stone-throwers, the haters of virtue. For they cried out with reason: *Take him away, take him away, crucify him!* For the visitation of the divinity in the flesh was a burden to them, and the manner of His reproofs was grievous; D for it is the habit of sinners to hate the presence of the righteous. When was He dishonored? When they scourged Him, and tortured His holy body, which willingly bore the passion, that He might heal the ancient weals of our own sins; when the wood of the
cross was carried upon His shoulders as a trophy against the devil. A When they placed a crown of thorns upon Him who crowns those who trust in Him; when they clothed in purple Him who bestows incorruptibility upon those who are regenerated through water and the Holy Spirit; when they nailed to the wood the Lord of life and death. When was He inglorious? When the soldiers, mocking the commander of the heavenly host, led Him in triumph. When was He ignominious? When they attached a sponge to a reed, and soaking it in vinegar, gave Him a drink, and offered gall to Him who had rained down manna upon them in abundance; when the rocks were rent and the veil of the temple was torn, stunned by the audacity of the wicked; when the sun mourned and put on darkness like sackcloth, lamenting the ruin of the Jews. For the day itself lamented the hardships of the Jews, when Life hung in the midst of thieves; the one reviling and speaking against Him, while the other with repentance plundered paradise. When was He inglorious? When His body was given over to burial. When was He ignoble? When soldiers guarded Him, and the earth hid Him who had founded the earth upon the waters; when the apostles hid themselves, unable to bear the magnitude of the temptations. But see, beloved, the miracles of God, and after the passion, the success and progress of joy. The ignoble was changed into the glory of splendor, and the immortal joy of the world has been raised with the body. Then the earth travailed, and the day conceived, and death spewed forth the life of all. For it was not possible for Him who holds all things by His word to be held by death. C Let us therefore celebrate the resurrection that took place on the third day, the reconciler of eternal life. For just as Mary the Theotokos, with virginal and unwedded pangs not loosened, by the will of God and the grace of the Holy Spirit gave birth to the Creator of the ages, God the Word from God; so too did the earth, having loosed the pangs of death from its own depths, spew forth at the command the Master of the Jews; for it could not contain the body which had become the vehicle of immortality. Therefore, when the prophet David considered the restoration of beauty, the dissolution of death, and the freedom of those who were once slaves, he cries out and says: "The Lord has reigned, He has clothed Himself with beauty." What beauty did He clothe Himself with? Incorruption, immortality, the assembly of the apostles, the crown of the Church. No longer does Judas betray; no longer does Caiaphas threaten; no longer does Pilate judge, nor do the Israelites prevail. For what was corruptible has become incorrupt, and He who was esteemed by them as mere man D is demonstrated to be true God. Therefore we also cry out: "Where, O death, is thy sting? Where, O Hades, is thy victory?" The Lord has reigned, He has clothed Himself with beauty; the Lord has clothed Himself with power, and girded Himself. By power he means the dispensation of salvation through the flesh. For since nothing was stronger than that, through the body the Incorporeal cast down the demons; through the cross He laid siege to the opposing powers. For since the first things shook the
sin, having risen, our Lord Jesus Christ, just as He foretold, strengthened it with the wood of the cross, so that it might no longer walk toward the slide of perdition, nor be tossed about by the storms of error. A Let us bring forward as a witness to this word the blessed Paul, who says simply: "For this corruptible thing must put on incorruption." Therefore, the Psalmist also says: "Thy throne is prepared from then; Thou art from eternity." And, "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which shall not be corrupted." And again, "Thy kingdom is the kingdom of all ages." And again, "The Lord hath reigned; let the earth rejoice, let many islands be glad." For to Him belong glory and power. Amen.
BY THE SAME
ON THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST
WHICH IS CALLED BY THE CUSTOM OF THE CAPPADOCIANS
THE FESTIVAL CELEBRATION.
C How sweet a companion of human life is the prophet David, being found in all the paths of life, and being aptly mingled with all spiritual ages, assisting every order of those who are progressing! D He plays with those who are infants in God, he struggles alongside men, he instructs the youth, he supports old age; he becomes all things to all men—the armor of soldiers, the trainer of athletes, the wrestling school for those who compete, the crown of the victors, the merriment at feasts, the consolation at funerals. There is no part of our life that is devoid of this grace. What power of prayer is there in which David does not participate? What festal joy is there which the Prophet does not brighten? This is what we are able to see even now; as he makes the festival, which is great in itself, even greater through his own presence, by fittingly adding to the subject the [words] from the psalms