condemn? I am the judge, the guarantor of forgiveness; who is it that shall overturn my judgment? I am the judge, I set you free; who is it that shall condemn? Take heart, daughter: with yourself consider how you have been exalted. How you came as one condemned, and were held worthy to be freed from condemnation, and to become a daughter of Me, the King of heaven. You came as one wounded to receive the remedy, and as a queen to wear a royal crown. You were regenerated without a womb; you were refashioned without clay; you were recast without fire; you were baptized without a laver. You created for yourself a laver out of tears; My word has become your baptism; My speech is the illumination of your countenance. Take heart, daughter; your faith has saved you. As you believed, so you drew; as you desired, so you received; as you willed, so you were made a queen. You looked through the lattice, and became full of light. Your faith has saved you. For faith is the beginning of salvation, faith is the herald of immortality, faith is the pure eye of the knowledge of God, faith sees the invisible. Your faith has saved you. Would that the Jews had imitated your faith! Would that the pagans had emulated your resolve! Would that all men might learn to believe as you do! Go in peace. Since you have wished it, you shall have Me always with you and in you; if you remain thus pure, never will I be separated from your mind. If you keep this purity undefiled, I shall abide with you forever. If you remain a virgin bride, I shall be for you a virgin bridegroom, the guardian of incorruptibility. If you do not break the dowry completed between us today, I shall not depart from your company; if you do not play the whore against Me, I shall not cast you out from My intimacy; if you do not bring upon Me an adulterous thought, as a heavenly suitor I shall grant you heavenly gifts; if you keep the conscience towards Me unwounded, you shall enjoy My favor forever. Go in peace. Remember this present day, in which you enjoyed freedom; remember these good tears, through which you arrived at such brightness; remember this repentance, through which you found the dignity of a daughter. Go in peace. I have reconciled you, having for a long time before this been grieved towards you because of you. Do not break this good peace with evil deeds; do not fight against Me again with your own limbs; do not again braid your hair like Satan; do not whiten your face like a wall A with the artifice of an elaborate and destructive adornment; do not offer, as in a marketplace, your touch to the merchants of shameful pleasures; do not send forth your eyes, like a hunter, against those who are willingly hunted; do not use your lips, like arrows, against those who are pleasantly wounded; do not make your mouth death; do not condemn your hands to unseemly embraces; do not sentence your feet to shameful paths; do not overturn the good path with evil courses; do not scatter the pearls of purity which you chose without labor; do not become again a workshop of corruption; do not return to your ancient deceit; do not take back your former tent; do not ill-build what you have built well; do not admit the serpent as a counselor, so that you might not be stripped naked like Eve; do not abandon for pleasure the fountain of faith, so that the many-shaped dragon might not cast his venom upon you; do not fall into the sleep of self-indulgence, so that you do not stir against yourself My just anger; B do not, after such ointment, pour ordure upon yourself; do not become again what you were; you were once purified, you were once recast: remain a new-wrought image of temperance, so that you might not be recast in the fire. Go in peace; tell those you meet how good I am and how loving to mankind; show to those who do not know Him the One who wiped away your filth; become henceforth a net of life. Up to this day you hunted the young toward perdition; from this day forth, fish for all men toward salvation; cry out before Paul, as one who was netted before Paul: *This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am first* (1 Tim. 1, 15). Let us all emulate her repentance, that we might obtain the same boldness; let us break off our injustices, as she did her hair; let us shed such tears, that we may receive such remedies; so let us love the Master, that we may be so loved by Him; let us too grip with the hands of faith the One who is gladly gripped, and never leave Him, until He says to us, in the very things themselves, *Your sins are forgiven.* Take heart, children; your C faith has saved you. And let us inscribe her faith upon our own minds, sending up glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
On the Three-Day Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
Our Lord Jesus Christ rose on the third day, bestowing life upon the world; and behold, some of the guard came to the Jews and said: Jesus, who is called Christ, has risen from the dead. And the mindless Jews say to the soldiers: Why did you not hold him? The soldiers say: You, having held him, what gain did you have, unless it be the destruction of your own souls? For He said that He must die and on the third day rise again, and these things He has fulfilled, having risen with great glory from the dead. The ungrateful Jews say: You received money from His disciples, and betrayed His body. And the soldiers say: You have such unbelief, you who are lawless? You did not believe Him when He said that, *It behooves me to die, and on the third day to rise.* Woe to you, O Jews, because He came now, and you did not believe Him, because He came D for this reason, that every Scripture might be fulfilled concerning Him saying [that he must rise again]. When therefore He comes in His second coming again, what will you do, you lawless ones? How indeed were we able to hold Him, having become like dead men from the fear of His glory? For at His rising the place was shaken from its foundations, and the hosts of angels surrounded His divine tomb; and an angel approaching rolled back the stone from the door of the monument; and behold, Jesus came forth as a bridegroom from his chamber, and shining like lightning. And we heard the angel saying to the women: Fear not you; go, tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He goes before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him. Behold then, He is in Galilee. If you are able, go and hold Him. Behold then, we have told you the truth, which we heard from the angel. The Jews, having heard these words, became like dead men from fear and astonishment; and having deliberated among themselves, they gave sufficient money to the soldiers, and urged them, saying: Say that His disciples came by night and stole Him while we were sleeping. And if this be heard before the governor, we shall persuade him, and we shall make you free of care. O lawless Jews, can you persuade the whole world? Woe to you, wretches, because you have devised an evil counsel, because you were called children, and have become dogs; woe to you, stiff-necked and uncircumcised, because, being the chosen people of the Lord, you have become wolves, and have sharpened your teeth against the Lamb of God, and have become strangers to His glory; woe to you, mindless ones, because you have loved Hades and the eternal fire. For Hades, after the going forth of those who were in his treasuries, awaits you in their stead, saying: May none of the Hebrews rest, they who stretched out hands against Christ, and made me a captive? For if they had not devised evil against the Lord, I would not have suffered such things. When I receive them, I shall bring them down to my lowest parts, where their father the devil is shut up in the eternal fire and the unceasing worm; that they might learn not to arm themselves against the Lord of glory, nor to speak injustice against God, nor to lift up their horn to the height of pride.
A Woe to you, miserable Jews, in that you devised an evil counsel to slay the Immortal One; but He lives for ages, and you shall die in your unbelief, nor did you believe blessed Paul when he said, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). But let us, leaving those evil-minded and incredulous Jews, come to the light of the Sun of Justice and embrace the resurrection of the Lord with joy.
Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and two women met Him, namely, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, who is the mother of Jesus, and they adored Him. What then does He say? "Do not fear," He says, "but go, tell my brethren and Peter, that they may go into Galilee, and there they shall see me" (Matth. 28:10). These women, therefore, were the first to receive the *Ave* from Him; they hastened to announce His resurrection to the apostles, and returned to their own, having received joy from the Lord for all creation. B Mary Magdalene, indeed, came again to the tomb, and when she had not found Him, she heard the angelic voice again, and the same Lord saying that He would precede them into Galilee; and, turning, she saw the Lord speaking to her. Thinking Him to be the gardener, she asked if he knew where the Lord had been placed. Jesus says to her, "Mary, why do you weep? Whom do you seek?" "Cease," He says, "from weeping, having assumed joy." Where there is joy, the sadness of tears flees; where there is joy, mourning and sorrow flee; where there is joy, no grief exists; where joy is, there are symbols of gladness. "I am the Son of the Virgin; I am Jesus the victor of hell; I am He who conquered the world; I am He who despoiled hell; I am Jesus who announces the hope of resurrection to the dead; I am He who sustained the cross willingly for the salvation of the world; I am Jesus who rose from the dead on the third day, as I had predicted, and said to you. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matth. 24:35). "I am Jesus, who clothe those who are baptized. Because of me Paul cried out: 'As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ'" (Gal. 3:27). "I am Jesus, the groomsman of the enlightened; I am Jesus, the bridegroom of the Church; I am Jesus, the giver of peace and the dispenser of gladness. C Cease weeping, and be clothed with joy; cease mourning, and announce it to the apostles. This is the day on which He took away the tear from every face; this is the day of victory won over death; this is life to those who are in hell; this is the day on which the first-born of the dead arose and brought joy to the world; this is the day on which I shall announce my resurrection to you through Peter and the remaining apostles. Going, say to my brethren and to Peter: 'He has risen from the dead, and behold He shall precede you into Galilee; there you shall see Him'" (Matth. 28:7). Do you see the commiseration of the Lord? He named none of the disciples, except Peter. Why, O Lord, did you name him alone? Why? Hear why I named him alone. Because the others did not say, "If it be necessary for us to die with you, we will not deny you," but this man, who had said this, denied me three times, and regaining his senses, wept bitterly. It was therefore inevitable that he would fear to come into my sight, thinking that his sin had not been forgiven him. Therefore I said, "And to Peter," so that he might approach without fear with the rest of the disciples. "And you shall see me." Tell Peter not to fear at all. I have not diminished you, nor have I removed you from the choir of the apostles. Although I love John, and to him, as being chaste, I commended my mother on the cross; yet to you I have given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. D Fear not therefore to come to me: for "Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in the heavens" (Matth. 16:19). Do not fear, Peter, I have not taken away your first seat among your fellow-disciples; for what I promised you, that I will fulfill. For upon the rock of your faith I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You shall feed my sheep and my lambs; you shall stand at my right hand as a leader of the army. Do not fear, even if you denied me; I saw your tears, and I have forgiven you your sin. It would have been good also for Judas, who betrayed me, if he had repented and had not strangled himself; for I am God of those who repent. Therefore I descended to the earth, so that I might grant repentance to the world. I have forgiven so many sins to publicans and harlots, and shall I not forgive you one? I love those who repent. Record that I wept over Judas, and did not wish that he should perish. It was good for him when he threw the silver in the temple, if he had repented and had not hanged himself; but because he remained without repentance, he shall be tormented eternally. But you, do not fear; for I have seen your tears, and I have forgiven you your sins. To David, who had admitted two crimes, adultery and murder, I granted pardon and restored him to the original order of prophecy, and to you who left all things that you had, shall I not forgive one sin? Peter, I am He who said: "There is joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance" (Luke 15:7); I am He who said: "Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you" (Matth. 11:28). It would have been good for Judas if he had turned to me, and had not strangled himself with a noose and perished; his sin certainly could have been affixed to the cross. Therefore he was the cause for himself. But neither did I curse him; rather I washed his feet like those of the others; I provided him bread and the cup, and I did not accuse him: waiting to see if perhaps he would come to repentance; but he did not wish to approach to the recognition of his sin. But you who have repented, do not fear to come into my sight with your fellow-disciples; so far from having made you lesser, that even your shadow alone heals the sick. And consider the kindness of God, how through these women He announces it to the apostles, and restores the sex dishonored by Eva's disobedience to honor and good hope. You see with how much honor women have been deemed worthy because of their assiduity. Let us, both men and women, imitate their zeal, and let us honor the day of the resurrection as much as we are able; and as they remained overnight until the time of the resurrection, so let us too remain, not bearing sensible ointments and spices, but emitting a good odor from good works and an optimal life, assiduous prayers, and the confession of sins. For as they received the reward of patience, when they were deemed worthy to see Him after the resurrection before all others, and held His feet and adored Him, so it is permitted to each of us, if we wish, not only to hold His feet, but also to receive Him entirely; if only we purge our mind beforehand from every worldly thought, and wash away the filth of sins through tears and through almsgiving; and thus with fear and trembling at that greatest hour we shall approach that tremendous table, every tumult having been dispelled from our mind, and keeping peace with all, thus let us approach the divine mysteries. No one, therefore, when he approaches, should admit evil thoughts within, nor deceits against his neighbor: no one malicious, or a fornicator, or a reviler, or a hater of brothers: no one a lover of money, or an adulterer, or a drunkard, or a miser, or a sodomite; no one envious, or rapacious, or insidiouos, lest he draw condemnation upon himself. I ask, therefore, of you all, that you show much love, very great piety, and great compunction, so that you may bring back a copious reward; and that we may be able not only to hold His feet and hands, but also the very head through the participation of the tremendous and ineffable mysteries; if only we partake of those untainted mysteries with a pure conscience. And not only here shall we lead a pure life, but also on that day we shall be able to see Him with that ineffable glory, and coming with the assembly of the angels; if at least we wish to be meek and lovers of the brethren: and not only shall we see Him, but we shall also be His temple, as the Lord said, "I will dwell in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God" (Lev. 26:12). Nor shall we hear from Him merely "Hail," as He said to the women; but also words worthy of the kingdom: "Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matth. 25:34). May it befall us all to attain to this, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and empire, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.