ON THE NAME OF THE CEMETERY, AND ON THE CROSS OF OUR LORD, GOD, AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
A Often have I inquired with myself, for what reason our fathers, having abandoned the houses which they have in the cities, have by decree established that today, and indeed in this place, we should assemble for a sermon: for they do not seem to have done this without cause, nor rashly. Wherefore, I also sought out the cause, and with the grace of God, I found it to be just, and consistent with reason, and appropriate to the present feast. What then is the cause? We keep the memorial of the Cross. But the Crucified was crucified outside the city: therefore they have brought us outside the city. For the shepherd, it says, the sheep follow. And where the king is, there also are the soldiers; and where the carcass is, there the eagles (Matt. 24:28). But for this reason indeed we gather outside the city. Furthermore, that this is the cause, it would perhaps be better to demonstrate first from the divine Scriptures: for, lest you think this to be our own conjecture, I provide Paul to you as a witness. What then does he say concerning the sacrifices? "For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp" (Heb. 13:11). Wherefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. "Let us go forth therefore to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:13). He said it, Paul commanded it; we obeyed, we have gone forth. Outside, therefore, for this cause we are gathered. But for what reason in this martyrium, and not in another? For by divine grace our city is fortified on every side by the relics of saints. For what reason then did our fathers wish us to convene here, and not in another martyrium? Because here a multitude of the dead is laid. Since, therefore, today the Lord has descended to the dead, for this cause we are gathered here, for which reason the very place has been named a "cemetery" (sleeping-place), so that you might learn that the dead, and those who are laid here, are not dead, but have been overcome by sleep and are sleeping. For before the coming of Christ, death had the name of death. "On whatever day you eat from the tree," He says, "you shall die the death" (Gen. 2:17). And again: "The soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezek 18:20). And David: "The death of sinners is evil" (Ps. 33:22); again, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Ps. 115:15). And Job: "Death is rest to a man" (Job 3:23 and 17:16). And not only death, but it was also called Hades. Hear David saying, "But God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hades, when He shall have received me" (Ps. 48:16); and Jacob, "You shall bring down my old age with sorrow to Hades" (Gen. 42:38). These names our passing had in times past: but after Christ came, and for the life of the world underwent death, "death" is no longer called death, but sleep and dormancy. That it is called dormancy, those words of the Lord testify: "Lazarus our friend sleeps" (John 11:11). For He did not say, "He is dead," although he was truly dead. But so that you might understand that the name of "dormancy" was strange, consider how, upon hearing this name, the disciples were troubled, and said: "Lord, if he sleeps, he will be saved" (Ibid. v. 12). So much had they not understood what that saying meant to them. Again, Paul: "Then they also who have fallen asleep have perished" (1 Cor. 15:18)? he says to some. Again elsewhere, speaking of the departed, "We," he says, "who are alive shall not precede those who have fallen asleep" (1 Thess. 4:14). And elsewhere: "Arise, you who sleep" (Eph. 5:14). And that he might show that he says this concerning the dead, he adds: "And arise from the dead." See how everywhere death is named sleep: for which reason also the place found the name of cemetery, as if to say, of a dormitory. For this name is useful, and full of much philosophy. When, therefore, you lead a dead person here, do not cut yourself. For you are leading him not to death, but to sleep: this name suffices for you for the solace and relief of your calamity. Learn where you are leading; into a cemetery: and when you are leading; after the death of Christ, after the nerves of death have been cut: so that from the place, and from the time, you may be able to reap `much consolation. This address is prepared for us most of all for women, since this sex is more subject to the passions, and far more prone to anxiety and despair. But you have a suitable medicine for soothing grief: the name of the place. Therefore, for this cause we are gathered here. B For today our Master travels through all the parts of the underworld; today He has shattered the bronze gates...
today He has crushed the iron bars (Ps. 106:16; Isa. 45:2). Observe the precision of the expression. He did not say, "He opened the bronze gates," but, "He shattered the bronze gates," so that the prison might become useless. He did not remove the bars, but shattered them, so that the guard might become weak. Where there is neither door nor bar, even if one enters, he is not held captive. When, therefore, Christ shatters them, who else will be able to restore them? "For what God has destroyed," it says, "who shall restore?" (Job 12:14). When kings intend to release prisoners, they send letters, but they do not act in this way; rather, they leave both the doors and the guards, indicating 349 that it is necessary to enter there again, either to arrest those who have been released, or others in their stead. But Christ does not so; rather, wishing to show that death has reached its end, He shattered its bronze gates. He called them "bronze," not because the gates were made of bronze, but to declare the harsh and inexorable nature of death. And that you may learn that both bronze and iron signify the same rigid and inflexible character, hear what He says to a certain insolent person: "Your neck is iron, and your forehead is bronze" (Isa. 48:4). He said this, not because he had an iron neck, nor because he had a forehead of bronze, but because he had an implacable, shameless, and harsh countenance. Do you wish to learn how he was implacable, inflexible, and adamant himself? For so long a time, no one was ever able to persuade him to release any of those he held captive, until the Master of the angels, having descended, forced him. First, indeed, He bound the strong man, and then He plundered his vessels; for which reason He adds: "Treasures dark, invisible" (Isa. 45:3). Even if the statement is one, the meaning is twofold; for there are dark places, but they can often be seen when a lamp and light are brought in; but that place of Hades was most gloomy and joyless, and never received the nature of light; for this reason, He called them "dark, invisible." For they were truly dark, until the Sun of Righteousness descended, and shone upon them, and made Hades heaven; for where Christ is, there also is heaven. He calls Hades "dark treasures"; and rightly so, because much wealth was stored up there. For all the nature of men, being the wealth of God, had been stolen away by the devil who deceived the first man, and had been subjected to death. That all human nature was wealth to God, Paul shows, saying: "Rich unto all, and upon all them that call upon Him" (Rom. 10:12). Just as a king, finding a robber chief ravaging the cities, plundering from every side, and hiding away in caves and storing his wealth there, having bound the robber chief, delivers him to punishment, but transfers his treasure to the royal storehouses: so too did Christ act. Having bound the robber chief and the jailer—the devil and death together—through His own death, He transferred the whole wealth, I speak of the human race, to the royal storehouses. This Paul also indicates, saying: "He delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated [us] into the kingdom of his beloved Son" (Col. 1:13). Furthermore, what is worthy of admiration is that the King Himself arrived. And yet no king would ever deign to do this, but would release the prisoners through his servants. But here it is not so; rather, the King Himself came to the prisoners, and was not ashamed of the prison nor of those in bonds; for since He had fashioned them, He was not about to be ashamed; and He shattered the doors, He crushed the bars, He arrived at Hades, He made all its guard 400 desolate, and having taken the jailer bound, so He returned to us. The tyrant was led away captive, the strong man bound; death itself, having cast aside its arms, ran naked to the feet of the King. Have you seen a marvelous victory? Have you seen the achievements of the Cross? Shall I tell you something else more marvelous? Learn the manner of the victory, and then you will be struck with greater wonder. For by those things through which the devil conquered, by those same things was he overcome by Christ; and having taken those very weapons of his, with them He defeated him. And how, hear. A virgin, and wood, and death, were the symbols of our defeat. The virgin was Eve; for she had not yet known a man; the wood was the tree, and the death was the penalty of Adam. But behold, again a virgin, and wood, and death; these symbols of our defeat became symbols of our victory. For instead of Eve, Mary; instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the wood of the Cross; instead of the death of Adam, the death of Christ. Do you see how, through the things by which he had conquered, through those he is found to be defeated? The devil defeated Adam concerning the tree; Christ defeated the devil concerning the Cross; and the one wood was sending men to Hades, while the other was calling back even those who had departed thence. Again, the one wood hid the captive naked, while the other showed the Victor naked upon high to all. And death, the one condemned those who came after it, while the other raised even those who had been born before it. Who shall speak of the mighty acts of the Lord? From death we have become immortal; these are the achievements of the Cross. Have you learned of the victory? Have you learned of the manner of the victory? Learn also how the achievement was wrought without labor. We did not whet the weapons, we did not stand in the battle lines, we did not receive wounds, nor did we see the war, and yet we received the victory; the contest was the Master's, and the crown is ours. Since, therefore, the victory is also ours, let us, like soldiers, cry out today the song of victory, all of us; let us say, hymns to the Master: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O Hades, where is thy sting?" (1 Cor. 15:54-55). These things the Cross has achieved for us; the Cross, the trophy against the demons, the sword against sin, the blade with which Christ pierced the serpent; the Cross, the will of the Father, the glory of the Only-Begotten, the exultation of the Spirit, the ornament of the angels, the
wall of the saints, the light of the whole world. A Just as a lamp, having been lit when the house was overtaken by darkness, drives away the shadows, so Christ, the Cross being lit as a kind of lamp and standing upright, dissolved all the darkness of the earth. And just as the lamp has the light at the top in its summit, so too the Cross had the Sun of Righteousness shining forth at the top. When the world saw Him nailed to it, it shuddered, the earth was moved, the rocks were rent. But even if the rocks were rent, the insensibility of the Jews was not rent; the veil of the temple was torn, and their wicked conspiracy was not torn.
Why was the veil of the temple torn? B Because the temple could not bear to see the Lord being crucified, and by the things that happened to its veil, it put forth these things in sort of an exhortation, saying: "Henceforth, let whoever will, tread upon the Holy of Holies." For what profit have I of these things, such a sacrifice having been offered and accomplished outside? What profit to me is the covenant? In vain and for nothing have I instructed them for so long a time. This is what the prophet was crying out, saying: "Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate vain things?" (Ps. II, 1). They had heard: "As a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before his shearer" (Isai. LIII, 7). They had been instructed, and in this long time of the prophecy, they did not understand the event. And see how they meditated vain things; for this reason the temple was rent, signifying the desolation and ruin to be thereafter for all time.
Since, then, we are about to see Him who was nailed to the Cross this evening as a lamb slaughtered and immolated, let us approach with trembling, I beseech you, and with much awe and reverence. C Did the angels not know how to stand by a tomb not possessing a body, a tomb that was empty? Yet, when it once received the body of the Lord, they show much honor even to the place. The angels, who surpass our nature in excellence, stand by the tomb with such reverence and observance; and are we, about to approach not to an empty tomb, but to the very table where the Lamb is placed, to approach with tumult and disturbance? And what pardon will there be for us from the rest? I do not say these things simply and rashly, but because I am accustomed to see many on this evening tumultuously shouting, pushing one another, jumping forward, casting insults, and bringing upon themselves punishment rather than salvation; for this reason I set forth this admonition.
What are you doing, O man? D When the priest stands before the holy table, lifting up his hands toward heaven, invoking the Holy Spirit that He may come and touch the proposed gifts, there is great quiet, great silence. When the Spirit grants His grace, when He descends, when He touches the proposed gifts, when you see the lamb slaughtered and consumed, then do you stir up tumult, and then do you rouse up crowds, then do you create contention and cast insults? And how can you enjoy this sacrifice, when you approach this table with such tumult and noise? It does not suffice us to approach contaminated by sins, but we do not even allow the very moment of approach to pass free from sin. For when we quarrel, when we are tumultuous, when we bite one another, how shall we be immune from sins? Tell me, why do you hasten? For whose sake do you hurry, while you see the sheep already slaughtered? For if you had to behold this sacrifice for the whole night, would this spectacle, tell me, bring satiety? You waited patiently all day, you passed the good part of the night, and do you squander and lose so much labor in a short point of time? Consider what it is that is proposed, and what is the cause of it. He was slaughtered for your sake, and you abandon Him even as you see Him immolated. "Where the corpse is," it says, "there also the eagles are gathered" (Matt. XXIV, 28). But we approach not as eagles, but as dogs; such is our impudence. Consider what at last is that which has been poured out. It is blood, blood that has blotted out the handwriting of sins; blood, which has purified your soul, which has washed away the stain, which triumphed over principalities and powers. "For He stripped," it says, "principalities and powers, He made a show of them confidently, triumphing over them in the Cross" (Coloss. II, 15). The spoils hang down from the Cross above. For just as some magnanimous king, having successfully finished a most difficult war, places the corslet and the shield and the arms of the tyrant and of the soldiers whom he defeated upon a lofty trophy, so too Christ, having finished the war which He waged with the devil, suspended all his arms, death and the curse, from the lofty Cross, as if from a certain trophy, so that all might see that trophy: the heavenly Virtues which are in the heavens, men who dwell on the earth below, and the very evil demons themselves, who have been defeated. Since, therefore, we have been gifted with such a favor, let us show ourselves worthy according to our strength of those good things which have been conceded to us, that we may also attain the kingdom of the heavens, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.