On the Venerable Cross

^A Nothing. But when you see Him on the cross, when you see Him suffering for the world, when you see His hands stretched out on the cross and fastened with nails to the wood, then you will begin to doubt and say: "Is this He of whom the angel spoke to me? Is this He in whom the miracle of my conception consists? Being a Virgin, I gave birth and remained a virgin; why is He crucified here?" And a sword shall pierce your own soul also. Therefore, no one was free from temptation, according to the prophecy of Simeon. Peter, the prince of the disciples, denied Him three times; the other disciples, having abandoned Him, fled. For the shepherd did not need the help of the sheep while driving away wolves, nor did the athlete need helpers, but all had gone away; Christ alone hung like a ram. Therefore, a sword also pierced His soul—that is to say, trial and a certain hesitation of mind—"and a sword shall pierce your own soul also, that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Therefore Jesus suffers to refute unbelief, and to confirm the steadfastness of the believers. ^B Furthermore, the sign is spoken against, so that those who speak against it out of malice may be confuted. For if the truth had not been subjected to any human contradiction, piety would never have been put to the test; but the permission of contradiction makes it tested by the choice of truth. The sign is spoken against: for if it were not so, how could martyrs have been proven in persecutions, who, while they contended, were declared victors through patience? And see how much contradiction has been of benefit, since it has made not only faithful ones, as one might perhaps suppose, but also martyrs of those who have advanced even to torments and death, and have given a specimen of the grace of Christ. When, therefore, Simeon says, "He is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against" (Luke 2:34), it must be noted that neither is resurrection forced upon anyone, nor does He Himself work ruin, but He is set for ruin to those who have stumbled at the stone of offense; but for resurrection to those who have believed of their own will; for He is set, as if to say: "Light arises, so that those who are healthy may see; but those whose eyes are sick, flee the splendor of the light all the more." ^C How, moreover, would these who have fallen have been worthy of reproach, and those, on the contrary, have risen having good hope of their own will, if the sign had not been spoken against? Why does Simeon say, "And for a sign which is spoken against"? So that contradiction might not deter those who believe. For even the truth which is according to God is spoken against, God surely permitting it: for no one could speak against it unless God permitted it; but it is necessary that it be permitted, so that those who are tested may become manifest. For there will be a time when there will no longer be a place for contradiction: for when the sign shall shine forth from heaven, then every knee shall bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and finally every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10). For as long as the sign itself only appears, and it is also only a sign, while He who is designated is nowhere seen, the sign is spoken against; but after He himself who is designated shall have been revealed in His second coming, no one will any longer dare to speak against the sign, when He who was designated shall arrive with manifest divinity against those who speak against Him. ^D Then, indeed, those who have received the sign will be heaped with glory by Him who is designated; but those who have spoken against the sign will be condemned by Him who is denoted; and it will be the end of contradiction, the end of error, the end of doubt, the end of unbelief; but the beginning of rewards and crowns—which may it be our lot to receive, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

NOTICE TO THE HOMILY ON THE PREPARATION DAY

ON THE HOLY AND GREAT FRIDAY

In Holy and Great Friday

^A Today voluntary mandates are undertaken, today He is cast out of paradise, today again He is introduced. O day of weeping and at the same time void of all sadness, and of evening—or rather, yielding delight to all, and healing many! It is with great pain that I confess to you that these calamities occur to me: hearing that Adam, a citizen of paradise, had been cast out of his paternal home, he who had been nourished without agriculture, who had lived in delights without rain, or the labor of a hoe, or toils, or fatigues for the sake of life, always rejoicing in ever-flourishing trees, moving from flower to flower, from fruit to fruit, having need follow his desires, yet lacking nothing—I have wept often for such blessedness, seeing it fallen; for the suffering was novel, and touching our own race. But since I have encountered the Gospels, and I have taken hold of this day (for that was already one, and so is this), I have lost my grief, and I am clothed in white with the word, and I say to myself and to you: Pain, grief, and groaning have fled; the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. For just as the children of physicians heal serpentine wounds, pouring out from them the antidotes, and having prepared them, waging war against the suffering by the very causes of the pain; so too our Savior used all the sources of evil for good, making the bitter sweet, turning the bile into healing, turning the sting of death against itself, changing the harm of the wood into salvation, taking the day that frightened the world, and returning the day that gladdened the world. Do not trust me, but your own eyes; look at the present church, and cease from contention against us. It is the day of the cross, and we all rejoice, and we fast from evils, and we are purified in all things, both within and without. This is the argument of the feast, this is the mode of joy. I speak of small miracles of the power of the cross: look toward the circle of the inhabited world, how many villages, how many cities, how many places, how many nations, how many islands, how many rivers, how many shores, how many races and tribes, and tongues of barbarians; they all fast because of the cross, having crucified their passions by its power; and for many the night is released, and the labor of the fast is not released. And now why have we all gathered to hear something about the cross, and fill the church, and push one another, sweating, laboring—we who are often deemed worthy of priority before judges, yet stand gladly before Jesus? Because Jesus also stood for our sake, that He might stand against the currents of wickedness. What then was done today? Lest the miracles of this day simply pass us by. It was ^B already light, the very break of dawn, and He is led bound in his hands into the praetorium of Pilate. What kind of hands? Those capable of healing the blind, capable of curing the lame. And fingers were bound with fetters, which had fashioned eyelids, and the healer of nature was held back from fulfilling the work of his own art. These things are returned to the Lord. He was bound who binds the waters in the clouds, He who looses the fettered in courage, He who grants remission to the captive; He was bound who loosed Lazarus from the bonds of death; He was led into the praetorium, He who is escorted by myriad angels. He stood before Pilate, He who has heaven as his throne; and He endured being dragged by the creatures, the Creator by the creations, the fashioned by the fashioner, the maker by the made. What then of these things? What happens? And they, he says, did not enter into the praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. O the great lawlessness! They work the murder of injustice, and they refuse to enter into the praetorium, keeping themselves from being defiled, they who are already defiled, loosening the sheep for the sheep. Thus did the Judge of the whole inhabited world wait? He waited for witnesses, He who is the witness of souls; having fashioned, and yet being judged; and men sat judging, but God stood, and standing He was silent, standing by the portals of men, He the Lord of the heavenly gates. Pilate asked, perhaps more humanely than the Jews. Why do I say perhaps? The things done will show the truth: What accusation do you bring against this man? Who has any charge against God? For I am compelled to utter the words of Pilate. For Jesus was silent, the Word not wanting for words, but that He might not by his response unbind the crown of the cross. And did He who possesses nothing desire possessions? Of houses not his own, He who never had where to lay his head? Of money, He who stripped even his own disciples to the waist? Not having a donkey, He acquired one not his own, that He might bless your children. Offer a pretext, fabricate one, kill justly. The Jews answered him: If this man were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him to you. A great proof of things, an indefinite verdict; declare the wickedness, and do not mislead the listener. Pilate says to them: Take him you, and judge him according to your law. A grateful judge who put the burden upon the head of the Jews; you take a sharer in your wickedness. The Jews say to him: It is not lawful for us to kill anyone. How then did you kill Isaiah, how Zechariah, how each of the prophets? But it is not for you to kill, not because you do not wish to, but because you are not able; for they had already been deprived of such authority by the Romans. The law is therefore already dissolved, inactive in deeds, but lying in the ink; and Jesus who was bound dissolved it. But Pilate: I find no fault in him. Not you alone, O Pilate, but not even the Jews, but not even the blind, but not even the dead, nor the sun, nor the moon, neither the world, nor all the righteous prophets and witnesses, nor the prophet who says "He did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth." All agree with Pilate, bringing a just vote; the Jews alone fight, judging with shouting, and struggling to darken the truth with tumult, and confirming that of Isaiah: I waited for him to make grapes, but he made thorns, and ^C not righteousness, but a cry. While these things were being done, and Pilate could neither speak nor hear because of the mixed tumult, and sedition was being meditated. His wife sent to him, a good helper, holding her husband, saying: Have nothing to do with that just man; if you can, save him; if you cannot, save yourself; almost saying the saying of David: Do not destroy my soul with the ungodly, and my life with men of blood. Have nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered much in a dream because of him. Another Joseph, seeing the truth through dreams, testifying against the shouting of the Jews; for it was fitting that they be put to shame by women. Rahab the harlot defeated them, the woman with the issue of blood defeated them, the Canaanite woman defeated them; and now again a woman against them. They are distressed; the Jews answered him: We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die. What law? Supported by what words? Perhaps those read today? "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth; for the iniquities of my people he was led to death." These are the syllables I find useful for them; but elsewhere in no way is Jesus rightly slaughtered. Pilate entered into the praetorium, yielding to the anger of the Jews, striving to extinguish an unquenchable flame. He entered, and he came out; he kindled the fire all the more. For he came out having Jesus crowned, a miracle unwelcome to the Jews, showing the enemy to them already crowned, already victorious, already clothed in royal attire. For that which happened was for insult, but it was an enigma of his royalty by nature. But when they saw Him, whom they often saw, whom they never saw, whom they always watching are set on fire, consumed by their own fire (for they will wish, if they were to…[815]

[LATIN COLUMN] 815 ^A consumed by their own fire (for they shall long to be consumed by flame): they have raised the Sodomitic cry and have been raised up: "Away, away, crucify him." Do you wish to crucify your king? "We have no king but Caesar," they say. A denial without persecution, impiety after the wonders of Egypt: "These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Have you no king but Caesar? Who, then, was your guide on the way in the desert? Or who fed you? He whom Moses proclaims, saying: "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." Since, therefore, you have denied your king, remain henceforth without a king, bearing the yoke of eternal slavery. These things have been done up to this hour: let us see the remaining part of the day; for the whole is holy. They received him crowned: ^B with what things? With thorns, the gifts of the Jews. "I looked that he should bring forth grapes, and he brought forth thorns": he was struck with palms, he was scourged, he endured whips; but he was not ashamed to bear any of these things. Stand with Isaiah, and look upon God with those eyelashes of his. What then does he say? "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We saw him, and he had no form nor comeliness; but his form was dishonored, and failing beyond the sons of men." According to his humanity, not his divinity, does Christ suffer. He had not beauty, nor form—the author of all beauty; for he was grieving for the evils of the Jews, a man being in stripes, and knowing how to bear infirmity. A man, not God; for it was a man, not God, who was being struck. Who then is this one, pressed by many labors and many sorrows, and agitated by all? Does he perhaps suffer justly those things which he suffers? But he bears our sins, and for our sake is pained by sorrows. "I find no cause in him." Nevertheless, he was not ashamed of the ignominious [goods]. For he remained impassible while suffering so many things: he was wounded, he was covered with spittle, he endured all most shameful things, and the same remains crowned with honor and distinguished by glory, as one of those struck, as Isaiah says: "And we thought him to be in pain, and in a stripe, and in ^C affliction: but he was wounded for our transgressions and he was made infirm for our iniquities." Therefore, both he and we lie wounded: "By his stripes we are healed." A dead man, the physician of the dead; wounded, the remedy for miserable men. But how long, O man, will you continue to draw out our confidence through circumlocutions? Speak a little more plainly what we seek. "As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer he is dumb." A good sheep handed over to evil cooks: if you slaughter, O Jews, do not shear; but if you shear, spare the sheep, which produces many useful things for you. "And there were also two other malefactors led with him." For our discourse runs even unto the eleventh hour of the day, so that no one may be discouraged regarding his own life. 816 And I would indeed have wished to pass over the history, because we have narrated it often, but I see the thief, who always offers me violence. Nor is that a miracle: for he offered violence even to the gates of paradise itself, having been transferred by a craft unto salvation. The Lamb stood on the cross with two wolves: but the one remained in his mind on the earth, but the other was already being changed: "Remember me," he says, "when thou comest into thy kingdom." O the great power of Jesus! A thief already, a prophet, proclaims from the cross: "Remember me, O Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom." But what kingly sign do you see, O thief? The palm, the spittle, the nails and the wood, and the mockings of the Jews, and the now-naked lance of the soldiers. "But I do not perceive," he says, "what appears: I see angels standing around, the sun fleeing, the veil rent, the earth trembling, the dead already meditating flight: Jesus receives everyone, who gives the same denarius even to those laborers who came about the eleventh hour." "Amen I say unto you (receive also you the Amen, O thief, O you who art a thief today): today thou shalt be with me in paradise." I, who closed the gates of paradise, who blocked the access with a flaming sword—unless I bring him in, the gates remain closed. Come hither, plunderer, who have plundered the devil, who have been crowned against him. When you saw man and God, you worshipped: you cast aside the old weapons, but you received those of faith. Which being so, and all things being sanctified, from the ether indeed the sun, from the plants the wood, from the animals [gall], from the woven cloths the seamless tunic, from the sea purple vestments, from the metals and iron, the spear and nails, and twin fountains of blood and water poured forth, the Savior performed his duty: "Father, forgive them their sin." To whom the remission? To Greeks, Jews, strangers, barbarians, and finally all: for he spoke once, and the work is performed until now. For he did not say, "Forgive," only of his enemies: every year he says it, and always says it, and whoever wills, receives it. All came to the praetorium of Pilate: saying what? "We know that that deceiver said while alive: After three days I will rise again." Do you know clearly? Do you remember clearly because he rose? "Secure the sepulcher, for it is secure to me: guard the dead man, lest he flee." "You have," he says, "a guard: Go, guard as you know; conclude as you know, compose as you know, keep as you know; unless you keep, you leave me a cause for excuse. Now, however, I deliver him to you, who, while he lived, was seized by you; when, however, he was killed by you, he hid from you all." Let us therefore remain living soberly, that we may see the deep sleep of the Jews, and keep the feast day with the heavenly hosts, to Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

MONITION TO THE HOMILY ON THE HOLY CROSS

HOMILY ON THE VENERABLE AND LIFE-GIVING CROSS, AND CONCERNING THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE FIRST HUMANS

^A For you are imitators of your own Master ^B. Shall I call you sailors? For you have endured the winter by the trial of the surge. Shall I call you helmsmen? For you are such indeed. For just as some excellent helmsman, sitting at the tiller, by his skill avoids the triple-waves and brings the ship safe to a calm harbor, so do you. But shall I call you disciples? For you are ready for obedience. But shall I call you teachers? Again I say, you are; for you have become teachers of the whole inhabited world. ^C What then shall we say? I wish today to set before you a spiritual table, not feeding the body but fortifying the spirit, or rather feeding both the body and cleansing the soul. For such is the spiritual table, not like the table of the gluttons which produces belly-rot. For a spiritual discourse is one that breathes fragrance; for when a man remembers it, as if chewing on myrrh, he emits a certain fragrance, not only comforting himself with that fragrance, but also preparing those who stand by him to be filled with that same fragrance. ^D Brace yourselves, therefore; for I wish to bring forth a discourse. For there are some divers who cast themselves from their ship into the sea, wandering through the depths, wishing to haul up a pearl; but we, having instead of a ship the Old and New Testament, instead of a rudder the Cross, instead of a helmsman Christ, instead of a bowman the Father, instead of a zephyr the Holy Spirit, instead of a sail grace, instead of sailors the disciples, instead of passengers the prophets—therefore let us too cast ourselves from the ship into the sea of mysteries, not that we might haul up a pearl, but something more precious than a pearl.

Sermon on the Venerable Cross

^A Brace yourselves for me, I beseech you, lending me your obedience; for as I said just before, I am about to haul up from the depth of the mysteries something more precious than a pearl. Do not then pass it by, nor treat yourselves as though you were irrational. For it is written: “Do not cast your pearl before swine, ^B and do not throw what is holy to the dogs” (Matt. 7. 6). But when you hear of swine, do not think of those irrational animals; and when you hear of dogs, do not think of those dogs. For by swine he means those who live in debauchery; and by dogs he means those who rage senselessly against the Master. Make yourselves, therefore, worthy of the pearl which I am about to set before you today. For farmers do not simply cast their seeds unless they first yoke oxen, and draw a plow, and pull up thorns, and cut furrows, and then the seeds are cast upon the earth, so that the rain, finding them, may carry them down into the belly of the earth; and then the earth, having received them, brings forth the grain. But those seeds indeed await both winter, and summer, and heavenly rain, and rays of the sun, and the time of harvest, and then they gather them into the storehouses; but I wait for no winter, nor summer, nor rays of the sun, nor rain, nor do I yoke oxen, nor draw a plow, nor cut furrows, nor pull up thorns; for today I sow, and today I reap. ^C For I do not work an irrational earth, but a rational earth, not insensible, but sensible, not soulless, but ensouled. And blessed am I to have been allotted such a field to till; for then I am blessed, when I speak into the ears of those who hear. And again he says: “Disobedience works death” (Eccl. 25. 12). Blessed, therefore, am I; blessed are you! For Jesus says in the Gospel to the disciples: “You are blessed if you keep my word” (John 8. 50, 51). Brace yourselves, therefore, and pay attention to what is said. ^D I wish to show you through examples what God is—using a discourse, I say: God is like a man sitting on a watch-tower, and observing the whole sea, and the ships traversing it, and the earth being there, and the sea raising itself in triple-waves, because of the fierce winds blowing upon it; and some excellent helmsman striving against the waves to moor the ship in a calm harbor, because a similar [fate] overtakes them, fearing lest the ship might become submerged, while other ships walk the upright path, and others by the rush of the winds have been submerged and broken, and some have died, and some have survived, and have laid hold of some piteous rudder, and through the triple-waves have been drawn out to the dry land, even of those who have already died, their bodies cast out. And all these things the one who sits on the watch-tower observes; this is God; and as I said before, I say this using a discourse. When I say God is sitting on the heights, do not imagine him to be only in the heights, but also everywhere. For he has no distance of place, being his own place, filling all things, but nothing contains him. For what can contain an incorporeal essence, and immaterial, and boundless, and unsearchable, and imperishable, and incorruptible, and incomprehensible? For thus it is among the pious that one must conceive of God. For this is our hope, as it is written: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17. 3). From this point certain heretics take hold of us, who are ungrateful, who read and do not understand; but when you hear of Christ, do not think of God only, nor the incarnate dispensation only, but the combination of both, both God the Word and the incarnate dispensation. Since I know Christ who extended [his hands], and I know Christ who fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, apart from women and children; I know Christ who grew thirsty, and I know Christ who changed water into wine; I know Christ who sailed upon the sea, and I know Christ who walked upon the waters; I know Christ who died, and I know Christ who raised up the dead; I know Christ who stood before Pilate, and I know Christ who is seated with the Father; I know Christ who was spat upon by the Jews, and I know Christ who is worshipped by the angels; and the one I refer to the divinity, and the other to the humanity. For this reason the combination of both is spoken of, since I know Christ born of Mary, and I know Christ who existed before the ages. Let us, therefore, glorify Jesus Christ, the unbreakable wall, the foundation established upon the rock. He says to Peter: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16. 18). And similarly Paul says: “For no one can lay another foundation besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3. 11). I beseech you, therefore, that we may attend to one another with all gentleness. For in the present life we are enticed by meat and drink and various pleasures, but in the future, there is judgment and justice. Let us not, therefore, give place to the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age (Ephes. 6. 12). Let us strive, therefore, to escape eternal punishment. For God did not create punishment in order to cast us in, but in order that, if we had fallen, he might cast us out; for such a philanthropic and merciful God do we have. For David bears witness, saying: “God is a righteous judge, and strong, and long-suffering, and not bringing wrath every day. If you do not turn, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent his bow, and prepared it, and in it he has prepared vessels of death” (Ps. 7. 12). These things God says, not that he might judge us, but that we might not become more slothful. For if he had wished to destroy us, he would not have poured out his blood for us. He died, therefore, that he might grant you immortality; he was hungry, that he might satisfy you with his own flesh; he was thirsty, that he might water you with his own blood; he sat in a boat, that he might seat you above the Cherubim; he was baptized, that he might enlighten you; he was slapped in the face, that he might set you free; he walked on a journey, that he might make you tireless; he sailed, that he might make you untroubled; he slept, that he might make you free from care; he came from a woman, that he might show pity on the transgression in Paradise; he was called man, that he might make you a son of man, that he might adopt you as a son of God; he prayed that he might have our things as his, and gave us his own; he prayed

819 ^A to make him a faithful man, as he says concerning Lazarus: “Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” And a voice came from heaven saying: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:28). “I know that thou hearest me always; but because of the multitude standing by I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” If, therefore, he endured anything, it was not for his own sake, nor for the sake of his Father, but that he might save the human race through the cross. And if you desire to know, beloved, the power of the cross, and how many things I could say to its praise, hear: The cross is the hope of Christians, the cross is the resurrection of the dead, the cross is the guide of the blind, the cross is the hope of those in despair, the cross is the way for the erring, the cross is the avenger of those who have suffered injury, the cross is the staff of the lame, the cross is the consolation of the poor, the cross is the bridle for the rich, the cross is the suppression of the proud, the cross is the repentance of those who live wickedly, the cross is a trophy against demons, the cross is the destruction of the devil, the cross is the teacher of infants, the cross is the support of the destitute, the cross is the pilot of those who sail, the cross is the harbor for those tossed by the storm, the cross is a wall for the obsessed, the cross is the father of orphans, the cross is the defender of widows, the cross is the judge of the unrighteous, the cross is the column of the righteous, the cross is the rest of the afflicted, the cross is the guardian of infants, the cross is the head of men, the cross is the end for the elders, the cross is light for those sitting in darkness, the cross is the magnificence of kings, the cross is the humanity of the barbarians, the cross is the freedom of slaves, the cross is the wisdom of the unlearned, the cross is the law of the unrighteous, the cross is the preaching of the prophets, the cross is the announcement of the apostles, the cross is the boast of martyrs, the cross is the exercise of monks, the cross is the chastity of virgins, the cross is the joy of priests, the cross is the foundation of the Church, the cross is the security of the world, the cross is the destruction of temples and altars, the cross is the ^B chasing away of the stench of sacrifices, the cross is the scandal of the Jews, the cross is the ruin of the impious, the cross is the strength of the infirm, the cross is the physician of the sick, the cross is the cleansing of lepers, the cross is the strengthening of the paralyzed, the cross is the bread of the hungry, the cross is the fountain of the thirsty, the cross is the clothing of the naked: but when I say nakedness, do not imagine it to be of the body, but rather the nakedness of faith. But when you have become a believer and have been baptized, then you shall be called clothed; and hear Paul saying: “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). But when you hear “Christ,” understand it not as God only, nor only his dispensation in the flesh, but both. For I have often said, and I shall not cease to say: For it is not wearisome for me to say it, and for you ^C it is safe. He is called Jesus, because he clothed himself in flesh; he is called Christ, which name is of his flesh; he is called the Word, because he is the word of God from God; he is called the Son, because he is from the Father; he is called the Only-begotten, because he is the only one from the only God; he is called God, because he is the Creator. For hear John saying: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God; all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1–3). Do you see that this is he who by a word extended the heaven, and adorned the varied multitude of the stars, and decorated the earth to the likeness of a meadow? This is he who gave light to the sun alone, and defined its course; this is he who determined the moon to the setting; this is he who founded the earth upon the waters; this is he who commanded the earth to produce the herb of the hay, and the fountains to spring forth as waters, the rivers to flow, the lakes to gather together; and he set a boundary to the sea by the sand, and commanded ^D the waters to bring forth living souls, and the winds to blow; he who weighed the mountains in a balance, commanded the clouds to move, and the insects, quadrupeds, reptiles, and birds to run about upon the earth. But what shall I say of the angels, of the archangels, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim, Principalities and Powers, orders, times, years, months, weeks, days, and hours and nights, of light, of darkness, and of the substance of things? But finally, he created man according to his own image and likeness, and placed him in paradise. And seeing the human race overcome by the malice of the devil, he wished to clothe himself in our first fruits, and to affix them to the cross, so that, just as the transgression was through the tree, so again there might be salvation through the tree. And incited by envy, the devil, because he himself had been cast out of heaven while Adam was dwelling in paradise, used the serpent as a certain tool, and through it he acted, and thus he spoke for the first time to those dwelling in paradise: for being incorporeal, he could not speak with those who were corporeal. And he said to Eve: “This tree is good and beautiful to eat of,” and, “In whatever day you eat from it, you shall be like gods” (Gen. 3:5–6), knowing all things. Therefore, when he had persuaded Eve, he deceived her; then she persuaded her husband, and they ate from the tree. And when they had eaten, they appeared naked: then God said to Adam, “Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9). When you hear “Where art thou?”, do not attribute ignorance to God; but he said “Where art thou?” because the devil had said to them, “On the day you eat, you shall be as gods”; as if they thought they would become gods, for that reason God said to him, “Adam, where art thou?” That is to say, “Have you eaten, and yet remained a man? Did I not command you not to eat from this tree? But you ate, and have transgressed.” This is what “Where art thou?” means. And they were covered with fig leaves, veiling the face of sin. And what does Adam say? “I heard thy voice walking in paradise, and I was hidden” (Gen. 3:10). And he said, “Why have you done this?” (Gen. 3:13). Then Adam said to God: “The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she seduced me” (Gen. 3:12). Then to Eve, “Who has done this?” What indeed did she say? “The serpent beguiled me.” O Eve, granted, I gave you to the man, but did I give you to the serpent? They excused themselves, wishing to escape the punishment; then God said to Adam: “Cursed be the earth in thy works; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” Then to the woman: “In sorrows thou shalt bring forth children; I will multiply thy sorrows; and thy conversion shall be toward thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Then to the serpent: “Upon thy breast and thy belly shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, and man shall rule over thee, and he shall watch thy head, and thou shalt watch his heel” (Gen. 3:14 ff.). But why did he curse the serpent that it should walk upon its breast and belly, and eat earth all the days of its life? He cursed the breast, because in it consists the heart, which devised evil; the belly, because through food he seduced; he ordered it to eat earth all the days of its life, because Adam was earthly from the earth. Therefore, three received the sentence, since three also had transgressed. Since the transgression had arisen from the tree, as I said before, for that reason he wished to affix these first fruits to the tree, so that just as the transgression was through the tree, so there might be salvation through the tree. Let us offer glory for all these things to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

MONITUM ON THE HOMILY ON THE RESURRECTION