Orations 10.1–14.3

The festival of the sacred mysteries has come; the evening brighter than any day has shone. For what fearful and paradoxical thing did not happen on this evening? The Master dined with his servants; he opened to them the paradise of the mysteries; he gave the sinless flesh as food; he granted as drink a sponge for sins; in the form of a servant he washed the disciples' feet, sharpening them for their course; he gave the morsel, exposing the traitor; he kissed the unworthy one, calling back his grace from the profane man; he went to his passion, showing that he did not endure the passion by force. For who could have held him against his will, him who mastered the sea by a word, who bridled the winds by commands, who drew stinking corpses out of tombs, who was worshipped as Master even by demons, unless he himself, as lover of mankind, suffered willingly, not in what he was, but in what he became? Yet he was held and he endured it; for he did not come to judge the world but to save the world. And the kiss became the token of that daring. Therefore he says to the traitor as he approached: “Judas” (for you are full of venom), “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” He knocks with the name at the door of his conscience, wishing to wake the one stupefied by love of money, as if saying to him: Judas, I chose you for apostleship; how have you turned into a traitor? Judas, do you love money? You are richer than all kings. Demons do not respect kings, but they shudder at your tongue like runaway slaves. Diseases consume the rich, but even your shadows put sufferings to flight. For lovers of money gold is their treasure; but for you the heavenly inheritance has been prepared. If you love money, strip off your power over sufferings; for a soul does not hold both the mire of love of money and the ointment of love for mankind.

Nothing is worse, brothers, than love of money. It arms kinsfolk, it reaps nature, it drives men mad for tyranny, it undermines walls, it razes cities; it leapt into the choir of the apostles; it dared to set a price on the one beyond price. Love of money, then, is the cause of all evils. Therefore Christ, who is God, accusing in the prophets, said: “The sheep has raged against the shepherd.” Truly the root of evils is love of money. So the prophet Zechariah said, as in the person of the Lord: “And I will say to them” (that is, to the ungrateful of the people): “If it is good in your sight, weigh out my wages, or refuse.” And what could be the wages of the one beyond price? What the price of the one beyond all price? What the sale of the one beyond reason? “And they weighed out,” he says, “my wages, thirty pieces of silver.” O exact prediction! In what way did you rave into such insatiability, … Judas! For when that modest and God-loving woman poured the ointment at the supper, because of the love of money lurking within you, you said: “This ointment could have been sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” But John, the son of thunder, exposing your most wicked thought of love of money, says most plainly: “He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money-box he carried off what was put into it.” So the Lord Jesus Christ, foreknowing as God, and knowing him to be overcome by the wicked passion of love of money, wishing to conquer the excess of his insatiable heart, entrusted to him what men value. But he was not satisfied, though he enjoyed the gifts of the good Master and lacked none of the God-given graces; he exchanged the three hundred denarii for thirty pieces of silver. O the evil counsel of Judas! O the madness of Judas, that, having heard from Christ, the life-giving teacher, “What does a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses and forfeits his soul?”, he, delighted for a little while by thirty pieces of silver, handed Christ the giver of life over to the lawless and condemned his own soul to eternal punishment. Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed; it would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ said these things wishing to bring him to his senses, so that, recovering himself, he might turn away from that most wicked project of betrayal, come to repentance, and obtain salvation. But he, preferring disobedience to obedience, became the dwelling of the serpent, the author of evil. Therefore the Lord, seeing him persist in his reckless plan of betrayal, handed him over to the one who had suggested to him the passion of love of money. For when he was asked by the true disciples at the supper who it was that was planning the betrayal, he answered them: “He to whom I give the morsel when I have dipped it, he is the one who betrays me.” And “after he took the morsel,” it says, “Satan entered into him.” And the Lord said to him: “What you are doing, do quickly.” Do you see how the Saviour by nature hastened willingly to come to his passion for the salvation of the human race? Therefore the choice good things among men, which came about through him, are light and life. He was pleased to be called by these himself; for he is light, as God, and life, as immortal, even though he tasted suffering in the flesh, not in the Godhead.

Let us all, then, flee greed; let us vomit out hypocrisy together with love of money; let us greet one another from the heart, since we are about to approach the divine mysteries; let us cast away all anger; let us be clean of every grudge; so that when the Master enters our souls he may find no one full of hypocrisy like Judas, but all pure: like John, speaking of God with faith from the Father's bosom; like Paul, crucified to the world; like Peter, preaching with piety and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”; so that we may obtain the Master's blessing. For “blessed,” it says, “is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin, and in whose mouth there is no deceit.” For “on whom will I look,” he says through the prophet, “but on the meek and quiet one who trembles at my words?” And in the Gospels the Saviour said, teaching his own disciples: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”; of which may we all be made worthy and come to enjoy it, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly consented to be sold and handed over for us, so as to free us from slavery to the invisible enemy. To him be glory together with the Father and his holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Fearful are the mysteries of today's battle; awesome the trophies of the war beneath the earth; indescribable the sudden overthrow of the ancient tyrant; beyond all thought the victory of him who was made flesh for us, on our behalf. For he grappled with death as a dead man, but despoiled Hades as God, strong and mighty. For “the Lord is strong and mighty; the Lord is mighty in battle.” What word, then, could worthily serve the wonder? What tongue will tell and describe the fearful battle? For today the seal of the prophetic voices has been fulfilled. Today Hades unknowingly swallowed poison. Today death received a dead man who lives for ever. Today the bonds that the serpent forged in paradise were loosed. Today the slaves held from the ages were set free. Today the robber broke into paradise, guarded for five thousand five hundred years by the flaming sword. Today the light shines in the darkness and has emptied the whole treasury of death. Today a royal entrance into the prison was made new. Today he who was swallowed as a mere dead man and set it on fire as God the Word broke the bronze gates and shattered the iron bars. Today Christ the cornerstone shook the ancestral foundation of death, drew up Adam, saved Abel, and overthrew the whole building of Hades. Today even those who formerly lamented, whom death in its strength had swallowed, cry with a loud voice: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O Hades, is your sting?”

What do you say to this, Jew? Do you mock the cross? Scoff at the passion? Laugh at the death? Ridicule the tomb? But see the victory, and shudder at the passion of God the Word, who suffered willingly in the flesh, being impassible. Death swallowed all the righteous with authority, and none of the holy ones overcame death. Do you admire Abel? But death gulped him down. Do you tell me of Noah? But he too tumbled into corruption. Do you put Enoch before me? But he too escaped, and did not abolish the law of death. Do you boast to me of Abraham? But death dissolved him too. Do you remember Isaac? But he fell and did not rise. Do you put forward Jacob? But the patriarch is dust. Do you glory in Joseph? But his memory lies in bare, dry bones. Do you make a god of Moses? But you do not even find his tomb. Do you tell me of all the prophets? But think of their tombs, and do not boast in words. So many death took, and it gulped them all down; but it swallowed one, and against its will vomited out the whole world. For see today the devil's wickedness against him who was not liable to death. He armed servants for the arrest; he bought Judas for the betrayal; he tripped Peter into denial; he maddened the high priest's servant to strike; he drove the soldiers wild for mockery; he roused Pilate to questioning; he stirred the people to riot, wishing to learn who the Master was. But the long-suffering one stood, bearing the outrage, so as to undo the curse.

Therefore, as at the death of a king all the brightness of cities is banished, so today all creation renounced its own splendour. Heaven put on the black of darkness; the sun, like a slave who loves his master, fled, drawing in its rays; the stars disturbed their natural order; the temple tore itself in mourning; the earth, lamenting, did not beat its arms but split rocks; all the prophets came and asked the Master: “What are these wounds between your hands?” How did suffering dare to touch you? In the Godhead? But the Godhead cannot be taken. What suffers, then, suffered in the flesh. And how did those who crucified you not respect you, nor remember your kindness? What, then, did the Master say to them? “These are the wounds with which I was willingly wounded in the house of my beloved.” I brought a vine out of Egypt; I watered it with the passage through the sea; I dug around it with terrors; I pruned it with circumcision; I staked it with prophets; I fenced it with the law; “and I waited for it to make grapes, but it made thorns,” and not righteousness, but a cry. And, “I became like a man without help, free among the dead.”

O passion that cleanses the world! O death, the source of immortality, making life rise! O descent into Hades, a bridge to new life for those dead from the ages! O midday, recalling the evening sentence in paradise! O cross, physician of the tree! O nails, which nailed the world to the knowledge of God and pierced death! O thorns, the grapes of the Jewish vineyard! O gall, bringer of the honey of faith and accuser of the wickedness of the Jews! O sponge, which sponged away and wiped off the sin of the world! O reed, which enrolled the faithful as citizens in heaven and crushed the tyranny of the serpent, author of evil! O mystery, disbelieved by unbelievers and worshipped unceasingly by all the faithful! O sign, spoken against by unbelievers and glorified by the faithful! O mystery, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to us Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, as the apostle Paul says, for “the foolishness of God is wiser than men”; so as to abolish death, despoil Hades, and make alive the dead from the ages; by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might to the ages of ages. Amen.

Bright, then, are the flowers of the three-day passion; the lilies of the font are flashing; stars have risen from the waters. And fittingly: for the sun has appeared to those sitting in darkness in the lowest pit and in the shadow of death. Glorious is the captivity of the crucified one. See the trophies, and do not doubt the victory. Marvel at the magnanimity of the empress, who pours out spiritual blessings on all. For of old the Jews hurled stones at Stephen, wishing to bury the first champion and invincible orator of the crucified one; but the virgin who dedicated herself to Christ emptied out and spent her wealth for piety. She put her own flesh to death to the passions; she made a bridal chamber in her soul for the crucified one; she adorned the visible heaven on earth. She confesses the tomb as the treasury of salvation; she glories in the cross, through which the old bond was torn up; she embraces death, the ransom from the ancient barrier; she proclaims the resurrection, the great gift of the crucified one; she marvels at the font, which has borne so many and remained a virgin, through which lights have risen; she is amazed at the mystery in which the devil was paradoxically shipwrecked. These are the gifts of the crucified one; these the trophies of the tomb; these the achievements of the common Master. On that day Adam drank the poison in paradise; on this night Hades vomited up him whom it swallowed unknowing. Who has seen such things? Who has heard the like? A tomb has become the healing of paradise; a cross has undone the curse of a tree; creation shuddered at the one whom Judas sold.

What do you say, Jew? Two things expose your madness: the words of the prophets and the elements of nature. If you do not blush at the words, at least shudder at the trembling of nature. For see, the servants mourned, unable to bear the outrage to the Master. Heaven put on darkness; the sun ran away from the mystery; the earth trembled at the daring; the temple lamented the Christ-killers; Hades sent the dead ahead as envoys; the earth, trembling, cried without a voice to the Jews: “How long will you remain heavy-hearted and hard-hearted?” All the dead, marvelling at the passion, announce the good news, saying: “By his stripes we have all been healed,” we who sat in darkness and the shadow of death under tyranny; [but] “through the tender mercy” “he has shown strength with his arm”, he who for our sake became poor though he was rich, the Son of the living God, Christ Jesus our Lord, and “scattered the proud and exalted the humble,” striking down “the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,” the serpent, author of evil, and the crooked dragon, as Isaiah, the most eminent of the prophets, foretold. Therefore the whole earth with gladness loudly praises the resurrection of our Master and Saviour Jesus Christ, for in it there has been release for those captive from the ages and recovery of sight for the blind. For “the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world,” having become man from the holy Virgin without change, without confusion, and without division, by the cross threw down our adversary, who envied the human race so as to deprive it of eternal good things, and wished through them to reproach God: “For they despised your commandments, and are dragged down by the pleasures of life.” So our Lord and God himself has granted us eternal life through his paradoxical and adorable resurrection from the dead on the third day. To him be glory and might, together with the undefiled Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Let the wonder of the saving festival overcome even fluency of words. Let the eloquence of every tongue be defeated, unable to proclaim worthily the kindness of the crucified one. For what like it has happened from eternity, such as we now see by faith? When did mind imagine, or heart conceive, or understanding form, or word recount, or eye behold, or ear receive such a thing as Christ, made flesh, has now given the world? Never did the sun see the devil exposed on a tree; never did a cross buy nature back from a curse; never was the ransom of the world sold for thirty pieces of silver; never did the suffering of a sinless one become a melting-pot of sin; never did life hang on a tree, triumphing over the tyrant in flesh without a father; never did a tomb receive the destroyer of death; never did heaven put on darkness at midday so as not to see the drama dared against God but touching the flesh; never did Hades shudder at the one it swallowed; never was the earth adorned with a life-receiving tomb, or rather not a tomb but a bridal chamber. For the one buried was not corrupted, but went down and was wedded. Never in three nights and days was nature delivered into resurrection. For he who in the Virgin's womb formed his own body for himself, as he knows, also in three days united again the separation of his soul from his own body and showed his own resurrection. There the time vouches for the birth, that he is man; here the tomb vouches for the might, that he is God. Never was a lamb that takes away the sins of the world laid on an altar, except when God took the form of a slave, and he who formed the dust put on, inexplicably, what he had formed; whose flesh is life, whose blood is ransom, whose Spirit is a seal, and whose divine nature is without beginning.

Well did the blessed Paul say: “The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The heaven is new, which he who came down blessed by his ascent; the earth is new, which he who was born in the manger according to the flesh sanctified; the sea is new, which lifted up a footprint that flesh did not sow nor sin weigh down; life is new, which he freed from war and filled with calm; humanity is new, which he washed through water and smelted in the fire of the Spirit; worship is new: for no longer the smoke of sacrifice and circumcision, but faith shines, which glorifies and worships three hypostases in one being.

Announcing this good news, the prophet Isaiah said: “In that day God will shine in counsel with glory upon the earth.” In what day, prophet? The day, he says, on which God, as he knows, works all things beyond nature, being made flesh from a woman: a Virgin giving birth without a man, a mystery; the lover of mankind becoming man and not changing; death vomiting up the one it swallowed unknowing; a tomb, a treasury of life and resurrection; captivity, mother of freedom. And why say much? When God the Word, having become man, was crucified, the suffering was of the flesh, the might of the Godhead. But tell us, prophet, how will God shine on those on earth? Outside humanity? Without flesh? Far from it! Sight cannot bear the ray of the Godhead; the devil does not come forward to wrestle. For death shudders at the Creator, not daring to swallow an indestructible nature. Hades trembles at God bare of flesh; for him whom the cherubim do not look upon Hades too trembles at. But the divine nature needed a covering, not to cover it, but to hide our outrage: not the veil of Moses, for that was ignorance and mist; not an embroidered curtain, for that is the bloom of colours; not a gilded mercy seat, for that is the beauty of matter; not cherubim made by hands, for that is the wonder of art; but the form of a sheep was needed, to lure the man-eating wolf.

But at once a Jew leaps upon the words and mocks the prophet's grand speech, ever fighting against the Holy Spirit. And what does he say? I do not believe that God appeared on earth, or that the appearance of a man gave form to the formless one. But, Jew, though you disobey the law, reason away the prophets, spit on the Gospels, and overlook the apostles, let us ask the elements and see whom they confess as the Master who suffered in the flesh. And as is right, let us first ask the sun. Tell us, then, sun, why did you draw in your rays when the Master was crucified? Was the one crucified a mere man? Then you ought to have done this also when righteous Abel was killed. Let us ask heaven too. Tell us, heaven, why did you put on darkness at full midday, when the Jews pierced the Master's side? Because the one crucified was a mere man? Why did you not mourn too when righteous Naboth was stoned? Let us ask the earth too. Tell us, earth, why did you tremble when the enemies of God dared these things? Because the one crucified was a mere man? How then did you not tremble seeing Isaiah sawn by Manasseh with a wooden saw? But let us ask the temple too. Tell us, temple, why did you tear your curtain when Christ was crucified? Because the one crucified was a mere man? How then did you not tear it when the blood of Zechariah was poured out in your midst? All creation answers without a voice, saying: We proclaimed the Master by our mourning. We did not lament the suffering of a fellow-servant; we shuddered at the outrage to the Master. The heaven cries: He who became man and was crucified in the flesh was God; as God he bowed me and came down. The sun cries: He who was crucified in the flesh was my Master; for fearing the light of his Godhead I drew in my rays. The earth cries: He who was crucified in the flesh was the Creator bearing flesh; for though I embraced the flesh in the manger, I did not circumscribe the might of his Godhead. The sea cries too: He who was crucified in the flesh was not my fellow-servant; for the footprint of my fellow-servant Peter weighs down my back, but the feet of the Master sanctify my nature. The temple cries too: The God who of old was worshipped in me is the one now outraged in the flesh; therefore, unable to bear the daring, I tore my garment. Hades cries too: He who came down here was not a mere man; I know what I have suffered; for him whom I received as a captive I found to be almighty God. But do you disbelieve the elements? Let us ask the heavenly powers too. Tell us, angels, archangels, and all the powers of heaven: who is he who appeared on earth and was crucified in the flesh? And they will all answer, crying through the prophet David: “The Lord, the God of powers, he is the King of glory.” To him be glory and might to the ages of ages. Amen.

Bright is the festival of Pascha, and bright too is the present assembly. It contains mysteries both old and new. And the feast of the week, or rather its gladness, has such abundance that not only do men on earth exult, but the powers above also keep the feast and celebrate with us because of the risen Christ. For now the angels keep festival, and the armies of archangels, receiving the King of heaven, Christ our God, from earth into heaven as victor; the choirs of the saints keep festival too, proclaiming Christ who rose before the morning star; the earth keeps festival, washed with divine blood; the sea keeps festival, honoured by the footprints of Christ himself. Let every man keep festival too, born again through water and the Holy Spirit; let the first man Adam keep festival too, freed from the ancient curse.

Christ has filled us with such grace of gladness through his resurrection that we not only keep the feast but are granted salvation from suffering, immortality from death, healing from a wound, resurrection from a fall. And of old, beloved, the mystery of Pascha was celebrated mystically through the law in Egypt, and was shown symbolically by the slaughter of the lamb; but now through the Gospel we celebrate spiritually the feast of the resurrection, Pascha. There a lamb from the flock was sacrificed according to the law; here Christ himself, the Lamb of God, is offered. There a sheep from the fold; here, instead of a sheep, the good shepherd himself, who lays down his life for the sheep. There the sign of the sprinkled blood of a brute beast became a safeguard for the whole people; here the precious blood of Christ is poured out for the salvation of the world, so that we may receive forgiveness of sins. There it killed the firstborn of the Egyptians; here the many-born offspring of sins are cleansed through confession. There Pharaoh with his fearful army was drowned in the sea; here the spiritual Pharaoh with all his power is sunk through baptism. There the children of the Hebrews, after crossing the Red Sea, sang the hymn of victory to their benefactor, saying: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously”; here those counted worthy of baptism sing the hymn of victory mystically, saying: “One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.” And the prophet cries out, saying: “The Lord has reigned; he has put on majesty.” The Hebrews, after crossing the Red Sea, ate the manna in the desert; but now those from the font eat the bread that came down from heaven. For his is the voice that says: “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

Well, then, did the blessed Paul cry: “These things happened to them as types, and were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” The children of the Jews plainly erred, not knowing the truth; “for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” The wretched men did not understand that the typical oracles held only until the truth should appear. For a sculptor who wishes to set up a statue of the king in gold, or silver, or bronze first models the shape of the statue in clay; and until he completes the real statue in gold, or silver, or bronze, the clay model is carefully kept, because the craftsman needs it. But when he has completed the true statue, the clay model is broken up, as useless and good for nothing to the craftsman. So too the Jews: before the truth was made manifest to men, they rightly kept the types; but after our Lord Jesus Christ appeared, who said, “I am the light of the world, and the truth, and the life, and the resurrection,” they hold the types in vain, which they do not even keep. Let the God-fighting Jews stop, then, slaughtering the brute sheep for the redemption of the people; for the spiritual Lamb has been slain, the Son of God, who takes away the sin of the world and has redeemed us from the destroyer. Let them leave the old leaven and take the new lump of truth. Let them stop eating bitter herbs; for Christ drank the gall for us, so that he might mix for us in exchange sweet springs of healing from himself. Let them keep the feast with us, then, “not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”; so that after our departure from this life we may glorify the Lord of glory with one accord with the angels, saying: “The Lord has reigned; he has put on majesty.” To him be glory and honour and worship to the ages of ages. Amen.