Inventio crucis

OF ALEXANDER THE MONK, A DISCOURSE ON THE FINDING OF THE PRECIOUS AND LIFE-GIVING CROSS.

Having received the command of your paternal holiness, I was very overwhelmed. For you commanded my nothingness to compose a certain historical account concerning the finding of the life-giving wood, of the all-venerable and worshipful cross, on which our Lord Jesus Christ, having been voluntarily stretched out, destroyed the power of the devil and the tyranny of death, and bestowed incomprehensible salvation on those who believe in him. This command, being exceedingly beyond my power, having received it, I was afraid to undertake; for the work belongs to others than such as us; for we have had no initiation into general education, nor do we possess the training from ascetic practice, but in truth we are simple men, not only in speech, but also in knowledge, on account of the long-standing dominion of passions in us. But since I am not one to disregard the danger of disobedience, out of a desire for obedience I will try to bring the command to completion, entrusting everything to God and to your prayers. And we will say nothing of our own (for we are of yesterday, according to the saying, and we know not); but as much as we were able to find from ancient histories (for many others have labored on this subject, some well and beautifully, and others differently), and as much as we have received from tradition from of old, these things, to speak with God's help, I have taken pains to relate to you, being everywhere careful of the 4017 truth. And you, most holy ones, correct what is lacking, and pray for us. And we shall make the beginning of the discourse He who is the beginning of every beginning. The only-begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, the life-giving Word from the living Father, who was in the beginning, with the ever-existing God, who is "the radiance of his glory and the express image of his person" of the eternal Father from the beginningless beginning, the unfailing beginning, the unending life from the ever-flowing life, the fount of immortality from the life-giving fount, the precise and unchangeable image of the invisible God, the express image of the Father who begot him, the unutterable light from the incomprehensible light, the life-bestowing stream of the life-bearing spring, who is of one substance and co-throned, and of equal power, and equally good with the Father who begot him, who has all that the Father has except for unbegottenness, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit (who ever proceeds from the Father) and through himself, brought all things into being from non-being. For there was nothing, except the holy, consubstantial Trinity, ever existing in its own properties, that is, hypostases, or rather, persons, the uncreated nature, the unfailing divinity, the sovereign dignity, the perpetual exultation, the simple and uncompounded and unformed substance, which is ever and likewise, having neither begun nor ceasing. This, therefore, the living and active and all-powerful Word of God, by the will of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, brought forth all creation, visible and invisible, into being out of non-being at the fitting time, knowing, however, according to divine foreknowledge, when, and where, and how, and how many things that exist should come to be. For infinite ages, so to 4020 speak, passed by, in which there was nothing, except God alone, who is glorified in Trinity; for the three are one in whom is the Godhead; for He did not bring things into being for His own need; for the Divine is without need; but out of measureless goodness, so that there might be more who partake of his grace. Therefore, having brought forth and adorned all things with a fitting order, after all things He creates man, having formed the

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Inventio crucis

ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΟΥ ΜΟΝΑΧΟΥ, ΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΥΡΕΣΙΝ ΤΟΥ ΤΙΜΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΖΩΟΠΟΙΟΥ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΥ.

Τὴν κέλευσιν τῆς ὑμετέρας πατρικῆς ὁσιότητος δεξάμενος, λίαν ἰλιγγίασα. Ἐκελεύσατε γὰρ τῇ ἐμῇ οὐδενείᾳ, ἱστορικόν τινα λόγον ποιήσασθαι περὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ ξύλου, τοῦ πανσέπτου καὶ σεβασμίου σταυροῦ, ἐν ᾧ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τανυσθεὶς ἑκουσίως, κατέλυσε μὲν τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ θανάτου τὴν τυραννίδα, σωτηρίαν δὲ ἀκατάληπτον τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύου σιν ἐδωρήσατο. Τοῦτο τὸ ἐπίταγμα, σφόδρα τυγχά νον ὑπὲρ τὴν ἐμὴν δύναμιν, δεξάμενος, ἐγχείρησιν ἐδειλίασα· ἑτέρων γὰρ ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς τό γε ὑπάρχει τὸ πόνημα· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῆς ἐγκυκλίου παιδεύσεως ἐν μυήσει γεγόναμεν, καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀσκήσεως γυμνασίαν κεκτήμεθα, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀληθῶς ἰδιῶται τυγχάνομεν, οὐ μόνον τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ γνώσει διὰ, τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν παθῶν χρονίαν ἐπικράτειαν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐχ οἷος τὸν τῆς παρακοῆς ὑφορώμε νος κίνδυνον, πόθῳ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τὸ κελευσθὲν πειρά σομαι πέρατι παραδοῦναι, τὸ πᾶν εἰς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ εἰς τὰς ὑμετέρας εὐχὰς ἀπωθήσαντες. Ἐροῦμεν δὲ ἴδιον οὐδὲν (χθιζοὶ γάρ ἐσμεν, κατὰ τὸ λόγιον, καὶ οὐκ οἴδαμεν)· ὅσα δὲ ἐξ ἀρχαίων ἱστοριῶν ἰσχύ σαμεν εὑρεῖν (πολλοὶ γὰρ ἕτεροι περὶ τούτου πεπο νήκασιν, οἱ μὲν εὖ καὶ καλῶς, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως), καὶ ὅσα ἐκ τῆς ἀνέκαθεν εἰλήφαμεν παραδόσεως, ταῦτα ὑμῖν, σὺν Θεῷ φάναι, ἐσπούδασα πανταχοῦ τῆς 4017 ἀληθείας φροντίσας.Ὑμεῖς δὲ τὰ λείποντα ἐπιδιορθώσατε, καὶ προσεύξασθε ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἁγιώτατοι. Ἀρχὴν δὲ τοῦ λόγου ποιησόμεθα τὸν πάσης ἀρχῆς κατάρχοντα. Ὁ μονογενὴς, Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ Πατρὸς, ὁ ἐκ ζῶντος τοῦ Πατρὸς ζωοποιὸς Λόγος ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν, πρὸς τὸν ἀεὶ ὄντα Θεὸν, ὁ ὢν «ἀπαύ γασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως» τοῦ ἀϊδίου Πατρὸς ἐκ τῆς ἀνάρχου ἀρχῆς, ἡ ἀνέκλειπτος ἀρχὴ, ἡ ἐκ τῆς ἀεννάου ζωῆς ζωὴ ἀτελεύτητος, ἡ ἐκ τῆς ζωοποιοῦ πηγῆς πηγὴ ἀθανασίας, ἡ ἀπηκριβωμένη καὶ ἀπαράλλακτος εἰκὼν τοῦ ἀοράτου Θεοῦ, τὸ ἐκμα γεῖον τοῦ φύσαντος Πατρὸς, τὸ ἐξ ἀκαταλήπτου φωτὸς φῶς ἀνεκλάλητον, τὸ ζωοπάροχον νᾶμα τῆς ζωοτόκου πηγῆς, ὁ ὁμοούσιος καὶ ὁμόθρονος, καὶ ὁμοδύναμος, καὶ ὁμάγαθος τῷ γεννήσαντι Πατρὶ, ὁ πάντα ἔχων ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατὴρ πλὴν τῆς ἀγεννησίας, ὁ σὺν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι (τῷ ἐκ Πατρὸς ἀεὶ ἐκπορευο μένῳ) καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγών. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἦν, εἰ μὴ ἡ ἁγία Τριὰς ἡ ὁμοούσιος, ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀεὶ ὑπάρχουσα ἰδιό τησιν ἤτοι ὑποστάσεσιν, ἤγουν προσώποις, ἡ ἄκτι στος φύσις, ἡ ἀνέκλειπτος θεότης, τὸ δεσποτικὸν ἀξίωμα, τὸ διηνεκὲς ἀγαλλίαμα, ἡ ἁπλῆ καὶ ἀσύνθε τος καὶ ἀσχημάτιστος οὐσία, ἡ ἀεὶ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσα, μηδὲ ἀρξαμένη, μηδὲ παυσομένη. Οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ ζῶν καὶ ἐνεργὴς καὶ παντοδύναμος τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, βουλήσει τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ συνεργείᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν τὴν ὁρατὴν καὶ τὴν ἀόρατον ἐν τῷ δέοντι καιρῷ εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων παρήγαγεν, ἐπιστάμενος μέντοι κατὰ θεϊ κὴν πρόγνωσιν, τὸ, πότε, καὶ ποῦ, καὶ πῶς, καὶ πόσα χρὴ γενέσθαι τὰ ὄντα. Ἄπειροι γὰρ αἰῶνες, ἵν' οὕτως 4020 εἴπω, διῆλθον, ἐν οἷς οὐδὲν ἦν, εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ ἐν Τριάδι δοξολογούμενος· ἓν γὰρ τὰ τρία ἐν οἷς ἡ Θεότης· οὐδὲ γὰρ διὰ χρείαν ἰδίαν παρήγαγε τὰ ὄντα· ἀνενδεὲς γὰρ τὸ Θεῖον· ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀμέτρου ἀγαθό τητος, ὡς εἶναι πλείονας τοὺς μετέχοντας τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος. Παραγαγὼν τοίνυν καὶ κατακοσμήσας τὰ πάντα τῷ πρέποντι κόσμῳ, ὕστερον πάντων δημιουρ γεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἤδη προϋποστάσης διαπλάσας τὸ

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