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Homilia ii in sanctum pascha (homilia 4) (e cod. Sinaitico gr. 492)

By the same, on the Holy Pascha

1 A sacred and royal trumpet has assembled this spiritual theater for us, a trumpet which Bethlehem filled and Zion set ablaze, in which the Cross is a hammer and the Resurrection an anvil. Of which I do not know how to speak its beauty, how to express its light, how to declare the joy in it, how I might narrate the kingdom in it. And with what hand shall I touch it?

2 With what words shall I greet a tomb that begets life, a monument free <indeed> from corruption, but a source of incorruption, a bridal chamber that put the bridegroom to sleep for three days, a bridal chamber that raised the bride uncorrupted after the wedding? The guarded chest a dead man, and the shaken earth a God; for the body proclaims him dead, but the miracle, God; the burial, a dead man, the resurrection, a God; the tears of the women, a dead man, and the words of the angels, a God. Joseph buried him as a dead man, but this one who was buried as a man, as God despoiled death. Again, the soldiers guarded him as a dead man, and the gatekeepers of Hades, seeing him as God, cowered in fear.

3 You will say he is the same one and that one, not one and another, nor another in another, nor another through another; for being one, the incarnate Word, he brought together these and those into one, as he wished, by an ineffable word; and he gave the flesh to minister to the passions, but he used the divinity for the signs and the wonders, but just as it is not permissible for the Word to be separated from the flesh, so it is necessary for the sufferings to be interwoven with the miracles. For he who descended into Hades as a dead man, this one, as God, freed the dead. Since how do angels minister to a tomb, and how do they appear in white robes to the women as if for a bridegroom, and how did they say to them: "You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; he is not here; for he is risen, as he said. That is, heaven is his place, send the myrrh there. He is risen, we did not raise him. For your sake we rolled away the stone; for before we descended, the tomb had been emptied. He is risen, as he himself said."

4 What the angel said, not even a prophet can comprehend or interpret; Hosea speaks the time of the resurrection, Isaiah knows it, but does not understand the how. For these are the words of Hosea's prophecy: "Let us go and return to the Lord our God, for he has torn and will heal us; he will smite and will bind us up after two days; on the third day, we shall rise and shall live before him." Hear again what Isaiah trumpeted: "Lebanon is ashamed, Sharon has become a marsh. Galilee and Carmel will be made manifest. Now I will arise, says the Lord, now I will be glorified, now I will be exalted. Now you will see, now you will be put to shame." For he was directing his word to the Jews: now I will arise when I raise Adam whom the transgression cast down, now I will be glorified when I establish for the nations impassibility from the passions, now I will be exalted, raising your first-fruits to heaven and lifting up to the throne of the cherubim "the form of a servant" which I have from you, now you will see the types ceasing, the truth blossoming, now you will be put to shame, slandering with words and being defeated by deeds, because to God be the glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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Homilia ii in sanctum pascha (homilia 4) (e cod. Sinaitico gr. 492)

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πάσχα

1 Σάλπιγξ ἡμῖν ἱερὰ καὶ βασιλικὴ τὸ πνευματικὸν τοῦτο συνεκρότησεν θέατρον, σάλπιγξ ἣν ἐπλήρωσεν Βηθλεὲμ καὶ ἡ Σιὼν ἐπύρωσεν, ἐν ᾗ ὁ Σταυρὸς σφῦρα καὶ ἄκμων ἡ Ἀνάστασις. Ἧς οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ἐξείπω τὸ κάλλος, πῶς ἐκφράσω τὸ φῶς, πῶς μηνύσω τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ χαράν, πῶς τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ βασιλείαν διηγήσωμαι. Ποίᾳ δὲ αὐτὴν ψηλαφήσω χειρί;

2 Ποίοις λόγοις ἀσπάσομαι τάφον γεννῶντα ζωήν, μνῆμα φθορᾶς <μὲν> ἐλεύθερον, ἀφθαρσίας δὲ πρόξενον, παστάδα τριή μερον τὸν νυμφίον κοιμήσασαν, νυμφῶνα τὴν νύμφην ἄφθορον μετὰ γάμον ἐγείραντα; Νεκρὸν ἡ θήκη φυλαττομένη καὶ θεὸν ἡ γῆ σαλευομένη· νεκρὸν μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν τὸ σῶμα βοᾷ, τὸ δὲ θαῦμα θεόν· νεκρὸν ἡ ταφή, θεὸν ἡ ἀνάστασις· νεκρὸν τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ τὰ δάκρυα, καὶ θεὸν τῶν ἀγγέλων τὰ ῥήματα. Ὡς νεκρὸν αὐτὸν Ἰωσὴφ ἐκήδευσεν, ἀλλ' ὁ κηδευθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος οὗτος ὡς θεὸς τὸν θάνατον ἐσκύ λευσεν. Πάλιν ὡς νεκρὸν οἱ στρατιῶται ἐφρούρησαν καὶ ὡς θεὸν οἱ πυλωροὶ τοῦ ᾅδου θεωρήσαντες ἔπτηξαν.

3 Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τοῦτον κἀκεῖνον ἐρεῖς, οὐκ ἄλλον καὶ ἄλλον, οὐδὲ ἄλλον ἐν ἄλλῳ, οὐδὲ ἄλλον δι' ἄλλου· εἷς γὰρ ὢν ὁ σαρκω θεὶς Λόγος εἰς ἓν ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα ὡς ἠβουλήθη ἀρρήτῳ λόγῳ συνήγαγεν· καὶ τὴν μὲν σάρκα διακονῆσαι τοῖς πάθεσι δέδωκεν, τῇ θεότητι δὲ πρὸς τὰ σημεῖα καὶ τὰ θαύματα κέχρηται, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οὐ θεμιτὸν τὸν Λόγον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς χωρίζεσθαι, οὕτως ἀνάγκη τὰ παθήματα συμπεπλέχθαι τοῖς θαύμασιν. Ὁ γὰρ ὡς νεκρὸς εἰς ᾅδου καταβάς, οὗτος ὡς θεὸς τοὺς νεκροὺς ἠλευθέρωσεν, ἐπεί πως τάφῳ διακονοῦσιν ἄγγελοι, πὼς δὲ λευχείμονες ὡς ἐπὶ νυμφίῳ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἐμφανίζονται, πὼς δὲ πρὸς αὐτὰς ἔλεγον· »Ἰησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Να ζαρηνὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον· οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε· ἠγέρθη γὰρ καθὼς εἶπεν. Τουτέστιν οὐρανὸς αὐτῷ τόπος, ἐκεῖ τὰ μύρα πέμψατε. Ἠγέρθη, οὐχ ἡμεῖς αὐτὸν ἠγείραμεν. Ὑμῶν ἕνεκα τὸν λίθον ἐκυ λίσαμεν· πρὶν γὰρ ἡμᾶς καταβῆναι, ὁ τάφος ἐκεκέ νωτο. Ἠγέρθη, καθὼς εἶπεν αὐτός.»

4 Ὃ ἄγγελος εἶπεν, οὐ χωρεῖ οὐδὲ προφήτης ἑρμηνεῦσαι· Ὡσηὲ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως λέγει, Ἠσαΐας οἶδεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πῶς οὐκ ἐπίσταται. Ταῦτα μὲν γὰρ Ὡσηὲ προφητείας τὰ ῥή ματα· «Πορευσώμεθα καὶ ἐπιστρέψωμεν πρὸς κύριον τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν, ὅτι αὐτὸς» πέπαικεν «καὶ ἰάσεται ἡμᾶς· πατάξει καὶ μο τώσει ἡμᾶς μετὰ δύο ἡμέρας· ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ, ἀναστησό μεθα καὶ ζησόμεθα ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ.» Ἄκουε πάλιν ποῖα Ἠσαΐας ἐσάλπισεν· «Ἠισχύνθη ὁ Λίβανος, ἕλη ἐγένετο ὁ Σαρών. Φανερὰ ἔσται ἡ Γαλιλαία καὶ ὁ Κάρμηλος. Νῦν ἀναστή σομαι, λέγει κύριος, νῦν δοξασθήσομαι, νῦν ὑψωθήσομαι. Νῦν ὄψεσθε, νῦν αἰσχυνθήσεσθε.» Πρὸς γὰρ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους τὸν λόγον ἀπετείνετο· νῦν ἀναστήσομαι ὅταν ἐγείρω τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὃν ἡ παράβασις ἔρριψεν, νῦν δοξασθήσομαι ὅταν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν τῶν παθῶν συστήσω τὴν ἀπάθειαν, νῦν ὑψω θήσομαι τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀπαρχὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ὑψῶν καὶ εἰς τὴν καθέδραν τῶν χερουβὶν ἐπαίρων «τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορ φὴν» ἥνπερ ἐξ ὑμῶν κέκτημαι, νῦν ὄψεσθε παυομέ νους τοὺς τύπους, ἀνθοῦσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, νῦν αἰσχυνθή σεσθε συκοφαντοῦντες ῥήμασιν καὶ ἡττώμενοι πράγμασιν, ὅτι τῷ θεῷ ἡ δόξα, τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύ ματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.