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having become, not being a curse Himself, but rather a blessing and sanctification, but taking up our curse, He is crucified for us, and dies, and is buried. But cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, says the Scripture. And: You are earth, and to earth you shall return, God said to Adam. He becomes, therefore, a curse for us, so that we might receive the blessing. For as many, it says, as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in Him. 21. O the wonder! He who shepherds Israel, as pre-eternal God, is delivered over to death as a man by an Israelite hand. He who leads Israel like a sheep has been brought like an innocent lamb to be sacrificed, and brings the wood of life against the wood of knowledge, and by the taste of gall mixed with vinegar, banished the sickness which from the sweet food had afflicted our nature. He who sits upon the Cherubim as God hangs upon the cross as one judged, being Himself the life of men, which the God-killers, seeing hanging from the wood, did not believe. For they have closed 96.620 their eyes, and with their ears they have heard heavily. He who with divine hands fashioned man, all the day long stretched out His undefiled hands to a disobedient and contrary people, and commits His soul into His Father's hands. And the side of Him who created Eve from the side of Adam is pierced by a spear, and there flows divine blood and water, a drink of immortality, and a baptism of regeneration. Wherefore the sun was ashamed, not bearing to see the intelligible Sun of righteousness being outraged. The earth was shaken, sprinkled with the Master's blood, shaking off the stain of idolatrous filth, and leaping with great joy at the cleansing. The dead arose from the tombs, foreshadowing the resurrection of Him who was being put to death for us. The sun was extinguished, and lit again, fashioning the three-day count of the Master. The veil of the temple was torn, clearly signifying the entrance into the holy of holies, and the manifestation of things hidden. For a robber was about to tread upon paradise, and the man being put to death as an evildoer, was to be believed in and worshipped as God by all creation; for He is truly God; and the earthy body formed from dust was to become higher than the heavens, and to sit together with God; and the knowledge of the holy, and blessed, and much-praised Trinity was to be revealed. 22. He who breathed into Adam the breath of life, and made him a living soul, is placed dead, breathless in the tomb. He who condemned man to return to the earth, has become numbered with those forgotten in the earth. Bronze gates are shattered, and iron bars are broken; everlasting gates were lifted up, and the gatekeeper of Hades shuddered, and the foundations of the world were uncovered. For He who is free from sin has been reckoned among the dead; and He who loosed the wrappings of Lazarus is bound with grave-clothes, so that the man made dead by sin, and bound fast by its chains, He might loose from his bonds, and let go free. Now the King of glory has gone down to the tyrant, He who is mighty in battle, whose goings forth to us are from the end of heaven, who has run His course in life like a giant. For He grapples with the weakness of humanity, and binds the strong one like a sparrow, his guards having vanished before the self-sufficient divinity, and He seizes his goods, leading up well those whom that one led down evilly. Now the Word goes down to the dragon, Leviathan, the apostate (for Leviathan is interpreted as dragon), the great mind 96.621 of the Assyrians, I mean, of the opposing powers, who lurks in the heart of the earth; and He draws him with the hook of His divinity, with the hidden body as with a worm, and whom

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γενόμενος, οὐκ ὢν αὐτὸς κατάρα, εὐλογία δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἁγιασμὸς, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἡμῶν κατάραν ἀναδεχόμενος, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σταυροῦται, καὶ θνήσκει, καὶ θάπτεται. Ἐπικατάρατος δὲ πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου, φησὶν ἡ Γραφή. Καί· Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ, τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἔφησεν ὁ Θεός. Γίνεται τοίνυν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα, ἵνα τὴν εὐλογίαν ἡμεῖς ἀπολάβωμεν. Ὅσοι γὰρ, φησὶν, ἔλαβον αὐτὸν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα γενέσθαι Θεοῦ, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς αὐτόν. καʹ. Ὢ τοῦ θαύματος! ὁ ποιμαίνων τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς Θεὸς προαιώνιος, ὑπὸ χειρὸς Ἰσραηλίτιδος εἰς θάνατον ὡς ἄνθρωπος παραδίδοται. Ὁ ὁδηγῶν Ἰσραὴλ ὡσεὶ πρόβατον, ὡς ἀρνίον ἄκακον ἦκται τοῦ θύεσθαι, καὶ ξύλον ἐπάγει ζωῆς κατὰ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς γνώσεως, καὶ χολῆς γεύσει ὄξει συμμίκτῳ, τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἡδείας βρώσεως νόσον τῇ φύσει ἐνσκήψασαν ἐξωστράκισεν. Ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβὶμ ὡς Θεὸς, ὡς κριτὸς ἐπὶ σταυροῦ κρέμαται, αὐτὸς ὢν ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωὴ, ἣν οἱ θεοκτόνοι ἐξηρτημένην τοῦ ξύλου θεασάμενοι, οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν. Ἔμυσαν 96.620 γὰρ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν, καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶ βαρέως ἤκουσαν. Ὁ θείαις χερσὶ πλαστουργήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν τὰς ἀχράντους διεπέτασε χεῖρας πρὸς λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ ἀντιλέγοντα, καὶ ταῖς πατρικαῖς παλάμαις τὴν ψυχὴν παρατίθεται. Καὶ λόγχῃ πλευρὰ νύττεται τοῦ ἐκ πλευρᾶς τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τὴν Εὔαν δημιουργήσαντος, καὶ πηγάζει θεῖον αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ, πόμα ἀθανασίας, καὶ ἀναπλάσεως βάπτισμα. Ὅθεν ᾐσχύνθη ὁ ἥλιος, μὴ φέρων ὁρᾷν τὸν νοητὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης παροινούμενον ἥλιον. Γῆ ἐσείετο, δεσποτικῷ περιῤῥαινομένη αἵματι, τῶν εἰδωλικῶν λύθρων ἐκτινασσομένη τὸν σπῖλον, καὶ περιχαρῶς σκιρτῶσα τὴν κάθαρσιν. Νεκροὶ τῶν μνημάτων ἀνίσταντο, τοῦ δι' ἡμᾶς νεκρουμένου τὴν ἔγερσιν προεμφαίνοντες. Ἐσβέννυτο ἥλιος, καὶ πάλιν ἀνήπτετο τὴν τριήμερον τοῦ ∆εσπότου δημιουργῶν ἀπαρίθμησιν. Τοῦ ναοῦ διῃρεῖτο τὸ καταπέτασμα, σαφῶς μηνύον τὴν τῶν ἀδύτων ἐπίβασιν, καὶ τῶν κεκρυμμένων τὴν ἔκφανσιν. Λῃστὴς μὲν γὰρ ἤμελλε χωροβατεῖν τὸν παράδεισον, καὶ ὁ δίκην κακούργου ἀναιρούμενος ἄνθρωπος, Θεὸς ὑπὸ πάσης πιστεύεσθαι καὶ προσκυνεῖσθαι τῆς κτίσεως· Θεὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθῶς· καὶ τὸ γεῶδες καὶ ἐκ χοὸς ἀπηρτισμένον σῶμα, οὐρανῶν ὑψηλότερον γίγνεσθαι, καὶ Θεῷ συγκαθέζεσθαι· καὶ ἡ τῆς ἁγίας, καὶ μακαρίας, καὶ πολυυμνήτου Τριάδος φανεροῦσθαι ἐπίγνωσις. κβʹ. Ὁ τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἐμφυσήσας πνεῦμα ζωῆς, καὶ ποιήσας αὐτὸν εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν, νεκρὸς, ἄπνους ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ τίθεται. Ὁ εἰς γῆν ἀποστρέφεσθαι κατακρίνας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῖς ἐν γῇ ἐπιλελησμένοις συναρίθμιος γέγονε. Χαλκαῖ πύλαι συντρίβονται, καὶ συνθλῶνται μοχλοὶ σιδηροῖ· πύλαι μὲν αἰώνιοι ἤρθησαν, καὶ ἔφριξεν ᾅδου πυλωρὸς, καὶ ἀνεκαλύφθη τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης θεμέλια. Ὁ γὰρ ἁμαρτίας ἐλεύθερος ἐν νεκροῖς λελόγισται· καὶ κειρίαις περίκειται ὁ Λαζάρου λύσας τὰ σπάργανα, ἵνα τὸν νεκρωθέντα τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ταῖς ταύτης περισφιγέντα σειραῖς, λύσῃ τῶν δεσμῶν, καὶ ἀφήσῃ ἄνετον. Νῦν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης πρὸς τὸν τύραννον κατεφοίτησεν, ὁ δυνατὸς ἐν πολέμῳ, οὗ ἀπ' ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ αἱ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔξοδοι, ὁ δραμὼν ὡς γίγας τὴν ἐν τῷ βίῳ ὁδόν. Συμπλέκεται γὰρ τοῦτο τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, καὶ δεσμεῖ ὡς στρουθίον τὸν ἰσχυρὸν, φρούδων γεγενημένων τῶν δορυφορούντων τῇ αὐτοδυνάμῳ θεότητι, καὶ τῶν τούτου σκευῶν ποιεῖται τὴν ἁρπαγὴν, ἀνάγων καλῶς, ἃ κακῶς ἐκεῖνος κατήγαγε. Νῦν ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὸν δράκοντα κάτεισι, τὸν Λευϊαθὰν, τὸν ἀποστάτην (δράκων δὲ ὁ Λευϊαθὰν ἑρμηνεύεται), τὸν νοῦν τὸν μέγαν 96.621 τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, τῶν ἐναντίων λέγω δυνάμεων, τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς ἐμφωλεύοντα· καὶ τοῦτον ἕλκει τῷ τῆς θεότητος ἀγκίστρῳ, τῷ κεκρυμμένῳ σώματι οἷά τινι σκώληκι, καὶ οὓς