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having hidden! But Pilate, it says, marveled if he were already dead. He marveled how Life died, how the steward of human breath gave up his breath. Yes, he has died, O Pilate, but willingly. For he has authority to lay down his own life, and he has authority to take it up again. Yes, he died, that he might despoil death, that he might give life to one held fast in fetters, that having become the firstborn from the dead, he might pour forth resurrection for the dead, that what is mortal might be swallowed up by life. κθʹ. Therefore he grants the body to Joseph. O unrestrained boldness and confidence, which faith and divine longing conceived! The disciples, having become partakers of divine gifts, shrink in fear and hide themselves, and you long for a dead man; you quickly imitated your teacher, leader and Lord. For by choice you have delivered your own soul to death. You could not bear to see the Lord’s holy body naked, the body united hypostatically with the divinity. You touched the divine coal, which the Seraphim in figure were not able to touch. O blessed hands! O all-happy arms, with which you took hold of the body of my God, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and costly myrrh! For thus, it says, it is the custom for the Jews to bury. Now there was, it says, in the place where he was crucified, a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid. There therefore, because of the Preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was near, they laid Jesus; which he had hewn in the rock; and having rolled a great stone to the door, he went away. Preparation, then, is so called, as a kind of pre-preparation 96.632 for the rest of the Sabbath. For the Sabbath was a cessation from works, God having ordained for the Hebrews that they should not engage in any service at all; but for us the divine Passion has become a Preparation for the cessation of sin and the difficulties arising from it. Therefore, the only pure and undefiled one is wrapped in a clean linen cloth, he who covers the heaven with clouds, he who wraps himself in light as a garment is placed in a tomb, he who has heaven as his throne and the earth as his footstool, he who fills and contains all things, he who alone as God is uncircumscribed, and who holds creation in his hand, is bodily circumscribed in a tomb. He himself as God in heaven is worshipped with the Father and the Spirit, and he himself as man lies bodily in a tomb, and with his soul abides in the recesses of Hades, and makes paradise accessible to the thief, his uncircumscribed Divinity accompanying him everywhere. For even if the sacred soul was divided from the life-giving and undefiled body, yet the divinity of the Word, after the conception in the womb of the holy Virgin and Theotokos Mary, when the indivisible union of the two natures had taken place according to hypostasis, remained indivisible from both, I mean, of the soul and of the body; and thus the one hypostasis of Christ remained even in death itself, both the soul and the body subsisting in the hypostasis of God the Word, and possessing this hypostasis even after death. For this reason every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father. λʹ. But why is he laid in a new tomb, in which no dead man had yet been laid? It seems to me, so that the resurrection might not be suspected to be of one of those buried long ago. For those who begrudge their own salvation are ready for evil-doing, and very sharp towards unbelief. Therefore, so that the resurrection of the Lord might be shown forth as manifest and very clear, he alone is buried in a new and empty tomb, the spiritual rock of life, from which, following them, the ungrateful drank; the cornerstone, cut without hands, is covered in a hewn rock. For souls that are fragile and easily dissolved by pleasures do not bear the divine Word

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κατακρύψαντος! Ὁ δὲ Πιλάτος, φησὶν, ἐθαύμασεν εἰ ἤδη τέθνηκεν. Ἐθαύμασε πῶς ἡ ζωὴ τέθνηκε, πῶς ὁ τῆς πνοῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ταμίας τὴν πνοὴν παραδέδωκεν. Ναὶ, τέθνηκεν, ὦ Πιλάτε, ἀλλ' ἑκουσίως. Ἐξουσίαν γὰρ ἔχει θεῖναι τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχει πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν. Ναὶ, τέθνηκεν, ἵνα σκυλεύσῃ τὸν θάνατον, ἵνα ζωώσῃ πέδαις σφόδρα κατεχόμενον, ἵνα πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν γενόμενος, τοῖς νεκροῖς πηγάσῃ ἀνάστασιν, ἵνα καταποθῇ τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς. κθʹ. ∆ωρεῖται τοίνυν τὸ σῶμα τῷ Ἰωσήφ. Ὢ τόλμης ἀσχέτου καὶ παῤῥησίας, ἣν πίστις καὶ θεῖος πόθος ἐκύησε! Θείων χαρισμάτων οἱ μαθηταὶ γενόμενοι μέτοχοι, φόβῳ συστελλόμενοι κρύπτονται, καὶ σὺ νεκρὸν ἐπιποθεῖς, τὸν διδάσκαλον θᾶττον ἐμιμήσω τὸν σὸν καθηγεμόνα καὶ Κύριον. Προαιρέσει γὰρ τὴν σεαυτοῦ ψυχὴν θανάτῳ παραδέδωκας. Οὐκ ἤνεγκας γυμνὸν ὁρᾷν τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου σῶμα τὸ ἅγιον, τὸ καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἑνωθὲν τῇ θεότητι. Ἥψω τοῦ θείου ἄνθρακος, οὗ τῷ τύπῳ τὰ Σεραφὶμ οὐ ψαῦσαι δεδύνηνται. Ὢ μακαρίων χειρῶν! ὢ πανολβίων ὠλενῶν, αἷς κατασχὼν τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ μου σῶμα, σινδόνι καθαρᾷ καὶ μύροις πολυτελέσιν ἐνείλησας! Οὕτω γὰρ, φησὶν, ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐνταφιάζειν. Ἦν δὲ, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, ὅπου ἐσταυρώθη, κῆπος, καὶ ἐν τῷ κήπῳ μνημεῖον καινὸν, ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἐτέθη. Ἐκεῖ οὖν διὰ τὴν Παρασκευὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὅτι ἐγγὺς ἦν τὸ μνημεῖον, ἔθηκαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν· ὃ ἐλατόμησεν ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ· καὶ προσκυλίσας λίθον μέγαν πρὸς τὴν θύραν, ἀναπῆλθε. Παρασκευὴ μὲν οὖν λέγεται, οἷόν τις προετοιμασία 96.632 πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Σαββάτου ἀνάπαυσιν. Κατάπαυσιν γὰρ τῶν ἔργων εἶχε τὸ Σάββατον, μηδενὸς λατρευτοῦ τὸ παράπαν ἐφάπτεσθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις θεσπίσαντος· ἀλλ' ἡμῖν Παρασκευὴ πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ τῶν ἐκ ταύτης δυσχερῶν, τὸ θεῖον πάθος γεγένηται. Σινδόνι τοίνυν καθαρᾷ ἐνειλίσσεται ὁ μόνος καθαρὸς καὶ ἀκήρατος, ὁ περιβάλλων τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐν νεφέλαις, ὁ ἀναβαλλόμενος φῶς ὡς ἱμάτιον ἐν τάφῳ τίθεται, ὁ θρόνον ἔχων τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ τὴν γῆν ὑποπόδιον, ὁ πληρῶν καὶ περιγράφων τὰ σύμπαντα, ὁ μόνος ὡς Θεὸς ἀπερίγραπτος, καὶ δρακὶ περιδεδραγμένος τῆς κτίσεως, ἐν τάφῳ σωματικῶς περιγράφεται. Αὐτὸς ὡς Θεὸς ἐν οὐρανῷ σὺν Πατρὶ προσκυνούμενος καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι, καὶ αὐτὸς ὡς ἄνθρωπος σωματικῶς ἐν μνήματι κείμενος, καὶ ψυχικῶς ἐν τοῖς ᾅδου μυχοῖς αὐλιζόμενος, καὶ τῷ λῃστῇ εἰσιτητὸν ποιῶν τὸν παράδεισον, συμπαρομαρτούσης ἁπανταχῆ τῆς ἀπεριγράπτου Θεότητος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ διῃρέθη ἡ ἱερὰ ψυχὴ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ καὶ ἀχράντου σώματος, ἀλλ' ἡ θεότης τοῦ Λόγου μετὰ τὴν ἐν γαστρὶ τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου καὶ Θεοτόκου Μαρίας σύλληψιν, καθ' ὑπόστασιν γεγενημένης τῶν δύο φύσεων ἀδιασπάστου ἑνώσεως, ἀμφοτέρων μεμένηκεν ἀδιάσπαστος, τῆς τε ψυχῆς φημι, καὶ τοῦ σώματος· καὶ οὕτω μία ὑπόστασις τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ θανάτῳ διέμεινεν, ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ὑποστάσει ὑφισταμένης τῆς τε ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ μετὰ θάνατον καὶ ταύτην κεκτημένων ὑπόστασιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων, καὶ ἐπιγείων, καὶ καταχθονίων, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται, ὅτι Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν τοῦ Πατρός. λʹ. Τί δὲ ἐν τάφῳ καινῷ κατατίθεται, ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω νεκρὸς κατετέθη; Ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ὡς ἂν μή τινος τῶν πάλαι τεθειμένων ὑποπτεύηται ἡ ἔγερσις. Ἕτοιμοι γὰρ εἰς κακουργίαν οἱ τῇ ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίᾳ βασκαίνοντες, καὶ πρὸς ἀπιστίαν ὀξύτατοι. Ἵνα τοίνυν ἐκφανὴς καὶ ἀρίδηλος ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου δειχθείη ἀνάστασις, μόνος ἐν καινῷ καὶ κενῷ τῷ μνήματι θάπτεται, ἡ τῆς ζωῆς πνευματικὴ πέτρα, ἐξ ἧς ἀκολουθούσης ἔπινον οἱ ἀγνώμονες· ὁ λίθος ὁ ἀκρογωνιαῖος καὶ ἀχειρότμητος, ἐν πέτρᾳ λελαξευμένῃ καλύπτεται. Εὔθραυστοι γὰρ ψυχαὶ καὶ ἡδοναῖς εὐδιάχυτοι, τὸν θεῖον Λόγον οὐ φέρουσι