John of Damascus, Homily on Holy Saturday

to receive, but rather are firm, and manfully disposed towards virtue. 31. But on the next day, it says, which was after the Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered before Pilate, saying. Again the council of lawlessness was gathered. Those who kill the prophets and stone those sent to them; those who terribly devoured the vineyard of the Lord, I mean the 96.633 Israelite people, and hatefully killed the heir, the Son, in addition to the servants. For they did not know that He would be heir of all creation, as man. For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And what do they say to Pilate? Lord, we remembered that that deceiver said while still alive: After three days I will rise. O, the customary lawlessness of idolaters! The deceivers and partakers of deception call the one who is subject to deception, the slave of sin, "lord." But the Savior of all and Lord, the true reality, the wisdom and power of the Father, the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world, they call a deceiver. Why do you say, "while still alive," beforehand? Does He not live after death, He who is the cause of life for the living, and of being for those who exist? He was among the dead, but living, as one who is free. Did you never hear in Jonah the prophet the Lord saying: Yet three days, and Nineveh will be overthrown? For deception will be overthrown when the Lord rises from the tomb on the third day, and righteousness and truth will be planted. Command therefore, they say, that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Why are you troubled in vain, you wretched ones? Why do you fear a fear where no fear is by nature? A seal will not contain the uncontainable. If the seals of the pit did not prevent the entrance for Habakkuk, nor would it have turned aside Daniel, being a prophet and servant of God; how will the seals be able to hold the common Master? But truly malice is blind, and is quickly turned. Lest his disciples come and steal him, and say to the people that he was raised from the dead; and the last deception will be worse than the first. Who steals a dead body, O foolish ones? Those who dig up tombs perhaps strip the clothing from the departed; who has ever stolen a dead body? For if He should not rise, and the prophecy of the resurrection should prove false, how will His disciples cling to him in vain? For every dead man is forgotten from the heart of mortals, said the Scripture. But if by deceivers, how will he not be forgotten all the more? And how will they draw upon themselves deaths and all kinds of afflictions and a heap of evils, just as they did draw upon themselves, by clinging to a dead deceiver? Truly the deception you are considering, you attribute to the true. 32. But Pilate: You have a guard; go, he says, make it as secure as you know how. And they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone along with the guard. Pilate flees communion with the deicides, knowing that he found no fault in Him, and he assigns the whole of the outrage to them. As you know how, he says, make it secure. Let no contradiction to the resurrection 96.636 be left to you; I have entrusted the seal and the guard to you yourselves. Therefore, when the prophecies of the deceiver, as you yourselves say, are shown to be true by the outcome of the resurrection, you will have terrible pretexts and false prodigies. Now it stands on a razor's edge. Now is the judgment, as He Himself said. For if He Himself is lifted up from the earth by rising, you the rulers will be cast out, but He will draw all men to Himself. These are the words of Pilate. But the shameless and senseless Jews, rushing upon the tomb like dogs, seal the stone. Therefore He lies dead in the tomb, guarded by sentinels and a seal, He who created the abyss and sealed it; He who set the sand as a boundary for the sea, as

δέξασθαι, στερεαὶ δὲ μᾶλλον, καὶ ἀῤῥενωπῶς πρὸς ἀρετὴν διακείμεναι. λαʹ. Τῇ δ' ἐπαύριον, φησὶν, ἥτις ἦν μετὰ τὴν Παρασκευὴν, συνήχθησαν οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, καὶ Φαρισαῖοι πρὸς Πιλάτον, λέγοντες. Πάλιν συνήχθη τὸ τῆς παρανομίας συνέδριον. Οἱ τοὺς προφήτας ἀποκτείνοντες, καὶ λιθοβολοῦντες τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτούς· οἱ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα Κυρίου, τὸν 96.633 Ἰσραηλίτην λέγω λαὸν, δεινῶς κατεσθίοντες, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς δούλους τὸν κληρονόμον Υἱὸν ἀπεχθῶς θανατώσαντες. Ἠγνόησαν γὰρ, ὡς κληρονόμος ἔσται πάσης τῆς κτίσεως, οἷα ἄνθρωπος. Εἰ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν. Καὶ τί πρὸς Πιλάτον λέγουσι; Κύριε, ἐμνήσθημεν, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ὁ πλάνος εἶπεν ἔτι ζῶν· Μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἐγείρομαι. Ὢ τῆς συνήθους τῶν εἰδωλολατρῶν παρανομίας! Τὸν τῆς πλάνης ὑπόσπονδον, τὸν δοῦλον τῆς ἁμαρτίας κύριον καλοῦσιν οἱ πλάνοι, καὶ τῆς πλάνης συμμέτοχοι. Τὸν δὲ Σωτῆρα τῶν ὅλων καὶ Κύριον, τὴν ὄντως ἀλήθειαν, τὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς σοφίαν καὶ δύναμιν, τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν τὸ φωτίζον πάντα ἄνθρωπον εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐρχόμενον, πλάνον προσαγορεύουσι. Τί, ἔτι ζῶν, φάσκετε πρότερον; Οὐ ζῇ μετὰ θάνατον, ὁ τῆς ζωῆς τοῖς ζῶσι, καὶ τοῖς οὖσι τοῦ εἶναι αἴτιος; Ἐν νεκροῖς μὲν ἦν, ἀλλὰ ζῶν, ὡς ἐλεύθερος. Οὐκ ἠκούσατέ ποτε ἐν Ἰωνᾷ τῷ προφήτῃ τοῦ Κυρίου φήσαντος· Ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι, καὶ Νινευὴ καταστραφήσεται; Καταστραφήσεται γὰρ ἡ πλάνη, τοῦ Κυρίου τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐξανισταμένου τοῦ μνήματος, καὶ φυτευθήσεται δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἀλήθεια. Κέλευσον οὖν, φασὶν, ἀσφαλισθῆναι τὸν τάφον ἕως τρίτης ἡμέρας. Τί μάτην ταράττεσθε, δείλαιοι; Τί φοβεῖσθε φόβον, οὗ φόβος οὐ πέφυκεν; Οὐ συνέξει σφραγὶς τὸν ἀπερίγραπτον. Εἰ τῷ Ἀββακοὺμ αἱ τοῦ βόθρου σφραγῖδες οὐκ ἐπέσχον τὴν εἴσοδον, οὐκ ἂν ἐκτρέψαιτο τὸν ∆ανιὴλ, προφήτην ὄντα Θεοῦ καὶ θεράποντα· πῶς τὸν κοινὸν ∆εσπότην κατασχεῖν αἱ σφραγῖδες δυνήσονται; Ἀλλ' ὄντως τυφλὸν ἡ κακία, καὶ θᾶττον τρέπεται. Μήποτε ἐλθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ κλέψωσιν αὐτὸν, καὶ εἴπωσι τῷ λαῷ, ὅτι ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν· καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἐσχάτη πλάνη χείρων τῆς πρώτης. Τίς κλέπτει νεκρὸν, ὦ ἀνόητοι; Τὴν μὲν ἐσθῆτα τυχὸν τῶν κατοιχομένων λωποδυτοῦσιν οἱ τοὺς τύμβους ὀρύττοντες· νεκρὸν τίς κέκλοφε πώποτε; εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἀνασταίη, καὶ ψεύσοιτο τῇ προῤῥήσει τὴν ἔγερσιν, πῶς αὐτοῦ μάτην οἱ μαθηταὶ περιέξονται; Νεκρὸς γὰρ ἅπας ἀπὸ καρδίας βροτῶν ἐπιλέλησται, ἔφησεν ἡ Γραφή. Εἰ δὲ πλάνοις, πῶς οὐ μᾶλλον ἐπιλησθήσεται; Πῶς δὲ θανάτους καὶ θλίψεις παντοδαπὰς, καὶ φορυτὸν κακῶν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπισπάσονται, ὡσπεροῦν ἐπεσπάσαντο, πλάνου νεκροῦ ἐπεχόμενοι; Ὄντως τὴν σκεπτομένην ὑμῖν πλάνην τοῖς ἀληθέσιν ἐπιφημίζετε. λβʹ. Ἀλλ' ὁ Πιλάτος· Ἔχετε κουστωδίαν· ὑπάγετε, φησὶν, ἀσφαλίσασθε ὡς οἴδατε. Οἱ δὲ πορευθέντες ἠσφαλίσαντο τὸν τάφον, σφραγίσαντες τὸν λίθον μετὰ τῆς κουστωδίας. Φεύγει τὴν κοινωνίαν τῶν θεοκτόνων ὁ Πιλάτος, εἰδὼς ὡς οὐδεμίαν αἰτίαν εὗρεν ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ πᾶν τῆς παροινίας αὐτοῖς ἀποδίδωσιν. Ὡς οἴδατε, φησὶν, ἀσφαλίσασθε. Μή τις ὑμῖν ὑπο 96.636 λειπέσθω ἀντιλογία πρὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς τὴν σφραγῖδα καὶ τὴν φρουρὰν ἐγκεχείρικα. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀληθῶν τῶν τοῦ πλάνου, ὡς αὐτοί φατε, δεικνυμένων προῤῥήσεων τῇ ἐκβάσει τῆς ἀναστάσεως, σκήψεις δεινὰς, καὶ ψευδῆ τερατεύματα ἕξετε. Νῦν ἐπὶ ξυροῦ ἵσταται ἀκμῆς. Νῦν κρίσις ἐστὶ, καθὼς αὐτὸς ἔφησεν. Εἰ γὰρ αὐτὸς ὑψωθῇ ἐκ γῆς ἀνιστάμενος, ὑμεῖς μὲν οἱ ἄρχοντες ἐκβληθήσεσθε, αὐτὸς δὲ πάντας ἑλκύσει πρὸς ἑαυτόν. Ταῦτα Πιλάτου τὰ ῥήματα. Ἀλλ' οἱ ἀναιδεῖς καὶ ἀγνώμονες Ἰουδαῖοι, ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον κυνηδὸν ἐξορμήσαντες, τὸν λίθον σφραγίζουσι. Κεῖται τοίνυν ἐν τάφῳ νεκρὸς, φύλαξι καὶ σφραγῖδι φρουρούμενος, ὁ κτίσας τὴν ἄβυσσον καὶ σφραγισάμενος αὐτήν· ὁ θέμενος τῇ θαλάσσῃ ψάμμον ὅριον, ὡς