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to learn also from another source the power of this blood? See from where it first flowed and from where it had its source, from on high, from the cross, from the Lord’s side. For when Christ was dead, he says, and still on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a spear, and then came out water and blood. And the one was a symbol of baptism, the other of the mysteries. For this reason he did not say, "There came out blood and water," but first the water came out and then the blood, since first is baptism and then the mysteries. Therefore that soldier pierced the side, he broke through the wall of the holy temple, and I found the treasure and received the riches. So also it happened with the lamb; the Jews slew the sheep and I reaped the salvation from the sacrifice. 3.17 "From his side came out water and blood." Do not pass over the mystery lightly, beloved. For I have another mystical word to say; I said that that blood and that water are a symbol of baptism and of the mysteries. From both of these the Church was born, "through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit," through baptism and through the mysteries. And the symbols of baptism and of the mysteries are from the side. From his side, therefore, Christ created the Church, just as from the side of Adam he created Eve. 3.18 For this reason also Moses, speaking about the first man, says, "Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," alluding for us to the side of the Lord. For just as God then took the rib and formed a woman, so he gave us blood and water from his side and formed the Church. Just as then in a trance he took the rib, while Adam was sleeping, so also now after death he gave the blood and the water, first the water and then the blood. But what the trance was then, this death has now become, so that you may learn that this death is henceforth a sleep. 3.19 Have you seen how Christ joined the bride to himself? Have you seen with what food he nourishes us all? From the same food we both have our being and are nourished. For just as a woman nourishes what she has borne with her own blood and milk, so also Christ continually nourishes those whom he himself has begotten with his own blood. 3.20 Since, therefore, we have enjoyed so great a gift, let us show much zeal and let us remember the covenants which we made with him. I speak to you both recently initiated and long ago and many years past; for the word is common to all of us, since we all made covenants with him, which we wrote not with ink but with spirit, not with a reed but with the tongue. For with this reed the covenants with God are written; for this reason David also says, "My tongue is the pen of a swift writer." We confessed his lordship, we renounced the devilish tyranny; this became a handwritten bond, this a covenant, this a written agreement. 3.21 See that we do not again become subject to this written agreement. Christ came once, he found our ancestral handwritten bond which Adam wrote. He introduced the beginning of the debt, we increased the loan with subsequent sins. There was a curse there and sin and death and condemnation of the law; Christ annulled all these things and forgave them. And Paul cries out, saying: "The handwritten bond of our sins, which was against us, he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross." He did not say erasing it, he did not say scraping it, but nailing it to the cross, so that not even a trace of it might remain. For this reason he did not wipe it away, but tore it up; for the nails of the cross tore it up and destroyed it so that it might become useless for the future. 3.22 And not in a corner and secretly but in the midst of the world on a high scaffold he made the cancellation. Let the angels see, he says, let the archangels see, let the powers above see, let the wicked demons also see and the devil himself, who made us liable for the debts upon

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μαθεῖν καὶ ἑτέρωθεν τοῦ αἵματος τούτου τὴν ἰσχύν; Βλέπε πόθεν ἔρρευσε τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ πόθεν τὴν πηγὴν ἔσχεν, ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ, ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς τῆς δεσποτικῆς. Τεθνηκότος γάρ, φησί, τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ ὄντος ἔτι, προσελθὼν ὁ στρατιώτης ἔνυξε τὴν πλευρὰν τῇ λόγχῃ, εἶτα ἐξῆλθεν ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα. Καὶ τὸ μὲν τοῦ βαπτίσματος σύμβολον ἦν, τὸ δὲ τῶν μυστηρίων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἶπεν· Ἐξῆλθεν αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ ἀλλὰ πρῶτον ἐξῆλθε τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τότε τὸ αἷμα, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον τὸ βάπτισμα καὶ τότε τὰ μυστήρια. Ἔνυξε τοίνυν τὴν πλευρὰν ὁ στρατιώτης ἐκεῖνος, διώρυξε τὸν τοῖχον τοῦ ἁγίου ναοῦ καὶ ἐγὼ τὸν θησαυρὸν εὗρον καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον ἔλαβον. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀμνοῦ γέγονεν· οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἔσφαζον τὸ πρόβατον καὶ ἐγὼ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς θυσίας ἐκαρπωσάμην. 3.17 «Ἐξῆλθεν ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα.» Μὴ παραδράμῃς ἁπλῶς, ἀγαπητέ, τὸ μυστήριον. Ἔχω γὰρ καὶ ἕτερον λόγον εἰπεῖν μυστικόν· εἶπον ὅτι τοῦ βαπτίσματος σύμβολον καὶ τῶν μυστηρίων ἐστὶ τὸ αἷμα ἐκεῖνο καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ. Ἐξ ἑκατέρων τούτων ἡ ἐκκλησία γεγέννηται, «διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαινώσεως Πνεύματος ἁγίου», διὰ βαπτίσματος καὶ διὰ μυστηρίων. Τὰ δὲ σύμβολα τοῦ βαπτίσματος καὶ τῶν μυστηρίων ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς. Ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς ἄρα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐδημιούργησεν ὁ Χριστός, καθάπερ ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τὴν Εὔαν ἐδημιούργησε. 3.18 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ Μωϋσῆς περὶ τοῦ πρώτου ἀνθρώπου διεξιὼν λέγει· «Ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων μου καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου», τὴν πλευρὰν ἡμῖν αἰνιττόμενος τοῦ δεσπότου. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τότε ἔλαβεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν πλευρὰν καὶ διέπλασε γυναῖκα, οὕτως ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνέπλασε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. Ὥσπερ οὖν τότε ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει τὴν πλευρὰν ἔλαβε, καθεύδοντος τοῦ Ἀδάμ, οὕτω καὶ νῦν μετὰ τὸν θάνατον τὸ αἷμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἔδωκεν, ἐν πρώτοις δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ εἶτα τὸ αἷμα. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ τότε ἡ ἔκστασις, τοῦτο νῦν ὁ θάνατος γέγονεν ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι ὁ θάνατος οὗτος ὕπνος λοιπόν ἐστιν. 3.19 Εἴδετε πῶς συνῆψεν ἑαυτῷ τὴν νύμφην ὁ Χριστός; Εἴδετε ποίᾳ πάντας ἡμᾶς τρέφει τροφῇ; Ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς τροφῆς καὶ συνεστήκαμεν καὶ τρεφόμεθα. Καθάπερ γὰρ γυνὴ τὸ τεχθὲν οἰκείῳ τρέφει αἵματι καὶ γάλακτι, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς οὓς ἐγέννησεν αὐτὸς οἰκείῳ τρέφει διηνεκῶς αἵματι. 3.20 Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοσαύτης ἀπελαύσαμεν δωρεᾶς πολλὴν ἐπιδειξώμεθα τὴν σπουδὴν καὶ ἀναμνησθῶμεν τῶν συνθηκῶν ὧν ἐθέμεθα πρὸς αὐτόν. Ὑμῖν λέγω καὶ τοῖς νῦν μεμυημένοις καὶ τοῖς πάλαι καὶ πρὸ πολλῶν ἐτῶν· κοινὸς γὰρ πρὸς πάντας ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος ἐπειδὴ καὶ πάντες ἐθέμεθα πρὸς αὐτὸν συνθήκας ἃς ἐγράψαμεν οὐ μέλανι ἀλλὰ πνεύματι, οὐ καλάμῳ ἀλλὰ γλώττῃ. Τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ καλάμῳ αἱ συνθῆκαι αἱ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν γράφονται· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ ∆αβίδ φησιν· «Ἡ γλῶσσά μου κάλαμος γραμματέως ὀξυγράφου.» Ὡμολογήσαμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν δεσποτείαν, ἠρνησάμεθα τὴν τυραννίδα τὴν διαβολικήν, τοῦτο χειρόγραφον ἐγένετο, τοῦτο συνθήκη, τοῦτο γραμματεῖον. 3.21 Ὁρᾶτε μὴ πάλιν ὑποχείριοι γενώμεθα τῷ γραμματείῳ τούτῳ. Ἦλθεν ἅπαξ ὁ Χριστός, εὗρεν ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον πατρῷον ὅπερ ἔγραψεν ὁ Ἀδάμ. Ἐκεῖνος τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰσήνεγκε τοῦ χρέους, ἡμεῖς τὸ δάνειον ηὐξήσαμεν ταῖς μετὰ ταῦτα ἁμαρτίαις. Κατάρα ἦν ἐκεῖ καὶ ἁμαρτία καὶ θάνατος καὶ νόμου κατάκρισις· πάντα ταῦτα ἀνεῖλεν ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ συνεχώρησε. Καὶ βοᾷ ὁ Παῦλος λέγων· «Τὸ χειρόγραφον τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν ὃ ἦν ὑπεναντίον ἡμῖν, καὶ αὐτὸ ἦρκεν ἀπὸ τοῦ μέσου, προσηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ.» Οὐκ εἶπεν ἀπαλείψας αὐτό, οὐκ εἶπεν χαράξας ἀλλὰ προσηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ, ἵνα μηδὲ ἴχνος αὐτοῦ μείνῃ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀπήλειψεν ἀλλὰ διέρρηξεν· οἱ γὰρ ἧλοι τοῦ σταυροῦ διέρρηξαν αὐτὸ καὶ διέφθειραν ἵνα ἄχρηστον γένηται τοῦ λοιποῦ. 3.22 Καὶ οὐκ ἐν γωνίᾳ καὶ λάθρᾳ ἀλλ' ἐν μέσῳ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ τοῦ ἰκρίου τὴν διάλυσιν ἐποιήσατο. Βλεπέτωσαν ἄγγελοι, φησίν, βλεπέτωσαν ἀρχάγγελοι, βλεπέτωσαν αἱ ἄνω δυνάμεις, βλεπέτωσαν καὶ οἱ πονηροὶ δαίμονες καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος, οἱ ποιήσαντες ὑπευθύνους ἡμᾶς τῶν ὀφλημάτων ἐπὶ