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struck him down, rejoicing with great joy, they eagerly ministered, as it is written, as if no longer in some hope, but having seen with their own eyes the victory of the second Adam, eagerly approaching with joy they ministered to him. 2.91 But the multitude of adversaries, on the contrary, now mourned and lamented, being ashamed at the victory of the second Adam. Therefore, their champion, not being able to cast him down, began to plot through the Jews, and indeed, having stirred up their multitude and crucified and put him to death, he thought to be rid of him. But not long after, the resurrection having taken place, both wonderful and glorious and extraordinary and powerful, no longer receiving death or any other suffering at all, but along with incorruptibility and immortality, also having obtained the immutability of the soul, and again being borne up to heaven and carried upon a cloud, and as a victor in triumph being borne up, he entered within the firmament, first of all inaugurating for us a new and living way. 2.92 And the angels, clothed in white, rejoiced with men, bringing the good news to the disciples and the women. But the adversaries, seeing human nature become higher than themselves and all of creation, which they had once tripped up, but now having been cast down by it, remained dumbfounded and agape, completely put to shame. For this reason the Lord also cried out to the disciples: "Take heart, I have overcome the world," and again: "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon snakes and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy," as if to say: Long ago, when man had sinned, when the serpent contended with him in paradise, it was said to him: "He shall watch for your heel, and you his head," as if: He placed an enmity of division between them, so that man might not obey him. 2.93 And the struggle then was equal, being able to harm one another, because the serpent, watching the heel of man, as if his way, if it should find him outside the way, it could harm him by crawling around his heel, but man, having an upright form, paying attention to himself and not straying from the way, could crush the serpent's head. But now that I have conquered the serpent and put him to shame completely, and on behalf of the whole race unjustly endured death through him, and on the cross have nailed up and blotted out the bond, I rose on the third day, having the victory over death, and for all human nature I have become the author of victory, the victory having run through me to all humanity. Take heart, therefore. "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon snakes and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy." No longer, he says, can he even harm your heel, being trampled under your feet. 2.94 Just as, therefore, on the sixth day Adam sinned, having tasted of the tree about midday, he was cast out in the evening, so also on the sixth day, at the sixth hour, the Lord Christ endured the saving cross in the flesh on his behalf. And just as from the transgression until the expulsion from paradise all the angels were exceedingly disheartened, expecting nothing other than the dissolution of man and of themselves and of the universe, so also at the passion from the sixth to the ninth hour all creation was clothed in black, being enveloped in darkness at the injustice that occurred. 2.95 And just as at the ninth hour the two were cast out of paradise, both Adam and Eve, so also at the ninth hour the Lord Christ in the soul and the thief entered into paradise. Therefore, on the very day on which Adam was formed, I mean the sixth, there took place also the transgression and the grief of the angels and the sentence of death and the expulsion from paradise. So also in the passion on that same day there came through the wood of the cross the saving death and the mourning of creation, and in the evening the putting away of mourning and the entry into paradise. "For truly I say to you," says the Savior to the thief, "today you will be with me in paradise." But let us return to the subject at hand. The text.

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αὐτὸν κατηκόντισεν, ἐν πολλῇ χαρᾷ χαίροντες διηκόνουν προθύμως, ὡς γέγραπται, ὡσανεὶ οὐκ ἔτι ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τινί, ἀλλ' αὐταῖς ὄψεσι θεασάμενοι τὴν νίκην τοῦ δευτέρου Ἀδάμ, προθύμως μετὰ χαρᾶς προσελθόντες διηκόνουν αὐτῷ. 2.91 Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων πληθὺς ἀντιστρόφως νῦν ἐπένθει καὶ ὠδύρετο, αἰσχυνομένη ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ τοῦ δευτέρου Ἀδάμ. Ὅθεν μὴ δυνηθεὶς ὁ αὐτῆς πρωτοστάτης τοῦτον καταβαλεῖν, ἐπιβουλεύειν ἤρξατο διὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ δὴ τὴν πληθὺν αὐτῶν διεγείρας καὶ σταυρώσας καὶ θανατώσας ἐδόκει τούτου ἀπαλλάττεσθαι. Μετ' οὐ πολὺ δὲ τῆς ἀναστάσεως γενομένης, θαυμαστῆς τε καὶ ἐνδόξου καὶ παραδόξου καὶ δυνατῆς, μηκέτι θάνατον ὑποδεχόμενος ἢ ἕτερόν τι καθ' ὅλου πάθος, ἀλλὰ σὺν τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ ἀθανασίᾳ καὶ τὴν ἀτρεπτότητα τῆς ψυχῆς κομισάμενος καὶ πάλιν εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀναφερόμενος καὶ διὰ τῆς νεφέλης ἐποχούμενος καὶ ὡς ἐν θριάμβῳ νικηφόρος ἀναφερόμενος ἔσωθεν τοῦ στερεώματος εἰσῆλθε, πρῶτος πάντων ἐγκαινίσας ἡμῖν ὁδὸν πρόσφατον καὶ ζῶσαν. 2.92 Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἄγγελοι λευχειμονοῦντες συνηυφραίνοντο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, εὐαγγελιζόμενοι τοὺς μαθητὰς καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας. Οἱ δὲ ἐναντίοι θεώμενοι ἑαυτῶν τε καὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως ἀνωτέραν γενομένην τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν, ἥν ποτε μὲν ὑπεσκέλισαν, νυνὶ δὲ καταβληθέντες ὑπ' αὐτῆς, ἐννεοὶ μεμενηκότες καὶ ἀχανεῖς τελείως κατῃσχύνοντο. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐβόα τοῖς μαθηταῖς· "Θαρσεῖτε, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον", καὶ πάλιν· "Ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ὑμῖν ἐξουσίαν πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ", ἵνα εἴπῃ· Πάλαι μὲν ἁμαρτήσαντος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἡνίκα ὁ ὄφις ἐν παραδείσῳ συνέβαλε πρὸς αὐτόν, ἐρρέθη αὐτῷ· "Τηρήσει σου πτέρναν καὶ σὺ αὐτοῦ κεφαλήν", ὡσανεί· Ἔχθραν διαιρέσεως πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔβαλε, τοῦ μὴ πείθεσθαι αὐτῷ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. 2.93 Καὶ ἦν ἡ πάλη τότε ἴση, ἀλλήλους δυναμένων βλάψαι, ὅτι ὁ μὲν ὄφις ἐπιτηρῶν τὴν πτέρναν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὡσανεὶ τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, εἰ εὕροι αὐτὸν ἔξω τῆς ὁδοῦ, βλάψαι αὐτὸν ὡς ἕρπων περὶ τὴν πτέρναν ἠδύνατο, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ὄρθιον σχῆμα ἔχων, προσέχων ἑαυτῷ καὶ μὴ πλανώμενος τὴν ὁδόν, τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ ὄφεως ἠδύνατο θλᾶσαι. Νυνὶ δὲ νικήσαντός μου τὸν ὄφιν καὶ καταισχύναντος εἰς τέλος, καὶ ὑπὲρ παντὸς τοῦ γένους ἀδίκως δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν θάνατον ὑπομείνας, καὶ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τὸ χειρόγραφον προσηλώσας καὶ ἐξαλείψας, ἀνέστην τριήμερος τὴν νίκην ἔχων κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ πάσῃ τῇ ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει πρόξενος τῆς νίκης γεγένημαι, δι' ἐμοῦ εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα τῆς νίκης διαδραμούσης. Θαρσεῖτε οὖν. "Ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ὑμῖν ἐξουσίαν πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ." Οὐκέτι, φησίν, οὐδὲ τὴν πτέρναν ὑμῶν δύναται βλάψαι, ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν καταπατούμενος. 2.94 Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἡμαρτηκὼς ὁ Ἀδάμ, γευσάμενος περὶ μεσημβρίαν τοῦ ξύλου, ἐξεβλήθη τὸ δειλινόν, οὕτως καὶ τῇ ἕκτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, ὥρᾳ ἕκτῃ, τὸν σωτήριον σταυρὸν ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς κατὰ σάρκα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ὑπέμεινε. Καὶ ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τῆς παραβάσεως ἕως τῆς ἐκβολῆς τοῦ παραδείσου πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι ἠθύμουν σφόδρα, μηδὲν ἐλπίζοντες ἕτερον ἢ διάλυσιν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἑαυτῶν καὶ τοῦ παντός, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πάθους ἀπὸ ὥρας ἕκτης ἕως ἐννάτης ἡ κτίσις πᾶσα ἐμελανειμόνει, τῷ σκότῳ περιβεβλημένη ἐπὶ τῷ γενομένῳ ἀδίκῳ. 2.95 Καὶ ὥσπερ ἐννάτην ὥραν οἱ δύο ἐξεβλήθησαν τοῦ παραδείσου, ὅ τε Ἀδὰμ καὶ ἡ Εὔα, οὕτως καὶ ὥραν ἐννάτην ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς εἰσέβησαν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Ἐν αὐτῇ οὖν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἐν ᾗ ἐπλάσθη ὁ Ἀδάμ, λέγω δὴ τῇ ἕκτῃ, γέγονε καὶ ἡ παράβασις καὶ ἡ λύπη τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ ἡ ἀπόφασις τοῦ θανάτου καὶ ἡ ἐκβολὴ τοῦ παραδείσου. Οὕτως καὶ εἰς τὸ πάθος ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγένετο διὰ ξύλου σταυροῦ ὁ σωτήριος θάνατος καὶ τὸ πένθος τῆς κτίσεως, καὶ τὸ δειλινὸν ἡ ἀπόθεσις τοῦ πένθους καὶ ἡ εἰσβολὴ τοῦ παραδείσου. "Ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω σοι", φησὶν ὁ Σωτὴρ τῶ λῃστῇ, "σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ εἶ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ". Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν. Τὸ κείμενον