Epiphanius of Salamis, Homily on Christ's Resurrection

Homilia in Christi resurrectionem

A discourse of Saint Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, on the holy resurrection of Christ.

1 Now the mourning for the dead has been put to flight and the light of the resurrection has come. For this is the proof of love, that the very death which man owed, this Christ loosed by dying, giving as a ransom a soul for a soul and a body for a body, a whole man for a man, and death for death.

2 Who ever died, being righteous, for the unrighteous? What father died for a child, what son died for a father? What the Lord did for us, not only forming us by his hand in Adam, but also regenerating us by the spirit in his passion.

3 And the impious people of the Jews killed their own benefactor, rendering to him "evil for good" and affliction for joy and death for life; for him who raised their dead and healed the lame and gave light to the blind, this one they killed, hanging him on a tree.

4 Behold, O men, behold all you tribes the new acts of audacity; they hanged the one who hung the earth, and they fixed to a tree the one who fixed the world, and they measured the one who measured the heavens, and they bound the one who loosed the sinners, and they gave vinegar to drink to the one who gives righteousness to drink, and they fed gall to the one who fed life, and they disfigured the hands and feet of the one who healed their hands and feet, and they made him close his eyes who made them see again, and they buried the one who raised their dead.

5 O new mystery and paradoxical wonder; the judge was judged, and he who looses the bound was bound, and he who fixed the earth was pierced, and he who hung the world was hung, and he who measured the heavens was measured, and he who fed life was fed gall, and he who gives life to all things died, and he who raises the dead was buried. 6 For when the Lord was hanging on the tree, the tombs were rent, and Hades was opened, and the dead arose, and souls leaped forth, and many of those who were rising appeared in Israel, when the mystery of Christ was being accomplished; for on the cross he raised up the flesh, so that the flesh might be shown exalted and death fallen under the feet of the flesh.

7 Then the angels were astonished and the powers of the heavens were amazed at the passion of Christ, creation was amazed, being astonished and saying: What then might this new mystery be? The judge is judged and is silent, the invisible is seen and is not ashamed, the unrestrainable is restrained and is not indignant, the immeasurable is measured and does not resist, the impassible suffers and does not retaliate, the immortal dies and endures, he who is in the heavens is buried and submits; what is this new mystery if not entirely for the sake of man?

8 But the Lord who suffered by his own will rose from the dead, trampling down death, and binding "the strong man," and loosing man; and death, being changed, fell under the feet of Christ, and Hades was dragged as a captive in triumph, and all his powers were turned back when they heard the voice of Christ, as the scripture says: "His form indeed we did not see, but his voice we heard." For Hades did not see the face of the Lord, but heard his voice saying: Come forth, you souls that are bound and sitting in the shadow of death; I proclaim life to you; I am Christ your life.

Homilia in Christi resurrectionem

Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἐπιφανίου ἐπισκόπου Κύπρου λόγος εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνάστασιν·

1 Νῦν τὸ πένθος τῶν νεκρῶν πεφυγάδευται καὶ τὸ φέγγος τῆς ἀναστάσεως

ἐλήλυθεν. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἀγάπης ἀπόδειξις, ὅτι ὅνπερ ὤφειλεν θάνατον ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τοῦτον ἔλυσεν ὁ Χριστὸς ἀποθανών, δοὺς λύτρον ψυχὴν ἀντὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σῶμα ἀντὶ σώματος, ὅλον ἄνθρωπον ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ θάνατον ὑπὲρ θανάτου.

2 Τίς ποτε ἀπέθανεν δίκαιος ὢν ὑπὲρ ἀδίκου; Ποῖος πατὴρ ὑπὲρ τέκνου, ποῖος υἱὸς ὑπὲρ πατρὸς ἀπέθανεν; Ὃ ἐποίησεν κύριος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, οὐ μόνον ἡμᾶς πλάσας διὰ χειρὸς ἐν τῷ Ἀδάμ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀναγεννήσας ἡμᾶς διὰ πνεύματος ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ πάθει.

3 Καὶ ὁ ἀσεβὴς λαὸς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπέκτειναν τὸν ἑαυτῶν εὐεργέτην, ἀποδόντες αὐτῷ "πονηρὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν" καὶ θλῖψιν ἀντὶ χαρᾶς καὶ θάνατον ἀντὶ ζωῆς· τὸν γὰρ ἐγείροντα τοὺς νεκροὺς αὐτῶν καὶ θεραπεύοντα τοὺς χωλοὺς καὶ φωταγωγοῦντα τοὺς τυφλούς, τοῦτον ἀπέκτεισαν κρεμάσαντες ἐπὶ ξύλου.

4 Ἴδετε οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἴδετε πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ τὰ καινὰ τολμήματα· ἐκρέμασαν τὸν κρεμάσαντα τὴν γῆν, καὶ προσέπηξαν ξύλῳ τὸν πήξαντα τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἐμέτρησαν τὸν μετρήσαντα τοὺς οὐρανούς, καὶ ἔδησαν τὸν λύσαντα τοὺς ἁμαρτωλούς, καὶ ἐπότισαν ὄξος τὸν ποτίσαντα δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ἐψώμισαν χολὴν τὸν ψωμίσαντα ζωήν, καὶ ἠφάνισαν χεῖρας καὶ πόδας τοῦ θεραπεύσαντος αὐτῶν χεῖρας καὶ πόδας, καὶ ἠνέγκασαν καμμύσαι τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτοὺς ἀναβλέψαι, καὶ ἔθαψαν τὸν ἐγείραντα τοὺς νεκροὺς αὐτῶν.

5 Ὢ μυστηρίου καινοῦ καὶ θαύματος παραδόξου· ἐκρίθη ὁ κριτής, καὶ ἐδήθη ὁ λύων τοὺς πεπεδημένους, καὶ προσεπάγη ὁ πήξας τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐκρεμάσθη ὁ κρεμάσας τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἐμετρήθη ὁ μετρήσας τοὺς οὐρανούς, καὶ ἐψωμίσθη χολὴν ὁ ψωμίσας ζωήν, καὶ ἀπέθανεν ὁ ζωογονῶν τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἐτάφη ὁ ἀνιστῶν τοὺς νεκρούς. 6 Τοῦ γὰρ κυρίου κρεμαμένου ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου, ἐρράγησαν οἱ τάφοι, καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἠνεώχθη, καὶ ἀνέστησαν νεκροί, καὶ ἐξήλλοντο ψυχαί, καὶ ἐνεφανίσθησαν πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνισταμένων ἐν Ἰσραήλ, ὅτε ἐπετελεῖτο τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον· ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ σταυροῦ ὕψωσεν τὴν σάρκα, ἵνα φανῇ ἡ σὰρξ ὑψουμένη καὶ θάνατος πεπτωκὼς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας τῆς σαρκός.

7 Τότε οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐξενίσθησαν καὶ αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐξεπλάγησαν ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐξεπλάγη ἡ κτίσις ξενιζομένη καὶ λέγουσα· Τί ἄρα εἴη τοῦτο τὸ καινὸν μυστήριον; Ὁ κριτὴς κρίνεται καὶ σιωπᾷ, ὁ ἀόρατος ὁρᾶται καὶ οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται, ὁ ἀκράτητος κρατεῖται καὶ οὐκ ἀγανακτεῖ, ὁ ἀμέτρητος μετρεῖται καὶ οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται, ὁ ἀπαθὴς πάσχει καὶ οὐκ ἀνταποδίδωσιν, ὁ ἀθάνατος θνῄσκει καὶ καρτερεῖ, ὁ ἐν οὐρανοῖς θάπτεται καὶ ὑπομένει· τί τοῦτο τὸ καινὸν μυστήριον ἢ πάντως διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον;

8 Ἀλλ' ὁ βουλήσει παθὼν κύριος ἀνέστη ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καταπατήσας τὸν θάνατον, καὶ δήσας "τὸν ἰσχυρόν", καὶ λύσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ὁ δὲ θάνατος ἀλλοιωθεὶς ἔπεσεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἐσύρθη αἰχμάλωτος θριαμβευόμενος ὁ ᾅδης, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ ἀνεστράφησαν ἀκούσασαι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καθὼς ἡ γραφή φησιν· "Εἶδος μὲν αὐτοῦ οὐκ εἴδομεν, φωνῆς δὲ αὐτοῦ ἠκούσαμεν". Οὐκ εἶδεν γὰρ ὁ ᾅδης τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ κυρίου, ἀλλὰ φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἤκουσεν λέγοντος· Ἐξέλθατε ψυχαὶ πεπεδημέναι καὶ καθήμεναι ἐν σκιᾷ θανάτου· ζωὴν ὑμῖν εὐαγγελίζομαι· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Χριστὸς ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν.