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Homilia in assumptionem Christi

Of our Father among the saints, Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, on the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed is God.

The adornment of a body is the head placed upon it; and the adornment of the feasts is today's feast. For what? you might say. We celebrate the ascension of Christ in the flesh, as it is shown to be the fulfillment of the Lord's feasts. For just as a head of radiant form, so also today's feast reflects the beauty of divine grace; but the many, being ignorant of its magnitude, consider it of lesser importance. And if you wish to learn, patiently turn your mind to me. Only assist me through your prayers, I beseech you; and calm the leaden breezes; and still the waves of idle talk; and grant me your attentive hearing. For according to the wise Solomon, the words of the wise are heard in quiet.

The first feast, then, 43.480 is the awesome and wondrous birth of Christ according to the flesh. For how is it not wondrous, the descent of God from heaven to us, or rather, his condescension? that the Lord of all deigned to unite the form of a servant to himself, and to have a poor mother, he who contains all things. The second feast is that of the Theophany, having a vision much greater than the first. For in the first feast a star pointed to the incarnate God the Word; but in the second feast John cried out, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And the testimony of the one being baptized was confirmed by the Father crying from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. But not even then was the enjoyment of salvation complete, since the mortal body had not yet received immortality through the resurrection. The third feast, the resurrection from the saving passion, gives life to those flashing forth rays through the baptism of his blood, and being reborn through water and the Holy Spirit. Wherefore also he raised the fallen world, and Adam who had long ago fallen, he deemed worthy of eternal life.

Through a tree Adam reaped death; through the wood of the cross life is granted to the world. And this one indeed was shown to be more glorious than the preceding feasts, since in it he, putting death to death by death, brought immortal life to the dead. But even this one did not have the fullness of joy, possessing the risen one on earth. And that of Pentecost has a great and ineffable joy, in which the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles; but today, on the day of the Ascension, all things in every way have been filled with gladness. Having opened the light-bearing heavens, and having made the finest air a ladder, and having raised up him from earth to the celestial vaults, and having roused all the natures of the angels to unceasing joy, he showed us a strange sight, our own flesh lifted up on a royal throne. Where are those occupied with the hippodromes, and loving the swiftness of charioteers? Come, see a wondrous racecourse; the Creator of creation riding in a human chariot, not driving disorderly on earth, but ascending the ethereal courses in a new and fitting way, and hastening to reach the heavenly turning-post, and powerfully overthrowing Beliar who runs alongside. 43.481 But the envious children of the Jews, having heard the truth, that Christ was taken up into heaven, wishing to obscure the wondrous miracle of the Sun of righteousness, bring forward Elijah, saying: Why do you boast so greatly, Christians, that he was taken up

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Homilia in assumptionem Christi

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἐπιφανίου ἐπισκόπου Κύπρου εἰς τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεός.

Κόσμος σώματος ἡ ἐπιτεθεῖσα τῷ σώματι κεφαλή· κόσμος δὲ τῶν ἑορτῶν ἡ σήμερον ἑορτή. Τί γάρ; φησί. Χριστοῦ ἀνάληψιν μετὰ σαρκὸς ἑορτάζομεν, ὡς τῶν ∆εσποτικῶν ἑορτῶν δεικνυμένην πλήρωμα. Καθάπερ γὰρ κεφαλὴ φαιδρόμορφος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ σήμερον ἑορτὴ τῆς θεϊκῆς χάριτος ἀπαυγάζει τὸ κάλλος· ἀλλ' οἱ πολλοὶ ἀγνοοῦντες τὸ ταύτης μέγεθος, ἧττον αὐτὴν νομίζουσι. Καὶ εἰ βούλεσθε μαθεῖν, ἀνεξικάκως συντείνατέ μοι τὸν νοῦν. Μόνον μοι δι' εὐχῶν συνεργήσατε, παρακαλῶ· καὶ τὰς μολιβδώδεις αὔρας καταστείλατε· καὶ τὰ κύματα τῆς φλυαρίας γαληνιάσατε· καὶ σχολάζουσάν μοι τὴν ἀκοὴν παράσχητε. Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν σοφὸν Σολομῶντα, λόγοι σοφῶν ἐν ἀναπαύσει ἀκούονται.

Πρώτη τοίνυν 43.480 ἑορτὴ ἡ φρικτὴ καὶ θαυμαστὴ κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ Χριστοῦ γέννησις. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ θαυμαστὴ ἡ ἐξ οὐρανῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς κατάβασις, μᾶλλον δὲ συγκατάβασις; ὅτι ὁ πάντων ∆εσπότης τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ἑνῶσαι ἑαυτῷ κατηξίωσε, καὶ πτωχὴν μητέρα ἔχειν ὁ πάντα περιέχων. ∆ευτέρα ἑορτὴ ἡ τῶν Θεοφανίων πολλῷ τῆς πρώτης τὴν θεωρίαν μείζω ἔχουσα. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ πρώτῃ ἑορτῇ ὑπεδείκνυε τὸν τεχθέντα Θεὸν Λόγον ἀστήρ· ἐν δὲ τῇ δευτέρᾳ ἑορτῇ Ἰωάννης ἐβόα, Ἴδε ὁ Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁαἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Ἐβεβαίου δὲ τὴν μαρτυρίαν τοῦ βαπτιζομένου οὐρανόθεν βοῶν ὁ Πατήρ· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τότε ὁλόκληρος ἡ τῆς σωφροσύνης ἀπόλαυσις, ἐπειδὴ μηδέπω τὸ θνητὸν σῶμα διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὴν ἀθανασίαν ἐδέξατο. Τρίτη ἑορτὴ τοῦ σωτηριώδους πάθους ἡ ἀνάστασις ζωοποιεῖ τοὺς διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ μαρμαρυγὰς ἀπαστράπτοντας, καὶ ἀναγεννωμένους δι' ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου. ∆ιὸ καὶ πεσόντα κόσμον ἀνέστησε, καὶ τὸν πάλαι ἐκπεσόντα Ἀδὰμ ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἠξίωσε.

∆ιὰ ξύλου ὁ Ἀδὰμ θάνατον ἐτρύγησε· διὰ ξύλου σταυροῦ ζωὴν τῷ κόσμῳ χαρίζεται. Καὶ αὕτη μὲν τῶν προλαβουσῶν ἑορτῶν ἐνδοξοτέρα ἀνεδείκνυτο, ἐπειδὴ ἐν αὐτῇ ὁ θάνατος διὰ θανάτου τὸν θάνατον θανατώσας, καὶ ζωὴν ἀθάνατον τοῖς θανοῦσιν ἐπήγαγεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴ οὐκ εἶχε τῆς χαρᾶς τὴν πληρότητα ἐπὶ γῆς τὸν ἀναστάντα κατέχουσα. Καὶ ἡ τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς δὲ χαρὰν μεγάλην καὶ ὑπὲρ λόγον, ἐν ᾗ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐδίδοτο Πνεῦμα ἅγιον· σήμερον δὲ ἐν τῇ τῆς Ἀναλήψεως ἡμέρᾳ πάντα διὰ πάντων εὐφροσύνης πεπλήρωται. Οὐρανοὺς τοὺς φεγγοτόκους ἀνοίξας, καὶ τὸν λεπτομερέστατον ἀέρα βαθμώσας, καὶ τὸν ἐκ γῆς εἰς τὰς οὐρανίους ἁψίδας ἀνασφαιρώσας, καὶ πάσας τὰς τῶν ἀγγέλων φύσεις εἰς χαρὰν ἄληκτον παρορμήσας, ξένην ἡμῖν θέαν ἐπέδειξε, τὴν ἡμετέραν σάρκα ἐπὶ θρόνου βασιλικοῦ ἐπηρμένην. Ποῦ εἰσὶν οἱ περὶ τὰ ἱπποδρόμια ἀσχολούμενοι, καὶ ἡνιόχων ἀγαπῶντες ὀξύτητα; ∆εῦτε, ἴδετε παράδοξον ἱπποδρόμιον· τὸν τῆς κτίσεως ∆ημιουργὸν ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ ἐποχούμενον ἅρματι, οὐκ ἐπὶ γῆς ἀτάκτως ἐλαύνοντα, ἀλλ' αἰθερίους δρόμους καινοπρεπῶς ἀναστέλλοντα, καὶ τὸν οὐράνιον καμπτῆρα καταλαμβάνειν ἐπειγόμενον, καὶ τὸν παρατρέχοντα Βελίαρ δυνατῶς καταστρέφοντα. 43.481 Ἀλλ' Ἰουδαίων παῖδες οἱ βάσκανοι τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούσαντες, ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς ἀνελήφθη εἰς οὐρανοὺς, ἀμαυρῶσαι βουλόμενοι τὸ παράδοξον θαῦμα τοῦ Ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τὸν Ἠλίαν παρεισάγουσι λέγοντες· Τί μεγάλα κομπάζετε, Χριστιανοὶ, ὅτι ἀνελήφθη