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Homilia in festo palmarum

From a certain sermon of our Father among the saints, Epiphanius the bishop, concerning Palm Sunday.

He who is unceasingly praised and glorified by angels, below as a man kneels to the Father and prays; and above, he himself receives prayers and kneelings from all visible and invisible creation. Below he hungers as a man, but he himself, having come from above as the heavenly bread, thirsts according to the economy; but he himself is the fount of life in a manner befitting God. Below he toils according to his assumption of flesh; but he himself is the rest for those who toil and are heavy-laden.

This is he who today comes willingly to death, so that by his own death he might destroy him who has the power of death, and granting immortality to those who died by him, having been enticed by the hope of immortality. For this reason he came, not bringing scepters and trumpets, but showing extreme poverty; not swords and weapons and spears, but bearing extreme humility; not armed men, not gold-inlaid shields and bucklers and helmet and breastplate, but extreme gentleness, and immeasurable innocence, and moderation beyond measure, the Lord Christ, God in Zion. And the whole city, it says, was stirred, saying, Who is this? And the crowds said, This is Christ, the son of David. And entering into the temple, he who is truly the temple and God, holier even than the temple, drove out also the defiled, lawless, and ill-mannered priests. But the children, in a manner befitting priests or befitting God, standing in the temple of God, cried out, Hosanna to the God of the temple, Christ Jesus; Hosanna to the son of David, who bestows peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. Blessed are the expectations of the Churches!

Blessed are the hopes of the Christians! Believing in the Prince of peace, or people having become rich in peace, have become fellow citizens of the angels; Christ has made the things above and the things below mixed; he has united the earthly with the incorporeal. Rejoice in Christ; again I will say, Rejoice. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, the new Jerusalem, the Church of God; consider the more mystical things of your feast; run higher than the things seen, so that you may know anagogically also the things accomplished by the senses. For what reason did Jesus, who always traveled on foot, now and only now sit on an animal, being exalted himself, and hinting at his own exaltation on the cross? What is the village opposite? Surely the mind that is contrary and opposed to the world, which the man banished from opposite paradise acquired, to whom Christ sent two of the disciples, that is, his Old and New Testament, the two Testaments. What is the donkey? Surely the old and adulterous Synagogue, burdened in life by its burdens, on which Christ sat for a time. What is the colt? I, the new and untamed people of the nations, on which no man has sat; not law, not fear, not angel, not prophet, not Moses, not Scripture; but God the Word himself, who shared a manger with us who were without reason in Bethlehem, so that he might free us from our lack of reason, later establishing us as theologians. And what is the untying of the colt? Surely the freedom from idolatry, and the cessation of the blood of idols, which the touch of the woman with the issue of blood also signified. Who are those who grumbled at the untying of the colt, saying, Why do you untie the colt that is bound? The Jews who are also demons. What is the spreading of the children's garments? what is the putting off of the old man? The shameful nakedness and desolation of the Synagogue. What are the infants who theologize? Surely symbols of the faithful people, the offspring of the Church of Christ. Who are their mothers? The fonts of baptism which the faithful

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Homilia in festo palmarum

̓Εκ λόγου ποιοῦ τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἐπιφανίου ἐπισκόπου, περὶ Βαΐων.

Ὁ ὑπ' ἀγγέλων ἀσιγήτως ἀνυμνούμενος, καὶ δοξολογούμενος, κάτω ὡς

ἄνθρωπος γονυπετεῖ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ εὔχεται· καὶ ἄνω αὐτὸς ὑπὸ πάσης ὁρατῆς καὶ ἀοράτου κτίσεως εὐχὰς καὶ γονυκλισίας προσδέχεται. Κάτω πεινᾷ ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἄνωθεν δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς ἐλθὼν ἄρτος οὐράνιος διψᾷ οἰκονομικῶς· ἀλλ' αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ πηγὴ τῆς ζωῆς θεοπρεπῶς. Κάτω κοπιᾷ κατὰ τὴν πρόσληψιν· ἀλλ' αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ τῶν κοπιώντων καὶ πεφορτισμένων ἀνάπαυσις.

Αὐτὸς οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ σήμερον ἐπὶ τὸν θάνατον ἑκουσίως ἐρχόμενος, ἵνα τοῦ ἰδίου θανάτου καταργήσει τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ ἀθανασίαν χαριζόμενος τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ θνήξασι, δι' ἀθανασίας ἐλπίδα δελεασθεῖσιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο παρεγένετο, οὐ σκῆπτρα καὶ σάλπιγγας ἐπ 43.504 αγόμενος, ἀλλὰ πτωχείαν ἐσχάτην ἐνδεικνύμενος· οὐ ξίφη καὶ ὅπλα καὶ δόρατα, ἀλλὰ ταπείνωσιν ἄκραν φερόμενος· οὐχ ὁπλοφόρους, οὐκ ἀσπίδας χρυσοκολλήτους καὶ θυρεοὺς καὶ κράνος καὶ θώρακα, ἀλλὰ πραότητα ἄκραν, καὶ ἀκακίαν ἄμετρον, καὶ μετριότητα τὴν ὑπὲρ μέτρον, ὁ Κύριος Χριστὸς, ὁ Θεὸς ἐν Σιών. Καὶ ἐσείσθη, φησὶ, πᾶσα ἡ πόλις λέγουσα, Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος; Οἱ δὲ ὄχλοι ἔλεγον, Οὗτός ἐστι Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς ∆αβίδ. Καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ὁ ὄντως ναὸς καὶ Θεὸς ὁ ἱερώτερος καὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, ἐξήνεγκε καὶ τοὺς μιαροὺς ἱερεῖς τοὺς παρανόμους καὶ κακοτρόπους. Οἱ δὲ παῖδες ἱεροπρεπῶς ἢ θεοπρεπῶς ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἑστῶτες, Ὡσαννὰ τῷ Θεῷ τοῦ ἱεροῦ Χριστῷ τῷ Ἰησοῦ ἀνέκραζον· Ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ ∆αβὶδ, δωρουμένῳ εἰρήνην ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ δόξαν ἐν ὑψίστοις. Μακάριαι τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν αἱ προσδοκίαι!

Μακάριαι τῶν Χριστιανῶν αἱ ἐλπίδες! Τῷ εἰρηνάρχῳ πιστεύοντες, ἢ τὴν εἰρήνην πλουτήσαντες ἄνθρωποι ἀγγέλων συμπολῖται γεγόνασι· τὰ ἄνω καὶ κάτω ἀναμὶξ Χριστὸς πεποίηκε· τοῖς ἀσωμάτοις τοὺς χοϊκοὺς ἥνωσε. Χαίρετε ἐν Χριστῷ· πάλιν ἐρῶ, Χαίρετε. Χαῖρε σφόδρα, θύγατερ Σιὼν, ἡ νέα Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία· σκόπησον τὰ τῆς ἑορτῆς σου μυστικώτερα· δράμε τῶν ὁρωμένων ὑψηλότερον, ἵνα γνῷς ἀναγωγικῶς καὶ τὰ αἰσθητῶς τελούμενα. Τίνος χάριν ὁ πάντη πεζοπόρος Ἰησοῦς νῦν καὶ μόνον ἐπὶ ζώου ἐκάθισεν, αὐτὸς ὑψούμενος, καὶ τὴν ἐν σταυρῷ ὕψωσιν ἑαυτῷ αἰνιττόμενος; Τίς ἡ κατέναντι κώμη; Πάντως ἡ ἀντίθετος καὶ ἐναντία τῷ κόσμῳ γνώμη, ἣν ἐκτήσατο ὁ κατέναντι τοῦ παραδείσου ἐξοικισθεὶς ἄνθρωπος, πρὸς ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ὁ Χριστὸς δύο τῶν μαθητῶν, οἷον ∆ιαθήκην αὐτοῦ Παλαιὰν καὶ Νέαν, τὰς δύο ∆ιαθήκας. Τίς ἡ ὄνος; Ἡ παλαιὰ πάντως καὶ μοιχαλὶς Συναγωγὴ, ἡ εἰς τὰ βάρη τὸν βίον βεβαρημένη, ἐφ' ᾗ Χριστὸς μέχρι που κεκάθικε. Τίς ὁ πῶλος; Ἐγὼ ὁ νέος καὶ ἀγύμναστος τῶν ἐθνῶν λαὸς, ἐφ' ὃν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων ἐκάθισεν· οὐ νόμος, οὐ φόβος, οὐκ ἄγγελος, οὐ προφήτης, οὐ Μωσῆς, οὐ Γραφή· ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ὁ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἀλόγοις συμφατνιάσας ἐν Βηθλεὲμ, ὅπως τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀλογίας ἐλευθερώσῃ, θεολόγους ὕστερον καταστήσας. Τίς δὲ ἡ λύσις τοῦ πώλου; Πάντως ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας ἐλευθερία, καὶ ἡ τῶν εἰδωλικῶν αἱμάτων κατάλυσις, ἣν ἐσήμανε καὶ ἡ τῆς αἱμοῤῥοούσης γυναικὸς ψαῦσις. Τίνες οἱ ἐπὶ τῇ λύσει τοῦ πώλου γογγύσαντες, λέγοντες· Τί λύετε τὸν πῶλον δεδεμένον; Οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι οἱ καὶ δαίμονες. Τίς ἡ τῶν ἱματίων τῶν παίδων ὑπόστρωσις; τί τοῦ παλαιοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔκδυσις; Ἡ τῆς Συναγωγῆς ἄσχημος γύμνωσις ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐρήμωσις. Τίνα τὰ θεολογοῦντα νήπια; Σύμβολα πάντως τοῦ πιστοῦ λαοῦ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Χριστοῦ ἔγγονα. Τίνες αἱ τούτων μητέρες; Αἱ τοῦ βαπτίσματος κολυμβῆθραι αἱ τοὺς πιστοὺς