Gregory of Nyssa, On the Holy Resurrection of the Lord

In luciferam sanctam domini resurrectionem

OF GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, ON THE LIGHT-BRINGING AND HOLY RESURRECTION OF THE LORD

Blessed be God. Let us praise today the only-begotten God, the begetter of the heavenly beings, who emerged from the hidden depths of the earth and with light-bearing rays unshadowed the whole inhabited world. Let us praise today the burial of the only-begotten, the resurrection of the victor, the joy of the world, the life of the nations of the world. Let us praise today him who put on sin. Let us praise today God the Word, who refuted the wisdom of the world, confirmed the prophecy of the prophets, gathered together the company of the apostles, the calling of the church, and spread abroad the grace of the spirit. For behold, we who were once strangers to the knowledge of God have come to know God, and what is written has been fulfilled: All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. What shall they remember? The ancient fall, the new resurrection, the old transgression and the later correction, the death of Eve, the birth of the virgin, the restoration of the nations, the remission of sinners, the prophecy of the prophets, the preaching of the apostles, the regeneration of the font, 9.316 the entry into paradise, the return to heaven, the Creator who has risen, who has put off unseemliness, who by divine mighty work has transformed the corruptible into incorruptibility. And what unseemliness did he put off? That which Isaiah said: And we saw him, he says, and he had no form nor beauty, but his appearance was dishonored, failing beyond the sons of men.

When was he dishonored? When he conversed with the sinful Jews and was called a Samaritan and one having a demon, when Judas Iscariot and the offspring of darkness seized the uncontainable one for murder. Not without purpose did John say to them: You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? For truly the wrath of God will remain upon them. When was he dishonored? When they received the shoot of gentleness with slaps and with oaths questioned the one who is the judge of oaths. When was he dishonored? When the judge was judged and the judge of the world was tried, the servant questioned and the master was silent, the light was quiet and the darkness exulted, the creature was insolent and the Creator endured. When was he dishonored? When the bulls gored and the calf stood by, when the lion roared and the bulls exulted, as it is written: Many calves have surrounded me, fat bulls have beset me; they have opened their mouth against me like a lion ravening and roaring. When was he dishonored? When the dogs barked and the master bore it, when the wolves snatched and the sheep stood by, 9.317 when the robber was called to life, but the life of the world was dragged to death, when they shouted that disorderly and deadly cry, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him," "His blood be on us and on our children," the slayers of the Lord, the slayers of the prophets, the fighters against God, the haters of God, the insolent toward the law, the enemies of grace, those alien to the faith of the fathers, the advocates of the devil, the brood of vipers, the whisperers, the slanderers, those darkened in their understanding, the leaven of the Pharisees, the council of demons, the accursed ones, the utterly wicked, the stoners, the haters of good. For with good reason they cried out: "Away with him, away with him, crucify him." For the visitation of the divinity in the flesh weighed them down and their manner was grieved by the reproof; for it is the custom of sinners to hate the company of the just. When was he dishonored? when him

In luciferam sanctam domini resurrectionem

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΦΩΤΟΦΟΠΟΝ ΚΑΙΑΓΙΑΝ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΝ ΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΟΥ

Εὐλόγητος ὁ θεός. εὐφημήσωμεν σήμερον τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν τὸν τῶν

οὐρανίων γεννήτορα, τὸν τῶν κρυφίων λαγόνων τῆς γῆς ὑπερκύψαντα καὶ ταῖς φαεσφόροις ἀκτῖσι τὴν ὅλην οἰκουμένην ἀποσκιάσαντα. εὐφημήσωμεν σήμερον τὴν ταφὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς, τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ νικητοῦ, τὴν χαρὰν τοῦ κόσμου, τὴν ζωὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν τοῦ κόσμου. εὐφημήσωμεν σήμερον τὸν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐνδυσάμενον. εὐφημήσωμεν σήμερον τὸν θεὸν λόγον, ὃς τὴν τοῦ κόσμου σοφίαν ἤλεγξε, τῶν προφητῶν τὴν πρόρρησιν ἐκύρωσε, τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸν σύνδεσμον συνήθροισε, τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὴν κλῆσιν, τοῦ πνεύματος τὴν χάριν ἀφήπλωσε. ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἡμεῖς οἵ ποτε ξένοι ὄντες τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιγνώσεως τὸν θεὸν ἐπέγνωμεν καὶ τὸ γεγραμμένον πεπλήρωται· Μνησθήσονται καὶ ἐπι στραφήσονται πρὸς κύριον πάντα τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν. τί μνησθήσονται; τὴν παλαιὰν πτῶσιν, τὴν νέαν ἀνάστασιν, τὴν ἀρχαίαν παράβασιν καὶ τὴν ὕστερον διόρθωσιν, τὴν θνῆσιν τῆς Εὔας, τῆς παρθένου τὴν γέννησιν, τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν, τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τὴν ἄφεσιν, τῶν προφητῶν τὴν πρόρρησιν, τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸ κήρυγμα, τῆς κολυμβήθρας 9.316 τὴν ἀναγέννησιν, τοῦ παραδείσου τὴν εἰσοίκησιν, τῶν οὐρανῶν τὴν ἐπάνοδον, τὸν δημιουργὸν ἀναστησάμενον, τὸν τὴν ἀπρέπειαν ἀποδυσάμενον, τὸν τῇ θεϊκῇ μεγαλουργίᾳ τὸ φθαρτὸν εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν μεταλλεύσαντα. καὶ ποίαν ἀπρέ πειαν ἀπέθετο; ἣν Ἠσαΐας εἶπε· Καὶ εἴδομεν αὐτόν, φησί, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος οὐδὲ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον, ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

Πότε ἦν ἄτιμος; ὅτε τοῖς ἀλιτηρίοις Ἰουδαίοις προσωμίλει καὶ Σαμαρίτης καὶ δαιμόνιον ἔχων ἐκαλεῖτο, ὅτε Ἰούδας ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης καὶ τὰ τοῦ σκότους γεννήματα πρὸς φόνον ἐκράτουν τὸν ἀχώρητον. οὐκ ἀσκόπως ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς Ἰωάννης· Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς; ὄντως γὰρ ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ μενεῖ ἐπ αὐτούς. Πότε ἦν ἄτιμος; ὅτε τὸ βλάστημα τῆς ἐπιεικείας ῥαπίσμασι ἐλάμβανον καὶ μεθ ὅρκων ἠρώτων τὸν τῶν ὅρκων δικαστὴν ὑπάρχοντα. Πότε ἦν ἄτιμος; ὅτε ἐδικάζετο ὁ δικαστὴς καὶ ἐκρίνετο ὁ κριτὴς τοῦ κόσμου, ὁ οἰκέτης ἠρώτα καὶ ὁ δεσπότης ἐσιώπα, τὸ φῶς ἡσύχαζε καὶ τὸ σκότος ἐγαυρία, τὸ πλάσμα ἐθρασύνετο καὶ ὁ δημιουργὸς ἐκαρτέρει. Πότε ἦν ἄτιμος; ὅτε οἱ ταῦροι ἐκεράτιζον καὶ ὁ μόσχος παρίστατο, ὅτε ὁ λέων ὠρύετο καὶ οἱ ταῦροι ἐγαυρύνοντο καθὼς γέγραπται· Περιεκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί, ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με· ἤνοιξαν ἐπ ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ὡς λέων ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος. Πότε ἦν ἄτιμος; ὅτε οἱ κύνες ὑλάκτουν καὶ ὁ δεσπότης ἠνείχετο, ὅτε οἱ λύκοι ἥρπαζον καὶ τὸ πρόβατον παρίστατο, 9.317 ὅτε ὁ λῃστὴς εἰς ζωὴν ἐκαλεῖτο, ἡ δὲ ζωὴ τοῦ κόσμου εἰς θάνατον εἵλκετο, ὅτε ἐβόων ἐκείνην τὴν ἄτακτον καὶ ὀλέθριον φωνὴν Ἆρον, ἆρον, σταύρωσον αὐτόν, Τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐφ ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν, οἱ κυριοκτόνοι, οἱ προφητοκτόνοι, οἱ θεομάχοι, οἱ μισόθεοι, οἱ τοῦ νόμου ὑβρισταί, οἱ τῆς χάριτος πολέμιοι, οἱ ἀλλότριοι τῆς πίστεως τῶν πατέρων, οἱ συνήγοροι τοῦ διαβόλου, τὰ γεννήματα τῶν ἐχιδνῶν, οἱ ψιθυρισταί, οἱ κατάλαλοι, οἱ ἐσκοτισμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἡ ζύμη τῶν Φαρισαίων, τὸ συνέδριον τῶν δαιμόνων, οἱ ἀλάστορες, οἱ πάμφαυλοι, οἱ λιθασταί, οἱ μισόκαλοι. εἰκότως γὰρ ἔκραζον· Ἆρον, ἆρον, σταύρωσον αὐτόν. ἐβάρει γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἡ ἐπιδημία τῆς θεότητος μετὰ σαρκὸς καὶ ἐλυπεῖτο τὸν ἔλεγχον ὁ τρόπος· ἔθος γὰρ ἁμαρτωλοῖς μισεῖν τὴν τῶν δικαίων συντυχίαν. Πότε ἦν ἄτιμος; ὅτε αὐτὸν