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De adoratione pretiosae crucis

On the veneration of the precious and life-giving cross, on the middle week of the fasts.

52.835

1. The yearly day has come upon us, the all-venerable and light-bearing middle week of the holy fasts, bringing forth the thrice-blessed and life-giving cross of our Savior Jesus Christ, and setting this forth for veneration, and sanctifying those who venerate it with a sincere heart and pure lips, and showing them to be more vigorous and stronger for the remainder of the race of the stadium of the holy fasts. Today, therefore, has been established as the day of veneration of the precious cross, and come, O friends, let us embrace it with fear and longing. For radiating the rays of the resurrection of Christ, it illumines all, and sanctifies them with its graces; wherefore let us kiss it, spiritually exulting. Today there is joy in heaven, and on earth, because the light-bearing and life-giving cross of Christ is made manifest to the world, through which demons are put to flight, and diseases flee, and murky darkness is driven away, and all the ends of the earth are illuminated. Today the Church of Christ is shown to be another paradise, having set forth in its midst the all-holy wood of the precious cross, and making the cross a procession of the passion of Christ, and a pre-resurrection of his rising. Today the prophetic saying has been fulfilled, which states, For behold, we worship at the place where the feet of our God stood. Rejoice therefore and be glad, O Church of Christ, and bring forth your children, purified by the continence of the passions, by fasting, 52.836 and shining with the God-resplendent virtues, and dance the ineffable dance. For just as of old in the desert those who had been bitten, looking upon the bronze serpent, were delivered from death; so now also those who have journeyed to the midpoint of the stadium of the fast, by touching this, show the noetic serpent to be dead, and they themselves are made immortal, and being shown to be partakers of the sufferings of Christ through continence, they are also revealed as partakers of his resurrection. And not only this, but also for what follows, running well with youthful vigor, they bring songs of victory to God. For the cross of the Lord has been established as a trophy-bearing and victorious weapon; an unconquerable weapon of kings, a horn of the Church, a destroyer of enemies, and the salvation of the faithful. And truly blessed and thrice-blessed are those who are deemed worthy to embrace it with pure lips and clean mouths. For in deed they truly fulfill the saying of the Lord that states: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. And see how he makes the saying unforced. For he did not say, "Whether you wish it or not, this you must suffer," but how? If any man will come after me; I do not compel, I do not force, but I make each one master of his own choice; for which reason I also say: If any man will come after me. For I call you to a good thing, not to something bad and burdensome, not to punishment and penalty, but to a heavenly kingdom and a heavenly life. For the very nature of the things is sufficient to attract. 52.837 If any man will come after me, whether man, or woman, whether ruler, or ruled, and wills to be saved, let him come this way. And there are three things that are said: to deny oneself, to take up the cross, and to follow. But let us first see what it is to deny oneself. Let us learn what it is to deny another, and then we will know what it is to deny oneself. What then is it to deny another? He who denies another, for instance either a brother, or a friend, or

1

De adoratione pretiosae crucis

Εἰς τὴν προσκύνησιν τοῦ τιμίου καὶ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ, τῇ μέσῃ ἑβδομάδι τῶν νηστειῶν.

52.835

αʹ. Ἧκεν ἡμῖν ἐνιαύσιος ἡμέρα, ἡ πανσέβαστος καὶ φωσφόρος τῶν ἁγίων νηστειῶν ἡ μέση ἑβδομὰς, τὸν τρισόλβιον καὶ ζωοποιὸν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ σταυρὸν προσκομίζουσα, καὶ τοῦτον προτιθεμένη εἰς προσκύνησιν, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν εἰλικρινεῖ καρδίᾳ καὶ ἁγνοῖς χείλεσιν ἁγιάζουσα, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἑξῆς τοῦ σταδίου τῶν ἁγίων νηστειῶν δρόμον εὐτονωτέρους καὶ ἀκμαιοτέρους δεικνύουσα. Σήμερον τοιγαροῦν προσκυνήσιμος ἡμέρα τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ καθέστηκε, καὶ δεῦτε, ὦ φίλοι, φόβῳ καὶ πόθῳ τοῦτον περιπτυξώμεθα. Τῆς γὰρ ἐγέρσεως Χριστοῦ τὰς αὐγὰς φωτοβολῶν, πάντας φωτίζει, καὶ ἁγιάζει ταῖς αὐτοῦ χάρισι· διὸ τοῦτον ἀσπασώμεθα ψυχικῶς ἀγαλλόμενοι. Σήμερον χαρὰ γίνεται ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς, ὅτι ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ φαεσφόρος καὶ ζωοποιὸς σταυρὸς τῷ κόσμῳ ἐμφανίζεται, δι' οὗ δαίμονες φυγαδεύονται, καὶ νόσοι δραπετεύουσι, καὶ σκότος ζοφῶδες ἀπελαύνεται, καὶ πάντα τῆς γῆς τὰ πέρατα καταφωτίζεται. Σήμερον ἡ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησία ἄλλος παράδεισος δείκνυται, τὸ πανάγιον ξύλον τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ ἐν μέσῳ προθεῖσα, καὶ προπομπὴν τοῦ πάθους Χριστοῦ τὸν σταυρὸν ποιουμένη, καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ προέγερσιν. Σήμερον τὸ προφητικὸν πεπλήρωται λόγιον, τὸ φάσκον, Ἰδοὺ γὰρ προσκυνοῦμεν εἰς τὸν τόπον, οὗ ἔστησαν οἱ πόδες τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν. Εὐφραίνου τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἀγάλλου, ἡ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησία, καὶ προσάγαγε τὰ σὰ τέκνα, τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ τῶν παθῶν, τῇ νηστείᾳ κεκαθαρμένα, 52.836 ταῖς τε θεολαμπέσιν ἀρεταῖς ἐξαστράπτοντα, καὶ χόρευε χορείαν τὴν ἀνεκλάλητον. Καθάπερ γὰρ πάλαι ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τὸν χαλκοῦν ὄφιν οἱ δηχθέντες προσβλέποντες ἐῤῥύοντο θανάτου· οὕτω δὴ καὶ νῦν οἱ τὸ τῆς νηστείας μεσοπορήσαντες στάδιον, τούτῳ προσψαύοντες, τὸν νοητὸν ὄφιν νεκρὸν δεικνύουσι, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀθανατίζονται, καὶ κοινωνοὶ τῶν παθημάτων τοῦ Χριστοῦ διὰ τῆς ἐγκρατείας δεικνύμενοι, κοινωνοὶ καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ ἀναδείκνυνται. Καὶ οὐ μόνον τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς νεανικῶς εὐδρομοῦντες, ἐπινικίους τῷ Θεῷ προσκομίζουσι. Τροπαιοφόρον γὰρ καὶ νικητικὸν ὅπλον ὁ τοῦ Κυρίου σταυρὸς καθέστηκε· βασιλέων ὅπλον ἀκαταμάχητον, Ἐκκλησίας κέρας, ἐχθρῶν καθαιρέτης, καὶ τῶν πιστῶν σωτηρία. Καὶ μακάριοι ἀληθῶς καὶ τρισμακάριοι οἱ ἁγνοῖς χείλεσι καὶ στόμασι καθαροῖς τοῦτον ἀξιούμενοι περιπτύξασθαι. Ἔργῳ γὰρ ἀληθῶς πληροῦσι τὸ φάσκον τοῦ Κυρίου ῥητόν· Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν, καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς ἀκαταναγκάστως ποιεῖ τὸν λόγον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπε, Κἂν βούλησθε, κἂν μὴ, τοῦτο δεῖ ὑμᾶς παθεῖν, ἀλλὰ πῶς; Εἰ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν· οὐ βιάζομαι, οὐκ ἀναγκάζω, ἀλλ' ἕκαστον κύριον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προαιρέσεως ποιῶ· δι' ὃ καὶ λέγω· Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν. Ἐπὶ γὰρ ἀγαθῷ καλῶ, οὐκ ἐπὶ κακῷ καὶ ἐπαχθεῖ, οὐκ ἐπὶ κολάσει καὶ τιμωρίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ βασιλείᾳ οὐρανίῳ καὶ ζωῇ οὐρανίῳ. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὴ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ φύσις ἱκανὴ ἐφελκύσασθαι. 52.837 Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, κἂν ἀνὴρ, κἂν γυνὴ, κἂν ἄρχων, κἂν ἀρχόμενος, καὶ θέλει σωθῆναι, ταύτην ἐρχέσθω τὴν ὁδόν. Τρία δέ ἐστι τὰ λεγόμενα, τὸ ἀπαρνήσασθαι ἑαυτὸν, τὸ ἆραι τὸν σταυρὸν, καὶ τὸ ἀκολουθῆσαι. Ἀλλ' ἴδωμεν πρότερον, τί ἐστι τὸ ἀπαρνήσασθαι ἑαυτόν. Μάθωμεν τί ἐστιν ἀρνήσασθαι ἕτερον, καὶ τότε εἰσόμεθα τί ἐστι τὸ ἀρνήσασθαι ἑαυτόν. Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ ἀρνήσασθαι ἕτερον; Ὁ ἀρνούμενος ἕτερον, οἷον ἢ ἀδελφὸν, ἢ φίλον, ἢ