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Homily on Holy Saturday

4. Of John the humble monk and presbyter of Damascus, a discourse

on Holy Saturday. 96.601 1. Who will declare the mighty acts of the Lord, or make all his praises to be heard? Who will recount the boundless and vast ocean of His goodness? who, His unfathomable love for His servants? who, His condescension beyond understanding? who, His compassion for us, and the ineffable care stemming from it? There is no one, not even if he should speak with the tongues of angels and of men; nor if he should have comprehended within himself all human understanding. For even if the spirit is willing, yet the tongue is weak to speak, and the mind is dim for comprehension. For great, confessedly, is the mystery of the divine economy, not grasped by understanding, but by faith alone, requiring a purity of soul composed of divine fear and longing. For there is no other way to obtain purification of the soul than by divine fear and love. Nor, again, to receive divine illumination, unless the soul's eye has first been purified. For the Divine is inaccessible to the profane; but only the pure in heart shall see God, as says Christ, who is truly the truth. Since also in the theophany that happened of old to Moses at the bush, he is first commanded to take off his sandal, and so to approach the symbol that appeared. The removal of the sandals signifies the putting away of dead and earth-crawling thoughts. And again, when Mount Sinai was smoking at the time of the divine lawgiving, not all went up, but for those who went up, the ascent was measured by their purification. If, therefore, in the case of symbols, the cleansing of every stain was legislated, how much more must those intending to approach the true and archetypal things make themselves sincere and godlike? Let us therefore cleanse ourselves, O brothers, of every earthly mindset, and of all turmoil, and of life's murkiness, that we may receive with clear sight the light-like splendors of the divine word, and that our souls may be nourished with the spiritual bread, the food of angels, and having entered into the holies, we may clearly know the divine passions of the impassible, which are the salvation of the whole world. 2. Now the mystery hidden from the ages is revealed; now the chief point of the divine economy 96.604 is accomplished; now the crown of the incarnation of the Word of God is set in place; now the abyss of divine love is made public. For thus God the Word loved the world, that by the good pleasure of the Father He descended to incarnation, so that the immaterial One clothed Himself with the weight of material flesh, in order that by accepting the passions in that which is by nature subject to passion, and by becoming a passion to death, He might clothe us passible ones with impassibility. From hence hunger, and thirst, and sleep, and weariness, and grief, and agony, and fear, that is, the essential longing for life; from hence the cross, and passion, and death, from our nature. For these are its natural passions, and these blameless passions of my constitution, the experience of which He did not refuse, so that being moved and subdued in Him, they might also become subject to us. 3. Christ is on the cross; let us come together, and be partakers of the sufferings, that we may also be of His glory. Christ is among the dead; let us be dead to sin. that to righteousness

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Homilia in sabbatum sanctum

∆ʹ. Ἰωάννου ταπεινοῦ μοναχοῦ καὶ πρεσβυτέρου τοῦ ∆αμασκηνοῦ, λόγος

εἰς τὸ ἅγιον Σάββατον. 96.601 αʹ. Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀκουστὰς ποιήσει πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις αὐτοῦ; Τίς τὸ ἄπλετον καὶ ἀχανὲς τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητος διηγήσεται πέλαγος; τίς τὴν ἀτέκμαρτον πρὸς τοὺς δούλους ἀγάπησιν; τίς τὴν ὑπὲρ νοῦν συγκατάβασιν; τίς τὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς εὐσπλαγχνίαν, καὶ τὴν ἐκ ταύτης ἄφραστον κηδεμονίαν; Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεὶς, οὐδ' εἰ ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀγγέλων λαλοῖ καὶ ἀνθρώπων· οὐδ' εἰ πᾶσαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ συνειληφὼς εἴη τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην σύνεσιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἀλλ' ἀσθενὴς ἡ γλῶσσα πρὸς τὸ λέγειν, καὶ ὁ νοῦς ἀμαυρὸς πρὸς κατανόησιν. Μέγα γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως τὸ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας μυστήριον, οὐ νοήσει, πίστει δὲ μόνῃ χωρούμενον, ἁγνείας ψυχικῆς ἐκ φόβου θείου καὶ πόθου συνισταμένης, δεόμενον. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἄλλως ψυχῆς περιποιήσασθαι κάθαρσιν, ἢ φόβῳ θείῳ καὶ ἔρωτι. Οὐδ' αὖ πάλιν θείαν ἔλλαμψιν δέξασθαι, μὴ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀπτικὸν κεκαθαρμένον γενέσθαι πρότερον. Ἀπρόσιτον γὰρ τοῖς βεβήλοις τὸ Θεῖον· μόνοι δὲ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται, ᾖ φησι, Χριστὸς ἡ ὄντως ἀλήθεια. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν τῇ πάλαι γεγενημένῃ τῷ Μωϋσῇ ἐπὶ τοῦ βάτου θεοφανείᾳ, ἀποδύσασθαι πρότερον προστάσσεται τὸ ὑπόδημα, καὶ οὕτω τῷ φαινομένῳ προσιέναι συμβόλῳ. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ὑποδημάτων ἄρσις, τῶν νεκρῶν καὶ χαμαιζήλων ἐννοιῶν δηλοῖ τὴν ἀπόθεσιν. Καὶ αὖθις καπνιζομένου τοῦ ὄρους Σινᾶ ἐπὶ τῆς θείας νομοδοσίας, οὐ πάντες ἀνίεσαν, τοῖς δὲ ἀνιοῦσι τῇ καθάρσει ἐμετρεῖτο ἡ ἄνοδος. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐπὶ τῶν συμβόλων ἁπάσης κηλίδος ῥύψις ἐνενομοθέτητο, πόσῳ δέον εἰλικρινεῖς καὶ θεοειδεῖς αὐτοὺς ἀπεργάσασθαι τοῖς ἀληθινοῖς καὶ πρωτοτύποις προσφοιτᾷν μέλλοντας; καθαίρωμεν τοιγαροῦν ἑαυτοὺς, ὦ ἀδελφοὶ, παντὸς γηΐνου φρονήματος, καὶ τύρβης ἁπάσης, καὶ βιωτικῆς θολώσεως, ἵνα τηλαυγῶς τὰς φωτοειδεῖς μαρμαρυγὰς τοῦ θείου λόγου δεξώμεθα, καὶ τραφῶμεν τὰς ψυχὰς τῷ πνευματικῷ ἄρτῳ τῇ τῶν ἀγγέλων τροφῇ, καὶ ἐντὸς τῶν ἀδύτων γενόμενοι, γνῶμεν ἐναργῶς τὰ θεῖα πάθη τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς, καὶ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου σωτήρια. βʹ. Νῦν τὸ ἀπ' αἰῶνος κεκρυμμένον μυστήριον ἐκκαλύπτεται· νῦν τὸ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας κεφάλαιον 96.604 ἐκπεραίνεται· νῦν ἡ κορωνὶς τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως ἐπιτίθεται· νῦν ἡ τῆς θείας ἀγάπης δημοσιεύεται ἄβυσσος. Οὕτω γὰρ τὸν κόσμον ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἠγάπησεν, ὡς εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρὸς καταβῆναι πρὸς σάρκωσιν, ὡς βάρος ὑλικῆς σαρκὸς ὁ ἄϋλος ἀμφιάσασθαι, ἵνα τῷ πεφυκότι πάσχειν τὰ πάθη δεξάμενος, καὶ πάθος τῷ θανάτῳ γενόμενος, τοὺς παθητοὺς ἡμᾶς ἐνδύσῃ ἀπάθειαν. Ἐντεῦθεν πεῖνα, καὶ δίψα, καὶ ὕπνος, καὶ κάματος, λύπη τε, καὶ ἀγωνία, καὶ δειλία, ἤτοι τῆς ζωῆς οὐσιώδης ἔφεσις· ἐντεῦθεν σταυρὸς, καὶ πάθος, καὶ θάνατος, ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως. Ταῦτα γὰρ αὐτῆς τὰ φυσικὰ πάθη, καὶ ἀδιάβλητα ταῦτα τῆς ἐμῆς κράσεως, ὧν τὴν πεῖραν οὐκ ἀπηνήνατο, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ κινηθέντα καὶ χειρωθέντα, καὶ ἡμῖν ὑποχείρια γένηται. γʹ. Χριστὸς ἐν σταυρῷ· συνέλθωμεν, καὶ κοινωνοὶ τῶν παθημάτων, ἵνα καὶ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ γενώμεθα. Χριστὸς ἐν νεκροῖς· νεκρωθῶμεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. ἵνα τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ