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On the three-day period between the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus

OF GREGORY BISHOP OF NYSSA, CONCERNING THE THREE-DAY PERIOD OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

If any blessing of the patriarchs has its certainty from the divine spirit, if any good of the spiritual law is hoped for through a promise to those who live aright, if any prefiguration of the truth is believed to be through the riddles of history, if any prophetic voice proclaims things beyond nature, all those things are the present grace. And just as in the spectacle before our eyes one light shines upon our sight, gathered from myriad lamps, so every blessing of Christ, shining like a torch in itself, produces for us this great light which is blended from the many and various rays of scripture 9.274; for it is possible to take from each of the divinely inspired examples that which is suitable for the present sacred month. You seek the blessing of Abraham; you have what you seek by looking at the present things. Do you see the stars of heaven? I mean these stars that have just risen for us from the spirit and have suddenly made the church a heaven, whose flashing grace of soul is signified by the rays of the torches. And whoever says that these are truly the children of Abraham who were born to him by the promise, who are likened to the stars of heaven, will not err from the truth. You marvel at the lofty Moses who comprehended all of God's creation by the power of his knowledge. Behold for you the blessed sabbath of the first creation; through that sabbath recognize this sabbath, the day of rest, which God blessed above the other days. For on this day the only-begotten God truly rested from all his works through the economy of death, keeping sabbath in the flesh and returning again to what He was through the resurrection, he raised up with himself all that lay fallen, becoming life and resurrection and dawn and daybreak and day to those in darkness and the shadow of death. Full for you also is the history of the kindred 9.275 blessing; the father not sparing that beloved Isaac, and the only-begotten becoming an offering and a sacrifice, and the lamb being slain in his place. For it is possible to see in the history the whole mystery of piety. The lamb is hung from the wood, held by its horns, but the only-begotten carries on himself the wood of the whole burnt offering. Do you see how He who bears all things by the word of His power is the same who both bears the burden of our wood and is taken up by the wood, bearing as God and being borne as a lamb, thus the Holy Spirit typically apportioning the great mystery to both the beloved son and the sheep shown with him, so that in the sheep might be shown the mystery of death, but in the only-begotten the life not interrupted by death. But if you wish to take Moses himself, with the stretching out of his hands outlining the cross and by this figure overthrowing the Amalekite, it is possible for you to see the type in the truth, and Amalek falling before the cross. You also have Isaiah contributing no small grace to the present occasion; for from him you were taught beforehand of the unwed mother, the 9.276 fatherless flesh, the painless birth-pang, the undefiled childbirth, the prophet having spoken thus: Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is, God with us. And that the birth-pang was painless, first let probability teach you; for since every pleasure has pain joined to it, it is altogether necessary in things considered conjointly that if one is not present, the other is not either. Where therefore the

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De tridui inter mortem et resurrectionem domini nostri Jesu

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΤΡΙΗΜΕΡΟΥ ΠΡΟΘΕΣΜΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΟΥ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΗΣΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ

Εἴ τις πατριαρχῶν εὐλογία θείῳ πνεύματι τὸ βέβαιον ἔχουσα, εἴ τι τῆς

πνευματικῆς νομοθεσίας ἀγαθὸν δι' ἐπαγγελίας τοῖς κατορθοῦσιν ἐλπίζεται, εἴ τις διὰ τῶν ἱστορικῶν αἰνιγμάτων τῆς ἀληθείας προδιατύπωσις εἶναι πεπίστευται, εἴ τις προφητικὴ φωνὴ τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν εὐαγγελίζεται, πάντα ἐκεῖνα ἡ παροῦσα χάρις ἐστίν. καὶ ὥσπερ κατὰ τὸ προκείμενον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν θέαμα ἓν φῶς περιαστράπτει τὰς ὄψεις ἐκ μυρίων λαμπάδων ἐρανιζόμενον, οὕτω πᾶσα ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐλογία πυρσοῦ δίκην καθ' ἑαυτὴν λάμπουσα τοῦτο ἡμῖν τὸ μέγα φῶς ἀπεργάζεται τὸ ἐκ πολλῶν τε καὶ ποικίλων τῶν τῆς γραφῆς ἀκτίνων συγκεραννύ 9.274 μενον· ἔξεστι γὰρ λαβεῖν ἀφ' ἑκάστου τῶν θεοπνεύστων ὑποδειγμάτων τὸ τῇ παρούσῃ ἱερομηνίᾳ κατάλληλον. ζητεῖς τὴν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ εὐλογίαν· ἔχεις τὸ ζητούμενον εἰς τὰ παρόντα βλέπων. ὁρᾷς τὰ ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ; ταῦτα λέγω τὰ ἄστρα τὰ ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος ἡμῖν ἀρτίως ἐπανατείλαντα καὶ οὐρανὸν ἀθρόως τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ποιήσαντα, ὧν ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπαστράπτουσα χάρις ταῖς τῶν πυρσῶν ἀκτῖσι διασημαίνεται. καὶ ταῦτά τις εἰπὼν ὄντως τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ εἶναι τέκνα τὰ ἐξ ἐπαγγελίας αὐτῷ γεγενημένα, τὰ τοῖς ἄστροις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁμοιούμενα τῆς ἀληθείας οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεται. θαυμάζεις τὸν ὑψηλὸν Μωυσέα τὸν πᾶσαν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ κτίσιν διαλαβόντα τῇ δυνάμει τῆς γνώσεως. ἰδού σοι τῆς πρώτης κοσμογενείας τὸ εὐλογημένον σάββατον, γνώρισον δι' ἐκείνου τοῦ σαββάτου τοῦτο τὸ σάββατον τὴν τῆς καταπαύσεως ἡμέραν, ἣν εὐλόγησεν ὁ θεὸς ὑπὲρ τὰς ἄλλας ἡμέρας. ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς κατέπαυσεν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ ὁ μονο γενὴς θεὸς διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὸν θάνατον οἰκονομίας τῇ σαρκὶ σαββατίσας καὶ εἰς ὃ ἦν πάλιν ἐπανελθὼν διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἅπαν τὸ κείμενον ἑαυτῷ συνανέστησε ζωὴ καὶ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἀνατολὴ καὶ ὄρθρος καὶ ἡμέρα τοῖς ἐν σκότει καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου γενόμενος. πλήρης σοι καὶ ἡ ἱστορία τῆς συγγενοῦς 9.275 εὐλογίας· ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ μὴ φειδόμενος καὶ ὁ μονογενὴς προσφορὰ καὶ θυσία γενόμενος καὶ ὁ ἀμνὸς ἀντὶ τούτου σφαγιαζόμενος. ἔξεστι γὰρ ἰδεῖν ἐν τῇ ἱστορίᾳ πᾶν τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον. ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ ξύλου ἐξήρτηται ἐκ τῶν κεράτων ἐχόμενος, ὁ δὲ μονογενὴς βαστάζει ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ τῆς ὁλοκαρπώσεως ξύλα. ὁρᾷς πῶς ὁ πάντα φέρων τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον φέρει τῶν ἡμετέρων ξύλων καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ξύλου ἀναλαμβάνεται βαστάξων ὡς θεὸς καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς βασταζόμενος οὕτω τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος τὸ μέγα μυστήριον τυπικῶς ἀμφοτέροις ἐπιμερίσαντος τῷ τε ἠγαπημένῳ υἱῷ καὶ τῷ συμπαραδειχθέντι προβάτῳ, ὥστε δειχθῆναι ἐν μὲν τῷ προβά τῳ τὸ τοῦ θανάτου μυστήριον ἐν δὲ τῷ μονογενεῖ τὴν ζωὴν τὴν μὴ διακοπτομένην τῷ θανάτῳ. εἰ δὲ βούλει καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Μωυσέα λαβεῖν τῇ τῶν χειρῶν ἐκτάσει τὸν σταυρὸν διαγρά φοντα καὶ τῷ σχήματι τούτῳ τὸν Ἀμαληκίτην καταστρεφό μενον, ἔξεστί σοι βλέπειν ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τὸν τύπον καὶ τῷ σταυρῷ τὸν Ἀμαλὴκ ὑποπίπτοντα. ἔχεις καὶ τὸν Ἠσαΐαν οὐ μικρά σοι πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν συνεισφέροντα χάριν· παρ' αὐτοῦ γὰρ προεδιδάχθης τὴν ἀνύμφευτον μητέρα, τὴν 9.276 ἀπάτορα σάρκα, τὴν ἀνώδυνον ὠδῖνα, τὸν ἀμόλυντον τόκον οὕτως εἰπόντος τοῦ προφήτου· Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ, ὅ ἐστι Μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ θεός. ὅτι δὲ ἄπονος γέγονεν ἡ ὠδίς, πρῶτον μέν σε καὶ τὸ εἰκὸς διδαξάτω· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πᾶσα ἡδονὴ συνημμένον ἔχει τὸν πόνον, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἐπὶ τῶν συνημμένως θεωρουμένων τοῦ ἑνὸς μὴ ὄντος μηδὲ τὸ ἕτερον εἶναι. ὅπου τοίνυν ἡ