Paschal Homilies 1 part 26/28

but He Himself in very reality became man, in a manner marvelous and beyond understanding, and came to be in the form of a servant—He who fills all things, emptying Himself; He who is most exalted, descending into our lowliness; and He who is above every Principality, Dominion, Throne, and Power, and every name that is named, entering into the measures of humanity.

Do not, therefore, bring accusation, saying:

'How, then, being God by nature, have you become man while still remaining God?' For then indeed one might find the prophet Habakkuk apportioning his words to this wonder, and crying out:

'O Lord, I have heard the report of You, and I was afraid.'

'I considered Your works, and I was amazed.' Know, then, that even if you see a man in poverty like your own, for your sake, He is nevertheless even so God, begotten of the Father in a divine manner, but of the Holy Virgin according to the flesh, in a manner strange and marvelous.

For it was necessary that His birth according to the flesh also be seen to be of an unprecedented, new kind.

Therefore, even as He was calling them to salvation, certain of the unbelieving pelted Him with stones, with reproaches and revilings.

And besides all this, having given free rein, as it were, to their audacity and their outrages against Him, and proceeding to the very culmination of all evil, they crucified the Lord of glory.

And it was the leaders of the Jewish ranks who were setting the trap.

For they supposed that, having cast the heir out of the way, they themselves would go on ruling the synagogue.

But they were mistaken about the truth, and the things of their hope turned out for them in reverse.

For being evil, they perished evilly, though they had wronged in no way the One who was crucified;

for not long after, He came back to life, having bidden farewell to the bonds of death, and having thrown open the gates of Hades to the spirits below, and having reshaped, in Himself and as the first, the nature of man unto incorruption and unto age-long life.

For just as, in Adam, mankind died, the sentence upon him having run through into the entire race descended from him;

so also, being a second root of humanity, and a second Adam, He will transmit His own life to all mankind.

For just as it was human nature that was in Adam, which suffered the curse and the sentence of death, so again it is human nature that is in Christ, which has been blessed by God the Father, and through Him has also been declared victorious over death.

He therefore suffered willingly in His own flesh, and remained impassible in His own nature.

Yet we say that the suffering is His own.

For it was His own body that suffered, that He might deliver us from suffering.

'For by His wound we were healed,' according to what is written.

Having trodden down the power of death, and having secured life for the world, and having dissolved the power of sin, and having cast down the ruler of this age and the evil powers within him, he ascended to the Father and God who is in the heavens, and is enthroned in splendor upon the highest thrones, having returned to his innate and ever-abiding glory, and he shall come at the appointed times;

that he may judge the living and the dead; for he will render to each according to his works. 5.

Since, then, we are to stand in due time before the divine judgment seat, where there will be a strict examination of what each has lived, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, let us perfect holiness in the fear of God, adding to this mercy toward those in need, love toward the brethren, and, in short, every manner of boast befitting holiness;

beginning the holy Forty Days from the tenth of the month Phamenoth, and the week of the holy and saving Pascha from the fifteenth of the month Pharmouthi;

ending the fasts on the twentieth of the same month Pharmouthi, at deep evening, according to the tradition of the Gospel;

and celebrating the feast on the following dawning Lord's Day, the twenty-first of the same month Pharmouthi;

and joining thereafter also the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost;

...of communion, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages.

This discourse brings us moral instruction, and makes mention of a way of life such as would befit lovers of good order, and those for whom it is a matter of concern to live nobly.

But the purpose of the one who has written it does not look toward being praised, but has regard to the benefit of those assembled.

The blessed prophets, who convey to us the words that come from above and from God, speak somewhere thus:

'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings of good things!' For it is not unpleasant to speak, to those who are in hope of receiving them, of things that turn out well for someone, as though they were about to arrive at any moment.

For things already present and seen will fill us with the good cheer that comes at their fulfillment, whereas things still future grieve those who are indeed lovers of them.

Since you are thus disposed in mind, and have set the sharing in spiritual goods above all else, come, let us further announce how our holy and all-pure feast shines forth after a short while, and shall follow close upon our words.

It will come, indeed it will come, and not long from now;

and there rises for us, like a forerunner, the season of fasting befitting that solemnity, all but crying out and saying the words spoken through one of the holy apostles:

And indeed he spoke to us through the all-wise Moses:

'Three times in the year shall every male of yours appear before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, at the feast of Unleavened Bread, and at the feast of Weeks, and at the feast of Tabernacles.' Now, to be counted worthy of the visitation from above, one would, I think, reckon this no small matter, and would rather believe it worth everything, if indeed he is of sound mind;

'Look upon me and have mercy on me.' For it will altogether follow that mercy is due to those who have been counted worthy of that visitation.

Having then diligently inquired into the reasons for each feast, let us lay up a treasure of thoughts that is not without benefit for our own souls.

For the feast of Unleavened Bread has as its occasion the redemption of Israel by blood, when, in the first month according to the Hebrews, having sacrificed the lamb as a type of Christ, and eating unleavened bread over it, they were released from the yoke of Egyptian cruelty, and, having cast off the bitter and hard-to-bear burden of unaccustomed servitude, were freed from the labors of earth and brickmaking, and, fleeing from tyrannical cruelty, were eager to serve God with a free will.

The festival of Weeks, on the other hand, was observed on account of the harvest of wheat and other crops, with which farmers joyfully fill the threshing floor, gathering in the produce of their fields, and receiving the richest recompense for the sweat expended upon the plow.

The third feast, that is, the one of the tabernacles, or rather of Tabernacles, was celebrated with good cheer upon the completion of all labor, and when a rich harvest of every kind had already been stored up in treasuries.

...of leafy boughs, and of the chaste tree, and of willow;

then, weaving together their tabernacles, relaxed and living delicately, they lodged in them for all seven days.

In these things, then, consist the accounts of each feast.

Since the shadow of the law has passed away, and the things prophetically declared to the ancients in figures have passed over into truth (for all things are new in Christ);

come, let us contemplate with the eyes of our understanding something spiritual, and let us show that the feasts we have just mentioned are set in the most excellent order.

And our discourse will everywhere follow upon the things that occurred as types, shaping out the truth from them as far as possible.

Pharaoh, then, was a type of the malice of the devil.

For he wore down the sons of Israel with mud and brickmaking and the labors connected with these, and, having plunged them into the inescapable yoke of slavery, would not permit them to sacrifice to the God who is over all.

But the inventor of sin, that is, Satan, the terrible and arrogant one, the thief of the highest glory, who, as out of a savage mind, boils up bold words (for he has dared to say, 'I will be like the Most High'), having laid the yoke of his own perversity upon all the earth, commanded that men worship him, and, as though with a kind of mud and brickmaking, commanded them to be occupied with cares for this flesh, with unpaid and unprofitable distractions;

for he knew that concern for earthly things would in every way and altogether issue in ruin and destruction.

But Christ shone forth upon the world, through whom and in whom is all redemption, the true Lamb who takes away the sin of the world;

we have therefore been delivered, through his sacrifice, from the greed of him who formerly held sway, and we celebrate the feast to the God and King over all, having washed away the filth of the ancient deceit, like a kind of rheum, from the eyes of our understanding.

And since, as I have said, we have all been redeemed in Christ, we have sown ourselves unto righteousness, we have reaped unto the fruit of life, according to the voice of the prophet;

we now hold fast, henceforth, to fruitful diligence.

We have valued sweat that is rewarded, being eager to accomplish those things through which one might find favor both with God and with men.

This, we say, is the feast of Weeks and of the wheat harvest, we having thus arrived at this brightness, and having attained the good estate of every virtue, and heaping up for our own souls a wealth of manifold good fruit, and, as it were, locking it up in treasuries (for it is written, 'You shall eat the fruits of your labors'); then indeed, then we shall also lodge in the tabernacles above, and shall receive from God the delights of paradise, and shall ascend to that ancient and truly much-longed-for prosperity, living a life altogether free of sweat and utterly without any share in toil.

And of this the type is the third feast, that of the tabernacles, when they took palm fronds and the other branches, the type thereby depicting, I think, the delights in paradise.

Let me then bring the discourse back up to what was said at the beginning;

for it is necessary, he said, that God's command be fulfilled: three times in the year shall every male appear before him.

Then how is it not worthwhile to examine the reason for this divine and sacred decree? And yet God who is over all is the maker of all things, and by his commands both the female and the male sex were brought into existence.

How, then, did he exclude the female from the need to appear before him, yet deem the male worthy of such splendid and conspicuous honor? We say, then, that the force of the commandment according to the law, through shadow and types, conveys us back to the force of the truth.

For the female sex is, in a manner, always weaker both in mind and in body;

whereas the male excels in each of the aforesaid respects, and is reckoned to be of a superior condition.

Therefore that class is honored as 'male' which excels in spiritual manliness and in a mind that has overcome darkness; indeed, such are present before the sight of God, and are counted worthy of his watchful care —

— counted as of no worth by the devil and his angels, and it is not beyond what must be that they should come to the trial of their cruelty.

For he fastens himself upon every holy one, and fiercely leaps upon those who possess spiritual manliness;

but the wretch misses his aim when he strikes;

for all the devices of his inherent perversity fly wide of the mark.

That the spiritually male has offended him not a little, and greatly grieves him by flourishing, we shall learn from the writing of the all-wise Moses.

For the demented Pharaoh plotted against the sons of Israel;

and since the multitude of their race had by now extended beyond all number, he was stung by this very thing, and most bitterly.

'And having summoned,' it says, 'the midwives of the Hebrews, he commanded them, saying:'

'Every male that is born to the Hebrews, cast into the river, but every female, let it live.' And, applying again the person of Pharaoh to the God-fighting and opposing power, that is, to Satan, we say that the class which is strong, and, moreover, sensible, is hated by him, and is most hostile to him.

For it would not endure his yoke, nor indeed would it bow its neck to his unholy designs.

Rather, it rises up in opposition and marches out against him vigorously, possessing the whole spiritual armor, and ever brightening its own life by its zealous pursuits toward virtue.

But the female, as I have said, is soft, unwise, and feeble,

unskilled in war, with hands that hang slack, not knowing how to shoot the bow, and unable to fit itself into the armor of righteousness.

This the devil loves and welcomes, and to this he is wholly inclined;

for he honors, as I have said, the unmanly and unwarlike class.

Therefore, as the divinely inspired Psalmist says, 'Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all you who hope in the Lord.' And in what manner we may accomplish this too, the disciple of Christ will show us, saying:

'But according to the Holy One who called you, be you also holy in all manner of conduct;'

for it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' For it is not among the things possible for the defiled and polluted to draw near to the all-pure God.

For 'what fellowship has light with darkness?' according to what is written.

You have an image of this matter in the hierophant Moses.

For while he was shepherding flocks of sheep on Mount Horeb, a fire flashing like lightning appeared marvelously in a bush; and the flame fed upon the bush, yet did it no harm at all (for it did not consume it in the least), and this wrought a great and extraordinary wonder;

Moses, then, drew near, curious as to what this marvelous sight might mean.

But it was, in fact, God, who had taken his seat in the form of fire within the bush.

Then the sacred Scripture says that the Lord called the man out of the bush, saying:

'Moses, Moses, do not come near; loose the sandal from your feet;'

'for the place on which you stand is holy ground.' Someone might say in response to this, I suppose:

What manner of defilement could be conceived in having one's feet shod? Or how could Moses be unclean on account of sandals and hides? What then do we say to this? No stain at all could come upon the souls of men from footwear,

But Moses was in Egypt, and it was the custom among the natives that no one should carelessly approach the precincts of the idols with sandals fitted on their feet -- since these were made of animal skins, and this was reckoned a defilement, and it was nothing else among them -- for this reason, then, the God of all, making himself unmistakable to those not yet purified (at least according to the custom prevailing in Egypt), called the holy Moses to spiritual purification, saying:

'Loose the sandal from your feet;'

One would reckon as the works of the dead: fleshly love of pleasure, revelries and drunkenness, a life devoid of all sobriety, the craving for shameful gain, robbery and covetousness, wrath and its consequences, slanders and arrogance, and simply all those things by which one might slip away from eternal life, entangled in the snares of sin, and rendering one's own head liable to the charges of manifold wickedness.

The disciple of Christ turns us away from such maladies, saying:

'Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world;'

'for all that is in the world -- the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life --'

'And the world is passing away, and the desire thereof;'

'but he who does the will of God abides forever.' And the all-wise Paul likewise writes to those who have chosen to accomplish a life of good repute:

'But fornication, and all uncleanness, let it not even be named among you, as befits saints, but rather thanksgiving.' The law of Moses too, of old, prefigured the way of this life so purified and so exceptional, foreshadowing for us by shadow and type Emmanuel -- that is, the sincere and saving light of the ordinances given through him.

But now the truth has shone forth clearly.

For he who is above all creation became like us, that he might flash upon us the divine light, and, having taught us to walk straight in every virtue, might show us to be sons of God.

For he lowered himself, as I said, to our estate, that we might gain what is his, since in a certain way we have been enriched by his poverty.

For if he himself had not become poor together with us, lowering himself into our condition, we would not have obtained his riches, gaining through him and from him that sonship which properly and uniquely belongs to him alone.

He did not recognize the Redeemer present in the flesh, although the all-wise Moses had in many ways prefigured this very mystery beforehand.

Christ indeed said, rebuking in them their exceeding foolishness and disobedience:

'If you believed Moses, you would believe me;'

'for he wrote about me.' Therefore, by their own acts of disobedience having forsaken the law that guided them aright, they have remained in darkness, and have become wholly deprived of the divine light.

And this, then, was what had been spoken concerning them through the voice of the prophets:

'While they waited for light, darkness came upon them;'

'having waited for brightness, they walked in gloom.'

In very many places we shall find the Lord crying out to them, and saying:

'I am the light of the world;'

'he who follows me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' And again, 'I have come as a light into the world.' And in order to leave them without excuse for their ignorance, although he was seen as a man like us, he everywhere made a display, befitting God and beyond the world, of the power dwelling within him.

For what is there that surpasses both speech and wonder that he is not seen to have accomplished? Indeed, he said to them:

'If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me;'

'but if I do, even though you do not believe me, believe the works.' For the Divine, according to its own nature, is invisible.

'No one has ever seen God.' Yet he is known by us, to the extent attainable, from his great works, his ineffable power, and his supreme transcendence.

'The heavens declare the glory of God;'

'and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands.' And indeed the all-wise Paul also wrote concerning him:

'For his invisible attributes, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity.' Therefore, from a power so exceedingly great and befitting God, and surpassing every account, it is somehow possible to receive knowledge concerning the ineffable Godhead.

But God the Word, the Creator of all things, appeared to the world in the flesh, not in order to abolish the existing earth and show us for the present another, new one, nor indeed to fashion other heavens, doing away with those now existing, nor to bring about something novel and unexpected concerning the circle of the sun, and to renew the visible creation;

but rather to recast into incorruption those who had been brought down into corruption, and to render them holy and blameless, freeing them from every stain by his gentle promptings, and setting them upon the paths of a blameless life.

But since, in the economy, he was seen as a man like us (for as the prophet says, 'He appeared on earth, and lived among men'), by this he made himself manifest to us -- that he was God, and truly the Son of God the Father;

he worked his own works, showing himself to be of one nature and of equal operation with his own Begetter, and, proceeding by an excellence and authority equally and without variation his own, he was marveled at by those who recognized his manifestation.

But even so, unbridled Israel, struck senseless, remained unruly, having turned wholly toward unbelief;

and indeed, endlessly citing on every occasion the written law, and putting forward as their pretext the commandment given through Moses, they set themselves in opposition to the ordinances given through Christ, saying:

'We are disciples of Moses;'

'but as for this man, we do not know where he is from.' And in yet other ways they continued to dishonor him, and there was no outrageous thing that was left unspoken among them;

shaking loose every cable, as it were, with their own perversity, and going beyond every measure, they were eager to wrap in death the Redeemer from heaven -- him who justifies the ungodly by faith, who renews to incorruption those who had been carried off in the snares of death, the author of life -- kicking against the goads, and pouring fire and judgment upon their own heads, and, engaged in endless schemes, gathering together with those appointed to lead them, impious councils;

and indeed, on account of those very things for which it would have been fitting to be astonished at the worker of wonders, on these very grounds they whetted themselves toward cruelty, and were now kindled, in a manner almost uncontainable, with envy -- they said:

'What are we doing, that this man performs many signs? If we let him alone thus, the Romans will come and take away both our nation and our place.' For also the one who held the foremost place in priesthood among them, drawing up, as if from the depths of his mind, the counsel that would prove ruinous for them, said, 'You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.' From this point their designs ran headlong to an unholy conclusion.

For having seized him, the wretched men brought Jesus to Pilate, having fabricated certain false accusations, and demanded that he be crucified.

And this indeed came to pass, Satan acting as their general in this, and casting them down into the pit of perdition.

But Christ endured steadfastly, and willingly bore, even the descent of his flesh unto death, for our sake, in accordance with the economy;

for he knew, he knew the good that would come from his suffering.

For he did not remain among the dead, but rather came back to life, bidding farewell to the bonds of death, and emptying Hades.

'Be uncovered!' And he became, by his own nature, a way to incorruption.

For in him we were renewed, and we have blossomed anew unto life.

And the blessed Paul will bear witness, saying:

'For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.' Having therefore abolished the dominion of death, he ascended to the Father and God who is in the heavens.

And in due season he shall come to render to each according to his works.

as the all-wise Paul says, 'We must all appear before his judgment seat, that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil.' Let us gird up the loins of our own mind, let us play the man toward good works, let us mortify the pleasures of the flesh, and let us turn away from the defilements of every wickedness.

Let us show mercy to orphans, let us restore widows, let us come to the aid of those in want, let us share in the suffering of those in extreme misery, let us visit prisoners, and, in a word, let us pursue every kind of virtue.

on the sixth of the month Pharmouthi;

ending the fasts on the eleventh of the same month Pharmouthi, at the deep evening of the Sabbath, according to the proclamations of the Gospel, and keeping the feast on the following dawning Lord's Day, the twelfth of the same month Pharmouthi;

and thereafter joining also the seven weeks of the holy and much-longed-for Pentecost, so that, making the season of relaxation as it were an image of the repose of the saints in the heavens, we may be counted worthy of communion with them in Christ Jesus our Lord;

through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and unto the ages.

This discourse also has now been composed by us, not with an eye to the hunting of praise and applause, but with a view to accomplishing something profitable for the souls of those who listen.

And where it falls short even of excessive elegance of speech, you will, I trust, prove not exacting critics, but rather ones who are forgiving.

For it is not with the ostentatious display of rhetoricians, but with the herbs of the Church, as it were, that it entertains you.

Behold, once again the season of our holy feast rises upon us, filling with every gladness the souls of those who love virtue, and removing all sluggishness toward good and zealous pursuits, while rousing us to that diligence in all things admired, which accords with the sacred laws, and has an outcome agreeing with the decrees from above and from God, and which shall bring great renown to those who have chosen to accomplish it.

Therefore, as the divinely-inspired Psalmist says, it is time to act for the Lord -- namely, the holy and all-pure feast which we are accustomed to keep in honor of Christ, the Savior of us all.

For as the all-wise Paul writes, 'Christ our Passover has been sacrificed' -- he, the true Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Now it is always, in a sense, dear to those who keep festival both to be well-clothed and to brighten their attire.

for some might perhaps say that these things somehow correspond to the season.

But I think it necessary that we should not, of course, cultivate only the love of adorning ourselves with outward embellishments, but rather, in every way, make it our chief concern to rid ourselves of the defilements within the soul.

For it is this that presents us pure and cleansed before Christ, resplendent by the grace that comes from him, richly adorned with him as our ornament and, as it were, our garment befitting holiness.

For the all-wise Paul writes thus, saying, ‘Put on the Lord Jesus,’ and ‘make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lust.’ If we are equipped in this manner, it is nothing unfitting for us to wish to be near the all-good God.

For ‘you shall be holy,’ he says, ‘because I am holy.’ Therefore, as the divinely-inspired Paul says, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,

nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth; that is, in the rightness and exactness of faith, to which, of course, the brightness that comes from works has also been added.

For if these things are present in you, they will secure for you a share in the upright inheritance, and will raise up into the lot of the saints those who are the best imitators of their good life.

Come, then, let us consider by ourselves at what time and in what manner Moses commanded the law concerning the Passover to be observed—that is, God, through him—in the first month according to the Hebrews, at the smiling time of spring, when the trees in the woods and gardens are crowned with fresh, newly-appeared foliage and promise a yield of fruit; when the whole plain grows green, and the arable earth becomes luxuriant with standing grain; when the most fragrant of flowers are adorned with manifold varieties of colors; and when tender lambs frisk around their mothers, bleating something sweet and delicate—

is seen over the whole earth—while yet, in spiritual barrenness, the God-formed and excellent living being upon the earth, I mean man, remains, holding fast the inescapable gloom of sin? Should we not, then, as the sacred Scripture says, laying aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, run with endurance the race set before us, not scowling at the sweat of toil, but longing for the rewards that come from it?

For it is not possible, it is not possible, for those who wish to shun labor to attain to any good and admirable thing.

But how could one who has fettered his mind with sloth become revered, that is, bind upon himself, as it were a crown, the vote of approval for all the noblest deeds? Hear the Proverb-writer saying:

‘How long, O sluggard, will you lie down? And when will you rise from sleep? A little you sleep, a little you slumber, a little you fold your hands to your breast—’

‘then poverty comes upon you like an evil guide.’ And he sharpens the desire for virtue also in another way, taking as an example the small and lowly creatures among living things.

‘Go,’ he said, ‘to the ant, O sluggard,’