Oration 45 1 part 2/2

"No, but gird up your loins like a man, and give a manly answer";

unless it be pleasing to anyone that the superabundance of his power, and as it were its being held in reserve, should be thus signified—even as he wraps himself in light as in a garment.

For the irrepressible nature of his power and his light, who shall sustain it? I ask, what has the loins in common with truth? And what is conceived by the holy Paul when he says:

"Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth"? Perhaps it is as the contemplative part girding tight the lustful part, and not allowing it to be carried elsewhere? For that which is amorously disposed toward something does not have the same power toward other pleasures.

And the sandals—let him who is about to touch the holy and God-trodden ground put them off, as Moses also did upon the mountain, that he may bear nothing dead, nothing between God and men.

And as also when any disciple is sent forth unto the Gospel, philosophically and without superfluity;

who must, in addition to being without money, without staff, and with but a single tunic, go even barefoot, that the feet may appear beautiful of those who bring good tidings of peace and every other good thing.

But he that flees Egypt and the Egyptian things, let him be shod, both for the sake of other safety, and of that against the scorpions and serpents which Egypt breeds in great numbers, so that he may not be harmed by those that watch the heel—those whom we have been commanded to tread upon.

And concerning the staff, thus I hold, and concerning the riddle pertaining to it.

The one kind I know to be the supporting staff, the other to be the pastoral and didactic one, which turns back the rational sheep.

But to you now the law enjoins the supporting one, lest at any time you let your reasoning sink down, when you hear of the blood of God, and of Passion, and of death; lest at any time you be carried about into impiety, as if a defender of God;

but unashamedly and without hesitation, eat the body, drink the blood, if you have a desire for life; neither disbelieving the words concerning the flesh, nor stumbling at those concerning the Passion.

Let him stand firmly fixed, steadfast, well-planted, in nothing shaken by the adversaries, nor swept away by plausible arguments.

Stand upon your own height; in the courts of Jerusalem set your feet; lean upon the rock, that your steps according to God may not be shaken.

...of that one's legislation and generalship? I bring in something also of what is not mine—or rather, what is very much mine, if you contemplate it spiritually.

Borrow from the Egyptians vessels of gold and of silver;

from the things of strangers be provisioned for your journey—or rather, from what is your own;

wages for the slavery and the brick-making are owed to you;

show some cleverness, you too, concerning the demand for repayment.

Granted, you have toiled miserably here, struggling with the clay, with this wretched and filthy body, and building alien and treacherous cities, whose memorial shall perish with a crash.

What then? Do you go out for nothing and without wages? What then? Will you leave to the Egyptians and to the adverse powers the things which they have ill acquired, and will spend yet worse? They are not theirs;

they plundered them, they snatched them away, from him who said:

"Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold, and I will give it to whom I will."

Let us acquire for ourselves friends from the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when we fail, they may receive us in the time of judgment.

If you are a Rachel, or a Leah, a patriarchal and great soul, then steal also the idols—whatever you find—of your father, not that you may keep them, but that you may make them vanish;

but if you are a wise Israelite, transfer them to the land of promise;

and over these things let the persecutor grieve, and let him know that he has been outwitted, that he tyrannized and enslaved his betters in vain.

If you do thus, and thus go out from Egypt, I know well that you shall be guided by a pillar of fire and of cloud by night and by day; the desert shall be tamed for you; the sea shall be cleft for you; Pharaoh shall be drowned; bread shall rain down; the rock shall gush forth water; Amalek shall be vanquished—

and that not by arms alone, but also by the warring hands of righteous men, at once forming a prayer and the trophy of the cross, that thing invincible;

the river shall be turned back; the sun shall stand still; the moon shall be stayed; walls shall be cast down; and without engines of war, hornets shall run before you, making the way for Israel, and beating back the foreigners;

and all the other things which, in addition to these and together with these, are recorded—that I may not draw out a long discourse—shall be given to you by God.

Such a feast you celebrate today;

such is the birthday-feast that the nativity of him who was born for you furnishes, and the funeral-rite of him who suffered;

such is for you the mystery of the Pascha.

These things Christ accomplished, the dissolver of the letter, the perfecter of the Spirit—who, by the things he suffered, teaches us to suffer, and by the things in which he was glorified, grants us to be glorified together with him.

It remains, then, to examine a matter and a doctrine, overlooked indeed by the many, but by me very much examined.

For to whom, and on what account, was that blood poured out for us—the great and renowned blood of God, both High Priest and Victim? For we were held fast under the evil one, sold under sin, and having received in exchange the pleasure of wickedness.

And if the ransom is given to none other than to him who holds us captive, I ask to whom this was offered, and for what cause? If indeed to the evil one—alas, the outrage!

If it is not from God only, but the robber receives God himself as a ransom, and so exceedingly extravagant a wage for his own tyranny—for which it would have been just that he should even spare us;

but if it is given to the Father, first of all, how? For it was not by him that we were held captive.

...that he himself might deliver us, having mastered the tyrant by force, and lead us back to himself through the Son who mediated, and who arranged this to the honor of the Father, to whom he is seen to yield all things.

Such, then, are the things of Christ; and as for the greater part, let them be reverenced in silence.

[Such was the serpent lifted up against] the biting serpents—not as a type of him who suffered for us, but as a counter-type;

and it saves those who look upon it, not because it is believed to live, but because it has been put to death, and puts to death together with itself the powers beneath it, being destroyed, as it deserved.

And what is the funeral oration befitting it from us? "Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O Hades, is your victory?" By the cross you are laid low; by the life-giving One you are put to death.

Breathless, dead, motionless, without activity—and, even if you preserve the form of a serpent, set up as a public spectacle on high.

And we shall partake of the Pascha—now indeed still typically, even if more nakedly than the old one (for the legal Pascha, I make bold to say, was a more shadowy type of a type);

but a little later, more perfectly and more purely, when the Word shall drink it new with us in the kingdom of the Father, revealing and teaching the things which now he has shown in measure.

For that which is now made known is always new.

And what is the drinking and the enjoyment? For us, to learn; for him, to teach and to communicate the word to his own disciples.

For teaching is food, even to him who nourishes.

But come, let us also partake of the law in a Gospel manner, and not in a written one;

in an everlasting, and not a temporary manner. Let us make our head not the Jerusalem below, but the metropolis above;

not that which is now trodden down by armies, but that which is glorified by angels.

Let us sacrifice, not young calves, nor lambs putting forth horns and hoofs, in which there is much that is dead and without feeling;

but let us sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, upon the altar above, with the choir-assembly above.

Let me say the greater thing: let us sacrifice our very selves to God;

or rather, let us go on sacrificing every day and at our every movement.

Let us receive all things for the sake of the Word; by sufferings let us imitate his Passion; by blood let us reverence his blood; let us go up eagerly upon the cross.

Sweet are the nails, even if they be exceedingly painful.

For to suffer with Christ, and for Christ, is more to be chosen than to live luxuriously with others.

If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up the cross and follow.

If you are crucified together with him as a robber, acknowledge God as a man of good understanding;

if even he was reckoned among the lawless for your sake and your sin, become you law-abiding for his sake.

Worship him who was hung up for your sake, even while you yourself are hanging;

gain something even from your wickedness;

purchase salvation by your death;

enter into Paradise with Jesus, that you may learn from what things you have fallen;

let the murmurer die outside, together with his blasphemy.

And if you are Joseph of Arimathea, ask for the body from him who crucified;

let the purification of the world become yours.

And if you are Nicodemus, the nocturnal worshipper of God, bury him with spices.

And if you are some Mary, or the other Mary, or Salome, or Joanna, weep in the early dawn.

Be the first to see the stone taken away, and perhaps also the angels, and Jesus himself.

"Touch me not," "stand afar off," reverence the Word, but do not be grieved.

Inaugurate the resurrection;

help Eve, the first to fall, the first to greet Christ and to make him known to the disciples.

Hasten to the tomb, running in rivalry, running together, contending in the noble contest.

And if you are outstripped in speed, win by your zeal—not stooping merely to peer into the tomb, but going inside.

And if, like Thomas, you are absent when the disciples are gathered together, to whom Christ shows himself, when you see, do not disbelieve;

and if you do disbelieve, believe those who tell you;

and if not even these, then be assured by the marks of the nails.

If he descends into Hades, go down together with him.

Learn there too the mysteries of Christ: what is the plan of the twofold descent, what is its meaning—

whether by his appearing he saves all without distinction, or there too only those who believe.

And if he ascends into the heavens, go up together with him.

Be among the angels who escort him, or among those who receive him.

Bid the gates be lifted up and become loftier, that they may receive him who is now exalted higher through his suffering.

Give answer to those who are perplexed because of the body and the tokens of the Passion, with which he who came down ascends again, and who on this account inquire:

“Who is this King of glory?” That it is the Lord, mighty and powerful in all that he has ever done and does, and in this present battle and triumph on behalf of humanity.

And to the twofold question give a twofold answer.

And if they marvel, saying, according to the dramatic vision of Isaiah:

“Who is this that comes from Edom,” and from earthly things? Or, “How are the garments red” of him who is bloodless and bodiless, as of one who treads the winepress and has trodden a full vat? Then set forth the beauty of the robe of the body that suffered, adorned by the Passion and made radiant by the Godhead, than which nothing is more lovely or more beautiful.

What, then, do the slanderers say to us in reply—those bitter reckoners of the Godhead, the accusers of what is praiseworthy, those darkened concerning the Light, untaught concerning Wisdom, for whom Christ died freely—the thankless creatures, the things fashioned by the evil one? Is this the charge you bring against God, his benefaction? Is he therefore lowly because for your sake he humbled himself? Because the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, came after the wandering one upon the mountains and hills on which you sacrificed, and found it wandering, and finding it took it up upon his shoulders—the same shoulders that bore the cross—and taking it brought it back to the life above, and bringing it back numbered it among those who abide? Because he lit a lamp, his own flesh, and swept the house, cleansing the world of sin, and sought the coin, the royal image buried under the passions, and called together the powers dear to him at the finding of the coin, and made partakers of his joy those whom he had made initiates of the plan of salvation? Because the surpassing Light follows the lamp that goes before, and the Word follows the voice, and the Bridegroom follows the friend of the bridegroom who prepares for the Lord a peculiar people and purifies them beforehand for the Spirit by water? Do you charge God with these things? Do you on these grounds suppose him to be the worse, because he girds himself with a towel and washes the disciples’ feet, and shows that humility is the best road to exaltation? Because for the sake of the soul bent down to the ground he humbled himself, that he might also raise up with himself what was bowed down under sin? But how is it that you do not also accuse him of this, that he eats with tax collectors and at the houses of tax collectors, and makes disciples of tax collectors, that he himself might gain something? And what is that? The salvation of sinners.

Unless one were also to blame the physician for stooping over diseases and enduring foul odors, that he might give health to the sick;

and the one who, out of compassion, bends over a pit, that he might rescue the beast that has fallen in, according to the law.

He was sent, indeed, but as man;

for he also grew weary, and hungered, and thirsted, and was in agony, and wept, by the law of nature.

But if also as God, what of it? Consider the good pleasure of the Father to be his sending—he to whom the Son refers his own actions, both as honoring the timeless Origin, and so as not to seem to be a rival god.

Since he is also said to be betrayed, yet it is written that he gave himself up;

and to have been raised by the Father and taken up, yet also to have raised himself and to have ascended again;

the former belonging to the good pleasure, the latter to the authority.

But you mention the things that diminish him, while you run past the things that exalt him;

and you reckon that he suffered,

but you do not add that it was willingly.

What things the Word suffers even now!

By some he is honored and joined together as God;

but by others he is dishonored and divided as flesh.

With whom should one be more angry? Or rather, whom should one pardon—those who wickedly merge, or those who divide? For the one set ought to be distinguished, and the other set to be joined together;

the former in number, the latter in Godhead.

Do you stumble at the flesh? So did the Jews.

At the Godhead? Not even the demons did this.

O you who are more unbelieving than the demons, and more senseless than the Jews!

Those reckoned the title “Son” to be a word denoting equal honor;

these knew the God who drove them out;

for they were persuaded by the things they suffered.

But you neither accept the equality nor confess the Godhead.

It would have been better for you to be circumcised and to be possessed by a demon, if I may put it somewhat absurdly, than in your uncircumcision and health to be disposed wickedly and godlessly.

But let the war against those people either be ended, if at last they come to their senses—should they be willing—or be deferred, if they are unwilling, but let them be as they are.

In any case we shall fear nothing at all, contending on behalf of the Trinity, together with the Trinity.

But now it is necessary for us thus to sum up our discourse:

We came into being, that we might be well treated;

we have been well treated, because we came into being.

We were entrusted with paradise, that we might delight in it.

We received a commandment, that we might prove worthy by keeping it—

not because God was ignorant of what would come to pass, but because he was legislating free will.

We were deceived, because we were envied;

we fell, because we transgressed;

we fasted, because we did not fast, being overcome by the tree of knowledge.

For the commandment was ancient, coeval with us, being a kind of training of the soul and a chastening of indulgence;

which we were fittingly enjoined to keep, so that what by not keeping we had cast away, by keeping we might recover.

We had need of a God made flesh and put to death, that we might live;

we were put to death together with him, that we might be cleansed;

we rose together with him, because we were put to death together with him;

we were glorified together with him, because we rose together with him.

Many indeed were the wonders of that time:

God crucified, the sun darkened and again rekindled (for it was fitting that creation too should suffer with the Creator);

the veil rent, blood and water poured from his side;

the one as of a man, the other as of one above man;

the earth shaken, rocks rent for the sake of the Rock, the dead rising up unto faith in the final and common resurrection;

the signs at the tomb, the signs after the tomb—who could worthily sing their praise? Yet there is nothing like the wonder of my salvation:

a few drops of blood refashion the whole world, and become for all men like rennet to milk, binding and gathering us together into one.

But, O Pascha, great and holy, and purification of the whole world!

for I will address you as though you were a living being.

O Word of God, and light, and life, and wisdom, and power!

for I rejoice in all your names.

O offspring, and outgoing, and impress of the great Mind!

O Word conceived by the mind, and Man beheld with the eyes, who bear all things, upholding them by the word of your power!

may you now receive this discourse, not as a firstfruit, but perhaps as the completion of our offering, both a thanksgiving and a supplication, that we may suffer no evil beyond what is needful and holy, with which we have lived;

and may you put a stop to the tyranny exercised against us in the body (you see, O Lord, how great it is, and how it bends us down), or to your sentence, if by you we are to be brought down.

But if we depart in a manner worthy of our longing, and be received into the heavenly tabernacles, perhaps there too we shall offer to you acceptable sacrifices upon your holy altar, O Father, and Word, and Holy Spirit;

for to you belong all glory, honor, and might, unto the ages of ages. Amen.