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| The Second Oration on Easter.
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Oration XLV.
The Second Oration on
Easter.
ThisOration was
not, as its title would perhaps lead us to suppose, delivered
immediately after the first; but an interval of many years elapsed
between them, and the two have no connection with each other.
Chronologically they are the first and last of S. Gregory’s
Sermons. The Second was delivered in the Church of Arianzus, a
village near Nazianzus, where he had inherited some property, to which
he withdrew after resigning the Archbishopric of Constantinople, and
then, finding the administration even of the little Bishopric of
Nazianzus too much for his advancing years and declining strength, he
retired to Arianzus about the end of a.d. 383,
dying there in 389 or 390. “The exordium of this discourse
is quite in the style of the Bible; the Orator here describes and puts
words into the mouth of the Angel of the Resurrection. His object
is to show the importance of the day’s solemnities, and to
explain allegorically all the circumstances of the ancient Passover,
applying them to Christ and the Christian life. Two passages are
borrowed verbatim from the discourse on the Nativity, preached at
Constantinople” (Benoît).
The Benedictine Editors profess themselves unable to
determine whether this repetition is due to S. Gregory himself—or
to the carelessness of some amanuensis.
I. I will stand
upon my watch,4587
saith the venerable
Habakkuk; and I will take my post beside him today on the authority and
observation which was given me of the Spirit; and I will look forth,
and will observe what shall be said to me. Well, I have taken my
stand, and looked forth; and behold a man riding on the clouds and he
is very high, and his countenance is as the countenance of
Angel,4588
and his vesture as
the brightness of piercing lightning; and he lifts his hand toward the
East, and cries with a loud voice. His voice is like the voice of
a trumpet; and round about Him is as it were a multitude of the
Heavenly Host; and he saith, Today is salvation come unto the world, to
that which is visible,
and to that which is invisible. Christ is risen from the dead,
rise ye with Him. Christ is returned again to Himself, return
ye. Christ is freed from the tomb, be ye freed from the bond of
sin. The gates of hell are opened, and death is destroyed, and
the old Adam is put aside, and the New is fulfilled; if any man be in
Christ he is a new creature;4589
be ye
renewed. Thus he speaks; and the rest sing out, as they did
before when Christ was manifested to us by His birth on earth, their
glory to God in the highest, on earth, peace, goodwill among
men.4590
| 4590 The reading
εὐδοκία of the
Received Text is pronounced by Tischendorf to have less authority than
εὐδοκίας,
which he adopts on the testimony of important mss., but chiefly on the strength of a citation and
comment three times in Origen, and because all the Latin Fathers
read bonæ voluntatis. Lachmann, Tregelles,
Westcott, and with some hesitation Alford follow him; though Tregelles
and Westcott allow εὐδοκίας a place
in the margin. Wordsworth (giving no reason); and Scrivener
because he thinks it makes better sense, read εὐδοκία, and scout
εὐδοκίας;
which, however, is found in four of the five oldest mss., and in all the Latin versions and Fathers. The
Greek Fathers, however, all but unanimously support the Received
Text. | And with them I also utter the same
words among you. And would that I might receive a voice that
should rank with the Angel’s, and should sound through all the
ends of the earth.
II. The Lord’s Passover, the Passover,
and again I say the Passover to the honour of the Trinity. This
is to us a Feast of feasts and a Solemnity of solemnities4591
| 4591 ἑορτὴ ἑορτῶν,
καὶ
πανήγυρις
πανηγύριον.
ἑορτή says Nicetas, is one
thing, πανήγυρις
another. ἑορτή is the Commemoration
of a Saint; πανήγυρις is
Easter, or Ascension, or some other mystical festival. Thus
Synesius calls the Paschal Letters of the Alexandrian Patriarch
πανηγυρικὰ
γράμματα. | as far exalted above all others (not only
those which are merely human and creep on the ground, but even those
which are of Christ Himself, and are celebrated in His honour) as the
Sun is above the stars. Beautiful indeed yesterday was our
splendid array, and our illumination, in which both in public and
private we associated ourselves, every kind of men, and almost every
rank, illuminating the night with our crowded fires, formed after the
fashion of that great light, both that with which the heaven above us
lights its beacon fires, and that which is above the heavens, amid the
angels (the first luminous nature, next to the first nature of all,
because springing directly from it), and that which is in the Trinity,
from which all light derives its being, parted from the undivided light
and honoured. But today’s is more beautiful and more
illustrious; inasmuch as yesterday’s light was a forerunner of
the rising of the Great Light, and as it were a kind of rejoicing in
preparation for the Festival; but today we are celebrating the
Resurrection itself, no longer as an object of expectation, but as
having already come to pass, and gathering the whole world unto
itself. Let then different persons bring forth different fruits
and offer different offerings at this season, smaller or
greater…such spiritual offerings as are dear to God…as each
may have power. For scarcely Angels themselves could offer gifts
worthy of its rank, those first and intellectual and pure beings, who
are also eye-witnesses of the Glory That is on high; if even these can
attain the full strain of praise. We will for our part offer a
discourse, the best and most precious thing we have—especially as
we are praising the Word for the blessing which He hath bestowed on the
reasoning creation. I will begin from this point. For I
cannot endure, when I am engaged in offering the sacrifice of the lips
concerning the Great Sacrifice and the greatest of days, to fail to
recur to God, and to take my beginning from Him. Therefore I pray
you, cleanse your mind and ears and thoughts, all you who delight in
such subjects, since the discourse will be concerning God, and will be
divine; that you may depart filled with delights of a sort that do not
pass away into nothingness. And it shall be at once very full and
very concise, so as neither to distress you by its deficiencies, nor to
displease you by satiety.
III. God4592
| 4592 This passage to the
end of c. ix. occurs verbatim in the oration on the Theophany, cc.
vii.–xiii. | always was and
always is, and always will be; or rather, God always Is.4593
| 4593 “There is no
Past in Eternity, and no Future; for that which is past has ceased to
be, and that which is future has not yet come into existence; but
Eternity is only Present; it has no Past which does not still exist nor
any Future which does not yet exist” (S. Augustine de Vera Rel.,
c. 49). | For Was and Will Be are fragments of
our time, and of changeable nature. But He is Eternal Being; and
this is the Name He gives Himself when giving the Oracles to Moses in
the Mount. For in Himself He sums up and contains all Being,
having neither beginning in the past nor end in the future…like
some great Sea of Being, limitless and unbounded, transcending all
conception of time and nature, only adumbrated by the mind, and that
very dimly and scantily…not by His Essentials but by His
Environment,4594
| 4594 The Environment here
spoken of seems to mean those created Existences of which God is the
Self-Existent Cause. | one image being got
from one source and another from another, and combined into some sort
of presentation of the truth, which escapes us before we have caught
it, and which takes to flight before we have conceived it, blazing
forth upon our master-part, even when that is cleansed, as the
lightning flash which will not stay its course does upon our sight…in
order, as I conceive, by that part of it which we can comprehend to
draw us to itself (for that which is altogether incomprehensible is
outside the bounds of hope, and not within the compass of endeavour);
and by that part of It which we cannot comprehend to move our wonder;
and as an object of wonder to become more an object of desire; and
being desired, to purify; and purifying to make us like God; so that,
when we have become like Himself, God may, to use a bold expression,
hold converse with us as God; being united to us, and known by us; and
that perhaps to the same extent as He already knows those who are known
to Him.4595
The Divine
Nature, then, is boundless and hard to understand, and all that we can
comprehend of Him is His boundlessness; even though one may conceive
that because He is of a simple Nature He is therefore either wholly
incomprehensible or perfectly comprehensible. For let us farther
enquire what is implied by “is of a simple Nature?”
For it is quite certain that this simplicity is not itself its nature,
just as composition is not by itself the essence of compound
beings.
IV. And when Infinity is considered from two
points of view, beginning and end (for that which is beyond these and
not limited by them is Infinity), when the mind looks into the depths
above, not having where to stand, and leans upon phænomena to form
an idea of God it calls the Infinite and Unapproachable which it finds
there by the name of Unoriginate. And when it looks into the
depth below and at the future, it calls Him Undying and
Imperishable. And when it draws a conclusion from the whole, it
calls Him Eternal. For Eternity is neither time nor part of time;
for it cannot be measured. But what time measured by the course
of the sun is to us, that Eternity is to the Everlasting; namely a sort
of timelike movement and interval, coextensive with Their
Existence. This however is all that I must now say of God; for
the present is not a suitable time, as my present subject is not the
doctrine of God, but that of the Incarnation. And when I say God,
I mean Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; for Godhead is neither diffused
beyond These, so as to introduce a mob of gods, nor yet bounded by a
smaller compass than These, so as to condemn us for a poverty stricken
conception of Deity, either Judaizing to save the Monarchia, or falling
into heathenism by the multitude of our gods. For the evil on
either side is the same, though found in contrary directions.
Thus then is the Holy of Holies, Which is hidden even from the
Seraphim, and is glorified with a thrice-repeated Holy meeting in one
ascription of the title Lord and God, as one of our predecessors has
most beautifully and loftily reasoned out.
V. But since this movement of Self-contemplation
alone could not satisfy Goodness, but Good must be poured out and go
forth beyond Itself, to multiply the objects of Its beneficence (for
this was essential to the highest Goodness), He first conceived the
Angelic and Heavenly Powers. And this conception was a work
fulfilled by His Word and perfected by His Spirit. And so the
Secondary Splendours came into being, as the ministers of the Primary
Splendour (whether we are to conceive of them as intelligent Spirits,
or as Fire of an immaterial and incorporeal kind, or as some other
nature approaching this as near as may be). I should like to say
that they are incapable of movement in the direction of evil, and
susceptible only of the movement of good, as being about God and
illuminated with the first Rays from God (for earthly beings have but
the second illumination), but I am obliged to stop short of saying that
they are immovable, and to conceive and speak of them as only difficult
to move, because of him who for His Splendour was called Lucifer, but
became and is called Darkness through his pride; and the Apostate Hosts
who are subject to him, creators of evil by their revolt against good,
and our inciters.
VI. Thus then and for these reasons, He gave being
to the world of thought, as far as I can reason on these matters, and
estimate great things in my own poor language. Then, when His
first Creation was in good order, He conceives a second world, material
and visible; and this a system of earth and sky and all that is in the
midst of them; an admirable creation indeed when we look at the fair
form of every part, but yet more worthy of admiration when we consider
the harmony and unison of the whole, and how each part fits in with
every other in fair order, and all with the whole, tending to the
perfect completion of the world as a Unit. This was to shew that
He could call into being not only a nature akin to Himself, but also
one altogether alien to Him. For akin to Deity are those natures
which are intellectual, and only to be comprehended by mind; but all of
which sense can take cognizance are utterly alien to It; and of these the furthest removed from it are
all those which are entirely destitute of soul and power of motion.
VII. Mind then and sense, thus distinguished from
each other, had remained within their own boundaries, and bore in
themselves the magnificence of the Creator-Word, silent praisers and
thrilling heralds of His mighty work. Not yet was there any
mingling of both, nor any mixture of these opposites, tokens of a
greater wisdom and generosity in the creation of natures; nor as yet
were the whole riches of goodness made known. Now the
Creator-Word, determining to exhibit this, and to produce a single
living being out of both (the invisible and the visible creation, I
mean) fashions Man; and taking a body from already existing matter, and
placing in it a Breath taken from Himself (which the Word knew to be an
intelligent soul, and the image of God), as a sort of second world,
great in littleness, He placed him on the earth, a new Angel, a mingled
worshipper, fully initiated into the visible creation, but only
partially into the intellectual; king of all upon earth, but subject to
the King above; earthly and heavenly; temporal and yet immortal;
visible and yet intellectual; halfway between greatness and lowliness;
in one person combining spirit and flesh; spirit because of the favour
bestowed on him, flesh on account of the height to which he had been
raised; the one that he might continue to live and glorify his
benefactor, the other that he might suffer, and by suffering be put in
remembrance, and be corrected if he became proud in his greatness; a
living creature, trained here and then moved elsewhere; and to complete
the mystery, deified by its inclination to God…for to this, I
think, tends that light of Truth which here we possess but in measure;
that we should both see and experience the Splendour of God, which is
worthy of Him Who made us, and will dissolve us, and remake us after a
loftier fashion.
VIII. This being He placed in
paradise—whatever that paradise may have been (having honoured
him with the gift of free will, in order that good might belong to him
as the result of his choice, no less than to Him Who had implanted the
seeds of it)—to till the immortal plants, by which is perhaps
meant the Divine conceptions, both the simpler and the more perfect;
naked in his simplicity and inartificial life; and without any covering
or screen; for it was fitting that he who was from the beginning should
be such. And He gave Him a Law, as material for his free will to
act upon. This Law was a commandment as to what plants he might
partake of, and which one he might not touch. This latter was the
Tree of Knowledge; not, however, because it was evil from the beginning
when planted; nor was it forbidden because God grudged it to
men—let not the enemies of God wag their tongues in that
direction, or imitate the serpent. But it would have been good if
partaken of at the proper time; for the Tree was, according to my
theory, Contemplation, which it is only safe for those who have reached
maturity of habit to enter upon; but which is not good for those who
are still somewhat simple and greedy; just as neither is solid food
good for those who are yet tender and have need of milk. But when
through the devil’s malice and the woman’s
caprice,4596
to which she
succumbed as the more tender, and which she brought to bear upon the
man, as she was the more apt to persuade—alas for my weakness,
for that of my first father was mine; he forgot the commandment which
had been given him, and yielded to the baleful fruit; and for his sin
was banished at once from the tree of life, and from paradise, and from
God; and put on the coats of skins, that is, perhaps, the coarser
flesh, both mortal and contradictory. And this was the first
thing which he learnt—his own shame—and he hid himself from
God. Yet here too he makes a gain, namely death and the cutting
off of sin, in order that evil may not be immortal. Thus, his
punishment is changed into a mercy, for it is in mercy, I am persuaded,
that God inflicts punishment.
IX. And having first been chastened by many means
because his sins were many, whose root of evil sprang up through divers
causes and sundry times, by word, by law, by prophets, by benefits, by
threats, by plagues, by waters, by fires, by wars, by victories, by
defeats, by signs in heaven, and signs in the air, and in the earth,
and in the sea; by unexpected changes of men, of cities, of nations
(the object of which was the destruction of wickedness) at last he
needed a stronger remedy, for his diseases were growing worse; mutual
slaughters, adulteries, perjuries, unnatural crimes, and that first and
last of all evils, idolatry, and the transfer of worship from the
Creator to the creatures. As these required a greater aid, so
they also obtained a greater. And that was that the Word of God
Himself, Who is before all worlds, the Invisible, the Incomprehensible,
the Bodiless, the Beginning of
beginning, the Light of Light, the Source of Life and Immortality, the
Image of the Archetype, the Immovable Seal, the Unchangeable Image, the
Father’s Definition and Word, came to His own Image, and took on
Him Flesh for the sake of our flesh, and mingled Himself with an
intelligent soul for my soul’s sake, purifying like by like; and
in all points except sin was made Man; conceived by the Virgin, who
first in body and soul was purified by the Holy Ghost, for it was
needful both That Child-bearing should be honoured and that Virginity
should receive a higher honour. He came forth then, as God, with
That which He had assumed; one Person in two natures, flesh and Spirit,
of which the latter deified the former. O new commingling; O
strange conjunction! the Self-existent comes into Being, the Uncreated
is created, That which cannot be contained is contained by the
intervention of an intellectual soul mediating between the Deity and
the corporeity of the flesh. And He who gives riches becomes
poor; for He assumes the poverty of my flesh, that I may assume the
riches of His Godhead. He that is full empties Himself; for He
empties Himself of His Glory for a short while, that I may have a share
in His Fulness. What is the riches of His Goodness? What is
this mystery that is around me? I had a share in the Image and I
did not keep it; He partakes of my flesh that He may both save the
Image and make the flesh immortal. He communicates a Second
Communion, far more marvellous than the first, inasmuch as then He
imparted the better nature, but now He Himself assumes the worse.
This is more godlike than the former action; this is loftier in the
eyes of all men of understanding.
X. But perhaps some one of those who are too
impetuous and festive may say, “What has all this to do with
us? Spur on your horse to the goal; talk to us about the Festival
and the reasons for our being here to-day.” Yes, this is
what I am about to do, although I have begun at a somewhat previous
point, being compelled to do so by the needs of my argument.
There will be no harm in the eyes of scholars and lovers of the
beautiful if we say a few words about the word Pascha itself, for such
an addition will not be useless in their ears. This great and
venerable Pascha is called Phaska by the Hebrews in their own language;
and the word means Passing Over. Historically, from their flight
and migration from Egypt into the Land of Canaan; spiritually, from the
progress and ascent from things below to things above and to the Land
of Promise. And we observe that a thing which we often find to
have happened in Scripture, the change of certain nouns from an
uncertain to a clearer sense, or from a coarser to a more refined, has
taken place in this instance. For some people, supposing this to
be a name of the Sacred Passion, and in consequence Grecizing the word
by changing Phi and Kappa into Pi and Chi, called the Day
Pascha.4597
| 4597 Pascha
represents the Hebrew PHSKH. Throughout 2 Chron. the LXX. represents the word by Phasek, which like Pascha is a
transliteration of the Hebrew word. The form which the
transliteration takes is due to the fact that the Greek language does
not tolerate these two aspirates in juxtapostion. S. Gregory is
correct in remarking that Pascha has no real connection with
πάσχω (to
suffer), though it might appear to unlearned ears that it has. | And custom
took it up and confirmed the word, with the help of the ears of most
people, to whom it had a more pious sound.
XI. But before our time the Holy Apostle
declared that the Law was but a shadow of things to come,4598
which are conceived by thought. And
God too, who in still older times gave oracles to Moses, said when
giving laws concerning these things, See thou make all things according
to the pattern shewed thee in the Mount,4599
when He shewed him the visible things as an adumbration of and design
for the things that are invisible. And I am persuaded that none
of these things has been ordered in vain, none without a reason, none
in a grovelling manner or unworthy of the legislation of God and the
ministry of Moses, even though it be difficult in each type to find a
theory descending to the most delicate details, to every point about
the Tabernacle itself, and its measures and materials, and the Levites
and Priests who carried them, and all the particulars which were
enacted about the Sacrifices and the purifications and the
Offerings;4600
| 4600 ἀφαίρεμα is given
by the Lexicons as the Heave-Offering, and it is certainly used in that
sense among others (all sacrificial) in the LXX. Suicer, however, follows Suidas in regarding
the word as quite general; he also quotes Zonaras’ definition,
“Quod offertur ἀφαίρεμα dicitur, quod
a toto mactatæ animantis corpore abstractum
sit.” Balsamon, according to the same authority,
makes it the portion which was severed from the carcase of the victim
and set apart for the Priest (i.e., the heave-offering,
Lev. vii. 14; 32). | and though these
are only to be understood by those who rank with Moses in virtue, or
have made the nearest approach to his learning. For in that Mount
itself God is seen by men; on the one hand through His own descent from
His lofty abode, on the other through His drawing us up from our
abasement on earth, that the Incomprehensible may be in some degree,
and as far as is safe, comprehended by a mortal nature. For in no
other way is it possible for the denseness of a material body and
an imprisoned mind to come
into consciousness of God, except by His assistance. Then
therefore all men do not seem to have been deemed worthy of the same
rank and position; but one of one place and one of another, each, I
think, according to the measure of his own purification. Some
have even been altogether driven away, and only permitted to hear the
Voice from on high, namely those whose dispositions are altogether like
wild beasts, and who are unworthy of divine mysteries.
XII. But we, standing midway between those whose
minds are utterly dense on the one side, and on the other those who are
very contemplative and exalted, that we may neither remain quite idle
and immovable, nor yet be more busy than we ought, and fall short of
and be estranged from our purpose—for the former course is Jewish
and very low, and the latter is only fit for the dream-soothsayer, and
both alike are to be condemned—let us say our say upon these
matters, so far as is within our reach, and not very absurd, or exposed
to the ridicule of the multitude. Our belief is that since it was
needful that we, who had fallen in consequence of the original sin, and
had been led away by pleasure, even as far as idolatry and unlawful
bloodshed, should be recalled and raised up again to our original
position through the tender mercy of God our Father, Who could not
endure that such a noble work of His own hands as Man should be lost to
Him; the method of our new creation, and of what should be done, was
this:—that all violent remedies were disapproved, as not likely
to persuade us, and as quite possibly tending to add to the plague,
through our chronic pride; but that God disposed things to our
restoration by a gentle and kindly method of cure. For a crooked
sapling will not bear a sudden bending the other way, or violence from
the hand that would straighten it, but will be more quickly broken than
straightened; and a horse of a hot temper and above a certain age will
not endure the tyranny of the bit without some coaxing and
encouragement. Therefore the Law is given to us as an assistance,
like a boundary wall between God and idols, drawing us away from one
and to the Other. And it concedes a little at first, that it may
receive that which is greater. It concedes the Sacrifices for a
time, that it may establish God in us, and then when the fitting time
shall come may abolish the Sacrifices also; thus wisely changing our
minds by gradual removals, and bringing us over to the Gospel when we
have already been trained to a prompt obedience.
XIII. Thus then and for this cause the
written Law came in, gathering us into Christ; and this is the account
of the Sacrifices as I account for them. And that you may not be
ignorant of the depth of His Wisdom and the riches of His unsearchable
judgments,4601
He did not leave
even these unhallowed altogether, or useless, or with nothing in them
but mere blood.4602
| 4602 The Jewish
Sacrifices had a deep inner meaning and mystery. In a limited
sense they may be called Sacraments of the future Atonement, which they
prefigured and appealed to. But only in a limited sense can they
be so called, because they did not convey grace to the soul, but only
appealed to the grace to come; and so the Sin-offerings of the Law are
only said to cover, not to take away sin. They
removed the spiritual disqualification for worship; but they did not
restore full Spiritual Communion with God. Still they were not
altogether unhallowed or useless like those of the heathen, inasmuch as
they did point forward and plead the merits of the One true
Sacrifice. | But that
great, and if I may say so, in Its first nature unsacrificeable Victim,
was intermingled with the Sacrifices of the Law, and was a
purification, not for a part of the world, nor for a short time, but
for the whole world and for all time. For this reason a Lamb was
chosen for its innocence, and its clothing of the original
nakedness. For such is the Victim, That was offered for us, Who
is both in Name and fact the Garment of incorruption. And He was
a perfect Victim not only on account of His Godhead, than which nothing
is more perfect; but also on account of that which He assumed having
been anointed with Deity, and having become one with That which
anointed It, and I am bold to say, made equal with God. A Male,
because offered for Adam; or rather the Stronger for the strong, when
the first Man had fallen under sin; and chiefly because there is in Him
nothing feminine, nothing unmanly; but He burst from the bonds of the
Virgin-Mother’s womb with much power, and a Male was brought
forth by the Prophetess,4603
as Isaiah declares
the good tidings. And of a year old, because He is the Sun of
Righteousness4604
setting out from
heaven, and circumscribed by His visible Nature, and returning unto
Himself.4605
| 4605 The Greek here is very
obscure. The meaning seems to be that which Nicetas suggests,
viz.:—that our Lord in coming to earth and becoming Incarnate did
not in His Divine Nature leave Heaven, but was, while still here on
earth in His own words, “The Son of Man Which is in
Heaven.” | And
“The blessed crown of Goodness,”—being on every side
equal to Himself and alike; and not only this, but also as giving life
to all the circle of the virtues, gently commingled and intermixed with
each other, according to the Law of Love and Order.4606
| 4606 Christ is “a
blessed crown of goodness” according to the saying of David, Thou
shalt bless the crown of the year with Thy goodness (Ps. lxv. 11). The idea of a year is taken from
the Sun; that of the crown from the year (for the year is a circle
guarded with four seasons), and from the circle again equality.
Therefore the crown is Christ, as adorning and beautifying the minds of
believers. But the year of Goodness was that time when Christ
moved by goodness was declaring the Gospel, as Isaiah saith of Him,
“He hath sent Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord” (Isa. lxi. 1, 2). Thus the Crown is on every side
equal. For if one draw a line from the upper side to the lower,
and the same in a transverse direction, all the intervals will be
equal. And the Crown is like itself, because its figure is seen
alike on every side, for on every side it is seen as a round.
Therefore Christ as to His Humanity is called a Crown of Righteousness,
as composed of all the virtues, and having no end of His goodness and
righteousness; and of that righteousness one quality is equality, that
is, it allows neither excess nor defect. For excess and defect do
not arise from virtue and righteousness, but from fault and
unrighteousness (Nicetas). | And Immaculate and guileless, as being the Healer of faults,
and of the defects and taints that come from sin. For though He
both took on Him our sins and bare our diseases,4607
yet He did not Himself suffer aught that
needed healing. For He was tempted in all points like as we are
yet without sin.4608
For he that
persecuted the Light that shineth in darkness could not overtake
Him.
XIV. What more? The First Month is
introduced, or rather the beginning of months, whether it was so among
the Hebrews from the beginning, or was made so later on this account,
and became the first in consequence of the Mystery; and the tenth of
the Month, for this is the most complete number, of units the first
perfect unit, and the parent of perfection. And it is kept until
the fifth day, perhaps because the Victim, of Whom I am speaking,
purifies the five senses, from which comes falling into sin, and around
which the war rages, inasmuch as they are open to the incitements to
sin. And it was chosen, not only out of the lambs, but also out
of the inferior species, which are placed on the left hand4609
—the kids; because He is sacrificed not
only for the righteous, but also for sinners; and perhaps even more for
these, inasmuch as we have greater need of His mercy. And we need
not be surprised that a lamb for a house should be required as the best
course, but if that could not be, then one might be obtained by
contributions (owing to poverty) for the houses of a family; because it
is clearly best that each individual should suffice for his own
perfecting, and should offer his own living sacrifice holy unto God Who
called him, being consecrated at all times and in every respect.
But if that cannot be, then that those who are akin in virtue and of
like disposition should be made use of as helpers. For I think
this provision means that we should communicate of the Sacrifice to
those who are nearest, if there be need.
XV. Then comes the Sacred Night, the
Anniversary of the confused darkness of the present life, into which
the primæval darkness is dissolved, and all things come into life
and rank and form, and that which was chaos is reduced to order.
Then we flee from Egypt, that is from sullen persecuting sin; and from
Pharaoh the unseen tyrant, and the bitter taskmasters, changing our
quarters to the world above; and are delivered from the clay and the
brickmaking, and from the husks and dangers of this fleshly condition,
which for most men is only not overpowered by mere husklike
calculations. Then the Lamb is slain, and act and word are sealed
with the Precious Blood; that is, habit and action, the sideposts of
our doors; I mean, of course, of the movements of mind and opinion,
which are rightly opened and closed by contemplation, since there is a
limit even to thoughts. Then the last and gravest plague upon the
persecutors, truly worthy of the night; and Egypt mourns the first-born
of her own reasonings and actions which are also called in the
Scripture the Seed of the Chaldeans4610
removed, and
the children of Babylon dashed against the rocks and
destroyed;4611
and the whole air
is full of the cry and clamour of the Egyptians; and then the Destroyer
of them shall withdraw from us in reverence of the Unction. Then
the removal of leaven; that is, of the old and sour wickedness, not of
that which is quickening and makes bread; for seven days, a number
which is of all the most mystical,4612
| 4612 We are to part with
leaven for seven days (Exod.
xii. 15), that is, with sin
for the whole week of this life. The number Seven Days signifies
the passing of time which revolves in weeks. And this number is
mystical, because it is virgin and signifies virginity and the angelic
life; for it alone, as arithmeticians teach, of all the numbers within
the decade, is neither a multiple nor a measure, and also contains in
itself the Four and the Three. For there are four elements of the
world, and the Trinity is their Creator. He calls it co-ordinate
with the world, because the world was made in seven days, and again
because when seven thousand years are completed the end of the world is
to come (Nicetas). S. Augustine (Civ. Dei. c. ii. 31) says that
the number Seven often stands for the Universe, because it is made up
of Four which is altogether even (2 and 2 the sum of two even numbers)
and Three which is altogether uneven (1 and 1 and 1). | and is
co-ordinate with this present world, that we may not lay in provision
of any Egyptian dough, or relic of Pharisaic or ungodly
teaching.
XVI. Well, let them lament; we will feed on
the Lamb toward evening—for Christ’s Passion was in the
completion of the ages; because too He communicated His Disciples in
the evening with His Sacrament, destroying the darkness of sin; and not
sodden, but roast—that our word may have in it nothing that is
unconsidered or watery, or easily made away with; but may be entirely
consistent and solid, and free from all that is impure and from all
vanity. And let us be aided by the good coals,4613
kindling and purifying our minds from
Him That cometh to
send fire on the earth,4614
that shall destroy
all evil habits, and to hasten its kindling. Whatsoever then
there be, of solid and nourishing in the Word, shall be eaten with the
inward parts and hidden things of the mind, and shall be consumed and
given up to spiritual digestion; aye, from head to foot, that is, from
the first contemplations of Godhead to the very last thoughts about the
Incarnation. Neither let us carry aught of it abroad, nor leave
it till the morning; because most of our Mysteries may not be carried
out to them that are outside, nor is there beyond this night any
further purification; and procrastination is not creditable to those
who have a share in the Word. For just as it is good and
well-pleasing to God not to let anger last through the day,4615
but to get rid of it before sunset, whether
you take this of time or in a mystical sense, for it is not safe for us
that the Sun of Righteousness should go down upon our wrath; so too we
ought not to let such Food remain all night, nor to put it off till
to-morrow. But whatever is of bony nature and not fit for food
and hard for us even to understand, this must not be broken; that is,
badly divined and misconceived (I need not say that in the history not
a bone of Jesus was broken, even though His death was hastened by His
crucifiers on account of the Sabbath);4616
| 4616 S. Gregory does not
mean to say that our Lord’s death was actually hastened by
violent actions on the part of the Jews, which we know was not the
case; but that they were anxious that it should take place before the
Sabbath began. The two thieves, who were still living, received
the coup de grace from the Roman soldiers, who broke their legs;
but our Lord, much to their astonishment was dead already, so this
course was not taken with Him, but His side was pierced with a
spear. |
nor must it be stripped off and thrown away, lest that which is holy
should be given to the dogs,4617
that is, to the
evil hearers of the Word; just as the glorious pearl of the Word is not
to be cast before swine; but it shall be consumed with the fire with
which the burnt offerings also are consumed, being refined and
preserved by the Spirit That searcheth and knoweth all things, not
destroyed in the waters, nor scattered abroad as the calf’s head
which was hastily made by Israel was by Moses,4618
for a reproach for their hardness of heart.
XVII. Nor would it be right for us to pass
over the manner of this eating either, for the Law does not do so, but
carries its mystical labour even to this point in the literal
enactment. Let us consume the Victim in haste, eating It with
unleavened bread, with bitter herbs, and with our loins girded, and our
shoes on our feet, and leaning on staves like old men; with haste, that
we fall not into that fault which was forbidden to Lot4619
by the commandment, that we look not around,
nor stay in all that neighbourhood, but that we escape to the mountain,
that we be not overtaken by the strange fire of Sodom, nor be congealed
into a pillar of salt in consequence of our turning back to wickedness;
for this is the result of delay. With bitter herbs, for a
life according to the Will of God is bitter and arduous, especially to
beginners, and higher than pleasures. For although the new yoke
is easy and the burden light,4620
as you are told,
yet this is on account of the hope and the reward, which is far more
abundant than the hardships of this life. If it were not so, who
would not say that the Gospel is more full of toil and trouble than the
enactments of the Law? For, while the Law prohibits only the
completed acts of sin, we are condemned for the causes also, almost as
if they were acts. The Law says, Thou shalt not commit
adultery; but you may not even desire, kindling
passion by curious and earnest looks. Thou shalt not kill,
says the Law; but you are not even to return a blow, but on the
contrary are to offer yourself to the smiter. How much more
ascetic is the Gospel than the Law! Thou shalt not forswear
thyself is the Law; but you are not to swear at all, either
a greater or a lesser oath, for an oath is the parent of
perjury. Thou shalt not join house to house, nor field to
field, oppressing the poor;4621
but you are to
set aside willingly even your just possessions, and to be stripped for
the poor, that without encumbrance you may take up the Cross4622
and be enriched with the unseen
riches.
XVIII. And let the loins of the unreasoning
animals be unbound and loose, for they have not the gift of reason
which can overcome pleasure (it is not needful to say that even they
know the limit of natural movement). But let that part of your
being which is the seat of passion, and which neighs,4623
as Holy Scripture calls it, when sweeping
away this shameful passion, be restrained by a girdle of continence, so
that you may eat the Passover purely, having mortified your members
which are upon the earth,4624
and copying the
girdle4625
of John, the Hermit
and Forerunner and great Herald of the Truth. Another girdle I
know, the soldierly and manly one, I mean, from which the Euzoni of
Syria and certain Monozoni4626
| 4626 The expression
is often used in the LXX. to represent the
word דודג,
translated A Band, especially in 2 Kings. | take their
name. And it is in respect of this too that God saith in an
oracle to Job, “Nay, but gird up thy loins like a
man, and give a manly
answer.”4627
With this
also holy David boasts that he is girded with strength from
God,4628
and speaks of God Himself as clothed with
strength4629
and girded about
with power—against the ungodly of course—though perhaps
some may prefer to see in this a declaration of the abundance of His
power, and, as it were, its restraint, just as also He clothes Himself
with Light as with a garment.4630
For who shall
endure His unrestrained power and light? Do I enquire what there
is common to the loins and to truth? What then is the meaning to
S. Paul of the expression, “Stand, therefore, having your loins
girt about with truth?”4631
Is it perhaps
that contemplation is to restrain concupiscence, and not to allow it to
be carried in another direction? For that which is disposed to
love in a particular direction will not have the same power towards
other pleasures.
XIX. And as to shoes, let him who is
about to touch the Holy Land which the feet of God have trodden, put
them off, as Moses did upon the Mount,4632
that he may bring there nothing dead; nothing to come between Man and
God. So too if any disciple is sent to preach the Gospel, let him
go in a spirit of philosophy and without excess, inasmuch as he must,
besides being without money and without staff and with but one coat,
also be barefooted,4633
that the feet of
those who preach the Gospel of Peace and every other good may appear
beautiful.4634
But he who
would flee from Egypt and the things of Egypt must put on shoes for
safety’s sake, especially in regard to the scorpions and snakes
in which Egypt so abounds, so as not to be injured by those which watch
the heel4635
which also we are
bidden to tread under foot.4636
And
concerning the staff and the signification of it, my belief is
as follows. There is one I know to lean upon, and another which
belongs to Pastors and Teachers, and which corrects human sheep.
Now the Law prescribes to you the staff to lean upon, that you may not
break down in your mind when you hear of God’s Blood, and His
Passion, and His death; and that you may not be carried away to heresy
in your defence of God; but without shame and without doubt may eat the
Flesh and drink the Blood, if you are desirous of true life, neither
disbelieving His words about His Flesh, nor offended at those about His
Passion. Lean upon this, and stand firm and strong, in nothing
shaken by the adversaries nor carried away by the plausibility of their
arguments. Stand upon thy High Place; in the Courts of
Jerusalem4637
place thy feet;
lean upon the Rock, that thy steps in God be not shaken.
XX. What sayest thou? Thus it hath
pleased Him that thou shouldest come forth4638
| 4638 ἐξελθεῖν c. acc. loci;
a very rare use, but found in classical authors. |
out of Egypt, the iron furnace; that thou shouldest leave behind the
idolatry of that country, and be led by Moses and his lawgiving and
martial rule. I give thee a piece of advice which is not my own,
or rather which is very much my own, if thou consider the matter
spiritually. Borrow from the Egyptians vessels of gold and
silver;4639
with these take thy
journey; supply thyself for the road with the goods of strangers, or
rather with thine own. There is money owing to thee, the wages of
thy bondage and of thy brickmaking; be clever on thy side too in asking
retribution; be an honest robber. Thou didst suffer wrong there
whilst thou wast fighting with the clay (that is, this troublesome and
filthy body) and wast building cities foreign and unsafe, whose
memorial perishes with a cry.4640
What
then? Dost thou come out for nothing and without wages? But
why wilt thou leave to the Egyptians and to the powers of thine
adversaries that which they have gained by wickedness, and will spend
with yet greater wickedness? It does not belong to them:
they have ravished it, and have sacrilegiously taken it as plunder from
Him who saith, The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,4641
and I give it to whom I will.
Yesterday it was theirs, for it was permitted to be so; to-day the
Master takes it and gives it to thee,4642
that thou mayest make a good and saving use of it. Let us make to
ourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness,4643
that when we fail, they may receive us in
the time of judgment.
XXI. If you are a Rachel or a Leah, a
patriarchal and great soul, steal whatever idols of your father you can
find;4644
not, however, that you may keep them, but
that you may destroy them; and if you are a wise Israelite remove them
to the Land of the Promise, and let the persecutor grieve over the loss
of them, and learn through being outwitted that it was vain for him to
tyrannize over and keep in bondage better men than himself. If
thou doest this, and comest out of Egypt thus, I know well that thou
shalt be guided by the pillar of fire and cloud by night and
day.4645
The wilderness shall be tamed for
thee, and the Sea divided;4646
Pharaoh shall be drowned;4647
bread shall be rained down:4648
the rock shall become a
fountain;4649
Amalek shall be
conquered, not with arms alone, but with the hostile hand of the
righteous forming both prayers and the invincible trophy of the
Cross;4650
the River shall be
cut off; the sun shall stand still; and the moon be
restrained;4651
walls shall be
overthrown even without engines;4652
swarms of
hornets shall go before thee to make a way for Israel, and to hold the
Gentiles in check;4653
and all the other
events which are told in the history after these and with these (not to
make a long story) shall be given thee of God. Such is the feast
thou art keeping to-day; and in this manner I would have thee celebrate
both the Birthday and the Burial of Him Who was born for thee and
suffered for thee. Such is the Mystery of the Passover; such are
the mysteries sketched by the Law and fulfilled by Christ, the
Abolisher of the letter, the Perfecter of the Spirit, who by His
Passion taught us how to suffer, and by His glorification grants us to
be glorified with Him.
XXII.4654
Now we are to
examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most people, but in my
judgment well worth enquiring into. To Whom was that Blood
offered that was shed for us, and why was It shed? I mean the
precious and famous Blood of our God and High priest and
Sacrifice. We were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold
under sin, and receiving pleasure in exchange for wickedness.
Now, since a ransom belongs only to him who holds in bondage, I ask to
whom was this offered, and for what cause? If to the Evil One,
fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives ransom, not only
from God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself, and has such an
illustrious payment for his tyranny, a payment for whose sake it would
have been right for him to have left us alone altogether. But if
to the Father, I ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we
were being oppressed; and next, On what principle did the Blood of His
Only begotten Son delight the Father, Who would not receive even Isaac,
when he was being offered by his Father, but changed the sacrifice,
putting a ram in the place of the human victim?4655
Is it not evident that the Father
accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account
of the Incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified by the
Humanity of God,4656
| 4656 Have we not here the
germ of the idea, afterwards known as the Scotist, that the Incarnation
was the purpose of God independently of the Fall, for the perfecting of
Humanity; but that the Passion and death of Incarnate God were the
direct result of the sin of man? | that He might
deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant, and draw us to Himself by
the mediation of His Son, Who also arranged this to the honour of the
Father, Whom it is manifest that He obeys in all things? So much
we have said of Christ; the greater part of what we might say shall be
reverenced with silence. But that brazen serpent4657
was hung up as a remedy for the biting
serpents, not as a type of Him that suffered for us, but as a contrast;
and it saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it to
live, but because it was killed, and killed with it the powers that
were subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is
the fitting epitaph for it from us? “O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”4658
| 4658 Hos. xiii. 14 and 1 Cor. xv. 55. | Thou art overthrown by the Cross; thou
art slain by Him who is the Giver of life; thou art without breath,
dead, without motion, even though thou keepest the form of a serpent
lifted up on high on a pole.
XXIII. Now we will partake of a Passover
which is still typical; though it is plainer than the old one.
For that is ever new which is now becoming known. It is ours to
learn what is that drinking and that enjoyment, and His to teach and
communicate the Word to His disciples. For teaching is food, even
to the Giver of food. Come hither then, and let us partake of the
Law, but in a Gospel manner, not a literal one; perfectly, not
imperfectly; eternally, not temporarily. Let us make our Head,
not the earthly Jerusalem, but the heavenly City;4659
not that which is now trodden under foot by
armies,4660
but that which is
glorified by Angels. Let us sacrifice not young calves, nor lambs
that put forth horns and hoofs,4661
in which many
parts are destitute of life and feeling; but let us sacrifice to God
the sacrifice of praise upon the heavenly Altar, with the heavenly
dances; let us hold aside the first veil; let us approach the second,
and look into the Holy of Holies.4662
| 4662 Heb.
xiii. 15 and x. 20. | Shall I
say that which is a greater thing yet? Let us sacrifice
ourselves to God; or rather let us go on sacrificing throughout
every day and at every moment. Let us accept anything for the
Word’s sake. By sufferings let us imitate His
Passion: by our blood let us reverence His Blood: let us
gladly mount upon the Cross. Sweet are the nails, though they be
very painful. For to suffer with Christ and for Christ is better
than a life of ease with others.
XXIV. If you are a Simon of Cyrene,4663
take up the Cross and follow. If you are
crucified with Him as a robber,4664
acknowledge
God as a penitent robber. If even He was numbered among
the transgressors4665
for you and your
sin, do you become law-abiding for His sake. Worship Him Who was
hanged for you, even if you yourself are hanging; make some gain even
from your wickedness; purchase salvation by your death; enter with
Jesus into Paradise,4666
so that you may
learn from what you have fallen.4667
Contemplate the glories that are there; let the murderer die outside
with his blasphemies; and if you be a Joseph of
Arimathæa,4668
beg the Body from
him that crucified Him, make thine own that which cleanses the
world.4669
If you be a
Nicodemus, the worshipper of God by night, bury Him with
spices.4670
If you be a
Mary, or another Mary, or a Salome, or a Joanna, weep in the early
morning. Be first to see the stone taken away,4671
and perhaps you will see the Angels and
Jesus Himself. Say something; hear His Voice. If He say to
you, Touch Me not,4672
stand afar off;
reverence the Word, but grieve not; for He knoweth those to whom He
appeareth first. Keep the feast of the Resurrection; come to the
aid of Eve who was first to fall, of Her who first embraced the Christ,
and made Him known to the disciples. Be a Peter or a John; hasten
to the Sepulchre, running together, running against one another, vying
in the noble race.4673
And even if
you be beaten in speed, win the victory of zeal; not Looking into the
tomb, but Going in. And if, like a Thomas, you were left out when
the disciples were assembled to whom Christ shews Himself, when you do
see Him be not faithless;4674
and if you do not
believe, then believe those who tell you; and if you cannot believe
them either, then have confidence in the print of the nails. If
He descend into Hell,4675
descend with
Him. Learn to know the mysteries of Christ there also, what is
the providential purpose of the twofold descent, to save all men
absolutely by His manifestation, or there too only them that
believe.
XXV. And if He ascend up into
Heaven,4676
ascend with
Him. Be one of those angels who escort Him, or one of those who
receive Him. Bid the gates be lifted up,4677
or
be made higher, that they may receive Him, exalted after His
Passion. Answer to those who are in doubt because He bears up
with Him His body and the tokens of His Passion, which He had not when
He came down, and who therefore inquire, “Who is this King of
Glory?” that it is the Lord strong and mighty, as in all things
that He hath done from time to time and does, so now in His battle and
triumph for the sake of Mankind. And give to the doubting of the
question the twofold answer. And if they marvel and say as in
Isaiah’s drama Who is this that cometh from Edom and from the
things of earth? Or How are the garments red of Him that is without
blood or body, as of one that treads in the full wine-press?4678
set forth the beauty of the array of the
Body that suffered, adorned by the Passion, and made splendid by the
Godhead, than which nothing can be more lovely or more
beautiful.
XXVI.4679
| 4679 This passage, to
nearly the end of c. XXVII., is taken from the
Oration on the Nativity, cc. XIII–XIV. | To this what
will those cavillers say, those bitter reasoners about Godhead, those
detractors of all things that are praiseworthy, those darkeners of
Light, uncultured in respect of Wisdom, for whom Christ died in vain,
unthankful creatures, the work of the Evil One. Do you turn this
benefit into a reproach to God? Will you deem Him little on this
account, that He humbled Himself for your sake, and because to seek for
that which had wandered the Good Shepherd, He who layeth down His life
for the sheep,4680
came upon the
mountains and hills upon which you used to sacrifice,4681
and found the wandering one; and having
found it, took it upon His shoulders,4682
on
which He also bore the wood; and having borne it, brought it back to
the life above; and having brought it back, numbered it among those who
have never strayed. That He lit a candle,4683
His own flesh, and swept the house, by cleansing away the sin of the
world, and sought for the coin, the Royal Image that was all covered up
with passions, and calls together His friends, the Angelic Powers, at
the finding of the coin, and makes them sharers of His joy, as He had
before made them sharers of the secret of His Incarnation? That
the Light that is exceeding bright should follow the
Candle—Forerunner,4684
and the Word, the
Voice, and the Bridegroom, the Bridegroom’s friend,4685
| 4685 Ib. i.
23; iii. 9, 29. | that prepared for the Lord a peculiar
people4686
and cleansed them
by the water4687
in preparation for
the Spirit? Do you Reproach God with this? Do you conceive
of Him as less because He girds Himself with a towel and washes His
disciples,4688
and shows that
humiliation is the best road to exaltation;4689
because He humbles Himself for the sake of the soul that
is bent down to the
ground,4690
that He may even
exalt with Himself that which is bent double under a weight of
sin? How comes it that you do not also charge it upon Him as a
crime that He eateth with Publicans4691
and at
Publicans’ tables, and makes disciples of Publicans4692
that He too may make some gain. And
what gain? The salvation of sinners. If so, one must blame
the physician for stooping over suffering and putting up with evil
smells in order to give health to the sick; and him also who leans over
the ditch, that he may, according to the Law, save the beast that has
fallen into it.
XXVII. He was sent, but sent according to
His Manhood (for He was of two Natures), since He was hungry and
thirsty and weary, and was distressed and wept, according to the Laws
of human nature. But even if He were sent also as God, what of
that? Consider the Mission to be the good pleasure of the Father,
to which He refers all that concerns Himself, both that He may honour
the Eternal Principle, and that He may avoid the appearance of being a
rival God. For He is said on the one hand to have been betrayed,
and on the other it is written that He gave Himself up; and so too that
He was raised and taken up by the Father, and also that of His own
power He rose and ascended. The former belongs to the Good
Pleasure, the latter to His own Authority; but you dwell upon all that
diminishes Him, while you ignore all that exalts Him. For
instance, you score that He suffered, but you do not add “of His
own Will.” Ah, what things has the Word even now to
suffer! By some He is honoured as God but confused with the
Father; by others He is dishonoured as Flesh, and is severed from
God. With whom shall He be most angry—or rather which shall
He forgive—those who falsely contract Him, or those who divide
Him? For the former ought to have made a distinction, and the
latter to have made a Union, the one in number, the other in
Godhead. Do you stumble at His Flesh? So did the
Jews. Do you call Him a Samaritan,4693
and the rest which I will not utter? This did not even the
demons, O man more unbelieving than demons, and more stupid than
Jews. The Jews recognized the title Son as expressing equal rank;
and the demons knew that He who drove them out was God, for they were
persuaded by their own experience. But you will not either admit
the equality or confess the Godhead. It would have been better
for you to have been circumcised and a demoniac—to reduce the
matter to an absurdity—than in uncircumcision and robust health
to be thus ill and ungodly disposed. But for our war with such
men, let it be brought to an end by their returning, however late, to a
sound mind, if they will; or else if they will not, let it be postponed
to another occasion, if they continue as they are. Anyhow, we
will have no fear when contending for the Trinity with the help of the
Trinity.
XXVIII. It is now needful for us to sum up our
discourse as follows: We were created that we might be made
happy. We were made happy when we were created. We were
entrusted with Paradise that we might enjoy life. We received a
Commandment that we might obtain a good repute by keeping it; not that
God did not know what would take place, but because He had laid down
the law of Free Will. We were deceived because we were the
objects of envy. We were cast out because we transgressed.
We fasted because we refused to fast, being overpowered by the Tree of
Knowledge. For the Commandment was ancient, coeval with
ourselves, and was a kind of education of our souls and curb of luxury,
to which we were reasonably made subject, in order that we might
recover by keeping it that which we had lost by not keeping it.
We needed an Incarnate God, a God put to death, that we might
live. We were put to death together with Him, that we might be
cleansed; we rose again with Him because we were put to death with Him;
we were glorified with Him, because we rose again with Him.
XXIX. Many indeed are the miracles of that
time: God crucified; the sun darkened and again rekindled; for it
was fitting that the creatures should suffer with their Creator; the
veil rent; the Blood and Water shed from His Side; the one as from a
man, the other as above man; the rocks rent for the Rock’s sake;
the dead raised for a pledge of the final Resurrection of all men; the
Signs at the Sepulchre and after the Sepulchre, which none can worthily
celebrate; and yet none of these equal to the Miracle of my
salvation. A few drops of Blood recreate the whole world, and
become to all men what rennet is to milk, drawing us together and
compressing us into unity.
XXX. But, O Pascha, great and holy and purifier of
all the world—for I will speak to thee as to a living
person—O Word of God and Light and Life and Wisdom and
Might—for I rejoice in all Thy names—O Offspring and
Expression and Signet of the Great Mind; O Word conceived and Man
contemplated, Who bearest all things, binding them by the Word of Thy
power; receive this discourse, not
now as firstfruits, but perhaps as the completion of my offerings, a
thanksgiving, and at the same time a supplication, that we may suffer
no evil beyond those necessary and sacred cares in which our life has
been passed; and stay the tyranny of the body over us; (Thou seest, O
Lord, how great it is and how it bows me down) or Thine own sentence,
if we are to be condemned by Thee. But if we are to be released,
in accordance with our desire, and be received into the Heavenly
Tabernacle, there too it may be we shall offer Thee acceptable
Sacrifices upon Thine Altar, to Father and Word and Holy Ghost; for to
Thee belongeth all glory and honour and might, world without end.
Amen. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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