Catechetical Lectures 11 part 4/12

Pilate was not a king—so that for now we pass over the greater part of the question;

how, then, did they bind Him and lead Him away as a gift to a king? But read the Gospel:

Pilate, having heard that He was from Galilee, sent Him up to Herod.

And Herod was then king, and was present in Jerusalem.

And see the precision of the prophet.

For he says that He was sent as a gift.

For Pilate and Herod became friends with one another on that very day;

for previously they had been at enmity.

For it was fitting that He who was about to make peace between earth and heaven should first make peace among those very men who were condemning Him.

For the Lord Himself was present, who reconciles the hearts of rulers.

Hold fast the precision of the prophets and their true testimony.

Marvel at the Lord being judged.

He endured being led and carried about by soldiers.

Pilate sat in judgement, and He who sits at the right hand of the Father stood and was being judged.

The people who had been redeemed by Him out of the land of Egypt and from elsewhere cried out against Him many times:

'Away, away, crucify Him!'

Why, O Jews? Because He healed your blind? But because He made your lame to walk and bestowed the rest of His benefits? So that the prophet, astounded, says concerning this also:

'Against whom have you opened your mouth? And against whom have you let loose your tongue?' And [so that He makes] the Lord Himself to say among the prophets:

'My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; it has uttered its voice against me.'

'It was not I who rejected them, but they who rejected me.'

Therefore I say accordingly:

'I have forsaken my house.'

Being judged, He kept silence, so that Pilate suffered on His behalf and said:

'Do you not hear what these testify against you?' Not because he knew the One being judged, but because he feared the dream of his own wife that had been sent.

'And I became like a man who hears not, and who has no rebukes in his mouth.'

'But I was like a deaf man who hears not, and like a mute man who opens not his mouth.'

You heard the things concerning this before also, if indeed you remember.

But the soldiers, crowding around Him, mock Him.

And the Lord becomes a plaything to them, and the Master is mocked.

'They saw me and wagged their heads.'

And it becomes a type of the kingdom.

For they mock, yet they bow the knee.

And the soldiers crucify Him, having first clothed Him in purple, and they place a crown upon His head.

For what if it was of thorns? Every king is proclaimed by soldiers.

It was fitting that Jesus too should be crowned typologically by soldiers.

So that for this cause the Scripture says in the Song:

'Go forth and behold, O daughters of Jerusalem, King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him.'

The crown too was a mystery.

For it was a loosing of sins, a release from the sentence.

'Cursed is the ground in your works; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you.'

For this cause Jesus takes the thorns, that He might loose the condemnation.

And for this cause He was buried in the earth, that the cursed earth might receive, instead of a curse, the blessing.

At the time of the sin they girded themselves with fig leaves.

For this cause Jesus too made the fig tree the last of His signs.

For being about to go to the Passion, He curses the fig tree—not every fig tree, but that one alone, on account of the type—saying:

'Let no one eat fruit of you anymore.'

And since at that time they girded themselves with fig leaves, He came at a season in which food was not found.

Who does not know that in the season of winter a fig tree bears no fruit, but is clothed with leaves only? What all men knew, did Jesus, then, not know? Rather, knowing it, He came as one seeking, not ignorant that He would find none, but enacting the type of the curse only as far as the leaves.

And since we have touched upon the things concerning paradise, I have truly marvelled at the truth of the types.

In paradise was the fall, and in a garden was the salvation.

From a tree came the sin, and unto a tree extended the sin.

In the cool of the day, while the Lord was walking, they hid themselves; and in the cool of the day, by the Lord, the robber is led into paradise.

You are quibbling—show me from a prophet the wood of the cross.

Unless you furnish a testimony from a prophet, I am not persuaded.

Hear, then, from Jeremiah, and be assured:

'Did I not know, like an innocent lamb led to the slaughter?' For read it interrogatively thus, as I said.

'You know that after two days the Passover comes, and the Son of Man is delivered up to be crucified'—did He then not know? 'Did I not know, like an innocent lamb led to the slaughter?' What lamb? Let John the Baptist interpret, saying:

'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.'

'Against me they devised evil.'

He who knows the thoughts—did He, then, not know the outcome? And what were they saying? 'Come, and let us cast wood into his bread.'

And if the Lord counts you worthy, you shall know hereafter that His body, according to the Gospel, bore the type of bread.

'Come, then, let us cast wood into his bread, and let us cut him off from the land of the living.'

'Why do you toil in vain?' 'And his name shall be remembered no more.'

For before the sun His name abides in the Church.

And that the Life it was which was hung upon the tree, Moses, lamenting, says:

'And your life shall be hanging before your eyes, and you shall fear day and night, and you shall not believe in your life.'

And that which was just now read:

'Lord, who has believed our report?' This type Moses enacted, lifting up the serpent, that he who was bitten by the living serpent and looked upon the bronze serpent might be saved by believing.

Then if a bronze serpent lifted up saves, shall not the Son of God made flesh and crucified save? Always through wood comes life.

For in the days of Noah, life-giving deliverance came through a wooden ark.

And the sea, in the days of Moses, seeing the type of the rod, was abashed before him who smote it.

Then, is the rod of Moses powerful, and the cross of the Saviour powerless? But I pass over the many types for the sake of proportion.

The wood in the days of Moses sweetened the water, and from the side of Jesus the water flowed upon the wood.

The beginning of the signs in the days of Moses was blood and water, and the last of all the signs of Jesus was the same.

First Moses changed the river into blood, and Jesus at the end brought forth water from His side together with blood.

Perhaps on account of the two voices, that of him who judged and that of those who clamoured; or on account of the believers and the unbelievers.

For Pilate, on the one hand, said:

'I am innocent,' and washed his hands with water;

the two, then, were from the side—the water perhaps for him who judged, and the blood for those who clamoured.

To the Jews the blood, but to the Christians the water.

For to those, as plotters, comes the condemnation that is from the blood; but to you who now believe, the salvation that is through water.

Our fathers the interpreters gave yet another reason for the matter.

For since the power of the saving baptism in the Gospels is twofold—one given through water to those being enlightened, the second through one's own blood, in the case of the holy martyrs in persecutions—there came forth from the saving side blood and water, confirming the grace of the confession made for Christ both at the time of enlightenment (baptism) and at the times of martyrdom.

There is yet another reason for the side.

A woman became the originator of sin, she who was formed from a side (rib).

But Jesus, who came to bestow amnesty upon men and women alike, was pierced in the side on behalf of women, that He might loose the sin.

And if anyone should search, he will find still other reasons.

But let even these things suffice to be said, on account of the shortness of time, and lest the hearing become wearisome to those who hear.

And yet it is never possible to grow weary in hearing the things concerning the Master being crowned, and especially in this all-holy Golgotha.

For others only hear, but we both see and touch.

Take up the weapons against the adversaries on behalf of the cross itself.

Set up the faith of the cross as a trophy against those who gainsay.

For whenever you are about to dispute concerning the cross of Christ with unbelievers, first send forth with your hand the sign of the cross of Christ, and the gainsayer is silenced.

Be not ashamed to confess the cross.

For the angels boast, saying:

'We know whom you seek—Jesus the crucified.'

Could you not say, O angel, 'I know whom you seek—my Master'? But 'I,' he says with boldness, 'know the crucified.'

For the cross is a crown, not a dishonour.

But let us now return to the proof from the prophets that was spoken of.

The Lord was crucified; you have received the testimonies.

You see the place of Golgotha.

You cry aloud with praise, as one in agreement.

See that you never deny in the time of persecution.

Do not rejoice in the cross only in time of peace, but in time of persecution as well hold the same faith.

Be not a friend of Jesus in time of peace and an enemy in time of war.

You now receive the forgiveness of your sins and the gifts of the King's spiritual bounty.

When war comes, contend nobly on behalf of your King.

Jesus the sinless was crucified for you; and will you not be crucified for Him who was crucified for you? You do not bestow grace;

but you repay grace, paying back the debt to Him who was crucified for your sake on Golgotha.

And Golgotha is interpreted 'the place of a skull.'

Who, then, were they who prophetically named this place of Golgotha, in which Christ, the true Head, endured the cross? Even as the Apostle says:

'who is the image of the invisible God;'

'and He is the head of the body, the Church;'

'Christ is the head of every man;'

'who is the head of all principality and authority;'

the Head suffered in the place of the skull.

O great prophetic naming!

For the very name all but reminds you, saying:

Do not regard the crucified as a mere man.

He is the head of all principality and authority.

She who was crucified is head of all authority, yet has as her head the Father.

For the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God.

Christ, then, was crucified for us, who was judged in the night while it was cold, and on this account a charcoal fire was set near.

He was crucified at the third hour, and from the sixth hour darkness came until the ninth, but from the ninth hour light again.

Is this too written? Let us search.

'And it shall come to pass in that day, there shall be no light, and there shall be cold and frost for one day;'

the cold, on account of which Peter was warming himself;

'and that day is known to the Lord.'

What then? Does He not know the other days? Many are the days, but this is the day of the Lord's endurance, which the Lord made.

'And that day is known to the Lord, and it is neither day nor night.'

What is the riddle which the prophet utters? That day is neither day nor night.

What, then, shall we call it? The Gospel interprets the matter, narrating it.

For the sun did not shine alike from east to west, but from the sixth hour to the ninth hour darkness came in the middle of the day.

The darkness, then, was an interposition; and God named the darkness 'night.'

For this cause it was neither day nor night.

For neither was it wholly light, that it should be called day, nor wholly darkness, that it should be called night; but after the ninth hour the sun shone forth.

The prophet foretells this too.

'And it shall be neither day nor night;'

'and toward evening there shall be light.'

Do you see the precision of the prophets? Do you see the truth of the things foretold? But you ask plainly, at which hour did the sun fail? Was it the fifth hour, or the eighth, or the tenth? Tell the precise truth to the disobedient Jews, O prophet, when the sun sets.

The prophet Amos, then, says:

'And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, the sun shall set at noon' (for from the sixth hour darkness came) 'and the light shall be darkened upon the earth in the day.'

What season is this, O prophet, and what day? 'And I will turn your feasts into mourning.'

For the thing was done during the days of unleavened bread and at the feast of the Passover.

'And I will make it like the mourning for a beloved, and those with him like a day of anguish.'

For on the day of unleavened bread and at the feast their women beat their breasts and wept, while the apostles, having hidden themselves, were in anguish.

Marvellous, then, is that which was prophesied.

'But give me yet another sign,' someone will say.

What other sign so precise is there concerning what came to pass? Jesus was crucified; He wore but a single tunic and made use of one outer garment.

But the soldiers divided the outer garment, having torn it into four.

But the tunic was not torn, for being torn it would no longer be of any use, and a casting of lots over it took place among the soldiers.

And the one they divide, but over the other they cast lots.

Is this too written? The diligent psalm-singers of the Church know it—they who imitate the angelic hosts and ever hymn God, who are counted worthy to sing in this very Golgotha and to say:

'They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.'

Again, having been judged before Pilate, He wore scarlet.

For there they put on Him a scarlet robe.

Is this too written? Isaiah says:

'Who is this that comes from Edom, with red garments from Bozrah?' Who is this that wears scarlet in dishonour? For 'Bozrah' has some such interpretation among the Hebrews.

'Why are your garments red, and your clothing like that of one who treads the winepress?' And He answers and says: 'All the day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.'

He stretched out His hands on the cross, that He might embrace the ends of the inhabited world.

For this Golgotha is the very midmost of the earth.

'You worked salvation in the midst of the earth.'

He stretched out human hands, He who with His spiritual hands established the heaven.

And they were fastened with nails, that, the manhood which bore the sins of men being nailed to the wood and the manhood having died, sin might die together with it, and we might rise again in righteousness.

For since through one man came death, and through one man came life—through one man, the Saviour, dying of His own free choice;

for remember the words spoken:

'I have authority to lay down my life, and I have authority to take it again.'

But while He endured these things, having come for the salvation of all, the people rendered an evil recompense.

Jesus says, 'I thirst'—He who brought forth for them the waters from the steep rock;

and He sought the fruits from the vine which He had planted.

But what was the vine? That which by nature was from the holy fathers, but by its own choice was from Sodom (for 'their vine is from Sodom, and their tendril from Gomorrah')—to the thirsting Lord it offers the vinegar in a sponge filled and placed on a reed.

'And they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.'

Do you see the clarity of the prophets' foretelling? And what gall did they give into my mouth? 'They gave Him,' it says, 'wine mingled with myrrh.'

And myrrh is bitter as gall and exceedingly bitter.

Do you thus repay the Lord? Is this what you, the vine, offer to the Master? Justly did Isaiah lament you beforehand, saying:

'My beloved had a vineyard on a hill, in a fertile place.'

And, that we may not say everything: 'I waited,' He says, 'that it should bring forth grapes; I thirsted that it should yield wine; but it brought forth thorns.'

For you see the crown which I wear.

What, then, do I declare henceforth? 'I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.'

For the clouds—the prophets—were taken away from them.

But the prophets are henceforth in the Church, even as Paul says:

'Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others discern.'

'God has set in the Church some as apostles, and some as prophets.'

Agabus was a prophet, who bound his own feet and hands.

But concerning the robbers crucified with Him, it was said, 'And He was reckoned with the transgressors.'

And the two were, indeed, transgressors before this, but the one no longer.

For the one was a transgressor to the end, unyielding unto salvation—with his hands nailed fast, yet with his tongue smiting through blasphemy.

The Jews passing by wagged their heads, jeering at the crucified, fulfilling that which is written:

'They saw me, they wagged their heads;'

and that one blasphemed with them, but the other rebuked the blasphemer.

And for him it was the end of life and the beginning of amendment, a giving up of the soul and a foretaste of salvation.

And after his rebuke to that one, he says:

'Leave him; the eyes of his understanding have been blinded; but remember me.'

I do not say, remember my works, for I am afraid of these.

Every man is disposed kindly toward his fellow-traveller;

I journey with you unto death;

remember me, your fellow-wayfarer.

But I do not now say 'remember me,' but 'when You come in Your kingdom.'

What power illumined you, O robber? Who taught you to worship Him who was despised and crucified together with you? O light eternal, that gives light to those [in darkness]!

Not that your deeds were worthy of confidence, but that the King is present, bestowing grace.

Long-reaching was the request, but swiftest was the grace.

'Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise,' since today you heard my voice and did not harden your heart.

Most swiftly I gave sentence against Adam; most swiftly I bestow grace upon you.

'In the day that you eat, you shall surely die;'

but you have today obeyed in faith; today is salvation yours.

He fell through the tree, and you through the tree are brought into Paradise.

Do not fear the serpent; it will not cast you out, for it has fallen from heaven.

And I do not say to you, "Today you depart," but, "Today you shall be with me."

Do not fear the flaming sword; it stands in awe before its Master.

O great and indescribable grace!

Abraham the faithful had not yet entered, and the robber enters.

Moses and the prophets had not yet entered, and the lawless robber enters.

Paul too marveled before you, saying:

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

Those who had borne the burning heat had not yet entered, and he who came at the eleventh hour entered.

Let no one murmur against the householder, since he says:

"Have I no authority to do what I will with my own?" The robber wills to do righteously, but death anticipates him.

"I do not wait for the work alone, but I also accept the faith."

"I have come, I who feed among the lilies; I have come to feed in the gardens."

"I have found a sheep that was lost, but I take it upon my shoulders."

For he believes, since he himself also said:

"I went astray like a lost sheep."

"Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

I foretold in songs concerning this garden to my bride, and I said these things to her:

"I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride."

Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified.

And what do you take from there? "I have gathered my myrrh," having drunk the wine mingled with myrrh and the vinegar; which when he had taken, he said, "It is finished."

For the mystery has been fulfilled, the things written have been fulfilled, sins have been loosed.

"For Christ, being come a high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption."

"For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purity of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ?" And again:

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."

And since his flesh, the veil, was dishonored, for this reason the typical veil of the temple was torn, as it is written:

"And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two, from top to bottom"; for not even a little of it was left.

For since the Master said, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate," the house was torn apart.

The Savior endured these things, having made peace through the blood of his cross, things in heaven and things on earth.

For we were enemies of God through sin, and God had decreed that the sinner should die.

Therefore one of two things had to happen: either, being truthful, God must destroy all, or, being loving to mankind, he must annul the sentence.

But he preserved both the truth in the sentence and the efficacy in his love for mankind.

Christ took up our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness through his death.

Not small was he who died on our behalf.

It was not a mere sheep, it was not a bare man, it was not an angel only, but God become man.

Not so great was the lawlessness of sinners as the righteousness of him who died on their behalf.

We did not sin so much as he wrought righteousness who laid down his soul for us—he who laid it down when he willed, and took it again when he willed.

And do you wish to know that he did not lay down his life by violent slaughter?

Nor did he give up his spirit unwillingly; he called to the Father, saying:

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

"I commit it, that I may take it again."

And having said these things, he gave up the spirit; but not for a long time, for swiftly he rose again from the dead.

The sun was eclipsed, because of the Sun of righteousness.

The rocks were split, because of the spiritual Rock.

Tombs were opened and the dead were raised, because of him who was free among the dead.

"He sent forth his prisoners out of the pit that has no water."

Therefore do not be ashamed of the Crucified, but speak boldly, you also saying:

"He bears our sins and is in pain for us, and by his stripes we are healed."

Let us not be ungrateful to our Benefactor.

"For the transgressions of my people he was led to death, and I will give the wicked for his burial and the rich for his death."

Therefore Paul clearly says:

"That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

But we seek to know clearly where he was buried.

Was the tomb then made with hands? Did it rise above the ground after the manner of the tombs of kings? Was the sepulchre built of stones laid together? And what was placed upon it? Tell us, O prophets, the exactness also of the tomb: where it is placed, and where we shall seek it. And they say:

"Look to the solid rock which you have hewn; look and behold."

"In a tomb hewn out, which had been cut from the rock."

And what happens? What sort of door does the tomb have? Again another prophet says:

"They put my life to death in a pit and laid a stone upon me."

"The cornerstone, the chosen, the precious: I lie within a stone for a little while—a stone of stumbling to the Jews, and of salvation to those who believe."

Therefore the tree of life was planted in the earth, that the cursed earth might enjoy the blessing, and that the dead might be loosed.

Let us therefore not be ashamed to confess the Crucified.

Let the seal be made with boldness by the fingers upon the forehead, and the cross upon everything: upon the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings in, in our goings out, before sleep, when we lie down and when we rise, when we travel and when we are at rest.

Great is the safeguard; free of charge, for the sake of the poor; without toil, for the sake of the weak; since the grace is also from God—a sign to the faithful and a terror to demons.

"For he triumphed over them in it, making a show of them openly."

For whenever they see the cross, they are reminded of the Crucified.

They fear him who crushed the heads of the dragon.

Do not despise the seal because it is freely given, but rather for this very reason honor the Benefactor more.

And if you ever fall into a dispute and do not have the arguments of demonstration, let faith remain firm in you.

Rather, becoming well-learned, silence the Jews from the prophets and the Greeks from the myths told among themselves.

They themselves worship those struck by lightning.

But a thunderbolt coming from heaven does not come without judgment.

If those people are not ashamed to worship the god-hated who were struck by lightning, are you ashamed to worship him who is dear to God, the Son of God, who was crucified for you? I am ashamed to speak of the things concerning their so-called gods, and I leave it because of the hour; but let those who know speak of them.

Let all the heretics also be silenced.

If anyone says that the cross was an appearance, turn away from him.

Hate those who say that he was crucified only in semblance.

For if he was crucified in semblance, and salvation is from the cross, then salvation too is a semblance.

If the cross is a semblance, the resurrection too is a semblance.

"But if Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins."

If the cross is a semblance, the ascension too is a semblance.

And if the ascension is a semblance, then the second coming too is a semblance, and everything else has no substance.

Take therefore first the unbreakable foundation, the cross, and build upon it the rest of the faith.

Do not deny the Crucified.

For if you deny him, you have many who will convict you.

Judas the betrayer will convict you first.

For the betrayer knows that he was condemned by the chief priests and elders.

The thirty pieces of silver bear witness.

Gethsemane bears witness, where the betrayal took place.

I do not yet speak of the Mount of Olives, on which they were praying, present there by night.

The moon in the night bears witness.

The day and the failing sun bear witness.

For it could not bear to see the lawlessness of the conspirators.

The fire convicts you, standing by which Peter warmed himself.

If you deny the cross, the eternal fire awaits you.

I speak hard things, that you may not experience hard things.

Remember the swords that came against him in Gethsemane, that you may not experience the eternal sword.

The house of Caiaphas will convict you, showing by its present desolation the power of him who was judged there at that time.

Caiaphas himself will stand against you in the day of judgment.

The servant who gave the blow to Jesus will also stand against you, and those who bound and led him away.

Herod and Pilate will also stand against you, all but saying:

"Why do you deny him who was falsely accused before us by the Jews, whom we knew to have sinned in nothing? For I, Pilate, washed my hands at that time."

The false witnesses will stand against you, and the soldiers who put on him the purple robe and set the crown of thorns and crucified him at Golgotha and cast lots for his garment.

Simon of Cyrene will convict you, who bore the cross behind Jesus.

From the stars the failing sun will convict you; from the things on earth, the wine mingled with myrrh; from reeds, the reed; from herbs, the hyssop; from the things of the sea, the sponge; from trees, the wood of the cross.

The soldiers, as has been said, who nailed him and cast lots for his garments; the soldier who opened his side with the spear; the women who were then present.

The veil of the temple which was then rent.

Pilate's Praetorium, now desolate by the power of him who was then crucified.

This holy Golgotha, which rises above and is seen even to this day, and shows even now how the rocks were then split for Christ's sake.

The nearby tomb, where he was laid, and the stone placed on the door, which lies beside the sepulchre to this day.

The women who worshiped after the resurrection.

Peter and John, who ran to the tomb; and Thomas, who put his hand into his side and his fingers into the marks of the nails.