Homily on the Ascension of Christ
Homilia in assumptionem Christi
The fullness of the feast of the Ascension§1
1Blessed be God. As a head is to the body, so a feast is to the order of feasts; and today is that feast. For we celebrate the Ascension of Christ in the flesh, as the fullness shown of the Lordly feasts. Just as a head is beautiful, so today's feast of divine grace radiates beauty; but many, not knowing its greatness, think it is less.
If you wish to learn, do not strain my mind needlessly. Cooperate with me only through prayers, I entreat you; and silence the leaden winds, and calm the waves of chatter, and grant me leisure for hearing. For according to wise Solomon, the words of the wise are heard in rest.
First, then, is the terrible and wonderful feast: the birth of Christ according to the flesh. For how is the descent of God from heaven to us not wonderful, but rather a co-descent? Because the Master of all condescended to unite himself to the form of a servant, and the one encompassing all has a poor mother.
Second is the feast of the Theophanies, having a much greater contemplation than the first. For in the first feast, a star showed the God-Logos having been born; but in the second feast, John cried, 'Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.' And the Father, crying from heaven, confirmed the testimony of the one being baptized: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' But even then, the full enjoyment of sobriety was not reached, since the mortal body had not yet received immortality through the resurrection.
Third is the feast of the saving passion: the resurrection, which gives life to those who, through his blood, are being struck like sparks, and are being reborn through water and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, he raised a fallen world, and enabled the formerly fallen Adam to reach eternal life. Through a tree Adam tasted death; through the tree of the cross, life is granted to the world. And this feast was shown more glorious than the preceding feasts, because in it, death, through death, having killed death, brought immortal life to those dying. But even this did not have the fullness of joy, holding the risen one upon the earth.
But the great and surpassing joy of Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles, is today, in the day of the Ascension, filled with joy through all things. Having opened the moon-bearing heavens, and having ascended the most fine air, and having rounded from the earth to the heavenly grips, and having incited all the natures of the angels to unutterable joy, he showed us a strange sight: our flesh having been placed upon a royal throne. Where are those busy with the chariot races, and the drivers loving sharpness? Come, see a paradoxical chariot race: the Creator of creation in human...
Greek · §1
Homilia in assumptionem Christi Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἐπιφανίου ἐπισκόπου Κύπρου εἰς τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεός. Κόσμος σώματος ἡ ἐπιτεθεῖσα τῷ σώματι κεφαλή· κόσμος δὲ τῶν ἑορτῶν ἡ σήμερον ἑορτή. Τί γάρ; φησί. Χριστοῦ ἀνάληψιν μετὰ σαρκὸς ἑορτάζομεν, ὡς τῶν ∆εσποτικῶν ἑορτῶν δεικνυμένην πλήρωμα. Καθάπερ γὰρ κεφαλὴ φαιδρόμορφος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ σήμερον ἑορτὴ τῆς θεϊκῆς χάριτος ἀπαυγάζει τὸ κάλλος· ἀλλ' οἱ πολλοὶ ἀγνοοῦντες τὸ ταύτης μέγεθος, ἧττον αὐτὴν νομίζουσι. Καὶ εἰ βούλεσθε μαθεῖν, ἀνεξικάκως συντείνατέ μοι τὸν νοῦν. Μόνον μοι δι' εὐχῶν συνεργήσατε, παρακαλῶ· καὶ τὰς μολιβδώδεις αὔρας καταστείλατε· καὶ τὰ κύματα τῆς φλυαρίας γαληνιάσατε· καὶ σχολάζουσάν μοι τὴν ἀκοὴν παράσχητε. Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν σοφὸν Σολομῶντα, λόγοι σοφῶν ἐν ἀναπαύσει ἀκούονται. Πρώτη τοίνυν 43.480 ἑορτὴ ἡ φρικτὴ καὶ θαυμαστὴ κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ Χριστοῦ γέννησις. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ θαυμαστὴ ἡ ἐξ οὐρανῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς κατάβασις, μᾶλλον δὲ συγκατάβασις; ὅτι ὁ πάντων ∆εσπότης τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ἑνῶσαι ἑαυτῷ κατηξίωσε, καὶ πτωχὴν μητέρα ἔχειν ὁ πάντα περιέχων. ∆ευτέρα ἑορτὴ ἡ τῶν Θεοφανίων πολλῷ τῆς πρώτης τὴν θεωρίαν μείζω ἔχουσα. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ πρώτῃ ἑορτῇ ὑπεδείκνυε τὸν τεχθέντα Θεὸν Λόγον ἀστήρ· ἐν δὲ τῇ δευτέρᾳ ἑορτῇ Ἰωάννης ἐβόα, Ἴδε ὁ Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁαἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Ἐβεβαίου δὲ τὴν μαρτυρίαν τοῦ βαπτιζομένου οὐρανόθεν βοῶν ὁ Πατήρ· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τότε ὁλόκληρος ἡ τῆς σωφροσύνης ἀπόλαυσις, ἐπειδὴ μηδέπω τὸ θνητὸν σῶμα διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὴν ἀθανασίαν ἐδέξατο. Τρίτη ἑορτὴ τοῦ σωτηριώδους πάθους ἡ ἀνάστασις ζωοποιεῖ τοὺς διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ μαρμαρυγὰς ἀπαστράπτοντας, καὶ ἀναγεννωμένους δι' ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου. ∆ιὸ καὶ πεσόντα κόσμον ἀνέστησε, καὶ τὸν πάλαι ἐκπεσόντα Ἀδὰμ ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἠξίωσε. ∆ιὰ ξύλου ὁ Ἀδὰμ θάνατον ἐτρύγησε· διὰ ξύλου σταυροῦ ζωὴν τῷ κόσμῳ χαρίζεται. Καὶ αὕτη μὲν τῶν προλαβουσῶν ἑορτῶν ἐνδοξοτέρα ἀνεδείκνυτο, ἐπειδὴ ἐν αὐτῇ ὁ θάνατος διὰ θανάτου τὸν θάνατον θανατώσας, καὶ ζωὴν ἀθάνατον τοῖς θανοῦσιν ἐπήγαγεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴ οὐκ εἶχε τῆς χαρᾶς τὴν πληρότητα ἐπὶ γῆς τὸν ἀναστάντα κατέχουσα. Καὶ ἡ τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς δὲ χαρὰν μεγάλην καὶ ὑπὲρ λόγον, ἐν ᾗ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐδίδοτο Πνεῦμα ἅγιον· σήμερον δὲ ἐν τῇ τῆς Ἀναλήψεως ἡμέρᾳ πάντα διὰ πάντων εὐφροσύνης πεπλήρωται. Οὐρανοὺς τοὺς φεγγοτόκους ἀνοίξας, καὶ τὸν λεπτομερέστατον ἀέρα βαθμώσας, καὶ τὸν ἐκ γῆς εἰς τὰς οὐρανίους ἁψίδας ἀνασφαιρώσας, καὶ πάσας τὰς τῶν ἀγγέλων φύσεις εἰς χαρὰν ἄληκτον παρορμήσας, ξένην ἡμῖν θέαν ἐπέδειξε, τὴν ἡμετέραν σάρκα ἐπὶ θρόνου βασιλικοῦ ἐπηρμένην. Ποῦ εἰσὶν οἱ περὶ τὰ ἱπποδρόμια ἀσχολούμενοι, καὶ ἡνιόχων ἀγαπῶντες ὀξύτητα; ∆εῦτε, ἴδετε παράδοξον ἱπποδρόμιον· τὸν τῆς κτίσεως ∆ημιουργὸν ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ
The Ascension of Christ and the Deception of the Jews§2
2Holding a chariot, not running disorderly upon the earth, but ascending in a new way through ethereal paths, it approaches to seize the heavenly turning-point and powerfully repels the running Belial. But the children of the Jews, the instigators of error, having heard that Christ had been taken up into heaven, desiring to obscure the paradoxical wonder of the Sun of Righteousness, introduce Elijah, saying: 'Why do you boast so much, Christians, that Christ was taken up, as you say? For even Elijah, being a man, having been worthy of similar glory, was taken up into heaven.'
To these we speak with boldness: Why, O Jews, do you plunder the books like blind men, and do not see what is written in them with precision? Why do you read and do not recognize? For what does the Divine Scripture say? That Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind as if into heaven; but the phrase 'as if into heaven' has an ambiguous meaning; but 'into heaven' shows the truth clearly. And since neither Elijah nor anyone else ascended into heaven, except only the Only-begotten Son of God who descended from heaven, who himself informs all about himself, he says: 'No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven; the good shepherd, who having left the ninety-nine sheep of the angels upon the heavenly mountains, and having found the strayed sheep, and carrying them on the shoulders of philanthropy, and having brought them into the heavenly harbor, offering them as a gift to his own Begetter, says: I have found, Father, the strayed sheep, which the deceiving serpent deceived with crafty tricks, and showed the paths of evil, and polluted the purity of the knowledge of God with the mud of many-mindedness. Having seen it thus suffocating in the mire of life, I quickly lifted it up with the right hand of my divinity; and with the bowels of mercies I washed it in the streams of the Jordan, and having perfumed it with the fragrance of my Holy Spirit, I have now come through the resurrection, presenting to you the rational sheep as a guest worthy of your divinity.'
Today the devil is overcome in his own defeat, seeing our body being led up into the heavens; today sin is dissipated like smoke through the ascension of Christ Jesus; today the devil wails, saying: 'What shall I do, the wretched one? Having snatched all those from eternity like a sharp-beaked hawk from me, he has left me desolate, and having clipped my wings from every side, he has cast me down to the earth.' I have been deceived by the one of Mary...
Greek · §2
ἐποχούμενον ἅρματι, οὐκ ἐπὶ γῆς ἀτάκτως ἐλαύνοντα, ἀλλ' αἰθερίους δρόμους καινοπρεπῶς ἀναστέλλοντα, καὶ τὸν οὐράνιον καμπτῆρα καταλαμβάνειν ἐπειγόμενον, καὶ τὸν παρατρέχοντα Βελίαρ δυνατῶς καταστρέφοντα. 43.481 Ἀλλ' Ἰουδαίων παῖδες οἱ βάσκανοι τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούσαντες, ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς ἀνελήφθη εἰς οὐρανοὺς, ἀμαυρῶσαι βουλόμενοι τὸ παράδοξον θαῦμα τοῦ Ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τὸν Ἠλίαν παρεισάγουσι λέγοντες· Τί μεγάλα κομπάζετε, Χριστιανοὶ, ὅτι ἀνελήφθη ὁ Χριστὸς, ὡς λέγετε; Καὶ γὰρ Ἠλίας, ἄνθρωπος ὢν, τῆς ὁμοίας δόξης ἀξιωθεὶς ἀνελήφθη εἰς οὐρανούς. Πρὸς οὓς μετὰ παῤῥησίας φθεγξόμεθα· ∆ιὰ τί, ὦ Ἰουδαῖοι, τὰς βίβλους ὡς τυφλοὶ σκυλεύετε, καὶ τὰ γεγραμμένα ἐν αὐταῖς μετὰ ἀκριβείας οὐ βλέπετε; ∆ιὰ τί ἀναγινώσκετε, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκετε; Τί γάρ φησιν ἡ θεία Γραφή; Καὶ ἀνελήφθη Ἠλίας ἐν συσσεισμῷ ὡς εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν· τὸ δὲ, ὡς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἀμφίβολον ἔχει τὴν ἔννοιαν· τὸ δὲ, εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, τρανὴν δείκνυσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Ὅτι δὲ οὔτε Ἠλίας, οὔτε ἕτερός τις ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς, αὐτὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ πάντας πληροφορῶν λέγει· Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ· ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς, ὁ τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα τῶν ἀγγέλων πρόβατα καταλιπὼν ἐπὶ τὰ οὐράνια ὄρη, καὶ τὸ πεπλανημένον πρόβατον εὑρηκὼς, καὶ ὤμοις φιλανθρωπίας βαστάζων, καὶ εἰς τὸν οὐράνιον λιμένα ἀνενεγκὼν, τῷ ἰδίῳ Γεννήτορι δωροφορῶν φθέγγεται· Εὗρον, Πάτερ, τὸ πρόβατον τὸ πλανώμενον, ὅπερ ὁ ἀπατεὼν ὄφις δολοτρόποις τεχνάσμασιν ἠπάτησε, καὶ κακίας ὁδοὺς ὑπέδειξε, πηλῷ δὲ τῆς πολυθεΐας τὴν καθαρότητα τῆς θεογνωσίας ἐμόλυνε. Θεασάμενος οὖν αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ βορβόρῳ τοῦ βίου πνιγόμενον, τῇ τῆς θεότητός μου δεξιᾷ ταχέως ἀνήρπασα· καὶ τοῖς τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν σπλάγχνοις ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ῥεύμασιν ἀπέπλυνα, καὶ μυρίσας τῇ εὐωδίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου μου Πνεύματος, διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως νῦν παραγέγονα, ἄξιον τῆς σῆς θεότητος προσκομίζων σοι ξένιον, τὸ λογικὸν πρόβατον. Σήμερον ὁ διάβολος τὴν οἰκείαν ἧτταν ὀδύρεται, ὁρῶν τὸ ἡμέτερον σῶμα εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀναγόμενον· σήμερον ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἀναλήψεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὡς καπνὸς διαλέλυται· σήμερον ὁ διάβολος θρηνεῖ λέγων, Τί ποιήσω, ὁ ἄθλιος; Πάντας τοὺς ἀπ' αἰῶνος ὡς ἱέραξ ὀξυπετὴς ἁρπάξας παρ' ἐμοῦ, ἔρημόν με κατέστησε, καὶ πανταχόθεν με πτεροκοπήσας εἰς γῆν κατέῤῥαξεν. Ἠπάτησέ με ὁ τῆς Μαρίας
The realization of Christ's divinity and the soul's struggle§3
3Son. I did not know that God is hidden in a human body. I saw him as a human body surrounding him, and thinking him merely a man, I incited the Jews against him; and what I did not dare to do through myself, I accomplished through the Jews. I found an abundance of slander; I conceived every kind of insolence against him; I made him drink with a reed and a sponge; I crowned his head with thorns; I dishonored him with beatings, and I fastened him to a cross with nails. Having brought him to an end by death, as if he were conquered, I celebrated with the Jews. But when I saw that on the third day he is raised, just as I had said, I fell down like a sword piercing through the heart. And seeing that he eats and drinks, I saw them preparing another cross again. But as I was remembering these things to myself, I see him ascending into heaven with glory, from which I fell down in shame.
Therefore also the Psalmist cried out from many of the years, saying: All the nations, clap your hands; shout to God with a voice of joy, because the Lord is most high, a fearsome king, great over all the earth; and again: God has ascended in a shout, the Lord in the voice of a trumpet. I want to pursue him, but like lead I am brought down; I want to seize him, but invisibly I struggle. What shall the wretched man do? From every side he has surrounded me. From the heavens he hurled me like a very small stone down to the earth. Having fallen to the earth, I desired to hide in the waters; but finding me hiding in the streams of the Jordan, he seized me and struck me. I want even to seize the earth, and all, as guardians of a lordly law, cry out the voice against me: The earth is the Lord's and its fullness, the inhabited world and all who dwell in it. The earthquake showed that the earth is the Lord's. For the earth, not bearing the name of the Lord, was boiling with an unyielding trembling, being scourged because of the disorder of its children; just as a mouth having opened cracks against the elements, the magnitude of the hidden pain cried out, and it pleaded to spare those who had sinned, like a mother for her children. Who will speak the powers of the Lord? Will he make all his praises heard? The earth is the Lord's and its fullness. For Christ joined himself to the flesh made from the earth, and sat in the heavens.
The devil comes wanting to infect through fornication. But as one having the eye of the soul as a sleepless guard, do not allow the thief to rupture the eye of the mind, so that, bleeding, you might say to him: A traitor of a lordly possession...
Greek · §3
υἱός. Οὐκ ᾔδειν, ὅτι Θεὸς ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ κρύπτεται σώματι. Ἔβλεπον αὐτὸν σῶμα ἀνθρώπινον περικείμενον, καὶ ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν νομίσας ψιλὸν, κατ' αὐτοῦ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐκίνησα· καὶ ἅπερ δι' ἑαυτοῦ μὴ ἐτόλμων διαπράξασθαι, ταῦτα διὰ Ἰουδαίων ἐνήργησα. Μυ43.484 ρίας συκοφαντίας ἐφεῦρον· πᾶν εἶδος ὕβρεως εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπενόησα· καλάμῳ καὶ σπόγγῳ αὐτὸν ἐπότισα· ἀκάνθαις τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἐστεφάνωσα· ῥαπίσμασιν αὐτὸν ἠτίμωσα, σταυρῷ διὰ ἥλων προσήλωσα· θανάτῳ τέλος ὑποβαλὼν, ὡς νικήσας, μετὰ Ἰουδαίων ἑόρταζον. Θεασάμενος δὲ αὐτὸν ὅτι τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγήγερται, καθὼς προεῖπον, ὡς ξίφος κατὰ καρδίας ἀθρόως δεξάμενος κατέπεσον· θεασάμενος δὲ αὐτὸν ὅτι ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει, πάλιν ἕτερον σταυρὸν κατεσκεύαζον. Ἀλλ' ὡς ταῦτα ἐνεθυμούμην πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, ὁρῶ αὐτὸν μετὰ δόξης εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνερχόμενον, ὅθεν ἐγὼ μετ' αἰσχύνης ἐξέπεσον. ∆ιὸ καὶ Ψαλμῳδὸς ἐκ πολλῶν τῶν χρόνων ἐβόα λέγων· Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, κροτήσατε χεῖρας· ἀλαλάξατε τῷ Θεῷ ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως, ὅτι Κύριος ὕψιστος, βασιλεὺς φοβερὸς, μέγας ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν· καὶ πάλιν· Ἀνέβη ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ἀλαλαγμῷ, Κύριος ἐν φωνῇ σάλπιγγος. Θέλω αὐτὸν καταδιῶξαι, καὶ ὡς μόλιβδος κάτω φέρομαι· βούλομαι αὐτὸν κρατῆσαι, καὶ ἀοράτως ἐξαγκωνίζομαι. Τί ποιήσω ὁ τάλας; Πανταχόθεν με περιήλασεν. Ἐξ οὐρανῶν με ὡς λίθον βραχύτατον εἰς γῆν ἐσφενδόνησε κάτω. Πεσὼν δὲ ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι κρυβῆναι ἠθέλησα· καὶ εὑρών με ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ῥείθροις κρυπτόμενον, ὡς δράκοντα, κρατήσας ἐμάστιξε. Θέλω κἂν τῆς γῆς κρατῆσαι, καὶ πάντες ὡς δεσποτικῆς νομῆς φύλακες, τὴν κατ' ἐμοῦ φωνὴν βοῶσι· Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ. Ἔδειξεν ὁ σεισμὸς, ὅτι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ. Ἡ γὰρ γῆ τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ὄνομα μὴ φέρουσα ἀκαρτερήτῳ τρόμῳ ἐβράσσετο, διὰ τὴν ἀταξίαν τῶν αὐτῆς τέκνων μαστιζομένη, καθάπερ στόμα κατὰ τῶν στοιχείων ἀνοίξασα ῥήγματα, τῆς κρυπτομένης ὀδύνης ἐβόα τὸ μέγεθος· καὶ φείσασθαι τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων, ὡς μήτηρ ὑπὲρ τέκνων, ἱκέτευε. Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας τοῦ Κυρίου; ἀκουστὰς ποιήσει πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις αὐτοῦ; Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. Τὴν γὰρ σάρκα τὴν ἐκ γῆς πλασθεῖσαν ἥνωσεν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Ἔρχεται ὁ διάβολος διὰ πορνείας μολύνειν βουλόμενος. Ἀλλ' ὡς φύλαξ ἄγρυπνον ἔχων τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμὸν, μὴ συγχωρήσῃς τῷ λῃστῇ τὸν τῆς διανοίας διαῤῥῆξαι ὀφθαλμὸν, ἵνα θαῤῥῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν εἴπῃς· ∆εσποτικοῦ κτήματος προδότης οὐ
The Sower and the Harvest of the Church§4
4I am defeated, devil. For the earth belongs to the Lord, and the Church of Christ is always being cultivated by the heavenly rain, ever-flourishing and bearing fruit for Christ, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.
The sower, he says, went out to sow; and one fell upon the path, that Greek deception. Then the flying things came, the sharp-eyed snatchers of demons, and they devoured it. Another fell upon the rocky places—the hard-hearted choice of the Jews, I say—and immediately there sprouted a plant of presumption and lawlessness. Such is the way of the Jews. For while legislating in the wilderness, they said to Moses, 'All that God has said, we will do and we will listen.' Yet they, promising these things, worship an unspiritual calf and preferred the dead to the living God. Another fell upon the thorns, those rough-centered and blasphemous-tongued heresies which daily choke the seed of piety.
Another fell upon the good earth, the Church of Christ, the fruitful, bearing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. Thirty is the yoke of prudence; sixty is of angel-like virginity; a hundred is of divine justice, of purity, and of the manliness of the martyrs. For the preachers of piety, evangelizing to all the coming of the Lord at the end, were saying, 'In this manner he will come, the way in which you saw him being taken up.' For two men appeared in white clothing. Two, so that the truth might be believed; men, so that I might support the disciples into manliness; wearing white, so that they might brighten the minds of those hearing.
What then were those seen preaching? Men of Israel, why do you stand looking into the heaven? Why do you gaze into the heaven? Rather, considering the maker of heaven, you glorified the greatness of the one being taken up, and you marveled at his condescension of philanthropy, because having united to himself a man of the earth, he promoted him to a citizen of heaven and made him an inhabitant of heaven; marvel! Where did he lift up the one lying below? Why do you stand looking into the heaven? In this way he will come. How? Surrounding our own body, presenting the side pierced by the spear, so that the Jews might see the one they pierced; and we might be worthy to see his face with boldness, and we might obtain the promised good things, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ; with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Greek · §4
γίνομαι, διάβολε. Τοῦ Κυρίου γὰρ ἡ γῆ καὶ ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ πάντοτε ὑπὸ τοῦ οὐρανίου ὄμβρου γεωργουμένη, καὶ ἀειθαλὲς καρποφοροῦσα Χριστῷ τριάκοντα [καὶ ἑξήκοντα] καὶ ἑκατόν. Ἐξῆλθε, φησὶν, ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν ὁδὸν, τὴν ἀπάτην τὴν Ἑλληνικήν. Καὶ ἦλθον τὰ πετεινὰ, οἱ ὀξύπεινοι τῶν δαιμόνων ἅρπαγες, καὶ κατέφαγον αὐτό. Ἄλλο ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη, τὴν σκληρότροπον τῶν Ἰουδαίων φημὶ προαίρεσιν, καὶ εὐθέως ἀνέτειλε 43.485 προπετείας φυτὸν [καὶ] παρανομίας. Τοιοῦτος γὰρ Ἰουδαίων ὁ τρόπος. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἐρήμῳ νομοθετούμενοι ἔφασκον πρὸς Μωϋσῆν· Πάντα ὅσα εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, ποιησόμεθα καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα. Καὶ οἱ ταῦτα ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, μόσχον ἄψυχον προσεκύνουν, καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν τοῦ ζῶντος Θεοῦ προετίμων. Ἄλλο ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀκάνθας, τὰς τραχυκέντρους καὶ βλασφημογλώσσους αἱρέσεις, αἵτινες τὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας σπόρον καθ' ἡμέραν συμπνίγουσιν. Ἕτερον ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὴν εὔφορον, τὴν καρποφοροῦσαν τριάκοντα καὶ ἑξήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν. Τριάκοντα τὸν τῆς σωφροσύνης ζυγόν· ἑξήκοντα τῆς ἀγγελομόρφου παρθενίας· ἑκατὸν τῆς θείας δικαιοσύνης, καὶ ἁγνείας, καὶ τῆς τῶν μαρτύρων ἀνδραγαθίας. Οἱ γὰρ τῆς εὐσεβείας κήρυκες τὴν ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τοῦ Κυρίου ἔλευσιν πᾶσιν εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ἔλεγον· Οὕτως ἐλεύσεται, ὃν τρόπον ἐθεάσασθε αὐτὸν ἀναλαμβανόμενον. Ὤφθησαν γὰρ δύο ἄνδρες ἐν ἐσθῆτι λευκῇ. ∆ύο, ἵνα πιστευθῇ ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἄνδρες, ἵνα εἰς ἀνδρίαν τοὺς μαθητὰς στηρίξωσι· λευχειμονοῦντες, ἵνα καταλαμπρύνωσι τὰς τῶν ἀκουόντων διανοίας. Τί οὖν οἱ ὀφθέντες ἐκήρυττον; Ἄνδρες Ἰσραηλῖται, τί ἑστήκατε βλέποντες εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν; τί εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀτενίζετε; Μᾶλλον τὸν οὐρανοῦ ποιητὴν θεωροῦντες, δοξάσατε τοῦ ἀναλαμβανομένου τὸ μέγεθος, καὶ τὴν συγκατάβασιν αὐτοῦ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας θαυμάσατε, ὅτι τὸν γήινον ἑνώσας ἑαυτῷ ἄνθρωπον, οὐρανοπολίτην ἀνέδειξε, καὶ οἰκήτορα οὐρανοῦ κατέστησε· βαβαί! τὸν κάτω κείμενον ποῦ ἀνήγαγε. Τί ἑστήκατε βλέποντες εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν; Οὕτως ἐλεύσεται. Οὕτω. Πῶς; Τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἡμέτερον περικείμενος, τὴν τρωθεῖσαν τῇ λόγχῃ πλευρὰν προβαλλόμενος· ἵνα ὄψωνται οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀξιωθῶμεν ὄψεσθαι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ μετὰ παῤῥησίας, καὶ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτύχωμεν· χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.