The Night of Victory
Of the blessed Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, on the Holy Pascha.
The sky is bright, lit up by the dance of the stars, and the whole universe is brighter still when the morning star rises. Yet this present night is lit up not so much by the stars as it now exults because our God and Savior has conquered. For 'Take courage,' he says, 'I have overcome the world' (John 16:33). And since God has conquered the invisible enemy, we too shall rightly win the victory over the demons. Let us, then, stay beside the saving cross, so that we may win the first fruits of the gifts of Jesus. Let us keep this holy night as a festival with holy torchlight, raising a song inspired by God and singing out a heavenly hymn. 'The sun of righteousness' (Malachi 4:2), our Lord Jesus Christ, has lit up this present day for the whole circle of the world; he rose through the cross; he saved the faithful.
Let no one, then, distrust the emblems of the cross; rather, let him worship the blessed and thrice-blessed wood of the cross, and the emblems of the cross that opened the doors of heaven to us. No longer do 'they light a lamp and put it under the basket' (Matthew 5:15), and by the basket I mean the Law, 'but on the lampstand', and by the lamp I mean the Word. For the Word was under the Law and was hidden from unbelievers, as under the basket; but when he came to the cross and was set on the lampstand, then across the world's…
Greek
Homilia i in sanctum pascha (homilia 3) (e cod. Sinaitico gr. 492) Τοῦ μακαρίου Ἡσυχίου, πρεσβυτέρου Ἱεροσολύμων, εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πάσχα 1 Φαιδρὸς ὁ οὐρανὸς τῇ τῶν ἄστρων χορείᾳ καταλαμπόμε νος, φαιδρότερα δὲ τὰ σύμπαντα ἑωσφόρου ἀνατέλλοντος, ἀλλ' ἡ παροῦσα τῆς νυκτὸς κατάστασις οὐ τοσοῦτον ἄστροις καταυ γάζεται ὁπόσον νῦν ἀγάλλεται τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν νε νικηκότος· «Θαρσεῖτε» γάρ, φησίν, «ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κό σμον»· θεοῦ δὲ νικήσαντος τὸν ἀόρατον πολέμιον, εἰκότως καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν κατὰ δαιμόνων νίκην ἀποισόμεθα. Παραμείνωμεν τοί νυν τῷ σωτηριώδει σταυρῷ, ἵνα τὰς πρώτας ἀπαρχὰς τῶν Ἰησοῦ δώρων ἀπενεγκώμεθα. Τὴν ἱερὰν ταύτην νύκτα δᾳ δουχίαις ἱεραῖς πανηγυρίσωμεν, μέλος ἔνθεον ἐγείροντες καὶ ὕ μνον οὐράνιον ἐξᾴδοντες. «Ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος», ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, καὶ τὴν παροῦσαν ἡμέραν τῷ κύκλῳ τῆς οἰκουμένης κατεφώτισεν, διὰ σταυροῦ ἀνέτειλεν, τοὺς πιστοὺς διέσωσεν. 2 Μή τις τοίνυν ἀπιστείτω τοῖς τοῦ σταυροῦ συμβόλοις, ἀλλὰ τὸ μακάριον καὶ τρισμακάριον ξύλον τοῦ σταυροῦ προσκυνείτω, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ σταυροῦ συμβόλοις τοῦ θύρας οὐρανοῦ ἡμῖν ἀνοί ξαντος. Οὐκέτι «καίουσι λύχνον καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον τιθέασιν», μόδιον δέ φημι τὸν Νόμον, «ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν», λύχνον δὲ τὸν Λόγον· ὑπὸ τὸν Νόμον δὲ ἐτύγχανεν καὶ ἐκρύπτετο τοῖς ἀπίστοις ὁ Λόγος ὡς ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον· ὅτε δὲ ἦλθεν ἐπὶ σταυροῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν ἐτέθη, τότε τῷ τῆς οἰκουμένης