Homily II on the Holy Pascha

The Trumpet and the Tomb§1

1A sacred and royal trumpet has gathered this spiritual assembly for us: a trumpet that Bethlehem filled and Zion tempered in fire, on which the Cross was the hammer and the Resurrection the anvil. I do not know how to tell its beauty, how to describe its light, how to make known the joy within it, how to recount the kingdom within it. With what hand shall I touch it?

With what words shall I greet a tomb that gives birth to life, a grave free of corruption that yet brings about incorruption, a bridal chamber that laid the bridegroom to sleep for three days, a bridal room that raised the bride incorrupt after the marriage? The guarded tomb declares him dead, and the quaking earth declares him God. For his body cries out that he is dead, but the miracle that he is God; the burial, that he is dead, the resurrection, that he is God; the tears of the women, that he is dead, and the words of the angels, that he is God. Joseph buried him as one dead, but he who was buried as a man…

One Word Made Flesh§2

2…this same one, as God, stripped death of its spoils. Again, the soldiers kept guard over him as one dead, and the gatekeepers of Hades, beholding him as God, cowered (Job 38:17).

You will say that this one and that one are the same, not one and another, nor one in another, nor one through another. For the Word made flesh, being one, brought these things and those together into one, as he willed, in a manner beyond telling. He gave his flesh to serve the sufferings, and he made use of his Godhead for the signs and wonders; but as it is not right for the Word to be separated from the flesh, so the sufferings must be interwoven with the wonders. For he who went down into Hades as one dead, this same one as God set the dead free. Otherwise, how do angels minister at a tomb, how do they appear in white to the women, as for a bridegroom, and how did they say to them, 'You are looking for Jesus…'

The Angel and the Prophets§3

3'…the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said (Mark 16:6; Matthew 28:6). That is, heaven is his place; send the myrrh there. He has risen; it was not we who raised him. For your sake we rolled away the stone, for before we came down the tomb had already been emptied. He has risen, as he himself said.'

What the angel said not even a prophet could explain. Hosea tells the time of the resurrection; Isaiah knows it, but how it will be he does not understand. For these are the words of Hosea's prophecy: 'Come, let us go and return to the Lord our God, for he has struck us, and he will heal us; he will strike, and he will bind us up after two days; on the third day we shall rise and live before him' (Hosea 6:1–2). Hear again what Isaiah sounded on the trumpet: 'Lebanon has been put to shame; Sharon has become marshland…' (Isaiah 33:9)

Now I Will Arise§4

4'…Galilee and Carmel will be laid bare. Now I will arise,' says the Lord, 'now I will be glorified, now I will be lifted up. Now you will see, now you will be put to shame' (Isaiah 33:9–11).

For he was directing these words at the Jews: "Now I will arise, when I raise up Adam, whom the transgression cast down. Now I will be glorified, when I establish for the nations freedom from the passions. Now I will be lifted up, when I lift your firstfruits into the heavens and raise to the throne of the cherubim 'the form of the servant' (Philippians 2:7) that I have taken from you. Now you will see the types coming to an end and the truth in flower. Now you will be put to shame, you who slander with words and are defeated by the facts."

For glory belongs to God, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.