Catechetical Lectures 13.16–13.36

When he was being judged he kept silent, so that Pilate was moved for him and said, “Do you not hear what these testify against you?” Not that he knew the one being judged, but he was afraid because of his wife's dream that had been reported to him. And Jesus kept silent. The Psalmist says, “And I became like a man who does not hear, and who has no reproofs in his mouth”; and again, “But I, like a deaf man, did not hear, and like a mute who does not open his mouth.” You have heard about this before also, if you remember.

But the soldiers crowd around and mock him; and the Lord becomes their plaything, and the Master is mocked. “They saw me, and shook their heads.” Yet a figure of the kingship appears; for though they mock, they bend the knee. And before crucifying him the soldiers put a purple robe on him and place a crown on his head; what does it matter that it is of thorns? Every king is proclaimed by soldiers; so Jesus too had to be crowned by soldiers in figure; so that for this reason the Scripture says in the Song, “Go forth and see, O daughters of Jerusalem, King Solomon in the crown with which his mother crowned him.” And the crown too was a mystery; for it was the remission of sins, the release from the sentence.

Adam received the sentence, “Cursed is the ground in your labours; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” For this reason Jesus takes the thorns, to undo the sentence; and for this reason he was buried in the earth, so that the cursed earth might receive the blessing instead of the curse. At the time of the sin they clothed themselves with fig leaves; for this reason Jesus too made the fig tree the last of his signs. For when he was about to go to his passion, he curses the fig tree (not every fig tree, but that one alone, for the sake of the figure), saying, “Let no one eat fruit from you any more”: let the sentence be undone. And since they then clothed themselves with fig leaves, he came at a season when food is not found. Who does not know that in the winter season the fig tree bears no fruit, but is covered only with leaves? What all knew, did Jesus not know? But knowing it, he came as if to seek; not ignorant that he would not find, but making the figure of the curse reach only to the leaves.

And since we have touched on the things of paradise, I truly marvel at the truth of the figures. In paradise was the fall, and in a garden salvation; from a tree came sin, and sin lasted until a tree; in the evening, when the Lord walked, they hid themselves, and in the evening the robber is brought into paradise by the Lord. But someone will say to me, “You are inventing; show me the wood of the cross from a prophet; unless you produce a testimony from a prophet, I am not persuaded.” Hear, then, from Jeremiah, and be assured: “I was like an innocent lamb led to be slaughtered; did I not know it?” (For read it so, as a question, as I said; for he who said, “You know that after two days the Passover comes, and the Son of Man is handed over to be crucified,” did he not know?) “I was like an innocent lamb led to be slaughtered; did I not know it?” (What lamb? Let John the Baptist interpret, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”) “They devised an evil device against me, saying” (he who knows their devices, did he not know what would come of them?)—and what did they say? “Come, and let us put wood into his bread.” (And if the Lord counts you worthy, you will learn hereafter that his body, according to the Gospel, bore the figure of bread.) “Come, then, let us put wood into his bread, and let us wipe him out from the land of the living” (life is not wiped out; why do you labour in vain?), “and let his name be remembered no more.” Vain is your counsel; for before the sun his name remains in the Church. And that it was life that hung on the tree, Moses says, lamenting, “And your life shall hang before your eyes, and you shall fear day and night, and you shall not trust in your life”; and so too what was read just now, “Lord, who has believed our report?”

This figure Moses completed when he crucified the serpent, so that whoever was bitten by the living serpent and looked at the bronze serpent might be saved by believing. Then: does a crucified bronze serpent save, and does the Son of God made flesh and crucified not save? Life always comes through wood. For in the time of Noah the preserving of life was through an ark of wood; and in the time of Moses the sea, seeing the figure of the rod, was awed at the one who struck it; … the cross of the Saviour …? But I pass over most of the figures, for the sake of measure. The wood in the time of Moses sweetened the water; and from the side of Jesus the water flowed upon the wood.

The beginning of the signs in the time 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 from his side water with blood: perhaps because of the two voices, that of the judge and that of those who cried out; or because of the believers and the unbelievers. For Pilate said, “I am innocent,” and washed his hands with water; but those who cried out said, “His blood be on us.” So there were the two from the side: the water, perhaps, for the judge, and the blood for those who cried out. And again it may be understood another way: the blood for the Jews, and the water for the Christians; for upon them, as plotters, comes the condemnation from the blood, but to you who now believe the salvation that comes through water. For nothing happened without purpose. Our Fathers who interpreted the Scriptures have given yet another reason for the matter. For since the power of saving baptism in the Gospels is twofold, one granted to the enlightened through water, the second to the holy martyrs in persecutions through their own blood, there came out of the saving side blood and water, confirming the grace of the confession made for Christ, both in enlightenment and in times of martyrdom. There is also another reason for the side. Woman, who was formed from a side, became the leader in sin; but Jesus, who came to grant forgiveness to men and women alike, was pierced in the side for women's sake, to undo the sin.

And if anyone searches, he will find other reasons too. But these are enough to say, because of the shortness of time, and so that the hearing may not become wearisome to the listeners. And yet one can never grow weary of hearing about the crowning of the Master, especially on this most holy Golgotha. For others only hear, but we both see and touch. Let no one grow weary. Take up your arms against the adversaries on behalf of the cross itself; set up the faith of the cross as a trophy against those who contradict. For when you are about to dispute with unbelievers about the cross of Christ, first make the sign of the cross of Christ with your hand, and the gainsayer is silenced. Do not be ashamed to confess the cross; for angels glory in it, saying, “We know whom you seek, Jesus the crucified.” Could you not have said, O angel, “I know whom you seek, my Master”? But “I,” he says boldly, “know the crucified.” For the cross is a crown, not a dishonour.

But let us now return to the proof from the prophets of which I spoke. The Lord was crucified; you have received the testimonies. You see the place of Golgotha! You cry out in praise, as if assenting. See that you do not deny it in time of persecution. Do not rejoice in the cross only in time of peace, but keep the same faith in time of persecution too; do not be a friend of Jesus in time of peace and an enemy in time of war. You are now receiving the forgiveness of your sins and the gifts of the King's spiritual bounty; when war comes, contend nobly for your King. Jesus, the sinless one, was crucified for you; and will you not be crucified for him who was crucified for you? You do not confer a favour, for you received first; but you return the favour, paying your debt to him who was crucified for you on Golgotha. Golgotha is interpreted “Place of a Skull.” Who, then, were they who prophetically named this place Golgotha, in which Christ, the true head, endured the cross? As the Apostle says, “who is the image of the invisible God,” and a little later, “and he is the head of the body, the Church”; and again, “The head of every man is Christ”; and again, “who is the head of all principality and power.” The head suffered in the place of the skull. O great prophetic naming! 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 power. The head of all power is the one who was crucified, but he has the Father as head; for the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God.”

Christ, then, was crucified for us, who was judged at night, when it was cold, and a fire of coals was therefore laid. He was crucified at the third hour; and from the sixth hour there was darkness until the ninth; and from the ninth, light again. Are these things too written? Let us seek. Zechariah, then, says, “And it shall be in that day that there shall be no light, and there shall be cold and frost for one day” (the cold because of which Peter warmed himself); “and that day shall be known to the Lord” (what then? does he not know the others? There are many days, but this is the day of the Lord's endurance, which the Lord has made); “and that day shall be known to the Lord, and it shall be neither day nor night.” What is the riddle that the prophet speaks? That day is neither day nor night: what, then, shall we call it? The Gospel interprets it by telling the event. It was not day; for the sun did not shine evenly from east to west, but from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness in the middle of the day. The darkness was, then, interposed; and God called the darkness night. Therefore it was neither day nor night. For it was not all light, to be called day, nor all darkness, to be called night; but after the ninth hour the sun shone. The prophet foretells this too; for having said, “And it shall be neither day nor night,” he added, “And toward evening there shall be light.” Do you see the exactness of the prophets?

But do you ask exactly at what hour the sun failed? Was it the fifth hour, or the eighth, or the tenth? Tell the exact time, O prophet, to the Jews who will not hear: when does the sun go down? The prophet Amos, then, says, “And it shall be in that day, says the Lord God, the sun shall go down at noon” (for from the sixth hour there was darkness), “and the light shall grow dark over the earth in the day.” What kind of season is this, O prophet, and what kind of day? “And I will turn your feasts into mourning”; for what was done happened in the days of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of the Passover. Then next he says, “And I will make him as the mourning for a beloved one, and those with him as a day of grief.” For on the day of Unleavened Bread, at the feast, their women were beating their breasts and weeping, and … were in anguish … what was prophesied. [26] “But give me yet another sign,” someone will say; “what other exact sign is there of what took place?” Jesus was crucified; he had a single tunic, and wore a cloak. The soldiers divided the cloak among themselves, tearing it into four; but the tunic was not torn, for once torn it would no longer have been of any use; and the soldiers cast lots for it. The one they divide; for the other they cast lots. Is this too written? The diligent psalm-singers of the Church know it, who imitate the angelic hosts and sing hymns to God continually, who are counted worthy to sing psalms on this Golgotha and to say, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” And the lot was the soldiers' casting of lots.

Again, when he had been judged before Pilate, he wore red; for there they put a scarlet cloak around him. Is this too written? Isaiah says, “Who is this who comes from Edom, with red garments from Bosor?” (Who is this who wears scarlet in dishonour? For Bosor has some such meaning among the Hebrews.) “Why are your garments red, and your clothes as from a trodden winepress?” And he answers and says, “All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

He stretched out his hands on the cross to embrace the ends of the world; for this Golgotha is the very centre of the earth. The word is not mine; it is a prophet who said, “You have worked salvation in the midst of the earth.” He who established the heaven with his spiritual hands stretched out human hands; and they were fastened with nails, so that, when the humanity that bore the sins of men had been nailed to the wood and had died, sin might die with it, and we might rise in righteousness. For since death came by one man, life also came by one man: by one man, the Saviour, dying of his own free will. For remember what was said: “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 gave him an evil recompense. Jesus says, “I thirst”: he who had brought them water out of the flinty rock; and he asked fruit of the vine which he had planted. But what does the vine do? The vine, by nature from holy fathers but by choice from Sodom (“for their vine is from Sodom, and their tendril from Gomorrah”), offers vinegar to the thirsting Lord on a sponge filled and put on a reed. “And they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” You see how clear the prophets' foretelling is. But what kind of gall did they give into my mouth? “They gave him,” it says, “wine mixed with myrrh”; and myrrh is like gall and very bitter. Do you thus repay the Lord? Is this what you offer the Master, O vine? Rightly did Isaiah lament you beforehand, saying, “My beloved had a vineyard on a hill, in a fertile place”; and (not to quote it all), “I waited,” he says, “for it to produce grapes; I thirsted for it to give wine; but it produced thorns.” For you see the crown that I wear. What, then, do I decree from now on? “I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it.” For the clouds, the prophets, were taken away from them; and from now on the prophets are in the Church, as Paul says, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge”; and again, “God gave in the Church some apostles and some prophets.” Agabus, who bound his own feet and hands, was a prophet.

Concerning the robbers crucified with him it is said, “And he was numbered with the lawless.” Both of them were lawless before this, but one was so no longer. For the one was lawless to the end, unyielding toward salvation; his hands were nailed fast, yet he struck with his tongue through blasphemy. The Jews passing by wagged their heads, mocking the Crucified and fulfilling what was written, “They saw me, they shook their heads”; and he joined them in reviling. But the other rebuked the reviler; and for him it was the end of life and the beginning of restoration, the surrender of his soul and the first taste of salvation. And after rebuking the other he says, “Remember me, Lord”; for it is to you that I speak; leave this man, the eyes of his understanding are blinded; but remember me. I do not say, Remember my works, for I fear them. Every man is well disposed toward his fellow traveller; I am travelling with you toward death; remember me, your fellow wayfarer. I do not say, Remember me now, but “when you come in your kingdom.”

What power enlightened you, O robber? Who taught you to worship the despised one who was crucified with you? O eternal light, which gives light to those in darkness! Therefore he rightly heard, “Take courage”: not that your deeds deserve courage, but because the King is present, granting grace. The request reached far ahead, but the grace was very swift: “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”; because today you have heard my voice and have not hardened your heart. Very swiftly I pronounced sentence on Adam; very swiftly I pardon you. To him it was said, “In the day that you eat, you shall surely die”; but you today have obeyed by faith; today salvation is yours. He fell away through the tree, and you are brought into paradise through the tree. Do not fear the serpent; he will not cast you out, for he has fallen from heaven. And I do not say to you, “Today you depart,” but “Today you will be with me.” Take courage; you will not be cast out. Do not fear the flaming sword; it reverences its Master. O great and indescribable grace! Faithful Abraham had not yet entered, and the robber enters; Moses and the prophets had not yet entered, and the lawless robber enters. Paul too wondered at this before you, saying, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” Those who bore the heat have not yet entered, and the one of about the eleventh hour has entered. Let no one murmur against the master of the house, since he says, “Friend, I do you no wrong; am I not allowed to do what I will with what is mine?” The robber wishes to do righteousness, but death forestalls him; I do not wait only for the work, but I have accepted the faith as well. I have come, who shepherd among the lilies; I have come to shepherd in the gardens. I have found a sheep that was lost, and I take it upon my shoulders. For he believes, since he himself has said, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” “Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom.” [32] I sang of this garden beforehand in the Song to my bride, and said these things to her: “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride” (and where he was crucified there was a garden). And what do you take from there? “I have gathered my myrrh”: having drunk the wine mixed with myrrh and the vinegar, and having received these, he said, “It is finished.” For the mystery has been fulfilled; the things written have been fulfilled; sins have been loosed. “For Christ, having come as high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered 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 defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ?” And again, “Having, then, brothers, boldness to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh.” And since his flesh, the veil, was dishonoured, therefore the veil of the temple, the figure, was torn, as it is written, “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn 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. [33] The Saviour endured these things, having made peace by the blood of his cross for things in the heavens and things on earth. For we were enemies of God through sin, and God had decreed that the sinner should die. One of two things, then, had to happen: either that God, being true, should destroy all, or that, being loving to mankind, he should cancel the sentence. But see the wisdom of God: he kept both the truth of his sentence and the working of his love for mankind. Christ took up our sins in his body on the tree, so that we, having died to sins through his death, might live to righteousness. Not small was he who died for us: he was not a sheep of the senses; he was not a mere man; he was not an angel only, but God made man. The lawlessness of the sinners was not as great as the righteousness of him who died for them; we did not sin as much as he did righteousness who laid down his life for us, who laid it down when he willed and took it again when he willed. And would you know that he did not lay down his life by force, nor give up his spirit unwillingly? He cried to the Father, saying, “Father, into your hands …” … “that I may take it again.” And having said this he gave up his spirit; but not for long, for he quickly 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 arose because of him who was free among the dead; “he sent forth his prisoners from the pit that has no water.” Do not, then, be ashamed of the Crucified, but be bold and say, “He bears our sins and suffers for us, and by his stripes we were healed.” Let us not be ungrateful to our benefactor. And again, “For the lawlessness of my people he was led to death; and I will give the wicked in return for his burial …” Therefore Paul says plainly, “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. Is the tomb made with hands? Does it rise above the ground, like the tombs of kings? Is the sepulchre made of stones joined together? And what is laid upon it? Tell us, O prophets, the exact truth about the tomb also: where is he laid, and where shall we seek him? And they say, “Look to the solid rock which you have hewn; look in and see.” You have in the Gospels, “in a tomb hewn in stone, which had been cut out of the rock.” And what happens next? What kind 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.” I, the chief cornerstone, the chosen, the precious, lie for a short time within a stone: a stone of stumbling to the Jews, and of salvation to those who believe. The tree of life, then, was planted in the earth, so that the cursed earth might enjoy the blessing, and so that the dead might be set free.

Let us not, then, be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Let the cross, our seal, be made boldly with the fingers on the forehead and on everything: over the bread we eat and the cups we drink; in comings in and goings out; before sleep, when we lie down and when we rise; when we travel and when we rest. Great is the safeguard: free, for the sake of the poor; without labour, for the sake of the weak; since the grace too is from God. It is the sign of the faithful and the terror of demons; for “he triumphed over them in it, making a public example of them.” For when 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 a free gift, but for this reason honour your benefactor all the more. [37] And if you ever fall into a dispute and do not have the arguments of proof, let faith remain firm with you; or rather, become well learned, and silence the Jews from the prophets and the Greeks from their own myths. They themselves worship men struck by lightning; but the thunderbolt that comes from heaven does not come at random. If they are not ashamed to worship men struck by lightning and hated by God, are you ashamed to worship the beloved of God, the Son of God, who was crucified for you? I am ashamed to tell the stories about their so-called gods, and I leave them aside because of the time; let those who know speak. Let all heretics be silenced too. If anyone says that the cross is a semblance, turn away from him; hate those who say that he was crucified only in appearance. For if he was crucified in appearance, and salvation is from the cross, salvation too is an appearance. If the cross is an appearance, the resurrection too is an appearance; “but if Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins.” If the cross is an appearance, the ascension too is an appearance; and if the ascension is an appearance, then the second coming too is an appearance, and everything henceforth is without substance. [38] Take, then, first, as an unbreakable foundation, the cross, and build the rest of the faith upon it. Do not deny the Crucified; for if you deny him, you have many to refute you. Judas the traitor will refute you first; for he who betrayed him knows that he was condemned to death by the chief priests and elders. The thirty pieces of silver bear witness; the Mount of Olives bears witness, where they were praying, present with him at night. The moon in the night bears witness; the day bears witness, and the sun that was eclipsed; for it could not bear to look on the lawlessness of the plotters. The fire will refute you, at which Peter stood and warmed himself; if you deny the cross, the eternal fire awaits you. I speak hard words, so that you may not experience hard things. Remember the swords that came against him in Gethsemane, so that you may not experience the eternal sword. The house of Caiaphas will refute you, showing by its present desolation the power of him who was judged there then. Caiaphas himself will stand against you on the day of judgment; the servant too will stand against you, who struck Jesus, and those who bound him and led him away … all but saying, “Why do you deny him who in our presence was falsely accused by the Jews, whom we knew to have done no sin? For I, Pilate, then washed my hands.” The false witnesses will stand against you, and the soldiers who put the purple robe around him and placed the crown of thorns on him, and crucified him on Golgotha, and cast lots for his tunic. Simon of Cyrene will refute you, who carried the cross behind Jesus.

From among the stars, the eclipsed sun will refute you; from the things on earth, the wine mixed 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 present then; the veil of the temple that was then torn; Pilate's praetorium, now laid waste by the power of him who was then crucified; this holy Golgotha, rising high above us and visible to this day, and showing even now how the rocks were then split because of Christ; the tomb nearby where he was laid; and the stone laid on the door, which lies to this day beside the tomb; the angels who were present then; the women who worshipped him 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. For he too touched him carefully for our sake; and what you, not being present then, would have sought, he, being present, sought by God's dispensation.

You have twelve apostles, witnesses of the cross; and the world, the whole earth of men who believe in the Crucified. Let this very fact, that you are present now, persuade you of the power of the Crucified. For who has now gathered you? What soldiers? With what bonds were you compelled? What sentence urged you on now? But the saving trophy of Jesus, the cross, gathered all. This enslaved the Persians and tamed the Scythians; this gave the Egyptians the knowledge of God instead of cats and dogs and their manifold error; this to this day heals diseases; this to this day drives out demons and overthrows the sorceries of drugs and charms. [41] This shall appear again with Jesus from heaven; for the trophy shall go before the King: so that, seeing him whom they pierced and recognizing from the cross the one who was dishonoured, the Jews may repent and mourn (but they shall mourn tribe by tribe; for then they will repent …); and we may glory, exulting in the cross, worshipping the Lord who was sent and crucified for us, and worshipping also God the Father who sent him, with the Holy Spirit; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.