Беседа на слова из Евангелия, читаемого в день Крестовоздвижения: „Поемше же Иисуса и ведоша... на глаголемое лобное место, идеже пропяша Его“ (Ин. 19:17–18). Св. Кирилла, архиепископа Александрийского 11

Having eaten Jesus and carried His cross, he went out to the place of the skull, which is called Golgotha ​​in Hebrew, where he crucified Him, and with Him two others, here and here, in the midst of Jesus (John 19:17-18). Despite the fact that the Jews led the Chief of Life to death, He Himself gave Himself up to death for us, because by Divine power He arranged an unexpected end to His suffering. Namely, through the sufferings of Christ the dominion of death was broken: for the death of the Lord became the beginning of the resurrection into a new, incorruptible life. For us, too, when He, who was completely innocent, was sentenced to death, He bore on His shoulders the very cross on which they crucified Him, as He had taken upon Himself the punishments determined by those who had sinned, having been cursed against us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone, hang on a tree (Galatians 3:13). We, in fact, are subject to this curse, as those who do not fulfill the Divine law, and who continually fall, due to the inclination of human nature to sin; for, according to the Scripture, cursed is everyone who does not abide in all those things that are written in the book of the law, according to what I have done (Galatians 3:10). So, it is not anyone else, but we who should be subject to damnation: for whoever is guilty of a crime must answer. But, not knowing sin, He was cursed for us in order to free us from the ancient oath, and bore a cross that did not belong to Him, but to us, because, according to the law, the curse applies to us. How He died not for Himself, but for us, so that, having destroyed by Himself the power of death, He would become for us a guide to eternal life; So he bore the cross that belongs to us, so that, having destroyed the oath of the law, he would stop the mouth of all lawlessness. In addition, the sufferings of Christ bring benefit to our souls in the sense that they strengthen us in piety. We can achieve perfect blessings and union with God only when we prefer love for Him to earthly life, and stand firmly for the truth if circumstances require it; for, according to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, he who does not accept the cross and comes after Him is not worthy to bear Him (Matthew 10:38); and to take up the cross means nothing more than to renounce the world out of love for God, and, in the hope of future blessings, to regard bodily life itself as nothing. And truly, if our Lord Jesus Christ, out of love for us, was not ashamed to bear the cross that we had to bear; then how can we, miserable ones, called from insignificance into being and created from the ground trampled by us, dare to shirk the labors of piety, and, if we happen to suffer for Christian piety, consider shame as something unbearable, deny the ridicule of opponents and scoffers as something harmful, and, preferring temporary glory to pleasing God, indulge in pride, the culprit of all evils, and through this expose ourselves condemnation? In this case, we, slaves and disciples, will think and act contrary to our Lord Teacher. But, miraculously, we are so weak that we do not comprehend at all what is useful for us. It is known that the Divine Peter also considered the prediction of our Savior Christ about the cross to be impossible to fulfill, for when the Lord said that it was fitting for Him to go to Jerusalem, and to suffer much from the elders and bishops and scribes, and to be killed: then Peter, not understanding the mystery of the incarnation, was afraid, and said: You are merciful, Lord: you should not have this, to which Christ said to him: follow me, Satan, temptation You are: for you do not think that the essence of God is human, but human (Matthew 16:21–23). From this we must understand that when, according to circumstances, we need to prove our patience and courage; then we should not shy away from the fight, and that if those who respect and love us, for fear of disgrace from people, or from worldly species in general, prevent us from fulfilling the rules of virtue; then we should in no way listen to them, because in this case they are no different from Satan, who usually dispels temptations and, through deception and flattery, draws the thoughts of God-loving people to indecent deeds. In my opinion, this is exactly what Christ meant when he said: if your right eye causes you to fall, take it away and turn away from you (Matthew 5:29); for we should not consider the one who seduces us to be ours, even if by disposition and nature he was close to us. And that two thieves were crucified with Christ, the Jews did it out of malice; namely, in order to further dishonor the death of the Savior, they condemned the wicked to it along with the righteous. Meanwhile, the thieves condemned to be crucified with Christ signified two peoples who were soon to join Christ, i.e., the Israelites and the Gentiles, because the Jews were condemned by the law, of which they were criminals, and the Gentiles - by their error, for they honored and served the creature more than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). However, those who join Christ are crucified to Him in a special way, namely, by dying of the former sinful life, they are transformed into a new and Gospel life, as can be seen from the words of the Apostle Paul, who says: those who are Christ’s are the flesh crucified with passions and lusts (Galatians 5:24); or: I died by the law, but I will live by God, I have been crucified by Christ. (Galatians 2:19); or: if you have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why does he strive to survive in the world (Colossians 2:20)? (for renunciation of the worldly way of life is the beginning of life in Christ). Therefore, the crucifixion of the two thieves with Christ also signifies that the two peoples they designate will die with Christ the Savior, rejecting worldly pleasures and carnal life, and will live together with their Lord, leading their lives according to His rules. The image does not lose its power because those hanged were villains, because before the coming of faith we were all by nature children of wrath, and guilty of death. Amen 12. See Comment. in Johan. Evangel. Lib. XII; Wed Sunday Read XI (1847–48), pp. 247–248. You might be interested in: