Слово о кресте Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Св. Амвросия, епископа Медиоланского

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it is fitting for the Son of Man to lift up (John 3:14). Fabulists tell that a certain Ulysses, who wandered for a long time on the waves of the sea and could not reach his fatherland, was brought to a place where sweet-voiced sirens sang, and with their sweet voice they so enchanted passing sailors that they not only received pleasure, but were in danger of shipwreck: their singing was so delightful that whoever listened to their voice, he rushed, as if enchanted, not to the refuge he wanted, but plunged into the abyss he was avoiding. So, when Ulysses was carried by the waves to that dangerous place, and wanted to avoid that sweet-singing disaster, he ordered all his companions to seal their ears with wax, and tie himself to the ship’s tree, thereby warning them against the harmful seduction of the sweet-singing sirens, and saving himself from shipwreck. If, according to the tales of the fable-makers, he, by becoming attached to a tree, was saved from impending destruction, then what should be said about what actually happened? about the fact that the tree of the cross has now delivered the entire human race from mortal destruction? When the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, from that time on we, as if with closed ears, avoid the seductive temptations of the world, are not carried away by the harmful singing of this age, and are not led astray from the virtuous path into the rapids of passions. The tree of the cross not only transports the person attached to it to the fatherland, but also preserves the companions who are with him under the shadow of its strength. And that the cross, after many wanderings, carries us to the fatherland, Christ Himself testifies to this, saying to the thief hanging on the cross: today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). Truly, this robber, who had wandered for such a long time and was, as it were, carried by the waves, could have reached the heavenly fatherland, paradise, from which the first man was expelled, only if he had been tied to a tree. The cross is like a ship's wood in the Church, which alone exists entirely among the deceptive and destructive temptations of this age. So, whoever in this ship ties himself to the tree of the cross, or drowns his ears with the Divine Scripture, will not be afraid of the sweet seduction of the passions (the pleasant and delightful excitement of the passions, which with harmful seduction distort the firmness of the enchanted soul, is, as it were, an image of the sirens). Our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross for this reason, in order to free the entire human race from the destruction of the world. But let's stop talking about the story of Ulysses: it is fictitious, and did not actually happen. Let's see if there is a similar example in the Holy Scriptures, which our Lord, having Himself to fulfill, offered us through His prophets. From the Old Testament it is known that when holy Moses brought the sons of Israel out of Egyptian slavery, and when this people in the desert suffered the deadly sting of serpents, not finding any way to deliver themselves from them: then the divine Moses, filled with the Holy Spirit, hung a copper serpent on a tree and erected it among the host of dying Israelites, with such a command to the people that they received hope of salvation from this sign. Through such healing against the bite of serpents, it happened that whoever among those who were bitten looked at the copper serpent immediately received health (Num. 21:9). Our Lord also mentions this very thing in the Gospel, saying: just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert: so it becomes the Son of Man to lift himself up. So, if the serpent hanging on a tree healed the children of Israel, then how much more does our Lord, nailed to the cross, give all nations the most life-saving medicine: and if the image brought such benefit, then how much more will the truth itself benefit us. It is fair that the serpent is nailed first: since the devil sinned before God before all others, he was first punished by execution on the cross. And that he is nailed to the tree, this was not done without a reason: just as the first man was seduced by the lust of the tree, so now by the power of the tree he received salvation: and the very thing that was the cause of death has now become the wine of salvation. Moreover, after the serpent, in the person of the Savior, man himself is nailed, so that after the culprit the crime is punished: the serpent was condemned to the first cross, and the serpent’s poison to the second, that is, first the culprit is punished, and then his malice is corrected (for the poison that he spewed out with his advice on a person is now healed and corrected; and when a person indulges in suffering, he is not subjected to death, but the mortal is corrected through that crime). At this end, our Lord assumed human nature, so that, through the suffering of the innocent, the disobedience of that devilish instigation would be atoned for, and so that the earthly one would become free from both guilt and death. So, having before the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through His passion delivered us from death, we will always look to Him and from His sign of the cross we will expect healing to our wounds. That is, if the poison of avarice operates in us, we will look to Him and we will be healed; if the sting of voluptuousness hurts us, let us ask Him and we will be healed; if thoughts about earthly things torment and gnaw at us, let us pray to Him and we will come to life. For these are, for our souls, spiritual serpents, for the trampling of which our Lord was crucified, as He Himself says: Behold, I give you power to tread on the serpent and on the scorpion, and on all the power of the enemy: and nothing will harm you (Luke 10:19). Amen 3. Ambros. episc. Mediol. Opera. 1751 ann. Wenetiis. Benedict.; Selected instructive words of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, translated into the Slavic-Russian language in 1806 in the Moscow Stavropegial Donskoy Monastery. Kyiv. 1853 pp. 96–101 You might be interested in: