Беседа на слова: „Тогда убо предаде Его им, да распнется. Поемше же Иисуса и ведоша: и нося крест Свой, изыде на глаголемое лобное место, еже глаголется еврейски Голгофа: идеже пропяша Его“ (Ин. 19:16–18). Св. Иоанна Златоустого, архиепископа Константинопольского

Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified. The case is extremely unfair! He should have interrogated whether Christ really sought to usurp royal power to Himself, but he pronounced the sentence solely out of fear. To warn him against this (fear), Christ already said in advance: My kingdom is not of this world; but he, completely surrendering himself to the present, did not want to philosophize about anything great. Likewise, the wife’s dream must have struck Pilate; however, none of this brought him to his senses and did not look up to heaven, but betrayed Christ. Then (the Jews) laid a cross on Christ, already as a condemned man, for they so abhorred this tree that they did not even allow themselves to touch it (this was also the case in the type: Isaac also carried the wood on himself). And went to the place of execution. Some say that Adam died and was buried here, and that Jesus planted a sign of victory on the very spot where death reigned. Indeed, He came out carrying the cross as a sign of victory over the power of death, and, like the victors, He carried the sign of victory on His shoulders. What is the importance if the Jews, with another intention, determined for Him to bear the cross? They crucify Him even along with the robbers, but even in this case, against their will, they fulfill the prophecy (so everything that they did to reproach Him served to confirm the truth, so that you would know how great its power is!), for the Prophet predicted this from ancient times: as with the wicked you are imputed (Ps. 53:12). The devil wanted to darken this event, but could not: three were crucified, but only Jesus shone, so that you would know that everything was accomplished by His power. And although miracles were performed while the three were nailed to crosses; however, no one attributed any of them to anyone else except Jesus alone. So the machinations of the devil turned out to be powerless, and everything turned to his head! After all, even of those two (robbers) one escaped. Thus, the devil not only did not damage the glory of the cross, but also contributed quite a bit to it, because converting the thief on the cross and leading him into paradise means no less than shaking the stones. Pilate wrote and wrote the title in order, on the one hand, to take revenge on the Jews, and on the other, to protect Christ. Since they betrayed Him as a criminal, and tried to confirm this opinion by crucifixing Him along with the robbers: so that no one would subsequently have the right to bring malicious accusations against Him and condemn Him as some kind of criminal and villain, Pilate, stopping the mouths of both the Jews and everyone who would want to condemn Him, and showing that they rebelled against Their own king, put (on the cross), as if on a victory monument, the inscription, which proclaims His victory and proclaims the kingdom, although not entirely. And Pilate announced this not in one, but in three languages. Since it was natural to assume that among the Jews, on the occasion of the holiday, there were many foreigners: so that not one of them would remain ignorant of His justification, Pilate announced the fury of the Jews in all languages. Meanwhile, the Jews were jealous (of Jesus) even when He was crucified. But what harm could come to you from this inscription? - None. After all, if (Christ) was mortal and weak, if He had to disappear, then why are you afraid of the inscription that says that He is the king of the Jews? And what do they say? - “Say that He Himself said (this), because now (this inscription expresses the judicial) verdict and general opinion, and if it is added: as He Himself spoke, in this case it will be attributed to His own insolence and impudence.” However, Pilate did not change his decision, and remained with the same opinion: and through this, a very important event will again take place. In fact, since the wood of the cross was buried in the ground: since, on the other hand, this tree was subsequently to be found: so that the cross of the Lord would not remain unrecognized, the Lord allowed an inscription to be on it, and thus this cross became known to everyone, firstly from the fact that it lay among the others, and then from the inscription on it, since the crosses of robbers did not have inscriptions. The soldiers divided the vestments (of Christ) among themselves, but did not divide the tunic (John 19:19–23). See how prophecies are fulfilled through all their evil deeds! For this (separation of clothes) was predicted from ancient times (Psalm 21:19). Although three were crucified, the predictions of the Prophets were fulfilled only on Him. While the warriors were dividing clothes among themselves, the Crucified One Himself entrusts His Mother to the disciple, teaching us to take every possible care until our last breath about our parents. Entrusting His Mother to the disciple, Christ says: behold Your Son. Ah, with what great honor He honored His disciple! Since He Himself was already leaving, He entrusted (His Mother) to the care of the disciple. As a mother, She naturally grieved and sought (her) protection: and therefore He rightly hands Her over to his beloved disciple and says to him: Behold your Mother. He said this in order to unite them with mutual love. The disciple understood this (the words of Christ), and therefore they gave Yu a drink in his own home. But why did Christ not mention any other wife, although others stood at the cross? To teach us to give preference to our mothers. Indeed, just as in the case when parents hinder us in spiritual matters, we should not even know them: so, on the contrary, when they do not hinder us in the least, we must give them all their due and prefer them to all other people because they gave birth to us, because they raised us, because they suffered a lot of work and grief because of us. With this Christ stops the mouth of Marcion’s shamelessness. In fact, if He was not born according to the flesh and did not have a mother, then why does He show such great concern only for Her alone?.. Therefore, Jesus knows that everything has been accomplished. i.e., that nothing remains unfulfilled in the plan of God’s economy. So in all cases He tried to show that His death was extraordinary, because everything depended on the power of the Dying One, and death did not come to His body before He Himself wanted it. So, knowing that everything has already been fulfilled, Christ says: I thirst; and in this case the prophecy is fulfilled again. But think about the villainy (of the people) standing at the cross. The enemies of Christ did not reconcile with Him and did not soften, looking at His suffering, but became even more embittered and increased their ridicule, and, bringing vinegar with their lips, they gave Him a drink as they usually give to criminals - for which they had a cane. When Jesus receives the word, it is finished. Do you see how He did everything without embarrassment and with authority? This is also evident from what follows. When everything had already been accomplished, Christ, bowed his head, since it was not nailed, gave up his spirit (John 19:24-30), that is, he gave up his (last) breath. Usually one does not give up the ghost after bowing the head; but here it was the opposite: Christ bowed his head not when he had already given up his spirit, as usually happens with us, but then he gave up his spirit when he bowed his head. With all this, the Evangelist showed that Christ is the Lord of the whole world. After this came Joseph, who was from Arimathea, the disciple (John 19:38), not from among the twelve, but perhaps from among the seventy. Believing that the cross has finally tamed the fury (of the Jews), the followers of Christ fearlessly come and take care of the burial. Joseph, appearing before Pilate, asks him for permission (to remove the body of Jesus from the cross), and he allows it. And why wouldn't he allow it? Nicodemus also takes part in Joseph's work, and they perform a magnificent burial, because they still thought of Christ as a simple man. They bring such aromas that mainly had the power to preserve the body for a long time and prevent it from soon giving in to decay. This shows that they did not imagine anything great about Christ; nevertheless, however, their great love for Him is visible in this. But why did none of the twelve (disciples) come - neither John, nor Peter, nor any other eminent? It seems to me that Joseph was one of the very famous people, as can be seen both from the burial itself and from the fact that he was known to Pilate; That is why he received permission (to bury Jesus). And he buries Christ, no longer as a criminal, but, according to Jewish custom, magnificently, as a great and glorious man. But since they did not have much time left (the death of Christ followed at the ninth hour, and therefore it is natural that while they were going to Pilate, and while they were taking the body down from the cross, evening had already come, when it was impossible to do work): they put (the body of Jesus) in the nearest tomb. It was arranged so that Christ was laid in a new tomb, in which no one had been laid before, so that the resurrection could not be attributed to anyone else lying with Him - so that the disciples, in the proximity of this place, could easily come and be spectators of what happened, and so that not only they, but also enemies would be witnesses of the burial. The fact that seals were placed on the coffin and a guard of soldiers was assigned was, indeed, on their part, evidence of burial, since Christ wanted His burial to be no less certain than His resurrection. That is why the disciples zealously try to prove that He really died. His resurrection was to be confirmed by all subsequent time; meanwhile, if His death at that time had been hidden and had not become completely known, then this could have harmed the word about the resurrection. However, this was not the only reason why Christ was laid close, but also so that the falsity of the rumor about the theft of His body would be revealed. The evangelist said that during the burial of Christ a lot of myrrh was used, which glues the shrouds to the body no worse than lead. So, when you hear that the headbands were lying separately, do not believe those who say that (the body of Christ) was stolen: a thief would not be so unreasonable as to become so concerned about an object that is completely unnecessary. Indeed, why did he leave the burial shrouds? And how could he hide if he started making egos? Naturally, he had to spend a lot of time on this, and if he slowed down, he would have been caught. But why do the shrouds lie separately, and the folded cloth separately? - so that you know that this was done without haste and without embarrassment, since one thing was laid out separately, and the other was laid out and twisted separately. That is why the disciples believed the resurrection; and when Christ subsequently appears to them, they were already convinced (of His resurrection) by what they saw. When you hear that Christ rose naked, stop madly spending money on burial. Excessive and useless expenses cause a great loss to the burying party, but do not bring any benefit to the deceased and, to tell the truth, are even harmful. Magnificent funerals have repeatedly been the cause of grave robberies and have resulted in the fact that the person who was once buried with all the sophistication then lay naked and without burial. Even if thieves don’t take them, won’t moths and worms eat them? And if moths and worms do not eat them, will not time and decay destroy them? But let us assume that neither thieves, nor moths, nor worms, nor time, nor anything else will destroy the things placed in the grave; Let us assume that the body will remain intact until the resurrection, and all those things will remain new, strong and thin: what is the benefit of this for those who have departed, when the body will rise naked, and all these things will remain here (on earth) and will not bring us any benefit during future tortures? “Why, you say, was it like this at the burial of Christ?” You should not at all compare the burial of Christ with human burials: there was also the fact that a harlot poured out myrrh on His holy feet. However, if it is necessary to say something about this, then, firstly, this was done by people who did not know the doctrine of the resurrection: that is why (the Evangelist) says: just as the custom is for Jews to be buried in cellars (John 19:40). After all, they were not from among the twelve (disciples) who honored Jesus with burial: but they were (disciples) who did not value Him very highly. The Twelve (Apostles) did not honor Him in this way, but by their death, by giving themselves up to the slaughter, and by enduring various misfortunes for Him. True, that was an honor, but much lower than this, which is now mentioned. On the other hand, now we are talking about people: but then all this was done for the Lord. And so that you know that Christ did not desire this at all, (listen) to what He said: “You saw Me hungry and fed me, thirsty and gave me something to drink, naked and clothed me” (Matthew 25:35-39); but nowhere did he say: “they died and were buried”... I say this in order to stop luxury and inappropriate splendor. If you want to show condolences to the deceased, I will show you another method of burial and teach you to clothe him in such clothes that will rise with him and present him in a brilliant form. These clothes are neither destroyed by moths, nor destroyed by time, nor stolen by thieves. What kind of clothes are these? This is the robe of alms: this robe rises with the deceased, because the seal of alms remains with him forever. With these clothes will shine those who will then hear: “You fed Me when I was hungry.” These clothes make the dead glorious, famous and safe, but the clothes of the present are nothing more than the food of moths and the meal of worms. If the living should not have anything more than the covering of the body, then even more so the dead: because a dead body does not need clothes as much as a living and breathing one. While we live, we need clothing both because of the cold and for decency; and since we have died, we do not have these needs - and only so that the body does not lie naked, we need burial shrouds. Our best burial shrouds are the earth, the most beautiful and most fitting covering for our earthly body. So, if now, when we have so many needs, there is no need to look for anything superfluous, then pomp is all the more inappropriate when there are no such needs. “But, you say, people who see this will laugh.” Even if someone began to laugh, obviously one should not pay much attention to him as a completely stupid person. Many, on the contrary, would rather be surprised at us and praise our wisdom. In this case, everyone will praise us, marvel at the power of Christ and say: “Oh, how great is the power of the Crucified One! He convinced mortals and corruptibles that death is not death, and so they act (when burying the dead) as if they were not dying, but were moving to a better country. He convinced them that this corruptible and earthly body would be clothed in clothes much more brilliant than silk and gold-woven clothes, - will be clothed with incorruptibility; and therefore they do not care much about funerals, but consider a virtuous life to be the best funeral decoration.” This is what everyone will say about us when they see us being wise. Indeed, what excuse will we have when we adorn our body, destroyed by corruption and worms, but despise Christ the thirsty, naked and stranger? Let us leave behind this vain concern. We will bury the dead in such a way that it will benefit both us and them, to the glory of God. We will give abundant alms for them and send them off with this most beautiful parting word. If the memory of deceased famous men protected the living, as the Lord says: I will protect this city for My sake, and David for the sake of My servant (2 Kings 19:34), then much more will alms do this: it raised even the dead; This is what happened when the widows surrounded (Peter), showing that what the devil was doing to them was Chamois (Acts 9:39). So, when someone dies, let the relatives of the dying person prepare a funeral robe for him and let him convince him before his death to leave something to the poor: let him go with these clothes (to eternity), let him leave Christ as his heir. If those who appoint kings as heirs for themselves leave their relatives in the greatest safety: then imagine what kind of favor will be gained for himself and all his people who, together with his children, leaves Christ as his heir!? This is a beautiful robe for the dead! It is useful both for those who remain alive and for those who depart (to eternity). If we are buried in this form, we will appear resplendent at the time of resurrection; and if, caring for the body, we neglect the soul, then we will suffer many troubles and be subjected to great ridicule. It is no small disgrace to leave here without virtue: it is not so much shameful for the body to be cast down without burial, as for the soul to appear then without good deeds. Let us begin to clothe the soul, let us begin to clean it throughout our entire life: if during life we ​​were careless about it, we will come to our senses, at least at death, and command our relatives to help us after death with alms. With such mutual assistance to each other, we will receive great boldness, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen 5. See Conversations of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of John, in Russian. translation St. Petersburg 1862, part 2, pp. 493 – 514; compare Full collected. created St. John Chrysostom, in Russian. transl., vol. 8, ed. 1902, 85 demons. on Evang. John, pp. 572–584. You might be interested in: