On the three-day resurrection of our Lord Jesus

“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say: rejoice... The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything” (Phil.4:4-6). The Lord rose from the dead and with Him a great multitude of saints. Let us celebrate sweetly and soberly. This is truly the day that “the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Ps. 118:24). Let us announce the resurrection of the Savior, or better yet: let us cry out for our salvation; let us proclaim the memory of that saving day; Let us announce the killing of the devil, the captivity of unclean demons, the salvation of Christians, and the resurrection of the dead. Through the resurrection of Christ, fiery hell is extinguished, the never-sleeping worm dies; hell comes into confusion, the devil grieves, sin is killed, evil spirits are persecuted, those who originated from the earth run up to heaven, those in hell are freed from the bonds of the devil and, resorting to God, say to the devil: “Death! where is your victory? hell! where is your sting? (1 Cor. 15:55). The culprit for us of this holy holiday and solemn gathering is Christ, the Giver of all good things to us. He created us from the beginning and brought us from non-being into being; He has now saved the perishing; He gave life to the dead; He delivered from the devil's tyranny; He made us, who were slaves to sin, free, “having destroyed... the handwriting that was written about us” (Col. 2:14). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). For these reasons, it is worthy for us to say: “What shall we repay the Lord for all His good deeds” to us? (Ps. 116:3). Being the only begotten God, He deigned to become man for our sake and “was obedient even to death” (Phil. 2:8) in order to deliver us from eternal death; bore “the form of a servant” ( Phil. 2:7 ) the Lord of angels; God the Word took on flesh, and He appeared as a man, who had one form and one being with the Father; and he endured this in order to pluck us from unrighteous slavery and redeem us from dishonor; Therefore, the Giver of our life suffered suffering in the flesh; Therefore, the Source of immortality was buried in order to grant eternal life to mortals. And He remained on earth, performing good deeds and healing people’s illnesses, but He received unworthy rewards from the godless Jews. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His great goodness, cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, healed the lame, drove away demons, raised four-day Lazarus from the dead, fed five thousand people with five loaves, walked on the sea. turned water into wine, healed a woman who was bleeding, brought back to life the dead daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and performed many other mysteries worthy of amazement, but the Jews, excited by envy and ill will, either wanted to stone the Lord, or tried to throw Him down from a cliff, and finally. They even elevated him to the cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not imitate the malice of the blasphemous Jews; but also “he gave His back to the smiters,” according to the word of the prophet, “and His cheeks to those who smote; He did not hide His face from mockery and spitting" ; and finally, “like a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent,” He showed no resistance, did not contradict (Is. 50:6, 53:7). “Although He was reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, he did not threaten, but handed it over to the Just Judge” (1 Pet. 2:23). At His first appearance, He did not come to punish and take revenge on the unfaithful, but wanted to lead the lost to the truth with generosity and patience. And understand the Lord's goodness and great kindness. The Jews slandered Him and said to Him: “There is a devil... in You” (John 7:20); The Lord, being long-suffering, drove out demons from people. The Jews spat in the face of the Savior, and He healed their blind; the Jews tried to stone Christ, and Christ gave their lame the strength to run; and constantly continued to do good to offenders and to reward those ungrateful and lawless people with good for evil; enduring insults kindly, perhaps even being considered weak by the angels. And so that it does not seem that by saying a lot we are lengthening the word, let us move on to the most important subjects. So, finally, the King of glory was led to the cross and death, and was nailed to the tree, glorified by the cherubim and seraphim and worshiped by all the powers and angels; but He meekly endured and endured it, setting an example for us and becoming a Teacher of meekness. And therefore we must valiantly endure the threats of bad people. After all, even on the cross, when He was hanged, He showed very great deeds and very many miracles, so that at least in this way he could put an end to the fury of the atheists, so that they would have no reason for unbelief and could not say that they crucified only a common man. So, first of all, Christ condescended to be crucified and lifted into the air in order to drive out the demons in the air; He was hanged on a tree to heal the ancient sin that had grown into people through the tree; and was also pierced in the side with a spear, because of the wife taken from Adam's side. Since the serpent deceived Eve, and Eve arranged for Adam to become a criminal [the sentence was pronounced against both of them, and “death reigned from Adam to Moses and over those who had not sinned” (Rom. 5:14)], therefore the side is wounded, so that we understand that the suffering of Christ brought salvation not only to men, but also to women. Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the wife, being deceived, found herself in a crime; She will be saved through childbearing. What is childbearing if not through the childbearing of Mary? She gave birth to the Savior - Christ, without being united with her husband, as Isaiah testifies (Is. 7:14), but after the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, as the Archangel Gabriel preached. For this reason, the side of Christ is also struck, so that what was predicted would be accomplished, and the sacrament of baptism would be proclaimed, and the coming grace would shine forth. Blood and water flow from the side of Christ to destroy the “handwriting” of sin that was made against us (Col. 2:14), and so that we might be cleansed by His blood and receive paradise. Oh, great mystery! The robber repented; there was a need for water so that he could be baptized. He hung on the cross, there was no other place for baptism, no spring, no lake, no rain, no performer of the sacrament, since all the disciples, due to fear of the Jews, fled; but Jesus did not lack sources, and while hanging on the cross he was the creator of waters. Since the thief could not enter the kingdom (heavenly) without baptism, and it was necessary that the repentant should not remain without baptism, the Savior poured out water and blood from His pierced side in order to free the thief from the threatening evils, and to show that His blood became a ransom for those who place their hopes in Him. “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, when sprinkled, sanctifies the defiled, so that the body may be clean” (Heb. 9:13), then how much more has the blood of Christ our Savior become the cleanser of all Christians? So, if any of the unbelievers says to you: why was Christ crucified? - then tell him: to crucify the devil. If he tells you: why was He hanged on a tree? - then tell him: to call back the sin that came up in paradise through the tree. If he tells you: why did He even bear thorns? - then tell him: to pluck up the thorns and thistles of Adam, because Adam was condemned to groan and shake with fear and to cultivate the thorns and thistles. Jesus, being a lover of humanity, wanting to take care of His creation, endured everything for our sake in order to free us from condemnation. And just as He was born of a woman in order to destroy the sin that had arisen among people because of the wife, so He is crowned with thorns, in order to make the land poorly cultivated by disobedience more fruitful through His own obedience. If he says to you, “Why did He drink bile and ocet?” - then tell him: so that we spew out the deadly poison of the dragon, because that bile has become my sweetness, and that ocet has become my medicine. If the unbeliever again tells you: why did He put on even the scarlet robe and why, when they approached Him, did they fall on their knees? - then tell him: so that the Jews worship Him, even without wanting to, and so that they confess His kingdom on earth even against their will. Now, mockingly, they bowed, not knowing what exactly they were doing; in the future resurrection, “every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10–11). Amen. But that robe also has another meaning: it not only depicted the kingdom, but also indicated the thirst for blood and the tendency to kill inherent in the Jews. They also gave the reed into His hand, so that their sins might be written down. So, the opponents of Christ did this, not knowing the Crucified One, or better yet, voluntarily being blinded: the creature did not recognize its Lord and Creator. When the Savior was still hanging on the cross, the sensual sun, seeing the Sun of righteousness - Christ, insulted by the lawless, unable to bear the insolence, runs away, plunging the earth into darkness and deeming it inappropriate to help and illuminate the eyes of those who committed the greatest wickedness. But not only did the sun run away, but the earth shook in confusion, unable to bear the iniquity of what was being done, showing for its part and teaching that God was crucified; why she could not bear it, but expressed indignation, not wanting to carry the godless Jews on herself. The fratricide Cain did not desecrate the land in the same way, and the pandemonium caused by the giants did not desecrate it so much, and the lawless Sodomites did not desecrate it so much, and even those who made idols out of it, the shed blood of Zechariah and Abel did not aggravate it as much as the Jews who dared to commit this great wicked act. Therefore, dry rocks were also split, so that people would understand that He is a spiritual and living rock. “For they drank,” says (Scripture), “from the spiritual stone that followed; and the stone was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). Oh, Jewish ingratitude! The rocks were dissolved, but they remain insensitive; soulless objects shake in confusion, and the animate do not believe; the veil of the church is torn, so that their desolation is finally revealed. The veil is torn and exposed who were in the church, for the sake of Christ, Who said: “Behold, your house is desolate” (Matthew 23:38) After the murder of Christ, all the holy places of the Jews were devastated, and the angels who were in the city and church moved from there and entered the Church. Many bodies of the departed saints were resurrected along with Christ, so that we understand that Christ, having died, does not rise alone, but raises from the dead all who believe in Him. This, to put it briefly, is the holy holiday of Easter; and these sacraments of Christians we glorify because of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. “Therefore let us celebrate... not with the leaven of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8), believing in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the Trinity of one substance, uncreated; believing in the resurrection, expecting that the Lord will come again, however, no longer humiliatingly, but gloriously - with heavenly splendor, with bright angels, with the sound of a trumpet and fear and joy; joy, of course, for the saints and the righteous, but fear for the unrighteous and sinners. May the God of peace merit us all to be resurrected with the saints - us who have found ourselves in possession of wonderful deeds and the Orthodox faith - according to the grace and love of His Only Begotten Son, with Whom be glory, honor and worship to the All-Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. This conversation in the Minya edition belongs to the category of Spuria, that is, unfoundedly attributed to St. I. Chrysostom.