On Holy and Great Friday

We have already completed the feat of fasting, but it ended with a cross: and how should the end of victory be resolved, if not with a trophy? And the cross is a trophy; once erected, it always puts demons to flight. Where are the idols and the vain killing of animals? Where are the churches and the fire of wickedness? It went out; all fell because of one holy blood. And the cross is an omnipotent force, an invisible arrow, immaterial medicine, a source of cessation of grief, shameless glory; so, even if I spoke about Christ and many other things, even if I amazed the listener by telling about countless miracles, I would not be as proud because of this as I am proud because of the cross. For example, suppose I say: Jesus came from the Virgin; it is a great miracle to bypass marriage and introduce something new into nature; but if there had not been a cross, then the first Virgin of Paradise would not have been saved by works; Now, during the cross, the first wife is saved, healing the ancient evil with new gifts. He rose dead in Galilee, but died again. But I, having risen through the cross, can no longer fall under the power of death. Jesus swam across the sea, God in the ship: the fleeting tree brought benefit; I received an eternal, good tree, using which instead of a helm, I remove from myself the spiritual waves of sinfulness. Five thousand people were fed with one sign of the cross. So where are the leftovers? How will I, who was not present, receive the remains that belonged to those present? There were 12 baskets of pieces that remained: the gift was proportionate. Christ was crucified - and we are always fed; and, being satisfied, we seek again, and even more remains, since grace is inexhaustible. Let that day be praised that gave birth to light, the day through which the rest of the days were called to joy. How? Listen. Today Adam was created on the sixth day, today he received a divine image, today a small world was formed in the world, today man, the helmsman, standing in front of all living beings, held the beautiful helms of human nature; today he received voluntary commandments, today he was expelled from paradise, today he was reintroduced. Oh, a varied day! O, very sorrowful and devoid of sorrows! Oh, who saddened you in the morning and made you happy in the evening! It’s better to say: oh, how much he has healed! With sorrow, I agree with you, encountering ancient passions, hearing that Adam was expelled from his father’s hearth, that man, a citizen of paradise, ate without cultivating the land, lived luxuriously without rain, that he did not at all need for life any effort or a spade, or labor, or tension, connected with sweat, he was always consoled by flowering trees, moved from flowers to flowers, from fruits to fruits, had what he needed after desires, but because of the beauty of what he was contemplating, he did not know where to put his hands first; I often mourned such great bliss, seeing that he was deprived of it, because this misfortune was common and it came into contact with our family. And after I turned to the Gospels and took this day for myself (because both that day and this one were the sixth), then I lost my sorrow, and with my word I bring joy before me, and I say to myself and to you: sorrow, sadness, groaning have fled away; the ancient has passed, now everything new has come. Just as the disciples of doctors heal the wounds inflicted by snakes, from them receiving medicines that protect against evil, and preparing them, fighting the disease with the help of what served as the reason for it, so the Savior took advantage of all the cases that led to evil for good, changing the bitter into sweet, turning the gall into healing, turning the sting of death against it, turning harm from the tree into salvation, taking the day, causing the world to tremble, and returning it with a day that rejoiced the world. Don't believe me, but believe your eyes; look at the congregation present - and stop arguing with us. The day of the cross, and we all rejoice and abstain from evil and cleanse everything: internal, external. This is the meaning of the holiday, this is the image of joy. I speak of the few miracles of the power of the cross; look at the circle of the universe, how many villages, how many cities, how many localities, how many tribes, how many islands, how many rivers, how many seashores, how many generations and tribes, and barbarian languages; For the sake of the cross, they all abstain from food, crucifying their passions by its power; and for many the night ends, but the feat of fasting does not end. And why have we all come together now to hear something about the cross and fill the church, and push each other, sweating, working, often earning the right to sit in the first places before the judges, but standing with pleasure before Jesus? Because Jesus also stood for us to stop the waves of sin. So, what has been accomplished today? May the miracles of this day not pass our ears by! It was already light and morning had already come, and He, with his hands tied, was led into Pilate’s praetorium. With what hands? Healed the blind, healed the lame. And the fingers that gave sight are nailed with bonds, and the Healer of nature is forcibly restrained from performing His proper work. This is due to the Lord. “He who shuts up the waters in the clouds” (Job.26:8) is bound, “he who brings courage to the chained” (Ps.67:7), who gives “liberation to the captives” (Is.61:1); He who freed Lazarus from the bonds of death is bound; brought to the praetorium carried by countless angels. Pilate stands before him, having heaven as his throne; the Creator was held by the creatures, the Creator by the creation, the Perfector by the perfect. So what next? What is being done? “And they,” says (Scripture), “did not enter the praetorium, lest they become defiled, but that they might eat the Passover” (John 18:28). Oh, great iniquity! They commit unrighteous murder and refuse to enter the praetorium, being careful not to be defiled, although they were already defiled by redeeming a sheep with a sheep. So, the Judge of the whole universe awaited judgment; the Witness of souls awaited witnesses; He who created was also judged; and the people sat, judging, and God stood, silent, standing at the threshold of the human gates - the Lord of the heavenly gates asked, perhaps more humane than the Jews, why do I say: perhaps the accomplished works will show the truth. “What do you accuse this Man of?” ( John 18:29 ) Who can blame God? I am forced to speak on behalf of Pilate, since Jesus is silent, not because the Word lacked words, but so that the answer would not remove the crown of the cross. And the poor man wished for money? Other people's dwellings - He Who never had where to lay His head? Property - the One who stripped His disciples to the waist? Having no donkey, I took someone else’s to bless your children. Tell me the reason, come up with it, kill it legally. The Jews answered him: “If He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you” (John 18:30). Great indication of deeds, uncertain cause! Name the offense and do not mislead the listener. Pilate tells them: “Take him, and judge him according to your law” (John 18:31). The well-meaning judge laid a burden on the heads of the Jews: you take a participant in the crime. The Jews tell him: “We are not allowed to put anyone to death” (John 18:31). So, why did you kill Isaiah, why did you kill Zechariah, why did you kill each of the prophets? But you are “not allowed to put to death,” not because you don’t want to, but because you can’t, since they were already deprived of this opportunity by the Romans. So, the law has already been destroyed, abolished in practice, preserved only in ink; But Jesus, who was bound, destroyed it. And Pilate says: “I find no guilt in Him” (John 18:38). Not only you, Pilate, but neither the Jews, nor the blind, nor the dead, nor the sun, nor the moon, nor the world, nor all the righteous prophets and martyrs, nor the prophet who says: “Who committed no sin, neither was there any deceit in His mouth” (Is. 53:9). Everyone agrees with Pilate, pronouncing the right verdict; Only the Jews argue, accusing Him with a cry and vying with noise to obscure the truth, and confirming what Isaiah said: “I expected that he would bring good grapes, but he brought thorns 1” (Is. 5: 4, 7) and not the truth, but a cry. While this was happening, and Pilate could neither speak nor listen due to the disorderly noise, and a rebellion was being planned, his wife, a wonderful assistant, sent to him, restraining her husband in a hurry and saying: “Do nothing to that righteous one” (Matthew 27:19); if you can, save Him; if you can't. then save yourself; she almost said what David said: “do not destroy your soul 2 with sinners and your life 3 with the bloodthirsty” (Ps. 25:9). “Do not do anything to the Righteous One, because I ... suffered much for Him in a dream” (Matthew 27:19). Another Joseph - she contemplates the truth through dreams, testifying despite the cries of the Jews, since it was necessary for them to be defeated by women. Rahab the harlot defeated them, the bleeding woman defeated them, the Canaanite woman defeated them; and now again the woman is against them. They are constrained; The Jews answered him: “We have a law, and according to our law He must die” (John 19:7). What law? Confirmed by what sayings? Perhaps those that were read today? “Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth... For the transgressions of My people I suffered execution” (Is. 53:7-8). These are the words I find useful for them; in another place I in no way find that Jesus was rightfully slain. Pilate entered the praetorium, yielding to the anger of the Jews, trying to extinguish the unquenchable flame. In and out; lit the fire even more. He came out with the crowned Jesus, which for the Jews was an unpleasant sight - showing their enemy already crowned, already victorious, already clothed with a royal appearance. Although this was done for the sake of ridicule, it was an allegorical indication of His inherent royal dignity. When they saw Him, Whom they had often seen and never knew, at Whom, always looking, they were inflamed, exhausted by their own fire (and they would have wished, even if they had been burned by fire), they raised their Sodomite cry, raised and came into a frantic state: “Take, take, crucify Him! ...Will I crucify your king? .... We have no king except Caesar” (John 19:15), they say. Denial - without persecution, atheism - after the evils of Egypt: “This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Do you have no king except Caesar? Who guided you in the desert? Or who fed? To whom does Moses exclaim, saying: “The Lord will reign forever and ever” (Ex. 15:18)? So, after you have renounced your King, you will remain for the future without a king, dragging the eternal yoke of slavery. This has been accomplished up to this hour. But let's look at the rest of the day, since this whole day is holy. They took Him - crowned; how? Thorns - these Jewish gifts. “I waited for him to bring forth grapes, but create thorns” (“I expected him to bring forth good grapes, but he brought thorns”) (Is. 5:2, 4): He was bruised, he was beaten, he received scourgings; but he was not ashamed to endure any of this. Stand with Isaiah and contemplate God with his eyes. So, what does he say? “[Lord!] who believed what was heard from us? ... We saw Him, and there was no form or beauty in Him 4 ... He was despised and humbled before men” (Is. 53:1-3). He had no beauty, no form, He is the Artist of all beauty; He mourned the atrocities of the Jews, “a man who was wounded 5 and experienced pain” (Is. 53:3). Man is not God, because man was struck, not God. Who is this who endures a lot of suffering and experiences a lot of sorrows and is beaten by everyone? Did He really endure what He endured righteously? “He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4). “I find no guilt in Him” (John 18:38). But do not be ashamed because of shameful blessings. Having endured so much, He remained impassive; He was wounded, spat upon, suffered the most shameful things, and He himself remains worthy of honor, glorious, as if one of the wounded, as Isaiah himself says: “And we thought that He was struck, punished and humiliated by God. But He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities” (Is. 53:4-5). So, both He and we lie wounded. “By His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The dead is the doctor of the dead; the wounded is a medical remedy for people burdened with worries. But how long will you, O man, lead our freedom astray? Be more clear about what is being investigated. “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent” (Is. 53:7). A good sheep given to bad cooks; If you slaughter, Jews, do not shave; if you shear, then spare the sheep, which brings you much benefit. “They led two evildoers with Him to death” (Luke 23:32). Our word reaches the eleventh hour of the day, so that no one despairs in their lives. And I, of course, would like to go through the story in silence, due to the fact that we often told it, but I see a robber who always forces me. And no wonder: he, having changed his craft for salvation, forcibly opened the doors of heaven. There stood on the cross a Lamb and two wolves; but one remained on earth with his thoughts, and the other was already changing, saying: “Remember me... when you come into Your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Oh, the power of Jesus! The thief is already a prophet preaching from the cross: “Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom.” And what is characteristic of a king, do you, robber, see? Strangling, spitting, nails and wood, and the ridicule of the Jews, and the already drawn spear of the soldiers. But I don’t see, he says, what is visible: I see angels standing around, the fleeing sun, the torn curtain, the shaking earth, the dead, already thinking about escape; Jesus receives everyone, giving the same denarius to those workers who came around the eleventh hour. “Truly 6 I say to you” (take you too, O thief, you who are a thief today), “today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). I, Who drove you out, bring you in, - I, Who shut up the doors of Paradise, Who barred them with a fiery sword; if I do not bring you in, the doors will remain locked. Here, oh, the robber who robbed the devil and was crowned opposite him; seeing a man, he bowed to God, throwing away the ancient weapon, accepting the weapon of faith. And when this happened, and when everything was sanctified: from the realm of the ether - the sun, from the plant world - bile, from fabrics - an unbreakable tunic, from the sea - a purple robe, from metals and precisely iron - a spear and nails. when two sources poured out: blood and water, then the Savior fulfilled what was characteristic of Him: “Father! forgive them their sin (Luke 23:34). Forgiveness to whom? Hellenes, Jews, aliens, barbarians, just to say - everyone, because He spoke once, and this deed is always done. He didn’t just say “forgive” about his enemies – He speaks every year and always speaks, and the one who wishes receives. Everyone came to Pilate's praetorian; What am I saying? We know “that the deceiver, while still alive, said: After three days I will rise again” (Matthew 27:63). Surely you know? Surely you remember that He will rise? Place a guard at the tomb; for me you guard it; guard the dead so that He does not run away. “You have,” he says, “a guard; go, guard as you know” (Matthew 27:65); do not let go, as you know; prepare as you know; guard as you know; if you did not keep, then you leave me grounds for an apology. Now I betray Him to you, Who, when he was alive, was kept by you, and when he was killed, hid from all of you. So, let us remain sober, so that to see the deep sleep of the Jews and celebrate together with the heavenly armies, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Gr. ακανθας; in synod.trans. “wild berries” – I.I. Gr.: καλλος – slav. “kindness” – I.I. Gr.: εν πληγη ων lit. “being in the wound”, glory. “in the ulcer” – I.I. In the original, as in the Gospel, “Amen” - I.I. This conversation in the Minya edition belongs to the category of Spuria, that is, unfoundedly attributed to St. I. Chrysostom.