Inheriting The Kingdom

Ὅτι σάρξ καὶ αἷμα βασιλείαν Θεοῦ κληρονομή και οὐ δύνανται. Συνίστησι τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως και διὰ τούτου μυστήριον. Ἕως μὲν γὰρ ἐστι ἡ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον σάρξ καὶ αἷμα, τουτέστι θνητὸν καὶ φθαρτὸν, Θεοῦ βασιλείαν, τουτέστι τὸ εἶναι δηνεκῶς, οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο κληρονομεῖν. Πᾶσα δὴ οὖν ἀνάγκη καταπίνεσθαι τὴν φθορὰν καὶ ἀφανίζεσθαι τὸ εὐμάραντον, μεταπλάττεσθαι δὲ πρὸς ἀφθαρσίαν αὐτὸ, καὶ θείᾳ τινὶ καὶ ἀποῤῥήτῳ δόξῃ καταφαιδρύνεσθαι κληρονομήσει γὰρ τότε τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλείαν. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Εἰς Τὴν Πρωτάν Ἐπιστολήν Παύλου Πρὸς Κορινθίους, Ἐκλογαι Source: Migne PG 74.912b

For flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 1 With this he understands the mystery of the resurrection. While the human body is flesh and blood, that is, mortal and corruptible, it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, which is immortal. Therefore it is necessary for corruption to be absorbed and for whatever is fallen to be taken away. Thus being turned into what is incorruptible it is illuminated with a certain Divine and ineffable glory, for then it shall possess the kingdom of God. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the First Letter to the Corinthians, Fragment 1 1 Cor 15.50

True Life

Vivam, inquit, et observabo sermones tuos. Vivam atque observabo non praesentis temporis res est; sed significatio sermonis hujus in futurum se tempus extendit. Scit enim Propheta quando beata illa et vera viventium vita sit. Nunc enim et in pulvere mortis manemus, et in mortis corpore sumus, a quo se liberari Apostolus orat, dicens: Miser ego homo, quis me liberabit a corpore mortis hujus? Habemus autem etiam nunc admixtam nobis materiam, quae mortis legi et peccati obnoxia est; et in hujus caducae carnis infirmisque domicilio corruptionis labem ex ejus consortio mutuamur: ac nisi glorificato in naturam spiritus corpore, vitae verae in nobis non potest esse natura. Audiamus eum, qui se meminit in corpore mortis habitare dicentem: Quia vita nostra absconsa est cum Christo in Deo. Cum autem Christus apparuerit vita nostra, tunc et vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria. Hanc ergo retributionem sibi Propheta orat, ut vivat: futurae hujus vitae tempus in loco altero docens, quo ait: Et placebo Domino in regione viventium. Scit hanc mundi istius sedem regionem non esse viventium. Scit nos adhuc secundum praefigurationem legis emundandos esse. Nunc enim admiscemur morticinae: et in lege quisquis mortuum contrectat, immundus est. Sed absit istud, ut quidquam horum in lege corporaliter intelligatur, tamquam per contrectationem mortui quisquam fiat immundus. Joseph ossa egrediens Aegyptum Moyses ipse lator legis abstulit, Eliseus mortuo ut eum vivificaret incubuit: Dominus ipse mortuos manu apprehensos in vitam retraxit: et contrectatio mortui si immundum effectura fuisset, nequaquam a tantis viris, neque a Domino violata lex esset, ipso dicente: Non veni legem solvere, sed adimplere. Sed quia lex umbra est futurorum bonorum; idcirco per hanc praeformatam significantiam docuit nos in hoc terreni et morticini corporis habitaculo mundos esse non posse, nisi per ablutionem coelestis misericordiae emundationem consequamur, post demutationem resurrectionis, terreni corporis nostri effecta gloriosiore natura. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXVIII Source: Migne PL 9.517c-519a

'I shall live,' he says, 'and I shall observe your words.' 1 But this living and observing is not a matter of the present time, but the signification of this speech extends itself into the future. For the prophet knows when the blessed and true life of the living will be, since now we exist in the dust of death, and we are in the body of death, from which the Apostle prays to be freed, saying, 'I am a wretched man, who shall free me from this body of death.' 2 Now we have material mixed in us which is subject to the law of death and sin, and in this dwelling place of frail and weak flesh, we borrow the taint of corruption from association with it, and unless the glorification of the Spirit is in the nature of our body, it is not possible for us to have the true life in us. Let us hear him who recalls to himself that he is dwelling in a body of death, saying, 'Because our life is hidden with Christ in God, and when Christ, our life, shall appear, then even you will appear with him in glory.' 3 Therefore this is the reward that the prophet prays for, he who teaches about the time of the future life in another place, saying, 'I shall please the Lord in the land of the living.' 4 He knows that the place of this world is not the land of the living. He knows that we yet need to be cleansed according to the prefiguration of the law, for now we are mixed with perishing things, and in the law whoever touches a corpse is unclean. 5 But let it not be that whatever is found in the law is understood corporally, as if by touching a corpse we are made unclean. The bones of Joseph were taken out of Egypt by Moses, who propounded the law, and so flouted it, and Elisha lay on a dead man to revive him, and the Lord Himself with the touch of His hand drew the dead back to life, 6 and so if the touch of a corpse were to make us unclean, these great men, even the Lord, would have violated the law, even He who said, 'I have not come to set aside the law but to fulfill it.' 7 But because the law is a shadow of future goods, therefore the meaning of prefiguration teaches us that in this dwelling of the earthly and perishable body it is not possible to be clean unless we receive the cleansing washing of the heavenly mercy, because of which, after the change of the resurrection, our earthly bodies will be turned into a glorious nature. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.17 2 Rom 7.24 3 Colos 3.3-4 4 Ps 114.11 5 Numb 19.11 6 Exod 13,19, 4 Kings 4.34, Mt 9.25 7 Mt 5.17

Confidence And Greatness

Hi in curribus, et hii in equis: nos etiam in nomine Domini Dei nostri magnificabimur. Fidei suae sinceritate confidens, quae muneribus erat Domini contriibuta , propheta laetatur, despiciens illos qui pomposis curribus evecti, in temporali potius dignitate praesumunt. Duo enim apud antiquos erant genera triumpborum: unum majus in curribus, quod laureatum dicebatur; aliud minus in equiis, quod ovatio nuncupabatur. Sed ista saecularibus relinqnens, in nomine Domini se magnificalum esse confirmat. Non enim currus aut equus magnificant, quamvis in hoc mundo extollere videantur honoribus; sed nomen Domini, quod ad praemia aeterna perducit. Quae figura Graece dicitur syncrisis, Latine comparatio, dum comparatione quadam justiorem causam nostram, quam adversarii demonstramus. Ipsi obligati sunt et ceciderunt; nos autem surreximus, et erecti sumus. Potenter aperuit fructum praecedentium rerum. Nam humanis honoribus praesumentes, laqueati pravis desideriis suis in mortis foveam corruerunt. Et quia dicturus erat, ceciderunt, praemisit, obligati, quod necesse est illis contingere, qui se videntur nexuosis erroribus obligare. Resurgere enim duobus modis dicitur Christianus: quando a vitiorum morte in hoc mundo per gratiam liberatus, in divinis justificationibus perseverat, sicut sapientissimus Salomon dicit Septies cadit justus, et resurgit. Dicitur et generalis illa resurreciio, in qua justi praemia aeterna consequentur. Sed hic utramque convenire manifesium est; ubi ideo posuit, erecti sumus, quia in qualibet resurrectione, fideles ab humilitate consurgunt , et ad divina praemia sublevantur. Quod argumentum in topicis dicitur a rebus ipsis, quando et adversarios corruisse dicimus, et nos erectos esse testamur. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XIX Source: Migne PL 70.146a-c

These in chariots, and these in horses, but we in the name of the Lord are made great. 1 Confident in the uprightness of his faith, which the gifts of the Lord have fortified, the prophet rejoices, despising those who are borne about in the pomp of chariots, and who rather have confidence in temporal dignities. Among the ancients there were two kinds of triumphs, the greater one with chariots, which was called the laureatum and the lesser one with horses which was named the ovatio. But forsaking these worldly things, he confirms himself to be made great in the name of the Lord. For it is not a chariot or a horse that makes one great, although in this world they seem to lift one up with honour, but the name of the Lord which leads to eternal rewards. This figure of speech  is named 'syncrisis' in Greek and 'comparatio' in Latin, where with a certain comparison our more righteous cause is demonstrated against an adverse one. They were bound and the fell, but we rose and stood. He forcefully reveals the fruit of the preceding speech. For confident in human honours, they tumbled down amid their degenerate desires into the pit of the snare of death. And because he has said they fell, he firstly sets down that they were bound to touch on how necessity bound them. The Christian is said to rise up in two ways, when he has been delivered by grace from the death of the vices in this world and he perseveres in the Divine justifications, as the most wise Solomon says, 'The righteous man falls seven times and he rises,' 2 and it is said of the general resurrection in which the righteous receive eternal rewards. But here it was fitting to set forth both, when it says we stand, because in either resurrection the faithful rise up from humiliation and are lifted up to the Divine reward.  Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, from Psalm 19 1 Ps 19.8 2 Prov 24.16

Corruption And Resurrection

Corruptio duobus modis accidere dicitur: corporaliter et spiritaliter. Corporaliter accidit, cum evenerit illud quod scriptum est: Si quis templum Dei corruperit, corrumpet illum Deus. Spiritaliter vero, cum illud acciderit quod nihilominus Apostolus dicit: Vereor autem ne sicut serpens Evan seduxit astutua sua, sic corrumpantur sensus vestri a simplicitate fidei, quae est in Christo Jesu. Si quis ergo ab his quae supra diximus manserit corpore et spiritu incorruptus, iste incorruptionem quaerere dicitur, quo scilicet per hanc observantiae incorruptionem, illam quae ex resurrectione est incorruptionem consequi mereatur. Quid autem detur haec requirentibus videamus. Vita, inquit, aeterna, illa de qua Salvator docet, cum dicit: Haec est autem vita aeterna, ita cognoscant te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum. Per quod ostendit in agnitione Dei, et Christi Jesu, vitae aeternae manere substantiam. Agnitio vero Dei quomodo haberi possit, docemur in Psamlis, cum dicitur: Vacate et agnoscite quoniam ego sum Deus. Origenes, Commentariorum In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Romanos, Liber II, Interprete Rufino Aquileiense Source: Migne PG 14.882c-883a

Corruption is said to happen in two ways, bodily and spiritually. It happens bodily when there comes about what has been written, 'If someone shall corrupt the temple of God, God shall corrupt him.' 1 But it is spiritual when it happens as the Apostle says, 'I fear lest as the serpent seduced Eve with its cleverness, so they are corrupting your minds from the simplicity of the faith which is in Jesus Christ.' 2 Therefore if someone keeps himself uncorrupted from the things we have spoken about, he is said to be one who seeks incorruption, because of which, through this observance of incorruption, he shall merit that incorruption which follows after the resurrection. Let us consider what is given to those who seek this. 'Eternal life,' it is said, concerning which the Saviour teaches when He says, 'This is eternal life, that they know that you alone are the true God, and Him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.' 3 By which it is shown that the substance of eternal life is found in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. And we are taught how it is possible to have this knowledge of God in the Psalms when it is said, 'Be at peace and know that I am God.' 4 Origen, from the Commentary on the Letter of Paul to the Romans, Book 2, Translated by Rufinus of Aquileia. 1 1 Cor 3.17 2 2 Cor 11.3 3 Jn 17.3 4 Ps 45.11

The Setting Sun

Vespere autem facto, obtulerunt ei multos daemonia habentes... Solis occubitus passionem mortemque designat illius qui dixit: Quandiu in mundo sum, lux sum mundi, et sole occidente plures daemoniaci quam ante, et plures sanantur aegroti, et qui temporaliter vivens in carne, paucos Judaeorum docuit, calcato mortis regno, omnibus per orbem gentibus fidei dona transmisit, cujus ministris tanquam vitae lucisque praeconibus Psalmista dicit: Iter facite ei qui ascendit super occasum. Ascendit super occasum, quando in passione occubuit; majorem resurgendo suam gloriam manifestavit. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput VIII Source: Migne PL 162.1323a

And when it was evening, they brought to Him many who had demons... 1 With the sun's setting His passion and death is signified, He who said, 'While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' 2 And with the sun's death there are more demoniacs than before and more who are healed of their sicknesses, for He who while He was living temporally in the flesh taught a few of the Jews, having crushed down the kingdom of death, then sent forth through the world the gift of faith to all peoples, He whose servants are as preachers of life and light, as the Psalmist says, 'You make a way for Him who ascends over the setting sun.' 3 He ascends over the setting sun, when having set in His passion He manifests His greater glory in His rising. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 8 1 Mt 8.16 2 Jn 8.12 3 Ps 67.5

Apperances After The Resurrection

Illa existimans, quod hortulanus esset etc. Nota, quod Dominus post resurrectionem in triplici specie se ostendit: in specie hortutani; unde hic: llla existimans, quod hortulanus esset etc. In specie peregrini; unde Lucae ultimo: Tu solus peregrinus es in lerusalem? In specie crucifixi; unde in eodem: Videte manus meas et pedes meos, quia ego sum. Nota igitur, quod specialiter in specie hortulani se ostendit incipientibus, in quibus plantat germina virtutum; in specie peregrini proficientibus, quos deducit per viam mandatorum; in specie crucifixi perfectis, quos accendit ad imitationem passionis. Sanctus Bonaventura, Collationes In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput XX, Collatio LXXIV Source: Here, p622

She, thinking that He was the gardener... 1 Note that after the resurrection the Lord revealed Himself in three forms. In the form of a gardener, hence here, 'She, thinking He was the gardener...' In the form of a traveller, as in the last chapter of Luke, 'Are you the only traveller in Jerusalem?' And in the form of the crucified, where in the same place, 'See my hands and my feet, it is me.' 2 Note, therefore, that He especially shows himself in the form of a gardener to those who are beginners, in whom He plants the seeds of the virtues, and as a traveller to those who are advancing, who He leads on the way of the commandments, and in the form of the crucified to the perfect, in whom He kindles a fire for the imitation of the passion. Saint Bonaventura, Observations On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 20 1 Jn 20.15 2 Lk 18.24, 18.39

Joseph And The Resurrection

Et accesserunt, inquit, ad illum, et dixit: Ego sum Joseph frater vester, quem vos tradidistis in Aegyptum. Nunc ergo nolite moesti esse, neque obis durum videatur, quoniam huc me vendidistis. Ad vitam enim vestram misit me Deus ante vos. Quam fraterna pietas, quam dulcis germanitas, ut etiam parricidale excusaret admissum, dicens divinae illud providentiae fuisse, non impietatis humanae: quandoquidem non ab hominibus oblatus ad mortem, sed a Domino missus sit ad vitam. Quid aliud habet illa Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui fratres omnes pietate superavit, in cruce positi intercessio pro plebe, dicentis: Pater, dimitte illis; non enim sciunt quid faciunt? Quid aliud illa appellatio sanctitatis in medio discipulorum dicentis: Pax vobis: ego sum, nolite timere? Et cum conturbati et conterriti existimarent se spiritum videre, iterum dixit ad illos: Quid turbatis estis, et quare cogitationes ascendunt in corda vestra? Videte, ecce manus meas, et pedes meos, quia ego sum ipse. Palpate, et videte, quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet, sicut me videtis habere. Haec ergo jam tunc futura posterioribus temporibus mysteria revelata sunt. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jospeph Patriarca, Caput XII Source: Migne PL 14.667c-668a

And they came near to him and he said, 'I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold off to Egypt. Now do not be troubled, nor let it seem hard to you, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you for your life.' 1 What fraternal piety, what sweet fellowship, that he would even excuse a murderous deed in saying it was a matter of Divine providence and not human wickedness, and that he was not handed over to death by men but sent by the Lord for life. Does this not have something of our Lord Jesus Christ in it, He who exceeded all brothers in piety and who placed on the cross prayed for the people, saying, 'Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they do?' 2 Does it not have something of that appeal of sanctity which in the midst of the disciples said, 'Be at peace. It is me. Do not be afraid.'? And when they were troubled and thought him a ghost, again He said to them, 'Why are you troubled and why do your thoughts leap up in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, it is me. Touch and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and blood, as you see I have.' 3 Therefore even then the mysteries that were to come to be in later times were already revealed. Saint Ambrose, On The Patriarch Joseph, Chapter 12 1 Gen 45.4-5 2 Lk 23.34 3 Lk 23.38-39

The Glory Of This Resurrection

Est aliud in quo resurrectionis hujus innotescat gloria singularis. Quis enim in caeteris omnibus suscitavit aliquando semetipsum? Ineffabile istud est, ut a morte se excitet ipse qui dormit: singulare est; non est qui faciat, non est usque ad unum. Eliseus propheta mortuum suscitavit, sed alterum, non semetipsum. Ecce enim quot annis jacet in monumento, quod a se non potest, sperans ab alio suscitari; ab eo utique qui triumphavit mortis imperium in seipso. Inde est quod caeteros quidem dicimus suscitatos, Christum resurrexisse, qui solus virtute propria victor prodiit de sepulcro: siquidem et in hoc vicit leo de tribu Juda, Quantum poterit, immo quid non posse videbitur vivens, et dicens Patri: Resurrexi, et adhuc sum tecum; qui tam potens exstitit deputatus cum mortuis, sed inter mortuos liber? Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, Sermones De Tempore, In Die Sancto Paschae Source: Migne PL 183.277d-278a

There is something else in which the singular glory of this resurrection is known. Who among all other men was ever able to raise himself? It has never been told that anyone who slept was able to raise himself from death. It is unheard of, there is not one that could do it, not even one. Elisha the prophet raised a dead man, but it was another man, not himself. 1 Behold how many years he lays in the tomb who is not able to raise himself but hopes for another, that is, apart from Him who triumphed over the empire of death in Himself. Hence we say that others were raised up, but Christ has risen, He who alone is the victor, who with His own power comes forth from the tomb. Here the lion of Judah conquers. How much will he be able to do, indeed, what will he not seem able to do, who lives and says to the Father, 'I have risen, and I am yet with you.' 2 Who is so powerful when set among the dead, but he who is a free man among the dead. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for the Year, On Easter 1 4 Kings 4.35 2 Apoc 5.5, Ps 138.18, Ps 87.6

Doubt And The Resurrection

Quod resurrectionem dominicam discipuli tarde crediderunt, non tam illorum infirmitas quam nostra, ut ita dicam, futura firmitas fuit Ipsa namque resurrectio illis dubitantibus per multa argumenta monstrata est: quae dum nos legentes agnoscimus, quid aliud quam de illorum dubitatione solidamur? Minus enim mihi Maria Magdalene praestitit, quae citius credidit quam Thomas qui diu dubitavit. Ille etenim dubitando vulnerum cicatrices tetigit, et de nostro pectore dubietatis vulnus amputavit. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Homiliarum in Evangelia Liber III, Homilia XXIX Source: Migne PL 76.1213c

That the disciples were slow to believe in the Lord's resurrection 1 was not so much a matter of their weakness as, so to speak, for our future strength, for the resurrection had been shown to them through many arguments, which reading and recognising, are we anything but strengthened amid their doubts? Mary Magdalene who was quick to believe stands in less rank to me than Thomas who doubted for a long time. Indeed he was doubting even as he touched the scars of the wounds, by which he cut off the wound of doubt from our hearts. 2 Saint Gregory the Great, Homilies On The Gospels, Book 3, from Homily 29 1 Mk 16.11 2 Jn 20.24-29

The Resurrection And The Seals

Flebat Joannes in Apocalypsi quia non inveniebat qui solveret septem signacula signati libri. Cum enim Joannes Baptista, qui major erat inter natos mulierum, iam se publice judicasset indignum solvere corrigiam calceamenti: perinde erat ac si diceret: Non sum dignus solvere signaculum libri. Nihil est aliud signaculum libri quam ligatura calceamenti. Unus autem de senioribus dixit ei: Ne fleveris. Dignus est Agnus, qui occisus est, accipere librum, et solvere septem signacula ejus. Hic est liber involutus, sicut in propheta legitur, scriptus digito Dei, in pergameno uteri virginalis. Liber iste in quo legunt angeli delectationes aeternas. Septem fuerunt hujus libri signacula. Deus enim gloriam suae majestis in carne abscondens, pretium nostrae redemptionis quasi in sacculo consignavit. Nonne saccus fuit carnis mortalis assumptio? Posuitisti, inquit vestimentum meum cilicium. Et iterum: Conscidisti saccum meum et circumdedisti me laetitia. In hoc sacculo attulit species pretiosas, veniam peccatorum, profectum virtutum, praemium meritorum. Haec saccum texuit divina sapientia novem mensibus: nam de illa legitur: Manum suam misit ad fortia et dirigit ejus apprehenderunt fusum. Hunc saccum in Jordane lavit, in passione torsit, in cruce siccavit. Humanitas Christi vocatur liber, quia in eo est scientia vitae et disciplinae. Fuit ergo vivum signaculum, ut non posset ejus divinitas comprehendi, dispensatio Virginis, corporis infirmitas, circumcisio, fuga in Aegyptum, fames in deserto, humilitas crucis, sepultura. Quae licet ultimum signaculum, multum tamen clausit et abscondit de gloria divinae majestatis. Haec omnia Christus hodie solvit, non rupit; nam omnibus quae ad dispensationem carnis assumptae pertinebant, obedienter impletis, hodie de miseri humanitatis resurgit in gloriam deitatis. Opportebat siquidem Christum pati, et resurgere et sic intrare in gloriam suam. Suam dico, imo et nostram. Non enim per aliud ostium intrabit caput, et per aliud membra. Volo, inquit, ut ubi ego sum, illic sit et minister meus. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXI, In Resurrectione Source: Migne PL 207.621a-d

In the Apocalypse John wept because he was not able to find anyone to undo the seven seals of the sealed book. 1 For when John the Baptist, compared to whom no one greater was born among woman, openly proclaimed that he was not worthy to undo a strap of His sandal, it was as if he had said, 'I am not worthy to undo a seal of the book.' 2 There is no difference between the seal of the book and the strap of the sandal. Then one of the elders said to John, 'Do not weep. The lamb who was slain is worthy to receive the book and undo the seven seals.' This is the book that is bound up, as is read in the prophet, 3 and was written by the finger of God on the parchment of the Virgin's womb. This is the book in which the angels read all the eternal joys. There were seven seals on this book. For leaving the glory of His majesty for the flesh, God consigned the reward of our redemption as if in a sack. Was this sack not the taking up of mortal flesh? 'And I made haircloth my garment.' And again, 'You have cut off my sackcloth and surrounded me with joy.' 4 In this sack He brought precious wealth, the forgiveness of sins, the perfection of virtue, the reward of merit. The Divine wisdom fashioned this sack in nine months, for concerning it we read, 'She has put her hand to strong things and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle.' 5 He washed this sack in the Jordan, He wrung it in the Passion, He dried it on the Cross. The book he speaks of is the humanity of Christ, because in it is the knowledge of life and discipline. It then had a living seal, so that it was not possible to understand His Divinity, the dispensation to the Virgin, the infirmity of the body, the circumcision, the flight into Egypt, the hunger in the desert, the humility of the cross, or the tomb. This last seal hid and obscured much of the glory of the Divine majesty. Today Christ undoes all these, and does not break them, for He obediently fulfilled everything of the dispensation of the taking up of the flesh, and today He rises from the wretchedness of humanity to the glory of Godhood. It was necessary that Christ suffer and rise and so enter into His glory. 6 His own, I say, and even ours. For it is not that the head enters through one gate and the members through another. 'I wish,' He says, 'that where I am, that there is my servant.' 7 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 21, On The Resurrection 1 Apoc 5.4 2 Lk 7.28, Lk 3.16 3 Ezek 2.9 4 Ps 68.12, Ps 29.12 5 Prov 31.19 6 Lk 24.26 7 Jn 12.26

From The Beginning

Quod fuit ab initio... Hanc Epistolam beatus Apostolus Joannes de fidei et charitatis perfectione conscripsit, laudans devotionem eorum qui in unitate Ecclesiae perseverabant; porro illorum impietatem coarguens, qui Ecclesiae pacem vesano dogmate turbabant, Cerinthi maxime et Marcionis, qui Christum ante Mariam non fuisse contendebant. Propter quos etiam Evangelium suum scripsit, ibi quidem et suis et ipsius Domini verbis consubstantialem Patri Filium affirmans, hic autem quae a Domino didicit propriis sermonibus depromens, et haereticorum stultitiam apostolica auctoritate refellens. Unde mox in capite Epistolae divinitatem simul et humanitatem veram ejusdem Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi designat dicens: Quod fuit ab initio, quod audivimus. Fuit enim ab initio Filius Dei, sed eumdem Filium Dei in homine apparentem audierunt, et oculis viderunt discipuli, quod ipsum in Evangelio latius explicavit. Nam quod hic ait: Quod fuit ab initio, hoc est quod in Evangelio dicit: In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Et quod hic subdidit: Quod audivimus, quod vidimus oculis nostris, hoc est quod ibi latius subdit: Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis, et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Patre. Et ne parum dicere videretur in eo quod ait: Quod vidimus oculis nostris, adjunxit: Quod perspeximus, et manus nostrae contrectaverunt de Verbo vitae. Non solum quippe corporalibus oculis sicut caeteri Dominum viderunt, sed et perspexerunt, cujus divinam quoque virtutem spiritualibus oculis cernebant. Maxime illi qui eum in monte clarificatum viderunt, e quibus unus erat ipse Joannes. Quod autem ait: Et manus nostrae contrectaverunt de Verbo vitae, Manichaeorum vincit insaniam, qui Dominum veram assumpsisse carnem negant; quam apostoli veram esse dubitare non poterant, ut pote cujus veritatem non solum videndo, sed et tangendo probarent; maxime Joannes ipse, qui, in sinu ejus in coena recumbere solitus, tanto licentius ejus membra, quanto vicinius tangebat. Sed et post resurrectionem ejus a mortuis, manus eorum tractaverunt de Verbo vitae, cum veram eum recepisse carnem, quamvis jam incorruptibilem, absque ulla dubietate cognoverunt, audientes ab illo ipso: Palpate et videte, quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet, sicut me videtis habere. Bene autem dicitur: Et manus nostrae contrectaverunt de Verbo vitae, quia cum veritatem resuscitatae carnis ejus a mortuis etiam manibus contrectando probarent, certius eum Verbum vitae, hoc est Deum verum, esse cognoverunt. Sanctus Beda, In I Epistolam Sancti Joannis, Caput I Source: Migne PL 93.85b-86b

That which was from the beginning... 1 The Apostle John wrote this letter about the perfection of faith and charity, praising the devotion of those who persevered in the unity of the Church, but disputing the impiety of those who troubled the peace of the Church with their irrational teachings, especially Cerinthus and Marcion, who contended that Christ did not exist before Mary. Indeed it was on account of them that he wrote his Gospel, and there with the very words of the Lord affirmed the consubstantiality of the Son and Father. But here in his own words he sets forth what the Lord taught and with Apostolic authority refutes the foolishness of heretics. Whence at the very beginning of the letter he designates the Divinity and true humanity of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, saying, 'That which was from the beginning, that we heard.' For the Son of God was from the beginning, but that same Son of God the disciples also heard and saw with their own eyes in the appearance of a man, which he explains more broadly in his Gospel. For as here he says, 'That which was from the beginning,' so in the Gospel he says, 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In the beginning He was with God.' 2 Then here he adds, 'That we have heard and seen with our eyes,' that is, what is more broadly given in the Gospel as, 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father.' And lest it seems he says less here when he says, 'What we have seen with our eyes,' he adds, 'What we have perceived and our hands have  touched, the Word of Life.' They did not only see the Lord with the eyes of the body, as with other things, but they even looked on and perceived the Divine virtue with spiritual eyes, certainly those who saw Him transformed on the mountain, one of whom was John himself. 3 And saying, 'and our hands have touched, the Word of Life.' he overthrows the madness of the Manichees, who denied that the Lord had taken up the flesh, which truth the Apostles could not doubt, since they not only saw His truth, but they even proved it by touching, especially John himself, who alone reclined in His lap at the Last Supper, his members given as much freedom as a neighbour who touched. 4 But even after His resurrection from the dead, their hands touched the Word of Life, when He has received true flesh, now incorruptible, and without any doubt they knew, hearing from Him, 'Touch and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.' 5 And it is well said, 'And our hands have touched, the Word of Life,' because when by touch they proved the truth of the flesh raised up from the dead, they more certainly knew that He was the Word of Life, that is, the true God. Saint Bede, Commentary on the First Letter of Saint John, Chapter 1 1 1 Jn 1.1 2 John 1.1-2 3 Mt 17.1-8 4 Jn 13.23 5 Lk 24.39

Numerous Advents

Christi nascentis diem anniversarim exspectamus; qui nobis in proximo videndus, Domino annuente, promittur. Hoc sane gaudium nostrum tale videtur exigre Scriptura, ut spiritum noster levans se super se, Christo venienti quodammodo occurere gestiat: et desiderio se extendens in anteriora, impatiensque morarum, jam videre contendat futura. Ego namque non solum ad secundum adventum, sed etiam ad primum arbitror pertinere, quod tot locis Scripturarum i monemur occurrere. Quomodo, inquis? Quia videlicet sicut secundo adventui occurremus motu et exsultatione corporisl sic et primo occurrndum est affectu et exsultatione cordis. Scitis enim quia resumptis in resurrectione corporis novis, secundum doctrinam Apostoli, rapiemur in nubibus obviam Christo in aera, et sic semper cum Domino erimus. Sic nec modo desunt nubes, quae spiritus nostros, si nimis non fuerint pigri terraeque affixi, sublevabunt ad altiora; et sic cum Domino erimus, vel hora dimidia. Agnoscit, ni fallor, experientia vestra quod loquor, cum aliquando vocem dederunt nubes, id est, sonerunt in Ecclesia prophetarum, vel apostolorum voces, ad quam sublimia sensus vestri, quasi vehiculo nubis, fuerint subvecti; et eo usque nonnunquam excesserint, ut gloriam Domini quantulumcunque mererentur speculari. Tunc, ni fallor, vobis innotuit veritas illius sermonis, qum Dominus de illa nube pluit, quam quotidie ponit ascensum vobis: Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me: et illic iter, quo ostendam illi salutare Dei. Ita ergo sit, ut ante adventum suum Dominus veniat ad vos, et antequam mundo generaliter adveniat, familiariter invisat vos. Non vos, inquit, relinquam orphanos: vado, et veniam ad vos. Et quidem pro merito cujusque, vel studio, creber est ad unumquemque iste Domini adventus, hoc tempore medio inter adventum primum et novissimum, conformans nos adventui primo, et praeparans novissimo. Ad hoc nempe venit modo in nos, ne primo adventu frustra venerit ad nos, vel ne in novissimo veniat iratus adversus nos. Hoc siquidem adventu satagit reformare sensum superbiae nostrae, configuratum sensui humilitatis suae, quam primo veniens exhibuit; ut perinde reformet corpus humilitatis nostrae, configuratum corpori claritatis suae, quam denuo rediens exhibebit. Prorsus optandus omnibus votis, et expetendus studiis adventus iste familiaris, qui nobis gratiam impertiat adventus primi, et gloriam promittat novissimi. Guerricus Ignaciensis, De Adventu Domini, Sermo II Source: Migne PL 185.15d-16d

We are waiting for the anniversary of the day of the Christ's birth, which soon we shall see, which was promised with the Lord's approval. It seems that Scripture would have us joyful, so that our spirits are lifted up, eager to hurry to the approaching Christ, and while reaching out to what is to come its desire is impatient with the delay, and seems in dispute with what is to be. I think that all the passages in Scripture which exhort us to hurry, refer not only to the first advent but even to the second. How is this, you ask? Because as at the second coming we shall run with all eagerness and joy in the body, so even at the first we should run with all happiness and exultation of heart. You know that at the resurrection, with the putting on of the new body, according to the teaching of the Apostle, we shall be taken up into the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord, 1 but even now there is no lack of clouds which will carry off our spirits to the heights if we are not sluggish and bound up in worldly things, and so we we will be with the Lord, if for half an hour. If I do not err, your own experience knows what I am speaking about, when sometimes the clouds thunder, that is, when in the Church the prophets or the apostles give forth their voices, and your minds are swept up to high things, as transported on clouds, and not a few have gone further, so that they have merited to look a little on the glory of the Lord. Then, if I do not err, the truth of the word is made known to you, which the Lord rains down from the cloud that he appoints to raise us up every day. 'The sacrifice of praise shall give me honour, and there is the path by which I shall show forth the salvation of God.' 2 Therefore it may be that the Lord will come to you before His advent, and before He comes to the whole world, He will come to you in particular. 'I shall not leave you orphans,' He said, 'but I go and I shall come to you.' 3 And whether for merit or for zeal, the advent of the Lord to us is not uncommon in the time between the first and the second advent, conforming us to the first and preparing us for the last. For certainly He comes to us now, lest it is in vain that He came to us in His first advent, and lest He comes against us in anger in the last. In this middle advent He comes to reform our proud minds and to shape us to the sense of His humility which He showed in His first coming, so that He may reform the body of our humility into the likeness of His own glorified body, which He shall show when He returns again. 4 The wish of all our prayers and the striving of our zeal should be this personal advent of His, which bestows on us the grace of the first advent and promises the glory of the last. Guerric of Igny, from the Second Sermon on the Advent Of the Lord 1 Thes 4.16 2 Ps 76.18, 103.3, 49.23 3 Jn 14.18 4 Phil 3.21

Faith And The End

Φωτὸς δὲ ἀνὰ μέσον καὶ τοῦ σκότους, οὐδὲ ἕν. Ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀναστάσει τῶν πιστευόντων ἀπόχειται τὸ τέλος· τὸ δὲ οὐχ ἄλλου τινός ἐστι μεταλαδεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ τῆς προωμολογημένης ἐπαγγελίας τυχεῖν. Μὴ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ἅμα ἄμφω συνίστασθα!ί φαμεν, τὴν τε πρὸς τὸ πέρας ἄφιξιν καὶ τῆς ἀφέξεως τὴν πρόληψιν· οὐ γάρ ἔστι ταὐτὸν αἰὼν καὶ χρόνος· οὐδὲ μὴν ὁρμὴ καὶ τέλος, οὐχ ἔστι" περὶ ἕν δὲ ἄμφω: καὶ περὶ ἄμφω ὁ εἷς καταγίνεται. Ἔστι γοῦν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὁρμὴ μὲν ἡ πίστις ἐν χρόνῳ γεννωμένη τέλος δὲ τὸ τυχεῖν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, εἰς αἰῶνας βεδαιούμενον. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κύριος σαφέστατα τῆς σωτηρίας τὴν ἰσότητα ἀπεκάλυψεν, εἰπών· Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρός μου, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ θεωρῶν τὸν Υιὸν, καὶ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿αὑτὸν ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον· καὶ ἀναστήσω αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῇ ἡμέρᾳ. Καθόσον μὲν οὖν δυνατὸν ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ, ὃν ἐσχάτην ἡμέραν ἡνίξατο, εἰς τότε τηρούμενον ὅτε παύσηται, τελείους ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι πιστεύομεν. Πίστις γὰρ μαθήσεως τελειότης· διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν, ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Ἐΐ τοίνυν οἱ πιστεύσαντες ἔχομεν τὴν ζωὴν, τί περαιτέρω τοῦ κεκτῆσθαι ζωὴν ἀΐδιον ὑπολείπεται; Οὐδὲν δὲ ἐνδεῖ τῇ πίστει, τελείᾳ οὔσῃ ἐξ αὑτῆς καὶ πεπληρωμένη. Εἰ δὲ ἐνδεῖ τι αὐτῇ, οὖχ ἔστιν ὁλοτελῆς οὐδὲ πίστις ἐστὶ σκάζουσα περί τι· οὐδὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐνθένδε ἀποδημίαν ἀναμένει τοὺς πεπιστευχότας, ἀδιακρίτως ἐνταῦθα ἡῤῥαβωνισμένους. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ τὸ πιστεῦσαι ἤδη προειληφότες ἐσόμενον μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἀπολαμβάνομεν γενόμενον· ὅπως τ' ἂν ἐκεῖνο πληρωθῇ τὸ λεχθέν· Γενηθήτω κατὰ τὴν πίστιν σου. Οὗ δὲ ἡ πίστις; ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἐπαγγελία τελείωσις δὲ ἐπαγγελίας ἡ ἀνάπαυσις. Ὥστε ἡ μὲν γνῶσις ἐν τῷ φωτίσματι, τὸ δὲ πέρας τῆς γνώσεως, ἡ ἔσχατον νοεῖται ὁρεκτόν. Καθάπερ᾽ οὖν τῇ πείρᾳ ἣ ἀπειρία καταλύεται, καὶ τῷ πόρῳ ἡ ἀπορία· οὕτως ἀνάγκη τῷ φωτισμῷ ἐξαφανίζεσθαι τὸ σκότος" ἡ ἄγνοια δὲ τὸ σκότος, καθ᾽ ἣν περιπίπτομεν τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν, ἀμβλυωποῦντες περὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν· φωτισμὸς ἄρα ἡ γνῶσίς ἐστιν, ὁ ἐξαφανίξων τὴν ἄγνοιαν, καὶ τὸ διορατιχὸν ἐντιθείς. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ ἡ τῶν χειρόνων ἀποβολὴ τῶν κρειττόνων ἐστὶν ἀποκάλυψις. Ἃ γὰρ ἣ ἄγνοια συνέδησε κακῶς, ταῦτα διὰ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως ἀναλύεται καλῶς τὰ δὲ δεσμὰ ταῦτα, ἧ τάχος, ἀνίεται·πίστει μὲν ἀνθρωπίνῃ, θεϊχῇ δὲ τῇ χάριτι· ἀφιεμένων τῶν πλημμελημάτων ἑνὶ Παιωνίῳ φαρμάκῳ, Λογικῷ βαπτίσματι. Πάντα μὲν οὖν ἀπολουόμεθα τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, οὐκέτι δὲ ἐσμεν παρὰ πόδας κακοί. Μία χάρις αὕτη τοῦ φωτίσματος, τὸ μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι τῷ πρὶν ἣ λούσασθαι τὸν τρόπον. Ὅτι δὲ ἡ γνῶσις συνανατέλλει τῷ φωτίσματι, περιαστράπτουσα τὸν νοῦν, καὶ εὐθέως ἀκούομεν μαθηταὶ οἱ ἁμαθεῖς· πότερόν ποτέ τῆς μαθήσεως ἐκείνης προσγενομένης; οὗ γὰρ ἂν ἔχοις εἰπεῖν τὸν χρόνον· ἡ μὲν γὰρ κατήχησις εἰς πίστιν περιάγει, πίστις δὲ, ἅμα βαπτίσματι ἁγίῳ παιδεύεται Πνεύματι· ἐπεὶ ὅτι γε μία καθολικὴ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος σωτηρία, ἡ πίστις, ἰσότης δὲ καὶ κοινωνία τοῦ δικαίου καὶ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ, ἣ αὐτὴ πρὸς πάντας, ὁ ᾿Απόστολος σαφέστατα ἐξηγήσατο, ὧδέ πως εἰπών Πρὸ τοῦ δὲ ἐλθεῖν τὴν πίστιν, ὑπὸ γόμον ἐφρουρούμεθω, συγκλειόμενοι εἷς τὴν μέλλουσαν πίστιν ἀποκαλυφθῆγαι. Ὥστε ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγoνεν εἰς Χριστὸν, ἵνα ἐκ πίστεως δικαιωθῶμεν· ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς πίστεως, οὐκέτι ὑπὸ παιδαγωγὸν ἐσμεν. Οὐκ ἀκούετε, ὅτι ὑπ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν νόμον οὐκέτι ἐσμὲν, ὃς ἣν μετὰ φόβου· ὑπὸ δὲ τὸν Λόγον, τῆς προαιρέσεως τὸν Παιδαγωγόν; Εἶτα μέντοι ἐπῆγαγε τὴν ἁπάσης ἐκτὸς προσωποληψίας φωνήν Πάντες γὰρ υἱοί ἐστε διὰ πίστεως Θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτείσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε· οὐκ ἔνι Ιουδαῖος οὔτε “Ελλην· οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος, οὔτε ἐλεύθερος· οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ· πάντες γὰρ ὑμεῖς εἷς ἐστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Ὁ Παιδαγωγός, Λόγος Πρώτος, Κεφ Ϛ’ Source: Migne PG 8.284b-288a

There is nothing between light and darkness. But the end is reserved till the resurrection of the faithful, and it is not the reception of something else but the obtaining of the promise previously made. For we do not say both the arrival at the end and the anticipation of that arrival happen at the same time, for eternity and time are not the same, neither is the attempt and the result, but both concern the same thing, and the one and the same person is involved in both. Faith, so to speak, is the attempt generated in time and the attainment of the promise is the result secured for eternity. Now the Lord Himself has most clearly revealed the equality of salvation, saying, 'For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that sees the Son and believes in Him, shall have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day.' 1 As far as it is possible in this world we believe we are to be perfect, which is expressed by the last day, and which is preserved until the time when it will end. Thus He says, 'He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.' 2 If, then, those who have believed have life, what remains beyond the possession of eternal life? In faith there is nothing lacking, it is perfect and complete in itself. If anything is lacking, it is not wholly perfect. But faith is not defective in any respect, it does not make us wait after our departure from here, we who have believed and received without distinction the token of future good, but having in anticipation grasped that which is to come by faith, we receive it as present after the resurrection, in order that that may be fulfilled which was spoken, 'Let it be according to your faith.' 3 And where faith is, there is the promise, and the consummation of the promise is peace. As in illumination there is knowledge, and the end of knowledge is the last thing hoped for. Just as, then, inexperience comes to an end by experience, and confusion by clarity, so darkness must be dispelled by illumination, and the darkness is ignorance, by which we fall into sins, blind to the truth. Knowledge is the illumination we receive which dispels ignorance and bestows clear vision on us, for the abandonment of what is bad comes with the adoption of what is better. For what ignorance has bound badly, is released well by understanding, and with those bonds quickly slackened by human faith and Divine grace, our transgressions are taken away by one Paeonian medicine, the baptism of the Word. Then we are cleansed from all our sins and no longer have lame feet. This is the one grace of illumination, that our characters are not the same as before our washing. And since knowledge springs up with illumination, pouring its beams into the mind, the moment we hear, we who were untaught become disciples. Does this, I ask, take place at the advent of this instruction? You cannot tell the time. For instruction leads to faith, and faith with baptism is trained by the Holy Spirit. For that faith is the one universal salvation of humanity, and the Apostle most clearly showed that there is the same equality before the righteous and loving God, and the same fellowship between Him and all,  by speaking in this way, 'Before faith came we were kept under the law, shut out from the faith which should afterwards be revealed, so that the law became our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, but after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.' Do you not hear that we are no longer under that law which was accompanied with fear, but under the Word, the master of free choice? Then he added the statement, clear of all partiality, 'For you are all the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.' 4 Clement of Alexandria, The Teacher, Book 1, Chapter 6 1 Jn 6.40 2 Jn 3.36 3 Mt 9.29 4 Galat 3.23-28

Resurrection And Ascension

Secundum quod Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis, nutritus crevit. Passus, mortuus et resuscitatus accepit hereditatem regnum caelorum. In ipso homine accepit resurrectionem et vitam aeternam. In ipso homine accepit. In Verbo autem non accepit, quia incommutabiliter manet ab aeterno in aeternum. Quia ergo accepit resurrectionem et vitam aeternam caro illa, quae resurrexit et vivificata ascendit in caelum, hoc nobis promissum est. Ipsam hereditatem exspectamus, vitam aeternam. Adhuc enim non totum corpus accepit, quia caput in caelo est, membra adhuc in terra sunt. Nec caput solum accepturum est hereditatem, et corpus relinquetur. Totus Christus accepturus est hereditatem, totus secundum hominem, id est, caput et corpus. Membra ergo Christi sumus, speremus hereditatem. Quia cum ista omnia transierint, hoc bonum accepturi sumus quod non transibit, et hoc malum evasuri quod non transibit. Aeterna sunt enim utraque. Non enim aliquid non aeternum promisit suis, et aliquid temporale minatus est impiis. Quomodo vitam beatitudinem, regnum, hereditatem sempiternam sine fine promisit sanctis, sic ignem aeternum minatus est impiis. Si quod promisit nondum amamus, saltim quod minatus est timeamus. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Sermo XXII, De Psalmo LXVII Source: Migne PL 38.154-155

Inasmuch as 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,' 1 He was nourished and grew. Having suffered, died and risen again, He received as His inheritance the kingdom of heaven. It was as man that He received resurrection and eternal life. As a man he received it. But as the Word He did not receive it, because the Word abides unchangingly forever. Therefore because it was that flesh that received the resurrection and eternal life, rising again and ascending into heaven revivified, this is also promised to us. We are waiting for that same inheritance of eternal life. The whole body has not yet received it because the head is in heaven and the members yet remain on earth. But it is not that the head is going to receive the inheritance alone and abandon the body. The whole Christ shall receive the inheritance, the whole as man, that is, both the head and the body. Thus we who are members of Christ should hope for the inheritance. Because when all this has passed away we will receive that good which will not pass away and avoid that evil which will not pass away. Both are eternal. He did not promise something eternal to His own and threaten the wicked with something temporal. Just as He promised those who are holy the blessed life and the kingdom as an eternal inheritance without end, so He threatened the wicked with eternal fire. If we do not yet love what He promised, let us at least fear what He threatened. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Sermon 22, On Psalm 67 1 Jn 1.14

Death And Resurrection

Ἀρχὴ δὲ γενέσθω τοῦ λόγου τῶν θεοπνεύστων ῥημάτων ἡ μνήμη ἐπὶ λέξεως ἔχουσα οὕτως· Ἀνέστην ἐγὼ ἀνοῖξαι τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μου· αἱ χεῖρές μου ἔσταξαν σμύρναν, οἱ δάκτυλοί μου σμύρναν πλήρη, ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως ἐν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι τὸν ζῶντα λόγον, τὸν καθαρὸν λέγω καὶ ἀσώματον νυμφίον τὸν δι’ ἀφθαρσίας καὶ ἁγιότητος ἑαυτῷ τὴν ψυχὴν συνοικίζοντα, εἰ μή τις διὰ τοῦ νεκρῶσαι τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περιέλοιτο τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς παραπέτασμα καὶ οὕτως ἀνοίξοι τῷ λόγῳ τὴν θύραν, δι’ ἧς εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν εἰσοικίζεται, δῆλόν ἐστιν οὐ μόνον ἐκ τῶν θείων τοῦ ἀποστόλου δογμάτων ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν νῦν εἰρημένων παρὰ τῆς νύμφης· Ἀνέστην γάρ, φησίν, ἀνοῖξαι τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μου διὰ τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὰς χεῖράς μου τῆς σμύρνης πηγὰς ἀφ’ ἑαυτῶν ῥεούσας τὸ ἄρωμα καὶ πλήρωμα τῶν δακτύλων δεῖξαι τὴν σμύρναν. τὸν γὰρ τρόπον, δι’ οὗ ἀνοίγεται τῷ νυμφίῳ ἡ θύρα, φησὶ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ὅτι διὰ τοῦ Συνταφῆναι αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἰς τὸν θάνατον ἀνέστην· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐνήργησεν ἡ ἀνάστασις μὴ προκαθηγησαμένης τῆς ἑκουσίου νεκρότητος. ἐνδείκνυται δὲ τὸ ἑκούσιον ἡ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῆς ἀπορρέουσα τῆς σμύρνης σταγὼν καὶ τὸ πεπληρῶσθαι τοὺς δακτύλους αὐτῆς τοῦ ἀρώματος τούτου· οὐ γὰρ ἑτέρωθεν ἐγγενέσθαι τῇ χειρὶ λέγει τὴν σμύρναν, ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἐνομίσθη διὰ τούτου περιστατικὸν αὐτῇ καὶ ἀκούσιον συμβῆναι τὸ διὰ τῆς σμύρνης δηλούμενον, ἀλλ’ αὐτάς φησι τὰς χεῖρας, σημαίνει δὲ διὰ τῶν χειρῶν τὰς ἐνεργητικὰς τῆς ψυχῆς κινήσεις, ἀφ’ ἑαυτῶν στάξαι τὴν σμύρναν, τὴν οἴκοθεν ἐκ προαιρέσεως τῶν σωματικῶν παθημάτων γινομένην νέκρωσιν διὰ τούτου σημαίνων, ἣν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς δακτύλοις πεπληρῶσθαι λέγει, τὰ καθ’ ἕκαστον εἴδη τὰ διῃρημένως δι’ ἀρετῆς σπουδαζόμενα τῷ τῶν δακτύλων διερμηνεύων ὀνόματι· ὡς εἶναι πάντα τὸν νοῦν τῶν λεγομένων τοιοῦτον, ὅτι ἔλαβον δύναμιν ἀναστάσεως διὰ τοῦ νεκρῶσαι τὰ μέλη μου τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἑκουσίως μοι τῆς τῶν τοιούτων μελῶν ἐνεργηθείσης νεκρώσεως, οὐ παρ’ ἄλλου ταῖς χερσὶν ἐντεθείσης τῆς σμύρνης ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρέσεως ἀπορρεούσης, ὡς καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς κατ’ ἀρετὴν ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, ἅπερ δακτύλους ὠνόμασεν, ἀνελλιπῆ τὴν τοιαύτην ἐνορᾶσθαι διάθεσιν· Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Ἐξηγησις Του Αἰσματος Των Ἀσμάτων, Ὁμιλία IB’ Source: Migne PG 44.1016c-1017b

Let the beginning of our speech be from the Divinely inspired words, which my recollection of the text has as: 'I rose up to open to my beloved; my hands dripped myrrh, my fingers were covered with myrrh,' 1 for there is no other way in which the living Word comes within us, and I speak of the pure and incorporeal Bridegroom, who makes the soul dwell with Him through incorruptibility and holiness, that is, if by mortifying one’s earthly members one removes the veil of the flesh 2 and thus opens the door to the Word through which He makes the soul His home, which is clear not only from the Divine teachings of the Apostle but also from what the Bride says here. For saying, 'I rose up to open to my beloved by making my hands founts of myrrh from which its scent pours forth, and by showing my fingers to be covered with myrrh,' she declares the way in which the door is opened to the Bridegroom, that is, she says 'by being buried with him through baptism into His death I have risen up, 3 for there is no real resurrection that is not preceded by a voluntary death.' This voluntary nature is shown by the drops of myrrh that drip from her hands and because her fingers are covered with its scent, for she does not say that the myrrh came on her hands from an outside source, since that would make one think that what the myrrh signifies happened to her accidentally and involuntarily, but she says that her hands themselves, by which she means those motions of the soul that bring actions about, drip myrrh by their very own agency, and by myrrh she refers to the mortification of bodily passions that comes about through a choice that originates in oneself, which, she says, attains fullness in all her fingers, and by the name of 'fingers' she signifies the particular ways among us of the cultivation of virtue. Thus the whole sense of what is said is: 'I have received the power of the resurrection by mortifying my earthly members, which mortification of such members was enacted voluntarily. The myrrh was not placed on my hands by another, but it flowed forth from my own choice, so that in all virtuous pursuits,' which she names fingers, 'a state of this kind is always observed.' Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on The Song of Songs, from Homily 12 1 Song 5.5 2 2 Cor 3.16, Colos 3.5 3 Rom 6.4

Truth And Lies

Κωφώθητε οὖν, ὅταν ὑμῖν χωρὶς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ λαλῇ τις, τοῦ ἐκ γένους Δαυείδ, τοῦ ἐκ Μαρίας, ὃς ἀληθῶς ἐγεννήθη, ἔφαγέν τε καὶ ἔπιεν, ἀληθῶς ἐδιώχθη ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου, ἀληθῶς ἐσταυρώθη καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ ὑποχθονίων. Ὄς καὶ ἀληθῶς ἠγέρθη ἀπό νεκρῶν, ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν τοῦ Πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὸ ὁμοίωμα ὃς καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς πιστεύοντας αὐτῷ οὕτως ἐγερεῖ ὁ Πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, οὗ χωρὶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ζῆν οὐκ ἔχομεν. Εἰ δέ, ὥσπερ τινὲς ἄθεοι ὄντες, τουτέστιν ἄπιστοί, λέγουσιν, τὸ δοκεῖν πεπονθέναι αὐτόν, αὐτοὶ ὅντες τὸ δοκεῖν, ἐγὼ τί δέδεμαι, τί δὲ καὶ εὔχομαι θηριομαχῆσαι; δωρεὰν οὖν ἀποθνήσκω. ἄρα οὖν καταψεύδομαι τοῦ Kυρίου. Φεύγετε οὖν τὰς κακὰς παραφυάδας τὰς γεννώσας καρπὸν θανατηφόρον, οὗ ἐὰν γεύσηταί φυτεία πατρός. Eἰ γὰρ ἦσαν, ἐφαίνοντο ἂν κλάδοι τοῦ σταυροῦ, καὶ ἦν ἂν ὁ καρπὸς αὐτῶν ἄφθαρτος· δι’ οὗ ἐν τῷ πάθει αὐτοῦ προσκαεῖται ὑμᾶς ὄντας μέλη αὐτοῦ. Oὐ δύναται οὖν κεφαλὴ χωρὶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνευ μελῶν, τοῦ θεοῦ ἕνωσιν ἐπαγγελλομένου, ὅ ἐστιν αὐτός. Ἅγιος Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, Προς Τραλλιανοίς Επιστολή Source: Migne PG 5.681b-684a

Be deaf, then, to anyone who speaks to you without Christ, He who was born of David, from Mary, He who truly was born, and who ate and drank, and suffered beneath Pontius Pilate, and was truly crucified and buried and placed under the earth, and who was really raised from the dead, being raised by His Father, in which likeness those who are faithful to Him will by raised by the Father in Jesus Christ, since without Him we have no true life. And if His sufferings were mere appearance, as some godless folk say, that is, those without faith, people who are themselves mere appearance, why am I now in chains, why do I pray to contend with the beasts? For then I die for nothing. Then I tell lies about the Lord. 1 Flee then these evil deadly outgrowths from which fatal fruit is born, they who are not of the planting of the Father. 2 For if they were His, they would appear as branches of the cross and there would be no corruption in their fruit. It is through His passion that He calls you to be His members. A head cannot exist without its members, but the promise of God is unity, and it is Himself. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, from the Letter to the Tralllians 1 1 Cor 15.13-20 2 Mt 15.13

Resurrection and Transformation

Nostra autem conversatio in coelis est; unde et Salvatorem exspectamus Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui transfigurabit corpus humilitatis nostrae conforme corpori gloriae suae, secundum operatione suam, qua possit etiam subjicere sibi omnia. Spiritalia curantes in coelis agere dicuntur, cum ipsi adhuc sint in terris; quomodo mali Principes et Potestates, cum sint adhuc ipsi in firmamento, conversatione tamen in terris sunt. Christianorum ergo actus in coelis sunt, ubi et spes salutis eorum est, qui est Christus, quem omnis fidus exspectat ad transfigurationem corporis carnis; ut quod ex humo est, indutum spiritali veste, conforme efficiat adventu majestatis suae corpori gloriae suae, juxta operationem suam, id est secundum virtutem suam, qua possit subjicere sibi omnia: hoc est, quia per resurrectionem mortuorum et immutationem in gloria apparebit virtus Domini manifestata, comprimens omnes Principes et Potestates; ut manifestetur ipse Deus et Dominus esse omnium Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Philippenses, Caput III Source: Migne PL 17.417c-418a

Our conversation is in heaven, from whence we should expect our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transfigure the body of our humility to conform to the body of His glory, according to his own work, which can subject everything to Him. 1 Those who care for spiritual things are said to conduct themselves as if in heaven while they are yet on the earth, and the wicked princes and powers while yet in the firmament are on the earth because of their cares. Therefore the conduct of Christians is in heaven, where is the hope of their salvation, who is Christ, whom the whole faith expects for the transfiguration of the body of flesh, so that what is from the earth may be endowed with spiritual vestments and be fashioned in conformance with the body of His glory in the coming of His majesty, by his own work, that is according to his power, which can subject everything to Him, and this is because in the resurrection and transformation of the dead the power of the Lord will appear in manifest glory, casting down all princes and powers, thus to reveal Him as God and Lord of all things. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul To Philippians, Chapter 3 1 Phil 3.20-21

The Twofold Resurrection

Sicut enim propter justifictionem nostram mortuus est, ita resurrexit propter nostram glorificationem. Christus semel mortuus, semel resurrexit. Nos autem qui mortui sumus, anima et corpore duplici indigemus resurrectione. Et beatus qui habebit partem in resurrectione prima. Prima resurrectio est partim in copore, partim in anima: secunda perfecta est in utroque. Cum autem venerit quod perfectum est, tunc evacuabitur quod ex parte est. Tunc enim reformabitur corpus humilitatis nostrae, quod modo deformatum est; tunc, inquam, reformabitur corpus claritatis suae. Prima specialier est animae, secunda corporis. Propheta utramque desiderans, sed plus resurrectionem carnis quam animae, nam in illa est perfectio gloriae, dicit: Sitivit in te anima mea, quoniam, multipliciter tibi, quod multum placuit tibi, caro mea. Prima resurrectio significatur ibi: Veniet hora, et nunc est, quando veniet audient Filii Dei, et qui audierint vivent. Quasi diceret: Qui modo mortui sunt Christo, et vivunt mundo, audient verbum Evangelii, et credendo et bene operando, suscitabuntur a morte peccati. De secunda habes: Venit hora, qunado mortui qui in monumentis sunt, audient vocem Filii Dei. Quod siquidem erit in voce archangeli in novissima tuba, quando Christus ad judicium veniet, dabitque voci suae vocem virtutis. Mali tunc resurgent in resurrectionem judicii. Boni vero qui per primam resurrectioem, judicaverunt et justificaverunt se, resurgent in resurrectionem vitae. Justi nunc judicant se: et sic resurgunt a morte animae per justificationem. Impii non timentes terribl judicium, adhuc in immunditiis suis jacent. Sicut scriptum est, quia non resurgent impii in judicio, neque peccatores in consilio justorum. Et quod consilium justorum? Verbum Prophetae est: Consilium meum justificationes tuae. Si nosmetipsos dijudicaremus, non utique judicaremur. Cum autem judicamur, a Domino corripimur. Ita non absque ejus cura in hoc mundo damnemur. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXI, In Dei Resurrectione Source: Migne PL 207.622a-c

As it was on account of our justification that He died, so He rose for our glorification. Christ died once and rose once. But we who are dead have need of a twofold resurrection, of the soul and of the body. 'And blessed is he who has a part of the first resurrection.' 1 The first resurrection is partly in the body and partly in the soul, the second resurrection is the perfection of both. 'When that which is perfect comes, then what is from a part passes away.' 2 Then the body of our humility shall be refashioned, that which now is deformed. Then, I say, the body shall be reformed according to His glory. 3 The first resurrection is of the soul, the second of the body. The prophet desiring both, but more the resurrection of the body than the soul, for in that is the perfection of glory, says, 'My soul thirsts for you,' since, 'and in so many ways,' 4 that is, it has often pleased you, 'my flesh.' The first resurrection is signified here: 'The hour will come, and now it is, when they shall hear the Son of God, and they who hear shall live.' 5 As if he said, 'Those who are now dead in Christ, and live in the world, they shall hear the word of the Gospel, and believing and doing good works, they shall be taken up from the death of sin.' Concerning the second resurrection we have: 'The hour will come when the dead who are in their tombs shall hear the voice of the son of God.' 6 Which shall be the voice of the archangel blowing the last trumpet, when Christ shall come in judgement, and he shall give to his own voice the voice of power. Then the wicked shall rise into the resurrection of judgement, but those who are good through the first resurrection, having judged and justified themselves, shall rise into the resurrection of life. The righteous now judge themselves and so through justification they rise from the death of the soul. The wicked, who do not fear the terrible judgement, yet exult in their own filth. As it is written, 'The wicked will not rise in judgement, nor sinners in the counsel of the righteous.' 7 What is the counsel of the righteous? The word of the prophet is: 'Your justifications are my counsel.' 8 'If we shall judge ourselves, we are not thus judged. But when we are judged, we are corrected by the Lord.' 9 Thus let us not, lacking His care, be damned in this world. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 47, On The Feast of All Saints 1 Apoc 20.6 2 1 Cor 13.10 3 Phil 3.21 4 Ps 62.2 5 Jn 5.25 6 Jn 5.29 7 Ps 1.5 8 Ps 118.24 9 1 Cor 11.31-32

Understanding and Revelation

Et respondens unus, cui nomen Cleophas, dixit ei: Tu solus peregrinus es in Jerusalem, et non cognovisti quae facta sunt in illa his diebus? Peregrinum putabant eum, cujus vultum non agnoscebant. Sed et revera peregrinus erat eis a quorum naturae fragilitate percepta jam resurrectionis gloria longe distabat. Peregrinus erat eis, a quorum adhuc fide, ut pote resurrectionis ejus nescia, manebat extraneus. Quibus ille dixit: Quae? Et dixerunt ei: De Jesu Nazareno, qui fuit vir propheta, potens in opere et sermone coram Deo et omni populo. Prophetam et magnum fatentur, Filium Dei tacent, vel scilicet nondum perfecte credentes, vel solliciti ne inciderent in manus Judaeorum persequentium, quia nesciebant quis esset cum quo loquebantur, quod verum credidere celantes. Et quomodo tradiderunt eum summi sacerdotes et principes nostri in damnationem mortis, et crucifixerunt eum. Nos autem sperabamus quia ipse esset redempturus Israel. Merito tristes incedebant, quia et seipsos quodammodo arguebant, quod in illo redemptionem speraverint, quem jam mortuum viderant, et nec resurrecturum credebant. Et maxime dolebant eum sine culpa occisum, quia noverant innocentem. Et nunc super haec omnia, tertia dies est hodie quod haec facta sunt. Sed et mulieres quaedam ex nostris terruerunt nos, quae ante lucem fuerunt ad monumentum, et non invento corpore ejus, venerunt, dicentes se etiam visionem angelorum vidisse, qui dicunt cum vivere. Terruisse dicuntur merito eos, quorum mentibus plus de non invento corpore dominico moestitiam qua dolebant addere, quam denuntiata per angelos ejus resurrectione, gaudium quo recrearentur videre potuerunt. Et abierunt quidam ex nostris ad monumentum, et ita invenerunt sicut mulieres dixerunt, ipsum vero non invenerunt. Cum ipse Lucas supra Petrum dixerit cucurrisse ad monumentum, et nunc Cleopham dixisse, ipse retulerit quod quidam eorum cucurrerant (0626D)ad monumentum, intelligitur attestari quod duo ierint ad monumentum. Sed Petrum solum primo commemoravit, quia illi primitus Maria nuntiaverit. Et ipse dixit ad eos: O stulti et tardi corde ad credendum in omnibus quae locuti sunt prophetae. Nonne haec oportuit pati Christum, et ita intrare in gloriam suam? Et incipiens a Moyse et omnibus prophetis, interpretabatur illis in omnibus Scripturis quae de ipso erant. Hoc nobis in loco non ulla Scripturam interpretandi, sed gemina nosipsos humiliandi necessitas incumbit, qui neque in Scripturis quantum oportet edocti, neque ad implenda quae discere forte potuimus quantum decet sumus intenti. Nam si Moyses et omnes prophetae Christum locuti sunt, et hunc per angustiam passionis in gloriam suam intraturum qua ratione se gloriantur esse Christianos, qui juxta virium suarum modulum neque Scripturas qualiter ad Christum pertineant investigare, neque ad gloriam quam cum Christo habere cupiunt, per passiones tribulationum desiderant attingere? Et appropinquaverunt castello quo ibant, et ipse se finxit longius ire, et coegerunt illum dicentes: Mane nobiscum, quoniam advesperascit, et inclinata est jam dies. Et intravit cum illis. Nihil simplex veritas per duplicitatem fecit, sed quod dicitur: Finxit se longius ire, talem se exhibuit discipulis in corpore, qualis apud illos in mente erat. Probandi autem erant si hi qui eum etsi necdum ut Deum diligerent, saltem ut peregrinum amare potuissent. Sed quia esse extranei a charitate non poterant hi cum quibus veritas gradiebatur, eum ad hospitium quasi peregrinum vocant. Cur autem dicimus vocant, cum illic scriptum sit: Et coegerunt illum? Ex quo nimirum exemplo colligitur, quia peregrini non solum ad hospitium invitandi sunt, sed etiam trahendi. Et factum est dum recumberet cum illis, accepit panem, et benedixit ac fregit, et porrigebat illis, et aperti sunt oculi eorum, et cognoverunt eum. Quem in Scripturae sacrae expositione non cognoverunt, in panis fractione cognoscunt. Audiendo praecepta Dei illuminati non sunt, faciendo illuminati sunt. Quia scriptum est: Non auditores legis justi sunt apud Deum, sed factores legis justificabuntur. Quisquis ergo vult audita intelligere, festinet ea quae jam intelligere potuit, opere implere Sanctus Beda, In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, Liber VI, Caput XXIV Source: Migne PL 92.626a-627b

And the one named Cleophas answered and said to Him: 'Are you alone a stranger in Jerusalem that you do not know what has happened these past days?' 1 They thought He was a stranger, they did not recognise His face. And indeed He was certainly a stranger to them since by the weakness of their nature they were distant from the glorious teaching of the resurrection. He was a stranger to them because of their faith that was yet ignorant of the resurrection and thus He remained apart from them. He said to them,' What is this?' They said to Him, 'It is about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, powerful in deed and speech before God and all the people.' They called Him a great prophet, but were silent about the Son of God, either because they were not yet perfect believers, or they were worried lest they might fall into the hands of persecuting Jews, and since they did not know who it was they were speaking to they concealed what they truly believed. 'And they handed Him over to the chief priests and our leaders who condemned Him to death, and they crucified Him. But we were hoping that He would be the one who would save Israel.' Rightly they were aggrieved because they reproved themselves, since they had hoped He was to be the redeemer, Him whom they had then seen dead, and they did not believe He would be resurrected. And they also grieved for Him slain without fault because they knew Him to be innocent. 'And now after all these things, today it is three days since they were done. But certain women of ours who were at the tomb before dawn did not find His body there and they were terrified, and they came and said they had seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.' They are rightly said to have been terrified, and more in their minds at not finding the body which they had come to mourn than by the message of the angels about His resurrection in which they would have rejoiced had they been able to see it. 'And some men of ours went to the tomb and they found it just as the women had said, and they did not find Him.' When Luke previously said that Peter had run to the tomb and now he says Cleophas speaks of certain men of theirs running to the tomb, it is understood to bear witness that two had gone to the tomb. But he first recalls Peter only, because Mary had first spoken to him. And He said to them, 'O foolish and slow of heart to believe in everything which the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that Christ suffer and thus enter into His glory?' And He began to interpret from Moses and all the prophets all the Scriptures about Himself No interpretation of Scripture is given to us here, but it imposes on us the necessity of humility who are neither learned in the Scriptures nor zealous to practice what perhaps we were able to learn as much as it befits. For if Moses and all the prophets had spoken of Christ and that He was to enter into His glory through the anguish of the passion, for what reason should Christians glorify themselves who according to the rule of their own people neither strive to investigate the Scriptures for Christ, nor desire to have that glory with Christ which they attain through the suffering of tribulations? And as they went they came near a village and He made to go onwards, but they imposed on Him, saying, 'Stay with us, for evening falls and the day has passed.' And He went in with them. This is no simple truth He made through concealment, but when it is said, 'He made to go onwards,' in such a way he showed Himself in the body to the disciples as He was in their minds. For they were being tested, so that if they did not yet love him as God, they might yet be able to love Him as a stranger. But because they were estranged from the love of the truth He was not able to walk with them, and they called Him into the inn as a stranger. But why do we say that they called Him when it has been written, 'They imposed on Him,'? It is arranged so for the sake of example, because strangers are not only invited but even drawn. And when they sat with Him, He took bread and blessed it and broke it and he held it out to them, at which their eyes were opened and they knew Him. In the breaking of bread they knew Him whom they did not know in the exposition of the sacred Scriptures. They were not illuminated by hearing the teachings of God, but by the act they were enlightened. Whence it is written, 'It is not the hearers of the Lord that are righteous before God, but they are righteous who are doers of the law.' 2 Thus whoever wishes to understand what they have heard, let him make haste to fulfill in works what he has been able to understand. Saint Bede, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 6, Chapter 24 1 Lk 24.18 2 Rom 2.13

The Angel And The Tomb

Ὀψὲ δὲ σαββάτων, τῇ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ εἰς μίαν σαββάτων, ἦλθεν Μαριὰμ ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ ἡ ἄλλη Μαρία θεωρῆσαι τὸν τάφον. Kαὶ ἰδοὺ σεισμὸς ἐγένετο μέγας: ἄγγελος γὰρ Kυρίου καταβὰς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ προσελθὼν ἀπεκύλισεν τὸν λίθον καὶ ἐκάθητο ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ. Ἦν δὲ ἡ εἰδέα αὐτοῦ ὡς ἀστραπὴ, καὶ τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ λευκὸν ὡς χιών. Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ φόβου αὐτοῦ ἐσείσθησαν οἱ τηροῦντες καὶ ἐγενήθησαν ὡς νεκροί. ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ ἄγγελος εἶπεν ταῖς γυναιξίν: μὴ φοβεῖσθε ὑμεῖς: οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον ζητεῖτε. Oὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε: ἠγέρθη γὰρ, καθὼς εἶπεν: δεῦτε ἴδετε τὸν τόπον ὅπου ἔκειτο. Kαὶ ταχὺ πορευθεῖσαι εἴπατε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν... Τὸν δὲ ἄγγελον ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖος ἔφη καθῆσθαι ἐν τῷ λίθῳ· ὁ δὲ Μάρκος ἀποκυλίσαντα τὸν λίθον, ἔνδον τοῦ μνημείου καθῆσθαι , ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς· ἄρ᾽ οὖν ἐναντιομωνοῦσιν; Οὐχι· ἀλλ᾽ εἰκὸς ἐστι φανῆναι πρῶτον τὸν ἄγγελον καθήμενον ἐν τῷ λίθῳ , εἶτα εἰσελθουσῶν τῶν γυναικῶν, προάγειν τὸν ἄγγελον, καὶ πάλιν φανῆναι ἐντὸς τοῦ μνημείου καθήμενον ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς. Εἶπε δὲ πρὸς τὰς γυναῖκας Μὴ φοβεῖσθε ὑμεῖς, τουτέστιν, Οἱ μὲν φύλακες ἄξιοί εἰσι φοβεῖσθαι· ὑμεῖς δὲ αἱ τοῦ Κυρίου μαθήτριαι , μὴ φοβεῖσθε . Μεθ᾽ ὁ δὲ ἀπαλλάττει αὐτὰς τοῦ δέους, εὐαγγελίζεται αὐταῖς τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ἔδει γὰρ πρότερον ἐκβαλεῖν τὸ δέος, εἶτα εὐαγγελίσασθαι. Οὐκ αἰσχύνεται δὲ ἐσταυρωμένον ὀνομάζων τὸν Κύριον. Τῷ γὰρ σταυρῷ ὥσπερ τροπαίῳ τινὶ ἐγκαυχᾶται , πάντα τὰ ἀγαθὰ προεξενηκότι ἡμῖν. Θεοφύλακτος Αχρίδος, Ἑρμηνεία Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον, Κεφαλὴ KH' Source: Migne PG 123.480c

On the night after the Sabbath, at  dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. And, behold, there was a great shaking of the earth, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and he rolled away the stone and sat on it. His face shone like lightning and his garments were white as snow, and the guards shook with fear and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid. I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead...' 1 Matthew says that the angel sat on the stone, but Mark that he rolled away the stone and sat within the tomb, on the right side. Is there not disagreement between them here? 2 Hardly, for it appears that first the angel sat on the stone and then went in before the women, and was seen there in the tomb sitting on the right side. And he said to the women, 'Do not be afraid,' that is, 'It is fitting that the guards should be struck with fear, but since you are followers of the Lord, do not be afraid.' And after he had delivered them from their fright, he evangelizes them as regards the resurrection, for it is first necessary to cast out fear, and then to evangelize. Nor does he blush to speak of the Lord as Him who was crucified. For one should boast of the cross, since by it every good is given to us. Theophylact of Ochrid, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chapter 28 1 Mt 28.1-6 2 Mk 16.5