Catechesis XIV
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On the Resurrection of Christ, His Ascension into Heaven and His Sitting at the Right Hand of the Father
"Now I recall to your minds, brethren, the gospel that I preached to you, ... that he rose the third day, according to the Scriptures."l (1) "Rejoice, 0 Jerusalem, and hold festival together, all you who love" Jesus, for He is risen; "rejoice all you who mourned before,"2 on hearing of the rash, wicked deeds of the Jews. For He whom they treated here with insult is risen again; and as the discourse on the Cross brought sorrow, so let the tidings of the Resurrection bring joy to all present.
Let mourning be turned into gladness and lamentation into joy; and let our mouth be filled with joy and gladness because of Him who after His Resurrection cried: "Rejoice."3 I realize the sorrow of Christ's friends during the past days; our discourse ended with the death and burial without telling the glad news of the Resurrection, and so your mind was in suspense to hear what it desired to hear. Therefore the Dead is risen, He who was "free among the dead,"4 and deliverer of the dead. He patiently endured the shame of the crown of thorns; He has risen to crown Himself with the diadem of victory over death.
1 1 Cor. 15.1-4.
2 Cf. Isa. 66.10.
3 Matt. 28.9. The original Greek word is a greeting, and it is generally translated 'Hail,' or 'All hail,' but Cyril's context seems to require the translation 'Rejoice.'
4 Ps.87.6 (Douay).
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(2) Just as we advanced the testimonies concerning His Cross, so let us now verify the proofs of His Resurrection; the Apostle, whose text is before us, says: "He was buried, and He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures."5
An Apostle has sent us back to the testimony of the Scriptures; from the same source we will do weH to discover the hope of our salvation. First we must learn if the Sacred Scriptures tell us the exact time of the Resurrection, that is, whether it comes in summer, or in autumn, or after winter; from what sort of place the Savior rose; what the place of the Resurrection is called in the admirable prophets; whether the women who sought and did not find Him afterwards rejoiced in finding
Him; thus when the Gospels are read, their holy narratives will not be considered fables or fantasies.
(3) In my last discourse you heard an account of our Savior's burial; in the words of Isaia, "His burial shaH be in peace"6 (for in His burial He made peace between heaven and earth, bringing sinners to God); and "the just man is taken away before the face of evil,"7 and "His burial shaH be in peace," and "I will give the ungodly for his buriaI."s There is also the prophecy of Jacob in the Scriptures: "He lay down and couched as a lion, and as a lion's whelp; who will disturb him?"9 Similarly in Numbers: "Lying down he has slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp."lo You have often heard also the words of the Psalm: "To the dust of death you have brought me down."n We indicated the place, when we quoted the words: "Look unto the rock which you have hewn."12 It
5 I Cor. 15.4.
6 Isa. 57.2 (Sept.). The citation from Isaia does not occur in Cat. 13.
There may have been a slip of memory, or the reference may be to the homily of the preceding day (d. below, Ch. 24).
7 Ibid. I (Sept.).
8 Isa.53.9 (Sept.).
9 Gen. 49.9.
10 Num. 24.9.
11 Ps. 21.16.
12 Isa.51.1 (Sept.).
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remains for us to add the testimonies concerning the Resurrection itself.
(4) First of all He says in the eleventh Psalm: "Because they rob the afflicted and the needy sigh, now will I arise, says the Lord."13 For some this testimony remains doubtful, since
He rises often in anger to exact vengeance of His enemies.
Therefore consider the fifteenth Psalm, which says plainly:
"Keep me, 0 God, for in you I take refuge,"14 and "Blood libations to them I will not pour out, nor will I take their names upon my lips,"15 since they renounced Me, and acknowledged Caesar as their King; and in the words which follow: "I set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed";16 and: "Even in the night my heart exhorts me";17 afterwards He says clearly: "Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption."18 He did not say: "nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo death"; otherwise, He would not have died; but "corruption,"
He says, "I see not, and in death I shall not abide." "You will show me the path to life."19 You see life after death is clearly proclaimed. Take the twenty-ninth Psalm: "I will extol you, 0 Lord, for you drew me clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me."2Q What came to pass? Were you freed from your enemies, or released when about to be smitten? He Himself says clearly: "0 Lord, you brought me up from the nether world."21 In the text above He says prophetically, "You will not abandon," but here He speaks of what was to be as though it had already happened: "You brought me up," "You have preserved me from among those
13 Ps. 11.6.
14 Ps. 15.1.
15 Ibid. 4.
16 Ibid. 8.
17 Ibid. 7.
18 Ibid. 10.
19 Ibid. 11.
20 Ps.29.2.
21 Ibid. 4.
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going down into the pit."22 When shall this take place? "At nightfall, weeping enters in, and with the dawn, rejoicing";23 for in the evening there was the grief of the disciples, and in the morning the joy of the Resurrection.
(5) You wish to know the place? He says in the Canticles:
"I came down to the nut garden";24 for it was a garden where He was crucified. Though now richly adorned with kingly gifts, it was formerly a garden, and tokens and traces of this still remain. "An enclosed garden, a fountain sealed,"25 that is, by the Jews, who said: "We have remembered how that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, 'After three days I will rise again.' Give orders, therefore, that the sepulchre be guarded"; and then: "So they went and made the sepulchre secure, sealing the stone, and setting the guard."26 Clearly directed against the Jews are the words: "And in rest will you judge them."27 Now who is the "fountain sealed," or who is signified by the "wellspring of living water"?28 It is the Savior Himself, of whom it is written: "For with you is the fountain of life."29
(6) What does Sophonia say to the disciples in the person of Christ? "Prepare yourself, rise up at dawn; all their gleaning is destroyed";30 He means the gleaning of the Jews, for whom remains neither a cluster nor a gleaning of salvation; for their vine is cut down. See how he says to the disciples,
"Prepare yourself, rise up at dawn"; at dawn expect the Resurrection. Afterwards, in the same context of Scripture he says: "Wherefore expect me, says the Lord, in the day of my resurrection at the martyry."31
22 Ibid. 4.
23 Ibid. 6.
24 Cant. 6.11.
25 Cant. 4.12.
26 Matt. 27.63·66.
27 Job 7.18 (Sept.).
28 Cant. 4.15.
29 Ps. 35.10.
30 Soph. 3.7 (Sept.).
31 Ibid. 8 (Sept.). Churches built over the tombs of the martyrs were
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You see that the prophet foresaw that the place of the Resurrection was to be called "the martyry." Now for what reason is this place of Golgotha and of the Resurrection called, not a church like the rest of the churches, but a martyry? It was perhaps because of the prophet who said:
"in the day of my resurrection at the martyry."
(7) Who is this and what is the sign of his resurrection?
It is clearly told, in the very next verse of the prophet: "For then I will change a tongue for peoples"-since after the Resurrection, with the sending of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues was granted-"that they may serve the Lord with one accord."32 What other sign is added in the same prophet that they would "serve the Lord with one accord"? "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia they shall bring me offerings."33
Recall the story in the Acts of the Ethiopian eunuch, who came "from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia."34 Therefore the Scriptures tell the time, the peculiar features of the place, and the signs following the Resurrection; henceforth have a firm belief in the Resurrection and let no one cause you to waver in confessing Christ risen from the dead.
(8) Accept an additional testimony from the eighty.seventh Psalm, where Christ speaks in the prophets-for He who then spoke afterwards came among us-: "0 Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee";35 and subsequently: "I am become as a man without help, free among the dead."36 He did not say, "I am become a man without help," but "as a man without help"; for He was crucified, not because of helplessness, but because He willed it; His death was not a result of involcalled martyries. 'Martyry' would be an appropriate title for the church built over the tomb of the Chief of martyrs. There is some evidence that it was called the Great Martyry or the Martyry of the Savior.
32 I bid. 9 (Sept.).
33 I bid. 10 (Sept.).
34 Acts 8.27.
35 Ps.87.2 (Douay).
36 Ibid. 5, 6 (Douay).
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untary weakness. "I am numbered with those who go down into the pit."31 What is the sign? "You have taken my friends away from me"38 (for the disciples fled away). "Will you work wonders for the dead"?39 Then: "But I, 0 Lord, cry out to you; with my morning prayer I wait upon yoU."4{) See how these verses manifest the actual circumstances of the Passion and the Resurrection.
(9) From what place did the Savior rise? He says in the Canticle of Canticles: "Arise, come, my neighbor";41 and in a later verse: "in a cleft of the rock."42 For He calls a cleft of the rock the hollow place originally in front of the sepulchre; this had been hewn of the rock itself, a practice customary in front of sepulchres. It is not visible now, it is true, because the outer hollowed-out rock was hewn away to make room for the present adornment. Before royal magnificence embellished the monument, there was a hollow place before the tomb. Now where is the rock with its hollow?
Is it situated in the middle of the city or by the walls and the outskirts? Is it inside the ancient walls or inside the outer walls afterwards constructed? It says in the Canticles: "In a cleft of the rock, near the outer walls."43
(10)' At what season does the Savior rise? Is it in summer or at another time? In the same Canticles, just before the words quoted above, He says: "The winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning has come."44 Is not the land now full of flowers, and are not the vines being pruned? You see how He said also that the winter was past. For in this month Xanthicus spring is already come. This is the time, the first month among 37 Ibid.5.
38 Ibid. 9.
39 Ibid. II.
40 Ibid. 14.
41 Cant. 2.10 (Sept.).
42 Ibid. 14. It would seem that the complete tomb consisted of two chambers both hollowed out of the natural rock.
43 Ibid. 14 (Sept.).
44 Ibid. II, 12.
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the Hebrews, in which is celebrated the feast of the Pasch, formerly the figurative Pasch, but now the true. This is the season of the creation of the world; for God then said: "Let the earth bring forth vegetation, yielding seed according to its kind and according to its likeness."45 Now, as you see, every herb is in seed. At that time God made the sun and the moon and gave them courses of equal day and night; just a few days ago we had the equinox. Then God said: "Let us make man in our image and likeness";46 he received the image, but he obscured the likeness by his disobedience. Man's loss of grace and his restoration took place in the same season.
At the season created man, by his disobedience, was cast out of Paradise, then, he who believed, by his obedience, was brought in. Salvation came about in the same season as the Fall, when "the flowers appeared," "and the time of pruning was come."47
(11) The place of His burial was a garden, and a vine was planted there; He has said: "I am the vine."48 He was planted in the earth, to r~>ot out the curse that came from Adam. The earth was doomed to thorns and thistles; from the earth sprang the true Vine, to fulfill the words: "Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven."49
What is He going to say who was buried in the garden? "I gather my myrrh, and my spices";5o and again: "Myrrh and aloes with all the finest spices."51 These were the tokens of His burial, and in the Gospels it is said: "The women came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared";52 "and there also came Nicodemus, bringing a mixture of myrrh
45 Gen. 1.11 (Sept.).
46 Gen. 1.26. Image and likeness generally connote the same thing. Cyril makes a distinction between them as though image meant nature, and likeness virtue, or something similar.
47 Cf. Cant. 2.12.
48 John 15.5.
49 Ps. 84.12.
50 Cant. 5.1.
51 Ibid. 4.14.
52 Luke 24.1.
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and aloes."53 And next, it is written: "I have eaten my bread with my honey":54 the bitter before the Passion, and the sweet after the Resurrection. After He was risen He entered through the closed doors; the Apostles did not believe, for "they thought they saw a spirit."55 But He said: "Feel me, and see";56 put your fingers into the print of the nails, as Thomas demanded. "But as they still disbelieved and marvelled for joy, He said: 'Have you anything here to eat?'
And they offered Him a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb."57 Do you see the fulfillment of the text: "I have eaten my bread with my honey."?
(12) Before He entered through the closed doors He was sought by those noble and courageous women; He was sought, the Bridegroom and Suitor of souls. These blessed women came to the sepulchre and sought Him who was risen; and tears were still flowing from their eyes, though it was more fitting for them to dance with joy for Him who had risen.
Mary came seeking Him, according to the Gospel, but she did not find Him; afterwards she heard from the angels and finally saw Christ. Does Scripture testify to this? It says in the Canticle of Canticles: "On my bed I sought him whom my heart loves." At what time? "On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves."58 Mary came, it says, "while it was still dark."59 "On my bed I sought him-sought him but I did not find him."60 In the Gospel Mary says: "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."61 The angels present dispelled her ignorance, for they said: "Why do you seek the living one among the dead?"62
53 John 19.39.
54 Cant. 5.1 (Sept.).
55 Luke 24.37.
56 Ibid. 39.
57 Luke 24.41, 42.
58 Cant. 3.1.
59 John 20.1.
60 Cant. 3.1.
61 John 20.13.
62 Luke 24.5.
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Not only did He rise but the dead accompanied Him in His resurrection. Mary did not know it; in her person the Canticle of Canticles says to the angels: "Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I had hardly left them (that is, the two angels)', when I found him whom my heart loves. I took hold of him and would not let him gO."63
(13) After the vision of the angels Jesus came, announcing Himself, and the Gospel says: "And behold Jesus met them, saying, 'Hail!, And they came up and embraced his feet."64
They took hold of Him and the text was fulfilled: "I will hold him, and will not let him gO."65 Though weak in body the women were courageous in spirit. "Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can floods drown it."66 He whom they sought was dead, but their hope of the Resurrection was not quenched. The angel said to them again: "Do not be afraid";67
I say, not to the soldiers, "Do not be afraid," but to you; let them fear, and being taught by experience, let them bear witness and say: "Truly he was the Son of God";68 but you must not be afraid, for "perfect love casts out fear";69 going forth,
"tell his disciples that he has risen."7o They departed with joy, yet full of fear. Is this in Scripture? Yes, the second Psalm, prophetic of the Passion of Christ, says: "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before him with trembling";71 rejoice, to be sure, for the Lord who has risen, but with trembling, because of the earthquake, and the angel who appeared like lightning.
(14) The chief priests and the Pharisees, through the agency of Pilate, sealed the tomb; but the women saw Him who was risen. Now Isaia, who knew the impotency of the chief priests and the women's firmness of faith, says: "You women, who 63 Cant. 3.3, 4.
64 Matt. 28.9.
65 Cf. Cant. 3.4.
66 Cant. 8.7.
67 Matt. 28.5.
68 Matt. 27.54.
69 1 John 4.18.
70 Matt. 28.7.
71 Ps.2.11.
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come from the vision, approach: for the people has no understanding."72 The chief priests lack understanding, but the women behold with their own eyes. When the soldiers came into the city and told the chief priests what had happened, they said to the soldiers: "Say, his disciples came by night and stole him while we were sleeping."73 Well did Isaia foretell this also, in their persons: "But tell us, and relate another deceit."74 Christ has risen and come back from the dead, and by a bribe they persuade the soldiers; but they do not persuade the kings of our day. The soldiers then betrayed the truth for silver; the emperors of our times have built this holy Church of the Resurrection of God our Savior, inlaid with silver and wrought with gold, where we are assembled, and they have beautified it with treasures of silver and gold and precious stones. "And if the procurator hears of this, we will persuade him."75 Though you persuade the soldiers, you will not persuade the world. Why were the guards who watched Jesus not condemned, as the guards of Peter, when he escaped from prison? Peter's guards had no defense in their ignorance, and were sentenced by Herod; the guards of Jesus, though they knew the truth and concealed it for money, were protected by the chief priests. A few of the Jews of that time were persuaded, but the world hearkened to the truth. Those who concealed the truth were buried in oblivion, but those who received it were made manifest by the power of the Savior, who rose from the dead and raised the dead with Himself. In the person of the risen dead the prophet
Osee says plainly: "He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence."76
(15) The Sacred Scriptures do not convince the unheeding 72 Isa. 27.11 (Sept.).
73 Matt. 28.13.
74 Isa.30.10 (Sept.).
75 Matt. 28.14. The phrase "the emperors of our times" at the opening of the sentence certainly refers to Constantine, but the plural may include his sons or indirectly his mother, Helena.
76 Osee 6.2 (Sept.).
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Jews, who disregard all that is written, and impugn the Resurrection of Jesus; it is best to meet them thus: Why do you assert that Eliseus and Elia raised the dead, but deny the Resurrection of our Savior? Is it because we have no living witnesses of what we assert? Well, produce witnesses of those earlier events. But that was written about? So is this. Why do you accept one and reject the other? Hebrews wrote the earlier history; the Apostles also were all Hebrews.
Why, therefore, do you disbelieve Jews? Matthew, who wrote the Gospel, wrote it in the Hebrew tongue; and Paul the preacher was a Hebrew of the Hebrews; and the twelve
Apostles were of Hebrew stock; besides, fifteen Bishops of Jerusalem in succession were appointed from the Hebrews.
Why do you accept your own accounts but reject ours, though these too were written by Hebrews among you?
(16) But it is impossible, someone will say, for the dead to rise. Eliseus twice raised the dead, both when he was alive, and after his death. We believe that when a dead man had been cast upon the corpse of Eliseus he rose again on contact; but Christ has not risen from the dead? When the dead man touched Eliseus he rose again, though Eliseus who raised him remained dead as before; but in this case the Dead of whom we treat rose, and many dead who did not even touch Him rose. For "many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose; and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection, they came into the holy city" (manifestly the city we are in), "and appeared to many."77 Eliseus indeed raised a dead man, but he did not conquer the world; Elia raised the dead, but demons are not driven out in the name of Elia. We do not speak ill of these prophets, but we praise their Master more. We do not belittle their marvels to magnify our own, for their miracles are ours also; but from their deeds we win credit for our own.
77 Matt. 27.52, 53. Cyril's interpretation is the common one, but some of the Fathers think that the saints who rose were assumed into the celestial Jerusalem, heaven.
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(17)' They further object: A dead man recently deceased was raised by the living; but show us that it is possible for a man dead and buried for three days to rise again. The testimony we seek is supplied by the Lord Jesus Himself in the Gospels, when He says: "For even as Jona was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."78
Now when we study the story of Jona the force of the resemblance becomes striking. Jesus was sent to preach repentance; so was Jona. Though Jona fled, not knowing what was to come, Jesus came willingly, to grant repentance for salvation. Jona slumbered in the ship and was fast asleep amid the stormy sea; while Jesus by God's will was sleeping, the sea was stirred up, for the purpose of manifesting thereafter the power of Him who slept. They said to J ana: "What are you doing asleep? Rise up, call upon your God! that God may save US";79 but the Apostles say: "Lord, save US!"80 In the first instance they said: Call upon your God, and in the second, Save us. In the first Jona said to them: "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, that it may quiet down for you";81 in the other Christ Himself "rebuked the wind and the sea, and there came a great calm."82 Jona was cast into the belly of a great fish, but Christ of His own will descended to the abode of the invisible fish of death. He went down of His own will to make death disgorge those it had swallowed up, according to the Scripture: "I shall deliver them from the power of the nether world, and I shall redeem them from death."83
(18) Here let us pose the question: Is it more difficult for a man dead and buried to rise again from the earth, or for a man in the belly of a fish, where he has come into contact
78 Matt. 12.40.
79 Jona 1.6 (Sept.).
80 Matt. 8.25.
81 Jona 1.12.
82 Matt. 8.26.
83 Cf. Osee 13.14.
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with the extreme heat of a living creature, to suffer no corruption? Everyone knows that the heat of the belly is so intense that even bones that have been swallowed are decomposed. How was it possible for Jona to be three days and three nights in the belly of the fish without suffering corruption? How could Jona live for three days without breathing our air, since according to man's nature we cannot live without breathing it? The Jews answer: "The power of God went down with Jona when he was tossed about in the depths."
But if the Lord granted His servant life by sending His power with him, can he not grant it to Himself? If one is credible, the other is credible; if one is incredible, the other also is incredible; to me both are equally credible. I believe also that Christ rose from the dead. I have many testimonies of this, from the Sacred Scriptures, and from the power of the risen
Christ working to this day. He descended alone into the nether world, but ascended therefrom with a numerous company; for He went down to death, "and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose"84 by His power.
(19) Death was panic-stricken on seeing a new visitant descending into the nether world, One not subject to the bonds of the place. Why, 0 you porters of hell, were you terrified on seeing Him? What unaccustomed fear seized upon you? Death fled away and his flight convicted him of cowardice.
The holy prophets ran forward, and Moses the Lawgiver, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; David also and Samuel; Isaia and John the Baptist, who bore witness to Him when he said:
"Art thou he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"8ii All the Just, whom death had swallowed up, were ransomed; for it was fitting that the King who had been heralded should be the Redeemer of His noble heralds. Then each of the Just said: "'0 death, where is thy victory? 0 death, where is thy sting?'86 For the Conqueror has ransomed us."
84 Matt. 27.52.
85 Matt. 11.3.
86 1 Cor. 15.55.
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(20) Jona fulfilled a type of our Savior when he prayed from the belly of the fish and said: "I cried for help from the midst of the nether world."87 He was in fact in the fish, yet he says that he is in the nether world. In a later verse he manifestly prophesies in the person of Christ: "My head went down into the chasms of the mountains."88 Yet he was still in the belly of the fish. What mountains encompass you? But I know, he says, that I am a type of Him who is to be laid in the sepulchre hewn out of the rock. While he was in the sea
Jona says: "I went down into the earth";89 for he typified Christ, who went down into the heart of the earth. Foreseeing also the deceit of the Jews, who persuaded the soldiers to lie by saying to them, "Say," that they "stole him away,"90
Jona says: "They that observe lying vanities have forsaken their own mercy."91 For He who showed them mercy came, was crucified and rose again, when He had shed His precious blood for the Jews and the Gentiles. But they say: "Say," that they "stole him away," "observing lying vanities." Concerning His Resurrection Isaia says: "He who brought from the earth the great shepherd of the sheep."92 He has added the word 'great; lest He be esteemed merely equal in honor with the shepherds before Him.
(21) Therefore, since we have the prophecies, let our faith be firm. Let them fall, who fall from disbelief, for they will it so; but you have taken your stand upon the rock of faith in the Resurrection. Even to this day the Manichaeans say that the Resurrection of the Savior was imaginary and not real, paying no heed to Paul, who writes: "Who was born according to the flesh of the offspring of David'; and afterwards: "by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our
87 Jona 2.3.
88 Ibid. 2.6, 7 (Sept.).
89 Ibid. 2.7 (Sept.).
90 Cf. Matt. 12.40.
91 Cf. Jona 2.9.
92 Isa. 63.11 (Sept.).
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Lord."93 Again his words are directed against them when he says: "Do not say in thy heart: Who shall ascend into heaven? or, Who shall descend into the abyss? that is, to bring up Christ from the dead."94 In like manner, by way of confirmation he has written elsewhere: "Remember that Jesus
Christ rose from the dead";95 and again: "and if Christ has not risen, vain then is our preaching, vain too is your faith.
Yes, and we are found false witnesses as to God, in that we have borne witness against God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise."96 Subsequently he says: "But as it is, Christ has risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."97 "And he appeared to Cephas; and after that to the twelve"98 (for if you disbelieve one witness, you have twelve witnesses); "then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once"99 (if they disbelieve the twelve, let them heed the five hundred)'; "after that, he was seen by James,"lOO His own brother, and first bishop of this diocese.
Since so famous a bishop was privileged to see the risen Christ, as his disciple, do not disbelieve. But you may say that His brother is a biased witness; thereafter "he was seen by me,"lOl
Paul, His enemy; can testimony be doubted when it is proclaimed by an enemy? "I formerly was a persecutor,"102 but now preach the glad tidings of the Resurrection.
(22) There are many witnesses of our Savior's Resurrection: the night, and the light of the full moon (for that night was the sixteenth); the rock of the sepulchre which received Him; the stone also shall set itself against the face of the Jews, for 93 Rom. 1.3, 4.
94 Rom. 10.6, 7.
95 2 Tim. 2.8.
96 1 Cor. 15.14, 15.
97 Ibid.20.
98 Ibid. 5.
99 Ibid. 6.
100 Ibid. 7. Here and in Cat. 4.28 Cyril seems to single out James from the rest of the Apostles, perhaps because of his episcopal dignity.
101 Ibid. 8.
102 1 Tim. 1.13.
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it saw the Lord; even the stone which was rolled back, lying there to the present day, testifies to the Resurrection. The Angels of God who were present bore witness to the Resurrection of the Only-begotten; Peter and John, and Thomas, and the rest of the Apostles; some of them ran to the sepulchre, and saw the linen and the burial cloths, in which He had been wrapped, lying there after the Resurrection; and others touched His hands and feet and beheld the prints of the nails; and all of them were breathed upon by the Savior, and were deemed worthy of the power of forgiving sins in virtue of the Holy Spirit. Witnesses too were the women, who took hold of His feet, who beheld the mighty earthquake and the shining angel standing by; the linen cloths also, which enveloped Him and which He left behind when He rose; the soldiers and the money they received; the spot itself, still to be seen; and this holy Church, which from his deep love of Christ was built by. the Emperor Constantine of happy memory, and embellished as you see.
(23) Another witness to the Resurrection of Jesus is Tabitha, who in His name was raised from the dead. For how can one disbelieve in the risen Christ, when even His name has raised the dead? The sea too is a witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, as you have already heard. The draught of fish also bears witness, and the hot coals laid there, and the fish thereon. Peter is also a witness, who before had denied Him thrice, but afterwards confessed Him thrice, and was charged to feed His spiritual sheep. Yonder stands even to this day
Mount Olivet, all but showing even now to the eyes of the faithful Him who ascended, and the heavenly gate of the Ascension. For He descended from heaven to Bethlehem, but from Mount Olivet He ascended to heaven;103 He began in Bethlehem His struggles for men, but on Olivet He was crowned for them. You have many witnesses, therefore; you
103 According to the Gospel of St. Luke (24.50, 51) the Ascension took place at Bethany, but Cyril is following an accepted tradition that it occurred on the top of Mount Olivet (Acts 1.12).
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have this place of the Resurrection itself; you have to the east the place of His Ascension. You have as witnesses the angels also, who bore testimony at His Resurrection, and the cloud on which He ascended, and the disciples who came down from the place of the Ascension.
(24) The sequence of the Creed would naturally lead me on to speak of the Ascension; but God's grace has so disposed it that you heard most fully about it, according to the measure of my weakness, yesterday, on the Lord's day; for the course of the lessons in church, by the ordination of divine grace, comprised the narrative of our Savior's Ascension into heaven.
What was then said was spoken mainly for all and for the assembled faithful, but especially for you. The question is whether you paid attention to what was said. For you know that the sequence of the Creed teaches you to believe in Him
"who rose on the third day, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father." I take it for granted that you remember our exposition; still I shall remind you, in passing, of what was then said. Remember what is clearly written in the Psalms: "God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy";Hl4 remember that the divine Powers also said to one another: "Lift up your gates, you princes";105 remember too the Psalm which says: "He has ascended on high, he has led captivity captive" ;106 remember the prophet who said: "He that builds his ascension in heaven";Hl7 recall also the other points mentioned yesterday in connection with the objections of the Jews.
(25) When they deny the possibility of the Resurrection, recall what was said of the carrying away of Habacuc; for if Habacuc was transported by an angel, who lifted him up by the hair of his head, much more could the Lord of both prophets and angels, mounting a cloud from Mount Olivet, ascend into heaven by His own power. You may well recall
104 Ps. 46.6.
105 Cf. Ps. 23.7.
106 Cf. Ps. 67.19; Eph. 4.8.
107 Cf. Amos 9.6.
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such wonders, yet reserve the supremacy for the Lord, the Worker of wonders, for while they were borne up, He "upholdeth all things."108 Recall that Henoch was translated; but Jesus ascended. Recall yesterday's account of Elia, how he was taken up in a fiery chariot; but the chariot of Christ is "ten thousandfold thousands of them that rejoice."109
Recall that Elia was taken up to the east of the Jordan, but Christ ascended to the east of the brook Cedron; that Elia ascended as into heaven, but Jesus, into heaven; that Elia promised that a double portion in the Holy Spirit would be given to his holy disciple; but Christ granted so full a share of the Holy Spirit to His disciples that besides having the Holy Spirit themselves, by the laying on of hands, they communicated the Spirit to those who believed.
(26)' When you have wrestled with the Jews and have overcome them by parallel examples, then come to the surpassing glory of the Savior: His predecessors were the servants, but He was the Son of God. You will be reminded of His preeminence when you reflect that a servant of Christ was caught up to the third heaven. For if Elia reached the first heaven but Paul the third, the latter surely attained to a more honorable dignity. Be not ashamed of your Apostles; they are not inferior to Moses, or second to the prophets; but they are noble among the noble, and indeed, nobler still. For Elia, it is true, was taken up into heaven; but Peter has the keys to the kingdom of heaven, after hearing the words: "Whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."llo Elia was taken up to heaven only, but Paul into heaven and paradise (for it was but fitting that the disciples of Jesus should receive more manifold grace) and "heard secret words that man may not repeat."111 But Paul came down again from heaven, not because he was unworthy to abide in the third heaven, but (after enjoying gifts beyond man's lot and lOS Reb. 1.3.
109 Cf. Ps. 67.IS.
110 Matt. 16.19.
III 2 Cor. 12.4.
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descending in honor) to receive the crown of martyrdom, when he had preached Christ and suffered for Him. I pass over the other points I treated yesterday in the Lord's day assembly, for to understanding hearers a mere reminder is sufficient for instruction.
(27) Recall also what I have often said regarding the sitting of the Son at the right hand of the Father, according to the sequence of the Creed: "and He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father." Let us not too curiously inquire into the precise nature of this sitting, for it surpasses our understanding. Let us not endure those who perversely assert that it was only after His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension into heaven that the Son began to sit at the right hand of the Father. For He did not gain His throne by way of advancement; but from the time He isand He is eternally begotten-He sits with the Father. The prophet Isaia, having beheld this throne before the coming of the Savior in the flesh, says: "I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne."1l2 For the Father "no man has at any time seen,"1l3 and He who then appeared to the prophet was the Son. The Psalmist also says: "Your throne stands firm from of old; from everlasting you are."l14 There are many testimonies on this point, but we will content ourselves with these only, because of the lateness of the hour.
(28) Now I must recall a few of my many remarks concerning the sitting of the Son at the right hand of the Father.
The hundred and ninth Psalm says clearly: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool."1l5 Our Savior, confirming this text in the Gospels, says that David did not speak of his own will, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying: 'The Lord said to my
112 Isa. 6.1.
113 John l.lS.
114 Ps. 92.2.
115 Ps. 109.1,2.
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Lord, Sit at my right hand,' "116 In the Acts of the Apostles, on Pentecost day, Peter, standing with the Eleven, and discoursing to the Israelites, cites in express words this testimony from the hundred and ninth Psalm.
(29) I must remind you of a few similar testimonies regarding the sitting of the Son at the right hand of the Father.
There is the passage in Matthew: "Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God,"117 Writing in similar vein the Apostle Peter says: "Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven,"118 The Apostle
Paul, writing to the Romans, says: "Christ who died, yes, and rose again, he who is at the right hand of God,"119 Writing to the Ephesians, he speaks thus: "Its measure is the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, in raising him from the dead, and setting him on his right hand,"120
The Colossians he taught thus: "Therefore, if you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God."121 In the Epistle to the Hebrews he says: "Who has effected man's purgation from sin and taken his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high."122 And: "Now to which of the angels has he ever said,
Sit at my right hand, until I make thy enemies the footstool of thy feet?"123 Also: "But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins, has taken his seat forever at the right hand of God, waiting thenceforth until his enemies be made the footstool under his feet,"124 Again: "Looking towards the author and finisher of faith, Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured a cross, despising shame, and sits at the right hand of the throne of God."125
116 Matt. 22.43.
117 Matt. 26.64. liS 1 Peter 3.21, 22.
119 Rom. S.34.
120 Eph. 1.19, 20.
121 Col. 3.1.
122 Heb. 1.3.
123 Ibid. 1.13.
124 Heb. 10.12, 13.
125 Heb. 12.2.
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(30), Though there are other testimonies to the sitting of the Only-begotten at the right hand of God, let these suffice at the moment; let me repeat, however, my observation that it was not after His coming in the flesh that He obtained the dignity of this seat; for before all ages the Only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, ever holds the throne at the right hand of the Father. May the God of all Himself, the Father of Christ, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who descended and ascended, and sits with the Father, guard your souls; may He preserve unshaken and unchangeable your hope in Him who rose again; and may He raise you up together with Him from your dead sins to His heavenly gift, and deem you worthy to "be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air,"126 in His good time; and until that time of His glorious second coming arrives, may He write all your names in the book of the living, and after writing them, never blot them out. For the names of many who fall away are blotted out.127 May He grant to all of you to believe in Him who rose again, and to look for Him who ascended and is to come again; He will come, but not from the earth (be on your guard, then, because of the impostors who are to come); who sits on high, and is present here with us, observing the order and steadfastness of faith in each. Do not think that because He is absent in the flesh He is therefore absent in the spirit; He is here in the midst of us, listening to what is said of Him, seeing our thoughts, searching our hearts and souls; He is ready even now to present all of you, as you come forward for Baptism in the Holy Spirit, to the Father, and say: "Look at me and the children whom the Lord has given me";128 to whom be glory forever. Amen.
126 I Thess. 4.16.
127 Cyril probably has in mind the phrase "erased from the book of of the living" (Ps. 68.29), but the idea appears also in Apoc. 3.5,
"blot his name out of the book of life."
128 Isa. 8.18.