Catechesis 14: For The Candidates For Baptism On ‘And He Rose From The Dead On The Third Day, And Ascended Into Heaven,
CATECHESIS 14: For the candidates for baptism On ‘and he rose from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father’
Reading: 1 Cor 15.1ff: ‘I remind you, brethren, of the gospel which I proclaimed to you…’
1 ‘Rejoice, Jerusalem, and hold festival’ (Jn 19.37 adjusted), all you who love Jesus, for he is risen! Be joyful, all you who once lamented when you heard of the presumptuous wickedness of the Jews; for the victim of their violence here has risen again. And just as it was in a way painful for you to hear about the cross, let the good news of the resurrection fill all those present here with joy. Let mourning change to gladness and lamentation to joy; let joy and gladness be on your lips because of the Risen one who said: ‘Rejoice’ (Mt 28.9). I realize the pain which you who love Christ have been feeling these days; and since my last address stopped at the death and burial and did not include the good news of the resurrection, your minds have been kept in suspense until you heard what you were longing for. So, the one who was dead has risen, he who was ‘free among the dead’ (Ps 87 (88).5 (LXX)) and their liberator. The one who endured the ignominy of being crowned with thorns has risen and now wears a wreath for his victory over death.
2 We have already set before you the testimonies regarding his cross; we shall now, if you are willing, show you the force of the proofs concerning the resurrection.
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5 Do you want an indication also of the place? It says again in the Song of Songs: ‘I went down to the nut-garden’ (Cant 6.11). For it was in a garden that he was crucified. For although it has been largely decorated with royal gifts, it was once a garden, and the signs and remains of it are still present. ‘A garden enclosed…a spring sealed’ by the Jews, who said: ‘We have remembered that that deceiver said while he was still alive: “after three days I shall rise”. So give orders for the tomb to be made safe.’ And later: ‘They went and made the tomb safe with the guard, sealing the stone’ (Mt 27.63–6). There is a saying which applies to them neatly: ‘You will judge them to your rest’ (Job 7.18 (LXX adjusted). What is the sealed spring? What is the meaning of the ‘spring of the well of living water’ (Cant 4.15 adjusted)? It is the Saviour himself, about whom Scripture says: ‘With you is the spring of life’ (Ps 35 (36).9).
6 But what does Zephaniah say to the disciples speaking in the person of Christ? ‘Make ready, rise at daybreak, for all their grapes for the gleaning are destroyed’ (Zeph 3.7 (LXX)) —obviously the grapes of the Jews, for whom there remains no grape-cluster of salvation, not even the foliage, for their vine has been cut down. Notice how he says to the disciples: ‘Make ready, rise at daybreak.’ Expect the resurrection at daybreak.
The same passage of Scripture goes on to say: ‘Therefore wait for me, says the Lord, on the day of my resurrection in the Martyrium’ (Zeph 3.8 (LXX)). You notice how the prophet foresaw even the place of the resurrection, which was to be called the Martyrium? For why were this site of Golgotha and the resurrection not called a church like other churches, but the Martyrium? Perhaps it was because of the prophet's words: ‘On the day of my resurrection in the Martyrium’
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9 And from where did the Saviour rise? It says in the Song of Songs: ‘Arise, come, my kinswoman’; and further on: ‘in the shelter of the rock’ (Cant 2.10, 14 (LXX)). The phrase ‘shelter of the rock’ refers to the shelter which at that time stood in front of the door to the Saviour's tomb, and had been hollowed from the very rock in the way that was customary here in front of tombs. It is no longer visible because the front chamber was then cut away to give the tomb the decoration it has today. For before the Emperor had set this magnificent structure over the tomb, there was a shelter in front of the rock.
But where is the rock with its shelter? Is it near the centre of the city or at the outskirts, near the walls? Does it lie within the ancient walls or the outer fortifications which were constructed later? It says in the Song of Songs: ‘In the shelter of the rock, near the outer fortification’ (Cant 2.14 (LXX))
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22 There are many witnesses to the Saviour's resurrection: the night and the light of the full moon, for it was the fifteenth night; the rock of the Tomb, which received the body, and the stone will refute the Jews to their face, for it saw the Lord; and this stone which was rolled away then still lies here today to witness to the resurrection; God's angels were present to witness the resurrection of the Only-begotten; Peter, John and Thomas and all the other apostles; some of whom ran to the tomb and saw the burial-clothes in which he had once been wrapped lying here after the resurrection, while others felt his hands and his feet and inspected the marks of the nails, while all of them together felt the Saviour's breath and were authorized to forgive sins in the power of the Holy Spirit; the women who held on to his feet and observed the force of the earthquake and the shining presence of the angel; the grave-clothes wound round him, which he left behind when he rose again; the soldiers, and the money they were given; the very place, which is still visible, and this building of the holy church, which the Emperor Constantine of happy memory out of his love of Christ undertook to erect and to adorn with the splendour which is before your eyes.
23 There is another witness to Jesus’ resurrection: Tabitha, who was raised from the dead in his name. For how can one fail to believe in Christ's resurrection when his very name could raise the dead? The sea was a witness to Jesus’ resurrection, as you have already heard. The catch of fish is a witness, and the charcoal fire lying ready, and the food that was placed on it. Peter was another witness, when after denying Jesus he professed his faith in him three times and was told to be the shepherd of his spiritual sheep. To this very day the Mount of Olives stands, all but displaying to the eyes of the Faithful even today the one who ascended on the cloud and the heavenly gate of his ascension. For he came down from heaven to Bethlehem and he ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives; at Bethlehem he began his struggles for mankind, for which on the Mount of Olives he received a crown. So you have many witnesses: you have the place of the resurrection here; you have also the place of the ascension to the east of us. You have other witnesses too: the angels who testified there, the cloud he mounted, and the disciples who came down from the mountain.