On the Resurrection

Homily on the Holy Sunday of the Resurrection Another of his, as it is. Memra thirty-one. And again, a homily on the Holy Sunday of the Resurrection. Prayer. Blessed is Christ who on the day of his resurrection conquered death and condemned the grave. Amen. The king of Rome put on an earthly guise to go forth and free the captive race of men from the prison. He brought forth his will in the form of a man, to live among men, and the evil one saw him but was not overcome by the power of his concealment. The likeness of a servant the mighty one took, who would free all; he hid his glory within, from the fear of death. The great one chose a host from his own kind, who were subject to the evil one, and armed him with the spear of going forth and freeing the sons of his people. He gave him divine armor to do battle with, so that when the contest is stirred by his might, the name of victory is heard. The armor of the king the bodily commander put on, and placed the helmet of the life-giving salvation on the head of his thought. Spiritually he put on the armor over his covering, and went forth on behalf of the members, to the contest. With small souls he armed his bodily self, so that he might see in spirit that his spiritual opponent was. In spirit he joined battle with the spirit, the chief of the air, so that he might not be hindered by earthly members. In body and soul he bore the armor; the king gave it to him, and he put it on with love, through the senses of the body and the powers of the soul. A hidden battle the mortal waged with hidden power, and he conquered body and soul and freed the man.

He subdued his body, the garment of death, the adversary of the Lord, and gave himself to the contest on behalf of his people. He went forth to the battle against the evil one, to destruction and victory, and offered himself to the contest of death, the oppressor. He wrestled with the righteous one in the desire for bread, and his flesh he cast down by the violence of the serpent from the lower regions. He bound the spirit with the body by the power of the spirit, and the flesh of his adversary, pains, he restrained to the summit of the air. He rejoiced and laughed, the flesh of the wicked one, over the righteous one, and took away his weapon, so that he no longer approached the dead. "Go, evil one, to your partner," he said to him, "Go, prepare your other weapon for the cause of death. Go, sharpen the arrows of death by the dead, for you alone, your power is weak from the contest. Go, be dulled in the pains you have begotten by the children, and arm yourself with what? All accusation, as you are accustomed. You have summoned companions of falsehood to assist you, for you are a liar, and by lies you [...] you conquer, you are. He released the consumed one from the contest with a word of command, so that he might go and mount the horse of death in the chariot of judgment. He knew him, that he spoke lawfully of judgment, and sought the victory of the first ones through the desire to conquer. The command that was remembered in paradise passed, and in folly, like testimony, he was mocked. In the desire for the fruit, like a locust, he was stripped, for that locust stripped him in the nakedness of the man who thirsted in hope. He did not cast down the hand of Adam and Eve, who were sinning against him, for behold, your fingers have sealed and finished; call and understand.

He wrote a bond for me, Adam, after he sinned with transgression, and without his payment, he cannot redeem his debts for the debt. From the beginning, I established authority over the dead; it was not in secret that they wrote and were enslaved like criminals. Not by force did I subdue your race, but by love; they received it through the will of those who were servants. It was not Adam and the sons of his generation alone who sinned for me, but the whole nature is bound in the bond of mortality. And you, O earth, you also come and share in the sufferings of the body; look at your nature and know that you are bound in the bond [...] my lordship. There is no body, no members that are not mortal; and if it is mortal, it is under the servitude of my image and likeness. Or show me that you are not mortal, and I will believe you. And if you are mortal, your nature is loosed, your words are free; show the receipt that the king gave you, that you are not mortal, since even this is not accepted, O man, over the earth. You are corporeal; why are words sought in the air? The destruction of the body is all of mortality. These were considered informers when they were occupied with changes against the body. In the likeness of a lock, it held mortality, while it thought that by it it would conquer him like death. The blind man spoke in secret, these within his thoughts, and he struck the heart, and by it he was free as if in haste. And because he saw in the hidden sight the thought of the evil one, he revealed the blindness of the evil inclination to the sight of the seers.

In a clear voice, the Accuser spoke to the hidden ones: "Behold, I am the Accuser, who says 'mine.' Behold, I hold the world and demand it in my hands: the debts of the dead, like the dead. In the form of 'mine,' he spoke against me, as with a man: 'First, pay like a man who is guilty of debt.' With changes, he also contended with me, as with Adam: 'You are comparable to the root of his flesh, the light of my children.' How bold you are in the midst of the sounds that hunt you! Do not boast in what is not yours, for you are dust. In my thought, he saw as a simple one the garment of his body, and he does not trust in the power of my clothing from the treasury. The revelation of my humiliation before men is hidden from him, and he does not know that sign which was in my hands. Even I, in silence, I conceal my greatness from her until the desire of all of him is finished in the death that is upon me. Now, in 'mine,' I show him from the hidden ones that unjustly he accuses in mortality. If the dead are guilty to him because of sin, I am pure from the seals when I go with him. And if that Adam sinned and was found to have heard his counsel, to me, who have no lack, not even by a sign, does he bring anything with me? It is evident that he unjustly contends in the pit, and not justly does he rule his scepter over the dead. And when it is clearly good that I am freed from his servitude, I receive him by the will for the death of all of him. By death he threatens and terrifies me like death, and by death I overthrow him from his authority.

In the form of the pains of death, he brought a case against me. In the pain of my standing, he taught his power to the one whose strength is weak. In that which he thought would ensnare Adam and his children, he tore up the document of his lordship over the dead. With death he sealed the bond of debts of the race of men, and by the death on the head of the wood he tore it up. He annulled the toil of spiritual and bodily beings, the decree of judgment in which he boasted as a victor. He showed it to the heavenly and earthly ones, the salvation of life and the renewal that is to be fulfilled by me. He called heaven and earth as witnesses for me, the free ones, and in the name of the hidden one he sealed the confession of my words. The eloquent and the deaf were mediators between me and the evil one, who without judgment drags the help to death. And he entered and thirsted for the yoke and thirsted for blood, how bitterly they increased his yoke and spread it all out. Behold, I receive the decree of judgment of his injustice, and I show that not by a thread is my death deficient. Behold, I descend to the depth of Sheol as to the sea, and easily I proclaim the name of my victory. Behold, I deliver the types and mysteries that the bitter ones inscribed, and I pay the wage to the days that died because of me. By means of the events I show that same descent, that descended and ascended and proclaimed my victory mysteriously. With mysteries the serpent swallowed the day while it was not dead, by the event death swallowed and did not destroy me. Now open the gates of Sheol, a gate before me, that the yoke may bring out the captives of Adam from the prison.

He wrote the new covenant in the form of blood, and he loosed the bonds that death had bound in the pit of Sheol. With the blood of his standing, he signs and seals the salvation of man. Death is the witness that confirms the covenant. On the head of the wood, he writes it with the blood of his standing, and he unrolls the document of the bonds that bound the sinful. He descended, struck all, and plunged into the sea of the dead in Sheol, and he drew up the power of life for the dead waters. With a shout of life, he roused the dead to those without sensation, and he loosed the rudders of the ship of the dead towards the harbor of life. With the movements of stillness, the man cried out in the depth of death, and he seized the anchor in the new good of the salvation of the dead. "Give me the receipt of the sons of Adam that the evil one gave you, when you enslaved the sons of the living with your harsh yoke." Death, the pursuer, trembled and was confounded by the sound of his words, and he brought out his captive, the prison of man, unwillingly. The prisoners came out from the prison of non-life, and they proclaimed the good news that the dead had lived to those without hope. The dead brought a new gospel to the living dead, and the living rejected the new voice that the dead spoke. They were messengers in the tombs, who announced life to the dead, and they made heard the good news of the sound of salvation in the ears of all. At the voice of the prepared, the dead of the world were astonished, when they saw the renewal of the body and the salvation of the soul. The dead were amazed at the newness that had occurred for the dead, that as for his deficiency, death died to death, and the dead were comforted. A great wonder was spoken in the land of Judah, when a dead man met a living man whom he knew.

The dead who died from the wound live by the cross. He made known to all his brother and the members of his race the signs. For he did not show them from the first ones who were far off, lest the eye of the flesh deceive in the testimony of truth. From those who were standing in the life of the sign, he set up from them witnesses of his proclamation. O man who descended to Sheol by the way of all flesh, and opened the way of rebellion for the prisoners of the house of the dead. O buried one whom death swallowed and was not dissolved, O body whose bodily constitution was not loosened. O accursed one who held a contest with the righteous one, and thought he fell, but he turned his table and set up his race. He fell as he wished in body and soul like a guilty one, and rose and was changed and set up the body and freed the soul. In this contest he held a contest with the righteous one, that by his victory he freed his race from servitude. By his death his sign sealed all, struck all, in that he thought man guilty, he was poured out in him. By death he wrote the bond of servitude of Adam and his sons, and by means of death Adam freed Adam and his sons. The Adam of two died a death for the sake of Adam, and the son of Adam rose and revived Adam and his offspring. The body died which was composed in the veins of the spirit, and rose and was changed by the power of the art that hid him and sought him. By the resurrection of his body the earth and the heavens rejoiced, and the face that was sad because of his death rejoiced. The spirits of the just rejoiced that by his death he conquered death, and they descended and saw his body in the tomb like a victor.

The king built his body as a temple for the watchers, and they proclaimed a cry of victory over the wound of death. They shouted glory to him as he ascended from within the tomb. Blessed is he who by his death slew the death that had corrupted the flesh. The watchers were rejoicing greatly over [...] his festival as over a king, and he clothed the body in a fitting garment on the day of his resurrection. Through the watchers he showed the heavenly ones that they might teach concerning the renewal that would take place at his hands. The vision of the watchers showed the earthly ones the beautiful garment that bodies would wear on the day of resurrection. Through the beauty of their garments he taught them that by the sign of the savior he sowed in their ears the sound of salvation. From the living among the dead they said to the watchers, "The dead who rose and was healed and wounded death." They quickly removed the stone from the mouth of the tomb with a hidden sign, and opened the door before their watchers and the ascetics and they saw. Why then did the watchers take the stone that was heavy, which was difficult for the one who rolled the stone to lift? Behold, the resurrection that was very difficult with the sign of his hair, and where was the stone that was light, they did not lift it. His body came forth from the mouth of death, a mighty lion, and the stone of the netherworld called the spirits to lift it. It was not difficult for that commander who would warm his body, who lifted the stone from the face of the door and made a way out. Because of the festival of the earthly bodies, he took the stone so that they might see the tomb and the limbs of the body and receive hope.

To the truth he opened the tomb before the watchers, that it might not be divided over his resurrection, lest he not rise. That he rose is certain, and this is brighter than the sun, and the course of his proclamation bore witness to the four directions. And when his resurrection was clearly manifest to all through the mysteries, to the heartless and the foolish souls it was not certain. That he rose and was confirmed, behold the demonstrations of the greatness of his power, which abolished their errors and dissolved the bonds of mortality. He rose on the third day, and his promises were not falsified, and the mystery of the son of Matthew was completed in the womb of the request. Three days he was in the depths, hidden in the mystery, and he completed the mystery of three days through the mysteries. On the day of the mystery he died while not dead, and remained for life, and here the servant died in the tomb and was not consumed. The son of Matthew ascended from within the sea as he descended, and the forms of death and life and the answer among the peoples. By this sign he sent a signal after the peoples, that the mystery of this which was at the end of the sacrifices might be preserved. Also the beginning, which for all died for all, and rose and was confirmed and proclaimed life to the people and the peoples. He went out from the tomb and left his garments as testimonies, that henceforth mortality is cast off and glory is put on. The two he made known by the garments he left as a sign, that they are not fitting for him and they become witnesses before the oppressors. It was revealed to him the purity of the sons of Jacob, who hid it in the water of calumny for the treasure of his garments.

In the mysteries that he left, he spread the veil of his thoughts, that where he laid down the body in the tomb, the watchers might be chosen. With myrrh and oil his body was anointed and placed in a shroud. And for his limbs, it was easy in the mysteries to be broken. If then his limbs were like fugitives clothed in rags, where did the watchers flee and circle in haste? A bitter envy placed a stumbling block before the accusers. And they were not convinced by the clear light of the proof of his body. In the mystery of silver, they wished to cover his resurrection and to obscure the mystery of the proclamation of the veil and its stones. With silver they bought it from Judah for the service of death. And when it was sealed, they defiled his seal with a sponge and a measure. And what did the measured silver do to the manifest truth, when it was filled like a herald in the mouth of the silent? Stones and tombs [...] the faces of the door cried out to the speakers: "Rise, you who are sealed, and receive the hope of the life of the dead." And if the silent and mouthless cried out his victory, what then is all the silver for, and it does not convince? Speakers and mutes were witnesses for him before the oppressors, and they laid their hand on the testaments of his death and his life. The skilled scribe and the power of the spirit wrote the name of victory, gave testimony on the faces of the door of his closure to the two. And he showed that he left the temple of the house of reconciliation with the people, and no longer wished for blood [...] he revealed to the door of the gate of man. On the faces of the door he revealed his seal over the rebels, that if the silent one swallowed and was silent, how many speakers? The spirit of wrath was guilty of separation, and he raised the rod and struck the sign in place of the thought.

He bore the sword that cut his judgment within from his companions, and raised his hand that his rod might descend and his love be complete. He did not seek the wakeful one of his death like the guilty, who would not be fit to strike the men who destroy men. To the life of men he said, "I have come to you for destruction," and he confirmed his signs to the houses of his voice by his deeds. He died for all and revived all, as was established, and he completed and finished the deeds that were for all. He died in his victory, Adam of both, over the dead, and he raised with him the dead and gave them life in his life. He gave the key of the temple of the body that hid his mysteries from the wicked, and he perfected and fulfilled his word of the Father according to his promise. He descended in victory, generating pains, and plunged into Sheol, and brought up with him the catch of men to new life. He opened the door of the pit that sought death in the face of the dead, and he prepared a way for the dead to life. He raised his voice like a commander before his soldiers, "Arise and be clothed, for my victory has come over death and evil." He came and took the hidden generation in the revealed body, and overcame the wicked one in the contest and seized his wealth. The judgment of the wicked one he spoke with him before the judge, and the condemnation of the unjust one he confessed to his kind. The writ of injustice he brought out to show before the laws, that it was not sealed by the hand of the witnesses who were free. And when the deception of the hidden one in his words was confounded, the king rebuked him and commanded and cast him into the prison. Now that you have conquered and overcome the wicked one, the help of his kind is shared in that multitude of my victory, even to my companions.

The life-giving power gave me a mortal spirit, in it I stir to feel pain against sufferings. Behold, the spiritual tremor is broken against the fleshly ones; the mortals clothed themselves and approached and conquered spiritually. In the decree of the judgment of death they were bound and entangled; come, take from me the bond of your debts and purchase life. By the death of my standing, he drank the deaths of the destruction of men; and by my victory, the head of the air was hidden and spread out. O victory, which, when it is won, conquers the accusers; O fall of the fleshly one, who fell and rose. The mortal fell, a temple of flesh that sought the spirit, and it renewed, and in it the angel who dwelt in it desired. He who fell under death loved death, and he who paid the bond of debts like a guilty one. The death of the one who died in the living and rose in truth— what is the resurrection that even the silent are its heralds? Reveal to us the judgment of your thoughts, which suffers pain against it; why do you wish to call the victory that conquers death a defeat? There is no nature that feels pain, nor victory; reveal and examine for us, O the free ones of the true. And if the Word, the son of the Father, suffered in his living, then his nature did not suffer with him in the death of his sign. And if he did not die and yet was changed, his nature is a fool; then the hope that the dead live is false and empty. If the natures did not feel pain, death swallowed; how then did he suffer in his living, or in the living? If in his living he tasted pain, this is of wickedness; all of him suffered, or in part he suffered and was healed.

Behold, there is nothing that is not a sufferer, or it is a sufferer whose one part feels pain and another part endures without end. If the Only-begotten fell in his struggle beneath death, he would cut off the immortality of the name of being. And if he fell as the Word, not as our word, what would he raise from his fall and give life? For that his resurrection raises the falls of this difficult one, and for the other his resurrection is a thing lacking and also deficient. If the Spirit and the power of the Father perfected him, behold it is shown that he is much lower than being. And if he is less than being, why do I say, what do you have in common with Arius as a stranger? Because of this the church expelled him outside its doors, because he diminished the Son and lowered him from his begetter. And if it is so, this is an injustice to say thus: they crowned him a crown for the translator who translates well. To you I said that this deed, a great sin, was not able to be done by you, and to you it is not passable. You did not complete for yourselves the heretics with a righteous mind, and you did not mix good wine with the skins of error. You did not give the pure holiness of your faith to the barking dogs who do not understand the power of being. Why did you sell the pearl of your confession before the shepherds, lovers of dung, like beasts? You did not walk on the path of truth with the erring, and you did not travel on the way of the stumbling of suffering. You did not lower yourselves from all to flattery, and you did not put to death that life which gave life.

The one who fell into the abyss beneath death, by the mortality of his death he destroyed the destruction of death. The created nature from the living one resisted death, and changed its nature from the beginning entirely spiritually. He who dwelt three days with the dead, and was embalmed with burial spices and healed the body. Blind envy closed the eyes of the slanderers, and they were not illuminated by the clear light of the healing of his body. With the shame of silver they wished to corrupt his proclamation, and to abolish the truth which the Word and his apostles proclaimed. With silver Judas sold the servitude of death, and when he was embalmed, they wronged his healing with weighed silver. And what can evil silver do to the manifest truth, when it is administered like a herald before the silent? Stones, graves, and the faces of doors cried out to the rational ones: "Rise, you who are buried, and receive the hope of the life of the dead." And the silent and mouthless ones cried out his victory. The vain knowledge of all silver is not to be trusted. Rational ones, witnesses, were for him before the wrongdoers, and they laid their hand on the covenants of his death and his life. The skilled and powerful scribe of the Spirit of the name of victory gave testimony before the door of his righteousness to both. And he showed that he left the temple of the mercy of the people, and no longer desires to stain the threshold of men with blood. Before the door he revealed his healing over the bones, that if the silent one by night was silent, how many spoke. The sword of wrath was a guilty separation, and it raised the scepter and struck the truth for the sake of the thought.

He wielded the sword that cut his covenant into the midst of his own mercies, and raised his hand that struck his tribe and all his debt. He did not seek the wake of his death like the guilty, for whom it was not [...] to be for the burning of men who destroy men. To the life of men he said, "I have come," and not to destruction, and he confirmed his word to the seekers by his deeds. He died for the sake of all and revived all, as was fitting, and he completed and finished the works of the power of all. He died in his person, Adam, who was second to the dead, and he raised with him mortality and gave it life through his life. He gave a sign of the matter of the bodies that his secret ones had hidden, and he fulfilled and sought them, his word of the Father according to his promise. He descended in person, the begetter of pangs, and plunged into Sheol, and brought up with him the catch of men to new life. He opened the gate of the wall of death in the faces of the dead, and prepared a way for mortality toward life. He raised his voice like a chief of a troop before his servants: "Arise and be clothed, for this one has conquered death and evil." This one took the hidden generation in the revealed body, and conquered the envious one in the contest and scattered his wealth. The envious one spoke with him before the judge, and the sentence of the unjust one was unjustly imposed on his race. He brought out a writ of injustice to show before the laws, which was not sealed by the casting of the hand of witnesses at once. He was one who descended to the depths of the earthly ones, and he was one who ascended above all that raised all. On the chariot of his body, spears, arrows, and lances pierced, and in his renewal he tore up the writ of the pangs of the body.

He descended upon the lion to its lair with the weapon of the Spirit, and he brandished the sword of his covenant that Adam had made to tremble. He cried out in Sheol like a righteous one and shook its foundations. He broke its gates and cut its bolts, and in it he brought forth the dead. The gates of the faces of the gates were lifted up when he went forth, and the spiritual ones were praising the power of his victory. [These are the five verses of the mysteries.] Heaven and earth became mouths for him instead of trumpets: they cried out, "Life!" the witnesses cried out, and the deaf sealed it. The pillars of Rome sinned against the honor of the earthly one, and they denied his death and affirmed his life to his enemies. The watchers brought the hope of life to the house of the dead: "Arise and put on the dust-ones in the abolition of death!" They cried out and said to the destroyer of your members, "How is your sting, the serpent that kills us, in its food of [...]?" They came and rejoiced in him, while laughing, your sign upon his ribs: "What has he done that life has cut off the tree of beatings?" By means of a wonder they spoke his name in the likeness of the sun, of the body that had swallowed him, seeking to give birth to life. From within the devourer he brought forth for us a spiritual devourer, and from the one who devours, giving birth to pains, sweetness pursued. The heavens and the earth rejoiced with us, the rational and the deaf, over the sacrifice that the shepherd offered to the Lord with his creatures. One beginning approached the covenant, not to nothingness, and gave us in his hand the sign of the cross and renewed all. With us the earthly and heavenly ones rejoiced: blessed is he who in the flesh shows his love to his creatures. The end.