Homilia in festo palmarum

Of our holy father Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, on the Palms. Lord, bless. Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; delight and exult and be glad, all the Church of God; for behold, the King again comes to you. Behold, your bridegroom comes, seated on a colt as on a throne. Let us go out to meet him, let us hasten to see his glory, let us go forth joyfully to honor his entry. Again salvation for the world, again God comes to the cross. Again the king of Zion, the hope of the nations, comes to Zion; again he bestows salvation on the world; again the light arises; again error ceases; again truth blooms; again the Church dances; again the Synagogue is widowed; again demons are put to shame; again the curse is undone; again Hebrews are troubled; again the dragon is crushed; again the nations rejoice; again Zion is adorned. Christ comes, seated on a colt as on a throne. Heavens, exult; angels, sing hymns; mountains, be glad; hills, leap; rivers, clap; those in Zion, dance; churches, rejoice; priests, sing hymns; prophets, go before; disciples, proclaim; peoples, meet him; elders, run together; mothers, dance; nursing infants, sing; young men, shout; nations, gather.

All creation, all nature, every rank, every breath, the whole earth, every dignity, every age, every nation, every kingdom—let us go forth royally to meet the King of kings, let us bow down as to a master before the Master of masters, let us sing divinely to the God of gods, let us dance as a bride with the bridegroom of incorruption; let us joyfully kindle the lamps in a joyful manner; let us change the garments of our souls in a manner befitting God, let us prepare well the paths of life, let us open the entrances of our souls to the King, let us bear the palms of victory as to the victor over death, shaking the branches of olive trees in a manner befitting God before the branch from Mary; let us sing the hymns of angels to the God of angels; let us cry out with the children in a manner befitting God, let us shout with the crowd the things of the crowd, and let the crowds shout: Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; the Lord is God, and he has appeared to us, he has appeared to us who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. The resurrection of the fallen has appeared, the deliverance of the captives has appeared, the restoration of sight to the blind has appeared, the consolation of the mourners has appeared, the rest of the weary has appeared, the refreshment of the thirsty has appeared, the vindication of the oppressed has appeared, the redemption of the despairing has appeared, the consolation of the despairing has appeared, the union of the separated has appeared, the vindication of the oppressed has appeared, the healing of the sick has appeared, the calm for the storm-tossed has appeared.

Therefore let us, the people, together with the crowd cry out, saying today to Christ, "Hosanna," that is, "Save now, O God in the highest." O new and paradoxical things and wonders! Yesterday Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, and today the same one comes to death. Yesterday he bestowed life upon another, as life, and today the life-giver comes to death. Yesterday he loosed Lazarus's swaddling bands, and today the same one willingly comes to be bound in swaddling bands. Yesterday he led a man out of darkness, and today he comes to be placed in darkness and the shadow of death for the sake of man. Yesterday, six days before Passover, through the five senses, the three-day one bestows the one brother upon the two, the four-day one, and today he comes to the cross. But to Mary he bestows a four-day corpse; to the Church, Christ bestows himself as a three-day one. There, only Bethany marvels; here, the whole Church celebrates. It celebrates feasts of feasts, having the king of the bodiless within it in the midst as both bridegroom and king; it celebrates feasts, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, unfadingly covering it; it celebrates feasts, like a spring lily of paradise, in which Christ is the truly flourishing lily, which does not judge but saves the world. In which Christ is the violet that truly heals the sufferings of the sick; in which is the vine, which says, "I am the true vine"; in which is the olive grove, the one truly showing mercy to those who hope in him; in which the branch of the root of Jesse sprouted, the pre-eternal branch, without cultivation and without digging of human sowing; in which is the ever-flowing spring.

in which there are not Phison, Geon, Tigris, Euphrates, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, watering the paradise of Christ's Church. There today all the youth, like an olive tree laden with fruit, holding olive branches, we beseech the merciful Christ; planted in the house of the Lord, blossoming forth in springtime in his courts, we celebrate a feast, seeing the legal winter receding. Celebrate, Church of Christ, not typically, not corporeally, but spiritually dancing. Celebrate feasts, seeing the fall of idols and having the resurrection of churches. For with Paul I cry out to you with the sacred and great voice: The old things have passed; behold, all things have become new—and indeed paradoxical. Therefore rejoice in the Lord, youth of Christ, rejoice; may you rejoice, Church of Christ, delight and be glad, daughter of God. For all glory is yours, as daughter of King Christ, both within and without; no longer widow-man, but God-man blossoming forth; no longer on the left of God because of idolatry, but standing on the right and adorned because of the knowledge of God; no longer mixed with slave's blood, but sealed with divine blood; no longer revering Abel, but Emmanuel; no longer glorifying the Troad, but the Trinity; no longer honoring Plato, but our almighty God; no longer Heracles the averter of evil, but the Paraclete and maker of all. No longer do you worship Aristotle who made wise, but God who saved you at the end of the ages. Cronus has fallen, because God the Word has been incarnate; not appearing from a man by passion, but theandrically from Mary.

Behold the grace of the day; behold the splendor of the feast. Rejoice then and be glad, daughter of Zion; delight and exult, all the Church of God. Lift your eyes around and see your children of the nations, once scattered, now gathered together. See the good repute of the feast; see the harmony of the people; see every tongue in one glory; see every mouth as one mouth; see those formerly wild beasts now become sheep in you; see the acclaim of celebrating nations, which is the imitation of bodiless angels; see the concord, the choral standing of the bodiless; see the stations as ranks of angels. I see the hymns as hymns of angels; I see the children as newborn lambs, saying "Hosanna in the highest, blessed is the one who comes," to Christ, with whom, having clapped your hand loudly, cry out with a bright and leonine voice, saying both festal and eucharistic words: "Behold me and the children whom God gave me, to the once childless and unknown barren woman; blessed is the one who has come, but indeed the one who comes in the name of the Lord; God is Lord and has appeared to us. The one who comes, who is contained nowhere; the one who comes, who is held nowhere; blessed is the one who comes, and not separated from the heavens; blessed in a manner proper to himself, and again coming in a manner befitting God; blessed is the one who came to me upon a foal typically, as upon a cherubic foal.

For what does the holy herald, the evangelist of the feast, say? Listen: It happened that when the Lord drew near to Bethphage and to Bethany, toward the mountain called of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, "Go to the opposite village, and when you enter, you will find a donkey and a colt tied; untie them and bring them to me." And the disciples did as Jesus commanded them; and they spread their garments on the colt, and Jesus sat upon it. And it came to pass that as he drew near to the descent of the mountain, the crowd that had come for the feast took branches of palms and went out to meet Jesus. And those who went before and those who followed cried out, "Hosanna to the son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." This is the Lordly presence of the present feast; this is the sojourn of the King of kings in Zion, both of old and now; this is the bright and public coming of the Creator of all on this present day. Therefore now, brothers, the crowd having come for the feast, let us go out to meet him, both the visible world and the invisible, and the prophets who go before in time, and teachers, and those who follow the colt, those who agree with God in faith. Today let the heavenly together with the earthly and the subterranean sing hymns; let every mouth and breath be opened for the praise of God. Cry out, O cherubim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the thrice-holy, Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of his glory." Sing, O seraphim; proclaim, O prophets. And let one say, "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult.

But let the daughter of Zion cry out, "Rejoice greatly!" and the daughter of Jerusalem proclaim; and let another, gazing intently at the King Christ, cry out, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" And let another proclaim concerning the Lord Himself, "This is our God; no other shall be compared to him." And another, "Behold a man and at the same time God. His name is Anatole." And let David, gazing at the Christ who is from him according to the flesh, say, "The Lord God, and he has appeared to us." And again let another, bending the knee, cry out to Christ, "Let the whole earth worship you." And let another charge the peoples, saying, "Assemble a feast among the branches that cover even the horns of the altar." For thus in ancient times was accomplished the arrival of the Master in Zion with the foal: a universal symphony—the choirs of the fathers, the hosts of the righteous, the spirits of the prophets, the children of the Hebrews, the infants of the mothers, the multitudes of the angels. Some spread their wings, others held palm branches, others came behind, others cut the branches, others wove the shoots, some loosed the foal, others spread out garments, some opened the gates, others cleared the roads, others prepared the foal, others proclaimed victory, others shook the branches, others said to the infants, "Praise the Lord, children!" The children answered, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." O the new and extraordinary things and wonders of the feast! Children theologize Christ as God, and the priests blaspheme him; suckling infants worship, and the teachers are impious.

The children say "Hosanna," and the Hebrews cry out, "Let him be crucified." Some come to Christ with palm branches; others come to him with knives. These cut branches, those prepare the wood of the cross. The infants of Christ spread out garments for him, and the priests divide Christ's garments. The infants raise Christ high on a colt, and the elders hang Christ on a cross. The children worshipped Christ's feet, but those nailed Christ's feet with nails. The children offer praise, these offer vinegar. The children give honor to Christ, these give gall. The children wave palm branches, these stab with a sword. The children hymn Christ on a colt, these sell the one on the colt. The ox knew its master born in the manger, and the new people of the nations submitted to their Lord, but only Israel did not know Christ, its God. The once God-loving tribes have become, and the lawless have become lawful, and the lawful lawless. Let it be: you did not respect the prophets, you killed priests, you distorted the Scriptures, you dissolved the law, you sawed apart the righteous, you rejected Moses, you slaughtered the sons, you defiled the temple, you disobeyed God, you did not believe in Christ, you insulted the divine signs, you disbelieved concerning Lazarus, you did not believe the blind who regained their sight. Then what do you say about these children? What do you legislate concerning the hymn of the nursing infants? Who, tell me, enlightened these? Who taught them? Or who roused them? Who made them wise? Who suddenly gave speech to the speechless, if not Christ, the pre-eternal Word?

Now the young, both children and infants, holding the breast with one hand and singing a hymn with angelic voice; holding the breast with one hand and with the other hand waving palm branches to Christ. The untaught nature, having become theological, immediately brings the prophetic word as a gift, a hymn to the God of the bodiless ones, and at the same time cries out, "Hosanna in the highest, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, God the Lord, and he has appeared to us." To this I, overjoyed and festive, take courage and ask these holy children in turn: "What do you say, O children of God, children who are hymn-singers? From where do you have this equal-weighted one, crying out the cherubic hymn? And how, seeing Christ on a colt in human fashion, do you cry out 'Hosanna in the highest' in a manner befitting God?" "Yes," say the divinely-speaking children to us, "Christ sits on a sensible colt, but he is nowhere separated from the Father's bosom; and he sits on the colt of a donkey, but he does not depart from the cherubic throne. But the same one below with flesh among mortals without fail, the same one thus also above with the Father, God unerring and true, the same one the Pantocrator, and Cosmocrator, and Ethnocrator, and true God, and provider, and planter, and guide, and Savior of all. The same one enters the lower Jerusalem and is not separated from the upper one; this one is the maker of the ages and from the ages and for the ages; this one is the one who alone stretched out the heaven; this one is the one who walks on the sea as on dry land; this one swaddled the sea with mist; this one placed locks on men; this one assigned boundaries to the seas.

He spread out the earth and suspended it upon nothing; he mixed the elements with all wisdom; he adorned the beauties of plants; he stretched out the heaven like a garment; he adorned it with bright luminaries. The cherubim shudder at him, and the seraphim tremble; the sun hymns him, the moon glorifies him, the stars praise him, the springs serve him, the abysses shudder at him, the Tartaroi fear him, the sea monsters yield to him, the dragons tremble at him, the rains serve him, the winds revere him. He established natures, he set in order creations, he arranged ranks. He is the God, our Lord, the maker of the creations above and below. And to him be the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.