De cruce et latrone

On the same day. A sermon of our father among the saints Chrysostom on the precious cross and on the thief. Bless, father. Let us begin on the day of the cross the discourse concerning the cross and crown the day, or rather be crowned by the memory of the day; for the cross is not crowned by what we utter, but from what we gratefully confess we receive the crowns from it. Today, brothers, the cross was planted and the world was sanctified, today the cross was planted and death was overturned, today the cross shone and demons were scattered, today the cross triumphed and the devil was put to shame, today the cross shone and death was conquered and man was freed and God was glorified. 2 Today among the Jews the earth was shaken, but among us the inhabited world is established, today the God-fighting audacity of the Jews split rocks, today the God-loving piety united the inhabited world. For it was fitting that the things of piety be joined together, and the things of impiety be split apart, as David says: "They were split apart and were not broken." Today among the Jews the sun from the sixth hour until the ninth hour produced darkness; for the creation did not bear the outrage against the creator. For it drew in its rays so that it might not become an observer of the God-fighting hatred, not because the outrage touched the divinity, but because what was done by those who dared was done as an outrage.

Today among the Jews the sun changed its ray; today grace among us turns night into day. For it is characteristic of piety to enjoy light even in darkness, and of impiety to be filled with darkness even in light. For the faithful, even night is reckoned as day, but for the unbelieving, even day is transformed into night. For this reason, when Scripture speaks of the faithful, it says: "And night is illumination in my delight, because darkness will not be darkened by you, and night will be illuminated as day." So for the faithful, even night is changed into day, but for the unbelieving, even day is turned into night, as the prophet cries out, saying: "They will grope like blind men along a wall and will walk in the day as at midnight." Today, brothers, Adam was cast out of paradise because of disobedience; today he is again brought into paradise. And the thief is witness. A thief went out and a thief came in; the one who stole contrary to the will of the commandment went out, and the one who stole salvation from the cross came in. I know I have spoken before about the thief, but the discourse of the cross has various accounts. That thief is put to death by wood; this thief harvests salvation from wood. Earthly things were not enough for him, but he also plundered heavenly things, not limiting himself in power, but conquering by faith. For this is the voice of the Lord saying: "The kingdom of heaven is forced, and forcible men seize it.

On the cross there are two thieves, an image of both Jews and Greeks, of those who first advanced in impiety and afterwards recognized the truth. The thief who remained a thief to the end is an image of the Jews. Up to the cross, they ran together with one another on the path of wickedness, and the cross divided the paths; for from the cross the two are separated, a path of destruction for the unbelieving and a path of salvation for the believing. There the thief learned the difference between the paths, "that the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the impious will perish." And see the discernment of God, so that you too may say with the prophet: "You are just, Lord, and your judgments are straight." For one sin Adam is banished from paradise; for one utterance of faith the thief is saved. One sin casts that one out of delight; one act of righteousness brings this one into delight. The thief entered paradise. O the wonder! Not even to Abraham was a promise of paradise given through an utterance; for he inherits through faith, but a promise of paradise he did not receive, not even before the thief. Here pay close attention, and having examined all of the old Scripture and the new, you will find that none of the righteous before the thief appears to have received the promise of paradise through an utterance—not Abraham, not Moses, not the prophets, not the apostles—but before all, the thief hears: "Truly, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." God called Abraham, saying: "Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house," and he did not say: so that you may inherit paradise, but "come to the land which I will show you.

God gave the law to Moses and promises the fruit of the commandments, the good things on earth: "If you keep the law of the Lord your God." Nowhere is there a promise of paradise before the thief. It is necessary to inquire why this promise was made to him before others and before such trustworthy men. Abraham believed in God, but he did not believe in him appearing in such insult; he believed in him speaking from heaven; he believed in him sending the word through holy angels and offering the command from his own authority. Isaiah also believed, but after seeing him in glory; Ezekiel also believed, but after beholding him upon the cherubim; the prophets also believed, but each saw his own master in glory in different ways, as it was possible for human nature to see. Moses believed, but he believed in God speaking from the midst of fire and darkness and trumpets and thunders; these things were sufficient to strengthen even the unbeliever. I say these things not to disparage the prophets but to defend the one who received paradise. He himself sees the savior not on a royal throne, not speaking in the heavens, not giving orders through an angel; he saw him in insult and worships him in glory; he saw him on the cross and entreats him as if he were sitting in heaven. He sees him being condemned and calls the crucified one king and says: "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." You see him crucified and you call the one in the glory of condemnation king?

For you who have devoted yourself to lawlessness did not read the law, you who have busied yourself with murders did not read the prophets, you did not read the divine law while sharpening your sword. From where were you taught to philosophize such things about Christ? Jews, who know the law, crucify; you, who are inexperienced in it, call the condemned man God, you worship the crucified one. Whom did he bring into the glory of the kingdom? We have spoken on behalf of the one who dared through deeds; for we do not imitate external characterization and personification, but we borrow the starting points of our arguments from the deeds themselves. Who taught you to say such things about him? The law, he says, did not teach me, but the hidden sun taught me. I saw it shudder at the outrage of the cross, I saw the earth split open and unable to bear the Christ-murdering beasts; I saw the rocks split as well. Rocks were split, but the ungrateful heart is not dissolved; the rocks were split, and the veil of the temple was rent in two. What is the veil? It is what we would call a curtain; for it is necessary to use this familiar term, from which everyone understands what the veil was, not because it is difficult to interpret, but because it is incomprehensible to many. The veil was a fabric woven of purple, scarlet, fine linen, and hyacinth. So when the cross

It was being torn, it says, the veil was rent from above to below; the rocks were split, the earth was shaken, the tombs were opened. The double door is rent because when a king and ruler is not in his own house, the veil certainly signifies the authority. But after the outrage against the most high God, the God who dwelt in the temple and the Holy Spirit departed from the temple, leaving the house desolate: "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." When the king of glory departed, the symbols of the kingdom were shattered; the tombs were shattered; he had not yet descended into Hades to set things right, and the earth could not bear the presence of the master; the rivers were shattered, unable to bear him who had come down from above to them; the tombs were shattered and gave up men, and they entered the holy city so as to leave the judgment without appeal. These things happened at the cross, and the Jews were mocking, saying, "If you are the son of God, come down from the cross and we will believe you." Consider how the voice of the children of the devil imitates that paternal voice. The devil says to the Savior on the pinnacle of the temple, "If you are the son of God, throw yourself down." Likewise the Jews: "If you are the son of God, come down from the cross and we will believe you.

They crucify with him also bandits, not because they hate bandits—for they were partners of bandits—but by the fellowship of the bandits they insult the master, and so that those present might see that he is judged for a crime of wickedness: "With bandits," they say, "let us crucify him who has done deeds like bandits." But Isaiah did not keep silent about the drama, but seeing the inequality of the suffering between the just man and the unjust, he said: "For the sins of the people he came to death and was counted among the lawless," that is, bandits. For the Jews did not hate bandits, but they wished by the fellowship of the bandits to insult the passion of Christ. That they did not hate bandits, Pilate says to them: "Whom shall I release to you, Jesus or Barabbas the bandit, who," he says, "for murder had been thrown into prison?" And they say: "Release Barabbas to us." The bandits sought the bandit and handed over the Lord to the cross, not overcoming by force but handing over by divine economy. Pilate says to them: "Shall I crucify your king?" And they say: "We have no king except Caesar." They denied the kingdom of God and were handed over to the kingdom of the Romans; since what they had they knew, what they asked for they received.

They brought also thorns to the cross, they brought also gall; and foreseeing these things, Moses cried out: “Crooked and perverse generation, do you repay the Lord thus? To the one who gave manna in the desert, do you bring gall?” Well then also Isaiah says: “I waited to produce a grape, but it produced thorns.” To the one who caused good things to bloom for you, do you bring a crown of thorns? Pilate spares them, and the Jews: “His blood is upon us and upon our children.” Let us also utter the same cry, but not from the same intention: “The blood of Christ is upon us and upon our children”—for them to condemnation, for us to righteousness. For the blood of Christ is not inferior to the Babylonian furnace; the furnace of Babylon honored the saints and consumed the Chaldeans. The precious blood knows how to destroy the unbelievers and to save the believers. Light befits the cross. For this alone dissolved the darkness of the demons. If not for the cross, we would be worshipping demons. The cross nailed down error, the cross caused holiness to bloom, the cross brought forth a ray of righteousness. Everything for us comes from the cross, and we belong to Christ, to whom are glory and power, together with the Father and the all-holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.