In illud Pater si possibile est

On the phrase, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." On Great Friday. The teachers of the Church are in no way unlike a mother who loves her children, enduring every toil and labor for the rearing of her dearest children. For just as she, offering her breast, provides the tireless nourishment of milk to her beloved, so also the teacher of the Church, putting forward the breast of his mind, invites the children of the Church to draw forth the milk of discourse with desire of soul. And just as the mother, after the period of rearing with milk, also dissolves the hard-to-break bread, and, having seasoned vegetable foods with condiments and softened them with fire, becomes a servant of the life of her own children, in the same way the teacher, after the catechesis of the divine scriptures, and, as it were, after the milk-feeding, having dissolved the hard-to-interpret bread of discourse with the knife of the spirit, and having brought together the various and different interpretations and scriptural contemplations into one blend of teaching, imparts the discourse, made savory, to the children nourished by him.

Therefore, beloved, having nourished you in the preceding days with straightforward words like milk, let us now lead you to the contemplation of teachings, as the Holy Spirit seasons the discourse of instruction for your enjoyment. The bread of discourse set before us on the table of the Scriptures is this: Why did our Lord Jesus Christ, having come to undergo suffering and death for the life of all, upon arriving at the glorious cross say, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me"? For many, not having understood the purpose of the wisdom, nor having attended to the hidden treasure in the saying, accuse him of cowardice. But come, beloved, let us for now converse with him as children, so that we may convey to you the meanings from him as to children. Let us therefore say to him, not as mature persons, but as children: "Why, Lord, having come to suffer for us, having come to be crucified, do you shrink back and pray, saying, 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? If you emptied yourself, taking the form of a servant, with no one compelling you, why do you now ask another and say, 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass'? Yet you were constrained and eager to drink this cup. For you said, 'I have a baptism to undergo; and how I am constrained until I drink it.' And the one constrained and eager to drink it, you now beg off and say, 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass.' Did you not know that you were about to undergo death for us? Yet you yourself said that—

It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed and crucified and rise on the third day. Why then, when you came near the cross, do you beg and say, "If possible, let this cup pass"? And if this was your intention, why did you rebuke your disciple Peter when he tried to prevent you? For you said, "It is necessary that the Son of Man be crucified and buried and rise on the third day." And Peter also said, "Mercy on you, Lord, this shall not happen to you"; at which you became indignant and said, "Get behind me, Satan; you are a stumbling block to me, because you do not think the things of God, but the things of men." If, then, you rebuked him then, as one speaking human thoughts, why do you now seek what he then prevented, and say, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass"? We learn that you are the creator of the visible and the invisible; for you healed diseases by the touch of your hand, and you fixed the dissolved bodies of the dead by a word, and you dried up sources of blood with the hems of garments, from five loaves you fed five thousand men to satiety, you rebuked winds and sea, and all obeyed you in trembling; and the creator of so many wonders, and the deliverer from deaths, now fears death, and says, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass"? And if you fear death, in whom then shall we have hopes of life? And if you fear death, how do you say, "I am the life and the resurrection"? For life and resurrection never fear death. And what is it that you say, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass"? Do you then not know, you who know all things before their generation, do you not know whether it is possible or impossible for the cup to pass?

And how did you say, "No one knows the Father except the Son"? And you know the Father, than whom there is nothing greater, but do you not know whether the cup, if possible, can pass? How also does Paul say, "There is no creation hidden before him, but all things are naked and exposed to his eyes"? And again, "For the Word of God is life, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and critical of the thoughts and intentions of the heart." If, then, there is no creation hidden before him, but all things are naked and exposed to his eyes, how do you now, as if ignorant, say, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me," unless there is some hidden mystery in the saying? This saying is not fitting for you, Lord; for you are God, Son of God, Word, wisdom, power, light, sun of righteousness, immortal spring, eternal life, resurrection of us who have been put to death by sin. "Father, if possible, let this cup pass." Oh, how difficult to grasp is the saying, and hard to contemplate, and hard to discern! Oh, how narrow and constrained it is for many people! Teach us, Lord, this mystery of your saying; for we are yours, and we have believed in you.

Let not the giant Eunomius be lifted up in his blasphemy, nor let him reproach the camp of the Lord of Israel; for he reproaches us, but the insult runs back to you, our Master. Rouse the mind that lies within our heart, as the most gentle David; give us one stone of reason, that by slinging it we may shatter the head of their impiety, so that the whole camp may know today that you are the Lord most high, alone over all the earth. A great assembly of heretics presses upon us; what does it say? Do you see how it fears and trembles? Do you see how it prays to the Father, saying, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass"? Now Eunomius rejoices, now Arius exults, as though they have found words that whistle blasphemy against the truth. But let not all the aliens rejoice; for the yoke of him who strikes us has been broken. God is with us. Know, nations, and be vanquished. For if you prevail again, you will be vanquished again, and whatever counsel you take, the Lord will scatter. For the mouth of the Lord spoke these words: "Father, if possible, let this cup pass." O cup filled with life and immortality! which Eunomius and Arius, having taken and clouded with their own evil faith, give to their neighbor a treacherous draught, thinking the sweet mixture of thoughts in it to be bitter, and not fearing the "Woe" cry, as Scripture says: "Woe to him who gives his neighbor a treacherous draught!" Woe to those who call the bitter sweet and the sweet bitter; who set light as darkness and darkness as light!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and knowledgeable before themselves! But we, beloved, taking the cup of our Lord, let us draw out the teaching that fills it with the desire of our soul. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass. Not as you think, Arius, does our Lord shrink in fear, or speak these things because he fears death; for how could he who has power to die and not to die be afraid? For he says: I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it again. For if he were compelled by someone, you would rightly say he shrinks; but now he himself says, I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it again; that is to say: I am not compelled by anyone, since he also said: I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it again; but just as I emptied myself, taking the form of a slave, with no one compelling me, and I built my own body. For wisdom built a house for herself; in the same way I can also raise my body, dissolved by death, through life. For I am the one who says, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it. So then, not shrinking, nor fearing death, do I say these things, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass, but I put forward the word of a hidden mystery. This saying is a bait for the devil; I must hook him with these words.

The devil saw me performing many signs—that I healed diseases by the touch of my hand, that I put legions of demons to flight with a word, that I scraped away the leprous eruptions like bran with my word, that I set paralyzed knees firm with a voice, that I rebuked the winds and the sea, and all obeyed me in trembling. And from these very deeds, having observed that I am the Son of God, he understood that, "If I am crucified, he is destroyed; if I descend into the underworld, I will shatter his iron bolts and crush his bronze gates." And having observed these things, fearing, he flees to set up my most precious trophy, the cross. What then do I do? Like a wise fisherman, I pretend to be timid, I pretend to fear death, and I say: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass by," so that he, from such humble words of mine, thinking me to be a cowardly man fleeing death, might hasten to set up in the midst of the earth the wooden mystery of the cross, as he thinks, against me. Therefore I must, like a wise fisherman, contrive against him; I must endure all for the sake of the life of all. For if he contrived from the beginning for the destruction of Adam, much more will I contrive for the salvation of all. With deceitful words he deceived Adam; with divine words the deceiver will be deceived. "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass by from me." If the fisherman, when he lowers the hook into the sea, does not sometimes yield to the hook, and sometimes show the worm as if fleeing, drawing back with his hand, the fish do not leap forth.

I placed the worm of the body upon my hook of divinity; I let down the hook hidden in the worm of the body into the depth of this life; if the worm does not move like a worm, the one who ought to be hooked does not come to the hook. I must therefore form myself as a worm, and speak: "For I am a worm, and not a man," so that he may rush up and touch the hook, and be drawn up by me, and what is written in Job be fulfilled: "You will draw the serpent with a hook." I become like a man who is afraid, I become like one fleeing death; I say, "My soul is sorrowful unto death"; I say, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass." Hearing these words, he rejoices and is delighted; for he hastens to do the opposite of what I do. When he hears, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass," he is delighted; and what does he say to himself? "This too is a man. I have swallowed Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs and the prophets; I will swallow this one too. For behold, like a man, he is afraid; he is a man; I will swallow him." He swallows me as a man, and

He will find me in his belly as God at work. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass. Let him swallow the leaven of the body, and he will find the inextinguishable coal of the divinity, dreadfully burning him from within. For I came to cast fire upon the earth. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass. I will speak as a lamb; I do not wish him to see the gleaming sword of the divinity, lest the wolf flee. Let him swallow me as a lamb, and he will be pierced from within by the three-edged sword. For I came not to cast peace upon him, but a sword. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass. I hide the shepherd God in the lamb of the body; I do not wish to reveal the shepherd God, lest the wolf flee. If he sees the shepherd, the wolf withdraws. I will speak as a lamb. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass. I will speak as a lamb having no shepherd; for I became as a helpless man. Let him swallow me as a lamb, and he will be crushed from within by the shepherd with the staff of the cross. He will chew the grain of mustard, and he will find the pungency of the divinity dreadfully torturing him; he will chew me as a man, and he will find the hard rock violently shattering his teeth, so that he may learn no longer to chew men. And what is written will be fulfilled: "But God will shatter his teeth in his mouth." Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass. If he knew what this cup is, which I with irony deprecate, he would pray that it pass; for it is a goad against him, but for my own it is salvation.

When he swallows me, then he will perceive whom he has swallowed; when he sees through me the sun vanishing, the day darkened, then he himself will be embittered; and what is written will be fulfilled: Hades below was embittered when it met you. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass. Let such words spoken in wisdom not scandalize you; receive them and you will see the outcome of my words, and then you will marvel at the wisdom of my words. He thinks my device is foolish; and he does not know that the foolishness of God is wiser than men; he thinks from such things that I am most weak, and he does not know that the weakness of God is stronger than men; he does not know that I drink the cup, but he will be intoxicated and darkened, while my own will be awakened and roused. Now he rejoices hearing such words of mine, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass; but when he swallows me, when he sees rocks split, and tombs and graves burst open, and that one himself rent, and the dead leaping up and springing into the heavens, then he will repent and mourn over what he now rejoices in. He does not know that the trap he sets he sets for himself, and he himself will fall into it, according to what is written: He dug a pit, and dug it out, and will fall into the hole he made; he does not know that the cross he is about to set up is for me a bridal chamber, for him a cross; for me it is a wedding room, for him death.

O cup, goad of the devil, banishment of demons, winnower of sins, workshop of life, mercy for sinners, cup of immortality! Yet not as I wish, but as you. The wretch knew that all I said came to pass; he heard me saying, “I thank you, Father, that you heard me,” but I knew that you always hear me. Now, since I prayed to pass by the cup of death, so that he might not, thinking that through my prayer the cup was passing by, become careless about the matter of the cross, I make the outcome of my prayer ambiguous and say, “Yet not as I wish, but as you.” I attach to my Father the authority over death, although I myself have authority to lay down my life and authority to take it again. I conceal my divine dignity with rational leaves; I conceal my authoritative power of divinity with human words. I say, “Not as I wish, but as you.” The blind one does not know that my will and that of my Father are one. For everything that the Father has is mine, and “I and the Father are one.” Yet not as I wish, but as you. He will hang the grain of wheat, and when he swallows me, he will see himself terribly strangled by the third rope. But perhaps one of the hearers will say, “Did Christ then mock the devil? Or was it permissible to mock him?” To him we will say, “Read the Scriptures, and you will find the Father himself saying to Moses, ‘Do you see how much I have mocked the Egyptians?’ Therefore the Lord also mocked the devil and the demons. For it was necessary that he who boasted greatly and said,

I will do it by my own strength, and by the skill of my hands I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will seize the whole inhabited world like a nest, and I will sweep it away like abandoned eggs, and there will be no one to oppose me. Therefore it was necessary that he be mocked, and the demons as well, so that he might demonstrate that those who boast of such things are even more foolish than children. Hence they did not even know what they were doing; for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And the prophet also foretold concerning this serpent, that he would be mocked, saying: This serpent, whom you created to mock him. But so that we may not, by prolonging the discourse excessively, seem to hinder those after us who wish to expound the meaning of Scripture more clearly, let us here bring our discourse to a close in silence. For we were led to speak on this very subject, not as being able to speak exhaustively, but to expound according to our own ability, and to give an occasion to those who love learning; for give an occasion to a wise man, and he will become wiser. And you, beloved, by gathering from the Scriptures in support of what has been said, whiten the difficult meaning more greatly.

For it is not out of cowardice that our Lord, as we said before, deprecates the cup of death, but by divine economy; so that from my most humble words and thoughts and from your labors, glory may be sent up to Christ, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.