In passionem salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi

A discourse of Chrysostom on the passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ for the holy and great Sabbath. When I behold the greatness of the master and consider the outrages of his patient philanthropy, my mind is astonished: how he who received all judgment from the Father stood before Pilate to be judged, how the potter was judged by the clay. For what of the most absurd did he not endure for us? He who had purchased all things was sold, he who had made the tree of life was brought to the tree of death, and struck by a hand he endured, he who gave back a withered hand restored to health, and he endured spittings, he who creates eyes with spittle and clay. He endured the pains from the nails, he who had terrified those who attacked him with a breath, and he gave his back to blows, he who had tormented Egypt with ten plagues. But oh, the ingratitude of the Jews! Do you repay the Lord with these things? For what good thing, O Jew, have you not enjoyed? Having eaten manna, you offered gall; having received water from a rock, you gave vinegar to drink; having been born a man from a virgin earth, you do not accept him born of a virgin, but you nail to a cross the judge as a condemned man, and you plot to put to death the resurrection. But behold all things, even if you are impious toward the power of the crucified one. He was nailed to the wood and he moved creation; he hung and he shook that which bore him. I pity your blindness, O Jew. The ground trembled and you laughed while striking him; the elements were in upheaval and you paraded the outrage. Prophesy for us, Jesus, who it is that struck you.

The word itself trembles in recounting the passion, yet even trembling it does not silence what happened, so that those who look on may not have feared and those who hear may not be ashamed. What then occurred in these events? The sun was withering, seeing the creator being put to death. The master was dying willingly, and the light did not wish to live, but the creation died together with the creator. But you, even with these things having happened, did not hasten to repentance. A strange and paradoxical thing: above, it banished the sun, and below, it was shut in a tomb, and a stone was placed upon the rock, and death held life, and night hid the true morning star, and soldiers guarded the king of the heavens as a fugitive, and the seals of the Jews guarded the seal of faith. But then one could see an astonishing and paradoxical sight. For the tomb, having received Jesus with a seal, kept the seals but did not preserve the deposit, so that what was written might be fulfilled: that you will not abandon my soul to Hades. And it is no wonder if the tomb did not hold Jesus for three days, when the voice raised Lazarus on the fourth day. Glory to him for ever and ever. Amen.