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 the day of the cross with the discourse concerning the cross, and let us crown the day, or rather let us 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 crowns from it. Today, brothers, the cross was planted and the world was sanctified; today the cross was planted and death was overthrown; today the cross shone and demons were scattered; today the cross gave the prize and the devil was put to shame; today the cross shone and death was conquered, man was freed, and God was glorified. 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 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 pierced." Today among the Jews the sun produced darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth; for the creation could not bear the outrage against the creator. It drew in its rays so that it might not become a spectator 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 transformed its ray; today grace among us turns night into day. For it is characteristic of piety to enjoy light even in darkness, while impiety is filled with darkness even in light. For the faithful, even night is reckoned as day; for the unbelieving, even day is transformed into night. Therefore, 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; 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 daytime as at midnight." Today, brothers, Adam was cast out of paradise because of his 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 on the cross has various narratives. 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 prevailing by faith. For this is the voice of the Lord saying: "The kingdom of heaven is forced, and those who force it seize it.

On the cross there are two thieves, an image of the Jews and the Greeks, of those who first traveled in impiety and afterward recognized the truth. An image of the Jews is the thief who is a thief until the end; an image of the Greeks is the thief who is saved. For the two thieves are the two peoples, the Jews and the Greeks, who until the cross 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 of the paths, that the Lord knows the path of the righteous and the path of the impious will perish. And see the discernment of God, so that you too may say with the prophet: Righteous are you, Lord, and straight are your judgments. 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 righteousness settles 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 after examining the whole of the ancient Scripture and the new, you will find that none of the righteous appear before the thief to have received the promise by a voice—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 that I will show you.” To Moses God gave the law and promises the fruit of the commandments, the earthly goods: “If you keep the law of the Lord your God.” Nowhere is there a promise of paradise before the thief. It is necessary, however, to inquire why he made this promise to this man before others and before such trustworthy men. Abraham trusted God, but he trusted him not when he appeared to him in such humiliation; he trusted him speaking from heaven, he trusted him sending forth the word through holy angels and offering the command from his own authority. Isaiah also trusted, but after seeing him in glory; Ezekiel also trusted, but after beholding him upon the cherubim; the prophets also trusted, but each saw his own master in glory in different ways, as it was possible for human nature to see. Moses trusted, but he trusted God speaking from the midst of fire and darkness and trumpets and thunders; these things were sufficient to steel 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 from the heavens, not issuing commands through an angel; he saw him in humiliation and worships him in glory; he saw him on the cross and entreats him as if he were seated in heaven. He sees him condemned and calls the crucified one king, and says: "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." You see him crucified and call him king, the one in the glory of condemnation? Have you not read the law, you who have busied yourself with lawlessness? Have you not read the prophets, you who have busied yourself with murders? Have you not read the divine law, you who have sharpened the sword? From where were you taught to philosophize such things about Christ? The Jews, who know the law, crucify him; you, who are ignorant of it, call the condemned one 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 subjects from the deeds themselves. Who taught you to say such things on his behalf? The law, he says, did not teach me, but the hidden sun taught me. I saw him shudder at the outrage of the cross; I saw the earth split open, unable to bear the Christ-murdering beasts; I saw the rocks split. 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 curtain? It is what we would call a veil. For I must use this familiar term, by which everyone understands what the curtain was—not because I am explaining something difficult, but because it is incomprehensible to many. The curtain was a woven fabric made of purple, scarlet, fine linen, and hyacinth. So when the cross was being set up, it says, the curtain was rent from top to bottom; the rocks were split, the earth was shaken, the tombs were opened. The double door is rent because when a king or ruler is not present in his own house, the curtain certainly signifies his 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 in order, and the earth could not bear the presence of its master; the rivers were shattered, unable to bear him who had come down to them from above; the tombs were shattered and gave up the dead, who entered the holy city so that they might leave the judgment undecided.

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 a robber, not because they hated robbers—for they were partners of robbers—but in order to insult the Master by the fellowship of robbers, and so that those present might see that he is judged for a charge of wickedness: “With robbers,” they say, “let us crucify the one who has done deeds like robbers.” But Isaiah did not keep silent about the drama; rather, seeing the inequality of the suffering in the case of the just and the unjust, he said, “He came to death for the sins of the people, and he was counted among the lawless,” that is, among robbers. For the Jews did not hate robbers, but they wished to insult the passion of Christ by the fellowship of robbers.

That they did not hate the robber, Pilate says to them: Whom shall I release to you, Jesus or Barabbas the robber, who, he says, had been thrown into prison for murder? And they say: Release Barabbas to us. The robbers sought the robber and handed over the Lord to the cross, not overcome by force but delivering him up by the 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 Roman kingdom; since they were ignorant of what they had, they received what they asked for. They brought thorns to the cross, they also brought gall, and foreseeing these things Moses cried out: Crooked and perverse generation, do you give these things in return to the Lord? To the one who gave manna in the desert, do you bring gall? Well then, Isaiah also 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 upon us and upon our children.

Let us also utter the same cry, though not from the same intention: The blood of Christ upon us and upon our children—for them a condemnation, for us a justification. 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, but to save the believers. Light befits the cross. For it alone dispersed the darkness of the demons. If not for the cross, we would be worshipping demons. The cross cast 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 is the glory and the power, together with the Father and the all-holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.