Oratio de exaltatione Crucis

Encomium on the Precious and Life-Giving Cross Come now also today, O blessed Paul, leaving behind the over-curious arguments of the Stoics, by the wisdom of the Spirit, as a spiritual man comparing spiritual things with spiritual, seal in us also the word of the cross, which you faithfully sealed for the Corinthians, saying: the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. The divine grace of the cross, proclaimed through Paul, illuminated the world. The Lord did not lie, brothers, when he said about him to Ananias: this one is a chosen vessel for me to bear my name before the nations. This Paul, by the grace of the cross of Christ, both obliterated the noise of the rhetors and refuted the myths of the poets, saying somewhere: where is the wise man, where is the scribe, where is the disputant of this age? He also cast down the pride of the philosophers and the precincts of the temples, saying: if anyone seems to be wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise. For the foolishness of God, he says, is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. He showed to all both the destruction of the idols and the dissolution of the oracles, the flight of the demons and the lamentation of the devil, the death of death and the stripping of the tombs, the resurrection of the dead and the steadfastness of the martyrs, the contests of the athletes and the speed of the runners, the valorous deeds of the soldiers and the prizes of the crowns. In all these things, brothers, he beautifully hymned the power of the cross, saying:

Let it not be for me to boast except in the cross of Christ. Since you, O blessed Paul, have contended well in the noble contest and have obtained the crown, but the children of the Greeks and the Jews sit by laughing at the discourse concerning the cross, not understanding the greatness of the proclamation, but only the reproachfulness of the cross, and this they bring forward as an insult, saying, we shall magnify our tongue, our lips are with us, who is our lord? Arm our soul, forge our resolve, sharpen our tongue, strengthen our mind, make our voice fluent, in all things cooperate as a good umpire, having taken from the God Logos strength of words for us, who said through the Gospel, do not be anxious about what you will say, for speech will be given to you, so that by speech we may strengthen the word of truth, and refute the irrational and shameless counsel of the Greeks and Jews; that counsel which God also through the prophet Isaiah rejected, saying, I will turn the wise back, and I will make their counsel foolish.

Let the cross come into the midst today, the cross that conquered Egypt—Egypt of idolatry, Egypt the impure and God-fighting. So many plagues sent by God were inflicted upon Egypt in the time of Moses, beloved, and yet the shameless and blasphemous one did not repent, but cried out saying, "I do not know the Lord." Have you ever seen such a shameless and impudent face? Let the prophet Jeremiah speak concerning her synagogue of like character, or rather to all those who possess dark impiety: "A harlot's face has come upon you; you have become shameless before all." Have you seen the lawless, profane, and Egyptian people, shameless before the great wonders of God, saying, "I do not know the Lord"? But then the Egyptians were disobedient and so heedless. Today, beloved, after the coming of the Savior, after the cross and the death which he accepted for our sake, after the resurrection from the dead and his ascent into the heavens, so many punishments have been and are being inflicted upon the Egyptians, and they do not deny the cross—rather, they do not deny the crucified Christ, but together with the whole world they worship the Lord whom they blasphemously did not know; they worship him whom they formerly denied; they hymn the Lord who led the Israelite people out of their land with a mighty hand and a high arm. They hymn the one who struck Egypt with ten plagues. O new and paradoxical wonder! In the time of Moses, the Egyptians, while being scourged—or rather, to speak the truth, while being put to death—did not believe in God, but with shameless mouth cried out, "I do not know the Lord.

And today, after the cross of the Only-Begotten, they confess the offenses they previously committed, they confess as David bears witness to the one who performed great wonders in Egypt, in the land of Ham, fearful things on the Red Sea, and they sing that song which Moses taught the people against them in the desert, and they say, "This is my God, and I will glorify him." Have you seen the grace of the cross? Have you seen the power of the crucified one? Have you seen how after the cross the Egyptians glorify the God whom they previously denied, and they say, "This is my God, and I will glorify him"? O the ineffable grace of the Only-Begotten! O the unspeakable philanthropy of the Word of God! That the God who existed before the ages endured to become man for our sake; he endured to become man, so that he might make men of men, so that he might make men of the Egyptians, or rather of all men who previously lived an irrational and nomadic life. For though formed in honor, they lived in dishonor, as the blessed David bears witness, saying, "A man being in honor did not understand." Since, then, they lived in dishonor, the Lord submitted to being struck by men on the cross, so that the devil might no longer strike us; he submitted to being struck, so that he might heal our wounds. And this I do not say, but Isaiah bears witness: "By his wound we were healed." Christ was spat upon. This one, having spat, healed the man blind from birth; the face brighter than the sun was spat upon. For this is the perceptible sun, but Christ is proclaimed the sun of righteousness by the prophets. I do not say this.

Malachi bears witness concerning him: "The sun of righteousness will rise for you who fear the Lord," he says, "and healing in its wings." Christ was spat upon in the face, so that Isaiah might be proven true, saying, "His face did not turn away from the shame of spittings." The Lover of Mankind died for us as a man, so that he might kill the death of men, so that all of us, boasting with Paul, might say: "Where is your sting, death? Where is your victory, Hades?" I am not ashamed of the cross, beloved brothers, for being dead through sin, I came to life through it. I do not blush at the Lord's passion, for through it I rose from the lowest Hades; and indeed, praying to the Lord himself, I sing with the prophet, saying: "Lord, you brought up my soul from Hades." Through the cross I have become a citizen of heaven, and I have flown from the netherworld to the heavens. And Paul bears witness to this, saying that our citizenship is in the heavens. The life of all flesh was delivered to death, so that he might free all from the death which Adam procured. The one who gives food to all flesh, Jesus, hungered, so that he might heal the sin through Adam's eating. And what food did Christ receive instead of that one from the Jews? You heard him through the prophet saying: "And they put gall into my food." He thirsted again, the one who brought forth waters like rivers from the rock. He thirsted, the one who gave drink to the ungrateful people in the desert. He thirsted, the one who provided water from the sheer rock to the Jews, as Paul bears witness that they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

He thirsted, and what drink they gave him as a cure for his thirst, hear David saying: "And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." He was hung on a cross, he who hung up the heaven without beams. And he was stripped of his garments, he who clothes the firmament with clouds. He was hung on the cross, he who fixed the earth upon the waters, and he was condemned to death, he who judges every living creature. And that he himself is the judge of all, hear him through the one who says: "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." The Lord was bound on the cross, he who releases those who are bound from the prison house, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. Jesus was bound, he who released Lazarus, bound by the bonds of death. Jesus Christ and God was judged by men, he who is before the ages, the king of glory was judged by Pilate, he was judged by a governor and kept silent, so that Isaiah might be proven true, saying: "He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and while being judged he does not open his mouth." Thus the Jews were put to shame, thus the devil, thinking to kill, was killed. The Lord set up a trophy against him: he set up the cross and in this he put him to death. This wood, foreseeing, the prophet cried out, saying: "You crushed the heads of the dragons upon the water. You shattered the head of the dragon, you gave him as food to the Ethiopian peoples." For from that time onward even children play with his head, since Jesus brought down his power through the cross.

They clothed the Lord: as John the Evangelist says, in purple; but Matthew and Mark say, in a scarlet cloak, and they placed a crown of thorns on his head and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling down, they worshipped him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews." Truly a great wonder and a paradoxical thing, indicative of Christ's victory and a sign of his great grace. And hear how. The one whom they condemned to death as a man, they worshipped as a god when they saw him; and the one whom they despised as worthless, they called king; and the one whose clothes they stripped off in mockery, they clothed in purple; and the one whom they denied knowing, they addressed as prophet, saying, "Prophesy for us, Christ, who struck you?" And the one whom they mocked by striking with a reed, to him they gave the victor's prize: they clothed him in a scarlet cloak and placed a crown of thorns on his head and a reed in his right hand. And you, lawless Jews, dare to do such things against Christ, but he, through these very things you do, despoils the devil. For because the earth was being murdered by the enemy through sin, and more than waters with the blood of men—first receiving the blood of the righteous Abel, and from then on, as men mixed blood upon blood, just as the prophet says that curse and falsehood and murder and theft and adultery are poured out upon the earth, and they mix blood upon blood.

And for this reason the earth became accursed, when God said to Cain, "Cursed is the earth that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." And even before this, because of Adam's disobedience, the earth had been punished and condemned to produce thorns and thistles. Since, then, the earth was filled with blood and thorns, and was despairing over its condemnation, the prophetic choir cried out: "I was turned to misery when a thorn was fixed in me." For this reason, Jesus, going to the cross, consented to bear these things, so that through them he might revoke the curse of the earth. For before the cross and the passion of the Lord, the enemy held sway over all, and the tyrant, holding the bond of our sins against us, greatly exulted. But when Christ bore this on the cross, it became invalid. And the blood that defiled the earth he took up in the scarlet cloak, and its thorns in the crown, and the bond against us in the reed; for with this the devil formerly wrote down our sins, so that our Savior and God might destroy these things together with death through the cross, and, having purified all creation, grant us, instead of the thorns of the curse, the tree of life, the cross, and instead of the blood of sin, his own holy and good blood, concerning which David said: "Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Oh, what great things are these for us! Christ poured out his own blood upon the earth, and immediately he wiped away the blood of sin. Christ emptied his blood upon the earth, and instead of thorns and thistles, through a three-day burial, life and immortality arose for the world—life revealed to us through faith. Concerning this, David also cried out, saying, "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living." Jesus wore a crown of thorns, so that he might remove our anxiety and not allow the deception of life to stifle his divine seed, which he sowed in us, but rather cause it to bear fruit, just as he promised: some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold. Again, the Lord received a reed in his right hand against the devil himself. How? I will tell you. The reed is a destroyer of serpents. And we know that by this, more than by anything else, they are destroyed. So Jesus, taking this reed, waged war against the great and destructive serpent—that one concerning whom Isaiah also said that the Lord would bring the holy sword against the dragon, against the crooked serpent, the great devil. Therefore, Jesus Christ pursued the devil, holding the reed in his hand, the deadly weapon of the great beast. For with this reed he dealt a fatal blow to the devil. And just as David did then against Goliath, after striking him with the stone on the forehead, then running and taking his sword, he cut off his head and, carrying it, sang, saying:

the sinner was caught in the works of his hands. This also the Savior did upon the cross: taking the reed in his hand from the Jews, the sons of the devil, he thereby put the devil to death. That those who do the works of the devil are sons of the devil, the Lord bears witness, saying to the Jews: "You are from your father the devil, and you wish to do the works of your father." Nevertheless, let us return to the matter at hand. After the tyrant fell this great fall, and the Lord's word was fulfilled, which says, "I beheld Satan falling like lightning from heaven." Then the Jews placed the cross upon the Lord, making it the greatest sign of his victory. For as long as the devil stood, the peoples held the wood; but when he received a mortal blow and fell, then Christ was revealed as victor. And taking the trophy for himself, he bore the cross. For it was necessary, it was necessary that the one who was to conquer the one holding power over death, that is, the devil, should himself bear the trophy against the enemy. And in it, to triumph over him and the evil demons. According to John, brothers, Christ bore the cross himself; according to Matthew and the other evangelists, Simon of Cyrene bore it. But this is not contrary to those accounts—far from it, for the apostles do not write contradictory things; rather, both happened: the Savior bore the cross himself, and again Simon carried it. And there is also a spiritual interpretation for this.

For Christ bore the cross as a trophy against the devil, to show that he came willingly and not under compulsion to the cross. And Simon also bore it again, to show to all that he was not crucified for his own sake, but for us human beings and for our salvation. For the Lord did everything for our sake. For instance, Christ himself submitted to having his garments removed, so that he might clothe us in the garment of incorruption, concerning which Paul says, "As many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." He also put on a seamless tunic, woven throughout from above, so that through this we might believe who and whence the one who put it on had come. For the God Word did not come to us from below but from above. This tunic, then, the soldiers did not dare to divide. Why? To show that the great only-begotten Word and Son of the great Father is indivisible. The other garments, however, they divided into four parts, casting lots, so that the prophecy of David might be fulfilled, which says, "They divided my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothing," and to show to all that the Lord was working for the salvation of the whole four-part inhabited world. The seamless tunic of the Savior remained undivided. Let the Arians and Eunomians, who divide the Son from the substance of the Father, hear that the soldiers did not dare to divide the tunic of the Savior, that is, the incarnation of the divinity.

And these, dividing, speak of great and small, and again of the small, making the Spirit smaller, even though they hear Christ saying, "I and the Father are one." And concerning the Spirit, Paul again cries out, "The Lord is the Spirit." The tunic of the Savior was seamless, that is, Christ's body was not stitched together from man and woman, but from a virgin alone, woven by the craft of the Holy Spirit, as the angel bears witness, saying to the virgin, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." These things being so, beloved, he then comes to the place called Golgotha, bearing the cross for himself. And having gone up onto the wood, he took the bond of our sins against us from the hands of the enemy and nailed it to the cross, and tearing it with the nails, he rendered it invalid. And having become obedient unto death, according to Paul, and death by the cross, he thus prepared for us the ascent to the heavens. And the truth itself, Jesus Christ, bears witness to my words, saying, "Father, I wish that where I am, these also may be with me." For being immortal, the God Word suffered in the flesh for us, so that we who die because of the deceiving devil might rise together with the Lord in power, as it says, "Arise, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.

For this reason Christ took a body like ours, so that he might clothe our perishable nature with incorruption and our mortal nature with immortality, and so that death might no longer rule over us, as Paul bears witness saying, "Death no longer has dominion over you." For by his own death, Jesus Christ and God put to death the death that was against us, to whom belong glory, power, honor, and worship, together with his Father and his all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.