My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
+
HOMILY ON THE PRECIOUS AND LIFE-GIVING CROSS FROM THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Introduction
"One Lord was trampled on by Death" writes Saint Ephraim the Syrian (306-383 A.D.). "And in His turn trod out a way over Death...Our Lord bare His Cross and went forth according to the will of Death: but He cried upon the Cross (Matthew 27:50-52) and brought forth the dead from within Sheol (Hades) against the will of Death. For in that very thing by which Death had slain Him, that is, the body, in that as armor He bore off the victory over Death. But the Divinity concealed itself in the manhood and fought against Death. Death slew and was slain. Death slew the natural life; and the supernatural Life slew him. And because Death was not able to devour Him without a body, nor Sheol (Hades) to swallow Him up without the flesh, He came unto the Virgin, that from thence He might obtain that which should bear Him to Sheol...With the body that was from the Virgin He entered Sheol. He entered Sheol and plundered its storehouses and emptied its treasures. He came then to Eve the Mother of living...He Who is the medicine of life flew down from heaven, and was mingled in the body, the mortal fruit. And when Death came to feed after his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up Death. This is the Food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one Fruit which Death came to feed after his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up death. This is the Food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one Fruit which Death swallowed up hungrily, he vomited up many lives which he had swallowed greedily...The stomach of Death was disordered, and he was vomiting forth the Medicine of life which had sickened it. He vomited forth along with it also those lives that had been swallowed by him with pleasure.
"This is the Son of the carpenter, Who skillfully made His Cross a bridge over Sheol (Hades) that swallowed up all, and brought over mankind into the dwelling of life. And because it was through the tree that mankind had fallen into Sheol, so upon the Tree they passed over into the dwelling of life. Through the tree then wherein bitterness was tasted, through it also sweetness was tasted, that we might learn of Him that amongst the creatures nothing resists Him. Glory be to Thee, Who didst lay Thy Cross as a bridge over death, that souls might pass over upon it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life!"
For the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Saint Kosmas the Melodist, Bishop of Maiuma (7th century) chants, "O thrice-blessed Tree, on which Christ the King and Lord was stretched! Through thee the beguiler fell, who tempted mankind with a tree. He was caught in the trap set by God, Who was crucified upon thee in the flesh."
Saint Gregory of Nyssa (335-395 A.D.) comments, "For truly, to those who are able to see, the mystery of the Cross is especially contemplated in the law. Therefore, the Gospel says somewhere that not one iota or one tittle shall pass away from the law (Matthew 5:18), signifying in these words the vertical and horizontal lines by which the form of the Cross is drawn."
At the Feast of the Cross, we chant, "Thou four ends of the earth are sanctified today by the Exaltation of the Cross with its four arms." Saint Gregory of Nyssa speaks of the symbolic implications of the physical attributes of the Cross, saying, "This is the very thing we learn from the figure of the Cross: that He Who was stretched upon it binds together all things unto Himself, and by Himself brings to one harmonious agreement the diverse natures of actual existences." Saint Paul prays that Christ might dwell in our hearts through the Faith, which has been rooted and founded in love, in order that we might be able to apprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height (cf. Ephesians 3:17-18). Saint Gregory of Nyssa says the Apostle "is describing by the figure of the Cross the power that controls and holds together the universe, when he expresses a desire that they may be exalted to know the exceeding glory of this power, calling it height, and depth, and breadth, and length...it manifests a great mystery: that both things in Heaven, and things under the earth, and all the furthest bounds of the things that are, are ruled and sustained by Him Who gave an example of this unspeakable and mighty power in the figure of the Cross."
Saint Kosmas chants to the Cross, saying, "Stretched out in wondrous fashion, the Cross sent forth rays as the sun, and 'the heavens declared the glory of the our God' (Psalm 18:1). Saint Ephraim the Syrian chants, "The height and the depth have been reconciled in Him!"
The Tree of Life
Saint Irenaeos (130-236 A.D.), Bishop of Lyons writes: "The sin that was wrought through the tree was undone by the obedience of the Tree, obedience to God whereby the Son of Man was nailed to the Tree, destroying the knowledge of evil, and bringing in and conferring the knowledge of good...so by the obedience, whereby He obeyed unto death, hanging on the tree, He undid the old disobedience wrought in the tree. And because He is Himself the Logos/Word of God Almighty, Who in His invisible form pervades us universally in the whole world, and encompasses both its length and breadth and height, and depth--for by God's Logos/Word everything is disposed and administered--the Son of God was also crucified in these, imprinted in the form of a Cross on the universe; for He had necessarily, in becoming visible, to bring to light the universality of His Cross, in order to show openly through His visible form that activity of His: that it is He Who makes bright the height, that is, what is in Heaven, and holds the deep, which is in the bowels of the earth, and stretches forth and extends the length from east to west, navigating also the northern parts and the breadth of the south, and calling in all the dispersed from all sides to the knowledge of the Father."
The Cross, the Tree of Life, was planted in the Place of the Skull (Golgotha) [Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17], and upon it the Eternal King worked salvation in the midst of the earth (Psalm 73:13). It signifies the ends of the world, and both Angels and men rejoice. Saint Theodore the Studite (759-826 A.D.) chants, "The Church has been revealed as a second Paradise, having within it, like the first Paradise of old, a tree of life, Thy Cross, O Lord. By touching it, we share in immortality." Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (810-886 A.D.) writes, "Christ stretched out His hands upon the Cross, and so destroyed the sin of our forefather who stretched out his hand in greed. By the Tree He healed the curse of the tree" (Deut. 21:23). [Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
(To be continued)
Please note: The sign of the Cross when made by the Orthodox Christian believer should be done with great faith, reverence, obedience, and humility. When we make the sign of the Cross we recall Jesus' Divine words and invitation, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me" (Mark 8:34). We are saved by the Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Cross protects us from evil, from temptation, and from dangers. "The Cross is the protector of all the universe, the Cross is the beauty of the Church, the Cross is the power of rulers, the Cross is the support of the faithful, the Cross is the glory of Angels and the wounding of demons." By making the sign of the Cross we constantly remember our Redeemer and His ultimate Sacrifice to save the human race from evil and death.
__________________________
"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos
+++
With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George