The New Song of Baptism and the Bridal Chamber of the Cross
Amphilochius is preaching to the newly baptized, urging them to sing the new song and interpreting the Red Sea victory as a type of baptism.
Let us sing the new song, for behold, Adam has been renewed and Eve has been carried up to the heavens, for the devil has been hurled into the fire. Let us borrow that song from Miriam, the sister of Moses, for it suits us now just as it suited them then. Let the chorus of those holy ones stand with us and sing what it sang then at the Red Sea: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously glorified” (Exodus 15:1). For what has he done? “Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea” (Exodus 15:1). Horse and rider: the horse is the sin that is mad for women, and the rider is the demon seated upon sin, and in the baptismal washing he drowned them both. Let us sing then to the Lord, for he is gloriously glorified, for he has thrown Pharaoh and his power into the sea (Exodus 15:4)—that is, in the baptismal washing he has drowned in the sea the devil and the dark and accursed camp of his demons. I no longer fear to hear: “Earth you are, and to earth you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). For in baptism I put off the earth and put on heaven, and I hear: Heaven you are, and to the heavens you shall return. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27), and: As is the man of dust, so are those who are of dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:48). We must mount upon the clouds and run up to the heavens. The word is not without witness; hear Paul saying: We shall be snatched up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Therefore, as we have just heard the psalmist urging us and saying: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24 (LXX 117:24)), let us rejoice then, not darkened by drunkenness and dissipation, for that would not be gladness but foolishness and darkness of heart. Let us rejoice, leaping in the Spirit; let us rejoice, entertained by love, rejoicing in hope. And if we must consider another gladness of heart, let us receive the heavenly bread with pure hands and send it on to the soul as provision for eternal life—with pure hands, I say, not washed with common water but made bright by good deeds. And let us draw the divine and heavenly mixture with rose-colored lips, reddening them not with some purple dye but making them crimson with the blood of Jesus Christ. O what a truly great and good day, on which the lamb is slain and the world is purchased and our shepherd lives! For I am, he says, the good shepherd (John 10:11). O new mystery and strange wonder! The cross stood and Christ was stretched out upon it, and what appeared was an unjust death, but what was happening was a holy bridal chamber; what appeared was a cross, but what was being accomplished was a bridal chamber. Yesterday the bridal chamber arose, and today a people was born. O death of Christ, death of death, pouring forth sweet life in the bitterest death! O Abrahamic mystery being fulfilled in Christ!
Greek
Ἄσωμεν τὸ ᾆσμα τὸ καινόν, ἰδοὺ γὰρ Ἀδὰμ ἀνεκαινίσθη καὶ Εὔα εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνεκομίσθη, ὁ γὰρ διάβολος εἰς τὸ
πῦρ ἐσκελίσθη. Χρησώμεθα παρὰ Μαρίας τῆς ἀδελφῆς Μωϋσέως τὸ ᾆσμα ἐκεῖνο, πρέπει γὰρ ἡμῖν νῦν ᾗπερ τότε ἐκείνοις. Συμπαρέστω ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ τῶν ἁγίων ἐκείνων χορὸς καὶ λεγέτω ὃ τότε ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης ἐκελάδιζεν, τό· Ἄσωμεν τῷ κυρίῳ, ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται. Τί γὰρ πεποίηκεν; Ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην ἔρριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν. Ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην· ἵππον μὲν τὴν θηλυμανῆ ἁμαρτίαν, ἀναβάτην δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ καθήμενον δαίμονα ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι τοῦ λουτροῦ κατεπόντισεν. Ἄσωμεν οὖν τῷ κυρίῳ, ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται· τὸν γὰρ Φαραὼ καὶ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ ἔρριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν, τουτέστιν τὸν διάβολον καὶ τὸ σκοτεινὸν καὶ ἐναγὲς τῶν δαιμόνων αὐτοῦ στρατόπεδον ἐν τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐθαλάσσωσεν. Οὐκέτι φοβοῦμαι ἀκούειν· Γῆ εἶ καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ· ἐν γὰρ τῷ βαπτίσματι τὴν γῆν ἀπεθέμην καὶ οὐρανὸν ἐνεδυσάμην καὶ ἀκούω· οὐρανὸς εἶ καὶ εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀπελεύσῃ· ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε, καί· οἷος ὁ χοϊκός, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ χοϊκοί, καὶ οἷος ὁ ἐπουράνιος, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ἐπουράνιοι. ∆εῖ ἡμᾶς νεφέλαις ἐπιβῆναι καὶ εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀναδραμεῖν· οὐκ ἀμάρτυρος ὁ λόγος, ἄκουε τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· Ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. ∆ιὸ καθὼς ἠκούσαμεν ἀρτίως τοῦ ψαλμῳδοῦ ἡμῖν παραινοῦντος καὶ λέγον τος· Αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα ἣν ἐποίησεν ὁ κύριος, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καὶ εὐ φρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ. Ἀγαλλιασώμεθα οὖν οὐ μέθῃ καὶ κραιπάλῃ σκοτούμενοι, αὕτη γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴη εὐφροσύνη ἀλλὰ ἀφροσύνη καὶ σκοτομήνη καρδίας. Ἀγαλλιασώμεθα σκιρτῶντες τῷ πνεύματι, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα ἀγάπῃ ἑστιώμενοι, ἐλπίδι χαίροντες. Εἰ δὲ δεῖ καὶ ἑτέραν ἐννοεῖν εὐφροσύνην καρδίας, τὸν οὐράνιον ἄρτον καθαραῖς παλάμαις ὑποδεξάμενοι τῇ ψυχῇ παραπέμψωμεν ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἐφόδιον ὄντα· καθαραῖς παλάμαις ὑποδεξάμενοι λέγω δέ, οὐχ ὕδατι κοινῷ πεπλυμέναις, ἀλλ' εὐποιΐαις λαμπρυνομέναις. Καὶ τὸ θεῖον καὶ οὐράνιον κρᾶμα ῥοδοείδεσι χείλεσιν ἀρυσώμεθα, οὐ φοίνικί τινι ἐρυθαίνοντες, ἀλλὰ τῷ αἵματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πορφυρίζοντες. Ὦ μεγάλης ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ ἀγαθῆς ἡμέρας, ἐν ᾗ ὁ ἀμνὸς σφαγιάζεται καὶ ὁ κόσμος ἀγοράζεται καὶ ὁ ποιμὴν ἡμῶν ζῇ· Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι, φησίν, ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός. Ὦ μυστηρίου καινοῦ καὶ θαύματος παραδόξου! Σταυρὸς ἔστη καὶ Χριστὸς ἐφηπλώθη καὶ θάνατος ἄδικος ἦν τὸ φαινόμενον καὶ θάλαμος ἅγιος ἦν τὸ γινόμενον, σταυρὸς ἦν τὸ φαινόμενον καὶ παστὸς ἦν τὸ τελούμε νον· χθὲς ἀνέστη παστὸς καὶ σήμερον ἐτέχθη λαός. Ὦ θάνατος Χριστοῦ, θανάτου θάνατος καὶ γλυκεῖαν ζωὴν ἐν τῷ πικροτάτῳ θανάτῳ πηγάζων! Ὦ μυστηρίου Ἀβραμιαίου ἐν Χριστῷ τελουμένου!