Homily on the Burial of Christ's Body

1A discourse by our holy father Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, concerning the God-bodied burial of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and concerning Joseph of Arimathea, and concerning the descent into Hades following the salvation-bringing passion, occurring on the holy and great Sabbath. What is this? Today there is much silence in the land; much silence and much stillness; much silence because the King sleeps. The earth was terrified and grew quiet, because God slept in the flesh and raised those sleeping from eternity. God died in the flesh, and Hades was terrified. God slept for a short time and raised those in Hades.

Where are now the former disturbances, the cries, and the tumults against Christ, O lawless ones? Where are the crowds, the insurrections, the ranks, the weapons, and the spears? Where are the kings, the priests, and the condemned judges? Where are the torches, the swords, and the disorderly mobs? Where are the peoples, the shouting, and the unruly clamor? Truly, indeed, truly, the peoples labored in vain. They struck against the cornerstone, Christ, but they themselves were crushed; they struck against the solid rock, but they themselves were crushed, and their own waves were dissolved into foam; they struck against the unyielding whetstone, but they themselves were broken; they lifted the stone of life upon a tree, and its coming killed them; they bound the great Samson-like God who is the sun, but having loosed the bonds of eternity, He destroyed the aliens and the lawless.

God, the sun Christ, set under the earth, and has made total darkness for the Jews. Today is salvation for those on earth, and for those from eternity under the earth; today is salvation for the world, all that is visible and all that is invisible. Today there is a double presence of the Lord, a double economy, a double philanthropy, a double descent—both descent and co-descent—a double visitation toward men, from heaven down to the earth.

From the earth, from under the earth, God comes about; the gates of Hades are opened. You who have slept from eternity, rejoice; you who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, receive the great light. The Master is with the slaves; God is with the dead; life is with the mortals; the one without accountability is with the accountable; the unsetting light is with those in darkness; the liberator is with the captives; and the one above the heavens is with those below.

We have believed in Christ upon the earth; let us descend also with Christ and behold even the mysteries there; let us know the wonderful hidden secrets under the earth; let us learn how the proclamation shone even to those in Hades. What then? God, having appeared in Hades, simply saves all, even those who believed there. Yesterday the things of the dispensation are shown, today the things of power; yesterday the things of weakness, today the things of authority; yesterday the things of humanity, today the things of divinity are shown.

Yesterday the dwelling of Hades was being struck, today it is struck by the lightning of divinity; yesterday it was being bound, today it binds the tyrant with unloosable bonds; yesterday he was being condemned, today he grants freedom to the condemned; yesterday Pilate's servants mocked him, today the gatekeepers of Hades, seeing him, shuddered.

But listen to the word of Christ's passion, which is higher; listen, and hymn; listen, and glorify; listen, and proclaim the great wonders of God: how the law gives way; how grace prevails; how the types pass away; how the shadows pass through; how the sun fills the inhabited world; how the Old has grown old, and how the New is being established; how the ancient things passed away, and how the new things have been set in place.

Two peoples in Zion have come at the time of Christ's passion: the one from the Jews, and the one from the Gentiles; two kings, Pilate and Herod; two high priests, Annas and Caiaphas; so that the two might become one Passover: the one ceasing, and the one of Christ beginning; two sacrifices.

2At that same evening they were performing rites, for even salvations—I say of both the living and the dead—were being enacted. The Jew was binding a lamb for slaughter, while the Gentile was worshipping God in the flesh. One was looking at a shadow, while the other ran to God as the sun. Those who had bound Christ were departing, while the Gentiles were welcoming him willingly. Some offered animal sacrifices, but others offered a God-body sacrifice.

The Jews remembered the crossing out of Egypt, but the Gentiles proclaimed the redemption from error. And where are these things? In Zion, the city of the Great King, in which salvation worked in the midst of the earth. In the midst of two living beings, Jesus the God-child was made known; in the midst of Father and Spirit, the two living beings, life from life, he says, being known as life, and being born in a manger in the midst of angels and men. He lies as a cornerstone in the midst of two peoples; he is preached in the midst of Law and Prophets together; he is seen on the mountain in the midst of Moses and Elijah; he is known to the good-hearted thief in the midst of the two thieves; he sits as eternal judge in the midst of the present life and the life to come; and in the midst of living and dead today, having made a double life and salvation.

Again I say, a double life: a double birth, namely both birth and rebirth. Listen to the matters of Christ's double offspring, and marvel at the wonders. An angel announced to Mary, the mother of Christ, the birth; but an angel announced to Mary Magdalene the fearful rebirth from the tomb. At night Christ is born in Bethlehem; again at night he is reborn in Zion. Swaddling clothes are received for the birth; swaddling clothes are also wrapped here. Having been born receiving myrrh, he received myrrh in the tomb, and aloes are received.

There, Joseph, the virile man, was the husband of Mary; but here, Joseph of Arimathea is shown as the undertaker of our life. In Bethlehem and in a manger is the place; but even in the tomb, the place is as if a manger. First of all, shepherds were evangelizing the birth of Christ; but also, first of all, shepherds were evangelized of the rebirth of Christ from the dead. There, the angel cried 'Rejoice!' to the Virgin; and here, 'Rejoice!' to the...

Christ, the messenger of a great will, has cried out to the women. In the first generation, Christ entered earthly Jerusalem after forty days and approached God, offering as a firstborn pair of grapes. But also, in the resurrection from the dead, Christ ascended to the upper Jerusalem after forty days, from where he did not depart, and into the true Holy of Holies as an incorruptible firstborn from the dead; there he offered to God and Father as two spotless grapes, our soul and our flesh. He was received, like a Simeon, by the God and Father of old, in unwritten embraces within his own bosom.

If you hear these things only as a myth and not with faith, the unbroken seals of the memory of Christ's rebirth accuse you. For just as Christ was born from a Virgin, even though the locks of the all-conceived womb of the virginal nature were sealed, so the rebirth of Christ has been accomplished while the seals of the tomb remained unopened. Let us hear the sacred words concerning how, when, and by whom the Life, Christ, is laid in a tomb.

It is said that when evening came, a man named Joseph, rich in name, arrived. This man dared to go to Pilate and requested from him the body of Jesus. A mortal went to a mortal, asking to take God; he asks for the God of mortals; clay asks to take the Maker of all; the chaff asks of the chaff to take the heavenly fire; the wretched drop asks of the wretched drop to take the abyss. Who has seen this? Who has ever heard this? A man is granted the Creator of men by a man; the lawless submits to being granted the boundary and the law by the lawless; the unjudging judge allows the Judge of judges to be released into a tomb.

It is said that when evening came, a man named Joseph, rich in name, arrived. He was truly rich, having brought the whole composite subsistence of the Lord. He was truly rich, because he received the dual essence of Christ from Pilate. And indeed he was rich, because he was worthy to take the priceless pearl. He was rich, for he carried a purse that was a vessel of the treasure of divinity. For how could he not be rich, having acquired the life and salvation of the world? And how could he not be rich...

3Did Joseph receive the gift of the One who nourishes and rules all things? When darkness fell, it was because the sun of righteousness had been left in Hades. Consequently, a man named Joseph, wealthy in reputation, came from Arimathea, remaining in hiding due to the fear of the Jews. Nicodemus also came, he who had approached Jesus by night. This is a mystery of mysteries, a hidden thing. Two secret disciples come to conceal Jesus in a tomb, teaching through their own concealment the hidden mystery in Hades of the God hidden in the flesh.

One exceeds the other in his disposition toward Christ. For Nicodemus was magnanimous in myrrh and in flame, but Joseph is worthy of praise for his boldness and confidence toward Pilate. This man, having cast away all fear, dared to enter before Pilate to request the body of Jesus; and having entered, he used words with great wisdom so that he might reach his desired goal. He did not use any entanglements or lofty words with Pilate, lest he should provoke this man to anger and fail in his request. He does not say to him: Give me the body of Jesus, who a short time ago darkened the sun, cast down the stones, shook the earth, opened the tombs, and tore the temple veil. He says nothing of such magnitude to Pilate.

Instead, he asks for something pitiful, and something small in the eyes of all. O judge, I have come to ask of you a very small request. He says: Give me a corpse for burial: the body of that Jesus of Nazareth, judged by you—the poor Jesus, the homeless Jesus, the crucified Jesus, the naked, the insignificant Jesus, the carpenter's son, the prisoner, the outcast, the stranger, the unknown one through alienation, the well-disposed, and the one hung upon all. Give me this stranger; for what does the body of this stranger profit you? Give me this stranger; for he came from far from this land to save the stranger, for he descended into the darkness to carry the stranger up. Give me this stranger; for he himself also exists as a stranger. Give me this stranger, whose land we strangers do not know. Give me this stranger, whose father we strangers do not know. Give me this stranger, whose place, lineage, and manner we strangers do not know.

The stranger. Give to me this stranger, who lived a life and an existence as a stranger among strangers. Give to me this Nazarene stranger, whose birth and manner we strangers do not know. Give to me this voluntary stranger, who has no place here to bow his head. Give to me this stranger, who as a stranger was born upon a manger, and from that same manger fled as a stranger from Herod. Give to me this stranger, who was made a stranger among the stalks in Egypt, possessing no city, no village, no house, no dwelling, and no relatives; for this stranger happens to be in a foreign land.

Give to me, O leader, this one naked upon a tree, so that I may cover the one who covered my own nature with nakedness. Give to me this dead one who is also God, so that I may cover the one who covered my own lawlessness. Give to me, O leader, a dead man, the one who buried my own sin by the Jordan. I plead for a dead man who was wronged by all, sold by a friend, betrayed by a disciple, persecuted by brothers, and struck by a slave. I advocate for a dead man, the one condemned by those whom he freed from slavery, the one made to drink the vinegar by them, the one wounded by those whom he healed, the one abandoned by the disciples, and the one deprived of his own mother. I cry out for a dead man, O leader, the one hung upon a tree without a home. For there is not present for this one a father on earth, nor a friend, nor a disciple, nor a relative, nor a burial provider; but he is alone, the only-begotten of the only, God in the world, and no other.

These things having been thus said by Joseph to Pilate, Pilate commanded that the all-holy body of Jesus be given to him. And having come to the place of Golgotha, he took down God in flesh from the tree, and places him upon the earth: God in flesh naked, and not a mere man. And he is seen lying below, the one who drew all things up above; and briefly he becomes breath, the life and breath of all; and he is seen bodiless, the one who created the many-bodied; and he lies face down, the resurrection of all; and God dies in the flesh, the one who raises the dead; and briefly the thunder of the Word of God is silent; and the dragon who holds the earth is lifted up of old. For indeed, or perhaps, O Joseph, having asked and having received, do you know whom you have taken? Or perhaps, having approached...

4By the cross, in lowering Jesus, do you know whom you have borne? If you truly know whom you hold, you have now become rich. How then do you perform such a terrifying care for this God-body of Jesus? Your desire is praiseworthy, but your manner is even more praiseworthy.

For do you not tremble, carrying upon hands him whom the cherubim tremble at? With what fear do you strip the soft flesh of that divine body? How do you reverently restrain your eye, not staring and uncovering the nature of the flesh of God, who is beyond nature? Tell me, Joseph, do you bury a corpse toward the east, even the Sunrise of sunrises? Do you close with your death-like fingers the eyes of him whom the spotless finger opened for the blind? Do you close the mouth of him whom the mouth-opener opened? Do you withdraw the hands of him who stretched out the dried-up hands? Do you bind the feet in a death-like way, him who gave walking feet to the motionless? Do you lift upon a bed him who commanded the paralytic to lift his bed and walk?

Do you offer myrrh to him who emptied himself with heavenly myrrh and sanctified the world? Do you dare to shame the side of the God-body of Jesus, still bleeding, who is the God who healed the bleeding woman? Do you wash the body of God with water, he who washed everyone and gave cleansing? What lamps will you light for the true Light who enlightened every man? What funeral songs will you sing to him who is silently praised by every heavenly host? Do you weep for him as a dead man, he who wept for Lazarus the four-day dead? Do you make laments for him who gives joy to all and dissolved the sorrow of Eve?

Yet I bless your hands, O Joseph, having served and having touched even the bleeding God-body hands and feet of Jesus. I bless your hands having approached the bleeding side of God, before Thomas, the faithful-unfaithful and praised curious one. I bless your mouth having been filled without greed and having been united to the mouth of Jesus, and having been filled from there with the Holy Spirit. I bless...

Having set your eyes to the eyes of Jesus and received the true light from there, I bless you whose face approached the face of God. I bless you whose shoulders bore Him who bears all; I bless you whose head approached the head of all, Jesus; I bless you whose hands bore Him who bears all. I bless Joseph and Nicodemus. For they have become gods before the cherubim, having exalted and carried Him within themselves. They have become ministers before the six-winged God, not with wings, but covering the Lord with veils and honoring Him.

Whom the cherubim tremble at, this one Joseph and Nicodemus carry upon their shoulders, and all the ranks of the incorporeal stand forth. For Joseph and Nicodemus came; surely all ran together, even the God-sent of the angels. The cherubim anticipate, the seraphim run together, and the thrones assist in carrying, covering the six wings. The many-eyed ones shake, seeing Jesus the incorporeal in the flesh, and the powers cover Him. The principalities sing, the ranks shake, and all the armies of the transformed ranks stand forth. Being amazed at themselves, they run about, saying: 'What is this fearful word, and dread, and trembling, and awe? What is this great, and paradoxical, and incomprehensible sight?' He who is above us, to us the incorporeal, is as God naked and invisible; but below, to mortals, He is naked and visible.

How Joseph and Nicodemus care for Him with unconcern, while the cherubim stand by with reverence. When did He who does not leave the above descend? How did He who is within go out? How did He who fills all come upon the earth? How did He who eludes all depart? He who is above with the Father as God without ceasing, is below with the mother as a mortal truly without ceasing. He who was never revealed to us, how does He appear to men as God, both human and man-loving? How was the invisible seen? How was the bodiless incarnated? How did the impassible suffer? How did the judge stand at the judgment seat? How did life taste death? How is the uncontainable contained in a tomb? How does He who does not leave the bosom of the Father dwell in a tomb? How does He enter the gate of a cave, having opened the gate of Paradise, but not having breached the gates of the Virgin, but the gates of...

5Has He crushed Hades? Has He not opened the gate to Thomas, but instead opened the gates of the kingdom to men, while leaving the gates of the tomb and the seals unopened? How is the one who is free among the dead reckoned among the dead? How does the unsetting light come to be in the darkness and the shadows of death? Where does He go? Where is the one who is unable to be held by death taking place? What is the purpose, what is the path, and what is the plan of His descent into Hades? Perhaps He goes down to bring down the condemned Adam, our fellow-slave.

Truly, He goes to seek the first-formed one as a lost sheep. In any case, He intends to visit those sitting in the darkness and the shadows of death. In any case, God goes to loose the captive Adam and the co-captive Eve of sorrows, and her daughter, whence also His Son has been shown to be her son. But let us descend together, let us travel together, let us hasten together, let us run together, let us send forth together, let us hymn together, and let us speed together, seeing the reconciliations of God toward men, the release of the condemned happening from a good Master.

For the one naturally loving mankind goes to lead out from the prisoners of the age with much courage and authority, those dwelling in tombs, whom the bitter and insatiable death had tyrannically cast down, and whom, having plundered from God, had also heaped up, to free them and to number them with those dwelling above. There is the captive Adam, the first-formed, and the firstborn of all the condemned below. There is Abel, the first-born, and the first-righteous shepherd, a type of Christ the Shepherd of the unjust slaughter. There is Noah, the type of Christ, the builder of the great ark of God's Church, who saved all the beastly nations from the flood of ungodliness through the dove, the Holy Spirit, and banished the gloomy raven from this. There is Abraham, the Christ-father sacrificer, who together with the sword offered a most complete sacrifice to God, the mortal-dying. There the captive...

Isaac, the former bondservant of Christ, who became a type under Abraham, is above. There Jacob is in Hades, down below, just as before Joseph was down below, above. There Joseph is the bondservant, who came to be in Egypt, in the prison as a type of Christ, both bondservant and master. There Moses is in darkness below, who was once in the ark in darkness above. There Daniel is in Hades in the pit, who was once in the pit of the lions above. There Jeremiah is as in a pit of mire, in the pit of Hades and of the corruption of death. There, in the receptacle of the fishes of Hades, he lies as a type of Jonah, of the eternal and pre-eternal Jonah of Christ, who lives for an age, and for the ages of ages and forever.

And still there is David the God-father, from whom Christ came according to the flesh. And why do I mention David and Jonah and Solomon? There also is the great John, the greater than all the prophets, as if in the dark womb he were proclaiming Christ to all those in Hades; the twofold forerunner, and herald of the living and the dead; he who, having been sent from the prison of Herod to the universal prison, is among those just and unjust who have slept from eternity. And all the prophets and the just were secretly offering unasked supplications to God from there, asking for deliverance from that most painful and descending, hostile, gloomy darkness, and from the all-night darkness.

One said toward God: Hear my cry, my voice, from the belly of Hades. Another said: Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. And another: Shine your face, and we shall be saved. And another: You who sit upon the cherubim, appear. And another: Awaken your power and come to save us. And another: Let your mercies, Lord, hasten to us. And another: Save my soul from the lowest Hades. And another: Lord, bring up my soul from Hades. And another: Do not abandon my soul to Hades. And another: Let it ascend from...

6My life is a destruction toward you, Lord my God. Having heard these things, the all-ruling God, Christ, did not consider it just to share his own household only with those who are upon him and with him through philanthropy, but also with those held in Hades before his coming, and those sitting in darkness, the shadows of death.

Therefore, because men were in the flesh, the God Word visited them through flesh; but for souls separated from bodies through his divine and incorruptible soul in Hades, he shone upon them, being a body but not having been separated from divinity. Let us then hasten with the mind and walk upon Hades, so that we may see how there he once, the one mightier in power than the one ruling by power, overpowers the power of the ruler, and with his lightning, a people of an entire army, handles those immortal ranks of phalanxes without hands.

He broke through the doorless bed in the middle, and the un-wooden gates, Christ having smashed the door with the wood of the cross, having crushed and smashed the eternal levers with the divine tools; and having dissolved the unloosed chains like wax with divine hands; and having pierced the incorporeal heart of the tyrant with the God-pierced spear. There he crushed the strength of the bows, when by the cross he stretched out the sinews of the archers by hand.

Therefore, if you follow Christ in stillness, you will now see where he bound the tyrant; where he hung up this one's head; how he dug up the prison, where he led out the prisoners; how he trampled the serpent, and where he hung up the skull; how he freed Adam, and how he raised up Eve, and how he dissolved the partition, and how he judged the bitter dragon, and how he set up the unshakeable trophies; where he killed death, and how he destroyed corruption, and how he restored man to his ancient dignity.

He who yesterday, in an economical way, was requesting the legions of angels and saying to Peter, 'I am not able right now to present more than twelve legions of angels,' today, in a God-befitting, both peaceful and warlike and lordly way, descends below Hades and death; and through death, he conquers the tyrant, possessing not merely twelve legions, but myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels, powers, thrones without number, six-winged, wingless, many-multitudinous, and uncounted, heavenly.

Regarding the ranks: as if she were merely escorting, guarding, and honoring Christ as a master, not as allies—away with that! For what kind of alliance does the Almighty Christ require? Rather, because certain bodyguards, soldiers, and bright scepter-bearers, who are always obligated and loving toward their own God and Master, must stand by Him, being sharp in divine scepter-bearing, rushing quickly at the mere signal to one another, leading the action together by command, and having cut off the victory from the enemies and lawless ranks.

Therefore, having also run together as companions to God and Master toward the things in Hades and the underworlds, and the deeper parts of all the earth, the subterranean dwellings of those asleep from eternity, leading out in courage those leveled since the age. Just as the all-door, sunless, and all-dark prisons and dwellings of Hades, the caves, are seized by the bright presence of the Lord's people, Gabriel the arch-strategos rushes ahead; as one who is from the custom of bringing the joyful gospel to men and certain words most archangelic and most strategic, a bright and lion-like voice toward the opposing powers, saying: 'Lift up your gates, O your rulers'; with whom Michael also cries: 'And rise, eternal gates.'

Then the powers say: 'Stand back, lawless gatekeepers'; then authority after authority: 'Be shattered, unyielding chains'; and another: 'Be ashamed, opposing enemies'; and another: 'Be terrified, lawless tyrants.' And just as a shuddering and tumult and deadly fear falls upon the enemies from the deployment of a certain fearsome and ungraspable, almighty, royal, triumphal army, so also it happened suddenly at those in Hades and in the underworlds by the presence of the unconquerable Christ; a darkness like lightning from above, darkening the eyes of the opposing powers of Hades, and hearing thunderous shouting and armies commanding, saying: 'Lift up your gates, O your rulers.' For you did not merely open, but you lifted these up from their very foundations, you uprooted them, you moved them so they can no longer close: 'Lift up your gates, O your rulers.' Not as if the present Master were unable, and the doors...

7When the gates are locked, he commands entry, but you let the eternal gates be lifted, moved, and broken down through desertion. Therefore, they do not rule over your peoples, but over those who seem to be among you, saying: Lift up the gates, your rulers. It is you, not others. So, rulers. For if even until now you have ruled badly over those sleeping from eternity, you will no longer be rulers of them, nor of others, nor of yourselves, nor even of your own. For Christ is present, the heavenly door; make a way for him who stands at the west of Hades. Lord is his name, and the exits of the gates of death belong to the Lord, the Lord. You made the entrances; he has come to make the exits. Therefore, do not delay; lift up the gates and hasten; lift them, and do not postpone. If you think to wait, we allow those same gates to be lifted without hands and automatically.

And the eternal gates were lifted. At once the powers shouted, at once the gates were lifted, at once the chains were loosed, at once the levers were broken, at once the bars fell, at once the foundations of the prison were shaken, at once the opposing powers were turned to flight, one rushing against another, another stumbling with another, and another crying out to flee from the other; they shuddered, they were shaken, they were struck, they were troubled, they were bewildered, they were terrified, they stood together and were stunned, they were at a loss together and were terrified. One stood shouting, another covered his face with his knees; another rose up sharply, another stood as if dead, another was seized by amazement, another lay transformed by the heavenly, and another fled inward.

For there Christ interrupted the mighty in their ecstasy; there they were awakened in him, there they opened their mouths saying: Who is this King of Glory? Who is this great one, who performs such wonders here among so many? Who is this King of Glory, who in Hades is now doing things never done in Hades? Who is this one leading out those sleeping from eternity? Who is this one who has loosed and destroyed the insolence of us, the uncircumcised?

And what of the power, and of bringing out from the prison of Hades those who have been crushed from eternity? To them the powers of the Lord were asking: Do you wish to learn, O lawless tyrants, who this King of glory is? The Lord is mighty and powerful; the Lord is able and strong and invincible in wars. This is he who from the heavenly vaults exiled and cast out you, O cowardly and lawless tyrants! This is he who in the waters of the Jordan crushed the heads of your dragons. This is he who by the cross triumphed, and triumphed, and killed you. This is he who bound, and darkened, and sent you to the abyss. This is he who sends you to eternal fire and Gehenna and destroys you.

Therefore do not delay, nor wait, but hurry, and bring out the prisoners whom even until now you have treated badly. For your power is now destroyed; your tyranny has ceased; your faction is terribly abolished; your greatness has reached its end; your strength is trampled and perished. These the despotic powers of the Lord were saying to the opposing powers, and at the same time they were hurrying. And some of them were digging the prison from its foundations; others were driving the opposing authorities from the outer chambers into the inner. And others were searching out the sinkholes, and the fortresses, and the caves, and were running. And others were presenting one prisoner to the Lord by another, and others were binding the tyrant with unloosenable bonds, and others were releasing the prisoners from eternity; and others were commanding, and others were obeying as quickly as possible; and some were running ahead of the Lord's entering into the inner parts, while others were following as to a King and a victorious God.

Since these things were thus, and because of these things, being made and shouting and trembling and shaking in Hades, as the presence of the Lord was about to seize the very lowest of the lowest, that Adam, the first-created, first-formed, and first-born of all men, being held as a prisoner with much security, heard the feet of the Lord toward...

8He says that the prisoners were entering, and he recognized his voice while walking in the prison, and having turned to all the prisoners with him from eternity, saying: 'I hear the sound of some feet entering toward us; and if he has been permitted to come here at all, we have been freed from the bonds; if we see him completely with us, we are being ransomed from Hades.' These and such things Adam says to all his co-condemned: 'The Lord has entered among them, holding the victorious weapon of the cross.'

Adam, the first-formed, seeing him and striking his chest with a blow, cried out to all and said: 'My Lord is with all.' And Christ, responding, says to Adam: 'And with your spirit.' And grasping his hand, he raises him, saying: 'Rise, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.'

I am your God, who became your son through you, who through you also made those from you; now saying and by authority permitting those in bonds: 'Come out,' and those in darkness: 'Be enlightened,' and those who have slept: 'Rise'; I command you: 'Rise, sleeper'; for not for this purpose I have made you, that you be held as a prisoner in Hades. Rise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Rise, my creature, rise, my form, and having been made according to my image.

Rise, let us go forth from here; for you are in me, and I in you, we exist as one and indivisible person; through you your God has become your son; through you the Lord took your form of a slave; through you the one above the heavens came to earth and under the earth; through you I became man, as a helpless man, free among the dead; through you, the one coming out of a garden, was delivered to the Jews from a garden, and in a garden was crucified.

Behold the spittle on my face, which I endured for you, so that I might restore you to the original inspiration. Behold the lashings of my cheeks, which I endured, so that I might rectify your distorted form into that according to my image. Behold the bruising of my side, which I endured, so that I might scatter the burden of your sins lying upon the side. Behold my hands well-nailed to the wood, for you, the one stretching out the hand in the...

Through the evil wood, behold my crucified ones, and those whose feet were pierced by the wood because of your feet, which ran badly toward the wood of admonition on the sixth day when the decision was made; and I have suffered for your rebirth and the opening of paradise. I tasted gall through you, so that I might heal for you the bitter pleasure of that food. I tasted vinegar, so that I might nullify the sharpness of your death, which is by nature a cup. I received a sponge, so that I might wipe out your handwriting of sin. I received a reed, so that I might write freedom for the human race.

I fell asleep in the cross, and by a sword my side was pierced, because you, sleeping in paradise, brought Eve out from a side. My side healed the pain of the side; my sleep will rouse you from the sleep in Hades; my sword set upright the sword turned against you. Therefore arise, let us lead away from here. The enemy led you out from the earth of paradise; I am restoring you not in paradise, but on a heavenly throne. I prevented you from the wood of the type of life, but behold, I myself have given life to you. I commanded the cherubim to guard you servilely; I make the cherubim worship you godward. You were hidden from God as a naked man; but behold, you hid within yourself a naked God. You put on the leathern garment of shame; but God, being, put on the bloody garment of your flesh.

Therefore arise, let us lead away from here, from death into life, from corruption into incorruption, from darkness into the eternal light. Arise, let us lead away from here, from pain into joy, from slavery into freedom, from prison into the upper Jerusalem, from bonds into release, from possession into the enjoyment of paradise, from the earth into heaven. For this you died, and rose, so that you might rule both the dead and the living. Arise, let us lead away from here; for my heavenly Father receives the lost sheep. The ninety-nine of the angels are waiting for the slave of Adam, the sheep, to see when he will rise, and when he will ascend and return to God. A cherubic throne is prepared; those carrying it are sharp and ready; the bridegroom is prepared; the banquets are ready; the eternal dwellings and abodes are ready; the...

9Treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of the heavens was prepared before the ages. The good things that await man are such as eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor have they ascended upon the heart of man. These things and such things stand up with the Lord, as Adam, united in Him, stands up, and Eve also stands up with him. Furthermore, many other bodies, having slept by faith from eternity, have risen, proclaiming the three-day resurrection of the Lord.

O faithful ones, let us brightly receive this, let us see it, and let us dance with the angels, celebrating with the incorporeal ones and together honoring the Christ who raised you up from corruption and made you alive. To Him belongs the glory and the power, with His unruled Father and with His all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

10Treasures of good things have been opened, and the kingdom of the heavens has been prepared from ages past. The good things that await man are such as eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor have they ascended upon the heart of man. These things and such things are confirmed by the Lord's words, as the one in Him stands with Him.

11Adam having been united, and Eve also stands with him; and many other bodies, having slept in faith from eternity, have risen, proclaiming the three-day resurrection of the Lord. This, O faithful ones, let us clearly receive, and see, and celebrate, dancing with angels and feasting with the incorporeal ones, while together glorifying you from corruption.

12Having raised Christ and having made him life-giving; to him belongs the glory and the power, together with his unoriginated Father and with his all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of the ages. Amen.