Homily on Palm Sunday
Homilia in festo palmarum
Rejoice, daughter Zion: the King comes on a colt§1
Epiphanius opens the Palm Sunday homily by calling the whole Church to rejoice because Christ the King and Bridegroom comes again to Zion on a colt.
1Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion; be glad, exult, and celebrate, all you Church of God. For look, the King is coming to you again. Look, your bridegroom is coming, seated on a colt as on a throne. Let us go out to meet him; let us hurry to see his glory; let us run ahead joyfully to honor his entry. Salvation comes to the world again; God comes to the cross again. The King of Zion, the hope of the nations, comes to Zion again. He grants salvation to the world again; the light rises again; error has ceased again; truth blooms again; the Church dances again; the synagogue is left widowed again; demons are put to shame again; the curse is broken again; the Hebrews are thrown into confusion again; the dragon is crushed again; the nations rejoice again; Zion is adorned again.
Christ is coming, seated on a colt as on a throne. Heavens, rejoice; angels, sing hymns; mountains, be glad; hills, leap; rivers, clap your hands; you who are in Zion, dance; churches, be joyful; priests, sing hymns; prophets, run ahead; disciples, proclaim; peoples, come to meet him; elders, run together; mothers, dance; nursing infants, sing; young men, shout; nations, gather together. Every creature, every nature, every order, every breath, all the earth, every rank, every age, every people, every kingdom—let us meet the King of kings in a manner worthy of a king; let us worship the Lord of lords in a manner worthy of a lord; let us sing to the God of gods in a manner worthy of God; let us dance for the bridegroom of incorruption as befits a divine bridegroom. Let us joyfully kindle our bright lamps; let us change the garments of our souls in a way worthy of God; let us prepare the roads of life well; let us open the entrances of our souls to the King; let us carry palm branches as for the victor over death, waving the olive branches in a way worthy of God before the branch from Mary. Let us sing the angels' hymn to the God of angels; let us cry out with the children in a way worthy of God; let us shout with the crowd what the crowds shout: "Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 21:9; Psalm 117:26 (118:26)). God is the Lord, and he has appeared to us; he has appeared to us who sat in darkness and the shadow of death (Psalm 117:27 (118:27); Isaiah 9:2). The resurrection of the fallen has appeared; the deliverance of the captives has appeared; the recovery of sight for the blind has appeared; the comfort of those who mourn has appeared; the rest of the weary has appeared; the refreshment of the thirsty has appeared; the vindication of the oppressed has appeared; the redemption of the despairing has appeared; the consolation of the despairing has appeared; the union of those who were separated has appeared; the vindication of the oppressed has appeared; the healing of the sick has appeared; the calm for the storm-tossed has appeared.
Therefore let us also, the crowds, shout with the multitude, saying today to Christ: "Hosanna"—that is, "Save, we pray, O God in the highest." O what new and astonishing deeds and wonders! Yesterday Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, and today the same Christ goes to death. Yesterday, as life, he gave life to another, and today the giver of life goes to death. Yesterday he loosed Lazarus's grave cloths, and today the same one comes willingly to be bound in grave cloths. Yesterday he brought a man out of darkness, and today he goes to be placed in dark places and the shadow of death for the sake of humanity. Yesterday, six days before the Passover, the three-day one gave the one four-days-dead back to the two as a brother through the five senses, and today he goes to the cross. But to Mary he gave a brother four days dead; to the Church Christ gives himself, three days dead. There Bethany alone marvels, but here the whole Church keeps the feast.
Greek · §1
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The Church's festal joy and new worship§2
Epiphanius continues his festal address to the Church, celebrating her as the paradise where Christ dwells and contrasting her new spiritual worship with the old idolatry.
2She keeps a feast of feasts, holding in her midst the King of the angels as both bridegroom and king. She keeps the feast like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, decking herself without shedding leaves. She keeps the feast like a spring lily of paradise, in whom Christ is the truly flourishing lily, the lily that does not merely bloom but saves the world. In her is Christ, the violet that truly heals the sufferings of the sick. In her is the vineyard that says, “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). In her is the olive tree that truly has mercy on those who hope in him. In her the eternal branch has blossomed from the root of Jesse, untilled and undug by any human sowing (Isaiah 11:1). In her is the ever-flowing spring. In her are not Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, watering the paradise of Christ’s Church.
Here today all of us young people, like a fruitful olive tree holding the olives, ask for the merciful Christ. Planted in the house of the Lord, blossoming in springtime in his courts, we keep the feast as we watch the winter of the law withdraw. Keep the feast, Church of Christ, not in type, not in a bodily way, but dancing in a spiritual chorus. Keep the feast as you watch the downfall of idols and hold the rising of the churches. For with Paul I cry out to you with that sacred and great voice: “The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17), and indeed marvelous things. Therefore rejoice in the Lord, young people of Christ, rejoice! Rejoice, Church of Christ; be glad and make merry, daughter of God. For all your glory is like that of a daughter of the king, Christ, from within and from without. No longer are you husbandless, but you blossom with God as your husband. No longer are you at God’s left hand because of idolatry, but at his right hand, adorned because of the knowledge of God. No longer are you stained with the blood of slaves, but sealed with divine blood. No longer do you worship Bel, but Emmanuel. No longer do you glorify the Troad, but the Trinity. No longer do you honor Plato, but our almighty God. No longer do you honor Heracles the averter of evil, but the Paraclete and Maker of all things. You no longer revere Aristotle who made you wise, but God who has saved you to the ends of the ages. Kronos has fallen, because God the Word has become flesh, not from a man’s passion, but appearing in divine-human fashion from Mary. See the grace of the day! See the splendor of the feast!
Rejoice then and be glad, daughter Zion; make merry and exult, all the Church of God. Lift up your eyes round about and see your children of the nations gathered together, once scattered (Isaiah 60:4). See the joyful acclamation of the feast! See the harmony of the people! See every tongue joined in one doxology! See every mouth as one mouth! See the nations that were once wild beasts now sheep within you! See the acclamation of the nations keeping feast, an imitation of the angels! See the harmony, the chorus of the angels! See the ranks like orders of angels! I see the hymns like the hymns of angels. I see the children like newborn lambs, saying to Christ, “Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Clap your hands loudly with them and cry out with a bright and lion-like voice, speaking festal words and thanksgivings: “Here am I and the children whom God has given me” (Isaiah 8:18), to her who was once childless and unknown, a barren woman. Blessed is he who came, and indeed who comes, in the name of the Lord. "God is the Lord, and he has appeared to us" (Psalm 117:27 (118:27)). He who comes, whom no place contains; he who comes, whom no place holds. Blessed is he who comes and is not separated from the heavens. Blessed is he who comes as befits himself, and again who comes as befits God. Blessed is he who came to me on a colt in a figure, as on a cherubic colt.
Greek · §2
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The Gospel account and the universal festal chorus§3
Epiphanius quotes the evangelist's account of Christ's entry on the colt, then calls the whole creation, prophets, and children to join the festal praise.
3Listen to what the sacred herald evangelist of the feast says: “When the Lord drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and as you enter you will find a donkey and a colt tied; untie them and bring them to me.’ And the disciples did as Jesus commanded them; they spread their garments on the colt, and Jesus sat on it. And as he drew near to the descent of the mount, the crowd that had come for the feast took palm branches and went out to meet Jesus. Those going before and those following cried out, ‘Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 21:1-9). This is the Lord’s coming for the present feast. This is the visitation in Zion, of old and now, of the King of those who reign. This is the bright and public arrival of the Maker of all things on this present day.
Therefore now, brothers, let us, the crowd that has come for the feast, go out to meet him, both the visible world and the invisible, and the prophets and teachers who went before in time, and those who follow the colt, agreeing with God in faith. Today let the heavenly beings sing praise together with the earthly and those under the earth; let every mouth and spirit be opened for the praise of God. Cherubim, cry out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the thrice-holy, Lord of hosts; heaven and earth are full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). Seraphim, sing hymns; prophets, proclaim. Let one say, “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice” (Psalm 96:11); another, “Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion; proclaim, daughter Jerusalem” (Zechariah 9:9); and another, gazing intently at Christ the King, let him cry out, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29); and another, let him proclaim about the Lord himself, “This is our God; no other shall be compared to him” (Baruch 3:36); and another, “Behold a man, and his name is the Rising” (Zechariah 6:12); and another, “Behold a man at once and God”. And let David, gazing intently at the Christ who comes from him according to the flesh, say, “God the Lord has appeared to us” (Psalm 117:27a LXX); and again another, bending the knee, let him cry out to Christ, “Let all the earth worship you” (Psalm 66:4); and another, let him urge the peoples, saying, “Bind the festival with wreaths, up to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27).
For so the Master’s visitation in Zion with the colt was celebrated of old as well: a harmony witnessed by all, the choirs of the fathers, the assemblies of the righteous, the spirits of the prophets, the children of the Hebrews, the infants of the mothers, the multitudes of the angels. Some were spreading their wings over him, others held palm branches, others came from behind, some cut branches, others wove shoots, some untied the colt, others spread their garments, some opened the gates, others cleared the roads, some prepared the colt, others proclaimed victory, some shook branches, others said to the infants, “Praise the Lord, children” (Psalm 113:1); the children answered, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” O what new and astonishing deeds and wonders of the feast!
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Children confess Christ as God while the priests reject him§4
Epiphanius is contrasting the children's praise of Christ at his entry into Jerusalem with the hostility of the priests and Hebrews, then addressing the children directly about their inspired confession.
4Children speak of Christ as God in theological terms, and the priests blaspheme him. Nursing infants worship, and the teachers act impiously. The children say “Hosanna,” and the Hebrews cry out, “Let him be crucified.” The one group comes to Christ with palm branches; the other comes against him with swords. These cut branches; those prepare the wood of a cross. Infants spread their garments under Christ, and the priests divide Christ’s garments among themselves. Infants lift Christ high on a colt, and elders hang Christ on a cross. The children worshiped Christ’s feet; those others nailed Christ’s feet with spikes. Children bring praise; these offer vinegar. Children give Christ honor; these give him gall. Children wave palm branches; these pierce him with a spear. Children hymn Christ on a colt; these sell the one on the colt.
The ox knew its owner when he was born at the manger (Isaiah 1:3), and the new people of the nations submitted to their Lord, but Israel alone did not know Christ their God. The tribes that were once God-loving have become lawless, and the lawless have become lawful, and the lawful have become lawbreakers. Very well: you did not reverence the prophets, you killed the priests, you twisted the Scriptures, you destroyed the law, you cut off the righteous, you rejected Moses, you slaughtered the sons, you defiled the temple, you disobeyed God, you did not believe in Christ, you insulted the signs from God, you disbelieved about Lazarus, you did not believe the blind when they received their sight. So then what do you say about these children? What law do you lay down about the hymn of nursing infants? Tell me, who gave them voice? Who taught them? Who roused them? Who made them wise? Who suddenly gave speech to those without speech, if not Christ the eternal Word? Now the young ones—children together with infants holding the breast with one hand and singing up an angelic hymn with their voice; holding the breast with one hand and waving palm branches to Christ with the other hand—the nature without speech has become a theologian. At once they bring the prophetic word to God as gifts, the hymn of the angels, crying out together, “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The Lord is God, and he has appeared to us” (Matthew 21:9).
In response to these things, full of joy and festal delight, I take courage and ask these holy children in return: What do you say, O children of God, children who sing praise? From where did you receive this equal measure, crying out the cherubic hymn? How is it that when you see Christ on a colt in human fashion, you cry out “Hosanna in the highest” in divine fashion? Yes, the children inspired by God say to us, Christ is seated on a perceptible colt, but he is in no way separated from the Father’s bosom. He is seated on the colt of a donkey, but he does not leave the cherubic throne. But the same one below with flesh without diminishment among mortals is the same one above with the Father, God without falsehood and true, the same almighty one, ruler of the world, ruler of the nations, true God, provider, planter, guide, and Savior of all.
He enters the lower Jerusalem and is not separated from the one above. This is the maker of the ages, from the ages and to the ages. He is the one who alone stretched out the heavens. He is the one who walks on the sea as on dry ground. He wrapped the sea in mist (Job 38:9). He placed the keys for human beings. He divided the boundaries for the seas. He spread out the earth and hung it upon nothing (Job 26:7). He mixed the elements’ combinations with all wisdom. He adorned the beauties of the plants. He stretched out the heavens like a garment (Psalm 104:2, LXX 103:2). He adorned it with bright lights.
The cherubim shudder before him, and the seraphim tremble. The sun hymns him; the moon glorifies him; the stars praise him; the springs serve him; the abysses shudder before him; the nether regions fear him; the sea monsters yield to him; the dragons tremble before him; the rains serve him; the winds revere him. He established natures; he appointed creations; he ordered ranks. This is the maker of the creations above and below, the Lord our God. To him be glory and dominion to the ages of ages. Amen.
Greek · §4
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