Sermon on All Saints · §3 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

The devil's short laughter and endless grief

The devil's laughter at human misfortune lasted three days, but his grief is endless. Christ forged in the Virgin's womb the arrow that killed him, and the fallen archangel now crawls like a snake. The sermon ends by calling the hearers to rout him by choosing the opposite of what he chose, and closes with a doxology.

Once the devil laughed a broad laugh at human nature, and made merry over our misfortunes as though they were feasts. But his laughter lasted three days, while his lament is everlasting. The broad laughter prepared for him a broader lament: tears that never stop, weeping that finds no comfort, an arrow in the heart.

The Commander forged this arrow by fire against the enemy in the furnace of the Virgin, of such a kind as He willed and in the way He willed. He hardened its edge by the working of the unconquerable Godhead, tempered it in the water of the spotless baptism, sharpened it on the sufferings that knew no passion, and polished it through the mystical resurrection. Then by Himself, with His whole force, He put the accursed one to death.

What words, then, could describe either our joy or his calamity? For he who was once an archangel is now a devil. He who once lived in the heavens is now seen crawling on the earth like a snake (Genesis 3:14). He who once exulted with the cherubim is now shut up in the pen of the swine, in anguish. We shall rout him by setting our minds on the opposite of what he chose, through the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.

Greek

Ἐγέλα ποτὲ πλατὺν κατὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ὁ διάβολος γέλωτα, καὶ ταῖς συμφοραῖς ἡμῶν ἑορταῖς ἐπευφραίνεται. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν γέλως τριήμερος· ὁ δὲ θρῆνος αἰώνιος· καὶ πλατὺς γέλως θρῆνον αὐτῷ πλατύτερον κατεσκεύασεν, δάκρυον ἀδιάλειπτον, κλαυθμὸν ἀπαρηγόρητον· βέλος ἐγκάρδιον. Τοῦτο τὸ βέλος ἐν τῇ παρθενικῇ καμίνῳ, οἷον ἠθέλησεν, καὶ ὡς ἠθέλησεν, διὰ πυρὸς κατὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ ὁ πολεμάρχης ἐχάλκευσεν· καὶ στομώσας τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τῆς ἀηττήτου θεότητος, καὶ βάψας τῷ ὕδατι τοῦ ἀχράντου βαπτίσματος, καὶ ἀκονήσας τοῖς ἀπαθέσι παθήμασιν, καὶ στιλβώσας διὰ τῆς μυστικῆς ἀναστάσεως· δι' ἑαυτοῦ πανστρατιᾷ τὸν ἀλάστορα ἐθανάτωσε. Ποῖος οὖν λόγος ἢ τὴν ἡμετέραν χαρὰν ἢ τὴν ἐκείνου συμφορὰν διηγήσηται; Ὁ γὰρ ποτὲ ἀρχάγγελος, νῦν διάβολος· ὁ ποτὲ ἐν οὐρανοῖς διαιτώμενος, νῦν ὡς ὄφις ἐπὶ γῆς θεωρεῖται συρόμενος· ὁ ποτὲ μετὰ τῶν χερουβὶμ ἀγαλλόμενος, νῦν ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ τῶν χοίρων ἐγκέκλεισται ὀδυνόμενος· ὅνπερ τροπωσόμεθα ἐναντία τῆς ἐκείνου φρονήσαντες προαιρέσεως· χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, Ἀμήν.

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About this text

A sermon for All Saints, attributed to Gregory Thaumaturgus, in a fresh English translation of the whole sermon. Scholars dispute the attribution.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) was a third-century bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus. He studied with Origen in Caesarea in Palestine for about five years before returning to his native city, where Phaedimus, bishop of Amasea, sought him out and ordained him bishop even though Gregory initially tried to hide from the responsibility. During the Decian persecution of 250–251 he withdrew with his community into the mountains, and after peace was restored he instituted liturgical celebrations honoring the martyrs who had died.

This homily was delivered at a festal assembly in honor of the holy martyrs, a crowded gathering of believers celebrating their victory over death and the devil. The preacher begins by wishing to remain silent because his speech is unpolished, but the splendor of the festival and the zeal of the congregation compel him to speak.

The sermon presents the martyrs as those who strengthen the weak and draw all ages to the celebration. They leap against death, laugh at swords, plunder the tyrant's rage, and make victory their own in their very fall, scattering their own limbs in order to bind their own souls. The opening reaches its climax in the victory of Christ over Hades and death, quoting the taunt, 'Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O Hades, your victory?' The sermon goes on to tell how the devil, who brought death in, was caught on the hook of Christ's Godhead when he swallowed the bait of His humanity, how Christ brought Adam up from Hades and opened heaven, and how the devil's three days of laughter turned to endless grief. It ends by calling the hearers to rout him by choosing the opposite of what he chose, and closes with a doxology. A reader should know that 'Hades' is kept as the name for the realm of the dead, not hell, and that the quoted taunt echoes Hosea 13:14 and 1 Corinthians 15:55. The phrase 'the infant age crawling here' means babies and young children brought to the festival.

Datec. 240–270 AD (attribution disputed)

English follows the MGR Greek extract for the whole sermon. ANF 6 was consulted only as a sense check for the opening; the rest was translated from the Greek alone.

Printed text used

Translated from MGR / Documenta Catholica Omnia extract (Greek · Whole sermon; sections 2 – 3 read from this print)
Translated from Greek text of the opening (Greek · Section 1)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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