Walking in the New Life
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Again we would say `If Adam died because of sin, He Who removed sin had to take away death too.' But just as Adam was told `The day you eat of the forbidden tree, you shall die,' but in fact he did not die; but rather he received a pledge of his death in the form of being stripped naked of the glory and his expulsion from Paradise, after which he was daily pondering on death. It is exactly the same with life in Christ: we have eaten His Body in place of the fruit of the Tree, and His altar has taken the place of the Garden of Eden for us; the curse has been washed away by His innocent blood, and in the hope of resurrection we await the life that is to come, and indeed we already walk in the new life, in that we already have a pledge of it.
--St. Ephrem The Syrian
The Joy of Martyrdom
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It is said concerning many of the martyrs, that when they foreknew, either by revelation or by information received from one of their friends, the day on which they were to receive the crown of martyrdom, they did not taste anything the preceding night, but from evening till morning they stood keeping vigil in prayer, glorifying God in psalms, hymns, and spiritual odes, amd they looked forward to that hour with joy and exaltation, waiting to meet the sword in their fast as ones prepared for the nuptials. Therefore let us also be vigilant, we who are called to an unseen martyrdom so as to receive the crowns of sanctification, so that we may never give our enemies a sign of denial with any member or part of our body.
--St Isaac The Syrian (Ascetical Homilies, Hom. 37).
We Are All Begging to Have God
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It is natural to look for beauty and to love it, even though the idea of what is beautiful varies between one person and another. Now, what is more marvelous than the divine beauty? What can you think of that is more likely to give pleasure than the magnificence of God? What desire could be more ardent, more irresistible than the thirst which God inspires in the soul when once it has been purified of every vice and cries out: "I am sick with love" (S. of S. 2:5).
The divine beauty is beyond description in words. We could compare its brilliance to the light of the morning star or the moon or the sun. But we should be as far from a true description as midday is from the dead of night. This beauty is invisible to the eyes of the body; only the soul and the mind can perceive it. Every time it illumines the saints, it leaves in them a sting, a nostalgia so strong as to wring from them the cry: "Woe is me, that I am in exile still" (Ps. 120:5).
By our nature we human beings aspire to what is beautiful and love it. But what is beautiful is also good. God is good. Everyone looks for the good, therefore everyone looks for God.
--St Basil the Great
Our Faith and Love towards Christ
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Only let us be found in Christ Jesus unto the true life. Apart from Him, let nothing attract you, ... None of these things is hid from you, if ye perfectly possess that faith and love towards Christ Jesus which are the beginning and end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love. Now these two, being inseparably connected together, God will be present in your life, and all other things which are requisite for a holy life follow after them. Let us therefore do all things as those who have Him dwelling in us, that we may be His temples, and He may be in us as our God, which indeed He is, and will manifest Himself before our faces, if we justly love Him...
--St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Ephesians, 11, 14, 15, 20; ANF I, 54-57)
Suffering Brings us Near to God
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Make me suffer to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain God... Then shall I truly be a disciple of Christ... I know what is for my benefit... Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; letting cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.
-- St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, 4-5; ANF I, 75-76)
He Who Is Near The Sword Is Near God
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He who is near the sword is near God; he that is among the wild beasts is in company with God; provided only he be so in the name of Jesus Christ. I undergo all these things that I may suffer together with Him, He inwardly strengthening me.
-- St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Smyrnaeans, 4; ANF I, 88)
Love Never Faileth
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But sight shall displace faith; and hope shall be swallowed up in that perfect bliss to which we shall come: love, on the other hand, shall wax greater when these others fail. For if we love by faith that which as yet we see not, how much more shall we love it when we begin to see! And if we love by hope that which as yet we have not reached, how much more shall we love it when we reach it! For there is this great difference between things temporal and things eternal, that a temporal object is valued more before we possess it, and begins to prove worthless the moment we attain it, because it does not satisfy the soul, which has its only true and sure resting-place in eternity: an eternal object, on the other hand, is loved with greater ardor when it is in possession than while it is still an object of desire, for no one in his longing for it can set a higher value on it than really belongs to it, so as to think it comparatively worthless when he finds it of less value than he thought; on the contrary, however high the value any man may set upon it when he is on his way to possess it, he will find it, when it comes into his possession, of higher value still.
-- St Augustin (On Christian Doctrine, I, 38)
The Spirit of God and the Church
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The gift of God (the Spirit) has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be vivified; and the [ means of ] communion with Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God... For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is thruth. Those, therefore, who do not partake of Him, are neither nourished into life from the mother's breasts, nor do they enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from the body of Christ.
-- St Irenaeus (Against Heresies, III, 24, 1)
The Spirit Brings Us to Unity
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This Spirit, as Luke says, descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord's ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life, and to the opening of the new covenant; from whence also, with one accord in all languages, they uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes to unity, and offering to the Father the first-fruits of all nations. Wherefore also the Lord promised to send the Comforter, who should join us to God. For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner, neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water (the Spirit) from heaven.
-- St Irenaeus (Against Heresies, III, 17, 2)
The Mystery of the Cross
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As we lost Him (the Word) by means of a tree, by means of a tree again He was made manifest to all, showing in Himself the height, the length and the breadth, and, as a certain man among our predecessors (Paul), observed, "Through the extension of His hands, gathering the two peoples to one God." For there were two hands, because there were two peoples scattered to the ends of the earth; but there was one head in the middle, as there is but one God, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.
-- St Irenaeus (Against Heresies, V, 17, 4)
God for your sake humbled Himself
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God, for your sake humbled Himself, and you will not be humbled for your own sake?! The Lord Himself who is the Way and is God, after He came not on His own behalf but for you so that He might be an example for you of everything good, see, He came in such humility, taking "the form of a slave" [Philippians 2:7], He Who is God, the Son of God, King, the Son of King ... But do not despise His divine dignity, as you look at Him, externally humiliated as one like us. For our sakes He so appeared, not for Himself... When they spat in His face and placed a crown of thorns on Him and hit Him, what more humiliation could He have yet undergone?... If God condescends to such insults and sufferings and humiliation, you, who by nature are clay and are mortal, no matter how much you are humiliated, will never do anything similar to what your Master did. God, for your sake, humbled Himself and you will not be humbled for your own sake?!
-- St Macarius the Great (Homily 26, 25-26)
Communion with God
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Therefore, as I have already said, He (Christ) caused man to cleave to and to become one with God. For unless man had been joined to God, he could never have become a partaker of incorruptibility. For it was incumbent upon the Mediator between God and men, by His relationship to both, to bring both to friendship and concord, and cause God to welcome man, and man to present himself to God. For, in what way could we be partakers of the adoption of sons, unless we had received from Him through the Son that fellowship which refers to Himself, unless His Word, having been made flesh, had entered into communion with us? Wherefore also He passed through every stage of life, restoring to all communion with God.
--St Irenaeus (Against Heresies III, 18, 7)
The Aim of the Incarnation
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I would wish to speak about a more subtle and profound topic to the best of my ability. Wherefore, listen attentively to me. The infinite, inaccessible and uncreated God has assumed a body, and on account of His immense and ineffable kindness, if I may say it, He diminished Himself, lessening His inaccessible glory so as to be able to be united with His creatures, so they can be made participators of divine life [2 Peter 1:4]. God who transcends all limitations and far exceeds the grasp of our human understanding, through His goodness has diminished Himself and has taken the members of our human body which He surrounded with inaccessible glory. And through His compassion and love for mankind, taking upon Himself a body, He mingles Himself and becomes "one spirit" [1 Corinthians 6:17] with them, according to Paul's statement. He becomes a soul, if I may so say it, in a soul, substance in substance so that the soul may live in God, and sense the immortal life and become a participator in eternal glory.
--St Macarius the Great (Homily 4, 9-10)
The Good Shepherd lays down His Life for the Sheep
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After describing the really good shepherd as one who is ready to die on behalf of the sheep, and willing to lay down his life for them, and since He knows that He Himself is going to lay down His life for the sheep, with good reason He again cries aloud: I am the Good Shepherd... The really Good Shepherd died for our sakes, that He might take us out of the dark pit of death and prepare to enfold us among the companies of heaven, and give unto us mansions above, even with the Father, instead of dens situated in the depths of the abyss... Nevertheless we must remark that Christ did not unwillingly endure death on our behalf and for our sakes, but is seen to go towards it voluntarily, although very easily able to escape the suffering, if He willed not to suffer. Therefore we shall see, in His willingness even to suffer for us, the excellency of His love towards us and the immensity of His kindness.
--Saint Cyril the Great (On John X, 12-15)
He was tempted that we might conquer
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Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become like God for His sake, since He for ours became Man. He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich [2 Corinthians 8:9]; He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was tempted that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He died that He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying low in the Fall of sin. Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us. But one can give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He became for ours.
--Saint Gregory Nazianzen (The 1st Oration; 2nd Sermon)
The Life-giving Power of God
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In what manner can man upon earth, clothed as he is with mortality, return to
incorruption? I answer, that this dying flesh must be made partaker of the
life-giving power which cometh from God. But the life-giving power of God the
Father is the Only-begotten Word: and Him He sent to us as a Savior and
Deliverer. And He became flesh in order that, having implanted Himself in us by
an inseparable union, He might raise us above the power both of death and
corruption. For He clothed Himself in our flesh, that by raising it from the
dead, He might prepare a way henceforth, by which the flesh which had been
humbled unto death might return anew unto incorruption...
And Paul testifies
"For as man is death, by man is also the ressurection of the dead" [1
Corinthian 15:21]. Therefore by having united unto Himself that flesh which was
subject to death, the Word being God and Life drove away from it corruption,
and made it also to be the source of life... When therefore we eat the holy
flesh of Christ, the Saviour of us all, and drink His precious blood, we have
life in us, being made as it were, one with Him, and abiding in Him, and
possessing Him also in us.
--St Cyril the Great (On Luke 22:19).
Let us gladly mount upon the cross
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It's the Lord's Passover! At this season, let different persons bring forth different fruits and offer different offerings. But let us sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise upon the heavenly Altar, with the heavenly dances... Shall I mention what is even a greater thing? Let us sacrifice ourselves to God; or rather let us go on sacrificing throughout every day and at every moment. Let us accept anything for the Word's sake. By sufferings let us imitate His Passion: by our blood let us reverence His Blood: let us gladly mount upon the Cross. Sweet are the nails, though they be very painful. For to suffer with Christ and for Christ is better than a life of ease with others.
--Saint Gregory Nazianzen (The 2nd Oration on Easter 45, 2 & 23)
One For All
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For one lamb died for all, bringing the whole flock on earth back safely to God the Father; one for all, that He might bring all under subjection to God, one for all, that He may gain them all; "that for the future they might all no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose for them. For when we were guilty of many sins, and for that reason were liable to death and destruction, the Father gave a ransom for us, one for all, since all things are in Him, and He is greater than all. One died for all, Death devoured the Lamb on behalf of all, and then vomited all in him,and with him. For we were all in Christ, who died and rose again on our account, and on our behalf. And when sin has been annihilated, then death, of which sin is the source and cause, must needs be annihilated too.
--Saint Cyril of Alexandria
The Cross: Proof of the Greatest Love
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Does not Saint Paul on every occasion show us that the death of Christ is the greatest proof of His love for us? He thus says: "God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" [Romans 5:8]. Also, for this reason, does not he take pride and yearn all the more, nay, even leap for joy and flutter his wings, as it were, when he writes to the Galatians: "far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" [Galatians 6:14]. Even Christ Himself, who endured these sufferings calls them His Glory [John 17:1]! And when He wished to show us His love, what did He mention? His signs or miracles or wonders? Never! He but laid His cross in the middle saying: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" [John 3:16]. And so did Saint Paul say: "He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with Him?" [Romans 8:32]. And when he exorts to love, he raises this same type in the middle saying: "Love one another, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" [Ephesians 5:2].
--Saint John Chrysostom (Homily on Divine Providence 17:1-7)
He was accursed for us that He might deliver us from the old curse
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In His own Person, He bore the sentence righteously pronounced against sinners by the Law. For He became a "curse for us", according to the Scripture: "For cursed is everyone", it is said, "that hangeth on a tree." [Galatians 3:13]. And accursed are we all, for we are not able to fulfill the Law of God: "For in many things we all stumble" [James 3:2]; and very prone to sin is the nature of man. And since, too, the Law of God says: "Cursed is he who continues not in all things that are written in the book of this Law, to do them" [Galatians 3:10], the curse, then belongs unto us, and not to others... Therefore, He Who knew no sin was accursed for our sakes, that He might deliver us from the old curse. For all-sufficient was the God Who is above all, so dying for all; and by the death of His own Body, purchasing the redemption of all mankind.
--St Cyril the Great (On John 19:17-18).
He came to reside among us to put away sin
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In ancient times the Word came to the individual saints and sanctified those
who sincerely received Him. When they were born no one said that the Word
became man; and when they suffered, no one said that the Word had suffered. But
when, out of Mary, He came to reside among us "once at the end of ages to put
away sin" [Hebrew 9:26] --- for it was the Father's good pleasure to "send His
own Son, made of woman, made under the law" [Galatians 4:4] --- then it was
indeed said that He had taken flesh and become man, and that in that flesh He
had suffered for us --- in the words of Peter, "Christ therefore suffered for
us in the flesh" [1 Peter 4:1].
This was to demonstrate and to make us all
believe that He who is eternally God, who sanctifies those to whom He has come,
and who rules all things in accordance with the Father's will, had subsequently
also become man for our sake. As the apostle says, "the Deity dwelt" in the
flesh "bodily" [Colossians 2:9]. This is equivalent to saying that, while being
God, He possessed a body of His own and that, using this as an instrument, He
became man for our sake.
--St Athanasius the Great (Against the Arians III, 31).
He carried all our sufferings to deliver us from them
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Just as death was brought to naught in no other way than by the Death of the Saviour, so also with regard to each of the sufferings of the flesh: for unless He had felt dread, human nature could not have become free from dread; unless He had experienced grief, there could never have been any deliverance from grief; unless He had been troubled and alarmed, no escape from these feelings could have been found. And with regard to every one of the affections to which human nature is liable, you will find exactly the corresponding thing in Christ. The affections of His Flesh were aroused, not that they might have the upper hand as they do indeed in us, but in order that when aroused they might be thoroughly subdued by the power of the Word dwelling in the flesh, the nature of man thus undergoing a change for the better... For the Word of God made one with Himself human nature in its entirety, that so He might save the entire man. For that which has not been taken into His nature, has not been saved.
--St Cyril the Great (On John XII, 27)
Union with Christ
-----------------
Just as the root of the vine ministers and distributes to the branches the enjoyment of its own natural and inherent qualities, so the Only-begotten Word of God imparts to the Saints as it were an affinity to His own nature ... insomuch as they have been united with Him... And the Savious Himself says: "He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him." For here it is especially to be observed that Christ said that He shall be in us, not by a certain relation only, as entertained through the affections, but also by a natural participation. For as, if one entwines wax with other wax and melts them by the fire that results of both, so through the participation of the Body of Christ and His precious Blood, He in us, and we again in Him, are counited.
--St Cyril the Great (On John XV, 1)