| Romanus the Melodist, Second Hymn about the Resurrection
2,4 The impious' judges got together for their
petty tricks; they were saying " here lies the One who made the Earth shake, the One
that is known in every town, and praised everywhere. The man whose actions surprised the
whole Earth is dead. We should be careful, so that the last deception will not be bigger
then the previous ones, and His disciples do not steal His body and tell everybody:
"the Lord has resurrected from the dead!".
We will ask Pilate to send us some guards, and we can have some sentinels. This because
Jesus is dangerous, either dead or alive; when He was alive He went against the law of the
Saturday, and now, if He resurrects from death He will go against the law itself.
He lays dead, but people still hope for Him; He is wrapped in the shroud of the dead, but
He is expected to live.
Why do His disciples go and say together: "After three days we will see the Lord and
we will say: He has resurrected from death"?"
When, after the Crucifixion, Joseph's God was placed by Joseph in the tomb, He, who had
once saved Joseph from the pit, was kept visibly as a dead man, but He was terrorizing His
keepers in an invisible way.
A stone was on the sepulcher, a stone from the inside, and the sentinels became stone too
when they saw the angel who, sitting on a rock, was saying: "the Lord has resurrected
from death".
Saint Jerome, About
S. Mattew, 27, 59 (441-459).
The simplicity of the Lord's burial
condemns the pretentiousness of the wealthy who cannot bring their wealth in their tombs.
We could understand this concept also in a spiritual sense: the body of the Lord must not
be wrapped in gold, pearls or silk, but in a pure linen. Besides, there is another
meaning. The man who wraps Jesus in a white linen is the man who has received Him with
pure heart.
(Dialogue between Nicodemus and Joseph.)
Nicodemus. Come on, fellow, let's take care of the head of the One who is three
times holy. Let's put down His body carefully, the best we can.
Joseph. Holy face, young cheeks, here I cover your head with this veil and, with
these new drapes, I conceal your body and your bloody limbs, pierced by nails, and your
chest pierced and completely covered in blood.
Simeon Metafraste.
Life of Mary, 34.
When she (Mary) saw her dead son, she
managed to control her pain. When they descended Him from the cross she even helped with
her mother's hands. She kept in her arms the nails that were taken off his body. She held
the dead limbs in her arms, hugging her son and washing his wounds with her tears; finally
she poured herself completely on her son's body. She said in a quiet voice "Here
Lord, the mystery announced before the centuries has finally accomplished". Then she
gave Joseph a white linen and said: "You will take care of what needs to be done: you
will wrap Him in this sheet, you will anoint his body with myrrh and you will put Him in
the sepulcher, as it is needed".
Simeon New Theologian,
Catechism XX:130-160
If you see the man who guides you, making miracles and
receiving glory, look, rejoice, give thanks to God for you have found such a master, but
do not be shocked in seeing Him dishonored by men, in seeing Him beaten and thrown on the
ground: with the energy of a new Peter you should handle your sword, stretch your hand, do
not cut just the lobe of the ear but also the hand and the tongue of the man who dares to
speak against your father. And in the same way if, like Peter, you understand the Lord's
reproaches, you will receive a lot more for your love and your faith. And if, since you
are just a man, in your fear you will say: "I do not know this man", cry less,
cry bitterly on Him but do not abandon yourself to desperation and I trust that He, the
First, will take you back to Himself. If you see that He is on the Cross, like a criminal,
suffering on the side of criminals, die with Him if you can, and do not stay with the
traitors and with bad people, do not share with them the innocent blood, but, after you
abandoned your shepherd, as a fool and a coward, keep your faith in Him.
Sophronius of
Jerusalem, Homily VI, 5
The end of present time was near and the promise was about
to be accomplished, and the law, through Christ, was going to be fulfilled. All the
prophets in Jerusalem and the righteous men who were waiting for the redemption of Israel,
having learnt from the spirit that it was near, they wished to see its coming with the
eyes of their soul but also with the eyes of their bodies, before they died. And they did
not just wish this, but they also prayed and sent requests to God and, since they were
pious, they obtained everything they asked for. Simon, for example, as a priest welcomed
Christ in his arms and recognized He was the Lord of all creation. The same did Ann who,
having been an honorable widow for a long time, served God in the temple day and night
and, since she had a prophetic spirit, she announced the presence of Christ to all those
who were there. Besides, Joseph of Arimathea was brave in burying everybody's life and He
is proclaimed worthy adviser mostly for this reason, because he refused the decision the
Jews had taken about the Savior, since he thought it was vile and indecorous. "In
fact, - it is said - he did not agree with the others' decision and actions." (Lk
23:51). He was the only one who gave, in a wonderful and honest way, his honest and
wonderful advice.
Theodotus of Ancyra,
Homily II, 5
(The kings) offered Him myrrh, I think, to indicate the
pain of death through that gift. Notice that even the kings recognized that He stayed with
God and became a man, accepting death. He became like me to lift our nature to His
dignity. The indissoluble union fulfills this truth, in the moment in which what belongs
to one is linked to the other. For this reason, although He was God, He became man, so
that man could become God too, elevated to divine glory by this union, since only One was
to be glorified as God, and to suffer human situation.
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