Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures

On the Words, And Rose Again from the Dead on the Third Day, and Ascended into the Heavens, and Sat on the Right Hand of the Father.

1 Cor. xv. 1–4

Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you….that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, &c.

Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and keep high festival, all ye that love Jesus; for He is risen. Rejoice, all ye that mourned before^{Edition note 2}, when ye heard of the daring and wicked deeds of the Jews: for He who was spitefully entreated of them in this place is risen again. And as the discourse concerning the Cross was a sorrowful one, so let the good tidings of the Resurrection bring joy to the hearers. Let mourning be turned into gladness, and lamentation to joy: and let our mouth be filled with joy and gladness, because of Him, who after His resurrection, said Rejoice^{Edition note 3}. For I know the sorrow of Christ’s friends in these past days; because, as our discourse stopped short at the Death and the Burial, and did not tell the good tidings of the Resurrection, your mind was in suspense, to hear what you were longing for.

Now, therefore, the Dead is risen, He who was free among the dead^{Edition note 4}, and the deliverer of the dead. He who in dishonour wore patiently the crown of thorns, even He arose, and crowned Himself with the diadem of His victory over death.

2. As then we set forth the testimonies concerning His Cross, so come let us now verify the proofs of His Resurrection also: since the Apostle before us^{Edition note 5} affirms, He was buried, and has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. As an Apostle, therefore, has sent us back to the testimonies of the Scriptures, it is good that we should get full knowledge of the hope of our salvation; and that we should learn first whether the divine Scriptures tell us the season of His resurrection, whether it comes in summer or in autumn, or after winter; and from what kind of place the Saviour has risen, and what has been announced in the admirable Prophets as the name of the place of the Resurrection, and whether the women, who sought and found Him not, afterwards rejoice at finding Him; in order that when the Gospels are read, the narratives of these holy Scriptures may not be thought fables nor rhapsodies.

3. That the Saviour then was buried, ye have heard distinctly in the preceding discourse, as Isaiah saith, His burial shall be in peace[^n1659]: for in His burial He made peace between heaven and earth, bringing sinners unto God: and, that the righteous is taken out of the way of unrighteousness[^n1660]: and, His burial shall be in peace: and, I will give the wicked for His burial^{Edition note 6}. There is also the prophecy of Jacob saying in the Scriptures, He lay down and couched as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp: who shall rouse Him up^{Edition note 7}?

And the similar passage in Numbers, He couched, He lay down as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp^{Edition note 8}. The Psalm also ye have often heard, which says, And Thou hast brought me down into the dust of death^{Edition note 9}. Moreover we took note of the spot, when we quoted the words, Look unto the rock, which ye have hewn^{Edition note 10}. But now let the testimonies concerning His resurrection itself go with us on our way.

4. First, then, in the 11th Psalm He says, For the misery of the poor, and the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord^{Edition note 11}. But this passage still remains doubtful with some: for He often rises up also in anger^{Edition note 12}, to take vengeance upon His enemies.

Come then to the 15th Psalm, which says distinctly: Preserve Me, O Lord, for in Thee have I put my trust[^n1668]: and after this, their assemblies of blood will I not join, nor make mention of their names between my lips^{Edition note 13}; since they have refused me, and chosen Cæsar as their king[^n1670]: and also the next words, I foresaw the Lord alway before Me, because He is at My right hand, that I may not be moved[^n1671]: and soon after Yea and even until night my reins chastened me^{Edition note 14}. And after this He says most plainly, For Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell^{Edition note 15}; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.

He said not, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see death, since then He would not have died; but corruption, saith He, I see not, and shall not abide in death. Thou hast made known to Me the ways of life^{Edition note 16}. Behold here is plainly preached a life after death. Come also to the 29th Psalm, I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast lifted Me up, and hast not made My foes to rejoice over Me^{Edition note 17}. What is it that took place? Wert thou rescued from enemies, or wert thou released when about to be smitten?

He says himself most plainly, O Lord, Thou hast brought up My soul from hell^{Edition note 18}. There he says, Thou wilt not leave, prophetically: and here he speaks of that which is to take place as having taken place, Thou hast brought up. Thou hast saved Me from them that go down into the pit^{Edition note 19}. At what time shall the event occur? Weeping shall continue for the evening, and joy cometh in the morning[^n1678]: for in the evening was the sorrow of the disciplines, and in the morning the joy of the resurrection.

5. But wouldst thou know the place also? Again He saith in Canticles, I went down into the garden of nuts^{Edition note 20}; for it was a garden where He was crucified^{Edition note 21}. For though it has now been most highly adorned with royal gifts, yet formerly it was a garden, and the signs and the remnants of this remain. A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed^{Edition note 22}, by the Jews who said, We remember that that deceiver said while He was yet alive, After three days, I will rise: command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure; and further on, So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone with the guard^{Edition note 23}.

And aiming well at these, one saith, and in rest Thou shalt judge them^{Edition note 24}. But who is the fountain that is sealed, or who is interpreted as being a well-spring of living water^{Edition note 25}? It is the Saviour Himself, concerning whom it is written, For with Thee is the fountain of life^{Edition note 26}.

6. But what says Zephaniah in the person of Christ to the disciples? Prepare thyself, be rising at the dawn: all their gleaning is destroyed[^n1686]: the gleaning, that is, of the Jews, with whom there is not a cluster, nay not even a gleaning of salvation left; for their vine is cut down. See how He says to the disciples, Prepare thyself, rise up at dawn: at dawn expect the Resurrection.

And farther on in the same context of Scripture He says, Therefore wait thou for Me, saith the Lord, until the day of My Resurrection at the Testimony^{Edition note 27}. Thou seest that the Prophet foresaw the place also of the Resurrection, which was to be surnamed “the Testimony.” For what is the reason that this spot of Golgotha and of the Resurrection is not called, like the rest of the Churches, a Church, but a Testimony? Why, perhaps, it was because of the Prophet, who had said, until the day of My Resurrection at the Testimony.

7. And who then is this, and what is the sign of Him that rises? In the words of the Prophet that follow in the same context, He says plainly, For then will I turn to the peoples a language[^n1688]: since, after the Resurrection, when the Holy Ghost was sent forth the gift of tongues was granted, that they might serve the Lord under one yoke^{Edition note 28}. And what other token is set forth in the same Prophet, that they should serve the Lord under one yoke? From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia they shall bring me offerings^{Edition note 29}.

Thou knowest what is written in the Acts, when the Ethiopian eunuch came from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia^{Edition note 30}. When therefore the Scriptures tell both the time and the peculiarity of the place, when they tell also the signs which followed the Resurrection, have thou henceforward a firm faith in the Resurrection, and let no one stir thee from confessing Christ risen from the dead^{Edition note 31}.

8. Now take also another testimony in the 87th Psalm, where Christ speaks in the Prophets, (for He who then spoke came afterwards among us): O Lord, God of My salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee, and a little, farther on, I became as it were a man without help, free among the dead^{Edition note 32}. He said not, I became a man without help; but, as it were a man without help. For indeed He was crucified not from weakness, but willingly and His Death was not from involuntary weakness. I was counted with them that go down into the pit^{Edition note 33}.

And what is the token? Thou hast put away Mine acquaintance far from Me^{Edition note 34} (for the disciples have fled). Wilt Thou shew wonders to the dead^{Edition note 35}? Then a little while afterwards: And unto Thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer come before Thee^{Edition note 36}. Seest thou how they shew the exact point of the Hour, and of the Passion and of the Resurrection?

9. And whence hath the Saviour risen? He says in the Song of Songs: Rise up, come, My neighbour[^n1698]: and in what follows, in a cave of the rock^{Edition note 37}! A cave of the rock He called the cave which was erewhile before the door of the Saviour’s sepulchre, and had been hewn out of the rock itself, as is wont to be done here in front of the sepulchres. For now it is not to be seen, since the outer cave was cut away at that time for the sake of the present adornment. For before the decoration of the sepulchre by the royal munificence, there was a cave in the front of the rock^{Edition note 38}.

But where is the rock that had in it the cave? Does it lie near the middle of the city, or near the walls and the outskirts? And whether is it within the ancient walls, or within the outer walls which were built afterwards? He says then in the Canticles: in a cave of the rock, close to the outer wall^{Edition note 39}.

10. At what season does the Saviour rise? Is it the season of summer, or some other? In the same Canticles immediately before the words quoted He says, The winter is past, the rain is past and gone^{Edition note 40}; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the pruning is come^{Edition note 41}. Is not then the earth full of flowers now, and are they not pruning the vines? Thou seest how he said also that the winter is now past. For when this month Xanthicus^{Edition note 42} is come, it is already spring. And this is the season, the first month with the Hebrews, in which occurs the festival of the Passover, the typical formerly, but now the true.

This is the season of the creation of the world: for then God said, Let the earth bring forth herbage of grass, yielding seed after his kind and after his likeness^{Edition note 43}. And now, as thou seest, already every herb is yielding seed. And as at that time God made the sun and moon and gave them courses of equal day (and night), so also a few days since was the season of the equinox.

At that time God said, let us make man after our image and after our likeness^{Edition note 44}. And the image he received, but the likeness through his disobedience he obscured. At the same season then in which he lost this the restoration also took place. At the same season as the created man through disobedience was cast out of Paradise, he who believed was through obedience brought in. Our Salvation then took place at the same season as the Fall: when the flowers appeared, and the pruning was come.

11. A garden was the place of His Burial, and a vine that which was planted there: and He hath said, I am the vine^{Edition note 45}! He was planted therefore in the earth in order that the curse which came because of Adam might be rooted out. The earth was condemned to thorns and thistles: the true Vine sprang up out of the earth, that the saying might be fulfilled, Truth sprang up out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven^{Edition note 46}. And what will He that is buried in the garden say? I have gathered My myrrh with My spices: and again, Myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices^{Edition note 47}.

Now these are the symbols of the burying; and in the Gospels it is said, The women came unto the sepulchre bringing the spices which they had prepared[^n1710]: Nicodemus also bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes^{Edition note 48}. And farther on it is written, I did eat My bread with My honey[^n1712]: the bitter before the Passion, and the sweet after the Resurrection. Then after He had risen He entered through closed doors: but they believed not that it was He: for they supposed that they beheld a spirit^{Edition note 49}.

But He said, Handle Me and see. Put your fingers into the print of the nails, as Thomas required. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here anything to eat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and honeycomb^{Edition note 50}. Seest thou how that is fulfilled, I did eat My bread with My honey.

12. But before He entered through the closed doors, the Bridegroom and Suitor^{Edition note 51} of souls was sought by those noble and brave women. They came, those blessed ones, to the sepulchre, and sought Him Who had been raised, and the tears were still dropping from their eyes, when they ought rather to have been dancing with joy for Him that had risen. Mary came seeking Him, according to the Gospel, and found Him not: and presently she heard from the Angels, and afterwards saw the Christ. Are then these things also written?

He says in the Song of Songs, On my bed I sought Him whom my soul loved. At what season? By night on my bed I sought Him Whom my soul loved: Mary, it says, came while it was yet dark. On my bed I sought Him by night, I sought Him, and I found Him not^{Edition note 52}. And in the Gospels Mary says, They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him^{Edition note 53}. But the Angels being then present cure their want of knowledge; for they said, Why seek ye the living among the dead^{Edition note 54}? He not only rose, but had also the dead with Him when He rose^{Edition note 55}. But she knew not, and in her person the Song of Songs said to the Angels, Saw ye Him Whom my soul loved? It was but a little that I passed from them (that is, from the two