Chapter Nineteen

¹ Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and says to them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate says to them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate says to them, Take you him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. See through how many things the wickedness of the Jews is shown. For Barabbas, a confessed robber, they ask for, but the Lord they deliver up. Pilate therefore scourges Him, wishing for the present to appease and to slacken their wrath. For since by words he had not prevailed to deliver Him, he scourges Him, hasting to stay their madness at this point, and permits the robe and the crown to be put about Him, that so he might relax their anger; but the soldiers do all things to gratify the Jews. For since they heard Pilate saying, “Shall I release the King of the Jews?” they henceforth mock Him as a king. For surely it was not at Pilate’s urging that they did these things, who even by night had assaulted Jesus against the mind of the governor, gratifying the Jews for money’s sake. Soft, then, was Pilate, but not malignant after the manner of the Jews. For he brings forth Jesus, wishing again to quench their wrath; but they were not even thus made gentle, but cry out, “Crucify him, crucify him.” And Pilate, seeing all things done in vain, says, “Take you him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.” And he does this, thrusting them toward a thing not permitted them, that so Jesus might be released. “For I,” he says, “who have authority to crucify, find no fault; but you who have not authority to crucify, say that this man is guilty. Take him then, and crucify him. But you have not authority? then let the man be released.” Such, then, was Pilate’s aim—more equitable, indeed, yet not firmly insistent on behalf of the truth. But they, put to shame even in this, say that “By our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” See the wickedness discordant with itself. Above, Pilate said to them, “Take you him, and judge him according to your law”; and they received not this. Now again they bring forward, “By our law he ought to die.” Above, they accused Him that He made Himself a king; now, that being convicted of falsehood, they accuse Him that He made Himself the Son of God. And what is this for a charge? If He does the works of God, what hinders Him from being the Son of God? And consider the divine dispensation, how the very things they did for the dishonour of the Lord turned out to His glory. For the more they delivered the Lord to many tribunals, that they might find fault with Him, the more the insult is turned round upon them; for from hence the matter is examined the more exactly. How often, then, did Pilate confess Him guiltless!

² When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; and went again into the judgment hall, and says to Jesus, Whence are you? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then says Pilate to him, Do you speak not to me? do you know not that I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you? Jesus answered, You could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above: therefore he that delivered me to you has the greater sin. Pilate, hearing a bare word only, that He is the Son of God, is afraid; but they, having seen even divine works, slay Him, for which they ought rather to have worshipped. And he asks Him, not as before, “What have you done?” but, “Who are you?” For then, since He was accused as aspiring to a kingdom, he with reason asks, “What have you done?” but now, since He is slandered as making Himself the Son of God, he asks, “Whence are you?” But Jesus keeps silence. For Pilate had learned from Him that “To this end was I born,” and, “My kingdom is not from hence”; and yet he profited nothing from these things, neither stood up on behalf of the truth, but yielded to the rush of the multitude. Wherefore the Lord, despising his questions as idly put, answers nothing. And altogether Pilate appears to be no firm man, but shaken even by the chance terrors that befell. For he both feared the Jews, and shuddered at Jesus, as the Son of God. And let us see also how he condemns himself by what he says: “I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you.” For if all lay in you, wherefore did you not release Him whom you found guiltless? But the Lord, pulling down his arrogance, says, “You could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above. For I die not thus simply, but I accomplish some mystical thing, and this has been foreordained from above to the common salvation.” And lest, hearing that “It is given from above,” you should think Pilate quit of all account with God, He adds, “He that delivered me to you has the greater sin.” For He shows hence that Pilate also is liable to sin, even though a less one. For not because it was given from above—that is, because it was permitted that Christ should die—are Pilate and the Jews therefore guiltless; but your purpose willed the evil, while God suffered it, and permitted this to go forth into deed. The wicked, then, are not guiltless, because God suffers their wickedness to come forth into deed; but because they both will it and work it, they are worthy of all condemnation.

³ And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour. Since the Lord struck Pilate with amazement by His words, and furnished a clear defence, that “Except I had willingly given myself, and the Father had permitted, you would have had no power against me,” and that “you too have sin, and Judas that delivered me, and the people”—for this cause Pilate sought the more to release Him. But the Jews, since, slandering Him as making Himself God, and bringing forward the law, they had been confuted (for Pilate, from this, feared the more, and wished to release Him, lest he should offend against God), again take refuge in the outward laws, and as one timorous they terrify Pilate. For when they saw him cautious, lest, condemning Jesus who was the Son of God, he should sin, they shake over him the fear of Caesar, and slandering the Lord as aspiring to tyranny, they affright Pilate, as one about to offend Caesar if he should release one rising up against him. And where was this man taken in tyranny? whence will you show this? From the purple robe? from the diadem? from the soldiers? Were not all His things mean—both garments, and food, and house—nay, He had not even a house? But, O the unmanliness of Pilate! he is endangered, thinking that, if he should overlook such a charge unexamined, he should suffer. He goes forth, indeed, as about to examine the matter (for the sitting down signified this), but, having made no examination, he delivers Him up, thinking to shame them. But how is it that Mark says it was the third hour when Christ was crucified, whereas John says the sixth? Some solve this thus: that it is a scribal error; for the gamma (Γ) signifies the third hour, and its character is such; but the so-called episemon, which signifies the sixth, has this character, ϛ. It is likely, then, that the letter gamma, through the carelessness of the copyists, the extended straight stroke being drawn out in length, passed over into the character of the episemon, and so this error came to be. And that this is likely to have happened, and that the third hour was written in John also, and not the sixth as now, is plain from hence. For when the three Evangelists—Matthew, and Mark, and Luke—say in agreement that from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, it is manifest that our Lord was crucified before the sixth hour, before the darkness came, namely at the third hour, as Mark related, and John likewise, even though the error of the copyists changed the gamma into the character of the episemon. Some, then, solve it thus. But others say that Mark sets forth clearly and indisputably the hour of the sentence, namely of the condemnation that the Lord should be crucified. Since, then, the judges are said to crucify and to punish from the time when they bring forth the sentence, because the might of the punishment and of the death lies in their tongues—for this cause Mark says that He was crucified at the third hour, from which He brought forth the sentence. But John, since Mark had told the time of the sentence, himself told the hour in which they crucified the Lord; for consider how many things came between Pilate’s sentence concerning the cross and this hour in which the Lord went up upon the cross. Having released Barabbas, he scourged Jesus, and delivered Him altogether to be crucified—for the release of Barabbas was the condemnation of the Lord. The soldiers mock Him; and consider how much time would have been spent on the ambitious mockery. Pilate brought Him forth, and discoursed with the Jews; again going in, he examined Jesus; again going out, he discourses with the Jews. All these things were enough to consume the time from the third hour to the sixth, which things John, having set forth exactly, as one that had followed all things closely, makes mention of the sixth hour, when also he delivered Him up completely to be crucified, no longer discoursing with the Jews, nor examining Jesus, but bringing forth the most complete sentence against Him. And if any say, “Wherefore, having pronounced at the third hour, as you say, that He should be crucified, did he again wish to release Him?”—let him learn, first, that, constrained by the multitude, he set down the sentence; then, that he was warned also by the dream of his wife; for she had sent to him, saying, “Have you nothing to do with that just man.” And upon all these things, consider also John, how he said, “And it was about the sixth hour.” For he said not, “It was the sixth hour,” affirming it, but as one in some doubt and uncertainty, “about the sixth.” So that it will make no difference to you that, concerning the hour, the Evangelists appear not wholly to run together with one another, even if we should grant there to be a disagreement. For consider this: did they not all say that He was crucified? And if concerning the hour the one says it was the third, and the other about the sixth, what of it? Out of abundance it is shown that there is not even a disagreement.

⁴ And he says to the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. We have often said that Pilate was unmanly rather and timorous than malignant. See, then, how even now he puts about the matter the form of an examination and a tribunal, but handles the whole softly. “Behold,” he says, “your King.” For neither does he condemn Jesus, nor openly muzzle the Jews; but, somewhat covertly reproaching them as calumniators, he says, “Behold, what manner of man do you say attempted to reign over you—a mean man, forsooth, and one that would never have attempted these things; so that the accusation is false. For what has this man of a tyrant? soldiers? wealth? noble birth? Behold your King. What gain is it if you slay this man, a man unable to harm you even in the least?” These things Pilate said, yet not insistently and firmly, nor as one contending for the truth. But they, “Away, away, crucify,” say they. They press on and seek the cross, because they wished to fasten upon Christ an evil repute. For this death was the most reproachful and accursed; as it is said, “Cursed is every one that hangs upon a tree.” But they feared not that, as through a tree came the fall, so through a tree should come the setting up again. And see how they inscribe to themselves no other king but Caesar, willingly putting themselves under the Roman dominion, and shaking off the kingdom of God. Wherefore also God delivered them to the Romans, whom they called kings over themselves, having departed from the providence and oversight of God. The senseless Pilate, then, delivered Him to them, when he ought to have examined whether He truly had power to attempt a tyranny; but he yields and gives way, having handled the judgment without daring and without manliness. And bearing His cross He goes forth. For they thought it altogether forbidden even to touch the tree; for this cause they load the accursed tree upon Him the condemned and accursed one. And consider this also as accomplished according to the ancient figure. For there also Isaac, bearing the wood, went forth to be slain; so here also the Lord, having the cross, goes forth, and bears it as a soldier bears the weapon with which he overthrows his adversary. And that Isaac was a type of the Son is plain. Isaac is interpreted “laughter,” or “joy.” Who else, then, became our joy, save He who in the conception straightway gave the “Hail” through the angel to human nature? For the Virgin heard the glad tidings, and all nature received them in succession. And the father of this Isaac was Abraham, the father of many nations, who is the God of all, who is the Father both of Jews and of Gentiles; and by His good pleasure and counsel the Son bears the cross. However in the Old Testament the matter stood only at the purpose of the Father; for it was a type; but here it went forth even into deed; for it was truth. And perhaps, as there Isaac was let go, but the ram was offered, so here also the divine nature is impassible, but the human, which is also called a Lamb, as the son of Adam the wandering sheep, this is that which was offered. And how does another Evangelist say that they compelled Simon to bear the cross? Because both things came to pass. For in the beginning the Lord Himself went forth bearing it, all turning away from the tree, and not enduring even to touch it; but when they had gone forth, they met, it says, Simon coming from the country, and so laid the tree upon him. And they called the place the place of a skull. For a tradition held that Adam was buried there, that where the beginning of death was, there also its overthrow might come to pass. For it is an ecclesiastical tradition that Judaea first, after the man was cast out of paradise, received him as a dweller, for the consolation of the good things in paradise, being given to him as better and richer than all other lands; wherefore also it first received a dead man. The men of that time, then, marvelling at the dead skull, the skin having fallen away from it, laid it in a place, and from it named the place; and after the flood the report was handed down by Noah to all. Wherefore also the Lord, where the fountain of death was, there is put to death, that He might dry it up. And they crucify two others with Him, themselves indeed wishing to fasten an evil repute upon Him, as being a robber Himself also; yet even in this, unwilling, they fulfil a prophecy, namely, that “He was reckoned among the transgressors.” And consider the wisdom of God, how even this, which they did for insult to the Lord, turned out to His glory. For on the very cross He saved a robber, which is a wonder inferior to none.

⁵ And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. Pilate writes a title also upon the cross—that is, a cause, and an inscription, and a declaration; for these things the “title” signifies. There was declared by the title whose the cross is. He writes the title, at once avenging himself on the Jews who disobeyed him, and showing their wickedness, that they rose up against their own king; and at once also making defence for the glory of Christ. For since they crucified Him with robbers, wishing to defile His name, Pilate shows that He was no robber, but their king, and this he makes plain not in one tongue, but in three. For it was likely that many Greeks, because of the feast, were mingled with the Jews, as the Evangelist above taught concerning certain Greeks who came to see Jesus. That all, then, might know, in all the tongues he set up a pillar against the madness of the Jews. But they, envying Him even crucified, say, “Write that he said it.” “For now,” say they, “it appears a common verdict of the Jews; but if it be added that he said himself that he was a king, the charge of his own rashness and arrogance appears.” But Pilate was not turned aside, but abode upon his former opinion. Wherefore also he says, “What I have written I have written.” But indeed yet another great thing is dispensed. For since the three crosses were to lie buried together in the same place, that it might not be unknown which is the Lord’s, for this cause it was dispensed that He alone should have a title and an inscription, that by such a sign He might be recognized; for the crosses of the robbers had no title. And the inscription, written in three sets of letters, hints also something loftier; it declares the Lord to be King of the practical, and the natural, and the theological philosophy. By the Roman letters the practical is figured, for the rule of the Romans is most manly and most practical in war. By the Greek, the natural, for the Greeks busied themselves about natural philosophy. By the Hebrew, the theological, for the Hebrews were entrusted with the divine knowledge. Glory, then, to Him who through the cross appeared to have such a kingdom, and conquered the world, and made smooth for us the practical way, and the knowledge, and led us within the veil, I mean to His own knowledge.

⁶ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They parted my garments among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. By the very things wherein the devil works wickedness, the prophecies are fulfilled. And see the truth: three were they that were crucified, and yet upon Him alone are the words of the prophets fulfilled. And consider the exactness of the prophecy. For the prophet said not only that they parted, but also that they parted not. The other garments, then, they distributed among them, but the coat, not so; rather they committed the matter to a lot. And the “woven from the top” is not added without purpose; but some say that by it is signified, by way of allegory, that He who was crucified was not a bare man, but had also the Godhead from above. But others say that the Evangelist relates the very fashion of the little coat. For since in Palestine they weave the garments by joining two pieces of cloth, that is, two webs, using the weaving-together instead of a seam, John, declaring that such was the little coat, said that it was “woven from the top throughout”—that is, from the beginning and from above to below. And he shows hence the meanness of the things of Christ. But others say that in Palestine they weave the webs, not as among us, with the threads of the warp above and the web woven below, and so going up, but the contrary, the threads being below and the web woven above. Such, he says, was the coat of the Lord; and altogether a mystery is signified through this also. For the body of the Lord was woven from above. For the Holy Spirit came, and the power of the Highest overshadowed the Virgin. For though He took up the nature of man, which is below and fallen, yet by the grace of the Holy Spirit from above the divine flesh was framed together and compacted. The holy body of Christ, then, is undivided, though parted and distributed to the four parts of the world. For being broken in pieces among individuals, and sanctifying the soul of each together with the body, the Only-begotten through His own flesh is wholly and undividedly in all, being everywhere. For in no wise is He divided, even as Paul also cries. And since the whole is composed of four elements, we must understand by the garment of Jesus this visible and outspread creation, which the demons part among themselves, whenever they deaden the word of God that is in us, and are earnest to make us of their own portion through the affection toward worldly things. But the coat they cannot rend—the word that is in things that are, according to which all things were framed. For though ten thousand times I be deceived by the things that flow away, yet again I recognize them to be fluid, and I am not ignorant of the word and the essence of the deceitful things that flow past.

⁷ These things therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he says to his mother, Woman, behold your son! Then says he to the disciple, Behold your mother! And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. The soldiers, then, did the things of their own senselessness; but He takes thought for His mother, teaching us even to the last breath to make all forethought for them that fathered us. And see how, when there were also other women, He takes forethought for His mother alone. For we must not give heed to parents when they hinder us toward godliness; but when they hinder not, we must make all forethought for them. As therefore He Himself, since He was departing from this life, and it was likely that His mother would grieve and seek a protector, commits her protection to the disciple. And the Evangelist hides his own name, in modesty. For if he had wished to boast, he would have added also the cause for which he was beloved; for it was likely that this was some great and wonderful thing. But oh, how He honoured the disciple, making him His own brother! So good a thing is it to abide with Christ when He suffers; for He brings him into His own brotherhood. And marvel how upon the cross He does all things without trouble—taking thought for His mother, fulfilling prophecies, opening paradise to the robber; whereas before the cross He was in agony and sweat. So that those things were of the human nature, but these of the divine power. Let Marcion be ashamed, and all the others who babble that the Lord appeared in the world in fantasy; for if He was not born, neither had a mother, wherefore does He make such forethought for her? And how is Mary the wife of Cleophas called the sister of His mother, although Joachim had no other child? Cleophas was the brother of Joseph; and Cleophas dying childless, as some say, Joseph took his wife, and fathered children to his brother, of whom is also this Mary now mentioned, called the sister of the Mother of God, that is, her kinswoman. For the Scripture is wont to call kinsfolk brethren; as Isaac also said of Rebecca, “She is my sister,” although she was his wife. So then here also she that was reckoned the daughter of Cleophas is called the sister of the Mother of God, because of the kinship. Four Marys appear in the Gospels: the first, the Mother of God, whom they also name the mother of James and Joses. For these were children of Joseph, begotten of his former wife, the wife of Cleophas; and the Mother of God becomes their mother as a stepmother, for she was reckoned the wife of Joseph. The second, the Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils; the third, the wife of Cleophas; and the fourth, the sister of Lazarus. The disciple, then, took Mary to his own; for to the pure one the pure one was entrusted. And see how all the men forsook the Lord, but the womankind stood by.

⁸ That the Scripture might be fulfilled, he says, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. “When Jesus saw,” it says, “that all things were now accomplished”—that is, that nothing was lacking to the dispensation—so altogether of a special character was His death. For death came not upon His body before He Himself willed it; and He willed it after He had fulfilled all things; for this cause also He said, “I have power to lay down my life.” He says, then, “I thirst,” fulfilling here also a prophecy. But they do the foul thing which they were wont to do to the condemned. For the hyssop also is for this cause added, as being noxious. But some say that the reed is called hyssop; for the tuft of the reed is such. They put the spunge, then, about a reed, because the mouth of Jesus was on high, and so the prophecy was fulfilled, which says, “In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Having been given to drink, then, He said, “It is finished”—that is, “This prophecy also, with all the rest, has been accomplished; nothing is lacking, all things are finished.” And without trouble He did and endured all things; and the sequel shows this. For when all things were completed, having bowed His head (for it was not nailed), He gave up the spirit—that is, He breathed out. And yet with us the contrary comes to pass; for first we breathe out, and then bow the head. But He first bowed the head, and then breathed out. By all which it is declared that He Himself was Lord of death, and did all things by authority.

⁹ The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. The Lord committed the spirit to God and the Father, showing that the souls of the saints no longer linger about the tombs, but run rather into the hands of the Father of all, while the souls of sinners are dragged down into the place of punishment, that is, into hades. But they who swallow the camel and strain at the gnat, having wrought so great a daring, are scrupulous about the day. “For that the bodies,” it says, “should not remain upon the cross, they besought Pilate”—that is, they entreated—“that they might be taken away.” And for what cause do they ask that the legs be broken? That, even if they should survive, they might be useless; for they were robbers. They would not, then, in the day of the feast appear as avengers and murderers. And besides, the law also so commanded, that the sun should not set upon the punishment of a man. And see how, by the very things wherein the Jews use craft, the prophecies are fulfilled; for here also two prophecies are fulfilled together, as the Evangelist says in order. The legs of Jesus, then, they brake not; yet, gratifying the Jews, they pierce Him, and blood and water come forth; and this is strange. For they attempted to insult even the dead body, but the insult turned for them into a wonder. For that blood should come forth from a dead body is marvellous; yet one calumniating might say that it is likely there was still some vital power in the body. But the water coming forth makes the wonder indisputable. And these things come to pass not without purpose, but because by these two the life of the Church is and consists: for by water we are born again, and by blood and body we are nourished. Whenever, then, you draw near to the cup of the communion of the blood of Christ, be so disposed as though drinking from the very side. And consider for me how, through the wounded side, the wound of the side—that is, of Eve—is healed. There Adam, having fallen asleep, was robbed of his rib; and here the Lord, having fallen asleep, gives His side to the soldier. And the sword of the soldier is a type of the turning sword which bars us from paradise. And since everything that turns, unless it strike against something, ceases not from its own course, the Lord, showing that He will stay that sword, sets in its place His side to the soldier’s sword; that it may be shown us that, as the soldier’s sword, pressed against the side, was stayed, so also the flaming sword shall be stayed, and no longer, threatening by its turning and affrighting the entrance, shall shut us out of paradise. Let the Armenians be ashamed, who mingle not water with the wine in the mysteries. For they believe not, as it seems, that water also came forth from the side, the more marvellous thing, but only blood; and hence too is a symbol that He who was crucified was a man.

¹⁰ And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knows that he says true, that you might believe. For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another Scripture says, They shall look on him whom they pierced. “Not from others,” he says, “have I heard, but being myself present I saw, and the witness is true.” And with reason. For he relates an insult that was done, and not some great and honourable thing, that you should suspect the account; but for this cause, he says, I am exact about these things, and bring into the midst the things that seem insulting, that you may believe them as altogether true, and not composed for favour. For he that speaks for favour rather sets down the glorious things. And since Moses seemed more worthy of credit than he, he brings him forward also as a witness. For what Moses said concerning the lamb sacrificed at the passover, “A bone of him shall not be broken,” this the Evangelist says was fulfilled in Christ. For that lamb was a type of Him; and great is the kinship of it with the truth. And there is fulfilled also another prophecy, which says, “They shall look on him whom they pierced.” For when He comes to judge, then shall they see Him in a body better and more godlike, and they that pierced Him shall recognize Him, and shall wail. And not this only, but also that to them who should disbelieve the thing dared by the enemies was a door of faith and a proof, as to Thomas. For through the side the resurrection was confirmed to him. A bone of Jesus, then, shall not be broken; but His side wells forth for us the fountains of our being and of our quickening; the water, of our being, for through it we come to be Christians; and the blood, of our life, for by it we are nourished. For the Word of God is a Lamb, whom eating from head to foot—of the head, the Godhead, for this is the head; of the feet, the flesh, for this is the lowest part. And moreover, eating reverently His inward parts also, the mysteries and hidden things, we break not the bones—that is, the harder and weightier of the thoughts. For what we are not able to understand, these we will not break—that is, we will not be earnest to understand them ill and hazardously. For when we understand soundly, then we break not, for we keep the divine things whole; but when we do violence, and admit a heretical thought, we break and shatter the firm and hard-to-master thought. Such things, then, must be burned with fire—that is, such things hard of understanding must be given to the Spirit, by whom they are wrought out and refined, as He searches all things, even the deep things of God.

¹¹ And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was near at hand. Wherefore did not one of the twelve come to Pilate, but Joseph, who was perhaps of the seventy, dare such a thing? For if one should say that for fear of the Jews the disciples were hidden, this man also was held by the same fear. It may be said, then, that he was exceedingly notable, and known to Pilate because of his distinction. Whence also, thinking that the anger was quenched, since their adversary was already crucified, he comes with confidence, and makes a costly burial together with Nicodemus, both of them imagining nothing divine concerning Him, but bringing such spices as are wont especially to preserve the body for a long time, and not to suffer it speedily to be consumed; yet nevertheless they show their affection; for they bury Him not as one condemned, but costlily, as the custom of the Jews. And since they were pressed by the time (for at the ninth hour the death had come to pass; then, in the interval, while they were coming to Pilate and taking down the body, it was likely that evening overtook them, in which it was not lawful to work upon a tomb), they lay Him in the near sepulchre. For there was in the place where He was crucified a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre. And it is dispensed that the sepulchre should be near, that the disciples might be able to come, and to be beholders and witnesses of the things that came to pass; and that soldiers might be sent to keep guard, and that the talk about the theft might have room. All which things would not have so fallen out, had He been buried far off. And it was a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid, that the resurrection might not be calumniated, as though another rose and not Jesus. And otherwise also: the sepulchre was new, this being signified symbolically, that a new thing should come to pass through the burial of the Lord against death and corruption, and that we all should be renewed in Him. And consider for me also the riches of the Lord’s poverty for our sakes. For He who had no house in His life has no tomb even after death, but is laid in a stranger’s, and being naked, is wrapped about by Joseph. Even now Jesus is a dead man, deadened by them that wrong or overreach, or suffering the same by famine; nay, and naked too. For whatever the poor man suffers, Christ suffers. Do you also now imitate Joseph (for Joseph is interpreted “addition”), and add to your good; and wrap about the nakedness of Christ, that is, of the poor man. And do these things not once, but lay them in the sepulchre of your soul, and ever remember, and ever reckon, and take thought for such works. And mingle in also myrrh and aloes. For we must call to mind the bitter and astringent tribunals of the world to come. [Headings of what follows:] Concerning the resurrection of Christ. Concerning the manifestation of Christ, first to Mary Magdalene, and then to the disciples gathered together.