Christ crucified (source)
Excerpt from the Homily on the Veneration of the Precious Cross, by St. Germanos of Constantinople (amateur translation)
“Be illumined, illumined, Jerusalem.
For the light and glory of the Lord has arisen upon you.” Today the
great-voiced mouth of the Prophet Isaiah imparts to the Church from
the nations, the joyous good news.
And truly, because this proceeds from a
fiery tongue, which tasted the divinely hypostatic coal, which is
radiant and grand, but at the same time, terrible and thundering,
because this proceeds from the heavenly height of the Holy Spirit.
For truly, such is the voice of the Prophet, as it hastens towards
heaven, and encircles the earth.
“Hearken,” he says, “O heaven,
and give ear, O earth.” And when the Prophet begins his
God-inspired sermon, he immediately relates the thunder of his word.
However, he does not preach this alone, but shines with light that is
surpassingly bright and shining, and calls towards the harbor of
supplication all those who are sailing in the sea of the fast.
I preach beforehand, the Prophet
thunders forth, that the light of the Resurrection has come, to which
you hasten to take rest in, and which you are running after
anxiously. And from where is this seen? The glory of the Lord has
shone upon the New Jerusalem. And the glory of the Lord,
indisputably, is the Divine Cross, which, as the bright dawn, appears
today, and shines forth with the first rays of the Sun of
Righteousness. Truly, in this present feast we have the memory of
light, and light that is unwaning, which enlightens all those who are
found in the darkness of sloth. There, however, during the feast of
the Resurrection, there is placed the great feast, and the feast of
feasts.
Let no one sulk from the foods of the
fast, nor exchange the meekness of his face for the dark expression
of gloom. Let us approach the dawn of the Precious Cross, and let us
be enlightened, and our faces shall never be shamed. “Let the light
of Your countenance shine upon us, O Lord.” Our faces will shine
with the light the Sun, and then the darkly-appearing demons will
flee far from us, not being able to approach our face. And I from my
position, as the ranking one in this ecclesiastical gathering, and
choirmaster of grace, I entreat you to bask richly in the divine
light of the Cross, and I pray that the fuse of my tongue be lit, and
that within me be kindled an unquenchable divine flame. But I infer
and I sense that at the same time, the warmth of my faith is moved
within me, that I might bear this holy fire. And behold! The fire and
the wood of the Cross are found before my tongue, to be used as fuel
in praise of today's feast. Where, therefore, is the lamb that we
shall sacrifice today to the glory of God, in order to be offered, as
a result, as food for all of you, the spiritual dinner guests?
God will ordain this unslaughtered
sacrifice and living seal, as he ordered towards joy of the soul for
our benefit, fertile for my fruitless mind. It is He Who is able to
raise from the stones true children of the Patriarch Abraham, as he
once raised Isaac from the barren womb of Sarah.
Truly, “let the light of Your
countenance shine upon us, O Lord” through the appearance and
veneration of the Precious Cross. Our lips and eyes are sanctified,
as we approach and embrace the organ of our salvation wrought by God.
Until then, let us dare to be transported noetically to the much
wailed-for Paradise of Eden. I am sure that the fiery sword will draw
back, having noted upon us the sign of the Christ, because [the
Angel] utterly reveres the light of the Master's face. Of course, for
a short time the flame and danger of nature will be redirected, by
this radiant day...
(source)
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
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