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[{"type":"HEADER","value":"On the Saving Passion of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ by our Venerable Father Theodore the Studite."},{"type":"TEXT","value":"Brethren and Fathers, while the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ when they are\nrecalled are always able to pierce the soul, they do so especially in these present days, on\nwhich each of them reached its end. What then are they? The murderous council against\nhim, the Jewish arrest, his being led away to death, his arraignment before Pilate’s\ntribunal, the interrogation, the scourging, the blows, the spittings, the insults, the\nmockeries, the ascent of the Cross, the nailing of his hands and feet, the tasting of gall, the\npiercing of his side and all the other things which blazed forth with them, which the world\ncannot contain, nor can anyone worthily proclaim, not human tongue, nor even all the\ntongues of angels together. For let us consider, brethren, this great and ineffable mystery.\nThe Lord who reveals the counsels of hearts and knows every human desire is the one who\nis taken before a council of death; the Lord who bears all things by the word of his power\nis the one who is handed over to sinners; the Lord who binds the water in the clouds and\nsows in the earth uniformly in due season is the one who is led away prisoner; the Lord\nwho measures the heavens with the span of his hand and the earth in a handful and\nweighed all the mountains in the balance is the one who is struck by the hand of a servant;\nthe Lord who adorned the boundaries of the earth with flowers is the one who is\ndishonourably crowned with thorns; the Lord who planted the tree of life in Paradise is\nthe one who is hanged upon an accursed tree. O great and more than natural sights! The\nsun saw them and faded, the moon saw them and was darkened, the earth perceived them\nand was shaken, the rocks perceived them and were rent, all creation was turned back at\nthe outrages done to the Master. The lifeless elements which have no senses, as if\nendowed with life and sensation from fear of the Lord and from the spectacle of what is\nseen, were amazed and altered; and do we, who have been honoured with reason, for\nwhose sake Christ died, remain untouched and unweeping in these days? How could we\nbe less rational than things which have no reason, more unfeeling than the stones? In no\nway, my brothers, in no way. Let us rather be amazed in a manner worthy of God, by\nbeing changed with a fair change; let us draw down tears, sacrifice the passions, changing\ninsults for insults and exchanging wounds for wounds, the one through obedience, the\nother through unflinching confession. Do we not see the burning incitements of divine\nlove? Who ever dwelt in prison for a friend? Who accepted slaughter for their beloved?\nBut our good God not only did the one and both of them, but accepted ten thousand sufferings for the sake of us, the condemned. Fittingly then the blessed Apostle, when he\nthought on these things and became powerfully aware of the love of God, said “For I am\npersuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rules nor powers, neither present\nnor future, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from\nthe love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” For such was the love God had for us that he\ngave his only Son, that all who believe in him might not perish, as it is written, but have\neternal life. As an exchange for this love, the saints, when they had nothing to offer,\noffered their own bodies and blood by asceticism and struggle, singing with blessed David\nthe song: “What return may we make to the Lord for all that he has given to us?” Let us\nalso, brethren, cry out these words each day, as we serve him with an unceasing attitude of\nlove, striving again and again for what is better, so that we may become heirs with the\nsaints of the eternal blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and might with\nthe Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages."}] |