The first of the week^[1] is what Christian practice now calls the Lord’s day, because of the resurrection of the Lord.

How can I recount for you these hidden realities or proclaim what goes beyond any word or concept? How can I lay open before you the mystery of the Lord’s resurrection, the saving sign of his cross and of his three days’ death? For each and every event that happened to our Savior is an outward sign of the mystery of our redemption. Just as Christ was born from his mother’s inviolate virginal womb, so too he rose again from the closed tomb. As he, the only-begotten Son of God was made the firstborn of his mother, so, by his resurrection, he became the firstborn from the dead. His birth did not break the seal of his mother’s virginal integrity. Nor did his rising from the dead break the seals on the sepulcher. And so, just as I cannot fully express his birth in words, neither can I wholly encompass his going forth from the tomb.

Hidden first in a womb of flesh, he sanctified human birth by his own birth. Hidden afterward in the womb of the earth, he gave life to the dead by his resurrection. Suffering, pain and sighs have now fled away. For who has known the mind of God, or who has been his counselor if not the Word made flesh who was nailed to the cross, who rose from the dead and who was taken up into heaven? This day brings a message of joy: it is the day of the Lord’s resurrection when, with himself, he raised up the race of Adam. Born for the sake of human beings, he rose from the dead with them. On this day paradise is opened by the risen one, Adam is restored to life and Eve is consoled. On this day the divine call is heard, the kingdom is prepared, we are saved and Christ is adored. On this day, when he had trampled death under foot, made the tyrant a prisoner and despoiled the underworld, Christ ascended into heaven as a king in victory, as a ruler in glory, as an invincible charioteer. He said to the Father, Here am I, O God, with the children you have given me. And he heard the Father’s reply, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.^[1] To him be glory, now and for ever, through endless ages. Amen.

No very exact account seems to be offered in the Scriptures of the hour at which Jesus rose. For the Evangelists have given different descriptions of the parties who came to the sepulcher one after another, and all have declared that they found the Lord risen already. It was in the end of the sabbath, as Matthew has said.^[1] It was early, when it was yet dark, as John writes. It was very early in the morning, as Luke puts it. And it was very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun, as Mark tells us. And so, no one has shown us clearly the exact time when he rose. It is admitted, however, that those who came to the sepulcher in the end of the sabbath found him no longer lying in it, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week. And let us not suppose that the Evangelists disagree or contradict each other. But even though there may seem to be some small difficulty as to the subject of our inquiry, if they all agree that the light of the world, our Lord, rose on that one night, while they differ with respect to the hour, we may well seek with wise and faithful mind to harmonize their statements.

It seems to those who dissent that here also the words of the Evangelists do not agree with one another. On the contrary, it seems to me that on the basis of their accounts their words are perfectly consistent. . . . Indeed, John says, Early . . . while it was dark. The word early is not referred here to the morning. In fact, he does not say while it was still dark, which should have been said with regard to morning. But he wrote, while it was dark, that is, on the next day when the night began, by designating with the term early the entire day so that he might say the day after the sabbath. The holy Scripture usually defines both day and night with the word day, because the sun, after its course throughout the night and the day, makes the beginning of the next day by returning to its place in the west. And this is confirmed by Moses, who says, And there was evening and there was morning, the first day,^[1] which he also says about the second and third days, and all the rest. . . . John says, Early on the first day of the week, indicating the next day, that is, on the first day of the week, when it was dark, in order to signify that when the night began, the women came, in order to perform the proper honor according to customs.

No one, I suppose, will imagine that the inspired writers disagree or that they fix the time of the resurrection differently. But anyone who chooses to investigate the meaning of the indications they give of the time will find that their accounts add up. For early dawn and late night fix the same point of time, that is, the very dead of night, so to say. There is, therefore, no discrepancy between them. For the one, taking as his starting point the end of night, and the other the beginning, both reach the middle watch and meet at the same point, that is, as I just now said, the dead of night.

Mary Magdalene came to the sepulcher when it was still dark. We note the hour historically, but we who seek understanding must find what is mystically intended. Mary was looking for the creator of all things in the tomb whom she had seen physically dead in the sepulcher. Because she did not find any trace of him, she believed that he had been stolen away. Truly it was still dark when she came to the sepulcher.

To the Sun before sun who had then sunk in the tomb^[1]

O friends, come let us anoint with spices

Let us go, let us hasten like the Magi,

The spices as gifts—not to Him in swaddling clothes

And let us weep and cry out: ‘O Master, arise,

When the holy women were saying these things to each other,

For surely the Lord is not in the tomb!

Let Mary leave and go see the tomb

For most certainly, as He foretold, the Immortal One has arisen,

The wise women, having made arrangements according to this plan,

It was dark, but love lighted the way for her; KONTAKION ^[1]

For he arose while both stone and seals lay over him. But because it was necessary that others should be fully satisfied, the tomb was opened after the resurrection and what had happened was confirmed. This then was what startled Mary. For being entirely full of loving affection toward her Master, when the sabbath was past, she could not bear to rest but came very early in the morning, desiring to find some consolation from the place.

It was in the early morning of the first day of the week that the women came to the sepulcher, as all the Evangelists are at one in attesting. By that time, all that is recorded by Matthew alone had already taken place, that is to say, in regard to the quaking of the earth, and the rolling away of the stone and the terror of the guards who were so frightened that they lay there like dead men. Then, as John informs us, Mary Magdalene came. She was unquestionably more ardent in her love than these other women who had ministered to the Lord. And so, it was not unreasonable in John to only mention her, leaving the other women unnamed who, however, were with her, as we gather from the reports given by other Evangelists.

Do you see how she did not yet know anything clearly concerning the resurrection? Instead, she thought the body had been removed, which is what she simply tells to the disciples. And the Evangelist has not deprived the woman of such praise, nor did he think it shameful that they should have learned these things first from her who had passed the night in watching. This shows how his love of the truth is on display everywhere.

Some of the Greek codices have, They have taken my Lord, which may likely enough have been said by someone with a stronger than ordinary affection of love than simply that of a relationship of a handmaid. However, we have not found it in the several codices to which we have had access.^[1]

This excellent and pious woman would never have endured remaining at home and leaving the sepulcher [after the burial] if she had not had respect for sabbath law and the penalty that was incurred by those who transgressed it. This fear curbed her excessive zeal, allowing ancient custom to prevail, and to withdraw her thoughts from the object of her most earnest longings for awhile. But when the sabbath was already past and the dawn of the next day was appearing, she hurried back to the spot. And then, when she saw the stone rolled away from the mouth of the tomb, well-grounded suspicions seized her mind and, calling to mind the ceaseless hatred of the Jews, she thought that Jesus had been carried away. And so she accuses them of this crime in addition to their other misdeeds. While she was thus engaged and mulling over the possibilities in her mind, the woman returned to the men who loved the Lord, anxious to obtain the cooperation of the most intimate of his disciples in her quest. And so deep-rooted and impregnable was her faith that she thought no less of Christ because of his death on the cross but even when he was dead called him Lord, as she had always done, thereby showing a truly God-loving spirit.

Question: How is it that in John the disciples hearing Mary, and then coming to the sepulcher, believed. But in Luke it is said that their words appeared in their sight as an idle tale and they did not believe?

Answer: Mary, in John, told what she had seen to the chief apostles Peter and John alone, as declaring some secret. And they again, unknown to the other disciples, ran to the sepulcher, saw and believed. And there was nothing strange in the chief apostles having seen and believed while the rest to whom the women reported, not having received with their own eyes, did not believe them. Indeed, when the Savior appeared to the assembled disciples themselves, according to John, those who saw him rejoiced. But Thomas, since he was not with them and did not see, was not persuaded. But if he disbelieved the apostles, one would scarcely blame the rest because, not having as yet beheld him, they disbelieved the women. The Scripture shows much examination and carefulness on the part of the disciples, not readily assenting to their words but at first suspending judgment until they recognized the truth fully and clearly.

The passage may have another meaning. It may be said that the women reporting the Savior’s resurrection from the message of the two men who appeared to them, according to Luke, were not believed by the Eleven, among whom were even Peter and John, who themselves had not believed. But Mary saying, according to John, They have taken my Lord away from the tomb, was not believed by the two disciples on this very point, that is, that the Savior had been taken away, until they came to the place and found it actually so.

Peter and John seem to come to the sepulcher in broad daylight (an opportune time). By not coming during the night and in darkness, no one can suspect them of what the chief priests falsely accused them, that is, that they came by night and stole him. Therefore the men did not come by night or while it was still dark but while it was broad daylight. But if the Gospel says that the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, someone may object, How then did those who were shut up visit the sepulcher in broad daylight? We respond that it was natural that those who were living in the city in the midst of the Jews would be closed in, gathered together in one house. But those who came to the tomb, since they were outside the city, were far from fear of the Jews since they were going to a place deserted and empty of people. But perhaps it may also be the case that Peter and John, being above the fear of the other disciples, ventured more boldly to go out from the house while the others were too scared. In other matters it was recorded that they were considered worthy of more honor than the other apostles.

Be a Peter or a John;

Hasten to the sepulcher,

Running together,

Running against one another,

Vying in the noble race.

And even if you are beaten in speed,

Win the victory of showing who wants it more—

Not just looking into the tomb, but going in. ON

When [Mary] came and said these things, the apostles heard them and drew near to the sepulcher with great eagerness. They see the linen clothes lying there, which was a sign of the resurrection. For if they had removed the body, they would not have stripped it first, nor, if any had stolen it, would they have taken the trouble to remove the napkin and roll it up and lay it in a place by itself apart from the linens. They would have taken the body as it was. Therefore, John tells us by anticipation that it was buried with much myrrh, which glues linen to the body not less firmly than lead. He tells us this so that when you hear that the napkin lay apart from the linens, you may not endure those who say that he was stolen. For a thief would not have been so foolish as to expend so much effort on a trifling detail.

The cloths lying within seem to me at once to furnish also a proof that the body had not been taken away by people, as Mary supposed. For no one taking away the body would leave the linens, nor would the thief ever have stayed until he had undone the linens and so be caught. And at the same time they establish the resurrection of the body from the dead. For God, who transforms the bodies of our humiliation so as to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory, changed the body as an organ^[1] of the power that dwelt in it, changing it into something more divine. But he left the linen cloths as superfluous and foreign to the nature of the body.

Here some, by not giving due attention, suppose that John believed that Jesus had risen again.^[1] But there is no indication of this from the words that follow. For what does he mean by immediately adding, For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead? He could not then have believed that Jesus had risen again when he did not know that he had to rise again. What then did he see? What was it that he believed? It was nothing else but this, that is, that he saw the sepulcher empty and believed what the woman had said, that is, that Jesus had been taken away from the tomb. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. In the same way also, when they heard of it from the Lord himself—although uttered in the plainest of terms—yet from their custom of hearing him speaking by parables they did not understand and believed that he meant something else.

When these men (I mean Peter and John, the writer of this book, for he gives himself the name of the other disciple) heard this news from the woman’s mouth, they ran with all the speed they could and hurried to the sepulcher. They saw the marvel with their own eyes, being in themselves competent to testify to the event, for they were two in number as the Law enjoined.^[1] As yet they did not meet Christ risen from the dead, but they infer his resurrection from the bundle of linen clothes, and from that time on they believed that he had burst the bonds of death, as holy Scripture had long ago proclaimed that he would do. When, therefore, they looked at the issues of events in the light of the prophecies that turned out true, their faith was from that time forward rooted on a firm foundation.

As a woman, Mary was full of feeling and more inclined to pity. I say this in case you might wonder how it was that Mary wept bitterly at the tomb, while Peter was in no way affected. For the disciples, it says, went away to their own home. But she stood shedding tears. This was because hers was a tender nature, and she as yet did not have an accurate account of the resurrection. They . . . saw the linen clothes and believed and then left for their own homes in astonishment. And why didn’t they immediately go to Galilee as they were commanded to do before the passion? They waited for the others, perhaps, and besides they were yet at the height of their amazement. These then went their way, but she remained there.

The wise disciples, after having gathered sufficiently satisfactory evidence of the resurrection of our Savior, were unsure, as it were, what to do with their confirmed and unshaken faith. Comparing the events as they had actually occurred with the prophecies of holy Scripture, they went back home and most likely hurried to see their fellow workers to recount the miracle and afterward consider what course should be pursued. They may have also had another motive in doing what they did. For the passion of the Jews was at its height, and the rulers were thirsting eagerly for the blood of every person who marveled at the teaching of the Savior and confessed his divine and ineffable power and glory. But most of all they thirsted for the blood of the holy disciples themselves, who then had good reason for shrinking from an encounter with them. This is why they left the sepulcher before it was quite light, since they could not have done so without risk if they were seen leaving in the daytime—the sun’s rays revealing them to everyone. We are far from saying that they were cowards as a reason for their cautious flight. Rather, it is more likely that the knowledge of what was expedient for them was instilled in the minds of the saints by Christ who did not permit these who were destined to be lights and teachers of the world to run unnecessary risks.^[1]

What then does it mean, that, as she wept, she stooped down and looked again into the sepulcher? Was it because her grief was so excessive that she hardly thought she could believe either their eyes or her own? Or was it rather by some divine impulse that her mind led her to look within?

Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner in the city,^[1] loved the Truth and so washed away with her tears the stains of wickedness.^[2] Her sins had kept her cold, but afterward she burned with an irresistible love. . . . We must consider this woman’s state of mind whose great force of love inflamed her. When even the disciples departed from the sepulcher, she did not depart. She looked for him whom she had not found. . . . But it is not enough for a lover to have looked once, because the force of love intensifies the effort of the search. She looked for him a first time and found nothing. She persevered in seeking, and that is why she found him. As her unfulfilled desires increased, they took possession of what they found.^[3] . . . Holy desires, as I have told you before, increase by delay in their fulfillment. If delay causes them to fail, they were not desires. . . . This was Mary’s kind of love as she turned a second time to the sepulcher she had already looked into. Let us see the result of her search, which had been redoubled by the power of love.

Why is it that one was sitting at the head and the other at the feet? Was it because those who in Greek are called angels are in Latin newsbearers [nuntii]? In this way they signified that the gospel of Christ was to be preached from head to foot, from the beginning even to the end?

An angel sits at the head, so to speak, when the apostles preach, In the beginning was the Word.^[1] And an angel sits at his feet when he says that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.^[2] We can also recognize the two testaments in the two angels, one earlier and the other later. These angels are brought together at the place of the Lord’s body because, while both testaments proclaim equally the message that the Lord became a man and died and rose, the Old Testament sits at his head, so to speak, and the New Testament at his feet.

The angels who appear say nothing about the resurrection. But by degrees the subject is entered on. First of all they address her compassionately, to prevent her from being overpowered by a spectacle of such extraordinary brightness. And they say to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

Observe that the tears shed for Christ do not lose their reward, nor is it long before love for him bears fruit. Rather, his grace and rich restitution will follow closely in the wake of pain. Notice how—as Mary was sitting there, her cheeks bedewed with mourning for her beloved Lord whom she had lost—notice how the Savior granted to her the knowledge of the mystery about him through the mouth of holy angels. They tell her to stop crying because this was no occasion for tears. She was making a subject for rejoicing a cause of grief. Why, indeed, they say, when death has been subdued, and corruption has lost its power and our Savior Christ has risen again and made a new pathway for the dead back to incorruption and to life—why would you misunderstand what is going on now? Why are you so distraught with pain when what is actually going on calls for rejoicing? You should be glad, even ecstatic! And so, why then are you crying and, in effect detracting from the honor due to what amounts to a celebration?

The very declarations of Scripture that excite our tears of love wipe away those very tears by promising us the sight of our Redeemer again.

This was foretold in the Song of Songs: On my bed I sought the one my soul loves. I sought him in the night and did not find him.^[1] Of those also who found him and held him by the feet, it is foretold, in the same book, I will hold the one my soul loves and will not let him go.^[2]

His body too is called the Lord on account of the inherent Godhead.

Mary calls her Lord’s inanimate body her Lord, meaning a part for the whole. It is the same as when all of us acknowledge that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, our Lord, who of course is at once both the Word and soul and flesh, was nevertheless crucified and buried, while it was only his flesh that was laid in the sepulcher.

But why, after speaking with the angels and not having yet heard anything from them, did Mary turn back? I think that while she was speaking, Christ suddenly appeared behind her and struck the angels with awe. And when they saw their ruler, they showed immediately by their attitude, their gaze and their movements that they saw the Lord. This is what drew the woman’s attention and caused her to turn around. This is how he appeared to them, but this is not how he appeared to the woman in order not to terrify her at the first sight of him. Rather, he appears to her in a more humble and ordinary form, as is clear from her reaction, supposing that he was the gardener. It was appropriate to lead one of so lowly a mind to higher matters not all at once but gently. He therefore in turn asks her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?

Was he one person when he was not known and another when he was known? He was surely one and the same. Whether, therefore, they knew him or not depended on their sight. It did not depend on him who was seen. And yet, it did depend on him in this sense, that he held their eyes so that they might not know him. And finally, in order that you may see that the mistake that held them was not to be attributed to the Lord’s body but to the fact that their eyes were closed, we are told, Their eyes were opened, and they knew him. This is why, as long as Mary Magdalene did not recognize Jesus and sought the living among the dead, she thought he was the gardener. Afterward she recognized him, and then she called him Lord.

Mary, who was still in doubt about the Lord’s resurrection, turned around to see Jesus. By this doubt she had turned her back to the face of the Lord whom she did not believe had risen. Because she loved and doubted, she saw and did not recognize him. Her love revealed him to her, and her doubt prevented her from knowing him.

Be the first to see the stone taken away, and perhaps you will see the angels and Jesus himself. Say something. Hear his voice. If he says to you, Do not touch me,^[1] stand far away. Reverence the Word, but do not grieve because he knows those to whom he appears first.

Jesus says to her, Woman, why do you weep? He asked the reason for her sorrow to increase her longing still more, so that when he asked whom she was seeking she might feel a more fervent love for him.

And our Lord acted this way so that when she suddenly sees the one who she thought was beyond hope of ever seeing again because she still thought he was dead, she might not be overcome with emotion and think that he was some demonic apparition. He also wanted her first to speak to him gradually, as to a man, and after she had realized that she was speaking to a real man, she might finally understand who he was and at the same time might believe and admire the greatness of the event.

Perhaps this woman was not as mistaken as she appeared to be when she believed that Jesus was a gardener. Was he not spiritually a gardener for her when he planted the fruitful seeds of virtue in her heart by the force of his love? But why did she say to the one she saw and believed to be the gardener, when she had not yet told him whom she was seeking, Sir, if you have taken him away? She had not yet said who it was who made her weep from desire or mentioned him of whom she spoke. But the force of love customarily brings it about that a heart believes everyone else is aware of the one of whom it is always thinking. . . . After he had called her by the common name of woman, he called her by her own name, as if to say, Recognize him who recognizes you.. . . And so because Mary was called by name, she acknowledged her creator and called him at once Rabboni, that is, teacher. He was both the one she was outwardly seeking and the one who was teaching her inwardly to seek him.

When Mary Magdalene had seen the Lord and thought that he was the gardener . . . she was mistaken, indeed, in her vision, but the very error had its prototype. Truly, indeed, Jesus was the gardener of his paradise, of his trees of paradise. She thought that he was the gardener and wanted to fall at his feet. What does the Lord say to her? Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Do not touch me. You do not deserve to touch the one you looked for in a grave. Do not touch me whom you only suppose, but do not believe, has arisen. Do not touch me, for to you I have not yet ascended to my Father. When you believe that I have ascended to my Father, then, it will be your privilege to touch me.

Let no one think bad of the woman because she called the gardener sir (domine) and Jesus Master (magistrum). . . . In the first instance she was honoring a person from whom she was asking a favor. In the second she was recalling the teacher from whom she was learning to distingush the divine from the human. She called one lord (sir) even when she was not his servant so that through him she could come to the Lord whose [servant] she was. She used the word lord in one sense when she said They have taken away my Lord, and in anoher sense when she said, Sir [i.e., lord], if you have carried him away.

He who searches the hearts and reins and watches over them,^[1]

Saying, Mary. She at once recognized Him and spoke:

For I see behind Him who calls me

And so, I do not say, ‘Who art Thou who callest me?’

It is my Teacher and my Lord, KONTAKION ^[1]

Some indeed say that because this woman approached him and touched him just as she had done before, without thinking anything of it, that she did not believe that this act of resurrection was worthy of the glorious and sublime divinity. Rather [they say] she still thought the same as she did earlier, that he would be characterized by his humility and humanity as when he was with his disciples. And so when our Savior asks why she is acting this way, as if he was still earthbound, because he had not yet ascended to his Father, it is as if he said, Do not touch me with too much curiosity. . . . Perhaps indeed he also knew that every fiber of her being wanted to hold on to these divine feet with joy and emotion as a friend of God because Matthew also records others, besides Mary, who seized his feet and adored him.^[1] But others say that he was raising her to a higher and more sublime way of thinking. Because [they say] when Mary approached him with more fervent desire and to ask something concerning the divine, she did so because she wanted the reason for his resurrection revealed to her and so she returned to touch him. . . . And so Jesus, as one who knows the hidden things of the heart, says to her, Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to my Father. [He says this] because he had promised to his disciples, once he had ascended into heaven, that the Holy Spirit would come who would lead them to perfection by teaching and revealing to them what was hidden. . . . Then [i.e., at that time] he had said, I still have many things to teach you but you cannot bear them now, but when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth.^[2] This is why [now] he says, Do not touch me, that is, do not probe, do not seek the reason for what you came to ask. Do not touch me. The time has not yet come because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But I will ascend, and when I do, the Spirit will come and teach you as he also promised to me. It is obvious that Mary, [once she recognized him], wanted to learn, because she addressed him not as Lord [as she had done earlier] but as Rabboni, that is, teacher. . . . She was anxious to learn. But, as one who directs his words with understanding to teach, Jesus deflects her [question] as being inappropriate. . . . [The Gospel] testifies to this desire of Mary, the sister of Martha, to know when, instead of listening to Martha’s instruction, she should remain close to Jesus, who said concerning her, Mary has chosen the better share, which will not be taken away from her.^[3]

But after he had destroyed his enemies through his passion, the Lord, who is mighty in battle and strong,^[1] required a purification that could be given to him by his Father alone. And this is why he forbids Mary to touch him.

It belongs to the resurrection that one should be on the first day in the paradise of God,^[1] and it belongs to the resurrection when Jesus appears and says, Do not touch me. For I am not yet ascended to my Father, but the perfection of the resurrection was when he came to the Father.

For the human being who died rises up on the third day. But when Mary strives with longing to touch his holy limbs, he objected and says to her, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’ God the Word, who comes from heaven and lives in the bosom of the Father, did not utter the phrase I have not yet ascended to my Father. The Wisdom that embraces all things that exists did not say it either. This was spoken by the very human being who was formed out of all kinds of limbs, who had been raised from the dead and who after death had not yet ascended to his Father but reserved for himself the firstfruit of his passage.

Some assert that she asked for spiritual grace because she had heard him say to the disciples, If I go to the Father, ‘I will ask him, and he shall give you another Comforter.’^[1] But how could she who was not present with the disciples have heard this? Besides, such an interpretation is far from the meaning here. And how should she ask such a thing when he had not yet gone to the Father? What, then, does it mean? I think that she still wanted to talk with Jesus like she used to and that in her joy she perceived nothing out of the ordinary in him, although he had become far more excellent in bodily appearance. To lead her therefore from this idea, and so that she might speak to him with more awe (for he no longer appears so familiar with the disciples either), he raises her thoughts so that she is more reverent toward him. To have said, Do not approach me as you did before, for matters are not in the same state, nor shall I any longer be with you in the same way would have been harsh and highsounding. But by saying, I am not yet ascended to the Father, it was not as painful to hear, although he was basically saying the same thing. For by saying, I am not yet ascended, he shows that he is hurrying and pressing on. He was saying that it was not right for one about to leave for [heaven] and who would no longer converse with human beings to be looked on with the same feelings as before.

He said, Do not touch me, first of all, because this body was [like] a first-flowering fruit from Sheol that our Lord, as priest, was preserving carefully from contact with any [human] hand, so as to offer it to the [only] hand capable of receiving such a gift and capable of paying the price for an offering such as this. Second, [he did not want anyone to touch him] in order to show that this body was [already] glorified and magnified. Thus he showed them that, while he had been a servant, everyone had power over him, since even tax collectors and sinners used to come and touch him. But when he was made Lord, fear of him was over everyone like [the fear of] God.^[1] Even kings and nobles convince us [of this], for those who see [them] are afraid to touch them.

The Son of man and Son of God, therefore, dearly beloved, then attained a more excellent and holier fame when he returned to the glory of the Father’s majesty. In an incomprehensible way, he began to be nearer to the Father in respect of his Godhead after having become distanced in respect of his manhood. A better instructed faith then began to draw closer to a conception of the Son’s equality with the Father without the necessity of handling the corporeal substance in Christ. As a result of this [substance], he is less than the Father, since, while the nature of the glorified body still remained, the faith of believers was called on to touch not with the hand of flesh but with the spiritual understanding the Only Begotten, who was equal with the Father. And this is why the Lord said to Mary Magdalene (who represents the church),^[1] when she hurriedly approached and touched him, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, that is, I would not have you come to me as to a human body or recognize me by fleshly perceptions. I want you to wait for higher things. I prepare greater things for you. When I have ascended to my Father, then you shall handle me more perfectly and truly, for you shall grasp what you cannot touch and believe what you cannot see.

What does this mean, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father? If she could not touch him as he was standing on earth, would she be able to touch him seated in heaven? As though he was saying, Do not touch me now; touch me then, when I have ascended to the Father. Your graces will recall yesterday’s reading, when the Lord appeared to the disciples and they thought they were seeing a spirit. But wishing to relieve them of this mistaken idea, he offered himself to their touch. What did he say? It was yesterday. There was a sermon about it.^[1] Why are you troubled, and why are thoughts coming up into your hearts? See my hands and my feet; feel and see.^[2] He had not already ascended to the Father, had he, when he said feel and see, offering himself to his disciples to be touched, not just touched but felt, to produce faith in the real flesh of his real body, to present the solid reality of truth even to the human touch? So he offers himself to the hands of the disciples to be felt, but he says to the woman, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. What can it mean? Could men only touch him on earth, while women had to touch him in heaven, for I have not yet ascended to my Father?

So what can touching be, but believing? We touch Christ, you see, by faith, and it is better not to touch him with the hand and to touch him with faith than to feel him with the hand and not touch him with faith. It was not a great matter to touch Christ; the Jews touched him when they seized him, they touched him when they bound him, touched him when they hung him up; they touched him, and by touching him in a bad way, they lost what they touched. Just you touch by faith, O Catholic church; see that you touch by faith. If you have thought of Christ only as a man, you have touched him on earth. If you have believed Christ is Lord, equal to the Father, then you have touched him when he has ascended to the Father.

What is Touch me as I ascended to the Father?

Touch me as equal to the Father.

What is Touch me as equal to the Father?

Touch me as God, that is believe in me as God. SERMON 375C.4.

Carried away by the warmth of her affection, and by her fervent love,

But the Creator did not find fault with her eagerness;

O holy woman, lift up your eyes

Seek me there, for I ascend

For I share His throne, and with Him I am without time and beginning, KONTAKION

Now that the words addressed to Mary are not applicable to the Godhead of the Only Begotten, one may learn from the intention with which they were uttered. For he who humbled himself to a level with human littleness is the one who spoke these words.^[1] . . . He from whom we were formerly alienated by our revolt has become our Father and our God. Accordingly in the passage cited above the Lord brings the good news of this benefit. And the words are not a proof of the degradation of the Son but the good news of our reconciliation to God. For that which has taken place in Christ’s humanity is a common boon bestowed on humankind generally. For as when we see in him the weight of the body that naturally gravitates to earth ascending through the air into the heavens, we believe according to the words of the apostle that we also shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.^[2] Even so, when we hear that the true God and Father has become the God and Father of our Firstfruits, we no longer doubt that the same God has become our God and Father too, inasmuch as we have learned that we shall come to the same place where Christ has entered for us as our forerunner.^[3]

What is the difference if he was not yet ascended to his Father? How could this reason suffice to render it improper for those that loved him to touch his holy body? Would it not be blameworthy for anyone to imagine that the Lord shrank from the pollution of the touch and said this so that he might be pure when he ascended to the Father in heaven?^[1] Would not such a person stand convicted of great foolishness and madness? For the nature of God can never be polluted. For just as the light of the sun’s ray, when it strikes on a manure pile or any other earthly impurities, suffers no stain, for it remains as it is, that is, undefiled, and it partakes in no degree of the ill odor of the objects that it encounters, even so the all-holy nature of God can never admit of the blemish of defilement. Why then was Mary prevented from touching him when she drew near and yearned to do so? . . .

We say that the reasons for our Savior dwelling among us were many and diverse, but there is one overriding principle, indicated in his own words: For I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.^[2] Therefore, before the saving cross and the resurrection from the dead, while as yet his providential scheme had not received its appropriate fulfillment, he mingled both with the just and the unjust, and ate with publicans and sinners and allowed any that wanted to come to him and touch his holy body so that he might sanctify all who came and call them to a knowledge of the truth and might bring back to health those who were diseased and enfeebled by the constant practice of sin.^[3] . . .

At that time, by his providence, people who were still unclean and who were polluted both in mind and body were allowed without hindrance to touch the holy flesh itself of our Savior Christ and to gain every blessing from it. But after he completed the plan of our redemption, having suffered death on the cross and rising to life again, he showed that his nature was superior to death. And so, from then on, instead of granting them access, he hinders those who come to him from touching the very flesh of his holy body. In this way he gives us a type of the holy churches and the mystery concerning himself, just as also the law given by the all-wise Moses itself did when it represented the slaughter of the lamb as a figure of Christ. For no uncircumcised person, said the Law, shall eat thereof,^[4] meaning by uncircumcised someone who is impure. And humanity may justly be deemed impure in its own nature. For what is the nature of a human being, as compared with God’s inherent purity? We may not, therefore, while we remain uncircumcised, that is, impure, touch the holy body, but only when we have been made pure by the true circumcision of the Spirit. . . . As, therefore, the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent down to us, for he had not yet ascended to the Father, he repulses Mary as not yet having received the Spirit, saying, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to the Father; that is to say, I have not yet sent down to you the Holy Spirit. And so, the type is applicable to the churches. . . . Therefore, also, to those who wish to partake of the blessed Eucharist, the ministers of divine mysteries say, Holy things to the holy, teaching that participation in holy things is the due reward of those who are sanctified in the Spirit.

It is the custom of our Lord that, while his providence is preparing something, he seems to do something else according to the sense of his words. For instance, this is how he acted with the woman who suffered from hemorrhages.^[1] He asked, Who touched me?^[2] He certainly knew the answer. However he seemed to ask as if he did not know, so that the woman who had touched him might be afraid and manifest the miracle and show her faith though which, since it was adequate, she had received her healing. . . . And it is the same here as well. He first showed himself to the woman after his resurrection and was about to ascend into heaven, and by now he wanted to teach the disciples that they did not only have to believe in resurrection, because their sight testified to the reality of the facts, but also so that they might know he was not going to remain on earth after his resurrection but would also ascend into heaven to receive greater glory with his Father. Since this is so, it seems he says these things to the woman and forbids her to touch him as if she was not supposed to come into contact with his body in the same way anymore, since he was now provided with a different and much more powerful body. But this is the real meaning: Through what he said he wanted both to teach his disciples about his resurrection and his ascension. And this is evident from the fact that he showed himself again to the disciples who were in doubt, and he ordered them to touch the wounds on his body in the spots of the nails. So this is not the reason he kept the woman from coming into contact with him. And we cannot say that she was prevented because she was a woman; indeed, he allowed her to touch his feet many times. If she could not touch him because she was a woman, he would have forbidden her to do so even before. If he had forbidden the woman because his body had been transformed into a better state, he would have not allowed the disciples to confirm with their touch their faith in his resurrection. And then, if she also, by any chance, had doubted, like them, wouldn’t he have allowed her to confirm her faith through the contact with him? If someone says that he did not care about the faith of this woman or her unbelief, this is quite foolish. But since he had allowed her to come to him then, is it possible that the reward that he gave her for her faith was the privation of contact with him? And does this not look hateful, especially to educated people? Therefore, with his words he revealed two things: first, that his body after the resurrection was in a stronger and more excellent condition than before and therefore was not to be exposed to any human contact; second, that he would be assumed into heaven, to be connected forever with the Father in honor.

For Christ’s purpose in the incarnation was to pave for us the road to heaven. Mark how he says, I go up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

He becomes the firstborn of the new creation of men and women in Christ by the twofold regeneration, reborn by holy baptism and by that birth that is the consequence of the resurrection from the dead. In both alike he becomes for us the Prince of life,^[1] the firstfruits and the firstborn. This firstborn, then, also has brothers. This is who he is referring to when he says to Mary, Go and tell my brothers, I go to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. In these words he sums up the whole aim of his dispensation as man. For humanity rebelled against God and served those that by nature were no gods.^[2] And even though they were the children of God, they became attached to an evil father falsely so called. Therefore, the mediator between God and man,^[3] having assumed the firstfruits of all human nature,^[4] sends to his brothers the announcement of himself not in his divine character but in that which he shares with us. He says, I am departing in order to make that true Father, from whom you were separated, to be your Father; and to make that true God from whom you had rebelled to be your God. And I am doing this in my own person. For by those firstfruits that I have assumed, I am in myself presenting all humanity to its God and Father.

Since, then, the firstfruits made the true God to be its God and the good Father to be its Father, the blessing is secured for human nature as a whole, and by means of the firstfruits the true God and Father becomes Father and God of all men and women. Now if the firstfruits are holy, the lump also is holy.^[5] But where the firstfruits, Christ, is—and the firstfruits is none other than Christ—there also are those who are Christ’s, as the apostle says.^[6]

Now, does this mean I ascend as the Father to the Father, and as God to God? Or does it mean I ascend as the Son to the Father and as the Word to God? This is also why this Gospel, at the very end, intimates that these things were ever written . . . that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.^[1] Wherever, therefore, you take any of the statements of this Gospel and apply them to demonstrate the identity of the Father and the Son, supposing that they serve your views at that point, you are contending against the definite purpose of the Gospel. For these things certainly are not written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Father but the Son.

But in case anyone, from simplicity or perverse ingenuity, should suppose that Christ is but equal in honor to righteous people . . . it is well to make this distinction beforehand, that the name of the Father is one, but the power of his operation is many. And Christ himself, knowing this, has spoken unerringly, I am ascending to my Father and your Father. He does not say, to our Father,^[1] but distinguishing and saying first what was proper to himself, to My Father, which was by nature. Then he adds, and your Father, which was by adoption. For however high the privilege we have received of saying in our prayers, Our Father, who art in heaven, yet this gift is one of loving-kindness. For we call him Father, not as having been by nature begotten of our Father who is in heaven but having been transferred from servitude to sonship by the grace of the Father, through the Son and Holy Spirit. We are permitted to speak this way because of the ineffable loving-kindness [of our Father].

The Father, having begotten the Son, remained the Father and is not changed. He begat Wisdom yet did not lose wisdom himself. He begat power yet did not become weak. He begat God but did not lose his own Godhead. Neither did he lose anything himself by diminution or change. He who was begotten does not lack anything either. Perfect is he who begat, perfect is that which was begotten: God was he who begat, God is he who was begotten; God of all himself, yet giving the Father the title as his own God. For he is not ashamed to say, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. But in case you might think that he is a Father of the Son in the same way that he is Father of creation, Christ drew a distinction in what follows. For he did not say, I ascend to our Father, lest the creatures should be made fellows of the Only Begotten. Instead, he said, My Father and your Father. He is in one way mine, by nature. He is, in another way, yours, by adoption. And again, to my God and your God, in one way mine, as his true and only-begotten Son,^[1] and in another way yours, as his workmanship.^[2] The Son of God then is very God, ineffably begotten before all ages.

Of those passages which refer to the period after the resurrection, there are several which pertain to his human nature. . . . Other passages speak of Christ’s dual nature, such as, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. My God and your God, is to be understood more in an abstract way, as though he were ranking himself with us. Those passages, in general, that are sublime must be assigned to the divine nature, which is superior to passion and body. And those passages that are humble must be ascribed to the human nature. And those passages that are common must be attributed to the compound being, that is, the one Christ, who is God and man. And it should be understood that both [the human and divine] belong to one and the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. For if we know what is proper to each, and perceive that both are performed by one and the same, we shall have the true faith and shall not go astray.

To give you the explanation in one sentence: You are to apply the loftier expressions to the Godhead and to that nature in him that is superior to sufferings and bodily experiences. But all that is lowly should be applied to the composite condition^[1] of him who for your sakes made himself of no reputation^[2] and was incarnate.

While she was going with the other women, according to Matthew, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.^[1] So we gather that there were two visions of angels. We also understand that our Lord too was seen twice: once when Mary took him for the gardener and again when he met them by the way. In this way, by repeating his presence, he strengthens their faith and calms their fears. . . . And so Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples, not alone but with the other women whom Luke mentions.^[2]

See how the sin of the human race was removed where it began. In paradise a woman was the cause of death for a man;^[1] coming from the sepulcher a woman proclaimed life to men. Mary related the words of the one who restored her to life; Eve had related the words of the serpent who brought death.