E D I F I C A T I O N - from Saint John Chrysostomos and Saint Isaac the Syrian ON THE CROSS

 

Great Friday

THE CRUCIFIXION OF OUR SAVIOR

Holy Martyr Evpsychios

Fast Day

"Far be it for me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14). Truly this symbol is thought despicable; but it is so in the world's reckoning, and among men; in Heaven and among the faithful it is the highest glory. Poverty too is despicable, but it is our boast; and to be cheaply thought of by the public is a matter of laughter to them, but we are elated by it. So too is the Cross our boast. He does not say, `I boast not,' nor, `I will not boast,' but, `Far be it from me that I should,' as if he abominated it as absurd, and invoked the aid of God in order to his success therein. And what is the boast of the Cross? That Christ for my sake took on Him the form of a slave, and bore His sufferings for me the slave, the enemy, the unfeeling one; yea, He so loved me as to give Himself up to a curse for me. What can be comparable to this?"

St. John Chrysostomos, Homilies on Galatians


"The cross is the door to mysteries. Through this door the intellect makes entrance in to the knowledge of heavenly mysteries. The knowledge of the cross is concealed in the sufferings of the cross.  And the more our participation in its sufferings, the greater the perception we gain through the cross. For, as the Apostle says,  `As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."

The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac of Syria