And in those blessed days there were those like them, who did not receive the sun that shone in them, and tried as much as possible to extinguish it, doing everything that they thought could destroy its rays.

In the same way, in those times, God called certain righteous and beloved ones. For on their part they have done all and shown the possible truth, which has made them worthy of solution, when the One who is able to resolve appears, but has not resolved them. If this were true, they would also lay down this body, and be in the world and in the hand of God, saith Solomon (Wis. 3:13); Now, when they departed from here, they were received by hell. For the true truth and fellowship with God, not only as it had been before in foreign lands, was restored by our Lord, but He Himself brought it into the world, and the path that leads to heaven was not only found as it existed before, but He Himself paved it. For if this way had existed, some of the former would have discovered it; but now no one has ascended to heaven, except the Son of man who came down from heaven, who is in heaven (John 3:14). Since there was no remission of sins and no deliverance from punishment before the cross, how could one think of righteousness? For it would be incongruous, I think, to stand in the ranks of friends before reconciliation, and to glorify those who are still bound with chains crowned, in a word, if all this were done by this lamb (the Passover), what need would there be for this that follows? When shadows and images were the bliss sought, truth and deeds would be superfluous. Even the very fact that by the death of Christ enmity was destroyed and the mediastinum was destroyed, and peace and truth shone forth in the days of the Saviour, and all the like, what would have been the case if the friends of God and the righteous had been before the sacrifice of it? And the proof of this is as follows. For then the law united us to God, and now faith and grace and the like. From this it is evident that there was slavery then, but now sonship and fellowship are the communion of men with God, for the law is for slaves, but for friends and sons is grace and faith and boldness. From all this it is clear that the firstborn of the dead is the Saviour, and that none of the dead could be revived into immortal life before he was resurrected. In the same way, He alone leads people to sanctification and righteousness, and this was shown by Paul when he wrote: "The forerunner of us is the holy Christ" (Hebrews 6:20). For He entered into the Holy House, offering Himself to the Father, and brings in those who desired, who partook of His death, who did not die as he did, but in the font depicted this death, and proclaimed in some way anointed and fragrant to the Dead and Risen Himself. And by this gate he leads them into the kingdom, and leads them also to the crowns.

These gates are much more honorable and convenient than the gates of paradise. Those are not opened to anyone who has not first passed through this gate, but these are opened even when they are shut up. They can take them out, but they only bring them in, and they do not bring out anybody. Those could be shut up and opened again, but in these the veil and the mediastinum are forever destroyed and destroyed, and it is no longer possible to restore the barrier and attach doors and separate the worlds from one another with a wall. And not only were the heavens opened, but the heavens were opened, said the wondrous Mark (1:10), showing that there were no more doors, no bolts, no curtain of any kind. For he who reconciles and unites and reconciles the upper world with the lower world, and who destroys the middle of the fence, cannot deny himself, says Blessed Paul (2 Timothy 2:13). For the gates which were opened for Adam's sake, surely had to be closed, when Adam did not abide in that in which he ought to have been. And these were opened by Christ himself, who did not commit sin, and cannot sin, for his righteousness, it is said, endureth for ever. Wherefore it is absolutely necessary that they should remain open and bring into life, and bring no one out of life. "For I have come," said the Saviour, "that they may have life (John 10:10), and the life which the Lord has brought consists in making those who come through these sacraments partakers of His death and partakers of His sufferings, and without this no one can escape death. For he who is not baptized with water and the Holy Spirit cannot enter into life, neither can he who does not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood have no life in themselves.

And let's see above. It is impossible to live in God who is not yet dead to sins, and only God can put sin to death. For this ought to be done by men, for being righteous, we would have been able to renew the struggle if we had been defeated, but this became utterly impossible and beyond our power when we became slaves to sin. How can we become better by remaining in bondage? And though they be made better, yet the servant is not greater than his master.

And so it happened. God arrogates to Himself the struggle for men, for he is a man, and man overcomes sin, being pure from all sin, for he was God. And thus nature is freed from reproach and is taxed with the crown of victory when sin has fallen. And of men, though none have conquered or fought, yet men are loosed from these bonds; And the Saviour Himself did this by what He delivered, by which He gave to each of men the power to mortify sin and to become a partaker of its victory. Since, after this victory, he was to be crowned and triumphant, but he suffered wounds, and the cross, and death, and so forth, as Paul says: "Instead of the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, and did not heed the shame" (Hebrews 12:2), what happened? He did not commit any unrighteousness for which he should be punished, nor did he have anything in him of which the most shameless slanderer could accuse him, and the wounds, and the sorrow, and the death, were invented from the beginning for sins. How, then, did the Lord, being a lover of mankind, allow this? For it is not in the nature of goodness to be comforted by fear and death. Therefore, after sins, God allowed death and sorrow, so that He would not so much inflict punishment on the sinner, as offer medicine to the sick. Since this punishment could not be applied to the works of Christ, and the Saviour had no trace of infirmity in Himself, which had to be destroyed by the accepted medicine, the power of this chalice passes upon us and mortifies the sin that is in us, and the wounds of the innocent become a punishment for those who are guilty of many things. And since the punishment was great and wonderful, and much greater than was necessary to recompense for human evil, it not only freed from punishment, but brought such an abundance of blessings that those who are from the earth, hostile, bound, enslaved, and vanquished, ascend to heaven itself and there partake of the kingdom of God. For this death was precious, as far as it is impossible for man to understand, although it was bought by murderers for a small price by the permission of the Saviour, so that this also would make up for his wretchedness and dishonor, so that through the sale he might endure the reproach proper to slaves, and hoard the reproach. For by gain he esteemed dishonour for us, and by the insignificance of the price signifies that he accepted death for the sake of the world for nothing. He died voluntarily, who had done no wrong to anyone in anything, neither in relation to life nor to society, having begun for the murderers benefactions far exceeding all desires and hopes.

But what am I saying about this? God died, the blood of God was poured out on the cross. What can be more precious than this death, what is more terrible than it? Why has human nature sinned so much that such redemption was needed? What kind of ulcer must be that the power of such healing was needed to heal it? For it was necessary that sin should be atoned for by some punishment, and that only those who had suffered a fitting punishment for that in which they had sinned against God should be delivered from condemnation. For he who is punished can no longer be blamed for that for which he has been punished, and there is no man who, being pure, will suffer for others, since no one is able to bear the proper punishment either for himself or for the whole human race, even if it were possible for him to die a thousand times. For what is the price of the most insignificant servant, who has crushed the royal image and insulted its majesty? Wherefore the sinless Lord, having endured many sufferings, dies and bears the plague, taking upon himself the protection of men, as a man, frees the whole race from condemnation and grants freedom to those who are bound, because He Himself had no need of it, being God and Master.

And why the true life descends in us through the death of the Saviour is evident from the following. The way in which we attract it into our souls is to be performed by the sacraments, to be washed, to be anointed, to enjoy the sacred meal. To those who do these things, Christ comes, and dwells in them, and is united to them, and cleaves unto them, and plucks out sin in us, and pours out his life and power, and makes partakers of victory, O goodness, he girds up those who are washed, and praises those who supper. Why, then, and for what reason, from the font and the peace and the table is victory and a crown, which are the fruit of toil and sweat? For although we do not strive or labor in doing this, we glorify this feat and marvel at the victory, and glorify the trophy, and show a very great and ineffable love. And these wounds, and punishment, and death, we assimilate to ourselves, and as much as possible. We draw them into ourselves and are of the flesh of the Dead and the Risen. Why do we justly enjoy these blessings, which come from death and these feats?

It is quite contrary to this, if a man is astonished at a brave man, rejoices in the victor, and weaves crowns for him, stirs up a cry of approval, and shakes the theatre, and with pleasure falls down to the triumphant, and kisses his head, and kisses his right hand, and is greatly delighted in the warrior and the victory he has won, as if he himself had to adorn his head with a crown. Will he not be recognized by the right-thinking judges as a participant in the rewards of the winner, as the latter, I think, will share the punishment with the torturer? If we keep what ought to be done with regard to the wicked, requiring punishment for intent and thought, it will not be appropriate to deprive the good of those who follow them.

For when we approach the sacraments, we reproach and despise and abhor the torturer, but we praise and wonder at the conqueror, and revere and love him with all our souls, so that with an abundance of desire we thirst for him as bread, anoint ourselves as with myrrh, and are surrounded like water. It is evident that if He entered into the struggle for us, and in order that we might be victorious, He Himself suffered death, then there is nothing incongruous or inconsistent in the fact that through these sacraments we should reach the crowns. We show that we are ready to do so, and when we hear about this water, that it has the power of Christ's death and burial, we believe in it perfectly, and we approach it willingly, and immerse ourselves, but He, for He gives much and bestows much on them, He lovingly communicates to those who approach us that which was the result of death and burial, not giving any crown, nor bestowing glory, but the Conqueror Himself, Himself crowned. And coming out of the water, we carry the Saviour Himself in our souls, in our heads, in our eyes, in our very intestines, in all our members, pure from sin, free from all corruption, as He was resurrected and appeared to His disciples and ascended, as He will come again, demanding this treasure from us again.

And in order that we, being thus begotten and sealed by Christ, as it were, may not introduce any alien form into it, He Himself guards the entrances of life. And whereby we, by taking air and food, help the life of the body, through the same thing it penetrates into our souls, and makes both of these entrances its own, touching the one as myrrh and fragrance, the other as food. For we both breathe Him and He is food for us, and thus implanting Himself in us in every way, and uniting Himself with us, He makes us His Body. And it is to us what a chapter is to its members. Wherefore we partake of all the good things in Him, for He is the head, and that which belongs to the head necessarily passes into the body. And this is to be wondered at, that we do not share with him in plagues and death, but he alone struggled, and when he ought to be crowned, then he makes us his companions. And this work of ineffable love for humanity does not exceed reason and conformity. For we were united with Christ after the cross, and when He was not yet dying, we had nothing in common with Him. For he is the Son and the Beloved, and we are the defiled, and the servants, and in our thoughts we are his enemies; but when he died, and the price of redemption was paid, and the prison of the devil was destroyed, then we received freedom and adoption, and were made members of that Blessed Head. And from this that which belongs to the Head is also made ours. And now, by means of this water, we are changed into the sinless, by means of the world we share in His blessings, by means of the table we live the same life with Him, and in the age to come we are gods through God, and heirs of the same with Him, reigning in the same kingdom with Him, unless we voluntarily blind ourselves in this life and tear the royal robe. For it is only necessary for this life for us to keep the gifts, and to keep the blessings, and not to cast off the crown which God has woven for us with much sweat and labor. This is the life in Christ that is sustained by the sacraments. It is clear, then, how much power human zeal has for it, why it is proper for one who wishes to speak of it to first judge about each of the sacraments, and then to speak in order about acting according to virtue.

The second word. How Divine Baptism Helps Her

That the sacred life is formed by the sacred sacraments is shown in the foregoing, and now see how each of the sacraments leads into this life. For life in Christ is union with Christ itself, and how each sacrament of those who receive it unites it with Christ, we will speak of this.

To unite with Christ, for the sake of which the Saviour came, is in every way possible for those who come to Him, for the sake of which all endure and are made like Himself. He was united with flesh and blood, pure from all sin, and being God by nature from the beginning, He also deified what He later became, that is, human nature, and when He died, He died in flesh and rose again. And so he who desires to be united in Him must receive His flesh and participate in deification, and partake of the tomb and the resurrection. And then we are baptized, that we may die by His death and be resurrected by His resurrection; let us be anointed, that we may become partakers with Him in the royal anointing of deification. When we eat the most sacred Bread and drink the Divine Chalice, we commune with the very flesh and blood that the Saviour has received, and thus we are united with Him Who became Incarnate for us, and who was deified, who died, and who was resurrected. Why don't we keep the same order as he did, but start where he left off and end where he started? For he came down in order that we might ascend, and though the path is the same, yet it was his business to descend, and we ascend as on the ladder that which was the last for him when he descended, becomes the first for us when we ascend. It cannot be otherwise in the case itself. For baptism is birth, myrrh is in us the cause of action and movement, and the bread of life and the cup of thanksgiving are food and true drink. Before birth, one should not have movement or eat. In addition, Baptism reconciles man to God, the myrrh bestows gifts from him, and the power of the table imparts the Flesh of Christ and Blood to the recipient of the sacrament. Before reconciliation, it is impossible to stand together with others and be worthy of the gifts that are appropriate to them, and it is impossible for those who are subject to the evil one and sins to drink sinless Blood and eat Flesh. Therefore we first wash, then we are anointed, and in this way, when we are already clean and fragrant, we partake of the meal. Enough about that.

Let us also look at each of the sacraments, what assistance they bring to the sacred life, and, first, at Baptism, what it can bring to our lives.