16. When I was judged, I was silent, so that Pilate had compassion and said, "Do you not hear that these are not Thee who bear witness" (Matt. 26:62)? Not because he knew the man who was judged, but because he was frightened by his wife's announced dream. And Jesus was silent. For this reason the Psalmist says: "For he that hath not heard, and hath not in his mouth reproof" (Psalm 37:15). And again: "For thou hast not heard, and thou shalt not open thy mouth to him" (14). You have heard of this before, if you only remember.

17. The soldiers, having surrounded Him, laugh at Him; The Lord becomes an object of laughter for them; and the Lord endureth ridicule (Luke 23:36); when they saw me, they cast off their heads (Psalm 108:25): yet the image of royal power remains with Him: they laugh at Him, but bow their knees, and the soldiers crucify Him, having first clothed Him in purple and placed a crown on His head. What is the need of thorns? Every King is proclaimed a warrior: and Jesus was foremost to be crowned with soldiers. That is why the Holy Scriptures say in the Songs: "Come forth, and see the daughters of Jerusalem wearing a crown, who crowned her mother" (Song of Songs 3:11). And the mystery was the crown, for it brought freedom from sins and exemption from the punishment prescribed for them.

18. Adam accepted condemnation: "Cursed is the earth in your works; thorns and thistles shall grow for thee" (Gen. 3:17, 18). Jesus takes thorns in order to be freed from this condemnation; And in the ground he was buried so that the cursed land, instead of a curse, would receive a blessing. Then, when they sinned, they were covered with fig leaves: therefore Jesus also performed the last sign over the fig tree. For intending to go to suffering, He curses the fig tree (Matt. 21:19), not all the fig trees, but one known one, to depict the fig tree, saying: "Let no one eat of thy fruit" (Mk. 11:14). The condemnation passed, and since the First Parents were covered with fig leaves, He came at a time when there was no fruit on it. Who does not know that during winter the fig tree does not bear fruit, but is only covered with leaves? What did everyone know, did Jesus not know? However, knowing this, he went as if intending to seek fruit; He knew that He would not find them, but only wanted to imagine the image of the curse on the leaves.

19. Touching upon the events that took place in Paradise, I am justly amazed at the truth of the Foreshadowings, in Paradise falling away, in the Garden and salvation; from the tree is sin, and in the tree is salvation (Gen. 3:8). In the afternoon the Ancestors hid themselves from the Lord, and in the afternoon the thief is led by the Lord into paradise (Luke 23:43). But someone will say to me, 'You are inventing; present me the testimony of the Prophet concerning the tree of the Cross; if you do not cite Prophecies about it from the Prophet, then I will not believe. Hearken therefore to Jeremiah, and be convinced: For thou art not a lamb that is not malicious, led to the slaughter, do you not understand (Jeremiah 11:19)? Read inquiringly, as I said. For does he not know who says, "Know, that the Passover shall be two days long, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up on the nponium" (Matt. 26:2)? As a lamb that is not malicious, led to the slaughter, do you not understand (Jeremiah 11:19)? What agnya? John the Baptist will explain, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). An evil thought hath thought unto me, saying" (Jeremiah 11:19): "Did he who knoweth the thoughts not know what was to happen?" What did they say? Come, and let us put a tree in His bread. (Ibid.). If the Lord vouchsafes you, then later you will learn that His body, according to the Gospel, was an image of bread: come and let us put wood into His bread, and we will destroy Him from the land of the living. (Ibid.). Life is not destroyed, why do you labor in vain? Let not His name be remembered: your counsel is vain; for His name dwelleth before the sun (Psalm 71:17) in the Church. Likewise, about the fact that life hung on a tree, Moses says with weeping: "And Thy life shall hang before Thy eyes, and thou shalt fear in days and nights, and shalt not believe in Thy life" (Deuteronomy 28:66). And the recently read Scripture says: Lord! who believes in our hearing (Isaiah 53:1)?

20. This image was presented by Moses in a crucified serpent, so that he who was wounded by a living serpent, looking at the brazen serpent, would be healed by faith (Num. 21:9). So, if the crucified brazen serpent saved, then will not the incarnate Son of God crucified save? Life is always given through the tree. For in the time of Noah life was preserved by means of a wooden ark; but in the time of Moses, the sea, when it saw the image of the rod, feared him that struck it. is the Cross of the Saviour powerless? For the sake of brevity, I leave many premonitions. The tree in the time of Moses sweetened the water, and water flowed out of the side of Jesus on the tree.

21. The beginning of the signs of Moses, blood and water, and the same was the end of all the signs of Jesus. First of all, Moses turned the river into blood (Exodus 7:17); and Jesus after all gave out water with blood from his rib for two voices, perhaps: the voice of the Judge and the voice of those crying; or for believers and unbelievers (John 19:34). For Pilate said: "I am innocent" (Matt. 27:24), and washed his hands with water; and those who cried said, "His blood be upon us" (23). Thus two substances flowed from the rib: the judge may be water, and the crying one may be blood. And it can be understood in another way: for the Jews it is blood, and for Christians it is water, for to them, as to evildoers, the condemnation is from blood: but to thee who now believe, through water, salvation is through water. For nothing was done by accident. The interpreters of the Scriptures, our Fathers, presented another reason for this event. Since, according to the Gospel, salvific Baptism has a twofold power: one is granted to those who are enlightened by means of water, and the other is communicated to the holy Martyrs through their own blood in persecution; then blood and water flowed from the saving rib, which affirm grace when they confess Christ during enlightenment and martyrdom. There is another explanation concerning the rib: the author of sin was the woman created from the rib: why Jesus, who came to grant forgiveness of sins equally to men and women, was pierced in the rib for women in order to destroy sin.

22. If anyone searches, he will find other explanations, but what has been said is sufficient, both because time is short, and so as not to bore the hearers; although one should never be burdened by those who hear about the crowned Lord, and especially those who hear about this all-holy Golgotha. For others only hear, and we both see and touch; let no one be burdened. Arm yourself against your enemies with the Cross itself. As a sign of victory against those who reproach, place faith in the Cross. For when you begin to contend with the unbelievers about the Cross of Christ, then make the sign of the Cross of Christ with your hand beforehand, and he who rebukes will be dumb. Do not be ashamed to confess the Cross: for the angels make it their praise to say: "We know whom ye seek, Jesus crucified" (Matt. 28:5). Could not the angel say, "I know whom ye seek, my Lord?" But I, he says frankly, know the Crucified One. For the Cross is a crown, and not a dishonor.

23. Let us now turn to the Prophetic instructions we have mentioned. The Lord was crucified, you have testimonies to this. You see the place of Golgotha, and as one who agrees, you cry out with praise. See that you do not renounce this at any time during the persecution. Not only in times of peace, rejoice in the Cross, but also in times of persecution, have the same faith in Him. Do not be a friend of Jesus in time of peace, but His enemy in time of battle. You now receive the forgiveness of your sins and the royal rewards of the spiritual Gift. When war comes, fight bravely for your King, Jesus, being without sin, was crucified for you: will you not also be crucified for Him who was crucified for you? You do not give a gift, for you first received from Him, but you repay the gift, giving due to it. Who was crucified on Golgotha for you. Golgotha means the place of the skull. And did not someone prophetically call Golgotha the place where the true head Christ endured the Cross, as the Apostle says: "Who is the image of God invisible, and not much after: and He is the head of the body of the church" (Col. 1:15, 18)? In another place: Christ is the head of every man (1 Cor. 11:3); and again: "Who is the head of every principality and authority" (Col. 2:10). This head suffered on the forehead. What is the significance of this prophetic name? It seems that the very name convinces you to say: do not look upon the Crucified One as at a simple man; the crucified head is the head of all authority, the head that has the Father. For Christ is the head of man, and God is the head of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3).

24. So Christ was crucified for us, having been judged in the night when it was cold, and therefore the burning wood was laid out. He was crucified at the third hour: from the sixth hour there was darkness until the ninth (Matt. 27:40), and from the ninth hour there was light again. Let us examine whether it is not written about this as well. Zechariah says to this: "And it shall be in the day, there shall be no light, but winter and scum: and the day shall be one" (Zech. 14:6). It was winter, so Peter was warming himself. And that day shall be known to the Lord (7). What then? Does He know no other days? Many days; but this day is the day of the Lord's suffering; the day that the Lord made. And we shall know that day of the Lord, and neither day nor night. What is the riddle that the Prophet offers: that day is neither day nor night? What shall we call it? He explains the Gospel by narrating this event. It was not a day: for the sun did not shine equally from rising to its setting, but from the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness in the middle of the day. In the middle of the day it was dark; but God called darkness night. For this reason that day was neither day nor night: for there was not light all its duration, so that it could be called day; and there was not darkness in all the continuation, to be called night: but after the ninth hour the sun rose. And the Prophet foretold about this; For having said, "Neither day nor night," he added, "And in the evening there shall be light" (7)."You see the accuracy of the Prophets, you see the truth of what is written.

25. But do you want to know at what hour the sun darkened, at the fifth, or at the sixth, or at the ninth? Tell the stubborn Jews, O Prophet, when will the sun cease to shine? To this the Prophet Amos says: "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at noon" (Amos 8:90: for from the sixth hour there was darkness, and light shall be darkened upon the earth in the day) (Ibid.). What time is it, Prophet, and what day is it? And I will turn your feasts into pity (Amos 8:10). and during the celebration of Easter. Then he says: "And I will lay him down as the pity of the beloved, and I am with him as the day of sickness" (Ibid.). Then was the day of unleavened bread and the feast; while the Jewish women were grieving and weeping, and the Apostles who were in hiding were grieving. Verily, marvelous is this prophecy!

26. But someone will say, "Show me another sign as well." What better sign can there be regarding this event? Jesus is crucified: He had on Himself one lower garment and one outer garment: the soldiers divided the outer garment into four parts; but the lower one was not torn asunder, for if it had been torn asunder, it would have been good for nothing. That is why the warriors cast lots for her. That garment is divided, and lots are cast for this one. Is it not written about this also? Diligent church Psalmists know this; imitating the Angelic host and always glorifying God, they are vouchsafed to sing on Golgotha and say: "I have divided My garments for myself, and about My garments I cast lots" (Psalm 21:19): and this lot was the lot of soldiers.

27. When Jesus was also condemned before Pilate, he was clothed in scarlet; for there is His garment of scarlet chlamys (Matt. 27:28). Is it not written about this also? Isaiah says: "Who is this one that came from Edom, his garments are scarlet from Bozrah" (Isaiah 63:1)? Who is this clothed in scarlet garments as a sign of dishonor? For Bozrah means something like this among the Hebrews. Why are thy garments scarlet, and thy garments, as from the trampling of a winepress (Isaiah 63:2)? And he answers, and says, "I have stretched out my hands all day long to the people who are disobedient, and to those who speak contrary" (Isaiah 65:2).

28. He stretched out His hands on the Cross to embrace the ends of the world: for this Golgotha is the midst of the earth These are not my words, but the Prophet said, "I have made salvation in the midst of the earth" (Psalm 73:12). He stretched out His human hands, Who with His spiritual hands established the heavens. They were nailed so that while His humanity was nailed to the tree, having taken away human sins, while mankind ceases to live, sin would die together, and we would be resurrected in righteousness. For remember His words: "The province of the Imam shall lay down My soul, and the region of the Imam shall receive it" (John 10:18).

29. Yet he endured this, having come for the salvation of all: but the people repaid him with evil for it. Jesus says, "I thirst" (John 19:28). He who brought forth water for them from a solid stone asks for fruit from the grapes planted by him. But what is this vineyard, which by birth comes from the Holy Fathers, and by will from the Sodomites? For their grapes are of the vines of Sodom, and their rods of Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 32:32). Having drunk his lip and thrust it into the reed, he brings vinegar to the thirsty Lord: and the date is gall for My food, and for My thirst He has given Me to drink (Psalm 68:22). You see the clarity of the Prophetic prediction. What gall have they given to My mouth? They gave Him, as they say the Gospel, wine with myrrh (Mark 15:23); but myrrh is like gall and bitter. Do you repay this to the Lord (Deuteronomy 32:6)? Does this bring the grapes to the Lord? Isaiah justly weeps over you, saying: "The grapes were for the beloved in a rose, in the place of fat" (Isaiah 5:1). We will not all say: "Wait, let him make a cluster, I have thirsted for his wine, and he has made thorns" (2). Do you see the crown that is placed on Me? What judgment shall I pronounce after this? Let us sing like a cloud, if it does not rain on it (6). And the clouds, i.e. the prophets, were taken away from them; The prophets are now in the Church of Christ, as Paul says: "But let the two prophets speak, and let the friends reason" (1 Cor. 14:29); and in another place: God gave food in the church, for the sheep were the apostles, and the sheep were the prophets (Ephesians 4:11). Agabus, having bound his feet and hands, was a prophet.