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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 07 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 27.01.15 Lecture XIII Part 2
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22. And whoever will inquire, will find other reasons also; but what has been said is enough, because of the shortness of the time, and that the attention of my hearers may not become sated. And yet we never can be tired of hearing concerning the crowning of our Lord, and least of all in this most holy Golgotha. For others only hear, but we both see and handle. Let none be weary; take thine armour against the adversaries in the cause of the Cross itself; set up the faith of the Cross as a trophy against the gainsayers. For when thou art going to dispute with unbelievers concerning the Cross of Christ, first make with thy hand the sign of Christ's Cross, and the gainsayer will be silenced. Be not ashamed to confess the Cross; for Angels glory in it, saying, We know whom ye seek, Jesus the Crucifiedhyperlink . Mightest thou not say, O Angel, "I know whom ye seek, my Master?" But, "I," he says with boldness, "I know the Crucified." For the Cross is a Crown, not a dishonour.
23. Now let us recur to the proof out of the Prophets which I spoke of. The Lord was crucified; thou hast received the testimonies. Thou seest this spot of Golgotha! Thou answerest with a shout of praise, as if assenting. See that thou recant not in time of persecution. Rejoice not in the Cross in time of peace only, but hold fast the same faith in time of persecution also; be not in time of peace a friend of Jesus, and His foe in time of wars. Thou receivest now remission of thy sins, and the gifts of the King's spiritual bounty; when war shall Come, strive thou nobly for thy King. Jesus, the Sinless, was crucified for thee; and wilt not thou be crucified for Him who was crucified for thee? Thou art not bestowing a favour, for thou hast first received; but thou art returning a favour, repaying thy debt to Him who was crucified for thee in Golgotha. Now Golgotha is interpreted, "the place of a skull." Who were they then, who prophetically named this spot Golgotha, in which Christ the true Head endured the Cross? As the Apostle says, Who is the Image of the Invisible God; and a little after, and He is the Head of the body, the Churchhyperlink . And again, The Head of every man is Christhyperlink ; and again, Who is the Head all principality and powerhyperlink . The Head suffered in "the place of the skull." O wondrous prophetic appellation! The very name also reminds thee, saying, "Think not of the Crucified as of a mere man; He is the Head of all principality and power. That Head which was crucified is the Head of all power, and has for His Head the Father; for the Head of the man is Christ, and the Head of Christ is Godhyperlink ."
24. Christ then was crucified for us, who was judged in the night, when it was cold, and therefore a fire of coalshyperlink was laid. He was crucified at the third hour; and from the sixth hour there was darkness until the ninth hourhyperlink ; but from the ninth hour there was light again. Are these things also written? Let us inquire. Now the Prophet Zacharias says, And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light, and there shall be cold and frost one day; (the cold on account of which Peter warmed himself;) And that day shall be known unto the Lordhyperlink ; (what, knew He not the other days? days are many, but this is the day of the Lord's patience, which the Lord madehyperlink ;)-And that day shall be known unto the Lord, not day, and not night what is this dark saying which the Prophet speaks? That day is neither day nor night? what then shall we name it? The Gospel interprets it, by relating the event. It was not day; for the sun shone not uniformly from his rising to his setting, but from the sixth hour till the ninth hour, there was darkness at mid-day. The darkness therefore was interposed; but God called the darkness nighthyperlink . Wherefore it was neither day nor night: for neither was it all light, that it should be called day; nor was it all darkness, that it should be called night; but after the ninth hour the sun shone forth. This also the Prophet foretels; for after saying, Not day, nor night, he added, And at evening time it shall be lighthyperlink . Seest thou the exactness of the prophets? Seest thou the truth of the things which were written aforetime?
25. But dost thou ask exactly at what hour the sun failedhyperlink ? was it the fifth hour, or the eighth, or the tenth? Tell, O Prophet, the exact time thereof to the Jews, who are unwilling to hear; when shall the sun go down? The Prophet Amos answers, And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at noon (for there was darkness from the sixth hour;) and the light shall grow dark over the earth in the dayhyperlink ". What sort of season is this, O Prophet, and what sort of day? And I will turn your feasts into mourning; for this was done in the days of unleavened bread, and at the feast of the Passover: then afterwards he says, And I will make Him as the mourning of an Only Son, and those with Him as a day of anguishhyperlink ; for in the day of unleavened bread, and at the feast, their women were wailing and weeping, and the Apostles had hidden themselves and were in anguish. Wonderful then is this prophecy.
26. But, some one will say, "Give me yet another sign; what other exact sign is there of that which has come to pass? Jesus was crucified; and He wore but one coat, and one cloak:now His cloak the soldiers shared among themselves, having rent it into four; but His coat was not rent, for when rent it would have been no longer of any use; so about this lots are cast by the soldiers; thus the one they divide, but for the other they cast lots. Is then this also written? They know, the diligent chantershyperlink of the Church, who imitate the Angel hosts, and continually sing praises to God: who are thought worthy to chant Psalms in this Golgotha, and to say, They parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture they did cast lotshyperlink . The "lots" were what the soldiers casthyperlink .
27. Again, when He had been judged before Pilate, He was clothed in red; for there they put on Him a purple robe. Is this also written? Esaias saith, Who is this that cometh from Edom? the redness of His garments is from Bosorhyperlink ; (who is this who in dishonor weareth purple? For Bosor has some such meaning in Hebrewhyperlink .) Why are Thy garments red, and Thy raiment as from a trodden wine-press? But He answers and says, All day long have I stretched forth Mine hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying peoplehyperlink .
28. He stretched out His hands on the Cross, that He might embrace the ends of the world; for this Golgotha is the very centre of the earth. It is not my word, but it is a prophet who hath said, Thou hast wrought salvation in the midst of the earthhyperlink . He stretched forth human hands, who by His spiritual hands had established the heaven; and they were fastened with nails, that His manhood, which here the sins of men, having been nailed to the tree, and having died, sin might die with it, and we might rise again in righteousness. For since by one man came death, by One Man came also lifehyperlink ; by One Man, the Saviour, dying of His own accord: for remember what He said, I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it againhyperlink .
29. But though He endured these things, having come for the salvation of all, yet the people returned Him an evil recompense. Jesus saith, I thirsthyperlink ,-He who had brought forth the waters for them out of the craggy rock; and He asked fruit of the Vine which He had planted. But what does the Vine? This Vine, which was by nature of the holy fathers, but of Sodom by purpose of heart;-(for their Vine is of Sodom, and their tendrils of Gomorrahhyperlink ;)-this Vine, when the Lord was athirst, having filled a sponge and put it on a reed, offers Him vinegar. They gave Me also gall for My meat, and in My thirst, they gave Me vinegar to drinkhyperlink . Thou seest the clearness of the Prophets' description. But what sort of gall put they into My mouth? They gave Him, it says, wine mingled with myrrhhyperlink . Now myrrh is in taste like gall, and very bitter. Are these things what ye recompense unto the Lord? Are these thy offerings, O Vine, unto thy Master? Rightly did the Prophet Esaias aforetime bewail you, saying, My well-beloved had a vineyard in a hill in a fruitful place; and (not to recite the whole) I waited, he says, that it should bring forth grapes; I thirsted that it should give wine; but it brought forth thorns;hyperlink ; for thou seest the crown, wherewith I am adorned. What then shall I now decree? I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon ithyperlink . For the clouds which are the Prophets were removed from them, and are for the future in the Church; as Paul says, Let the Prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge;hyperlink ; and again, God gave in the Church, same, Apostles, and some, Prophetshyperlink . Agabus, who bound his own feet and hands, was a prophet.
30. Concerning the robbers who were crucified with Him, it is written, And He was numbered with the transgressorshyperlink . Both of them were before this transgressors, but one was so no longer. For the one was a transgressor to the end, stubborn against salvation; who, though his hands were fastened, smote with blasphemy by his tongue. When the Jews passing by wagged their heads, mocking the Crucified, and fulfilling what was written, When they looked on Me, they shaked their headshyperlink , he also reviled with them. But the other rebused the reviler; and it was to him at rebuked the reviler; and it was to him the end of life and the beginning of restoration; the surrender of his soul a first share in salvation. And after rebuking the other, he says, Lord, remember mehyperlink ; for with Thee is my account. Heed not this man, for the eyes of his understanding are blinded; but remember me. I say not, remember my works, for of these I am afraid. Every man has a feeling for his fellow-traveller; I am travelling with Thee towards death; remember me, Thy fellow-wayfarer. I say not, Remember me now, but, when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.
31. What power, O robber, led thee to the light? Who taught thee to worship that despised Man, thy companion on the Cross? O Light Eternal, which gives light to them that are in darkness! Therefore also he justly heard the words, Be of good cheerhyperlink ; not that thy deeds are worthy of good cheer; but that the King is here, dispensing favours. The request reached unto a distant time; but the grace was very speedy. Verily I say unto thee, This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise; because to-day thou hast heard My voice, and hast not hardened thine hearthyperlink . Very speedily I passed sentence upon Adam, very speedily I pardon thee. To him it was said, In the day wherein ye eat, ye shall surely diehyperlink ; but thou to-day hast obeyed the faith, to-day is thy salvation. Adam by the Tree fell away; thou by the Tree art brought into Paradise. Fear not the serpent; he shall not cast thee out; for he is fallen from heavenhyperlink . And I say not unto thee, This day shalt thou depart, but, This day shalt thou be with Me. Be of good courage: thou shalt not be cast out. Fear not the flaming sword; it shrinks from its Lordhyperlink . O mighty and ineffable grace! The faithful Abraham had not yet entered, but the robber entershyperlink ! Moses and the Prophets had not yet entered, and the robber enters though a breaker of the law. Paul also wondered at this before thee, saying, Where sin abounded, there grace did much more aboundhyperlink . They who had borne the heat of the day had not yet entered; and be of the eleventh hour entered. Let none murmur against the goodman of the house, for he says, Friend, I do thee no wrong; is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine ownhyperlink ? The robber has a will to work righteousness, but death prevents him; I wait not exclusively for the work, but faith also I accept. I am come who feed My sheep among the lilieshyperlink , I am come to feed them in the gardens. I have found a sheep that was losthyperlink , but I lay it on My shoulders; for he believes, since he himself has said, I have gone astray like a lost sheephyperlink ; Lord, remember me when Thou camest in Thy kingdom.
35. Of this garden I sang of old to My spouse in the Canticles, and spoke to her thus. I am come into My garden, My sister, My spousehyperlink ; (now in the place where He was crucified was a gardenhyperlink ;) and what takest Thou thence? I have gathered My myrrh; having drunk wine mingled with myrrh, and vinegar, after receiving which, He said, It is finishedhyperlink . For the mystery has been fulfilled; the things that are written have been accomplished; sins are forgiven. For Christ being come an High-Priest of the good things to came, by the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, entered in once far all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption; for if the bland of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the defiled, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christshyperlink ? And again, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His fleshhyperlink . And because His flesh, this veil, was dishonoured, therefore the typical veil of the temple was rent asunder, as it is written, And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottomhyperlink ; for not a particle of it was left; for since the Master said, Behold, your house is left unto you desolatehyperlink , the house brake all in pieces.
33. These things the Saviour endured, and made peace through the Blood of His Cross, for things in heaven, and things in earthhyperlink . For we were enemies of God through sin, and God had appointed the sinner to die. There must needs therefore have happened one of two things; either that God, in His truth, should destroy all men, or that in His loving-kindness He should cancel the sentence. But behold the wisdom of God; He preserved both the t truth of His sentence, and the exercise of His loving-kindness. Christ took our sins in His body on the tree, that we by His death might die to sin, and live unto righteousnesshyperlink . Of no small account was He who died for us; He was not a literal sheep; He was not a mere man; He was more than an Angel; He was God made man. The transgression of sinners was not so great as the righteousness of Him who died for them; the sin which we committed was not so great as the righteousness which He wrought who laid down His life for us,-who laid it down when He pleased, and took it again when He pleased. And wouldest thou know that He laid not down His life by violence, nor yielded up the ghost against His will? He cried to the Father, saying, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirithyperlink ; I commend it, that I may take it again. And having said these things, He gave up the ghosthyperlink ; but not for any long time, for He quickly rose again from the dead.
34. The Sun was darkened, because of the Sun of Righteousnesshyperlink . Rocks were rent, because of the spiritual Rock. Tombs were opened, and the dead arose, because of Him who was free among the deadhyperlink ; He sent forth His prisoners out of the pit wherein is no waterhyperlink . Be not then ashamed of the Crucified, but be thou also bold to say, He beareth our sins, and endureth grief for us, and with His stripes we are healedhyperlink . Let us not be unthankful to our Benefactor. And again; for the transgression of my people was He led to death; and I will give the wicked for His burial, and the rich for His deathhyperlink . Therefore Paul says plainly, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He hath risen again the third day according to the Scriptureshyperlink .
35. But we seek to know clearly where He has been buried. Is His tomb made with hands? Is it, like the tombs of kings, raised above the ground? Is the Sepulchre made of stones joined together? And what is laid upon it? Tell us, O Prophets, the exact truth concerning His tomb also, where He is laid, and where we shall seek Him? And they say, Look into the solid rock which ye have hewnhyperlink . Look in and behold. Thou hast in the Gospels In a sepulchre hewn in stone, which was hewn out of a rockhyperlink . And what happens next? What kind of door has the sepulchre? Again another Prophet says, They cut off My life in a dungeonhyperlink , and cast a stone upon Me. I, who am the Chief corner-stone, the elect, the precioushyperlink , lie for a little time within a stone-I who am a stone of stumbling to the Jews, and of salvation to them who believe. The Tree of lifehyperlink , therefore was planted in the earth, that the earth which had been cursed might enjoy the blessing, and that the dead might be released.
36. Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are stillhyperlink . Great is that preservative; it is without price, for the sake of the poor; without toil, for the sick; since also its grace is from God. It is the Sign of the faithful, and the dread of devils: for He triumphed over them in it, having made a shew of them openlyhyperlink ; for when they see the Cross they are reminded of the Crucified; they are afraid of Him, who bruised the heads of the dragonhyperlink . Despise not the Seal, because of the freeness of the gift; out for this the rather honour thy Benefactor.
37. And if thou ever fall into disputation and hast not the grounds of proof, yet let Faith remain firm in thee; or rather, become thou well learned, and then silence the Jews out of the prophets, and the Greeks out of their own fables. They themselves worship men who have been thunderstrickenhyperlink but the thunder when it comes from heaven, comes not at random. If they are not ashamed to worship men thunderstricken and abhorred of God, art thou ashamed to worship the beloved Son of God, who was crucified for thee? I am ashamed to tell the tales about their so-called Gods, and I leave them because of time; let those who know, speak. And let all heretics also be silenced. If any say that the Cross is an illusion, turn away from him. Abhor those who say that Christ was crucified to our fancyhyperlink only; for if so, and if salvation is from the Cross, then is salvation a fancy also. If the Cross is fancy, the Resurrection is fancy also; but if Christ be not risen, we are yet in our sinshyperlink . If the Cross is fancy, the Ascension also is fancy; and if the Ascension is fancy, then is the second coming also fancy, and everything is henceforth unsubstantial.
38. Take therefore first, as an indestructible foundation, the Cross, and build upon it the other articles of the faith. Deny not the Crucified; for, if thou deny Him, thou hast many to arraign thee. Judas the traitor will arraign thee first; for he who betrayed Him knows that He was condemned to death by the chief-priests and elders. The thirty pieces of silver bear witness; Gethsemane bears witness, where the betrayal occurred; I speak not yet of the Mount of Olives, on which they were with Him at night, praying. The moon in the night bears witness; the day bears witness, and the sun which was darkened; for it endured not to look on the crime of the conspirators. The fire will arraign thee, by which Peter stood and warmed himself; if thou deny the Cross, the eternal fire awaits thee. I speak hard words, that thou may not experience hard pains. Remember the swords that came against Him in Gethsemane, that thou feel not the eternal sword. The house of Caiaphashyperlink will arraign thee, shewing by its present desolation the power of Him who was erewhile judged there. Yea, Caiaphas himself will rise up against thee in the day of judgment, the very servant will rise up against thee, who smote Jesus with the palm of his hand; they also who bound Him, and they who led Him away. Even Herod shall rise up against thee; and Pilate; as if saying, Why deniest thou Him who was slandered before us by the Jews, and whom we knew to have done no wrong? For I Pilate then washed my hands. The false witnesses shall rise up against thee, and the soldiers who arrayed Him in the purple robe, and set on Him the crown of thorns, and crucified Him in Golgotha, and cast lots for His coat. Simon the Cyrenian will cry out upon thee, who bore the Cross after Jesus.
39. From among the stars there will cry out upon thee, the darkened Sun; among the things upon earth, the Wine minggled with myrrh; among reeds, the Reed; among herbs, the Hyssop; among the things of the sea, the Sponge; among trees, the Wood of the Cross;-the soldiers, too, as I have said, who nailed Him, and cast lots for His vesture; the soldier who pierced His side with the spear; the women who then were present; the veil of the temple then rent asunder; the hall of Pilate, now laid waste by the power of Him who was then crucified; this holy Golgotha, which stands high above us, and shews itself to this day, and displays even yet how because of Christ the rocks were then rivenhyperlink ; the sepulchre nigh at hand where He was laid; and the stone which was laid on the door, which lies to this day by the tomb; the Angels who were then present; the women who worshipped Him after His resurrection; Peter and John, who ran to the sepulchre; and Thomas, who thrust his hand into His side, and his fingers into the prints of the nails. For it was for our sakes that he so carefully handled Him; and what thou, who wert not there present, wouldest have sought, he being present, by God's Providence, did seek.
40. Thou hast Twelve Apostles, witnesses of the Cross; and the whole earth, and the world of men who believe on Him who hung thereon. Let thy very presence here now persuade thee of the power of the Crucified. For who now brought thee to this assembly? what soldiers? With what bonds wast thou constrained? What sentence held thee fast here now? Nay, it was the Trophy of salvation, the Cross of Jesus that brought you all together. It was this that enslaved the Persians, and tamed the Scythians; this that gave to the Egyptians, for cats and dogs and their manifold errors, the knowledge of God; this, that to this day heals diseases; that to this day drives away devils, and overthrows the juggleries of drugs and charms.
Footnotes
94 Matt. xxviii. 5.
95 Col. i. 15, 18
96 1 Cor. xi. 3.
97 Col. ii. 10.
98 1 Cor. xi. 3.
99 John xviii. 18.
100 Matt. xxvii. 45.
101 Zech. xiv. 6, 7.
102 Ps. cxviii. 24.
103 Gen. i. 5.
104 Zech. xiv. 7. Cf. Euseb. (Dem. Evang.. x. 7): "It was not day, because of the noon-tide darkness: and again it was not night, because of the day which followed upon it which he represented by a sing in saying, at evening time there shall be light.
105 e'ce/lipen. See Cat. x. 19, note 2. Acta Pilati. c. xi.
106 Amos viii. 9. Cf. Euseb. (Dem. Ev. x. 6).
107 Amos viii. 10.
108 Synod of Laodicea, Can. xvi. 15: "Besides the appointed singers, who mount the ambo and sing from the book, others shall not sing in the Church." Hefele thinks that this was not intended to forbid the laity to take any part in the Church music, but only to forbid those who were not cantors to take the lead. See Bingham, Antiquities, III. c. 7; XIV. c. 1.
109 Ps. xxii 18, quoted in John xix 24.
110 klh=roj de\ din o 9 laxmo/j. Bishop Hall. Contemplations, Book IV. 32, speaks of the soldiers' "barbarous sortitions." The technical term is "sortilege." Cf. Evang. Pet. § 4; Justi M. Dial. 97.
111 Isa. lxiii. 1, 2.
112 Bozrah mans a "sheepfold," and is the name of a city in Idumea. Cyril's interpretation rests on a false derivation.
113 Isa. lxv. 2. "It is a commonplace in patristic literature that the Crucifixion was prefigured by Isa. lxv. 2." (Dr. C. Taylor, Hermas and the Four Gospels, p. 49) Cf. Barnab. Epsit. c. xii.; Didache xvi.; Justin M. (Apolog. I. c. 35; Tryph. cc. 97, 114); Tertull. (contra Jud. xii); Ireaene. Iv. xxxiii. 12.
114 Ps. lxxiv. 12. The passage does not refer to Palestine especially: "in the midst of the earth" is equivalent to "in the sight of all nations." Cf. Orac. Sibyll. viii. 302: "He shall spread out His hands, and span the whole world," quoted by Dr. Taylor, "The Teaching," p. 103.
115 Rom. v. 12, 17.
116 John x. 18.
117 Ib. ix. 28.
118 Deut. xxxii. 32.
119 Ps. lxix. 21.
120 Mark xv. 23.
121 Isa. v. 1, 2.
122 Ib. v. 6. Cf. Tertull. adv. Marcion III. c. 23; contrl Jud. c. 13: "The clouds being celestial benefits which were commanded not to be forthcoming to the house of Israel; for it `had borne thorns,
0'whereof that house of Israel had wrought a crown for Christ." Constitt. Apost. VI. § 5: "He has taken away from them the Holy Spirit and the prophetic rain, and has replenished His Church with spiritual grace."
123 1 Cor. xiv. 29.
124 Eph. iv. 11.
125 Isa. liii. 12.
126 Ps. cix. 25.
127 Luke xxiii. 40. ff.
128 qa/rsei. An addition to the text of Luke xxiii. 43 in Codex Bezae.
129 Ps. xcv. 7, 8.
130 Gen. ii. 17.
131 Luke x. 18.
132 Gen. iii. 24. S. Ambrose (Ps. cxix. Serm. xx. § 12): "All who desire to return to Paradise must be tried by fire: for not in vain the Scripture saith that when Adam and Eve were driven out of their abode in Paradise, God placed at the gate of Eden a flaming sword which turned every way."
133 Cf. Iren. V. c. 5, § 1; Athan. (Expos. Fid. c. i.): "He shewed us. . . . an entrance into Paradise from which Adam was cast out, and into which he entered again by means of the thief." S. Leo (de Pass. Dom. Serm. II. c. 1): "Excedit humanam conditionem ista promissio: nec tam de ligno Crucis, quam de throno editur protestatis."
134 Rom. v. 20.
135 Matt. xx. 12 ff.
136 Cant. vi. 3.
137 Luke xv. 5, 6.
138 Ps. cxix. 176.
139 Cant. vi 1.
140 John xix. 41.
141 Ib. 30.
142 Heb. ix. 11.
143 Ib. x. 19.
144 Matt. xxvii. 51.
145 Ib. xxiii. 38.
146 Col. i. 20.
147 1 Pet. ii. 24.
148 Luke xxiii. 46.
149 Matt. xxvii. 50.
150 Mal. iv. 2.
151 Ps. lxxxviii. 5.
152 Zech. ix. 11.
153 Isa. liii. 4, 5.
154 Ib. vv. 8, 9.
155 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4.
156 Isa. li. 1.
157 Matt. xxvii. 60; Mark xv. 46; Luke xxiii. 50.
158 Lam. iii. 53: e'n la/kkw, "in a pit," or "well." Cf. Jer. xxxvii. 16.
159 1 Pet. ii. 6.
160 Gen ii. 9; iii. 22. Methodius (Sympos. ix. c. 3): "He that hath not believed in Christ, nor hath understood that He is the first principle and the Tree of Life, &c."
161 Cf. Cite. iv. 14, note 3; Euseb. (Dem. Ev. ix. 14).
162 Col. ii. 15.
163 Ps. lxxiv. 13.
164 See Cat. vi. 11, note 2.
165 kata\ fantasi/an. Cf. Ignat. Trall. 9, 10; Cat. iv. 9; xiii. 4.
166 1 Cor. xv. 17.
167 The house of Caiaphas and Pilate's Praetorium (§ 41), and Mount Zion itself (Cat. xvi. 18), on which they both stood are described by Cyril as being in his time ruined and desolate. Eusebius (Dem. Ev. VIII. 406), referring to the prophecy of Micah (iii. 12), repeated by Jermiah (xxvi. 18), that Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, testifies that he had seen with his own eyes the place being ploughed and sown by strangers, and adds that in his own time the stones for both public and private buildings were taken from the ruins. The Bordeaux Pilgrim (333 A.D.) says, "It is evident where the house of Caiaphas the Priest was; and there is still the pillar at which Christ was scourged:" this pillar is described by Jerome (Ep. 86) as supporting the portico of the Church which by his time had been built on the spot. Prudentius circ. 400 A.D.): -
Vinctus in his Dominus stetit aedibus atque ccolumnae
Annexus terbgum dedit ut servile flagellis.
Perstat adhuc, templumque gerit veneranda columna."
(Benedictine Editor.)
168 Cf. Lucian. Antioch. ap. Rufin. Hist. Eccl. ix. c. 6; "Golothana rupes sub patibuli onere disrupta."