Saint Maximus the Confessor: Bury the Lord with Honor

He who buries the Lord with honor is revered by all who love God. For he has not allowed the Lord’s body, nailed to the cross, to be left exposed to the blasphemy of unbelievers, but has befittingly delivered Him from derision and insult. Those who sealed the tomb and set soldiers to watch (cf. Matt. 27:66) are hateful because of their scheming. When the Logos had risen, they slandered Him, saying that His body had been stolen away. In the same way, as they bribed the false disciple with silver to betray the Lord – by false disciple I mean pretence of holiness for the sake of display – so they bribed the soldiers to make a false accusation against the risen Savior. Whoever possesses spiritual knowledge knows the significance of what has been said, for he is not ignorant of how and in how many ways the Lord is crucified, buried and rises again. Such a person makes corpses, as it were, of the impassioned thoughts which have been insinuated by the demons into his heart, and which through the temptations they suggest cut in pieces the qualities of moral beauty as if they were garments (cf. Matt. 27:35); and he breaks like seals the impressions stamped deeply into his soul by the sins of prepossession.

Ὁ θάπτων ἐντίμως τὸν Κύριον, πᾶσίν ἐστι τοῖς φιλοθέοις αἰδέσιμος· θριάμβου γὰρ αὐτὸν καὶ ὀνείδους καθηκόντως ἐῤῥύσατο, βλασφημίας ὑπόθεσιν οὐκ ἀφεὶς τοῖς ἀπίστοις, τὴν ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ αὐτοῦ προσήλωσιν. Οἱ δὲ σφραγῖδας ἐπιτιθέντες τῷ τάφῳ, καὶ στρατιώτας προκαθιστῶντες, μισητοὶ τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως· οἳ καὶ ἀναστάντα τὸν Λόγον, ὡς κλαπέντα διαβάλλουσιν· ἀργυρίῳ, ὥσπερ τὸν νόθον μαθητὴν εἰς προδοσίαν· λέγω δὲ τὸν ἐπιδεικτικὸν τρόπον τῆς ἀρετῆς· οὕτω καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας πρὸς συκοφαντίαν τοῦ ἀναστάντος Σωτῆρος ὠνούμενοι. Γινώσκει τῶν λεγομένων τὴν ἔμφασιν, ὁ γνωστικός· οὐκ ἀγνοῶν πῶς τε καὶ ποσαχῶς σταυροῦται ὁ Κύριος, καὶ θάπτεται καὶ ἀνίσταται· ὡσεὶ νεκροὺς μὲν ποιῶν τοὺς ὑπὸ δαιμόνων τῇ καρδίᾳ παρακαθημένους ἐμπαθεῖς λογισμούς· τοὺς διαμεριζομένους ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς ὥσπερ ἱμάτια, τοὺς τρόπους τῆς ἠθικῆς εὐπρεπείας· καὶ ὑπερβαίνων ὥσπερ σφραγίδας τοὺς ἐπικειμένους τῇ ψυχῇ τύπους, τῶν κατὰ πρόληψιν ἁμαρτημάτων.