A Homily on the Epiphany of Our Lord

Refrain: Blessed be the "Spring" [Christ] that flowed into the Jordan and [from which] Adam drank and his thirst was quenched.

My brothers:

A rational image the Creator willed to fashion for Adam [i.e., Adam’s corporate nature of body and spirit]; and he mixed a spirit with the colors of his lowly clay.

He fashioned, first of all, an earthen vessel from dust and anointed it with a spirit; and the whole became a living being [Gen 2:7].

He depicted limbs on the colored visible clay and breathed an invisible spirit into [this[ visible being.

5. O painter who has concealed his artistic power and set the beautify of his fair image within a tablet [of clay]!

According to mortal art, exterior [qualities] charm and the exterior are but a covering for the interior.

A twofold vessel the Fashioner of the universe made for our nature: a visible body and a hidden soul—one man.

10. He made the exterior from dust that is lowly to look upon and fashioned and interior form the secret [recesses] of his majestic power.

He placed the precious [part] that contains life, in the mortal and lowly [clay], in order to give life to mortality by the power of its vitality.

15. The interior [part], containing intelligence, vibrated on the strings of [man’s] body; and the clay became pleasing because of the melodious sound of the living spirit.

The living one chanted in the temple of clay a hymn of praise; and there assembled and came rational and dumb beings at the

20. sound of its [melodies].

The mortal one stood like a statue within a palace; and over his features marveled spiritual and corporal [beings].

The Corruption of Adam’s Image

25. For a short time, there remained the beauty of the temporal image; but there arose a vile-like iniquity over its features [Adam’s fall]].

The beautiful colors of his soul faded because of [his] desire for fruit; and he acquired the color of mortality by [his] eating of it].

Sin effaced the name of life [belonging to] the royal image and inscribed on his name corruption, and death upon his limbs.

[The image] became tarnished and wasted away for a long time in [his] mortal condition; and death trampled him and corrupted the beauty of his rational being.

His ill-wisher mocked and also laughed at his humiliation; and he lost hope that he would be renewed from his corruption.

The Renewal of Man

35. The King who saw that the evil ones mocked his foremost image took pity upon his image lest it be [further] outraged by the insolent.

The image proclaims the royal authority by his visible [aspect] and, by his features, shows the beauty of the one who constituted him.

In Adam’s image was shown the authority of his Lord; and, in his features, was signified the power of his hidden [divine nature].

And because Adam fell and death corrupted the image [function] of his features, the King sent “Pity” and “Mercy” to raise him up [John the Baptist and Jesus].

Two messengers of peace he sent to honor his image, and he proclaimed on earth a message of renewal for mortality.

In his fashioning, he revealed to creatures the power of his hidden [divine nature], [while], in his renewal, he showed them the wealth of his love.

He exalted much more the name of his renewal than his fashioning, so that he might make the heavenly ones marvel over how much he loved him.

50. In his fashioning, [the angels] were bound [in kinship] from the beginning; and in his renewal, he gladded those who were sad [man as the bound of the universe].

The Fashioning of the Second Adam

His [good] pleasure descended on [one] whom he fashioned in fitting love; and he depicted on the tablet of Adam’s body, a Second Adam.

In the [same] order as Adam, he depicted a [Second] Adam with the color of [his divine] will, and renewed Adam and his offspring through [this] Son of Adam.

55. The Second Adam came forth form the womb as from the earth; and he is entirely like that First [Adam] whom the earth bore.

In body and soul, the Second Adam is equal with the [first] Adam; but in authority, he is the Lord of Adam and his offspring.

He is equal in nature, but greater in honor than all those who have come to be; and the witness is the vigilant one [Gabriel, in Luke 1;26-38], who announced his conception and called him “Lord.”

60. In many [ways], the Second Adam is greater than Adam; and the rank that he attained [can] not be compared with that of [other] creatures.

His conception is exalted because it has had no connection with human seed; and his birth is glorious because heavenly beings were its heralds.

He alone has received and inherited the name of lordship,

65. so that heavenly and earthly beings might obey him.

His nature testifies that he is an adamite from earthly beings; but the name of his authority cries out and proclaims that he is divine.

He is earthly because of [his] human body and soul, and he is heavenly because he has become the dwelling place for the God of the universe.