THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
When she came and told this, the disciples heard her and hastened to the tomb. They saw the linen cloths lying there, and this was a sign of the Resurrection.
Indeed, if someone had moved the body, he would have done so without stripping it. Likewise, if someone had stolen it, he would not have taken care to remove the sudarium, fold it, and place it "in another place."
How would he have done it? He would have taken the body just as it lay. For this reason the Evangelist had first said that much myrrh was used at Christ’s burial.
Myrrh fastens the linen cloths to the body no less firmly than lead. Therefore, when you hear that the head wrappings lay separately, do not believe those who say that He was stolen.
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A thief would not have been so foolish as to take such care over something entirely unnecessary. For what reason would he have left the burial cloths?
And how could he have escaped if he had begun to do this? Naturally, he would have had to spend much time on it. If he had delayed, he would have been caught.
But why do the linen cloths lie separately, and the cloth folded separately? So that you may know this was done without haste and without confusion. One thing was placed separately, and another was both placed separately and folded.
For this reason the disciples believed in the Resurrection. When Christ later appeared to them, they had already been convinced by what they had seen.
That they were separated, with some laid in one place and the others folded in another, showed that this was done by someone with care. It was not done casually or in confusion.
And you, when you hear that Christ rose naked, cease spending foolishly on burial. What indeed are these excessive and useless expenses?
They cause great loss to those who bury, but bring no benefit to the dead. To tell the truth, they even bring harm.
Lavish funerals have often caused graves to be plundered. They have brought it about that one once buried with every refinement later lay naked and unburied.
O vainglory! What great power it displays in the very midst of weeping. To what madness it drives men.
Many, to prevent robbery, tear the fine burial cloths and fill them with many aromatics. By this they make them doubly useless to thieves and so commit them to the earth.
Is this not madness? Is it not derangement of mind to display magnificence and destroy it at the same time?
No, you say, we devise all this so that the garments may lie safely on the dead man. What then? If thieves do not take them, will moths and worms not devour them?
And if moths and worms do not devour them, will time and corruption not destroy them?
But let us suppose that neither thieves, nor moths, nor worms, nor time, nor anything else destroys the things placed in the grave.
Let us suppose also that the body remains unharmed until the Resurrection, and that all those things remain new, strong, and fine. What benefit comes from this to those who have departed?
The body will rise naked, while all those things will remain here and bring us no benefit in the coming examination.
But why, you ask, was it so at Christ’s burial? You must not compare Christ’s burial with human burials. There too was the harlot who poured ointment on His holy feet.
Yet if something must be said about this also, first of all it was done by people who did not know the teaching about the Resurrection. Therefore it says: "as the Jews are accustomed to bury" (Jn 19:40).
Those who honored Jesus with burial were not from among the Twelve. They were men who did not value Him very highly.
The Twelve did not honor Him in that way, but by their death, by giving themselves over to slaughter, and by enduring many calamities for His sake.
True, that burial also was an honor, but far below the honor of which I have just spoken. On the other hand, as I have already said, we are now speaking about men.
Then all this was done for the Lord. And so that you may know that Christ did not desire this in the least, hear what He said.
"You saw Me hungry and fed Me, thirsty and gave Me drink, naked and clothed Me" (Mt 25:35-39). But nowhere did He say, "dead, and you buried Me."
I say this not to abolish the custom of burial. No. I say it to cut off luxury and unseemly magnificence.
Grief, sorrow, and compassion for the dead, you say, dispose one to this. No. This does not come from compassion for the dead, but from vainglory.
If you wish to show sympathy for the dead, I will point out another manner of burial. I will teach you to clothe him in garments that will rise with him and present him in splendid form.
These garments are not consumed by moths, nor destroyed by time, nor stolen by thieves. What garments are these? They are the clothing of almsgiving.
This garment rises with the dead man, because the seal of almsgiving remains with him forever. Those who then hear, "You fed Me when I was hungry," will shine in these garments.
These garments make the dead glorious, distinguished, and secure. The garments used now are nothing but food for moths and a table for worms.
I say this not to forbid care for the dead. I say it so that you may act with moderation, merely covering the body and not committing it naked to the earth.
If even the living should have nothing beyond a covering for the body, much more should the dead have nothing more. A dead body does not need garments as much as a living and breathing body.
While we live, we need clothing both because of cold and for decency. Once we have died, we have no such needs. We need burial cloths only so that the body may not lie naked.
The best burial cloth for us is the earth itself, the most beautiful covering and the one most fitting for our earthly body.
Therefore, if now, when we have so many needs, we must seek nothing excessive, much more is splendor out of place when such needs no longer exist.
But, you say, people who see this will laugh. If anyone does laugh, he clearly deserves little attention, since he is utterly foolish.
Many, on the contrary, will rather admire us and praise our love of wisdom. This is not worthy of laughter.
What is worthy of laughter is what we now do, when we weep, lament, and seem to bury ourselves with the dead.
This deserves both laughter and punishment. But love of wisdom in all this, and the observance of moderation in clothing, brings us crowns and praises.
In this case everyone will praise us, marvel at the power of Christ, and say: "O how great is the power of the Crucified One.
He has persuaded mortals and corruptible men that death is not death. See how they act, as though they were not dying, but moving to a better land.
He has persuaded them that this corruptible and earthly body will put on a garment far more brilliant than silk and gold-woven clothing. It will put on incorruption.
Therefore they are not greatly concerned with funerals, but consider a virtuous life the best adornment for burial."
So everyone will speak of us when they see us practicing wisdom. But if they see us torn by grief, fainthearted, and surrounded by a chorus of wailing women, they will laugh at us and mock us.
They will condemn us a thousand times, reproaching us for senseless expense and useless labor. We hear that everyone really does condemn us for this, and very justly.
Indeed, what excuse shall we have when we adorn our body, which is being destroyed by corruption and worms, while we despise Christ, Who is thirsty, naked, and a stranger?
Let us therefore abandon this vain concern. Let us bury the dead in such a way that it is useful both for us and for them, to the glory of God.
Let us distribute abundant alms on their behalf and send them forth with this most beautiful provision for the journey.
If the memory of famous men who have died protected the living, as the Lord says, "I will defend this city for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant" (2 Kgs 19:34), much more will almsgiving do this.
It was almsgiving, yes almsgiving, that even raised the dead. The widows stood around Peter, "showing tunics and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them" (Acts 9:39).
Therefore, when someone is dying, let the relatives of the dying person prepare a burial garment for him. Let them persuade him before his death to leave something to the poor.
Let him depart with this garment. Let him also leave Christ as his heir. If those who appoint kings as their heirs leave their relatives in greatest security thereby, consider what favor a man will obtain.
He will gain favor both for himself and for all his own, if he leaves Christ as heir together with his children. This is a beautiful garment for the dead.
It is useful both for those who remain alive and for those who depart. If we are buried in this way, we shall appear radiant at the Resurrection.
But if we care for the body and neglect the soul, then we shall suffer many evils and be subjected to great derision.
It is no small shame to depart from here without virtue. It is not so shameful for the body to be cast out unburied as for the soul to appear then without good works.
Therefore let us clothe the soul. Let us adorn it throughout our whole life. If during life we have been negligent of it, let us at least come to our senses at death.
Let us command our relatives to help us after death by almsgiving. Through such mutual assistance to one another, we shall receive great boldness.
This will be by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom be glory, dominion, and honor to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Where, again, can you see a man naked and not ashamed? You find him in Christ.
Peter, John, and James came to the tomb seeking the body and did not find it. They found the folded garments, so that it might be clear that after Christ’s Resurrection the ancient image of Adam is restored in Him.
He remains without garments, yet not naked, but clothed. Christ rose and put off the garments in which Adam had clothed himself. He was naked and did not appear naked.
After the Resurrection the women see the garments cast down. Martha and Mary see Christ, recognize Him, fall down before Him, and do not see Him naked.
How was He clothed in garments? He cast them aside in the tomb. The former garments the soldiers divided.
How then was He clothed? Why is the Naked One not naked? I will ask yet another thing.
Why were the garments and the shroud seen in one place, while the cloth with which the Savior’s head had been bound was in another?
Holy grace wished to show that the Resurrection took place without confusion. Since the Jews intended to spread the rumor that the body had been stolen by the disciples, Christ leaves His garments in the tomb.
The one who steals a dead man steals him together with his garments. The Savior could be seen coming out of the tomb like Joseph out of Egypt.