the suffering christ 808 raise a hand against Codrus, even if he were to throw himself at them. They wanted him to live. They wanted victory. However, shrewdness discovered a way, by which [he] obtained the glory of courage and saved the fatherland. Having taken off his royal finery, Codrus dressed himself as a slave. He threw himself before the horde of an insolent enemy. He struck one with his curved blade, so that through revenge he might find death. He perished as a worthless [slave], not as the King of Athens, but he conquered the enemy with his own death.64 I said this so the man’s greatest deed may make it easier to understand God’s action. I absolutely do not allow any comparison between Codrus and Christ; I am simply helping our minds to understand with less difficulty the mysteries of Heaven. Therefore, this King was Christ, but, as it said so often, an immortal King. Christ was King, but not of one people, but King of all men and angels: And because He possessed infinite majesty and omnipotence, He was King and God at the same time. Indeed, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture; but very unhappy ones because rapacious wolves, death, and hell were attacking, mangling, and destroying [us]. These enemies can be overcome in no other way except by Him; He who, since He is our King, desired to willingly be put to death for us. The high priest of the Hebrews, Caiaphas himself, although most enraged with our Lord, nevertheless brought forth this prophecy concerning Him in the council of his colleagues: “You do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish” (Jn 11:50-52). Therefore, Christ our King had to die when He had determined to conquer and annihilate death, to which we all yield as prey. But God could not die: Who could stand up against God? Who could threaten Him with the sword? Who could attempt [His] murder? “Therefore, the all powerful Lord” (the words are of St. Leo the Great) “came face to face with the most ferocious enemy not in His Majesty, but in our lowliness, presenting to it the same form 64 Cf. Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri Novem, Ed. C. Kempf, Lipsiae 1888, pp. 207-208.
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