Cosmas Indicopleustes

In his own words on Luke

• Luke 1:13

  He saw a vision of an angel which also said unto him: Fear not, Zacharias, because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son; as if he had said, "Thou hast entered here to ask for the people remission of their sins, lo! I bring to you the good tidings that your prayer will be fulfilled, for there shall be born to thee a son by Elizabeth to be the forerunner of Him who of his grace will bestow upon the world a complete remission of their sins."

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 1:33

  if that expression for ever be taken as applying to the Lord Christ, it signifies endless duration, in accordance with what Gabriel also says to the Virgin: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his Kingdom there shall be no end

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Luke 1:43

  This is the prophetess Elisabeth, who by the Holy Spirit was privileged to prophesy both concerning the Lord Christ and the Holy Virgin, speaking thus: And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Thus both the father and the mother of the forerunner were privileged to announce beforehand the Lord Christ.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 1:48

  who even before his birth announced with great joy the dignity of her son, and said: For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 1:54-55

  He hath holpen Israel his servant, that he might remember mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed for ever.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 1:76

  This Zachariah the priest, who was himself thought worthy of the power of prophecy, spoke both concerning his own son and the Lord Christ together, in these words: And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 2:14

  he again who noted down the doxology of the multitude of the host of the angels, who were rejoicing and exulting at the birth of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure among men, now putting away from themselves the old dejection brought upon them through the first-made man, and rejoicing at the birth of the second Adam.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 2:14

  Any one who heard the multitudinous host of the heavenly ranks singing in chorus and rejoicing and exulting at the birth of our Lord Christ according to the flesh, and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good-will to men, would be astonished beyond measure as he reflected that the inhabitants of heaven and of earth had joined in making one confession, and that God was well pleased with men.

  The Christian Topography, Book 6

• Luke 2:14

  At the birth, particularly, of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, the whole multitude of the invisible powers, having seen him born through whom comes the destruction of death, the beginning of the renovation and the resurrection, and their own freedom, lifted up their voices in hymns of praise to God, the cause of all, exclaiming: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men. Then away were thrown at last all the sorrow and dejection which at one time they had suffered on account of man, and they gave expression to their joy at the birth of the second Adam. Wherefore they also, at the time of his temptations, remembering how in the days of old they had witnessed the discomfiture of the first Adam, which had filled them with dismay, but seeing now the victory of the second Adam, and how fairly not once but thrice in close grip with his tempter he had flung him out of the lists—they, I say, rejoiced with a great joy, and were eager in bestowing their services, as scripture has recorded, not now as if prompted by some hope, but because, having seen with their own eyes the victory of the second Adam, they came to minister to him with joyful alacrity

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Luke 2:22

  This is Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who gave thanks to God concerning Him in the temple, when His parents brought Him up into the temple in the days of their purification, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 2:26

  The salvation of God here signifies Christ; for thus also Symeon, when he took up Christ in his arms, prayed God to be allowed to depart from this life, since his eyes had seen the salvation of God, namely Christ himself for it had been revealed to him by the Spirit that he should not see death, until he had seen the Lord Christ

  The Christian Topography, Book 8

• Luke 2:29-32

  This is the righteous Simeon who, when he had taken up the Lord Christ in his arms, prayed to God to let him depart this life, as it had been revealed to him by the spirit, saying thus: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart, in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people—a light for revelation to the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 6:36

  A human being is a great thing, and a man, if merciful, is to be honoured. Behold, how great a thing is mercy—the merciful man God likens to Himself; for He saith: Be ye merciful, even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful. Should death come, there your riches abide.

  The Christian Topography, Book 10

• Luke 9:33

  the evangelist Luke notes this and in these terms: Not knowing what he said, that is, Peter not knowing what he said with reference to the Lord.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 10:18

  Those consequently who transgressed were cast down from on high to the earth, for I saw—it is the Lord who speaks—Satan like lightning fall from heaven

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Luke 10:18

  For, I saw, saith the Lord, Satan like lightning fall from heaven; for being puffed up because of the service entrusted to him by God for the good of men, and because it was his office to move the air for man and regulate its motion for his uses, and deeming that he had of himself advanced of his own will to this height, he usurped to himself the worship due to God, and was forthwith hurled down. For the Apostle again when instructing Timothy not to be hasty in conferring office on a neophyte—one, that is, who has but recently been converted to the faith, thus addressed him: Not a neophyte, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil; which, says the Apostle, the devil suffered through being puffed up, and has hereby clearly shown why he was hurled down, namely, by his being puffed up, deeming himself to be God, whence also he had the wish to communicate his own disease to man, saying: Ye shall be as Gods.

  The Christian Topography, Book 3

• Luke 10:19

  Lo! I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy—as much as to say: Man of old having sinned when the serpent in Paradise assailed him, it was said to him: He shall lie in wait for thy heel, but thou for his head; that is, Ye shall be divided and at enmity against each other, that man may not be under obedience to him. So the warfare was then waged on equal terms, each having the power to hurt the other; for the serpent watching for the heel of man, that is, besetting his path in order to hurt him on finding him out of the path, as he could do by creeping about his heel; while man being of upward stature and on his guard, and not straying from his path, was able to bruise the head of the serpent. And now having conquered the serpent and brought him finally to shame, and having through his agency unjustly endured death for the whole race, and nailed the bond against it to the cross and blotted it out, I rose again on the third day victorious over death, and became the champion who has achieved victory for all the human race, for through me the victory has been extended to all humanity. Be ye therefore of good courage. Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy. He says in effect the serpent is no longer able to hurt your heel, being himself trampled down under your feet

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Luke 15:7

  since man is the bond which unites the whole creation, and is also the image of God, the dispensation under which he lives is a school for his own instruction, and for that of all rational beings. For when he had sinned and had received the sentence of death, these other beings began to lament, deeming all hope to be lost both for themselves and for the universe; but when again they saw that God cared for him, they were led to conceive a good hope both for him and for themselves. This, moreover, the Lord declares in the Gospels when he says: There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, as on the other hand it is clear there is sorrow when any one sins.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 15:7

  the angels being lost in wonder were taught by their own eyes through man the glory and the power and the greatness and the wisdom and the goodness of the one and only God, and that all the elements and what had been brought into existence after themselves had been prepared before on account of man. With alacrity therefore did they obediently serve and minister in moving everything that conduced to assist the image of God as being themselves members thereof, whence again they greatly rejoice over the welldoing and the righteousness of men, but are on the other hand greatly distressed by his evil-doing and by his sinning, as saith also the Lord himself: For there is great joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.

  The Christian Topography, Book 3

• Luke 17:21

  The Kingdom of God is within you, instead of saying: Ye ought always to have the Kingdom of God within the soul

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Luke 20:36

  even the Lord manifestly hints obscurely at this when He says: At the resurrection they are equal to the angels.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Luke 22:43-44

  The sufferings of this flesh—and the tokens of suffering, anguish, and sweat, grief and perturbation of soul—all these are indicative of human nature. Oh what a marvel is here! They say such things and yet they quarrel with us, making divisions in the Churches in defiance of all authority. For where is it written that He was in agony and sweated, if not in Luke where it is said: And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground—and there appeared unto him an angel from heaven strengthening him.

  The Christian Topography, Book 10

• Luke 23:43

  just as Adam had on the sixth day sinned by eating about mid-day of the fruit of the tree, and was cast out of the garden in the afternoon, so also on the sixth day and at the sixth hour, the Lord Christ for his sake endured in the flesh the Cross, by which we are saved. And just as again from the time of the transgression to the expulsion from the garden, all the angels were filled with great dismay, expecting nothing else than the destruction of man and of themselves and of the universe, so also during the Passion from the sixth hour until the ninth the whole creation was shrouded in darkness at the wickedness that was being perpetrated. And just as the two, Adam and Eve, were at the ninth hour cast out of Paradise, so also at the ninth hour the Lord Christ in the spirit and the thief entered into Paradise. On the same day, therefore, in which Adam was made, that is, on the sixth, there occurred both the Fall and the grief of the angels, the sentence of death and the expulsion from Paradise, so also at the time of the Passion, on the same day, there occurred the death of the Saviour by the tree of the Cross, the mourning of the creation, and in the afternoon the putting away of the mourning and the entrance into Paradise. Verily I say unto you, saith the Saviour to the thief, to-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Glory to God for ever and ever, Amen

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Luke 23:43

  to the thief who believed in him he gave this promise: Verily I say unto you, to-day shall thou be with me in Paradise. Here as evidently as possible he speaks of the soul as in a place. And that he speaks with reference to the soul and not to the body, is evident from the fact that the body of the Lord was buried by Joseph of Arimathea in Jerusalem, and that of the thief was buried there also. Most manifestly therefore he speaks of the soul when saying: To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Besides, most of the evangelists when speaking of the death of the Lord say: He gave up the spirit—that is, the spirit within—namely, the soul, which went out of the body. Another of the evangelists says: Having bowed his head, he gave up the spirit

  The Christian Topography, Book 2