Athanasius of Alexandria : If any of our own people inquire, not from love of debate but from love of learning, why he suffered death in no other way save on the cross, let them also be told that no other way than this was good for us, and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he came himself to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have "become a curse" unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross. For this is exactly what is written: "Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree." Again, if the Lord's death is the ransom of all, and by his death "the dividing wall of hostility" is broken down, and the calling of the nations is brought about, how would he have called us to him had he not been crucified? For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Thus it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself has said, signifying by what manner of death he was ransom to all: "I, when I am lifted up," he says, "will draw all men to myself." For the devil, the enemy of our race, having fallen from heaven, wanders about our lower atmosphere and there, bearing rule over his fellow spirits, as the devil's peers in disobedience, not only works illusions by their means in them that are deceived but tries to hinder them that are going up. About this the apostle says, "Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience," while the Lord came to cast down the devil and clear the air and prepare the way for us up into heaven, as said the apostle, "Through the curtain, that is to say, his flesh"—and this must be by death. Well, by what other kind of death could this have come to pass than by one which took place in the air, I mean, the cross? For only he that is perfected on the cross dies in the air. Therefore, it was quite fitting that the Lord suffered this death. For thus being lifted up, he cleared the air of the malignity both of the devil and of demons of all kinds, as he says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven," and made a new opening of the way up into heaven, as he says once more, "Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors!" For it was not the Word himself that needed an opening of the gates, being Lord of all; nor were any of his works closed to their maker; but it was we who needed it, whom he carried up by his own body. For as he offered it to death on behalf of all, so by it he once more made ready the way up into the heavens. — On the Incarnation of the Word 25 Isaac of Nineveh : But now, when He has poured out his grace upon the world through His own Coming, He has descended not in an earthquake, not in a fire, not in a terrible and mighty sound, but "as the rain upon a fleece, and rain-drops that fall upon the earth" softly, and He was seen conversing with us after another fashion. This came to pass when, as though in a treasury, He concealed His majesty with the veil of His flesh and among us spoke with us in that body which His own bidding wrought for Him out of the womb of the Virgin, even Mary the Theotokos. All this He did so that, on beholding Him Who was of our race conversing with us, we should not be smitten with terror by the vision of Him.Wherefore every man has put on Christ when he is clothed with the raiment wherein the Creator was seen through the body that He put on. For the likeness in which He was seen by His own creation and in which He kept company with it, He willed to put on in His inner man, and to be seen therein by His fellow-servants. Instead of a robe of honour and outward glory, He was arrayed in this. When rational and irrational creation beholds any man clad in this likeness, it worships him as master, for the sake of its own Master's honour, Whom it beheld clad and walking therein. For what creature does not feel reverence at the spectacle of a humble man? And yet until the glory of humility was revealed to all, this vision which is filled with holiness was held in disdain. But now its majesty has dawned on the eyes of the world, and every person honours this likeness in every place where it is seen. In this mediator, creation has been counted worthy of receiving the vision of its Creator and Maker. Wherefore not even by the enemies of the truth is it despised; and even if he who has acquired it is the most impoverished of all creation, yet by it he is honoured as though by the diadem and the purple. — ASCETICAL HOMILIES 77 John Chrysostom : "Which He hath inaugurated," that is, which He prepared, and which He began; for the beginning of using is thenceforth called the inaugurating; which He prepared (he means) and by which He Himself passed. "A new and living way." Here He expresses "the full assurance of hope." "New," he says. He is anxious to show that we have all things greater; since now the gates of Heaven have been opened, which was not done even for Abraham. "A new and living way," he says, for the first was a way of death, leading to Hades, but this of life. And yet he did not say, "of life," but called it "living," (the ordinances, that is,) that which abideth. "Through the veil" (he says) "of His flesh." For this flesh first cut that way, by this He inaugurated it [the way] by which He walked. And with good reason did he call [the flesh] "a veil." For when it was lifted up on high, then the things in heaven appeared. — Homily on Hebrews 19 Oecumenius : "which He inaugurated for us." It was the entrance of the holy places, and a path leading to it, recently cut. For this, it is said, was inaugurated. "new." Which in our times, he says, took its beginning. And this is our claim, that in the times around Abraham, this road did not exist, but was established among us. "and living." For the first way led to death and to disbelief; this one, however, truly brings to life, since it itself lives and endures. — The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews Oecumenius : — [PHOTIUS] Having said "recent," so that no one might say: "If recent, then it will cease"; for this one too will grow old and become obsolete just as the old covenant will be abolished. He says, however: "But being recent, it will always be new and living, never accepting death and dissolution." [end of the Photius excerpt] — — The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews Oecumenius : "through the veil." For all these good things have come to us through the flesh of Christ and His sacrifice. This also recently prepared the way to heaven, having walked it first. And rightly is the flesh of Christ called the veil. For when He was lifted up, that is, on the cross, then the things in heaven were revealed, which belong to the veil, and that it concealed the Divinity within itself. And this is also the characteristic of a veil. — The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews Photios I of Constantinople : He says, "recent," lest anyone say, "Then if it is recent, it too will cease; for it will age and grow old and it will also be destroyed like that of the old testament." Not in the least, he says. But since it is always recent, it remains new and will be "living," for it never receives death and destruction. — FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE Hebrews 10.20