Death Devours Him and Is Devoured

“He was begotten by a woman, so that He might bring all those begotten to rebirth. He was willingly crucified, so that He might take down [from the cross] those unwillingly crucified. He died willingly, so that He might raise up [from the grave] those who died involuntarily. He accepted a death that He need not have accepted, so that He might give life to those subjected to death. Death devoured Him [Is 25.8] in ignorance, but after it devoured him it came to know what it had devoured. It devoured Life; it was swallowed up by Life. It devoured the One along with all the rest; it lost all the rest because of the One. It seized Him like a lion [Ps 7.3]; its teeth were smashed. And so for this reason it is scorned as weak. For we no longer fear death as we would a lion, but we tread upon it as we would a lion’s hide.”

St. Basil the Great, On Not Three Gods Against Those Who Calumniate Us, Claiming that We Say That There Are Three Gods as in the collection On Christian Doctrine and Practice