+Cyril of Jerusalem:

    O strange and wonderful event!
    We were not really put to death,
    we were not really buried,
    we were not really crucified,
    we were not really brought back to life.
    But, though the imitation was symbolic,
    the salvation is very real!


    Christ was truly crucified,
    truly buried,
    truly raised up.
    And all this was given to us by a grace
    in order that we might share his sufferings by imitating them,
    and thus truly obtain salvation.
    How vast God’s love for humanity.
    Christ had his utterly pure hands pierced by the nails
    he suffered;
    and yet it is to me,
    who share in his sufferings without suffering or experiencing pain,
    that he gives the grace of salvation.