John Chrysostom: The cross has broken our bond, it has made the prison of death ineffectual, it is the demonstration of the love of God.

For the cross destroyed the enmity of God towards man, brought about the reconciliation, made the earth Heaven, associated men with angels, pulled down the citadel of death, unstrung the force of the devil, extinguished the power of sin, delivered the world from error, brought back the truth, expelled the Demons, destroyed temples, overturned altars, suppressed the sacrificial offering, implanted virtue, founded the Churches. The cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Son, the rejoicing of the Spirit, the boast of Paul, “for,” he says, “God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The cross is that which is brighter than the sun, more brilliant than the sunbeam: for when the sun is darkened then the cross shines brightly: and the sun is darkened not because it is extinguished, but because it is overpowered by the brilliancy of the cross. The cross has broken our bond, it has made the prison of death ineffectual, it is the demonstration of the love of God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that every one who believes in Him should not perish.” And again Paul says “If being enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” The cross is the impregnable wall, the invulnerable shield, the safeguard of the rich, the resource of the poor, the defence of those who are exposed to snares, the armour of those who are attacked, the means of suppressing passion, and of acquiring virtue, the wonderful and marvellous sign. “For this generation seeketh after a sign: and no sign shall be given it save the sign of Jonas”; and again Paul says, “for the Jews ask for a sign and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.” The cross opened Paradise, it brought in the robber, it conducted into the kingdom of Heaven the race of man which was about to perish, and was not worthy even of earth.

— John Chrysostom

Cited from Against Marcionists and Manichaeans 2

Here Chrysostom exalts the cross as the supreme sign of God’s goodness and redemptive power at work within creation. Through the cross of Christ, God not only reconciles with fallen humanity but also redeems the cosmos from the effects of the fall—He has, as Chrysostom declares, “made the earth Heaven.” Far from viewing the flesh and the material cross as corrupt, Chrysostom overturns Manichaean and Marcionite assumptions that the material world is inherently evil. Though creation, once declared “good” by God, was corrupted by sin, Christ’s death upon the cross paradoxically becomes the instrument from which humanity is redeemed and the cosmos restored. The cross thus stands as the instrument by which God sanctifies the universe—brighter than the sun, transforming Paradise lost into Paradise restored.

John Chrysostom (c. 347–407 AD) served as Archbishop of Constantinople and was one of the most prolific of the Eastern Church Fathers. Renowned for his eloquence in preaching, he earned the epithet Chrysostom, meaning “golden-mouthed.” A fearless critic of moral laxity and corruption among both ecclesiastical and political leaders, his boldness often brought him into conflict with Empress Eudoxia and other authorities, leading to multiple exiles. In 403 AD, the Synod of the Oak deposed and banished him for condemning the empress’s extravagance and the clergy’s moral failures. Though later permitted to return, Chrysostom persisted in denouncing imperial excess, defied orders to remain silent, and was again exiled to a remote region, where he died in 407 AD.