St. Gregory Palamas: God gives much, asks little

 For this purpose the Son of God bowed the heavens and came down to earth, became the Son of man, spoke and acted as He did, finally suffered and died for us, rose again and went to to heaven once more, to make us heavenly immortal and sons of God. So the things He now asks of us, that we should love our enemies, do good, and lend to those unable to repay, are not only fitting and beneficial for us, as has already been demonstrated, but are also small in comparison with what He gave. He gave Himself for us, who not only had nothing to give in return, but who had previously shown ourselves in many ways to be ungrateful and evil. By contrast, He urges us to lend what we have in excess and to do good with what we possess. What do we have, and how much? And for the sake of these trifles He gives us in exchange likeness to Himself, sublime adoption as sons, and heavenly rewards, saying, "Be ye merciful, even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful" (Luke 6:36, cf. Matthew 5:48).

St. Gregory Palamas, from The Homilies, homily 45 for the Second Sunday of St. Luke

St. Ephraim the Syrian: On the Passion of Christ

 It was an amazing thing that the dead were killing the living one, [whereas] the slain one was raising the dead to life. They directed their fury more intensely towards heaven, whereas he humbled his greatness even further down into the depths...

[Death] stole him, took him away and put him in the tomb while he was asleep, but on awaking and standing up, he stole his stealer. This is the cross which crucifies those who crucified [the Lord], and this is the captive who leads into captivity those who had led him into captivity.

+St. Ephraim the Syrian, from Commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron.