Gregory of Nazianzus, on Num 21:9

“Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.”

“That brazen serpent was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of him that suffered for us but as a contrast. It saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it to live but because it was killed, and killed with it were the powers that were subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph for it from us? "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" You are overthrown by the cross. You are slain by him who is the giver of life. You are without breath, dead, without motion, even though you keep the form of a serpent lifted up high on a pole.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.