"Since
the mercy of God is everywhere great, let us bless Him, and also
because He has sent unto us the Spirit of truth to guide us into
all truth. For for this cause the month Abib was appointed by
the law to be the beginning of months, and was made known unto
us as the first among the months of the year; both by the
ancient writers who lived before, and by the later who lived
after the destruction of Jerusalem, it was shown to possess a
most clear and evidently definite period"
I.-Letter
to the Church at Alexandria.(1)
Peter, to the brethren beloved and established in the faith of
God, peace in the Lord. Since I have found out that Meletius
acts in no way for the common good,-for neither is he contented
with the letter of the most holy bishops and martyrs,-but,
invading my parish,(2)
hath assumed so much to himself as to endeavour to separate from
my authority the priests,(3)
and those who had been entrusted with visiting the needy;(4)
and, giving proof of his desire for pre-eminence, has ordained
in the prison several unto himself; now, take ye heed to this,
and hold no communion with him, until I meet him in company with
some wise and discreet men, and see what the designs are which
he has thought upon. Fare ye well.
II.-On the
Godhead.(5)
Since certainly "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,"(6)
whence also by grace we are saved, according to that word of the
apostle, "and that not of yourselves, nor of works, Jest any man
should boast; "(7)
by the will of God, "the Word was made flesh,"(8)
and "was found in fashion as a man."(9)
But yet He was not left without His divinity. For neither
"though He was rich did He become poor"(10)
that He might absolutely be separated from His power and glory,
but that He might Himself endure death for us sinners, the just
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, "being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; "and afterwards
other things. Whence the evangelist also asserts the truth when
he says, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; "then
indeed, from the time when the angel had saluted the virgin,
saying, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with
thee." Now when Gabriel said, "The Lord is with thee," he meant
God the Word is with thee. For he shows that He was conceived in
the womb, and was to become flesh; as it is written, "The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God; "(11)
and afterwards other things. Now God the Word, in the absence of
a man, by the will of God, who easily effects everything, was
made flesh in the womb of the virgin, not requiring the
operation of the presence of a man. For more efficacious than a
man was the power of God overshadowing the virgin, together with
the Holy Ghost also who came upon her.
III.-On the
Advent of Our Saviour.(12)
And He said unto Judas, "Betrayest thou the Son of God with a
kiss? "(13)
These things and the like, and all the signs which He showed,
and His miracles, prove that He is God made man. Both things
therefore are demonstrated, that He was God by nature, and that
He was man by nature.
IV.-On the
Sojourning of Christ with Us.(14)
Both therefore is proved, that he was God by nature, and was
made man by nature.
V.-That Up
to the Time of the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews Rightly
Appointed the Fourteenth Day of the First Lunar Month.
I.(15)
1. Since the mercy of God is everywhere great, let us bless Him,
and also because He has sent unto us the Spirit of truth to
guide us into all truth. For for this cause the month Abib was
appointed by the law to be the beginning of months, and was made
known unto us as the first among the months of the year; both by
the ancient writers who lived before, and by the later who lived
after the destruction of Jerusalem, it was shown to possess a
most clear and evidently definite period, especially because in
some places the reaping is early, and sometimes it is late, so
as to be sometimes before the time and sometimes after it, as it
happened in the very beginning of the giving of the law, before
the Passover, according as it is written, "But the wheat and the
rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up."(16)
Whence it is rightly prescribed by the law, that from the vernal
equinox, in whatsoever week the fourteenth day of the first
month shall fall, in it the Passover is to be celebrated,
becoming and conformable songs of praise having been first taken
up for its celebration. For this first month, says he, "shall be
unto you the beginning of months,"(17)
when the sun in the summer-time sends forth a far stronger and
clearer light, and the days are lengthened and become longer,
whilst the nights are contracted and shortened. Moreover, when
the new seeds have sprung up, they are thoroughly purged, and
borne into the threshing floor; nor only this, but also all the
shrubs blossom, and burst forth into flower. Immediately
therefore they are discovered to send forth in alternation
various and diverse fruits, so that the grape-clusters are found
at thattime; as says the lawgiver, "Now, it was the time of
spring, of the first ripe grapes; "(18)
and when he sent the men to spy out the land, they brought, on
bearers, a large cluster of grapes, and pomegranates also, and
figs. For then, as they say, our eternal God also, the Maker and
Creator of all things, framed all things, and said to them, "Let
the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the
fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in
itself upon the earth" Then he adds, "And it was so; and God saw
that it was good."(19)
Moreover, he makes quite clear that the first month amongst the
Hebrews was appointed by law, which we know to have been
observed by the Jews up to the destruction of Jerusalem, because
this has been so handed down by the Hebrew tradition. But after
the destruction of the city it was mocked at by some hardening
of heart, which we observing, according to the law, with
sincerity have received; and in this, according to the Word,
when he speaks of the day of our holy festivity, which the
election bath attained: but the rest have become hardened,(20)
as said the Scripture; and after other things.
2. And He says as follows: "All these things will they do unto
you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent
Me."(21)
But if they knew not Him who sent, and Him who was sent, there
is no reason to doubt but that they have been ignorant of the
Passover as prescribed by the law, so as not merely to err in
their choice of the place, but also in reckoning the beginning
of the month, which is the first amongst the months of the year,
on the fourteenth day of which, being accurately observed, after
the equinox, the ancients celebrated the Passover according to
the divine command; whereas the men of the present day now
celebrate it before the equinox, and that altogether through
negligence and error, being ignorant how they celebrated it in
its season, as He confesses who in these things was described.
3. Whether therefore the Jews erroneously sometimes celebrate
their Passover according to the course of the moon in the month
Phamenoth, or according to the intercalary month, every third
year in the month Pharmuthi(22)
matters not to us. For we have no other object than to keep the
remembrance of His Passion, and that at this very time; as those
who were eye-witnesses of it have from the beginning handed
down, before the Egyptians believed. For neither by observing
the course of the moon do they necessarily celebrate it on the
sixteenth day of Phamenoth, but once every three years in the
month Pharmuthi; for from the beginning, and before the advent
of Christ, they seem to have so done. Hence, when the Lord
reproves them by the prophet, He says, "They do always err in
their heart; and I have sworn in My wrath that they shall not
enter into My rest."(23)
4. Wherefore, as thou seest, even in this thou appearest to be
lying greatly, not only against men, but also against God.
First, indeed, since in this matter the Jews never erred, as
consorting with those who were eye-witnesses and ministers, much
less from the beginning before the advent of Christ. For God
does not say that they did always err in their heart as regards
the precept of the law concerning the Passover, as thou hast
written, but on account of all their other disobedience, and on
account of their evil and unseemly deeds, when, indeed, He
perceived them turning to idolatry and to fornication.
5. And after a few things. So that also in this respect, since
thou hast slumbered, rouse thyself much, and very much, with the
scourge of the Preacher, being mindful especially of that
passage where he speaks of "slipping on the pavement, and with
the tongue."(24)
For, as thou seest again, the charge cast by thee upon their
leaders is reflected back; nay, and one may suspect a great
subsequent danger, inasmuch as we hear that the stone which a
man casts up on high falls back upon his head. Much more
reckless is he who, in this respect, ventures to bring a charge
against Moses, that might), servant of God, or Joshua, the son
of Nun. who succeeded him, or those who in succession rightly
followed them and ruled; the judges, I mean, and the kings who
appeared, or the prophets whom the Holy Spirit inspired, and
those who amongst the high-priests were blameless, and those
who, in following the traditions, changed nothing, but agreed as
to the observance of the Passover in its season, as also of the
rest of their feasts.
6. And after other things. But thou oughtest rather to have
pursued a safer and more auspicious course, and not to have
mitten rashly and slanderously, that they seem from the
beginning, and always, to have been in error about the Passover,
which you cannot prove, whatever charge you may wish to bring
against those who, at the present time, have erred with a
grievous wandering, having fallen away from the commandment of
the law concerning the Passover and other things. For the
ancients seem to have kept it after the vernal equinox, which
you can discover if you read ancient books, and those especially
which were written by the learned Hebrews.
7. That therefore up to the period of the Lord's Passion, and at
the time of the last destruction of Jerusalem, which happened
under Vespasian, the Roman emperor, the people of Israel,
rightly observing the fourteenth day of the first lunar month,
celebrated on it the Passover of the law, has been briefly
demonstrated.Therefore, when the holy prophets, and all, as I
have said, who righteously and justly walked in the law of the
Lord, together with the entire people, celebrated a typical and
shadowy Passover, the Creator and Lord of every visible and
invisible creature, the only-begotten Son, and the Word
co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and of the same
substance with them, according to His divine nature, our Lord
and God, Jesus Christ, being in the end of the world born
according to the flesh of our holy and glorious lady, Mother of
God, and Ever-Virgin, and, of a truth, of Mary the Mother of
God; and being seen upon earth, and having true and real
converse as man with men, who were of the same substance with
Him, according to His human nature, Himself also, with the
people, in the years before His public ministry and during His
public ministry, did celebrate the legal and shadowy Passover,
eating the typical lamb. For "I came not to destroy the law, or
the prophets, but to fulfil them," the Saviour Himself said in
the Gospel.
But after His public ministry He did not eat of the lamb,(25)
but Himself suffered as the true Lamb in the Paschal feast, as
John, the divine and evangelist, teaches us in the Gospel
written by him, where he thus speaks: "Then led they Jesus from
Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they
themselves went not into the judgment-hall, lest they should be
defined, but that they might eat the passover."(26)
And after a few things more. "When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the
judgment-seat, in a place that is called the Pavement, but in
the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the
passover, and about the third hour,"(27)
as the correct books render it, and the copy itself that was
written by the hand of the evangelist, which, by the divine
grace, has been preserved in the most holy church of Ephesus,
and is there adored by the faithful. And again the same
evangelist says: "The Jews therefore, because it was the
preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on
the Sabbath-day (for that Sabbath-day was an high day), besought
Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be
taken away."(28)
On that day, therefore, on which the Jews were about to eat the
Passover in the evening, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was
crucified, being made the victim to those who were about to
partake by faith of the mystery concerning Him, according to
what is written by the blessed Paul: "For even Christ our
Passover is sacrificed for us; "(29)
and not as some who, carried along by ignorance, confidently
affirm that after He had eaten the Passover, He was betrayed;
which we neither learn from the holy evangelists, nor has any of
the blessed apostles handed it down to us. At the time,
therefore, in which our Lord and God Jesus Christ suffered for
us, according to the flesh, He did not eat of the legal
Passover; but, as I have said, He Himself, as the true Lamb, was
sacrificed for us in the feast of the typical Passover, on the
day of the preparation, the fourteenth of the first lunar month.
The typical Passover, therefore, then ceased, the true Passover
being present: "For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us,"
as has been before said, and as that chosen vessel, the apostle
Paul, teaches.(30)
II.(31)
Now it was the preparation, about the third hour, as the
accurate books have it, and the autograph copy itself of the
Evangelist John, which up to this day has by divine grace been
preserved in the most holy church of Ephesus, and is there
adored(32)
by the faithful.
VI.-Of the
Soul and Body.(33)
The things which pertain to the divinity and humanity of the
Second Man from heaven, in what has been written above,
according to the blessed apostle, we have explained; and now we
have thought it necessary to explain the things which pertain to
the first man, who is of earth and earthy, being about, namely,
to demonstrate this, that he was created at the same time one
and the same, although sometimes he is separately designated as
the man external and internal. For if, according to the Word of
salvation, He who made what is without, made also that which is
within, He certainly, by one operation, and at the same time,
made both, on that day, indeed, on which God said, "Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness; "(34)
whence it is manifest that man was not formed by a conjunction
of the body with a certain pre-existent type. For if the earth,
at the bidding of the Creator, brought forth the other animals
endowed with life, much rather did the dust which God took from
the earth receive a vital energy from the will and operation of
God.
VII.-Fragment.(35)
Wretch that I am! I have not remembered that God observes the
mind, and hears the voice of the soul. I turned consciously to
sin, saying to myself, God is merciful, and will bear with me;
and when I was not instantly smitten, I ceased not, but rather
despised His forbearance, and exhausted the long-suffering of
God.
VIII.-On
St. Matthew.(36)
And in the Gospel according to Matthew, the Lord said to him who
betrayed Him: "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? "which
Peter the Martyr and Archbishop of Alexandria expounding, says,
this and other things like, "All the signs which He showed, and
the miracles that He did, testify of Him that He is God
incarnate; both things therefore are together proved, that He
was God by nature, and was made man by nature."
IX.-From a
Sermon.(37)
In the meanwhile the evangelist says with firmness, "The Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us."(38)
From this we learn that the angel, when he saluted the Virgin
with the words, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord
is with thee,"(39)
intended to signify God the Word is with thee, and also to show
that He would arise from her bosom, and would be made flesh,
even as it is written, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God."(40)
FOOTNOTES:
- From Gallandius.
- [See p. 240, supra But note, the parish
was greater than the diocese in ancient terminology.]
- [Presbyters.]
- [Deacons.]
- A fragment from his book, from the Acts of the Council
of Ephesus, i. and vii. 2.-Galland.
- John i. 17.
- Eph. ii. 8, 9.
- John 1. 14.
- Phil. ii. 7.
- 2 Cor. viii. 9.
- Luke i. 35.
- A fragment from the homily. Apud Leontium Byzant., lib.
i., contra Nestor. et Eutych., tom. i. Thes. Canis., p. 550.
- Luke xxii. 48.
- A fragment from the homily. Ex Leontio Hierosolymitano,
contra Monophysitas, Ap. Mai. Script. Vet., tom. vii.
p. 134.
- Apud Galland, Ex Chronico Paschal., p. 1,
seqq., edit. Venet., 1729.
- Exod. ix. 32.
- Exod. xii. 2.
- Num. xii. 24.
- Gen. i. 11, 12. [As "in summer-time," probably.]
- Rom. xi. 7. ["Our holy festivity" = Easter.]
- John xv. 21.
- [Vol. ii. p. 333, note 4. Clement is always worth
noting, for his influence is thus traceable very widely in
the early literature.]
- Ps. xcv. 10, 11.
- Ecclus. xx. 18.
- [But compare Browne, On the Thirty-nine Articles,
p. 717, note 3, American edition, 1874.]
- John xviii. 28.
- John xix. 13, 14. And about the sixth hour is the
reading of our English version. According to St. Mark, the
crucifixion took place at the third hour (chap. xxv. 25).
Eusebius, Theophylact, and Severus (in the Catena, ed.
Lücke, ii.) suppose that there has been some very early
erratum in our copies. See Alford's note on the
passage.
- John xix. 31.
- 1 Cor. v. 7.
- [Compare Anatolius, p. 15l, supra]
- Apud Galland, Ex Chronico Paschal., p. 175, D.
- [Adored, i.e., etymologically, = kissed.]
- Ex Leontii et Joannis Rer. Sacr., lib. ii. Apud
Mai, Script. Vet., tom. vii. p. 85. From his
demonstration that the soul was not pre-existent to the
body.
- Gen. i. 26.
- Ex Leontio et Joanne Rer. Sacr., lib. ii. Apud
Mai, Script. Vet., tom. vii. p. 96.
- From the Treatise of the Emperor Justinian against the
Monophysites. Apud Mai, Script. Vet., vii. 306, 307.
- Or, from a treatise on theology.
- John i. 14.
- Luke i. 28.
- Luke i. 35.
