De pascha (P. Beatty P. Bodmer 13 P. Oxy. 13.1600)

OF MELITO ON THE PASCHA

The scripture of the Hebrew exodus has been read, and the words of the mystery have been declared: how the sheep is sacrificed and how the people are saved. Therefore understand, O beloved: thus is the mystery of the Pascha new and old, eternal and temporary, perishable and imperishable, mortal and immortal. Old according to the law, but new according to the Word; temporary because of the type, but eternal because of grace; perishable because of the slaughter of the sheep, but imperishable because of the life of the Lord; mortal because of the burial in the earth, but immortal because of the resurrection from the dead. The law is old, but the Word is new; the type is temporary, but grace is eternal; the sheep is perishable, but the Lord is imperishable, slaughtered as a lamb, but risen as God. For "as a sheep he was led to the slaughter," yet he was not a sheep; and as a silent lamb, yet he was not a lamb. For the type took place, but the truth was found.

For in place of the lamb there came God, and in place of the sheep a man, and in the man, Christ, who contains all things. Therefore, the slaughter of the sheep and the procession of the Pascha and the writing of the law have reached their goal in Christ Jesus, on account of whom all things in the older law came to be, and even more so in the new Word. For the law became Word, and the old new, Fcoming forth together from Zion and Jerusalem, and the commandment grace, and the type truth, and the lamb a son, and the sheep a man, and the man God. For as a son he was born, and as a lamb he was led, and as a sheep he was slaughtered, and as a man he was buried; he rose from the dead as God, being by nature God and man. He is all things: in that he judges as law, in that he teaches as Word, in that he saves as grace, in that he begets as Father, in that he is begotten as Son, in that he suffers as a sheep, in that he is buried as a man, in that he rises as God. This is Jesus the Christ, "to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." This is the mystery of the Pascha, just as it is written in the law, as was read a little while ago.

But I will relate the words of the scripture, how God commands Moses in Egypt, when he wishes to bind Pharaoh under the lash, but to release Israel from the lash by the hand of Moses. "For behold," he says, "you shall take a spotless and unblemished lamb, and in the evening you shall slaughter it with the sons of Israel, and at night you shall eat it in haste, and you shall not break a bone of it. Thus," he says, "you shall do it: in one night you shall eat it by families and clans, with your loins girded and your staffs in your hands. For this is the Lord's Pascha, an eternal memorial for the sons of Israel. And taking the blood of the sheep, anoint the doorways of your houses, putting on the doorposts of the entrance the sign of the blood to put the angel to shame. For behold, I will strike Egypt and in one night it will be made childless, from beast to man." Then Moses, having slaughtered the sheep and at night having completed the mystery with the sons of Israel, sealed the doors of the houses for the protection of the people and to put the angel to shame. And when the sheep is slaughtered and the Pascha is eaten and the mystery is completed and the people rejoice and Israel is sealed, then the angel arrived to strike Egypt. The one uninitiated in the mystery, the one without a share in the Pascha, the one unsealed by the blood, the one unprotected by the spirit, the hostile one, the faithless one, striking in one night he made childless. For the angel, having passed over Israel and seen it sealed with the blood of the sheep, came upon Egypt, and subdued the stiff-necked Pharaoh through grief, dressing him not in a dark robe nor a torn garment,

De pascha (P. Beatty P. Bodmer 13 P. Oxy. 13.1600)

ΜΕΛΙΤΩΝΟΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΠΑΣΧΑ

Ἡ μὲν γραφὴ τῆς Ἑβραϊκῆς ἐξόδου ἀνέγνωσται, καὶ τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ μυστηρίου διασεσάφηται· πῶς τὸ πρόβατον θύεται καὶ πῶς ὁ λαὸς σῴζεται. Τοίνυν ξύνετε, ὦ ἀγαπητοί· οὕτως ἐστὶν καινὸν καὶ παλαιόν, ἀΐδιον καὶ πρόσκαιρον, φθαρτὸν καὶ ἄφθαρτον, θνητὸν καὶ ἀθάνατον τὸ τοῦ πάσχα μυστήριον· παλαιὸν μὲν κατὰ τὸν νόμον, καινὸν δὲ κατὰ τὸν λόγον, πρόσκαιρον διὰ τὸν τύπον, ἀΐδιον διὰ τὴν χάριν, φθαρτὸν διὰ τὴν τοῦ προβάτου σφαγήν, ἄφθαρτον διὰ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ζωήν, θνητὸν διὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ γῇ ταφήν, ἀθάνατον διὰ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν· παλαιὸς μὲν ὁ νόμος, καινὸς δὲ ὁ λόγος, πρόσκαιρος ὁ τύπος, ἀΐδιος ἡ χάρις, φθαρτὸν τὸ πρόβατον, ἄφθαρτος ὁ κύριος, σφαγεὶς ὡς ἀμνός, ἀναστὰς ὡς θεός. Καὶ γὰρ «ὡς πρόβατον εἰς σφαγὴν ἤχθη», ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πρόβατον ἦν· καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἄφωνος, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀμνὸς ἦν· ὁ μὲν γὰρ τύπος ἐγένετο, ἡ δὲ ἀλήθεια ηὑρίσκετο.

Ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ ἀμνοῦ θεὸς ἐγένετο καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ προβάτου ἄνθρωπος, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ Χριστός, ὃς κεχώρηκεν τὰ πάντα. Ἡ γοῦν τοῦ προβάτου σφαγὴ καὶ ἡ τοῦ πάσχα πομπὴ καὶ ἡ τοῦ νόμου γραφὴ εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν κεχώρηκεν, δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ νόμῳ ἐγένετο, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐν τῷ νέῳ λόγῳ. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ νόμος λόγος ἐγένετο καὶ ὁ παλαιὸς καινός, Fσυνεξελθὼν ἐκ Σιὼν καὶ Ἰερουσαλήμ καὶ ἡ ἐντολὴ χάρις, καὶ ὁ τύπος ἀλήθεια, καὶ ὁ ἀμνὸς υἱός, καὶ τὸ πρόβατον ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος θεός. Ὡς γὰρ υἱὸς τεχθείς, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἀχθείς, καὶ ὡς πρόβατον σφαγείς, καὶ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ταφείς, ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν ὡς θεός, φύσει θεὸς ὢν καὶ ἄνθρωπος. Ὅς ἐστιν τὰ πάντα· καθ' ὃ κρίνει νόμος, καθ' ὃ διδάσκει λόγος, καθ' ὃ σῴζει χάρις, καθ' ὃ γεννᾷ πατήρ, καθ' ὃ γεννᾶται υἱός, καθ' ὃ πάσχει πρόβατον, καθ' ὃ θάπτεται ἄνθρωπος, καθ' ὃ ἀνίσταται θεός. Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, «ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.» Τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ πάσχα μυστήριον, καθὼς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ γέγραπται, ὡς μικρῷ πρόσθεν ἀνέγνωσται.

∆ιηγήσομαι δὲ τὰ ῥήματα τῆς γραφῆς, πῶς ὁ θεὸς ἐντέλλεται Μωυσεῖ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ὁπόταν βούλεται τὸν μὲν Φαραὼ δῆσαι ὑπὸ μάστιγα, τὸν δὲ Ἰσραὴλ λῦσαι ἀπὸ μάστιγος διὰ χειρὸς Μωυσέως. «Ἰδοὺ γὰρ, φησίν, λήμψῃ ἄσπιλον ἀμνὸν καὶ ἄμωμον, καὶ ἑσπέρας σφάξεις αὐτὸν μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, καὶ νύκτωρ ἔδεσθε αὐτὸν μετὰ σπουδῆς, καὶ ὀστοῦν οὐ συντρίψετε αὐτοῦ. Οὕτως, φησίν, ποιήσεις· ἐν μιᾷ νυκτὶ ἔδεσθε αὐτὸν κατὰ πατριὰς καὶ δήμους, περιεζωσμένοι τὰς ὀσφύας ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ ῥάβδοι ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν. Ἔστιν γὰρ τοῦτο πάσχα κυρίου, μνημόσυνον αἰώνιον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ. Λαβόντες δὲ τὸ τοῦ προβάτου αἷμα χρίσατε τὰ πρόθυρα τῶν οἰκιῶν ὑμῶν τιθέντες ἐπὶ τοὺς σταθμοὺς τῆς εἰσόδου τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ αἵματος εἰς δυσωπίαν τοῦ ἀγγέλου. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ, πατάξω Αἴγυπτον καὶ ἐν μιᾷ νυκτὶ ἀτεκνωθήσεται ἀπὸ κτήνους ἕως ἀνθρώπου.» Τότε Μωυσῆς σφάξας τὸ πρόβατον καὶ νύκτωρ διατελέσας τὸ μυστήριον μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἐσφράγισεν τὰς τῶν οἰκιῶν θύρας εἰς φρουρὰν τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ εἰς δυσωπίαν τοῦ ἀγγέλου. Ὁπότε δὲ τὸ πρόβατον σφάζεται καὶ τὸ πάσχα βιβρώσκεται καὶ τὸ μυστήριον τελεῖται καὶ ὁ λαὸς εὐφραίνεται καὶ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ σφραγίζεται, τότε ἀφίκεται ὁ ἄγγελος πατάσσειν Αἴγυπτον. Τὴν ἀμύητον τοῦ μυστηρίου, τὴν ἄμοιρον τοῦ πάσχα, τὴν ἀσφράγιστον τοῦ αἵματος, τὴν ἀφρούρητον τοῦ πνεύματος, τὴν ἔχθραν, τὴν ἄπιστον ἐν μιᾷ νυκτὶ πατάξας ἠτέκνωσεν. Περιελθὼν γὰρ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ἄγγελος καὶ ἰδὼν ἐσφρα-γισμένον τῷ τοῦ προβάτου αἵματι, ἦλθεν ἐπ' Αἴγυπτον, καὶ τὸν σκληροτράχηλον Φαραὼ διὰ πένθους ἐδάμασεν, ἐνδύσας αὐτὸν οὐ στόλην φαιὰν οὐδὲ πέπλον περιεσχισμένον,