Athanasius of Alexandria, On Unleavened Bread

the law commanded the Jews to eat the Passover with haste, girded and with sandals on their feet, and having their staff in their hands; during the times of his own preaching, he brought the legal Passover to an end, but he delivered his own through the supper; for this reason after supper. having taken bread, and broken it, he delivered to the apostles the mystery of his New Covenant and Liturgy; that is, on the night of the fifth day, in which he was betrayed. It must be known that at the very hour the deicides crucified the Lord of glory, at that same time, having sacrificed the lamb, they ate the legal Passover; and this is clear from what the evangelist John said: that they themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover; so that on one day Christ was sacrificed with the lamb; but what does Luke say? He said that Christ took bread and not unleavened bread; for it was not yet, since it was then the fifth day; it was still the thirteenth day of the moon and there was no unleavened bread, because it had not yet come to be; for it was legislated to eat the unleavened bread on the fifteenth day of the moon; but on the fourteenth, only the lamb was to be sacrificed; for this reason the law calls the fourteenth of the first month of the moon Passover; but the fifteenth it names the first Sabbath; If then Christ was sacrificed on the fourteenth of the moon on the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was the feast of Unleavened Bread, when did he eat the unleavened bread? and when did he deliver these things to the apostles in the New Covenant? For the imitators of the Jews say that we received from the apostles 26.1332 to use unleavened bread; for Christ did not even have time to eat the legal Passover at that time; But that the truth is so, for the confirmation of what has been said, hear also the legislation of Moses in which he legislated concerning the Passover and the Unleavened Bread; These, he says, are the holy convocations for the Lord, which you shall call in their seasons. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Behold, you learn also from the legislation of Moses that there was no unleavened bread; for after supper on the fifth day Christ delivered through the breaking of the bread the mystery of the New Covenant; since on that day there was no unleavened bread ...

περιεζωσμένους καὶ ὑποδεδεμένους ἐσθίειν τὸ Πάσχα μετὰ σπουδῆς, καὶ ἐπὶ χεῖρας τὴν βακτηρίαν ἔχοντας τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὁ νόμος ἐκέλευε· κατέπαυσε μὲν τοῖς χρόνοις τοῦ οἰκείου κηρύγματος τὸ Πάσχα τὸ νομικὸν, παρέδωκε δὲ τὸ οἰκεῖον διὰ τοῦ δείπνου· διὸ μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι. λαβὼν ἄρτον, καὶ κλάσας, παρέδωκε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις τὸ μυστήριον τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης αὐτοῦ καὶ Λειτουργίας· ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ δηλονότι τῆς εʹ, ἐν ᾗ παρεδόθη. Ἰστέον δ' ὅτι καθ' ἣν ὥραν ἐσταύρωσαν οἱ θεοκτόνοι τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης, κατ' αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν ἀμνὸν θύσαντες, ἔφαγον τὸ Πάσχα τὸ νομικόν· καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ εἰπεῖν τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν Ἰωάννην· ὅτι αὐτοὶ οὐκ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ Πραιτώριον ἵνα μὴ μιανθῶσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα φάγωσι τὸ Πάσχα· ὥστε ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ μετὰ τοῦ ἀμνοῦ ἐτύθη ὁ Χριστός· ἀλλὰ τί φησιν ὁ Λουκᾶς; ἄρτον εἶπεν λαβεῖν τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ οὐκ ἄζυμον· οὐ γὰρ ἔτι ἦν, πέμπτης οὔσης τηνικαῦτα ἡμέρας· τρισκαιδεκάτη ἦν ἔτι ἡ σελήνη καὶ οὐκ ἦσαν ἄζυμα, διὰ τὸ μήπω γενέσθαι· τῇ ιεʹ γὰρ τῆς σελήνης ἦν νενομοθετημένον ἐσθίειν τὰ ἄζυμα· τῇ δὲ ιδʹ τὸν ἀμνὸν καὶ μόνον θύεσθαι· διὸ καὶ τῇ μὲν ιδʹ τοῦ πρώτου μηνὸς τῆς σελήνης Πάσχα προσαγορεύει ὁ νόμος· τῇ δὲ ιεʹ πρῶτον Σάββατον ὀνομάζει· εἰ οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐτύθη κατὰ τὴν ιδʹ τῆς σελήνης κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς Παρασκευῆς, τὸ δὲ Σάββατον ἦν τῶν Ἀζύμων ἑορτὴ, πότε τὰ ἄζυμα ἔφαγε; καὶ πότε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ταῦτα ἐν τῇ Καινῇ ∆ιαθήκῃ παρέδωκεν; ὅτι λέγουσιν οἱ μιμηταὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὅτι τὰ ἄζυμα παρὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων 26.1332 ποιεῖν παρελάβομεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ Πάσχα τὸ νομικὸν κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον φαγεῖν ἔφθασεν ὁ Χριστός· ὅτι δὲ οὕτως ἔχει τὸ ἀληθὲς, πρὸς πίστωσιν τῶν εἰρημένων, ἄκουσον καὶ τῆς νομοθεσίας Μωϋσέως ᾗ περὶ τοῦ Πάσχα καὶ τῶν Ἀζύμων νενομοθέτηκεν· Αὗται, φησὶν, αἱ ἑορταὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ κληταὶ ἅγιαι, ἃς καλέσετε αὐτὰς ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς αὐτῶν. Ἐν τῷ αʹ μηνὶ ἐν τῇ ιδʹ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ μηνὸς, ἀναμέσον τῶν ἑσπερινῶν, Πάσχα τῷ Κυρίῳ. Καὶ ἐν τῇ ιεʹ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ μηνὸς τούτου ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἀζύμων τῷ Κυρίῳ· ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἄζυμα ἔδεσθε. Ἰδοὺ μανθάνεις καὶ ἐκ τῆς νομοθεσίας Μωϋσέως, ὅτι οὐκ ἦν τὰ ἄζυμα· καὶ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν εʹ παρέδωκεν ὁ Χριστὸς διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἄρτου κλάσεως τὸ τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης μυστήριον· ἐπειδὴ ἄζυμα ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ οὐκ ἦσαν ...