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because of the symbol of the blood. The Jews eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They go out of Egypt; Pharaoh and the remaining Egyptians pursue them; they come to the Red Sea. It receives the army of the Hebrews, being divided by the power of God, and by the rod of Moses; but it drowns the Egyptian power that entered after. Christ is a lamb for you at your departure from the world, and he translates you to heaven as he ascends; he also brings you up to eternal life. Transferring the man who was born of David, he transfers with him those who follow, the obedient and submissive, those who no longer fear Pharaoh, nor indeed remain in the servile-worldly and earthly hardships, for the sake of the small and sharp pleasure, of which Israel had a type in the eating of meats and onions and garlic in Egypt. For such is worldly pleasure, having interwoven with it a most pungent city of cares, and a carnal and beastly satiety. But as you are departing from the worldly life, the beginning of true life comes into being; just as for them the typical Passover was the beginning of months.

For now is the beginning of life, when you renounce the worldly and earthly life; now you find what it is to truly live, in the spirit. Christ is sacrificed, so that you may know his sacrifice that was made for you 59.734. Then is fulfilled for you, "As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb." And the gentleness in him preserves the prototype of the sheep; but the ascent on high, and not the restraint in the things below, preserves the goat's journey to the heights. For goats both leap and ascend to the higher and impassable places. But heaven was high and impassable for men, from the day he fell, having stumbled from the divine commandment, serving the flesh and being separated from the Holy Spirit. Indeed the divine victim sacrificed for you ascends and brings you up. For he died with you, that you might live in him. And the blood of the lamb is salvation for you, if you approach the blood faithfully, if you anoint, as it were, with faith in the blood those senses of yours and thoughts, through which death enters, sending in sin, just as Israel anointed the entrances with the blood. For if desire does not enter you through the eyes, through hearing, through smell, through taste, through touch, and after these through thoughts, death does not master you, but bearing in your body the dying of Jesus, you also have life made manifest in your body, and thus the death from the first-formed Adam will pass over, as the destruction of the firstborn passed over the houses of the Hebrews. Wherefore also the name of the feast for these things is Passover, signifying a passing over. The lamb is unblemished for you; for Jesus is unblemished for you; Who, it says, "committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth." A perfect male. For the perfection of righteousness is with the only true king. And the year-old lamb is a type of the eternal Christ. For a year is a symbol of an age, the same in every age, revolving many times, and having all the seasons in itself, a type of the new man, in whom the old of our humanity has been changed into newness; For, "Put on," it says, "the new man." Having put on the blamelessness and perfection of the lamb, you will be a sheep of God, and having yourself presented your own body as a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, according to the Apostle, you will also be sent forth to eternal life.

2. Do you see that your Passover bears no comparison to the Jewish one, but

that one had only a shadowy likeness of it? And Israel was a child concerning the sacrifice of the lamb, thinking this was eagerly desired by God, and supposing that through this he had received salvation, and not seeing it as a type of the truly saving sacrifice. Therefore it is said by God to them through Jeremiah, that not

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διὰ τὸ τοῦ αἵματος σύμβολον. Ἐσθίουσι τὸ πρόβατον Ἰουδαῖοι σὺν ἀζύμοις καὶ πικρίσιν. Ἐξίασιν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου· ἐπιδιώκει Φαραὼ καὶ οἱ λει πόμενοι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων· ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν ἔρχονται τὴν Ἐρυθράν. Αὕτη δέχεται μὲν τὸν τῶν Ἑβραίων στρατὸν διαιρεθεῖσα δυνάμει Θεοῦ, καὶ ῥάβδῳ Μωϋσέως· κατα ποντίζει δὲ τὴν Αἰγυπτιακὴν δύναμιν ἐπεισελθοῦ σαν. Προβατόν σοι Χριστὸς ἐπ' ἐξόδῳ τῇ ἀπὸ κόσμου, καὶ σὲ συμμετατίθησιν εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀναβαίνων· ἀναβιβάζει καὶ σὲ ἐπὶ τὴν αἰωνίαν ζωήν. Μετάγων τὸν ἄνθρω πον τὸν ἐκ ∆αυῒδ γεγονότα, συμμετάγει τοὺς ἀκολου θοῦντας, τοὺς ὑπηκόους καὶ πειθηνίους, τοὺς μηκέτι Φαραὼ φοβουμένους, μηδὲ δηλῶς ἐναπομένοντας ταῖς δουλικοσμικαῖς καὶ κακοπαθείαις γηΐναις, διὰ τὴν ὀλίγην καὶ δριμεῖαν ἡδονὴν, ἧς τύπον εἶχεν ὁ Ἰσραὴλ τὴν τῶν κρεῶν καὶ κρομμύων καὶ σκορόδων βρῶσιν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ κατὰ κόσμον ἡδονὴ, δριμυτάτην τῶν με ριμνῶν πόλιν ἔχουσα συμπεπλεγμένην, σαρκικὴν δὲ καὶ θηριώδη τὴν πλησμονήν. Ἐξιόντι δέ σοι τῆς κοσμικῆς ζωῆς, ἀρχὴ ζωῆς ἀληθινῆς γίνεται· ὥσπερ ἐκείνοις ἀρχὴ μηνῶν τὸ πάσχα τὸ τυπικόν.

Νῦν γὰρ ἀρχὴ [τοῦ] ζῇν, ὅτε ἀποτάσσῃ τῇ κοσμικῇ καὶ γηΐνῃ ζωῇ· νῦν εὑρί σκεις τί τὸ ἀληθινὸν ζῇν, τὸ ἐν πνεύματι. Θύεται Χρι στὸς, ὥστε γινώσκεις τὴν θυσίαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ὑπὲρ σοῦ 59.734 γενομένην. Τότε σοι πληροῦται τὸ, Ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος. Καὶ ἡ μὲν ἠπιότης ἐν αὐτῷ σώζει τοῦ προβάτου τὴν πρωτοτύπωσιν· ἡ δὲ εἰς ὕψος ἄνοδος, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς κάτω κατάσχεσις, ἀποσώζει τοῦ ἐρίφου τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ πορείαν. Αἶγες γὰρ ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλότερα καὶ δύσβατα πηδῶσί τε καὶ ἀναβαίνουσιν. Ὑψηλῶν δὲ ἀν θρώπων καὶ δυσβάτων ἦν οὐρανὸς, ἀφ' ἧς ἡμέρας καταπέπτωκε σφαλεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς, σαρκὶ δουλεύσας καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου χωρισθείς. Ἀναβαίνει δὴ καὶ ἀναβιβάζει σε τὸ θεῖον ἱερεῖον τυθὲν ὑπὲρ σοῦ. Μετὰ σοῦ γὰρ ἀπέθνησκεν, ἵνα σὺ ζήσῃς ἐν αὐτῷ. Αἷμα δέ σοι τὸ τοῦ ἀμνοῦ σωτήριον, ἐὰν προσέλθῃς τῷ αἵματι πιστῶς, ἐὰν τὰς αἰσθήσεις τὰς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐννοίας, δι' ὧν εἰσέρχεται θάνατος ἁμαρτίαν προσεισπέμπων, ταύτας τῇ πίστει τοῦ αἵματος οἱονεὶ χρίσῃς, καθάπερ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἔχριε τὰς εἰσόδους τῷ αἵματι. Ἐὰν γάρ σοι μὴ ἐπεισέλθῃ διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐπιθυμία, διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς, διὰ τῆς ὀσφρήσεως, διὰ τῆς γεύσεως, διὰ τῆς ἁφῆς, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα διὰ τῶν λογισμῶν, οὐ κρατεῖ σου θάνατος, ἀλλὰ φέρων ἐν τῷ σώματι τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἔχεις καὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἐν τῷ σώματί σου φανερουμένην, καὶ οὕτως ὑπερβήσεται ὁ θάνατος ὁ ἐκ τοῦ πρωτοπλά στου Ἀδὰμ, ὡς τὰς Ἑβραίων οἰκίας ὑπερέβαινεν ὁ τῶν πρωτοτόκων ὄλεθρος. ∆ιὸ καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἑορτῆς ὄνομα πάσχα σημαῖνον ὑπέρβασιν. Ἄμωμόν σοι τὸ πρό βατον· ἄμωμος γάρ σοι Ἰησοῦς· Ὃς ἁμαρτίαν, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐ τοῦ. Τέλειον ἄρσεν. Ἡ γὰρ τελείωσις τῆς δικαιοσύνης παρὰ τῷ μόνῳ ἀληθινῷ βασιλεῖ. Ἐνιαύσιόν τε τὸ πρό βατον αἰωνίου τύπος Χριστοῦ. Σύμβολον γὰρ αἰῶνος ἐνιαυτὸς, ὁ αὐτὸς ἐν παντὶ αἰῶνι πολλάκις ἀνακυκλού μενος, καὶ τὰς πάσας τροπὰς ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ, τοῦ καινοῦ τύπος ἀνθρώπου, ἐν ᾧ τὸ παλαιὸν τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀνθρω πότητος εἰς καινότητα μεταβέβληται· Ἐνδύσασθε γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον. Τοῦ προβάτου τὴν ἀμω μότητα καὶ τελειότητα ἐπενδυσάμενος ἔσῃ πρόβατον Θεοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸς παραστήσας τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σῶμα θυσίαν ζῶσαν, ἁγίαν, εὐάρεστον Θεῷ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν αἰωνίαν παραπεμφθήσῃ ζωήν.

βʹ. Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι τὸ πάσχα τὸ σὸν οὐδὲ σύγκρισιν ἔχει πρὸς τὸ Ἰουδαϊκὸν, ἀλλ'

ὁμοίωσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν σκιοειδῆ μόνον εἶχεν ἐκεῖνο; Καὶ νήπιος ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ προβάτου θυσίᾳ, ταύτην ἡγούμενος παρὰ Θεοῦ σπουδάζεσθαι, καὶ διὰ ταύτης οἰόμενος εἰληφέναι τὴν σωτηρίαν, καὶ οὐχ ὡς τύπον ὁρῶν αὐτὴν τῆς ὄντως σωζούσης θυσίας. ∆ιὸ λέγεται ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς αὐτοὺς διὰ Ἱερεμίου, ὅτι Οὐκ