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of sincerity and truth. For grace, having freed us from the aged custom, has delivered to us the new man created according to God, and the new law, and a new circumcision, and a new Passover, and the Jew who is one inwardly; thus also it has left us free from the old times.

8. But when the most God-beloved emperor presided in the midst of the holy synod, as the question concerning the Passover was brought into the midst, certain things were said, as they were said; but the three-fold portion of the whole world, opposing from the other side those of the east, had the advantage in the number of bishops; for the northern and southern nations together, and those towards the setting sun, having fortified themselves with agreement, pulled in the opposite direction to those of the dawn who were claiming the old custom. In the end, the easterners yielded; and so there came to be one festival of Christ; and so they separated from the deicides, and were joined to those of the same faith; for nature 24.704 draws like to like. But if someone should say that it is written: On the first day of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came and said to the Savior, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?" But he sent them to a certain man, commanding them to say, "I will keep the Passover at your house;" we will say that this is not a commandment, but a history of a thing that happened at the time of the saving passion. For it is one thing to relate an old deed, and another to legislate and to leave commandments for those who come after.

9. But the Savior also did not celebrate the Passover with the Jews at the time of his own passion. For it was not when they were sacrificing the lamb that he himself also kept his own Passover with his disciples; for they were doing this on the Preparation day, on which the Savior suffered; whence they did not even enter the praetorium, but Pilate went out to them; but he, a whole day before, on the fifth day of the week, reclined with his disciples, and eating with them he said, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you." Do you see how the Savior did not eat the Passover with the Jews? Since that was new and strange compared to the customary Jewish traditions, he necessarily emphasized it by saying: "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you, before I suffer;" for the old customs, being old and obsolete, which he had eaten with the Jews, were not desirable; but the new mystery of his New Covenant, which he was imparting to his own disciples, was reasonably desirable to him; since many prophets and righteous men before him desired to see the mysteries of the New Covenant; and the Word himself, always thirsting for the common salvation, delivered a mystery, through which all men were to celebrate, and confessed this to be desirable to him. The Passover of Moses was not suitable for all the nations of that time; for how could it be? since it was legislated to be celebrated in one place, that in Jerusalem; therefore it was not desirable; but the saving mystery of the New Covenant, suitable for all men, was reasonably desirable to him.

10. But he himself, before he suffered, ate the Passover with his own disciples, and celebrated the feast, not with the Jews; and after he had celebrated in the evening, the chief priests with the betrayer came upon him and laid their hands on him; for they themselves were not eating the Passover in the evening; for otherwise they would have been occupied with it; and so having arrested him, they led him away to the house of Caiaphas, where having spent the night, when it was day, they gathered and questioned him first; then after this, rising up with the crowd, they led him to Pilate. And then the Scripture says that they did not enter the praetorium, so that, by entering under a Gentile roof, as they thought, they might not be defiled, but that the all-defiled might remain clean,

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τῆς εἰλικρινείας καὶ ἀληθείας. Ἡ χάρις γὰρ, ἡμᾶς τῆς γεγηρακυίας ἐλευθερώσασα συνηθείας, τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον παρέδωκεν ἡμῖν τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα, καὶ τὸν καινὸν νόμον, καινήν τε περιτομὴν, καινόν τε Πάσχα, καὶ τὸν ἐν κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖον· οὕτω καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν καιρῶν ἐλευθέρους ἡμᾶς ἀφῆκε.

ηʹ. Πλὴν τοῦ θεοφιλεστάτου βασιλέως, μέσου τῆς ἁγίας συνόδου προκαθεζομένου, ὡς ἤχθη εἰς μέσον τὸ περὶ τοῦ Πάσχα ζήτημα, ἐλέγετο μὲν ὅσα καὶ ἐλέγετο· ἐπλεονέκτει δὲ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἐπισκόπων ἡ τριπλασίων μοῖρα τῆς ὅλης οἰκουμένης ἑτέρωθεν ἀντιτείνουσα τοῖς τῆς ἀνατολῆς· ἀρκτῷα γὰρ ὁμοῦ καὶ μεσημβρινὰ, καὶ τὰ κατὰ δύοντα ἥλιον ἔθνη, τῇ συμφωνίᾳ φραξάμενα, τὴν ἐναντίαν ἀνθεῖλκε τοῖς τῆς ἑῴας τὴν παλαιὰν διεκδικοῦσι συνήθειαν. Τέλος δὲ λόγου εἶξαν οἱ ἀνατολικοί· καὶ οὕτω μία Χριστοῦ γέγονεν ἑορτή· καὶ οὕτω τῶν μὲν κυριοκτόνων ἀπέστησαν, τοῖς δὲ ὁμοδόξοις συνήφθησαν· ἡ φύσις γὰρ 24.704 ἕλκει τὰ ὅμοια πρὸς τὰ ὅμοια. Εἰ δέ τις εἴποι, ὡς ἄρα γέγραπται· Τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν ἀζύμων προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ εἶπον τῷ Σωτῆρι, Ποῦ θέλεις ἑτοιμάσωμέν σοι φαγεῖν τὸ Πάσχα; Ὁ δὲ πρὸς τὸν δεῖνα ἀπέστειλε, παραγγείλας εἰπεῖν· Πρὸς σὲ ποιῶ τὸ Πάσχα· ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι τοῦτο παράγγελμα οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ἱστορία πράγματος συμβεβηκότος κατὰ τὸν τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους καιρόν. Ἕτερον δέ ἐστι τὸ παλαιὰν πρᾶξιν διηγεῖσθαι, καὶ ἕτερον τὸ νομοθετεῖν καὶ τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα παραγγελίας καταλιμπάνειν.

θʹ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ οὐ μετὰ Ἰουδαίων ἐπετέλεσε τὸ Πάσχα κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ ἰδίου πάθους. Οὐ γὰρ ὅτε ἔθυον ἐκεῖνοι τὸ πρόβατον, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς μετὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἤγαγε Πάσχα· οἱ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Παρασκευὴν, ἐν ᾗ πέπονθεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, τοῦτ' ἔπραττον· ὅθεν οὐδὲ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον, ἀλλ' ὁ Πιλάτος πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἔξεισιν· αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸ ὅλης ἡμέρας τῇ πέμπτῃ τοῦ Σαββάτου τοῖς μαθηταῖς συνανέκειτο, καὶ συνεσθίων αὐτοῖς ἔλεγεν· Ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ Πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθ' ὑμῶν. Ὁρᾷς ὅπως ὁ Σωτὴρ οὐ μετὰ Ἰουδαίων τὸ Πάσχα ἤσθιεν; Ἐπειδὴ καινὸν ἦν ἐκεῖνο καὶ ξενίζον παρὰ τὰ συνήθη καὶ Ἰουδαϊκὰ ἔθη, ἀναγκαίως ἐπέστησεν εἰπών· Ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ Πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθ' ὑμῶν, πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ παλαιὰ ἤθη ὄντα καὶ πεπαλαιωμένα, ἃ δὴ μετὰ Ἰουδαίων ἤσθιεν, οὐκ ἦν ἐπιθυμητά· τὸ δὲ καινὸν μυστήριον τῆς Καινῆς αὐτοῦ ∆ιαθήκης, ὃ δὴ μετεδίδου τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς, ἐπιθυμητὸν ἦν αὐτῷ εἰκότως· ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν ἰδεῖν τὰ τῆς Νέας ∆ιαθήκης μυστήρια· καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Λόγος, πάντοτε διψῶν τὴν κοινὴν σωτηρίαν, μυστήριον παρεδίδου, δι' οὗ πάντες ἄνθρωποι ἔμελλον ἑορτάζειν, ἐπιθυμητὸν τοῦτο αὐτῷ εἶναι ὡμολόγησε. Τὸ μὲν Μωϋσέως Πάσχα οὐχ ἥρμοζε πᾶσι τοῖς τότε ἔθνεσι· πῶς γάρ; ὁπότε ὑφ' ἕνα τόπον τὸν ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τελεῖσθαι νενομοθέτητο· διὸ οὐκ ἦν ἐπιθυμητόν· τὸ δὲ σωτήριον μυστήριον τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης, πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἁρμόζον, εἰκότως αὐτῷ ἐπιθυμητὸν ἦν.

ιʹ. Ἀλλ' αὐτὸς μὲν, πρὸ τοῦ παθεῖν, σὺν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς ἔφαγε τὸ Πάσχα, καὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐπετέλεσεν, οὐ μετὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων· ἑορτάσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ ἑσπέρας, οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς ἅμα τῷ προδότῃ ἐπιστάντες, ἐπέβαλον ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὰς χεῖρας· οὐ γὰρ ἤσθιον αὐτοὶ κατὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν τὸ Πάσχα· ἦ γὰρ ἂν τὴν σχολὴν περὶ αὐτὸν εἶχον· καὶ δῆτα συλλαβόντες ἀπήγαγον εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Καϊάφα, ἔνθα διανυκτερεύσαντες, ὡς ἡμέρα ἐγένετο, συνήχθησαν, καὶ ἀνακρίνουσιν αὐτὸν πρότερον· εἶτα μετὰ ταῦτα ἀναστάντες ἅμα τῷ πλήθει ἤγαγον αὐτὸν πρὸς Πιλάτον. Καὶ τότε φησὶν ἡ Γραφὴ, ὅτι μὴ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον, ἵνα δὴ μὴ, ὑπὸ στέγην Ἑλληνικὴν εἰσελθόντες, ὥς γε ᾤοντο, μιανθῶσι, καθαροὶ δὲ μείναντες οἱ παμμίαροι,