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when evening came, they might eat the Passover, those who strain out the gnat, but swallow the camel, those whose souls, along with their bodies, were defiled by the murderous intent against the Savior, feared to go under the roof; but they, on that very day of the passion, ate the Passover that was destructive to their own souls, having demanded the saving blood not for themselves, but against themselves. But our Savior did not then, but on the day before, reclining with his disciples, celebrate the feast He had desired for himself.

11. Do you see how from that time, he was separated from them and departed from the Jewish murderous intent, but was joined to the disciples, celebrating with them the desired feast? Therefore we too must eat the Passover with Christ, cleansing our minds of all leaven of malice and wickedness, being filled with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, having within ourselves, inside in the soul, the Jew who is one inwardly and the true circumcision, and anointing the doorposts of our minds with the blood of the lamb slain for us, for the turning away of the destroyer who is against us. And this not for one period of the whole year, but also through every week. Let Friday be for us a fast, a symbol of mourning, on account of our former sins, and for the sake of the memory of the saving passion.

12. Indeed I say that the Jews have been estranged from the truth from the beginning, from when they plotted against the truth itself, driving out the Word of life from themselves. And the writing of the holy Gospels clearly shows this. For it testifies that the Lord had eaten the Passover on the first day of Unleavened Bread; nor, as Luke says, on the day on which the Passover had to be sacrificed, did they eat their customary Passover, but on the day after that one, which was the second day of Unleavened Bread, and the fifteenth of the moon, on which, when our Savior was being judged by Pilate, they did not enter the praetorium. Therefore they did not eat it according to the law on the first day of Unleavened Bread, on which it had to be sacrificed; for otherwise they would have kept the Passover with the Savior. but from that time, at the same time as their plot against our Savior, having been blinded by their own wickedness, they were also estranged from all truth. But we celebrate the same mysteries throughout the whole year, on every Friday making a remembrance of the saving passion through fasting, which the apostles first fasted then, when the Bridegroom was taken from them; and on every Lord's day being made alive by the consecrated body of the same saving Passover, and having our souls sealed with his precious blood.

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ἑσπέρας ἐπιστάσης, φάγοιεν τὸ Πάσχα, οἱ τὸν κώνωπα διυλίζοντες, τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες, οἱ τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτοῖς σώμασι κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος μιαι24.705 φονίᾳ μεμιαμμένοι, τὸν ὄροφον ἐδεδίεσαν ὑπεισελθεῖν· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν κατ' αὐτὴν ἐκείνην τοῦ πάθους τὴν ἡμέραν τὸ λυμαντικὸν τῆς ἑαυτῶν ψυχῆς ἔφαγον Πάσχα, τὸ αἷμα τὸ σωτήριον οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐξαιτησάμενοι. Ὁ δ' ἡμέτερος Σωτὴρ οὐ τότε, πρὸ ἡμέρας δὲ ἀνακείμενος μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν, τὴν ἐπιθυμητικὴν ἑαυτῷ ἑορτὴν ἦγεν.

ιαʹ. Ὁρᾷς, ὡς ἐξ ἐκείνου, ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν ἐχωρίζετο καὶ τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς ἀνεχώρει μιαιφονίας, συνήπτετο δὲ τοῖς μαθηταῖς, ἅμα αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐπιθυμητὴν ἑορτὴν πανηγυρίζων; Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡμῖν τὸ Πάσχα σὺν Χριστῷ βρωτέον, καθαιροῦσι μὲν τῆς ἑαυτῶν διανοίας πᾶσαν ζύμην κακίας καὶ πονηρίας, ἀζύμων δ' ἀληθείας καὶ εἰλικρινείας ἐμπιπλαμένοις, ἔχουσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔνδον ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τὸν ἐν κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖον καὶ τὴν ἀληθῆ περιτομὴν, καὶ τοῦ τυθέντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προβάτου τῷ αἵματι τὰς τῆς διανοίας ἡμῶν φλιὰς περιχρίουσιν εἰς ἀποτροπὴν τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὀλοθρευτοῦ. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐ πρὸς μίαν περίοδον τοῦ παντὸς ἔτους, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ἑβδομάδος ἁπάσης. Παρασκευὴ μὲν ἡμῖν ἔστω νηστεία, πένθους σύμβολον, τῶν προτέρων ἡμῖν χάριν ἁμαρτημάτων, καὶ μνήμης ἕνεκα τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους.

ιβʹ. Ἰουδαίους γε μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀπεσφάλθαι τῆς ἀληθείας φημὶ, ἐξ οὗπερ αὐτῇ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἐπιβεβουλεύκασι, τὸν Λόγον τῆς ζωῆς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἀπελαύνοντες. Καὶ τοῦτο σαφῶς ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν Εὐαγγελίων παρίστησι γραφή. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ Κυρίῳ ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ τὸ Πάσχα βεβρωκέναι τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμων· μηδ', ὥς φησιν ὁ Λουκᾶς, ἐν ᾗ ἔδει θύεσθαι τὸ Πάσχα ἡμέρᾳ τὸ σύνηθες αὐτοῖς βεβρώκασι Πάσχα, ἀλλὰ τῇ μετ' ἐκείνην ἑξῆς, ἥτις ἦν τῶν μὲν Ἀζύμων δευτέρα, σελήνης δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτη, ἐν ᾗ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν κρινομένου ὑπὸ Πιλάτου, οὐκ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον. Οὐκ ἄρα τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμων, ἐν ᾗ ἔδει θύεσθαι, βεβρώκασιν αὐτὸ κατὰ τὸν νόμον· ἦ γὰρ ἂν μετὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ Πάσχα πεποιήκεσαν· ἀλλ' ἐξ ἐκείνου ἅμα τῇ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλῇ, πρὸς τῆς αὐτῶν τυφλωθέντες κακίας, καὶ πάσης ἀληθείας ἐσφάλησαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ μυστήρια δι' ὅλου τοῦ ἔτους ἄγομεν, ἐν παντὶ μὲν προσαββάτῳ τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους τὴν ἀνάμνησιν ποιούμενοι διὰ νηστείας, ἣν ἐνήστευσαν, ἀρθέντος ἀπ' αὐτῶν τοῦ Νυμφίου, τότε πρῶτον οἱ ἀπόστολοι· διὰ πάσης δὲ Κυριακῆς ἡμέρας τῷ ἡγιασμένῳ σώματι τοῦ αὐτοῦ σωτηρίου Πάσχα ζωοποιούμενοι, καὶ τῷ τιμίῳ αἵματι αὐτοῦ τὰς ψυχὰς κατασφραγιζόμενοι.