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a dwelling place; but "I will shelter you" [means] the outstretching of the hands of Jesus which shelter believers, insatiable graspings.

16.1 Such then is the cosmic and universal mystery of the Pascha,

but hear also, as it is possible for us, narrating in part the divine rite; for how the truth is concerning these things, God and the Word who adorned the sacred Pascha in himself and through himself knows, but to us as men may pardon be given, if, beloved, we truly should err. Let us speak then, taking it up from the beginning, first of all, <why> this month is the beginning of months and why the month of the Pascha is first among the months of the year.

17.2 The account of the Hebrews, therefore, which is spoken in secret, says that this is the time in which God, the craftsman and creator of all things, then created the universe, and that this is the first flower of creation, the beauty of the world, when the creator saw the all-varied image moving harmoniously according to his own mind. And they infer this from the good order of the heavens and the fine temper of the seasons and the good laws of the sun and the risings of light not diminishing, and indeed also from the putting forth of fruits and the budding of plants and the flourishing shoots of trees and the offspring of flocks already being born, when all the earth is already green, and the trees, being fertile, are in bloom, travailing to bring forth fruits, when the farmer, having loosed the team from the plow, has rested the lowing chariot and, having cast the divine fruits upon the earth, awaits the heavenly springs from above, when the shepherd is already milking white milk from the flocks and the beekeepers are cutting the sweet monthly honeycombs, when the sailor, already made joyful, grows bold against the sea and with gain-loving arts dares the gray wave, that the good law of all things and the good order of the universe and, as one might say, this good fortune is the first offering, <and> the beginning of the year is the sweet pleasure of spring. 17.3 But I do not disbelieve these accounts, but I think, which I also more firmly believe, that on account of the spiritual feast of the Pascha, this month of the Pascha has been considered the beginning and head and first rule of all time and eternity, in which this great mystery is perfected and celebrated, so that just as the Lord of all things, both visible and invisible, is first-begotten and first-born from the beginning, so also this month, honored with the sacred rite, has become the first of the year and the beginning of all eternity. 17.4 And this is the year of which the divine scripture cries: "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord".

18.1 A sheep is the sacred victim; for it says, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent," and John: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." But the sheep is perfect and a year old; perfect as from the heavens, a year old as on earth; for a year is a measure of time on earth, overtaking itself and cycling back into itself and by its periodic revolution into itself imitating immeasurable eternity. And it is taken on the tenth of the month, and very symbolically; for the law is the interval before the gospel, and the chief dogma of the law is the decalogue, and after the ten commandments of the law then comes the mystical sheep from the heavens. And it is kept for the intermediate days, hinting in scripture at [his being kept] in the midst of the time until the passion in the sojourn of the body of the Pascha, and the arrest in which, having been seized in the [house] of the high priest, he was kept. And the neighbor who is taken in for the sheep am I; for by you, O Israel, the sheep was not contained. Then the sheep is sacrificed toward evening; for at the setting of the sun also the sacred lamb of God

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οἰκητήριον· τὸ δὲ "σκεπάσω ὑμᾶς" τῶν ἐκτάσεων χειρῶν Ἰησοῦ αἳ σκεπάζουσι τοὺς πιστεύοντας ἄπληστοι ἐπιβολαί.

16.1 Τὸ μὲν δὴ κοσμικὸν καὶ καθόλου τοῦ πάσχα τοιόνδε ἐστι μυστήριον,

ἄκουε δὲ καὶ ὡς δυνατόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν κατὰ μέρος θείαν τελετὴν διηγουμένοις· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀληθὲς ὅπως ἔχει περὶ τούτων, Θεὸς καὶ ὁ τὸ ἱερὸν πάσχα ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ κοσμήσας οἶδε λόγος, ἡμῖν δὲ ὡς ἀνθρώποις συγγνώμην διδόσθω, ἐάν, ἀγαπητοί, ὄντως παρασφαλλώ μεθα. Λέγωμεν δὴ ἄνωθεν ἀναλαβόντες πρῶτον μὲν <τί> ὅδε ὁ μὴν ἀρχὴ μηνῶν καὶ διὰ τί ὁ τοῦ πάσχα μὴν πρῶτός ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς μησὶ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ.

17.2 Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις λεγόμενος Ἑβραίων λόγος τοῦτόν φησι τὸν

καιρὸν εἶναι ἐν ᾧ ὁ τῶν ὅλων τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς Θεὸς τότε ἐδημιούργησε τὸ πᾶν, καὶ τοῦτο εἶναι τῆς κτίσεως τὸ πρῶτον ἄνθος, τοῦ κόσμου τὸ κάλλος, ὅτε τὸ πανδαίδαλον ἄγαλμα κατὰ νοῦν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ δημιουργὸς ἐμμελῶς εἶδε κινού μενον. Τεκμαίρονται δὲ οὐρανῶν εὐταξίαις καὶ ὡρῶν εὐκρα σίαις καὶ ἡλίου εὐνομίαις καὶ φωτὸς μὴ μειουμένου ἀνατολαῖς, καὶ μὴν καὶ καρπῶν ἐκβολαῖς καὶ φυτῶν ὁρμαῖς καὶ δένδρων εὐανθέσιν ἀναδρομαῖς καὶ ποιμνίων ἤδη τικτομένων γοναῖς, ὅτε χλοηφορεῖ μὲν ἤδη πᾶσα ἡ γῆ, ἀνθηκομεῖ δὲ καὶ δένδρα ἐπίγονα εἰς ἐκβολὴν ὠδίνοντα καρπούς, ὅτε ζεῦγος ἐξ ἀρότρου λύσας γεωργὸς ἀνέπαυσεν ἅρμα μυκώμενον καὶ τοὺς θείους καρποὺς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καταβαλὼν τὰς οὐρανίους ἐκδέχεται ἄνωθεν πηγάς, ὅτε λευκὸν ἤδη ποιμὴν ἐκ ποιμνίων ἀμέλγει γάλα καὶ μελιττουργοὶ τοὺς γλυκεῖς μηνίους βλάττουσι κηρούς, ὅτε ναυτίλος ἤδη χαροποιηθεὶς θαλάσσης καταθρα σύνεται καὶ φιλοκερδέσι τέχναις γλαυκοῦ κατατολμᾷ κύματος, τὴν δὴ τῶν ὅλων εὐνομίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς εὐταξίαν καί, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, τὴν εὐκληρίαν ταύτην εἶναι τὴν πρώτην ἀπαρχήν, <καὶ> τὴν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἀρχὴν τὴν γλυκεῖαν τοῦ ἔαρος ἡδονήν. 17.3 Ἐγὼ δὲ οὐδὲ τούτοις τοῖς λόγοις ἀπιστῶ, νομίζω δέ, ὃ καὶ μᾶλλον πεπίστευκα, διὰ τὴν τοῦ πάσχα πνευματικὴν ἑορτὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ κεφαλὴν καὶ πρώτην ἡγεμονίαν παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου καὶ αἰῶνος νενομίσθαι τόνδε τὸν μῆνα τοῦ πάσχα ἐν ᾧ τὸ μέγα τοῦτο τελεσιουργεῖται καὶ ἱερουρ γεῖται μυστήριον, ἵνα ὡς ὁ Κύριος τῶν πάντων νοητῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων πρωτόγονός ἐστι καὶ πρωτότοκος ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, οὕτως καὶ ὅδε ὁ μὴν ὁ τὴν ἱερὰν τετιμημένος τελετὴν πρῶτος γεγένηται τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ παντὸς αἰῶνος ἀρχή. 17.4 Ἐνιαυ τὸς δὲ οὗτος ὃν ἡ θεία γραφὴ βοᾷ· "Κηρύξαι ἐνιαυτὸν Κυρίου δεκτόν".

18.1 Πρόβατον τὸ θῦμα τὸ ἱερόν· "Αὐτὸς ὡς πρό βατον" γάρ φησιν "ἐπὶ

σφαγὴν ἤχθη καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος", καὶ Ἰωάννης· "Ἰδοὺ ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου". Τέλειον δὲ τὸ πρόβατον καὶ ἐνιαύσιον· τέλειον μὲν ὡς ἐξ οὐρανῶν, ἐνιαύσιον δὲ ὡς ἐν γῇ· ἐνιαυτὸς γὰρ χρόνου μέτρον ἐν γῇ, ἑαυτὸν ἐπιλαμβάνων καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνακυκλούμενος καὶ τῇ εἰς ἑαυτὸν περιόδῳ περιφορᾷ τὸν ἀμέτρητον αἰῶνα μιμούμενος. Λαμβάνεται δὲ τῇ δεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνός, καὶ πάνυ συμβολικώτατα· διάστημα γὰρ εὐαγγελίου νόμος, νόμου δὲ τὸ κορυφαιότατον δόγμα ἡ δεκάλογος, μετὰ δὲ τὰς δέκα τοῦ νόμου ἐντολὰς τότε τὸ πρόβατον ἔρχεται τὸ μυστικὸν τὸ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν. Τηρεῖται δὲ τὰς διαμέσους ἡμέρας, αἰνιττόμενον τῇ γραφῇ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ χρόνου μέχρι τοῦ πάθους ἐν τῇ τοῦ σώματος ἐπιδημίᾳ τοῦ πάσχα, καὶ τὴν σύλληψιν ἣν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως συλληφθεὶς ἐτηρεῖτο. Ὁ δὲ προσλαμβανόμενος εἰς τὸ πρόβατον ὁ πλησίον εἰμὶ γείτων ἐγώ· ὑπὸ σοῦ γάρ, ὦ Ἰσραήλ, τὸ πρόβατον οὐκ ἐχωρήθη. Εἶτα δὲ τὸ πρόβατον πρὸς ἑσπέραν θύεται· καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ δυσμὰς τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ ὁ ἱερὸς ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ