132
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"? From the same, from the 45th Festal Letter 10.12 Let us all offer the sacrifices of ourselves, acknowledging fellowship with the poor, and let us enter into the holy places, as it is written, where also "Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having obtained eternal redemption." From the same, from the same 10.13 This is a great proof, that we who were strangers heard ourselves called members of the household, and we who were once aliens became fellow citizens with the saints and were called children of the Jerusalem above, of which the one that Solomon built was a type. For if Moses made everything according to the pattern shown him on the mountain, then clearly the worship in the tabernacle was a type of the mysteries in heaven, into which the Lord, wishing us also to enter, made for "us a new and living way." And just as all the old things were a type of the new, so also the present festival is a type of the joy above, to which we come with psalms and spiritual songs as we begin the fasts. 10.14 Consider this great teacher, how he continuously relates to us the whole form of the world together with its doctrine, speaking of the kingdom of heaven as a great and super-cosmic upper room, sufficient for creation, and proclaims the Lord Christ as having become a forerunner for us within it, and cries out that we are to enter with him at the second coming, and says that "enter into the joy of your Lord" refers to this very upper room, that is, the heaven of heaven, or the kingdom of heaven, and that it has been prepared for human beings by God from the foundation of the world, and that the tabernacle according to Moses is a type of the heavenly things. Let the contentious say how this great teacher does not agree with us. Or how we have walked a strange path, other than the ecclesiastical one? But away with their vain labor, and let us add to this Gregory of Nazianzus from that time, who is especially proclaimed by them, declaring the same things as the one before him and as we do. From Gregory of Nazianzus, from the second oration on Pascha 10.15 But let us offer to God a sacrifice of praise upon the upper altar with the upper choir; let us pass through the first veil, let us approach the second, let us look into the Holy of Holies; shall I say what is greater, let us sacrifice ourselves to God. 10.16 And this one spoke similarly to the one before him concerning the form, speaking only of a first and second veil and altar, and concerning the angels, that both they and we are still within the first veil, desiring along with us to look into the second. How is it not manifest that we have not walked a strange or foreign path, other than the ecclesiastical one? Let the contentious, therefore, be ashamed when they see the harmony of the Church, and not be vexed with us; for it is hard for them to kick against the goads. But let us also bring forward the third, who lived after him at that time, Theophilus, the bishop of the Alexandrians, who also testifies to our words, or rather, to the truth. From Theophilus, from the 1st Festal Letter 10.17 So that, having risen above earthly deeds into the high house of virtue, just like the disciples, we may eat the Pascha in the upper room, having with ourselves Christ who was sacrificed for us, eating all of him as life. From the same, from the 10th Festal Letter 10.18 So that again, having drawn back the veil and covering of the letter, with unveiled face, they may behold the festal assembly of the divine Paschal passage, crying to Jesus: "Where do you want us to prepare for you the Pascha?" When, having also learned from him that it must be celebrated in an upper room, they rose above the more earthly matters, proceeding swiftly in mind to the Holy of Holies, where Christ himself entered for us, having ended the need for the high priest according to the type, having obtained eternal redemption for us and having appeared for us in the presence of God; for then the high priest alone entered once a year into the Holy of Holies, while the people remained outside on account of their little power, but
132
εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κατακληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου"; Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς μεʹ ἑορταστικῆσ 10.12 Ἄρωμεν πάντες τὰς θυσίας ἑαυτῶν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πτωχοὺς κοινωνίαν ἐπιγινώσκοντες, καὶ εἰσπορευώμεθα εἰς τὰ ἅγια, ὡς γέγραπται, ἔνθα καὶ "πρόδρομος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰσῆλθεν Ἰησοῦς αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος". Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆσ 10.13 Τοῦτο δὲ μέγα τεκμήριον τὸ ξένους ἡμᾶς ὄντας ἀκοῦσαι οἰκείους, καὶ ἀλλοτρίους ποτὲ ὄντας γενέσθαι συμπολίτας τῶν ἁγίων καὶ τέκνα χρηματίσαι τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἧς τύπος ἦν ἣν ᾠκοδόμησε Σολομών. Εἰ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα ἐν τῷ ὄρει πάντα πεποίηκε Μωϋσῆς, τύπος ἦν δηλονότι ἡ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ λατρεία τῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς μυστηρίων, εἰς ἃ θέλων καὶ ἡμᾶς εἰσελθεῖν ὁ Κύριος ὡδοποίησεν "ἡμῖν τὴν ὁδὸν πρόσφατον" καὶ μένουσαν. Ὡς δὲ πάντα τύπος ἦν τὰ πάλαι τῶν νέων, οὕτω τύπος τῆς ἄνω χαρᾶς καὶ ἡ νῦν ἐστιν ἑορτή, εἰς ἣν ἐρχόμενοι μετὰ ψαλμῶν καὶ ᾠδῶν πνευματικῶν ἀρχόμεθα τῶν νηστειῶν. 10.14 Κατανόει τὸν μέγαν τοῦτον διδάσκαλον πῶς πᾶν τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου σὺν τῷ δόγματι ὁμοίως ἡμῖν συνεχῶς καταλέγει, τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνάγαιον μέγα καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον διαρκοῦν τῇ κτίσει εἰπών, καὶ πρόδρομον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γενόμενον ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστὸν κηρύττει, καὶ ἡμᾶς συνεισέρχεσθαι αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ παρουσίᾳ βοᾷ, καὶ τὸ "εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν χαρὰν τοῦ Κυρίου σου" εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ ἀνάγαιον λέγει, τουτέστι τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἤτοι τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου ἡτοίμασται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὅτι τύπος ἐστὶν ἡ κατὰ Μωϋσῆν σκηνὴ τῶν οὐρανίων. Εἰπάτωσαν οἱ φιλόνεικοι πῶς οὐ συμφωνεῖ ἡμῖν ὁ μέγας οὗτος διδάσκαλος; Ἢ πῶς ξένην ὁδὸν παρὰ τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν ἐβαδίσαμεν; Ἀλλ' ἄπαγε τῆς τούτων ματαιοπονίας, καὶ προσθήσωμεν τούτῳ καὶ τὸν κατ' ἐκεῖνον καιρὸν Γρηγόριον τὸν Ναζιανζηνὸν ὑπ' αὐτῶν μάλιστα διαβοώμενον, τὰ αὐτὰ τῷ πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡμῖν ἐξαγγέλλοντα. Γρηγορίου Ναζιανζηνοῦ ἐκ τοῦ δευτέρου λόγου τοῦ εἰς τὸ Πάσχα 10.15 Ἀλλὰ θύσωμεν τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν αἰνέσεως ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω θυσιαστήριον μετὰ τῆς ἄνω χοροστασίας, διασχίσωμεν τὸ πρῶτον καταπέτασμα, τῷ δευτέρῳ προσέλθωμεν, εἰς τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων παρακύψωμεν· εἴπω τὸ μεῖζον, ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς θύσωμεν τῷ Θεῷ. 10.16 Καὶ οὗτος τὰ ὅμοια τῷ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐξεῖπε περὶ τοῦ σχήματος πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον μόνον καταπέτασμα καὶ θυσιαστήριον εἰπών, καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὡς καὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ καταπετάσματι ἔτι ὄντων, ἐπιθυμούντων δὲ ἅμα ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ παρακύψαι. Πῶς οὐ πρόδηλον ὅτι ξένην ὁδὸν ἢ ἀλλοτρίαν οὐκ ἐβαδίσαμεν παρὰ τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικήν; Αἰσχυνέσθωσαν οὖν οἱ φιλόνεικοι τὴν συμφωνίαν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὁρῶντες, καὶ μὴ δυσπετείτωσαν εἰς ἡμᾶς· σκληρὸν γὰρ αὐτοῖς πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τρίτον παραγάγωμεν μετὰ τοῦτον γεγονότα κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ, τὸν τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων ἐπίσκοπον Θεόφιλον, καὶ αὐτὸν μαρτυροῦντα τοῖς ἡμετέροις, μᾶλλον δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ. Θεοφίλου ἐκ τῆς αʹ ἑορταστικῆσ 10.17 Ἵνα τῶν γηΐνων ἄνω γενόμενοι πράξεων εἰς τὸν ὑψηλὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς οἶκον, καθάπερ οἱ μαθηταί, φάγωμεν ἐν τῷ ἀναγαίῳ τὸ πάσχα, ἔχοντες μεθ' ἑαυτῶν τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τυθέντα Χριστόν, ὅλον αὐτὸν ὡς ζωὴν ἐσθίοντες. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς ιʹ ἑορταστικῆσ 10.18 Ἵνα πάλιν τὸ παραπέτασμα καὶ κάλυμμα τῆς λέξεως ἀναστείλαντες, ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ, τὴν διαβατήριον τοῦ θείου Πάσχα πανήγυριν κατοπτρίζωνται, βοῶντες τῷ Ἰησοῦ· "Ποῦ θέλεις ἑτοιμάσωμέν σοι τὸ πάσχα;" Ὅτε καὶ μαθόντες παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀναγαίῳ δεῖν ἐπιτελεῖν τοῦτο, ἄνω τῶν γεωδεστέρων πραγμάτων ἐγίνοντο, εἰς τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων δρομαῖοι τῇ γνώμῃ βαδίζοντες, ἔνθα ὁ Χριστὸς αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰσῆλθε, τοῦ κατὰ τὸν τύπον ἀρχιερέως πέπαυκε τὴν χρείαν, ἡμῖν αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐμφανισθεὶς τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ· τότε μὲν γὰρ ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ μόνος ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς εἰσήρχετο εἰς τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἔξω τοῦ λαοῦ μένοντος διὰ τὸ μικρὸν τῆς δυνάμεως, ὁ δὲ