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On the Sabbaths and circumcision

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS ATHANASIUS, CONCERNING THE SABBATHS AND CIRCUMCISION, FROM EXODUS.

“And the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbaths, to observe them throughout their generations. An everlasting covenant between me and the sons of Israel, it is a sign between me forever, that in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested.” It is a sign for knowing the day of creation, and its end. It was fitting, as long as the things of creation were at work, to keep the Sabbaths at Jerusalem until then. But when the other generation came, and the people being created, according to what is said: “Let this be written for another generation, and the people being created shall praise the Lord;” it is necessary for this people no longer to observe the end of the first creation, but to seek the beginning of the second creation. And what is it, if not that on which the Lord rose? For from then on the new creation had its beginning, concerning which Paul said: “So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” Therefore, having made the first creation, God rested; for this reason the people of that generation also kept the Sabbath on the seventh day; but the second creation has no end; for this reason He did not rest, but works even until now. Therefore we do not keep a Sabbath day as in the first creation, but we hope for the future Sabbath of Sabbaths, which the new creation does not bring to an end, but reveals and celebrates completely. For on this account the Sabbath was given to the former people, so that it might know both the end and the beginning of creation. But to the new creation He did not command to keep a Sabbath; so that it might know the beginning on the Lord's Day, and understand its grace to be endless. And for this reason He revealed the beginning, that is, the Lord's Day, so that you might know the end of the one that has passed away. Therefore the Apostle, writing about the first, says: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son;” and again: “at the end of the ages.” Therefore the first has been fulfilled and completed, at no other time than as the 28.136 prophets said: “In the last days I will pour out of My Spirit.” And when the first days have an end, others come into being, as Jeremiah says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord.” And when the first has an end, consequently another's beginning has come; for this reason the Lord rose after the Sabbath; for not primarily for the sake of men being idle did God give the Sabbath, He who says: “The ways of the idle are strewn with thorns,” and who commands in Numbers: “And on the day of the Sabbaths you shall offer two year-old unblemished lambs, and two-tenths of fine flour mixed with oil for a sacrifice and a libation, and a burnt offering of the Sabbaths on the Sabbaths in addition to the continual burnt offering.” And again a little before, he says in the preceding passages: “And you shall put on the offering pure frankincense and salt, and they shall be for breads for a memorial, set before the Lord. On the day of the Sabbaths it shall be set forth before the Lord continually before the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant.” For if it were about idleness for him, he would not have commanded the Levites to set forth, and to offer, and to slay. For if idleness sanctifies, clearly work pollutes; but the Levites, by working, are not polluted; therefore idleness does not purify. Or why are the Levites alone deprived of sanctification, by offering, and slaying, and setting forth on the Sabbath? For they are so far from sinning, as they also make atonement, on behalf of those who offer. Therefore the Sabbath does not signify idleness, but knowledge of the Creator, and a cessation of the form of the

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De sabbatis et circumcisione

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΣΑΒΒΑΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΤΟΜΗΣ, ΕΚ ΤΗΣ ΕΞΟ∆ΟΥ.

«Καὶ φυλάξουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ τὰ Σάββατα, ποιεῖν αὐτὰ εἰς τὰς γενεὰς αὐτῶν. ∆ιαθήκη αἰώνιος ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, σημεῖόν ἐστιν ἐν ἐμοὶ αἰώνιον, ὅτι ἓξ ἡμέραις ἐποίησε Κύριος τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατέ παυσε.» Σημεῖόν ἐστι τοῦ εἰδέναι τὴν τῆς κτίσεως ἡμέραν, καὶ τὸ ταύτης τέλος. Ἀκόλουθον ἦν ἕως τὰ τῆς κτίσεως ἐνεργεῖτο, ἐπὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἕως τότε φυλάττειν τὰ Σάββατα. Ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἑτέρας γενεᾶς καὶ τοῦ κτιζομένου λαοῦ, κατὰ τὸ λεγόμενον· «Γραφήτω αὕτη εἰς γενεὰν ἑτέραν, καὶ λαὸς ὁ κτιζόμενος αἰνέσει τὸν Κύριον·» ἀνάγκη μηκέτι τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον τηρεῖν τὸ τῆς προτέρας κτίσεως τέλος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς δευτέρας κτίσεως ζητεῖν. Τίς δέ ἐστιν, ἢ καθ' ἣν ἀνέστη ὁ Κύριος; Ἔκτοτε γὰρ ἀρ χὴν ἔσχεν ἡ καινὴ κτίσις, περὶ ἧς εἶπεν ὁ Παῦ λος· «Ὥστε εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ καινὴ κτίσις.» Τὴν μὲν οὖν προτέραν κτίσιν ποιῶν ὁ Θεὸς κατέπαυσε· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ Σάββατον ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἐτήρουν οἱ τῆς γενεᾶς ἐκείνης· ἡ δὲ δευτέρα κτίσις τέλος οὐκ ἔχει· διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ κατέπαυσεν, ἀλλ' ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται. Ὅθεν οὐδὲ σαββατίζομεν ἡμέραν ὡς ἐπὶ τῇ πρώτῃ, ἀλλὰ τὰ μέλλοντα ἐλπίζομεν Σάββατα σαββάτων, ἃ οὐ τέλος λαμβάνει ἡ καινὴ κτίσις, ἀλλὰ φανεροῦται καὶ διόλου ἑορτάζει. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐδόθη τὸ Σάββατον τῷ προτέρῳ λαῷ, ἵνα γινώσκῃ καὶ τὸ τέλος καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς κτίσεως. Τῇ δὲ καινῇ κτίσει οὐκ ἐνετείλατο φυλάττειν Σάββατον· ἵνα τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἐν τῇ Κυριακῇ γινώσκῃ, ἀτελεύτητον δὲ ἐπίσταται τὴν ταύτης χάριν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν, τουτέστι τὴν Κυριακὴν ἐδήλωσεν, ἵνα τὸ τέλος τῆς παρελθούσης γινώσκῃς. Ὁ γοῦν Ἀπόστολος περὶ τῆς προτέρας γράφων φησίν· «Ὅτε δὲ ἦλθε τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ·» καὶ πάλιν· «Ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων.» Οὐκοῦν ἡ μὲν πρώτη πεπλήρωται καὶ τετελείωται, οὐκ ἄλλοτε ἢ ὡς οἱ 28.136 προφῆται ἔλεγον· «Ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἐκ χεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματός μου.» Τέλος δὲ ἐχουσῶν τῶν πρώτων ἡμερῶν, ἄλλαι γίνονται, ὡς ὁ Ἱερεμίας φησίν· «Ἰδοὺ ἡμέραι ἔρχονται, λέγει Κύριος.» Τέλος δὲ ἐχούσης τῆς πρώτης, ἀκολούθως ἑτέρας ἀρχὴ γέγονε· διὰ τοῦτο μετὰ τὸ Σάββατον ἀνέστη ὁ Κύ ριος· οὐ γὰρ προηγουμένως εἵνεκεν τοῦ ἀργεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐδίδου τὸ Σάββατον ὁ Θεὸς ὁ λέγων· «Ὁδοὶ ἀεργῶν ἐστρωμέναι ἀκάνθαις,» καὶ ὁ προστάττων ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς· «Καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν Σαββά των προσάξετε δύο ἀμνοὺς ἐνιαυσίους ἀμώμους, καὶ δύο δέκατα σεμιδάλεως ἀναπεποιημένης ἐν ἐλαίῳ εἰς θυσίαν καὶ σπονδὴν, καὶ ὁλοκαύτωμα Σαββάτων ἐν τοῖς Σαββάτοις ἐπὶ τῆς ὁλοκαυτώσεως τῆς διὰ παντός.» Καὶ πάλιν πρὸ ὀλίγων λέγει ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω· «Καὶ ἐπιθήσετε ἐπὶ τὸ θῦμα λίβανον καθαρὸν καὶ ἅλας, καὶ ἔσονται εἰς ἄρτους εἰς ἀνάμνησιν, προκείμενα τῷ Κυρίῳ. Τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν Σαββάτων προτεθήσεται ἔναντι Κυρίου διαπαντὸς ἐνώπιον τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, διαθήκην αἰώνιον.» Εἰ γὰρ ἔμελλεν αὐτῷ περὶ ἀργίας, οὐκ ἂν προτιθέναι, καὶ προσάγειν, καὶ σφάζειν, ἐκέλευε τοὺς Λευΐτας. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀργία ἁγιάζει, δηλονότι ἡ ἐργασία μολύνει· ἀλλ' οἱ Λευῖται ἐργαζόμενοι οὐ μολύνονται· οὐκ ἄρα ἡ ἀργία κα θαρίζει. Ἢ διὰ τί μόνοι οἱ Λευῗται τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ στερίσκονται, προσάγοντες, καὶ σφάζοντες, καὶ προτιθέντες ἐν τῷ Σαββάτῳ; Τοσούτῳ γὰρ ἀπέχονται τοῦ πλημμελεῖν, ὅσῳ καὶ ἱλάσκονται, ὑπὲρ τῶν προσφερόντων. Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἀργίαν σημαίνει τὸ Σάββατον, ἀλλὰ γνῶσιν μὲν τοῦ Ποιητοῦ, παῦλαν δὲ τοῦ σχήματος τῆς