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On the holy and saving Pascha

BY GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, ON THE HOLY AND SAVING PASCHA

The true sabbath rest which received the blessing of God, in which the Lord rested from his own works for the salvation of the world, keeping the sabbath in the inactivity of death, now has its end and has shown its own grace both to eyes and ears and heart, the feast having been accomplished in us through all these things: what we have seen, what we have heard, what we have received with the heart as gladness. For the light seen by the eyes was carried for us in the night like a cloud of fire through the lamps; the word resounding all night long in our ears in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, like a stream of joy flowing through hearing into the soul, has made us full of good hopes; and the heart, brightened by what was said and seen, prefigured the ineffable blessedness, being guided by the things seen to the unseen, so that the good things of this rest were an image of those good things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, confirming through themselves the unspeakable hope of the things laid up for us. Since, then, this luminous night, having mixed the gleams from the lamps with the morning rays of the sun, has made one continuous day, not divided by the interposition of darkness, 9.310 let us understand, brethren, the prophecy which says that This is the day which the Lord has made, in which the work is not something heavy and difficult to accomplish, but joy and gladness and exultation, as the word says, Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O fine commands, O sweet legislation! Who puts off obeying such commands? Who does not consider even a small delay of the commands a loss? The work is gladness, and the command is exultation, through which the condemnation for sin is dissolved and sorrowful things are transformed into joy. This is the saying of wisdom, that in a day of gladness there is an amnesty for evils. This day has brought about a forgetting of the first sentence against us, or rather, a disappearance, not a forgetting; for it has completely wiped out every record of the condemnation against us. Then childbirth was in sorrows, now birth is without pangs; then we who were born of flesh were flesh, now that which is born is spirit from spirit; then sons of men, now we have been born children of God; then we were sent down from heaven to earth, now the heavenly One has made us heavenly too; then through sin death reigned, now righteousness takes its turn to rule through life; one man then opened the entrance of death, through one man now life is brought in its place; then through death we fell from life, now by life death is destroyed; then in shame we hid under the fig tree, now in glory we approach the tree of life; then through disobedience we were banished from paradise, now through faith we are within paradise. Again the fruit of life is set before us for delight with full authority; again the spring of paradise, which is divided fourfold 9.311 through the evangelical rivers, waters the whole face of the church, so that the furrows of our souls, which the sower of the word cut with the plough of teaching, are saturated, and the fruits of virtue abound.

What then is fitting for such people to do? What else but to imitate the prophetic mountains and the hills with leaps? The mountains, it says, skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock. Therefore come, let us exult in the Lord who has cast down the power of the enemy and the great trophy of the cross on our behalf

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In sanctum et salutare pascha

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΣΩΤΗΡΙΟΝ ΠΑΣΧΑ

Ἡ μὲν ἀληθινὴ τοῦ σαββάτου κατάπαυσις ἡ τὴν εὐλογίαν τοῦ θεοῦ δεξαμένη, ἐν ᾗ κατέπαυσεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἔργων ὁ κύριος ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σωτηρίας τῇ ἀπραξίᾳ τοῦ θανάτου ἐνσαββατίσας, ἤδη πέρας ἔχει καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἔδειξε χάριν καὶ ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ ἀκοαῖς καὶ καρδίᾳ διὰ πάντων τούτων τῆς ἑορτῆς ἐν ἡμῖν τελεσθείσης, οἷς εἴδομεν, οἷς ἠκούσαμεν, οἷς τῇ καρδίᾳ τὴν εὐφροσύνην ὑπεδεξάμεθα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὁρώμενον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς φῶς ἦν τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς νεφέλῃ διὰ τῶν λαμπάδων ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ δᾳδουχούμενον, ὁ δὲ παννύχιον ταῖς ἀκοαῖς προσηχῶν λόγος ἐν ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς οἷόν τι ῥεῦμα χαρᾶς δι' ἀκοῆς εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν εἰσρέων πλήρεις ἡμᾶς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίδων ἐποίησεν, ἡ δὲ καρδία τῶν λεγομένων τε καὶ βλεπομένων φαιδρυνομένη τὴν ἄφραστον ἐτυποῦτο μακα ριότητα διὰ τῶν φαινομένων χειραγωγουμένη πρὸς τὸ ἀόρατον, ὥστε τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκείνων, Ἃ οὔτε ὀφθαλμὸς εἶδεν οὔτε οὖς ἤκουσεν οὔτε ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου ἀνέβη, εἰκόνα εἶναι τὰ τῆς καταπαύσεως ταύτης ἀγαθὰ δι' ἑαυτῶν τὴν ἀνεκφώνητον ἐλπίδα τῶν ἀποκειμένων πιστούμενα. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἡ φωτεινὴ νὺξ αὕτη τὰς ἐκ τῶν λαμπάδων αὐγὰς ταῖς ὀρθριναῖς ἀκτῖσι τοῦ ἡλίου συμμίξασα μίαν κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ἡμέραν ἐποίησε μὴ διαμερισθεῖσαν τῇ παρενθήκῃ τοῦ σκότους, 9.310 νοήσωμεν, ἀδελφοί, τὴν προφήτειαν τὴν λέγουσαν ὅτι Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἡμέρα, ἣν ἐποίησεν ὁ κύριος, ἐν ᾗ ἔργον ἐστὶν οὐ βαρύ τι καὶ δυσκατόρθωτον, ἀλλὰ χαρὰ καὶ εὐφροσύνη καὶ ἀγαλλίαμα οὕτως εἰπόντος τοῦ λόγου ὅτι Ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καὶ εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ. ὢ καλῶν προσταγμάτων, ὢ γλυκείας νομοθεσίας. τίς ὑπερτίθεται πρὸς τὸ ὑπακοῦσαι τοιούτοις προστάγμασι; τίς δὲ οὐχὶ ζημίαν ἡγεῖται καὶ τὴν ἐν ὀλίγῳ τῶν προσταγμάτων ἀναβολήν; εὐφροσύνη τὸ ἔργον καὶ ἀγαλλίαμά ἐστι τὸ ἐπίταγμα, δι' ὧν ἀναλύεται ἡ ἐπὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ κατάκρισις καὶ εἰς χαρὰν τὰ λυπηρὰ μεθαρμόζεται. τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ τῆς σοφίας ἀπόφθεγμα, ὅτι ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐφροσύνης ἀμνηστία κακῶν. λήθην ἐποίησε τῆς πρώτης καθ' ἡμῶν ἀποφάσεως ἡ ἡμέρα αὕτη, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀφανισμόν, οὐχὶ λήθην· ἐξήλειψε γὰρ καθόλου πᾶν μνημόσυνον τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν κατακρίσεως. τότε ἐν λύπαις ὁ τοκετός, νῦν χωρὶς ὠδίνων ἡ γέννησις· τότε ἐκ σαρκὸς ἐγεννήθημεν σάρκες, νῦν τὸ γεννηθὲν πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἐκ πνεύματος· τότε υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων, νῦν τέκνα θεοῦ ἐγεννήθημεν· τότε εἰς γῆν ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἀπελύθημεν, νῦν ὁ ἐπουράνιος καὶ ἡμᾶς οὐρανίους ἐποίησε· τότε διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος ἐβασίλευε, νῦν ἀντιμεταλαμβάνει διὰ τῆς ζωῆς ἡ δικαιοσύνη τὸ κράτος· εἷς ἤνοιξε τότε τοῦ θανάτου τὴν εἴσοδον, δι' ἑνὸς καὶ νῦν ἡ ζωὴ ἀντεισάγεται· τότε διὰ τοῦ θανάτου τῆς ζωῆς ἐξεπέσομεν, νῦν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς ἀναιρεῖται ὁ θάνατος· τότε ὑπ' αἰσχύνης τῇ συκῇ ὑπεκρύβημεν, νῦν διὰ δόξης τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς προσεγγίζομεν· τότε διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῦ παραδείσου ἐξῳκίσθημεν, νῦν διὰ πίστεως τοῦ παραδείσου εἴσω γινόμεθα. πάλιν ὁ καρπὸς τῆς ζωῆς εἰς τρυφὴν πρόκειται κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἡμῖν· πάλιν ἡ τοῦ παραδείσου πηγὴ ἡ τετραχῆ διὰ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ποταμῶν 9.311 μεριζομένη ἅπαν ποτίζει τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ὡς καὶ μεθύειν ἡμῶν τὰς αὔλακας τῶν ψυχῶν, ἃς ὁ σπείρων τὸν λόγον τῷ ἀρότρῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἀνέτεμε, καὶ πληθύειν τῆς ἀρετῆς τὰ γεννήματα.

Τί οὖν ἔτι τοῖς τοιούτοις προσήκει ποιεῖν; τί ἄλλο ἢ μιμεῖσθαι τὰ ὄρη τὰ προφητικὰ καὶ τοὺς βουνοὺς τοῖς σκιρτήμασι. Τὰ ὄρη, γάρ φησιν, ἐσκίρτησαν ὡσεὶ κριοὶ καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων. οὐκοῦν δεῦτε, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα τῷ κυρίῳ τῷ καθελόντι τοῦ πολεμίου τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὸ μέγα τρόπαιον τοῦ σταυροῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν