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On Holy Pascha (sermon 1) [Spurious] (perhaps by the author Apollinaris of Laodicea)

1 The Jews, having denied the heavenly, celebrate an earthly Passover, but we, celebrating a heavenly Passover, have passed over the earthly; and that which was accomplished among them was a symbol of the salvation of the firstborn among the Jews, when the [firstborn] of the Jews, symbolically kept by the blood of the paschal victim, did not perish along with the firstborn of the Egyptians, but the Passover accomplished among us is the cause of the salvation of all men, beginning from the first-formed man, who in all is saved and 2 made alive.

The parts of the perfect and the temporary things of the eternal things were prefigured as images and types, foreshadowed for the truth that has now dawned; but when the truth is present, the type is untimely, just as when a king has arrived, <no one> thinks it worthy to leave the living king himself and worship his image. 3 Immediately evident from this is the inferiority of the type compared to the truth, since the type celebrates a short-lived life, that of the Jewish firstborn, but the truth, the perpetual life of all men; for it is not a great thing to escape death for a short time, for one who is going to die a little later, but it is a great thing to escape death altogether, which has come to us 4 for whom "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed." And indeed the very name of the feast has the greatest superiority when interpreted in relation to the truth; for "Pascha" according to its interpretation is "a passing over," when the destroyer, smiting the firstborn, passed over the houses of the Hebrews; but among us, the passing over of the destroyer is true, when he passes over us once and for all as we are raised to eternal life by Christ.

5 Thus indeed must the whole subject of the Passover be considered spiritually and believed according to the apostolic interpretations; but the believer desires also to understand the whole pattern, how it relates to the truth, and as it were to behold his own spiritual things through the corporeal things of that time, so that for him all things of the law may be fittingly understood according to Christ, and through the spiritual the corporeal may become more manifest, and just as in a painting the invisible may be revealed in the visible.

6 When, therefore, God was about to bring the tenth plague upon the Egyptians—and this was the death of the firstborn—, He said to Moses: "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it is the first for you among the months of the year," and He commanded in succession the sacrifice of the Passover and the anointing of the blood on the doors; and by this anointing He promised the salvation of the firstborn. But what is this when immediately considered in relation to the truth, that that time is appointed the beginning of the year, in which is the Passover and the salvation of the firstborn? That for us too the beginning of eternal life is the sacrifice of the true Passover—for the year is a symbol of an age, because, going around in a circle, it always turns back on itself and never ceases at any end—and Christ, offered as a sacrifice for us, is the "father of the age to come," and making our entire former life untimely, He gives the beginning of another through the washing of regeneration, according to the likeness of His 7 own death and resurrection.

Therefore, let everyone who knows the Passover sacrificed for him suppose this to be the beginning of life for himself, from which time Christ was sacrificed for him; and He was sacrificed for him then, when he recognizes the grace and understands the life that comes through that sacrifice; and knowing this, let him strive to receive the beginning of the new life and no longer run back to the old, of which he has reached the end; for "we who have died," he says, "to sin, how shall we still live in it?"

8 Such then is the symbol of the beginning of the year; but "on the tenth day of the month" He commands each to take a sheep for each household and for there to be so many for

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In sanctum pascha (sermo 1) [Sp.] (fort. auctore Apollinare Laodicense)

1 Πάσχα μὲν γήϊνον ἑορτάζουσιν Ἰουδαῖοι τὸ οὐράνιον ἀρνησάμενοι, πάσχα δὲ οὐράνιον ἑορτάζοντες ἡμεῖς τὸ γήϊνον ὑπερβεβήκαμεν· καὶ τὸ μὲν παρ' ἐκείνοις ἐπιτελεσθὲν σωτηρίας πρωτοτόκων τῶν ἐν Ἰουδαίοις σύμβολον ἦν, ὅτε τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις πρωτοτόκοις οὐ συναπώλετο τὰ Ἰουδαίων αἵματι τοῦ θύματος τοῦ πάσχα συμβολικῶς τηρηθέντα, τὸ δὲ παρ' ἡμῖν ἐπιτελούμενον πάσχα τῆς ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας ἐστὶν αἴτιον, ἀρξάμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου, ὃς ἐν ἅπασίν ἐστι σωζόμενος καὶ 2 ζωογονούμενος.

Τὰ δὲ μέρη τῶν τελείων καὶ τὰ πρόσκαιρα τῶν αἰωνίων εἰκόνες καὶ τύποι προεμελετᾶτο πρὸς τὴν νῦν ἀνατείλασαν ἀλήθειαν σκιογραφούμενα· ἀληθείας δὲ παρούσης ὁ τύπος ἄκαιρος, ὥσπερ βασιλέως ἐπιδημήσαντος <οὐδεὶς> αὐτὸν ἐάσας τὸν ζῶντα βασιλέα τὴν εἰκόνα 3 προσκυνεῖν ἀξιοῖ. Ἦ δήλη δὴ αὐτόθεν ἡ τοῦ τύπου παρὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐλάττωσις, ὅπου γε ὁ μὲν τύπος ὀλιγοχρόνιον ζωὴν ἑορτάζει τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων πρωτοτόκων, ἡ δὲ ἀλήθεια τὴν διηνεκῆ ζωὴν τὴν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων· οὐ γὰρ μέγα τὸ θάνατον πρὸς βραχὺ διαφυγεῖν τῷ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀποθανου μένῳ, μέγα δὲ τὸ καθόλου θάνατον ἀποφυγεῖν, ὅπερ ἡμῖν 4 περιγίνεται, οἷς "τὸ πάσχα ἐτύθη Χριστός". Καὶ αὐτό γε τὸ τῆς ἑορτῆς ὄνομα πλείστην ἔχει τὴν ὑπεροχὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἑρμηνευόμενον· ὑπέρβασις μὲν γάρ ἐστι καθ' ἑρμηνείαν τὸ πάσχα, ὅτε ὑπερέβη τοὺς Ἑβραίων οἴκους ὁ τὰ πρωτότοκα παίων ὀλοθρευτής, ὑπέρβασις δὲ τοῦ ὀλοθρευτοῦ παρ' ἡμῖν ἀληθής, ὅταν καθάπαξ ἡμᾶς ὑπερβαίνῃ πρὸς τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν ἀνισταμένους ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ.

5 Οὕτω μὲν δὴ τὴν ὅλην ὑπόθεσιν τοῦ πάσχα θεωρεῖσθαι χρὴ πνευματικῶς καὶ πιστεύεσθαι κατὰ τὰς ἀποστολικὰς ἐξηγήσεις· ποθεῖ δὲ ὁ πιστὸς καὶ τὴν ὅλην ὑποτύπωσιν κατανοῆσαι πῶς ἔχει πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ ὡσπερεὶ θεωρῆσαι τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πνευματικὰ διὰ τῶν τότε σωματικῶν, ἵν' αὐτῷ καὶ τὰ τοῦ νόμου πάντα οἰκείως ἔχῃ νοούμενα κατὰ Χριστὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ τὸ σωματικὸν ἐμφανέστερον γένηται καὶ καθάπερ ζωγραφούμενον ἐν τοῖς ὁρατοῖς ἐκφανῇ τὸ ἀόρατον.

6 Ὅτε τοίνυν ἔμελλε τὴν δεκάτην ἐπάγειν πληγὴν Αἰγυπτίοις ὁ θεός-αὕτη δὲ ἦν ὁ τῶν πρωτοτόκων θάνατος-, ἔλεγεν πρὸς τὸν Μωϋσῆν· "Ὁ μὴν οὗτος ὑμῖν ἀρχὴ μηνῶν· πρῶτός ἐστιν ὑμῖν ἐν τοῖς μησὶ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ", καὶ διέταττεν ἐφ' ἑξῆς τὴν τοῦ πάσχα θυσίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ αἵματος χρῖσιν ἐπὶ τῶν θυρῶν· καὶ τῇ μὲν τούτου χρίσει σωτηρίαν τῶν πρωτοτόκων ἐπηγγέλλετο· τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀληθείας θεωρούμενον τὸ ἀρχὴν ἐνιαυτοῦ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον ὁρίζεσθαι, ἐν ᾧ τὸ πάσχα καὶ ἡ σωτηρία τῶν πρωτοτόκων; ὅτι καὶ ἡμῖν ἀρχὴ ζωῆς αἰωνίας ἡ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ πάσχα θυσία- αἰῶνος γὰρ ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς σύμβολον, διότι κύκλῳ περιιὼν αὐτὸς εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀεὶ στρέφεται καὶ εἰς τέλος οὐδὲν ἀποπαύεται-καὶ "πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνός" ἐστι προσαχθεὶς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν θυσία Χριστὸς καὶ τὸν πρότερον ἅπαντα βίον ἡμῶν ἄκαιρον ποιῶν ἀρχὴν ἑτέρου διὰ τοῦ λουτροῦ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας δίδωσι καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ 7 ἰδίου θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως.

Ὥστε πᾶς ὁ γινώσκων τὸ τεθυμένον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχα ἀρχὴν ἑαυτῷ ζωῆς ὑποτιθέσθω ταύτην, ἀφ' οὗ τέθυται Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ· τέθυται δὲ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τότε, ἡνίκα ἂν ἐπιγνῷ τὴν χάριν καὶ συνῇ τὴν διὰ τῆς θυσίας ἐκείνης ζωήν· καὶ τοῦτο γινώσκων τῆς νεαρᾶς ὀρεγέσθω ζωῆς λαμβάνειν τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ μηκέτι ἀνατρεχέτω πρὸς τὴν παλαιάν, ἧς ἐπὶ τέλος ἔφθασεν· "Οἵτινες" γὰρ "ἀπεθάνομέν" φησι "τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, πῶς ἔτι ζήσομεν ἐν αὐτῇ;"

8 Τὸ μὲν δὴ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ σύμβολον τοιοῦτον· "δεκάτῃ" δὲ "τοῦ μηνὸς" κελεύει λαμβάνειν ἕκαστον πρόβατον κατ' οἰκίαν καὶ τοσούτους εἶναι ἐπὶ