1

In sanctum pascha (sermo 7) [Sp.]

1 Yesterday, brothers, we were speaking certain things concerning the date of the holy Pascha, and since some doubt seemed to arise, we declared in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that long ago we were ignorant neither of the doubt nor of the date, and enough was said about these things, if indeed you hold in memory the force of what was said; but we are eager today to speak the reason for the delay and, since such a narration requires the contemplation of the entire passage concerning Pascha, we wish, if the Lord also wishes, to take up the subject and with all our ability to explain the contemplations of the mystery. 2

And since there is much invective from our adversaries who are ignorant of the nature of the truth, and heretics are seen to have leaped away and Jews profess to celebrate Pascha, while this mystery belongs to Christians alone and the celebration of the mystery is established among us with precision, I wish both to mention all of those things briefly and to strip away the confusion from our mystery, and thus to state the meaning of each time, as the only-begotten Son of God may grant. 3 For we have often observed some saying: How is it that the birthday of the Savior is celebrated on a fixed day (for it happens, as we all know, on the eighth day before the Kalends of January according to the Romans), and the Theophany likewise (for it too is celebrated on a fixed day, the thirteenth of the fourth month according to the Asiatics), and likewise when celebrating the memory of the martyrs we fit the commemoration to a fixed day, but in the case of Pascha the principle is not so? Because the mystery is not of one nor of a simply occurring day, but of many dates, <whose> collection with understanding we undertake in this place for the development of the contemplation. 4

For we observe also a first month, this first month truly of the first season, which is known at the spring equinox—for he who observes the first month ought to see the first season, for which reason it is also named the first month, and again he who accepts the first season ought to see the beginning of the first season as none other than the spring equinox, as I will show as I proceed—; since, therefore, we observe both a first season and an equinox and after this also the fourteenth of the moon and with this the three-day period, that is Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and it is impossible for Pascha to be celebrated if one of these times is lacking, for this reason we cannot accept one fixed day for the mystery of Pascha, but by bringing all these dates together we complete the contemplation of the saving passion.

5 I wish, therefore, before speaking of the mystical reason for the equinox and for the fourteenth day according to the moon and its contribution to the mystery, and again the reason for the three days fitting to the end of the mystery, first to speak of the custom outside that of the Jews and <of those> who irrationally adopt it, and then so to discern the purity of the ecclesiastical mystery; for heretics also cling to this, if even erroneously.

6 For neither do the Jews observe one fixed day for the celebration of Pascha, but also the <first> month, as they think, according to the sun, and the fourteenth of the moon. For example, if it should happen that the fourteenth day according to the moon falls among them before the first month has begun, they postpone this fourteenth day and by making an intercalary thirty days according to the moon they accept another fourteenth day on account of the solar first month, in order that

1

In sanctum pascha (sermo 7) [Sp.]

1 Χθὲς μέν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῆς προθεσμίας τοῦ ἁγίου πάσχα τινὰ ἐλαλοῦμεν καί, ἐπειδὴ ἔδοξέ τις ἀμφιβολία γίνεσθαι, ἐσημάναμεν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ὅτι πρὸ πολλοῦ οὔτε τὴν ἀμφιβολίαν ἠγνοήσαμεν οὔτε τὴν προθεσμίαν, καὶ περὶ τούτων ἀρκούντως ἐρρήθη, εἴ γε ἐν μνήμῃ τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν δύναμιν ἔχετε· ἠπείγμεθα δὲ εἰπεῖν σήμερον τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς παρολκῆς καί, ἐπείπερ ἡ τοιαύτη διήγησις ἀπαιτεῖ ὅλου τοῦ πρὸς τὸ πάσχα τόπου τὴν θεωρίαν, βουλόμεθα, ἐὰν καὶ ὁ κύριος βούληται, ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν ὑπόθεσιν καὶ ὅση δύναμις ἐξειπεῖν τοῦ μυστηρίου τὰ 2 θεωρήματα.

Καὶ ἐπείπερ πολλὴ καταδρομὴ τῶν ἐναντίων γίνεται ἀγνοούντων τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν φύσιν καὶ αἱρετικοὶ ἀποσκιρτήσαντες φαίνονται καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐπαγγέλλονται πάσχα τελεῖν, Χριστιανῶν δὲ μόνων τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτό ἐστιν καὶ ἡ τοῦ μυστηρίου τελετὴ παρ' ἡμῖν μετὰ ἀκριβείας συνίσταται, θέλω ἁπάντων τε ἐκείνων συντόμως μνησθῆναι καὶ ἀπαμφιάσαι τὴν σύγχυσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς μυστηρίου καὶ οὕτως ἑκάστου χρόνου εἰπεῖν τὴν διάνοιαν, καθὼς ἂν δῷ ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. 3 Πολλάκις γὰρ ἐθεασάμεθα λεγόντων τινῶν· Πῶς τὰ γενέθλια μὲν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐν ὡρισμένῃ ἡμέρᾳ τελεῖται (γίνεται γάρ, ὡς πάντες ἴσμεν, πρὸ ὀκτὼ καλανδῶν ἰανουα ρίων κατὰ Ῥωμαίους), θεοφάνια δὲ ὡσαύτως (καὶ αὐτὰ γὰρ ἐπιτελεῖται ἡμέρᾳ ὡρισμένῃ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ τετάρτου μηνὸς κατὰ Ἀσιανούς), καὶ μαρτύρων δὲ ὡσαύτως μνήμην ἐπιτελοῦντες πρὸς ἡμέραν ὡρισμένην ἁρμόζομεν τὴν ἀνάμνη σιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ πάσχα οὐχ οὕτως ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος; Ὅτι οὐ μιᾶς οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς συμβαινούσης ἡμέρας ἐστὶ τὸ μυστήριον, ἀλλὰ πολλῶν προθεσμιῶν, <ὧν> μετὰ διανοίας συναγωγὴν εἰς τὸν τόπον παραλαμβάνομεν διὰ τὴν τῆς θεωρίας 4 ἀνάπτυξιν.

Τηροῦμεν γὰρ καὶ πρῶτον μῆνα, τοῦτον τὸν πρῶτον μῆνα ἀληθῶς τοῦ πρώτου χρόνου, ὃς ἐπ' ἐαρινῆς ἰσημερίας γνωρίζεται-ὁ γὰρ πρῶτον μῆνα τηρῶν ὀφείλει ἰδεῖν τὸν πρῶτον χρόνον, δι' ὃν καὶ πρῶτος μὴν ὀνομάζεται, πάλιν τε ὁ τὸν πρῶτον χρόνον παραλαμβάνων τὴν ἀρχὴν ὀφείλει τοῦ πρώτου χρόνου ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἄλλην τινὰ ἢ ἰσημερίαν ἐαρινήν, ὡς προϊὼν ἐπιδείξω-· ἐπειδὴ οὖν καὶ πρῶτον χρόνον τηροῦμεν καὶ ἰσημερίαν καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ σελήνης τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην καὶ σὺν τούτῳ τὴν τριήμερον, τουτέστι παρασκευὴν σάββατον κυριακήν, καὶ ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ἑνὸς χρόνου τούτων λείποντος ἐπιτελεσθῆναι τὸ πάσχα, διὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὐ δυνάμεθα μίαν ἡμέραν ὡρισμένην πρὸς τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ πάσχα παραλαμβάνειν, ἀλλ' ὅλας ταύτας τὰς προθεσμίας συναγαγόντες ἀπαρτίζομεν τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους τὴν θεωρίαν.

5 Βούλομαι οὖν, πρὶν εἰπεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἰσημερίας μυστικὴν οὔσαν καὶ τῆς τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτης κατὰ σελήνην καὶ ταύτην τῷ μυστηρίῳ συμβαλλομένην καὶ πάλιν τῶν τριῶν ἡμερῶν τὴν αἰτίαν ἁρμόζουσαν πρὸς τὸ τέλος τοῦ μυστηρίου, πρῶτον εἰπεῖν τὴν ἔξω τῶν Ἰουδαίων συνήθειαν καὶ <τῶν> ταύτην ἀλόγως ἐπισυρομένων, εἶθ' οὕτω δια κρῖναι τοῦ ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ μυστηρίου τὴν καθαρότητα· καὶ γὰρ καὶ αἱρετικοὶ τούτου, εἰ καὶ ἐσφαλμένως, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐξέχονται.

6 Οὔτε γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι μίαν ἡμέραν ἐμπρόθεσμον πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πάσχα τελεσιουργίαν τηροῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν <πρῶτον> μῆνα, ὡς οἴονται, τὸν καθ' ἥλιον, καὶ σελήνης τεσσαρεσκαι δεκάτην. Αὐτίκα γοῦν, εἰ συμβαίη τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην κατὰ σελήνην παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐμπεσεῖν μήπω ἐνστάντος πρώτου μηνός, ὑπερτίθενται ταύτην τὴν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην καὶ ἐμβόλιμον τριακάδα κατὰ σελήνην ποιοῦντες ἄλλην τεσσα ρεσκαιδεκάτην διὰ τὸν ἡλιακὸν πρῶτον μῆνα παραλαμβά νουσιν, ἵνα