1

De azymis

OF SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS CONCERNING THE UNLEAVENED BREAD 95.388 It must be known, that those who offer unleavened bread, offer dead flesh, and not living. For the leaven becomes for the dough in place of a soul, and the salt in place of the mind; for the Lord, having taken a body both ensouled and intelligent from the Ever-Virgin, fittingly handed down the mystery of the New Covenant through perfect bread; having blessed it, and broken it, and said: "Take, eat; this is my body." And Luke in his holy Gospel, "And taking bread," he says, "having given thanks, he broke it." Behold, he himself also said that Christ took bread, and not unleavened bread. For it was not yet, it being then the fifth day; for the moon was then the thirteenth, and there was no unleavened bread because it had not yet come to be. For on the 15th of the moon it was legislated to eat these things. But on the 14th they ate the lamb and only that; wherefore also the fourteenth of the same month of the moon, the law calls Pascha; but the 15th it also names Sabbath. If, therefore, Christ was sacrificed on the fourteenth of the moon, on the day of Preparation (Friday); and the Sabbath was the feast of unleavened bread, when they ate the unleavened bread, when did he hand these things down to the apostles, since they say they received these things from the apostles? For not even the legal Pascha did Christ eat at the appointed time. For after having supped, he handed down through the breaking of the bread, the mystery of the New Covenant on the fifth day. But when the feast of the Unleavened Bread was on the Sabbath on the 15th day of the month, the Lord was lying in the tomb. Therefore, since there was no unleavened bread before the feast of the Unleavened Bread in the whole year, where then was unleavened bread found, when Christ ate the supper with his disciples? Cease, you who fight against the truth. And the phrase, "And it was the Preparation of the Pascha," is thus to be understood. For they were making ready, that is, preparing, the things for the feast of the Pascha; and the phrase, "They themselves did not enter into the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Pascha," how will you understand, if the Pascha was on the fifth day? how is it that on the Preparation (Friday) they did not enter into the praetorium, but were being careful, purifying themselves beforehand in some way for the partaking of the Pascha?

1

De azymis

ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ∆ΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΖΥΜΩΝ 95.388 Ἰστέον, ὅτι οἱ τὰ ἄζυμα προσκομίζοντες, νεκρὰν σάρκα, καὶ οὐχὶ ζῶσαν προσφέρουσιν. Ἡ γὰρ ζύμη ἀντὶ ψυχῆς τῷ φυράματι γίνεται, καὶ τὸ ἅλας ἀντὶ τοῦ νοός· ὁ γὰρ Κύριος σῶμα ἔμψυχόν τε καὶ ἔννουν ἐκ τῆς Ἀειπαρθένου προσλαβόμενος, διὰ τελείου ἄρτου εἰκότως παρέδωκε τὸ τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης μυστήριον· εὐλογήσας αὐτὸν, καὶ κλάσας, καὶ εἰπών· «Λάβετε, φάγετε· τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ σῶμά μου.» Καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς ἐν ἁγίῳ Εὐαγγελίῳ αὐτοῦ, «Καὶ λαβὼν ἄρτον, φησὶν, εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν.» Ἰδοὺ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἄρτον εἶπε λαβεῖν τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἄζυμον. Οὐ γὰρ ἔτι ἦν, πέμπτης οὔσης τηνικαῦτα ἡμέρας· δεκακαιτρίτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ σελήνη τότε, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄζυμον διὰ τὸ μήπω γενέσθαι. Τῇ ιεʹ γὰρ τῆς σελήνης νενομοθετημένον ἦν ἐσθίειν ταῦτα. Τῇ δὲ ιδʹ τὸν ἀμνὸν καὶ μόνον ἤσθιον· διὸ καὶ τὴν δεκακαιτετάρτην τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς τῆς σελήνης, Πάσχα προσαγορεύει ὁ νόμος· τὴν δὲ ιεʹ αὐτὴν καὶ Σάββατον ὀνομάζει. Εἰ οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐτύθη κατὰ τὴν δεκακαιτετάρτην τῆς σελήνης, ἡμέρᾳ Παρασκευῇ· τὸ δὲ Σάββατον ἦν τῶν ἀζύμων ἑορτὴ, ὅτε τὰ ἄζυμα ἤσθιον, πότε ταῦτα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις παρέδωκεν, ὅτι λέγουσιν παρὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ταῦτα λαβεῖν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ Πάσχα τὸ νόμιμον κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἔφαγεν ὁ Χριστός. Καὶ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι, παρέδωκε διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἄρτου κλάσεως, τὸ τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης μυστήριον κατὰ τὴν πέμπτην ἡμέραν. Ὅτε δὲ ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἀζύμων ἦν ἐν τῷ Σαββάτῳ κατὰ τὴν ιεʹ ἡμέραν τοῦ μηνὸς, ἐν τῷ τάφῳ ἔκειτο ὁ Κύριος. Ἀζύμων οὖν μὴ ὄντων πρὸ τῆς ἑορτῆς τῶν Ἀζύμων ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ, ποῦ εὑρέθησαν τότε τὰ ἄζυμα, ὅτε μετὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν τὸ δεῖπνον ἔφαγεν ὁ Χριστός; Παύσασθε οἱ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἀντιμαχόμενοι. Καὶ τὸ, «Ἦν δὲ Παρασκευὴ τοῦ Πάσχα,» οὕτω νοεῖται. Ἡτοίμαζον γὰρ, οἷον καὶ παρεσκεύαζον τὰ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ Πάσχα· καὶ τὸ, «Αὐτοὶ οὐκ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον, ἵνα μὴ μιανθῶσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα φάγωσι τὸ Πάσχα,» πῶς νοήσεις, εἰ τῇ πέμπτῃ ἦν τὸ Πάσχα; πῶς τῇ Παρασκευῇ πρὸς τὸ πραιτώριον οὐκ εἰσῆλθον, ἀλλ' εὐλαβοῦντο προκαθαιρόμενοί πως διὰ τὴν τοῦ Πάσχα μετάληψιν;