In sanctum et salutare pascha

Of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, on the Holy and Salvific Pascha. The true rest of the sabbath, which received the blessing of God, in which the Lord rested from his own works for the salvation of the world, having kept sabbath in the inactivity of death, now has reached its end and has shown its own grace to eyes, ears, and heart through all these things of the feast having been completed in us, by which we saw, by which we heard, by which we received joy in the heart. For what was seen by the eyes was light, borne to us in the night by the cloud of fire through the torches, and the discourse sounding all night long to the ears in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, like a stream of joy flowing through hearing into the soul, made us full of good hopes, and the heart, brightened by what was said and seen, was formed into the ineffable blessedness, being led by the hand through visible things to the invisible, so that the goods of this rest are an image of those goods which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard nor have entered into the heart of man, confirming through themselves the inexpressible hope of what is stored up.

Since, then, this luminous night, having mingled the rays of the torches with the morning beams of the sun, has made one continuous day not divided by the interposition of darkness, let us understand, brothers, the prophecy which says: This is the day which the Lord made, in which the work is not something burdensome and difficult to accomplish, but joy and gladness and exultation, the word speaking thus: Let us exult and rejoice in it. O noble commands, O sweet legislation! Who hesitates to obey such commands? Who does not consider even a brief delay in obeying the commands a loss? Joy is the work, and exultation is the injunction, through which the condemnation for sin is dissolved and sorrowful things are transformed into joy. This is the saying of wisdom: that on a day of gladness there is forgetfulness of evils. This day has caused forgetfulness of the first sentence against us, or rather annihilation, not forgetfulness; for it has completely erased every memory of the condemnation against us. Then birth was in pains, now generation is without labor pains; then we were born flesh from flesh, now what is born is spirit from spirit; then we were sons of men, now we have been born children of God; then we were sent down from the heavens to the earth, now the heavenly one has made us heavenly as well; then through sin death reigned, now through life justice takes back the power; one then opened the entrance of death, through one now life is introduced in exchange; then through death we fell from life, now death is destroyed by life.

Then, out of shame, we hid under the fig tree; now, through glory, we approach the tree of life. Then, through disobedience, we were exiled from paradise; now, through faith, we enter within paradise. Again the fruit of life lies before us for our enjoyment, at our disposal. Again the fourfold spring of paradise, divided by the rivers of the Gospels, waters the whole face of the Church, so that it also makes drunk the furrows of our souls, which the sower of the word has cut with the plow of teaching, and multiplies the fruits of virtue. What, then, is fitting for such as these to do? What else but to imitate the prophetic mountains and hills in their leaping? For it says, the mountains leaped like rams, and the hills like lambs of sheep. So come, let us rejoice in the Lord, who has cast down the power of the enemy and raised up the great trophy of the cross over us in the fall of the adversary. Let us raise the cry of victory; the cry of victory is the triumphal acclamation raised by the victors against the vanquished. Since, then, the battle line of the enemy has fallen, and that very one who held the power of the evil host of demons has departed and vanished and has already passed into non-being, let us say: Great is the Lord God, and great is the King over the whole earth, who has blessed the crown of the year of his goodness and gathered us together for this spiritual choral dance, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory for the ages. Amen.