In sanctum pascha sermo 2

The reasonableness of the legal types is evident in the light of the truth, for example, that the sheep used for the Passover sacrifice according to the law must be without blemish, male, a year old, taken on the tenth day of the month and sacrificed on the fourteenth toward evening, and that the month in which Passover was celebrated was considered the beginning of the months. For all these things are established in Christ and in the passion of Christ, and are both true and necessary, and can have no rationale in themselves. Nor could those who are ignorant of Christ find any account to give concerning these matters or explain why God commanded them, nor even what reason there is at all for ordaining a sacrifice for the salvation of the firstborn and for making an anointing of blood on the doorposts. For what power does the slaughter of victims have for the salvation of the firstborn, and what necessity does the anointing of blood have as a sign on the houses? For God knew the houses of the Hebrews even without signs, so that it is remarkable to say, "I will see the blood and protect you." But when one refers these things also to the truth, he recognizes their reasonableness, just as we have shown in the case of the other matters mentioned above.

For the unblemished sacrifice suffering on our behalf, the death from the first-formed man is dissolved, and the firstborn human being is saved, being in all of us, given life by the resurrection of the Lord (for life is rightly the ransom for sin and death), and the unblemished blood becomes a saving sign for its participants, and God, looking to this, saves those anointed to him through faith, who cannot otherwise escape the justly punishing angel except through the blood poured out for us in love for humanity. Do you see how great the power of the type is when considered in light of the truth, so that if some Jew should attempt to say: Why then did the Son suffer that the world might be saved, as if it could not have been saved without this? Let it be said to him: Why then was the Passover sacrifice offered for the salvation of the firstborn of the Jews, as if they could not have been saved without this? And he will have nothing to answer, for God has no need of sacrifice or of a sign for the recognition of houses; but the matter argues for us and bears witness to the holy faith, our injustice being dissolved in the righteousness of Christ, and not otherwise dissolved (for darkness is obliterated by light), and our death also being abolished through the life of Christ, as darkness by light. Sacred then was that sacrifice also, because it was a type of the true; but this is truly sacred, as the true, given over to death and destruction by the ignorance of the impious, but taken up for sacred sacrifice by the will of God and offered to the Father by its own will.

For the Father gave the Son on our behalf," it says, "and Christ offered himself" to the Father "as an offering and a sacrifice for a sweet-smelling fragrance" on behalf of the Church. And for those who expected the destruction of Christ, the plan is deadly; for those who seek salvation through the death of the Lord, the faith is salvific. These are beyond punishment and death, because they are not held in death for destruction, according to what was said by the Savior: "If anyone keeps my word, they will never see death for eternity." For through the blood poured out on our behalf, we receive the Holy Spirit, since the blood and the Spirit came together as one, so that through the blood, which is of the same kind as us, we might be able to receive the Holy Spirit, which is not of the same kind as us, and through this we might block the entrance of death into us. 8 There is a twofold entrance for death, and for this reason the seal of the blood is twofold, "on the two doorposts and on the lintel," it says. For death enters "through sin," as the apostle says, and sin is partly according to the

The passion in us—this is twofold, either softening the soul into tenderness, or hardening it into roughness—and that according to reason, when it reasons neither soundly nor rightly. And reason is like a lintel (that is, a doorframe) upon the two doorposts, for it is governing and higher by nature, while passion corresponds to the doorposts, being subject to reason, just as the doorposts are subject to the lintels. What are the passions that lead to tenderness? Gluttony, drunkenness, and desire for sexual intercourse. What are those that harden the soul? Anger and willfulness. Paul, in doing away with these, said: "Not with revelries and drunkenness, not with beds and debaucheries, not with strife and envy, but clothe yourselves in our Lord Jesus Christ." Thus anointing is like clothing, when, being formed by the passion of Christ, we put on the holiness of Christ, neither being dissolved into pleasures nor roughened into rages. And it is good also to call the reasonings an anointing and a garment: wisdom that is not fleshly but according to Christ, so that we are deadened, as it were, having died to the fleshly mind, and are adorned with the spiritual. For in this way, neither through the irrational passions nor through the foolish reasonings does sin assail us, nor does death overpower us.

Such indeed is the mystery of the anointing; after the anointing comes the eating, which installs the divine body within us and mixes it with us into union. "The meats," it says, "shall be eaten on this night, roasted by fire." Night is this present age; "The night is far spent," says Paul. The partaking of the holy body is through fire, that is, through fervent and boiling zeal. "Burning in spirit," it says, and "I came to cast fire upon the earth," it says, "and what do I wish, if it is already kindled?" Just as fire is indicative of the boiling zeal taken up for the enjoyment of the meats, so the unleavened loaves are indicative of simplicity, and the bitter herbs of the afflictions that follow. "They shall eat unleavened bread on bitter herbs," it says. The way is simple and guileless, laying aside that old and crafty character, as if it were leaven, and taking up the new and guileless, so that it may be unleavened. "For our Passover," it says, "Christ was sacrificed, so that we may celebrate not with old leaven nor with the leaven of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened loaves of sincerity and truth." Bitter are the afflictions, "but even in afflictions," it says, "we boast, knowing that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces testing, testing produces hope, and hope does not disappoint. Through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom," so that we welcome affliction as a kind of seasoning because of the hope that comes from it and the kingdom. The commandment forbids eating the meat raw; this would have no meaning for those who hear it literally, since God forbade what would never happen—for no one would eat it raw.

Among us, at any rate, the greatest importance is attached to not approaching the reception of the divine body idly; for it becomes unreceived by those who handle it idly and do not, through good works, lay claim to the mixture with it. "Faith," it says, "without works is dead," and for this reason afflictions are brought upon those who are idly disposed "for their benefit," as Paul says, so that they may partake of his sanctity. Idleness concerning spiritual works is produced by the pleasure-loving nature of the flesh; therefore, indicating this by another symbol, the lawgiver also forbids eating "boiled in water"; for boiling is prepared for the pleasure of the food, but it is not possible to receive divine food with pleasure; for spiritual power does not mix in a fleshly manner. Do not, then, boil the holy meat, it says, mixing it with seasonings, but let it be eaten "roasted by fire" only, which is earnest, intense, and without pleasure. The pleasure-loving is not God-loving, as Paul says, and for those "whose god is the belly," God is not God; nor are those who turn the Eucharist into costly feasts acceptable to the apostle, making the sanctifying communion an occasion for much and varied food and drink, to whom Paul says: "It is not a Lord's supper to eat; for each one anticipates his own supper in eating, and one is hungry, another drunk. Do you not have houses for eating and drinking, or do you despise the church of God, and shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you.

He says that from this careless use of the holy food, temptations befall them because they do not approach the holy thing in a holy manner: "For this reason," he says, "many among you are weak and sick, and a good number are laid to rest. If we judged ourselves, we would not be judged." For those who do not render the body fit for the blending with his body are guilty of impiety toward the Lord, which he gave us so that, being mixed with it, we might be mixed with the Holy Spirit, since indeed the Word of God gave himself entirely into a body for this reason and "became flesh" according to the evangelical saying, so that, since it is not possible for us to partake of him as Word, we might partake of him as flesh, assimilating our own flesh to the spiritual flesh and, as far as possible, our spirit to the Spirit, so that we might become likenesses of Christ, having become temples of the Spirit, as the apostle says: "You are temples of God," and again: "Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?" And through the mixture with the Spirit of Christ, they become bodies and are to be tended "in sanctification," tending these as members of Christ: "Do you not know," he says, "that your members are members of Christ? Therefore, shall I make the members of Christ members of a harlot? Far from it." Now the preparation of the holy food the legislation ordained in this way and in such symbols, "for our benefit," having arranged the then prefiguration.

Head," he says, "together with the feet and the entrails," hinting by "head" at the beginning of his manifestation to men, which was the first coming; "feet" at the end, which was the second coming, without which the first cannot be believed, since it did not fulfill all the prophecies. For this reason the Jews do not believe, because the things of the glorious coming have not been fulfilled, thinking that the one who came in such a manner is not the Christ. Therefore, combining them, he said "head together with the feet," that is, the first coming together with the second, so that you may receive the Lord led "like a sheep to the slaughter" even in ingloriousness, and see him appearing "as a king with glory," both of which the prophet Isaiah foretold; and that you may not demand the redemption of Jerusalem, but later expect "The deliverer will come from Zion and will turn away the impious from Jacob," as he saves the remnant of the people who are to turn to him; while in the first coming you see the opposite fulfilled: "I have abandoned my house, I have left my inheritance," and "He delivered the impious in place of his burial and the rich in place of his death.

Head," then, "together with the feet," he says, forewarning the Jews not to separate the inglorious coming of the Lord from the glorious one, lest by disbelieving you be separated from communion with him; but also "together with the entrails," he says. What is this? Do not be scandalized by the outward appearance, but also contemplate the hidden; do not think him a man equal to you, because he is "also a man" in body, but know him spiritually and you will know the Father in him. For as long as you do not see the interior nor partake of the entrails, you have not yet seen Christ, thinking him a man, not a god; but he himself says, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." We must also consider what "You will not leave any of it until morning" means, and let Paul interpret this for us, saying that we make "remembrance" of the Lord's passion "until he comes"; for this is performed and saves those who perform it only until the present night passes and morning comes and Christ, living, shines upon us from heaven, saving us through his life, he who now saves us through his death. "For if," he says, "being enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in his life." If, then, we are now saved in the death of Christ, but then in his life, the symbol is fitting that the flesh of the victim is not left "until morning"; for we too will then be living, and our present death will pass away, we who are now saved in no other way than by being dead, but then having a life-giving salvation.

Do not think of earthly things," he says, "for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory." Therefore, if any part of the sacrificial victim's flesh is left over, it is consumed by fire, so that we may know that in the present age Christ died "to sin once for all," and "death no longer rules over him," but has been taken away by the power of the spirit as if by fire, the signs of death having been overcome by life. And as for the statement, "No bone of his will be broken," the blessed John says that this was also physically preserved, his legs not having been broken, but it also has a spiritual meaning: that the firmness in him remained unconquered, and for this reason corruption did not touch his body, because he had a foundation most firm and unbreakable, since his body was constituted divinely and not fleshly, and having had a divine birth, it was not subject to the corruption of humans. "His flesh," he says, "did not see decay.

Having examined these matters concerning the salutary anointing and the sacred food, let us cease from our discourse, and now, leaving what follows for another inquiry, let us ask of the Lord the petition that David asked: "Uncover my eyes, and I shall contemplate the wonders from your law," so that the reading of the ordinances may not be contemptible to us, as it is to the Jews who stop at the types, but rather, understanding the divine symbols in a divine manner, we may appear before the most divine truth in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom glory is to the Father together with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.