In sanctum pascha sermo 3

The sanctity of Christ was indicated by the sacrifice of the Passover together with the unblemished victim, and the salvation of humanity in the suffering of Christ was shown by the salvation of the firstborn granted through the sacrifice of the Passover, and the sanctification by the eating; and these things have already been stated by us. Now, from the remaining parts of the legislation, we must examine how one who is to be sanctified ought to prepare himself, how he ought to approach the communion of sanctity, and what kind of life he ought to lead after having become a participant and sharer of the holy. Now, the preparation which one who is about to partake of Christ must undergo was shown to us by the lawgiver through circumcision, speaking typically: "This is the law of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it, and every servant of someone and every slave bought with money, you shall circumcise him, and then he shall eat of it." Circumcision at that time was partial and did not show its benefit immediately, for a man was shown to be no better by circumcision than the uncircumcised; but it was even a reproach from God to the Israelites, for he says, "All the nations are uncircumcised in flesh, but the house of Israel is uncircumcised in their hearts." The true circumcision is of the whole flesh, and it shows the one circumcised in heart and having removed the fleshly veil to be a friend and kinsman of God; and this veil, which we have from the succession of fathers and which we need to remove, the law prefigured by circumcising the generative organs, making through this the symbols of generation and of the veil that follows us by generation.

No one, therefore, who is not circumcised in the fleshly manner will arrive at his own communion with Christ, but "we are the circumcision," he says, those who partake of Christ, "who worship by the Spirit of God and do not trust in the flesh." For a heart stripped of everything fleshly is able to worship God truly and to be mingled with Christ in spirit. This circumcision is initiated by the Lord's passion, as he laid aside the flesh for us and underwent circumcision itself for our sake, and the mystery is imprinted upon us in baptism and perfected in the life according to Christ. For it says, "You were circumcised by a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried together with him in baptism." Therefore, as long as you do not put off the fleshly character, you are an alien and a stranger, and the holy Christ present from heaven has no share or communion with you. For one who is to approach the heavenly must become heavenly, and no one could become heavenly without removing the earthly things.

Thus, having first laid aside the old man in the grace of baptism and the zeal of spiritual practices, you will approach and partake of Christ. Secondly, it is possible to see what sort of persons are sent forth by the law, all those who partake of the Passover, so that we may also recognize what sort we ought to be when partaking of Christ. "Thus," he says, "you shall eat it: your loins girded, and your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands." The traveling attire, trim and light, indicates one ready and prepared to run toward the promises of God, just as Israel was then sent forth as a traveler toward the promise of the good land. But consider for me the spiritual traveler compared to that one, how great is his superiority: not hastening toward the promise of the lower land, not pursuing transient goods, not exchanging one land for another, Judea for Egypt, but what does such a traveler say about his own journey? "Forgetting what is behind, stretching out toward what is before, pursuing the goal toward the prize of the higher calling.

Your loins, then, are girded with "truth" according to the apostle; for thus you will be well-girt for the good race, if, having considered all present things as vanity and falsehood according to David, you seek after the future truth and have desire for it. Your feet are shod with "the preparation," he says, "of the gospel of peace," ready for every good race, through which we confirm for ourselves the peace with God, as the apostle says: "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," and "Through endurance we run," he says, "the contest set before us," and "Thus I run that I may overtake." And "staffs in their hands" are faith and hope in God, a support of the soul, not allowing it to be in distress, as Paul has said, but firmly supporting it so as not to be shaken. "Eat it," then, "with haste; it is the Lord's passover," not a careless food nor one for pleasure, not for those who are relaxed or reclining, but for those whose mind is aroused and intent, because it provides us with a crossing over from destructive punishment, the Lord granting this; therefore he says: "It is the Lord's passover," which another, interpreting directly, has said: "It is a crossing over for the Lord." After such a partaking of the divine food, let us see thirdly what sort the life of the one who has partaken of holy food must be; this is indicated by the unleavened bread and the days of unleavened bread.

The Jews, then, are to be zealous about the unleavened bread and to consider the seven days as offering them something marvelous, because they eat no leavened bread and have none among themselves, yet they can show no benefit from the matter, for they fulfill a type, not the truth. But you must consider the unleavened, as the apostle has said beforehand and we have noted, the sincere and pure soul free from all malice, the new manner that brings nothing of the old wickedness, to which the saying is well applied: "You shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats leavened bread, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." For a return to old wickedness is destruction for one who has been brought over to the newness. "If you live according to the flesh," he says, "you are about to die." And what is the symbol of the seven days? "Why," he says, "shall you eat unleavened bread for seven days?" The entire time happens to be seven days; for after the seventh, which is the Sabbath, there is a return to the first, and thus the cycle of time proceeds through the seven days, revolving back upon itself. You ought, then, to live all the time "in simplicity and sincerity," and this is truly saving. "For if," he says, "by the spirit you put to death the actions of the body, you will live." Simple is the manner of one who does not seek after the fleshly, who is guileless, without cunning, conceiving nothing evil, nothing bitter. And why does he call the first day and the seventh especially holy, saying, "The first day shall be called holy, and the seventh day shall be called holy for you"?

The first day signifies the beginning, on which we are sanctified by receiving the Holy Spirit, and the seventh signifies the end, when we depart from the body and become with Christ and dwell with the Lord, having left behind our sojourn on earth, wholly transferred to holiness; for it says, "While dwelling in the body, we are absent from the Lord." The law intends these holy days to be free from work; for it says, "You shall do no work on them," which indicates that the soul should not be bent toward earthly affairs nor endure servitude unfitting for the service of God, but should pursue with zeal and strain the soul toward only those things that are for its benefit, and of this again the symbol is, "But whatever will be done for every soul, that alone will be done for you." Therefore the Lord, leading to the interpretation of the legal rest, that it granted rest from works tending to vanity, not from those pertaining to the soul's benefit, put forward to the Pharisees: "Is it permitted on the Sabbath to do good or evil, to save a soul or to destroy it?" If you wish to keep the Sabbath and the festive rest well and according to Christ, abstain from worldly pursuits and transactions, but attend to and do the things of God and those for the soul's benefit, and thus you will keep a truly holy Sabbath and celebrate a holy feast, an image of that with Christ, to whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.