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| For 329. Easter-day xi Pharmuthi; viii Id. April; Ær. Dioclet. 45; Coss. Constantinus Aug. VIII. Constantinus Cæs. IV; Præfect. Septimius Zenius; Indict. II.
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I. Festal Letters.
Letter I.—For
329. Easter-day xi Pharmuthi; viii Id. April; Ær. Dioclet. 45;
Coss. Constantinus Aug. VIII. Constantinus Cæs. IV; Præfect.
Septimius Zenius; Indict. II.
Of Fasting, and Trumpets, and
Feasts.
Come, my beloved, the
season calls us to keep the feast. Again, ‘the Sun of
Righteousness3884
, causing His divine
beams to rise upon us, proclaims beforehand the time of the feast, in
which, obeying Him, we ought to celebrate it, lest when the time has
passed by, gladness likewise may pass us by. For discerning the time is
one of the duties most urgent on us, for the practice of virtue; so
that the blessed Paul, when instructing his disciple, teaches him to
observe the time, saying, ‘Stand (ready) in season, and out of
season3885
| 3885 2 Tim. iv. 2. The due
celebration of the feast is spoken of as producing a permanent
beneficial effect on the Christian. Cf. Letter 4. | ’—that knowing both the one
and the other, he might do things befitting the season, and avoid the
blame of unseasonableness. For thus the God of all, after the manner of
wise Solomon3886
, distributes everything in time and
season, to the end that, in due time, the salvation of men should be
everywhere spread abroad. Thus the ‘Wisdom of God3887
,’ our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
not out of season, but in season, ‘passed upon holy souls,
fashioning the friends of God and the prophets3888
;’ so that although very many were
praying for Him, and saying, ‘O that the salvation of God were
come out of Sion3889
!’—the
Spouse also, as it is written in the Song of Songs, was praying and
saying, ‘O that Thou wert my sister’s son, that sucked the
breasts of my mother3890
!’ that Thou
wert like the children of men, and wouldest take upon Thee human
passions for our sake!—nevertheless, the God of all, the Maker of
times and seasons, Who knows our affairs better than we do, while, as a
good physician, He exhorts to obedience in season—the only one in
which we may be healed—so also does He send Him not unseasonably,
but seasonably, saying, ‘In an acceptable time have I heard Thee,
and in the day of salvation I have helped Thee3891
.’
2. And, on this account, the blessed Paul, urging
us to note this season, wrote, saying, ‘Behold, now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation3892
.’ At set seasons also He called the
children of Israel to the Levitical feasts by Moses, saying,
‘Three times in a year ye shall keep a feast to Me3893
’ (one of which, my beloved, is that
now at hand), the trumpets of the priests sounding and urging its
observance; as the holy Psalmist commanded, saying, ‘Blow with
the trumpet in the new moon, on the [solemn] day of your feast3894
.’ Since this sentence enjoins upon us
to blow both on the new moons, and on the solemn3895
days, He
hath made a solemn day of that in which the light of the moon is
perfected in the full; which was then a type, as is this of the
trumpets. At one time, as has been said, they called to the feasts; at
another time to fasting and to war. And this was not done without
solemnity, nor by chance, but this sound of the trumpets was appointed,
so that every man should come to that which was proclaimed. And this
ought to be learned not merely from me, but from the divine Scriptures,
when God was revealed to Moses, and said, as it is written in the book
of Numbers; ‘And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make to thee
two trumpets; of silver shalt thou make them, and they shall be for
thee to call the congregation3896
;’—very
properly for those who here love Him. So that we may know that these
things had reference to the time of Moses—yea, were to be
observed so long as the shadow lasted, the whole being appointed for
use, ‘till the time of reformation3897
.’ ‘For’ (said He)
‘if ye shall go out to battle in your land against your enemies
that rise up against you3898
’ (for such
things as these refer to the land, and no further), ‘then ye
shall proclaim with the trumpets, and shall be remembered before the
Lord, and be delivered from your enemies.’ Not only in wars did
they blow the trumpet, but under the law, there was a festal trumpet
also. Hear him again, going on to say, ‘And in the day of your
gladness, and in your feasts, and your new moons, ye shall blow with
the trumpets3899
.’ And let no man think it a
light and contemptible matter, if he hear the law command respecting
trumpets; it is a wonderful and fearful thing. For beyond any other
voice or instrument, the trumpet is awakening and terrible; so Israel
received instruction by these means, because he was then but a child.
But in order that the proclamation should not be thought merely human,
being superhuman, its sounds resembled those which were uttered when
they trembled before the mount3900
; and they were
reminded of the law that was then given them, and kept it.
3. For the law was admirable, and the shadow was
excellent, otherwise, it would not have wrought fear, and induced
reverence in those who heard; especially in those who at that time not
only heard but saw these things. Now these things were typical, and
done as in a shadow. But let us pass on to the meaning, and henceforth
leaving the figure at a distance, come to the truth, and look upon the
priestly trumpets of our Saviour, which cry out, and call us, at one
time to war, as the blessed Paul saith; ‘We wrestle not with
flesh and blood, but with principalities, with powers, with the rulers
of this dark world, with wicked spirits in heaven3901
.’ At another time the call is made to
virginity, and self-denial, and conjugal harmony, saying, To virgins,
the things of virgins; and to those who love the way of abstinence, the
things of abstinence; and to those who are married3902
, the things of an honourable marriage; thus
assigning to each its own virtues and an honourable recompense.
Sometimes the call is made to fasting, and sometimes to a feast. Hear
again the same [Apostle] blowing the trumpet, and proclaiming,
‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed; therefore let us keep the
feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness3903
.’ If thou wouldest listen to a
trumpet much greater than all these, hear our Saviour saying; ‘In
that last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If
any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink3904
.’ For it became the Saviour not simply
to call us to a feast, but to ‘the great feast;’ if only we
will be prepared to hear, and to conform to the proclamation of every
trumpet.
4. For since, as I before said, there are divers
proclamations, listen, as in a figure, to the prophet blowing the
trumpet; and further, having turned to the truth, be ready for the
announcement of the trumpet, for he saith, ‘Blow ye the trumpet
in Sion: sanctify a fast3905
.’ This is a
warning trumpet, and commands with great earnestness, that when we
fast, we should hallow the fast. For not all those who call upon God,
hallow God, since there are some who defile Him; yet not Him—that
is impossible—but their own mind concerning Him; for He is holy,
and has pleasure in the saints3906
. And therefore the
blessed Paul accuses those who dishonour God; ‘Transgressors of
the law dishonour God3907
.’ So then, to
make a separation from those who pollute the fast, he saith here,
‘sanctify a fast.’ For many, crowding to the fast, pollute
themselves in the thoughts of their hearts, sometimes by doing evil
against their brethren, sometimes by daring to defraud. And, to mention
nothing else, there are many who exalt themselves above their
neighbours, thereby causing great mischief. For the boast of fasting
did no good to the Pharisee, although he fasted twice in the week3908
, only because he exalted himself against the
publican. In the same manner the Word blamed the children of Israel on account of such a
fast as this, exhorting them by Isaiah the Prophet, and saying,
‘This is not the fast and the day that I have chosen, that a man
should humble his soul; not even if thou shouldest bow down thy neck
like a hook, and shouldest strew sackcloth and ashes under thee;
neither thus shall ye call the fast acceptable3909
.’ That we may be able to shew what
kind of persons we should be when we fast, and of what character the
fast should be, listen again to God commanding Moses, and saying, as it
is written in Leviticus3910
, ‘And the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, In the tenth day of this seventh month,
there shall be a day of atonement; a convocation, and a holy day shall
it be to you; and ye shall humble your souls, and offer whole
burnt-offerings unto the Lord.’ And afterwards, that the law
might be defined on this point, He proceeds to say; ‘Every soul
that shall not humble itself, shall be cut off from the people3911
.’
5. Behold, my brethren, how much a fast can do,
and in what manner the law commands us to fast. It is required that not
only with the body should we fast, but with the soul. Now the soul is
humbled when it does not follow wicked opinions, but feeds on becoming
virtues. For virtues and vices are the food of the soul, and it can eat
either of these two meats, and incline to either of the two, according
to its own will. If it is bent toward virtue, it will be nourished by
virtues, by righteousness, by temperance, by meekness, by fortitude, as
Paul saith; ‘Being nourished by the word of truth3912
.’ Such was the case with our Lord, who
said, ‘My meat is to do the will of My Father which is in
heaven3913
.’ But if it is not thus with the
soul, and it inclines downwards, it is then nourished by nothing but
sin. For thus the Holy Ghost, describing sinners and their food,
referred to the devil when He said, ‘I have given him to be meat
to the people of Æthiopia3914
.’ For this is
the food of sinners. And as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, being
heavenly bread, is the food of the saints, according to this;
‘Except ye eat My flesh, and drink My blood3915
;’ so is the devil the food of the
impure, and of those who do nothing which is of the light, but work the
deeds of darkness. Therefore, in order to withdraw and turn them from
vices, He commands them to be nourished with the food of virtue;
namely, humbleness of mind, lowliness to endure humiliations, the
acknowledgment of God. For not only does such a fast as this obtain
pardon for souls, but being kept holy, it prepares the saints, and
raises them above the earth.
6. And indeed that which I am about to say is
wonderful, yea it is of those things which are very miraculous; yet not
far from the truth, as ye may be able to learn from the sacred3916
| 3916 The
word in the Syriac is ‘priestly.’ But in this and in other
places, it appears to be for the Greek ῾Ιερός.
Cf. τὰ
ἱερὰ
γράμματα. 2 Tim. iii. 15. | writings. That great man Moses, when
fasting, conversed with God, and received the law. The great and holy
Elijah, when fasting, was thought worthy of divine visions, and at last
was taken up like Him who ascended into heaven. And Daniel, when
fasting, although a very young man, was entrusted with the mystery, and
he alone understood the secret things of the king, and was thought
worthy of divine visions. But because the length of the fast of these
men was wonderful, and the days prolonged, let no man lightly fall into
unbelief; but rather let him believe and know, that the contemplation
of God, and the word which is from Him, suffice to nourish those who
hear, and stand to them in place of all food. For the angels are no
otherwise sustained than by beholding at all times the face of the
Father, and of the Saviour who is in heaven. And thus Moses, as long as
he talked with God, fasted indeed bodily, but was nourished by divine
words. When he descended among men, and God was gone up from him, he
suffered hunger like other men. For it is not said that he fasted
longer than forty days—those in which he was conversing with God.
And, generally, each one of the saints has been thought worthy of
similar transcendent nourishment.
7. Wherefore, my beloved, having our souls
nourished with divine food, with the Word, and according to the will of
God, and fasting bodily in things external, let us keep this great and
saving feast as becomes us. Even the ignorant Jews received this divine
food, through the type, when they ate a lamb in the passover. But not
understanding the type, even to this day they eat the lamb, erring in
that they are without the city and the truth. As long as Judæa and
the city existed, there were a type, and a lamb, and a shadow, since
the law thus commanded3917
| 3917 Deut. xii. 11, 13,
14. | : These things shall
not be done in another city; but in the land of Judæa, and in no
place without [the land of Judæa]. And besides this, the law
commanded them to offer whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices, there
being no other altar than that in Jerusalem. For on this account, in
that city alone was there an altar and temple built, and in no other
city were they permitted to perform
these rites, so that when that city should come to an end, then those
things that were figurative might also be done away.
8. Now observe; that city, since the coming of
our Savior, has had an end, and all the land of the Jews has been laid
waste; so that from the testimony of these things (and we need no
further proof, being assured by our own eyes of the fact) there must,
of necessity, be an end of the shadow. And not from me should these
things be learned, but the sacred voice of the prophet foretold,
crying; ‘Behold upon the mountains the feet of Him that bringeth
good tidings, and publisheth peace3918
;’ and
what is the message he published, but that which he goes on to say to
them, ‘Keep thy feasts, O Judah; pay to the Lord thy vows. For
they shall no more go to that which is old; it is finished; it is taken
away: He is gone up who breathed upon the face, and delivered thee from
affliction3919
.’ Now who is he that went up? a
man may say to the Jews, in order that even the boast of the shadow may
be done away; neither is it an idle thing to listen to the expression,
‘It is finished; he is gone up who breathed.’ For nothing
was finished before he went up who breathed. But as soon as he went up,
it was finished. Who was he then, O Jews, as I said before? If Moses,
the assertion would be false; for the people were not yet come to the
land in which alone they were commanded to perform these rites. But if
Samuel, or any other of the prophets, even in that case there would be
a perversion of the truth; for hitherto these things were done in
Judæa, and the city was standing. For it was necessary that while
that stood, these things should be performed. So that it was none of
these, my beloved, who went up. But if thou wouldest hear the true
matter, and be kept from Jewish fables, behold our Saviour who went up,
and ‘breathed upon the face, and said to His disciples, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost3920
.’ For as soon
as these things were done, everything was finished, for the altar was
broken, and the veil of the temple was rent; and although the city was
not yet laid waste, the abomination was ready to sit in the midst of
the temple, and the city and those ancient ordinances to receive their
final consummation.
9. Since then we have passed beyond that time of
shadows, and no longer perform rites under it, but have turned, as it
were, unto the Lord; ‘for the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty3921
;’—as we hear the sacred trumpet,
no longer slaying a material lamb, but that true Lamb that was slain,
even our Lord Jesus Christ; ‘Who was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and was dumb as a lamb before her shearers3922
;’ being purified by His precious
blood, which speaketh better things than that of Abel, having our feet
shod with the preparation of the Gospel, holding in our hands the rod
and staff of the Lord, by which that saint was comforted, who said3923
, ‘Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
me;’ and to sum up, being in all respects prepared, and careful
for nothing, because, as the blessed Paul saith, ‘The Lord is at
hand3924
;’ and as our Saviour saith, ‘In
an hour when we think not, the Lord cometh;—Let us keep the
Feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Putting off the old man and his deeds, let us put on the new man3925
, which is created in God,’ in
humbleness of mind, and a pure conscience; in meditation of the law by
night and by day. And casting away all hypocrisy and fraud, putting far
from us all pride and deceit, let us take upon us love towards God and
towards our neighbour, that being new [creatures], and receiving the
new wine, even the Holy Spirit, we may properly keep the feast, even
the month of these new [fruits]3926
.
10. We3927
| 3927 We
should not have much difficulty in fixing upon many of the phrases and
expressions used by S. Athan. towards the close of his Epistles, by
referring to the concluding sentences in the Paschal Letters of S.
Cyril, who seems herein to have closely imitated his illustrious
predecessor in the Patriarchate. The Syriac translator must frequently
have had before him the following expressions: ἀρχόμενοι
τῆς ἁγίας
τεσσαρακοστῆς—ἐπισυνάπτοντες—συνάπτοντες
ἐξῆς—περιλύοντες
τὰς
νηστείας—καταπαύοντες
τὰς
νηστείας—ἑσπέρᾳ
βαθεί& 139·
σαββάτου—τῇ
ἐπιφωσκούσῃ
κυριακῇ. | begin the holy fast
on the fifth day of Pharmuthi (March 31), and adding to it according to
the number of those six holy and great days, which are the symbol of
the creation of this world, let us rest and cease (from fasting) on the
tenth day of the same Pharmuthi (April 5), on the holy sabbath of the
week. And when the first day of the holy week dawns and rises upon us,
on the eleventh day of the same month (April 6), from which again we
count all the seven weeks one by one, let us keep feast on the holy day
of Pentecost—on that which was at one time to the Jews,
typically, the feast of weeks, in which they granted forgiveness and
settlement of debts; and indeed that day was one of deliverance in
every respect. Let us keep the feast on the first day of the great
week, as a symbol of the world to come, in which we here receive a
pledge that we shall have everlasting life hereafter. Then having
passed hence, we shall keep a
perfect feast with Christ, while we cry out and say, like the saints,
‘I will pass to the place of the wondrous tabernacle, to the
house of God; with the voice of gladness and thanksgiving, the shouting
of those who rejoice3928
;’ whence pain
and sorrow and sighing have fled, and upon our heads gladness and joy
shall have come to us! May we be judged worthy to be partakers in these
things.
11. Let us remember the poor, and not forget
kindness to strangers; above all, let us love God with all our soul,
and might, and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves. So may we
receive those things which the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard,
and which have not entered into the heart of man, which God hath
prepared for those that love Him3929
, through His
only Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; through Whom, to the
Father alone, by the Holy Ghost, be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
Salute one another with a kiss. All the brethren
who are with me salute you.
Here endeth the first Festal Letter of holy
Athanasius. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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