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| For 331. Easter-day xvi Pharmuthi; iii Id. April; Æra Dioclet. 47; Coss. Annius Bassus, Ablabius; Præfect, Florentius; Indict. iv.
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Letter III.—For 331. Easter-day xvi
Pharmuthi; iii Id. April; Æra Dioclet. 47; Coss. Annius Bassus,
Ablabius; Præfect, Florentius; Indict. iv.
Again, my beloved
brethren, the day of the feast draws near to us, which, above all
others, should be devoted to prayer, which the law commands to be
observed, and which it would be an unholy thing for us to pass over in
silence. For although we have been held under restraint by those who
afflict us, that, because of them, we should not announce to you this
season; yet thanks be to ‘God, who comforteth the afflicted3975
| 3975 2 Cor. vii. 6. The historical
reference is not quite certain, but the Index iii. is clearly
right in its statement that Ath. was absent at this time, as well as in
332. | ,’ that we have not been overcome by the wickedness of our
accusers and silenced; but obeying the voice of truth, we together with
you cry aloud in the day of the feast. For the God of all hath
commanded, saying, ‘Speak3976
| 3976 ‘Εἶπον, καὶ,’ as LXX. not Peshito. | , and the
children of Israel shall keep the Passover.’ And the Spirit
exhorts in the Psalm; ‘Blow the trumpet in the new moons3977
| 3977 Cf.
S. Cyril. Hom. Pasch. xxx. near the beginning. | , in the solemn day of your feast.’ And
the prophet cries; ‘Keep thy feasts, O Judah3978
.’ I do not send word to you as though
you were ignorant; but I publish it to those who know it, that ye may
perceive that although men have separated us, yet God having made us
companions, we approach the same feast, and worship the same Lord
continually. And we do not keep the festival as observers of days,
knowing that the Apostle reproves those who do so, in those words which
he spake; ‘Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years3979
.’ But rather do we consider the day
solemn because of the feast; so that all of us, who serve God in every
place, may together in our prayers be well-pleasing to God. For the
blessed Paul, announcing the nearness of gladness like this, did not
announce days, but the Lord, for whose sake we keep the feast, saying,
‘Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed3980
;’ so that we all, contemplating the
eternity of the Word, may draw near to do Him service.
2. For what else is the feast, but the service of
the soul? And what is that service, but prolonged prayer to God, and
unceasing thanksgiving3981
| 3981 Cf.
Clemens Alex. Strom. 7. 1. ἀδιάλειπτος
ἀγάπη. Also
1 Thess. v.
16, 17, both in the Greek and in the Syriac vers. and Letter
11. | ? The unthankful
departing far from these are rightly deprived of the joy springing
therefrom: for ‘joy and gladness are taken from their mouth3982
| 3982 Apparently a quotation from Scripture, perhaps from Jer. vii. the phraseology of
v. 28. being transferred to the sentiment of v. 34. The
expression has already occurred, Letter 2. 4. | .’ Therefore, the [divine] word doth
not allow them to have peace; ‘For there is no peace to the
wicked, saith the Lord3983
,’ they labour
in pain and grief. So, not even to him who owed ten thousand talents
did the Gospel grant forgiveness in the sight of the Lord3984
. For even he, having received forgiveness of
great things, was forgetful of kindness in little ones, so that he paid
the penalty also of those former things. And justly indeed, for having
himself experienced kindness, he was required to be merciful to his
fellow servant. He too that received the one talent, and bound it up in
a napkin, and hid it in the earth, was in consequence cast out for
unthankfulness, hearing the words, ‘Thou wicked and slothful
servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I
have not strawed; thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the
exchangers, and on my return, I should have received mine own. Take
therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten
talents3985
.’ For, of course, when he was
required to deliver up to his lord that which belonged to him, he
should have acknowledged the kindness of him who gave it, and the value
of that which was given. For he who gave was not a hard man, had he
been so, he would not have given even in the first instance; neither
was that which was given unprofitable and vain, for then he had not
found fault. But both he who gave was good, and that which was given
was capable of bearing fruit. As therefore ‘he who withholdeth
corn in seed-time is cursed3986
,’ according
to the divine proverb, so he who neglects grace, and hides it without
culture, is properly cast out as a wicked and unthankful person. On
this account, he praises those who increased [their talents], saying,
‘Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful in
a little, I will place thee over much; enter into the joy of thy Lord3987
.’
3. This was right and reasonable; for, as the
Scripture declares, they had gained as much as they had received. Now,
my beloved, our will ought to keep pace with the grace of God, and not
fall short; lest while our will remains idle, the grace given us should
begin to depart, and the enemy finding us empty and naked, should enter
[into us], as was the case with him spoken of in the Gospel, from whom
the devil went out; ‘for having gone through dry places, he took
seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and returning and finding
the house empty, he dwelt there, and the last state of that man was
worse than the first3988
.’ For the
departure from virtue gives place for the entrance of the unclean
spirit. There is, moreover, the apostolic injunction, that the grace
given us should not be unprofitable; for those things which he wrote
particularly to his disciple, he enforces on us through him3989
| 3989 Cf.
Letter 2, near beginning. | , saying, ‘Neglect not the gift that is
in thee. For he who tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but
the paths of the slothful are strewn with thorns;’ so that the
Spirit forewarns a man not to fall into them, saying, ‘Break up
your fallow ground, sow not among thorns3990
.’ For when a man despises the grace
given him; and forthwith falls into
the cares of the world, he delivers himself over to his lusts; and thus
in the time of persecution he is offended3991
,
and becomes altogether unfruitful. Now the prophet points out the end
of such negligence, saying, ‘Cursed is he who doeth the work of
the Lord carelessly3992
.’ For a
servant of the Lord should be diligent and careful, yea, moreover,
burning like a flame, so that when, by an ardent spirit, he has
destroyed all carnal sin, he may be able to draw near to God who,
according to the expression of the saints, is called ‘a consuming
fire3993
.’
4. Therefore, the God of all, ‘Who maketh
His angels [spirits],’ is a spirit, ‘and His ministers a
flame of fire3994
.’ Wherefore,
in the departure from Egypt, He forbade the multitude to touch the
mountain, where God was appointing them the law, because they were not
of this character. But He called blessed Moses to it, as being fervent
in spirit, and possessing unquenchable grace, saying, ‘Let Moses
alone draw near3995
.’ He entered
into the cloud also, and when the mountain was smoking, he was not
injured; but rather, through ‘the words of the Lord, which are
choice silver purified in the earth3996
,’ he
descended purified. Therefore the blessed Paul, when desirous that the
grace of the Spirit given to us should not grow cold, exhorts, saying,
‘Quench not the Spirit3997
.’ For so
shall we remain partakers of Christ3998
| 3998 Conf.
S. Athan. Expos. in Psalmos, t. i. p, 863. πῦρ ὥσπερ
νοητόν, τὴν
τοῦ ἁγίου
Πνεύματος
μέθεξιν
ἐμβαλών. | , if we hold
fast to the end the Spirit given at the beginning. For he said,
‘Quench not;’ not because the Spirit is placed in the power
of men, and is able to suffer anything from them; but because bad and
unthankful men are such as manifestly wish to quench it, since they,
like the impure, persecute the Spirit with unholy deeds. ‘For the
holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit, nor dwell in a body that is
subject unto sin; but will remove from thoughts that are without
understanding3999
.’ Now they
being without understanding, and deceitful, and lovers of sin, walk
still as in darkness, not having that ‘Light which lighteth every
man that cometh into the world4000
.’ Now a fire
such as this laid hold of Jeremiah the prophet, when the word was in
him as a fire, and he said, ‘I pass away from every place, and am
not able to endure it4001
.’ And our
Lord Jesus Christ, being good and a lover of men, came that He might
cast this upon earth, and said, ‘And what? would that it were
already kindled4002
!’ For He
desired, as He testified in Ezekiel4003
, the
repentance of a man rather than his death; so that evil should be
entirely consumed in all men, that the soul, being purified, might be
able to bring forth fruit; for the word which is sown by Him will be
productive, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred4004
. Thus, for instance, those who were with
Cleopas4005
, although infirm at first from lack of
knowledge, yet afterwards were inflamed with the words of the Saviour,
and brought forth the fruits of the knowledge of Him. The blessed Paul
also, when seized by this fire, revealed it not to flesh and blood, but
having experienced the grace, he became a preacher of the Word. But not
such were those nine lepers who were cleansed from their leprosy, and
yet were unthankful to the Lord who healed them; nor Judas, who
obtained the lot of an apostle, and was named a disciple of the Lord,
but at last, ‘while eating bread with the Saviour, lifted up his
heel against Him, and became a traitor4006
.’ But such men have the due reward of
their folly, since their expectation will be vain through their
ingratitude; for there is no hope for the ungrateful, the last fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels, awaits those who have neglected
divine light. Such then is the end of the unthankful.
5. But the faithful and true servants of the
Lord, knowing that the Lord loves the thankful, never cease to praise
Him, ever giving thanks unto the Lord. And whether the time is one of
ease or of affliction, they offer up praise to God with thanksgiving,
not reckoning these things of time, but worshipping the Lord, the God
of times4007
| 4007 Cf.
Letter 1. 1, note 12. | . Thus of old time, Job, who possessed
fortitude above all men, thought of these things when in prosperity;
and when in adversity, he patiently endured, and when he suffered, gave
thanks. As also the humble David, in the very time of affliction sang
praises and said, ‘I will bless the Lord at all times4008
.’ And the blessed Paul, in all his
Epistles, so to say, ceased not to thank God. In times of ease, he
failed not, and in afflictions he gloried, knowing that
‘tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope, and that hope maketh not ashamed4009
.’ Let us, being followers of such men,
pass no season without thanksgiving, but especially now, when the time
is one of tribulation, which the heretics excite against us, will we
praise the Lord, uttering the words of the saints; ‘All these
things have come upon us, yet have
we not forgotten Thee4010
.’ For as the
Jews at that time, although suffering an assault from the tabernacles4011
of the Edomites, and oppressed by the
enemies of Jerusalem, did not give themselves up, but all the more sang
praises to God; so we, my beloved brethren, though hindered from
speaking the word of the Lord, will the more proclaim it, and being
afflicted, we will sing Psalms4012
, in that we are
accounted worthy to be despised, and to labour anxiously for the truth.
Yea, moreover, being grievously vexed, we will give thanks. For the
blessed Apostle, who gave thanks at all times, urges us in the same
manner to draw near to God saying, ‘Let your requests, with
thanksgiving, be made known unto God4013
.’ And
being desirous that we should always continue in this resolution, he
says, ‘At all times give thanks; pray without ceasing4014
.’ For he knew that believers are
strong while employed in thanksgiving, and that rejoicing they pass
over the walls of the enemy, like those saints who said, ‘Through
Thee will we pierce through our enemies, and by my God I will leap over
a wall4015
.’ At all times let us stand
firm, but especially now, although many afflictions overtake us, and
many heretics are furious against us. Let us then, my beloved brethren,
celebrate with thanksgiving the holy feast which now draws near to us,
‘girding up the loins of our minds4016
,’ like our Saviour Jesus Christ, of
Whom it is written, ‘Righteousness shall be the girdle of His
loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins4017
.’ Each one of us having in his hand
the staff which came out of the root of Jesse, and our feet shod with
the preparation of the Gospel4018
, let us keep the
feast as Paul saith, ‘Not with the old leaven, but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth4019
;’ reverently trusting that we are
reconciled through Christ, and not departing from faith in Him, nor do
we defile ourselves together with heretics, and strangers to the truth,
whose conversation and whose will degrade them. But rejoicing in
afflictions, we break through the furnace of iron and darkness, and
pass, unharmed, over that terrible Red Sea. Thus also, when we look
upon the confusion of heretics, we shall, with Moses, sing that great
song of praise, and say, ‘We will sing unto the Lord, for He is
to be gloriously praised4020
.’ Thus,
singing praises, and seeing that the sin which is in us has been cast
into the sea, we pass over to the wilderness. And being first purified
by the fast of forty days, by prayers, and fastings, and discipline,
and good works, we shall be able to eat the holy Passover in
Jerusalem.
6. The beginning of the fast of forty days is on
the fifth of Phamenoth (Mar. 1); and when, as I have said, we have
first been purified and prepared by those days, we begin the holy week
of the great Easter on the tenth of Pharmuthi (Apr. 5), in which, my
beloved brethren, we should use more prolonged prayers, and fastings,
and watchings, that we may be enabled to anoint our lintels with
precious blood, and to escape the destroyer4021
.
Let us rest then, on the fifteenth of the month Pharmuthi (Apr. 10),
for on the evening of that Saturday we hear the angels’ message,
‘Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is risen4022
.’ Immediately afterwards that great
Sunday receives us, I mean on the sixteenth of the same month Pharmuthi
(April 11), on which our Lord having risen, gave us peace towards our
neighbours. When then we have kept the feast according to His will, let
us add from that first day in the holy week, the seven weeks of
Pentecost, and as we then receive the grace of the Spirit, let us at
all times give thanks to the Lord; through Whom to the Father be glory
and dominion, in the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.
Salute one another with a holy kiss. The brethren
who are with me salute you. I pray, brethren beloved and longed for,
that ye may have health, and that ye may be mindful of us in the
Lord.
Here endeth the third Festal Letter of holy
Athanasius. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
