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| For 332. Easter-day vii Pharmuthi, iv Non. Apr.; Æra Dioclet. 48; Coss. Fabius Pacatianus, Mæcilius Hilarianus; Præfect, Hyginus; Indict. v.
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Letter IV.—For
332. Easter-day vii Pharmuthi4023
| 4023 The
Syriac text has 17th instead of 7th. There is the same error in the
index. The correct day is given towards the end of the
Letter. | , iv Non.
Apr.; Æra Dioclet. 48; Coss. Fabius Pacatianus, Mæcilius
Hilarianus; Præfect, Hyginus4024
| 4024 There
is sometimes a difficulty, in the absence of independent testimony, in
ascertaining the exact orthography of the proper names, from the loose
manner in which they are written in the Syriac. Here, however, it is
clearly Hyginus, as in Sozomen, lib. ii. c. 25, Larsow writes it
Eugenius. He has also the 46th instead of the 48th of the Diocletian
Æra. The word ‘Fabius’ is not clear. In Baronii
Annal. Eccles, however, we find it Ovinius. | ; Indict. v.
He sent this Letter from the Emperor’s
Court by a soldier4025
| 4025 See
note 6 at the end of the Letter. | .
I send unto you, my
beloved, late and beyond the accustomed time4026
| 4026 In
the index it is stated that the third, but not that the
fourth, Letter was sent late, but see Letter 3, note
1. | ;
yet I trust you will forgive the delay, on account of my protracted
journey, and because I have been tried with illness. Being hindered by
these two causes, and unusually severe storms having occurred, I have deferred writing to you. But
notwithstanding my long journeys, and my grievous sickness, I have not
forgotten to give you the festal notification, and, in discharge of my
duty, I now announce to you the feast. For although the date of this
letter is later4027
| 4027 i.e.
too late to give notice of the beginning of Lent, infr. §5,
and Letter 5, §6. | than that usual for
this announcement, it should still be considered well-timed, since our
enemies having been put to shame and reproved by the Church, because
they persecuted us without a cause4028
| 4028 Constantine, in his letter, supr. p. 133, speaks of the
envy of the accusers of Athan. and of their unsuccessful efforts to
criminate him. | , we may now
sing a festal song of praise, uttering the triumphant hymn against
Pharaoh; ‘We will sing unto the Lord, for He is to be gloriously
praised; the horse and his rider He hath cast into the sea4029
.’
2. It is well, my beloved, to proceed from feast
to feast; again festal meetings, again holy vigils arouse our minds,
and compel our intellect to keep vigil unto contemplation of good
things. Let us not fulfil these days like those that mourn, but, by
enjoying spiritual food, let us seek to silence our fleshly lusts4030
| 4030 τοῖς τῆς
σαρκὸς
ἐπιτιμῶντες
πάθεσιν. S.
Cyril. Hom. Pasch. xx. | . For by these means we shall have strength
to overcome our adversaries, like blessed Judith4031
, when having first exercised herself in
fastings and prayers, she overcame the enemies, and killed Olophernes.
And blessed Esther, when destruction was about to come on all her race,
and the nation of Israel was ready to perish, defeated the fury of the
tyrant by no other means than by fasting and prayer to God, and changed
the ruin of her people into safety4032
. Now as those
days are considered feasts for Israel, so also in old time feasts were
appointed when an enemy was slain, or a conspiracy against the people
broken up, and Israel delivered. Therefore blessed Moses of old time
ordained the great feast of the Passover, and our celebration of it,
because, namely, Pharaoh was killed, and the people were delivered from
bondage. For in those times it was especially, when those who
tyrannized over the people had been slain, that temporal feasts and
holidays were observed in Judæa4033
| 4033 Cf. Judith ix. xv" id="xxv.iii.iii.iv-p15.1" parsed="|Esth|9|20|9|28;|Jdt|9|0|0|0;|Jdt|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Esth.9.20-Esth.9.28 Bible:Jdt.9 Bible:Jdt.15">Esther ix. 20–28; Judith ix. xv. | .
3. Now, however, that the devil, that tyrant
against the whole world, is slain, we do not approach a temporal feast,
my beloved, but an eternal and heavenly. Not in shadows do we shew it
forth, but we come to it in truth. For they being filled with the flesh
of a dumb lamb, accomplished the feast, and having anointed their
door-posts with the blood, implored aid against the destroyer4034
| 4034 Conf.
S. Cyril. Hom. Pasch. xxiv. p. 293. Ed. Paris, 1638. | . But now we, eating of the Word of the
Father, and having the lintels of our hearts sealed with the blood of
the New Testament4035
, acknowledge the
grace given us from the Saviour, who said, ‘Behold, I have given
unto you to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power
of the enemy4036
.’ For no more does death reign;
but instead of death henceforth is life, since our Lord said, ‘I
am the life4037
;’ so that everything is filled
with joy and gladness; as it is written, ‘The Lord reigneth, let
the earth rejoice.’ For when death reigned, ‘sitting down
by the rivers of Babylon, we wept4038
,’ and
mourned, because we felt the bitterness of captivity; but now that
death and the kingdom of the devil is abolished, everything is entirely
filled with joy and gladness. And God is no longer known only in
Judæa, but in all the earth, ‘their voice hath gone forth,
and the knowledge of Him hath filled all the earth4039
.’ What follows, my beloved, is
obvious; that we should approach such a feast, not with filthy raiment,
but having clothed our minds with pure garments. For we need in this to
put on our Lord Jesus4040
, that we may be
able to celebrate the feast with Him. Now we are clothed with Him when
we love virtue, and are enemies to wickedness, when we exercise
ourselves in temperance and mortify lasciviousness, when we love
righteousness before iniquity, when we honour sufficiency, and have
strength of mind, when we do not forget the poor, but open our doors to
all men, when we assist humble-mindedness, but hate pride.
4. By these things Israel of old, having first,
as in a figure, striven for the victory, came to the feast, for these
things were then foreshadowed and typified. But we, my beloved, the
shadow having received its fulfilment, and the types being
accomplished, should no longer consider the feast typical, neither
should we go up to Jerusalem which is here below, to sacrifice the
Passover, according to the unseasonable observance of the Jews, lest,
while the season passes away, we should be regarded as acting
unseasonably4041
| 4041 Cf.
Letter i. (beginning) | ; but, in accordance with the
injunction of the Apostles, let us go beyond the types, and sing the
new song of praise. For perceiving this, and being assembled together
with the Truth4042
| 4042 σὺν τῇ
ἀληθεί& 139·. I understand this as referring to Christ. Vid.
John xiv.
6. | , they drew near,
and said unto our Saviour, ‘Where wilt Thou that we should make
ready for Thee the Passover4043
?’ For no
longer were these things to be done which belonged to Jerusalem which
is beneath; neither there alone was the feast to be celebrated, but
wherever God willed it to be. Now He willed it to be in every place, so that
‘in every place incense and a sacrifice might be offered to Him4044
.’ For although, as in the historical
account, in no other place might the feast of the Passover be kept save
only in Jerusalem, yet when the things pertaining to that time were
fulfilled, and those which belonged to shadows had passed away, and the
preaching of the Gospel was about to extend everywhere; when indeed the
disciples were spreading the feast in all places, they asked the
Saviour, ‘Where wilt Thou that we shall make ready?’ The
Saviour also, since He was changing the typical for the spiritual,
promised them that they should no longer eat the flesh of a lamb, but
His own, saying, ‘Take, eat and drink; this is My body, and My
blood4045
.’ When we are thus nourished by these
things, we also, my beloved, shall truly keep the feast of the
Passover.
5. We begin on the first of Pharmuthi (Mar. 27),
and rest on the sixth of the same month (Apr. 1), on the evening of the
seventh day; and the holy first day of the week having risen upon us on
the seventh of the same Pharmuthi (Apr. 2), celebrate we too the days
of holy Pentecost following thereon, shewing forth through them the
world to come4046
| 4046 Cf.
Bingham, xx. ch. 6; Cass. Coll. xxi. 11; Cyril uses the same
comparison towards the end of his 26th Paschal discourse. | , so that henceforth
we may be with Christ for ever, praising God over all in Christ Jesus,
and through Him, with all saints, we say unto the Lord, Amen. Salute
one another with a holy kiss. All the brethren who are with me salute
you. We have sent this letter from the Court, by the hand of an
attendant officer4047
| 4047 ‘Officilius.’ Cureton considers this may be an error
for the Latin Officialis. | , to whom it was
given by Ablavius4048
| 4048 Ablavius, Præfect of the East, the minister and favourite of
Constantine the Great, was murdered after the death of the latter. He
was consul in the preceding year. Zozimus ii. 40. (Smith’s
Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Biography.) | , the Præfect
of the Prætorium, who fears God in truth. For I am at the Court,
having been summoned by the emperor Constantine to see him. But the
Meletians, who were present there, being envious, sought our ruin
before the Emperor. But they were put to shame and driven away thence
as calumniators, being confuted by many things. Those who were driven
away were Callinicus, Ision, Eudæmon, and Gelœus4049
| 4049 The
name means ‘Laughable.’ | Hieracammon, who, on account of the shame of
his name, calls himself Eulogius.
Here endeth the fourth Festal Letter of holy
Athanasius. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
