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| For 333. Easter-day, Coss. Dalmatius and Zenophilus; Præfect, Paternus; vi Indict.; xvii Kal. Maii, xx Pharmuthi; xv Moon; vii Gods; Æra Dioclet. 49.
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Letter V.—For
333. Easter-day4050
| 4050 See
supr. Table D, and note. The full moon (‘Moon xiv’)
was really on Pharm. 20, but seems to have been calculated to fall on
the previous day. | , Coss. Dalmatius
and Zenophilus; Præfect, Paternus4051
| 4051 The
Syriac seems to represent ‘Paterius,’ not
‘Paternus’ as Larsow writes it. A former præfect of
Egypt was called Paterius, according to Gelas. Cyz. in Hard.
Conc. i. 459. | ; vi Indict.; xvii
Kal. Maii, xx Pharmuthi; xv Moon; vii Gods; Æra Dioclet.
49.
We duly proceed, my
brethren, from feasts to feasts, duly from prayers to prayers, we
advance from fasts to fasts, and join holy-days to holy-days. Again the
time has arrived which brings to us a new beginning4052
, even the announcement of the blessed
Passover, in which the Lord was sacrificed. We eat, as it were, the
food of life, and constantly thirsting we delight our souls at all
times, as from a fountain, in His precious blood. For we continually
and ardently desire; He stands ready for those who thirst; and for
those who thirst there is the word of our Saviour, which, in His
loving-kindness, He uttered on the day of the feast; ‘If any man
thirst, let him come to Me and drink4053
.’ Nor
was it then alone when any one drew near to Him, that He cured his
thirst; but whenever any one seeks, there is free access for him to the
Saviour. For the grace of the feast is not limited to one time, nor
does its splendid brilliancy decline; but it is always near,
enlightening the minds of those who earnestly desire it4054
| 4054 Vid.
note 2, to Letter 1. | . For therein is constant virtue, for those
who are illuminated in their minds, and meditate on the divine
Scriptures day and night, like the man to whom a blessing is given, as
it is written in the sacred Psalms; ‘Blessed is the man who hath
not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of
sinners, nor sat in the seat of corrupters. But his delight is in the
law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night4055
.’ For it is not the sun, or the moon,
or the host of those other stars which illumines him, but he glitters
with the high effulgence of God over all.
2. For it is God, my beloved, even the God Who at
first established the feast for us, Who vouchsafes the celebration of
it year by year. He both brought about the slaying of His Son for
salvation, and gave us this reason for the holy feast, to which every
year bears witness, as often as at this season the feast is proclaimed.
This also leads us on from the cross through this world to that which
is before us, and God produces even now from it the joy of glorious salvation, bringing us to the
same assembly, and in every place uniting all of us in spirit;
appointing us common prayers, and a common grace proceeding from the
feast. For this is the marvel of His loving-kindness, that He should
gather together in the same place those who are at a distance; and make
those who appear to be far off in the body, to be near together in
unity of spirit.
3. Wherefore then, my beloved, do we not
acknowledge the grace as becometh the feast? Wherefore do we not make a
return to our Benefactor? It is indeed impossible to make an adequate
return to God; still, it is a wicked thing for us who receive the
gracious gift, not to acknowledge it. Nature itself manifests our
inability; but our own will reproves our unthankfulness. Therefore the
blessed Paul, when admiring the greatness of the gift of God, said,
‘And who is sufficient for these things4056
?’ For He made the world free by the
blood of the Saviour; then, again, He has caused the grave to be
trodden down by the Saviour’s death, and furnished a way to the
heavenly gates free from obstacles to those who are going up4057
. Wherefore, one of the saints, while he
acknowledged the grace, but was insufficient to repay it, said,
‘What shall I render unto the Lord for all He has done unto me4058
?’ For instead of death he had received
life, instead of bondage4059
| 4059 Pseudo-Ath. in Matt. xxi. 9. (Migne xxviii. 1025), after
quoting the same passage from the Epistle to the Romans, says,
ἀλλ᾽
ἐπεδήμησεν ὁ
Κύριος ἡμῶν
᾽Ιησοῦς
Χριστὸς
λυτρούμενος
τοὺς
αἰχμαλώτους,
καὶ ζωοποιῶν
τοὺς
τεθανατωμένους | , freedom, and
instead of the grave, the kingdom of heaven. For of old time,
‘death reigned from Adam to Moses;’ but now the divine
voice hath said, ‘To-day shalt thou be with Me in
Paradise.’ And the saints, being sensible of this, said,
‘Except the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in
hell.4060
.’ Besides all this, being powerless to
make a return, he yet acknowledged the gift, and wrote finally, saying,
‘I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the
Lord; precious in His sight is the death of His saints4061
.’
With regard to the cup, the Lord said, ‘Are
ye able to drink of that cup which I am about to drink of?’ And
when the disciples assented, the Lord said, ‘Ye shall indeed
drink of My cup; but that ye should sit on My right hand, and on My
left, is not Mine to give; but to those for whom it is prepared4062
.’ Therefore, my beloved, let us be
sensible of the gift, though we are found insufficient to repay it. As
we have ability, let us meet the occasion. For although nature is not
able, with things unworthy of the Word, to return a recompense for such
benefits, yet let us render Him thanks while we persevere in piety. And
how can we more abide in piety than when we acknowledge God, Who in His
love to mankind has bestowed on us such benefits? (For thus we shall
obediently keep the law, and observe its commandments. And, further, we
shall not, as unthankful persons, be accounted transgressors of the
law, or do those things which ought to be hated, for the Lord loveth
the thankful); when too we offer ourselves to the Lord, like the
saints, when we subscribe ourselves entirely [as] living henceforth not
to ourselves, but to the Lord Who died for us, as also the blessed Paul
did, when he said, ‘I am crucified with Christ, yet I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me4063
.’
4. Now our life, my brethren, truly consists in
our denying all bodily things, and continuing stedfast in those only of
our Saviour. Therefore the present season requires of us, that we
should not only utter such words, but should also imitate the deeds of
the saints. But we imitate them, when we acknowledge Him who died, and
no longer live unto ourselves, but Christ henceforth lives in us; when
we render a recompense to the Lord to the utmost of our power, though
when we make a return we give nothing of our own, but those things
which we have before received from Him, this being especially of His
grace, that He should require, as from us, His own gifts. He bears
witness to this when He says, ‘My offerings are My own gifts4064
.’ That is, those things which you give
Me are yours, as having received them from Me, but they are the gifts
of God. And let us offer to the Lord every virtue, and that true
holiness which is in Him, and in piety let us keep the feast to Him
with those things which He has hallowed for us. Let us thus engage in
the holy fasts, as having been prescribed by Him, and by means of which
we find the way to God. But let us not be like the heathen, or the
ignorant Jews, or as the heretics and schismatics of the present time.
For the heathen think the accomplishment of the feast is in the
abundance of food; the Jews, erring in the type and shadow, think it
still such; the schismatics keep it in separate places, and with vain
imaginations. But let us, my brethren, be superior to the heathen, in
keeping the feast with sincerity of soul, and purity of body; to the
Jews, in no longer receiving the type and the shadow, but as having been gloriously illumined with the
light of truth, and as looking upon the Sun of Righteousness4065
; to the schismatics, in not rending the coat
of Christ, but in one house, even in the Catholic Church, let us eat
the Passover of the Lord, Who, by ordaining His holy laws, guided us
towards virtue, and counselled the abstinence of this feast. For the
Passover is indeed abstinence from evil for exercise of virtue, and a
departure from death unto life. This may be learnt even from the type
of old time. For then they toiled earnestly to pass from Egypt to
Jerusalem, but now we depart from death to life; they then passed from
Pharaoh to Moses, but now we rise from the devil to the Saviour. And
as, at that time, the type of deliverance bore witness every year, so
now we commemorate our salvation. We fast meditating on death, that we
may be able to live; and we watch, not as mourners, but as they that
wait for the Lord, when He shall have returned from the wedding, so
that we may vie with each other in the triumph, hastening to announce
the sign of victory over death.
5. Would therefore, O my beloved, that as the
word requires, we might here so govern ourselves at all times and
entirely, and so live, as never to forget the noble acts of God, nor to
depart from the practice of virtue! As also the Apostolic voice
exhorts; ‘Remember Jesus Christ, that He rose from the dead4066
.’ Not that any limited season of
remembrance was appointed, for at all times He should be in our
thoughts. But because of the slothfulness of many, we delay from day to
day. Let us then begin in these days. To this end a time of remembrance
is permitted, that it may show forth to the saints the reward of their
calling, and may exhort the careless while reproving them4067
| 4067 The
reasoning of Athan. is to this effect. The due observance of such
festival will have its effect in quickening our habitual
meditation on the resurrection. The same mode of reasoning might be
applied to all the other Christian festivals. | . Therefore in all the remaining days, let us
persevere in virtuous conduct, repenting as is our duty, of all that we
have neglected, whatever it may be; for there is no one free from
defilement, though his course may have been but one hour on the earth,
as Job, that man of surpassing fortitude, testifies. But,
‘stretching forth to those things that are to come4068
,’ let us pray that we may not eat the
Passover unworthily, lest we be exposed to dangers. For to those who
keep the feast in purity, the Passover is heavenly food; but to those
who observe it profanely and contemptuously, it is a danger and
reproach. For it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat and drink
unworthily, is guilty of the death of our Lord4069
.’ Wherefore, let us not merely proceed
to perform the festal rites, but let us be prepared to draw near to the
divine Lamb, and to touch heavenly food. Let us cleanse our hands, let
us purify the body. Let us keep our whole mind from guile; not giving
up ourselves to excess, and to lusts, but occupying ourselves entirely
with our Lord, and with divine doctrines; so that, being altogether
pure, we may be able to partake of the Word.4070
6. We begin the holy fast on the fourteenth of
Pharmuthi (Apr. 9), on the [first] evening of the week4071
; and having ceased on the nineteenth of the
same month Pharmuthi (Apr. 14), the first day of the holy week dawns
upon us on the twentieth of the same month Pharmuthi (Apr. 15), to
which we join the seven weeks of Pentecost; with prayers, and
fellowship with our neighbour, and love towards one another, and that
peaceable will which is above all. For so shall we be heirs of the
kingdom of heaven, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom to the
Father be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. All the brethren
who are with me salute you. Salute one another with a holy kiss.
Here endeth the fifth Festal Letter of holy
Athanasius. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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