On Pascha 2-1

Of Melito, Little Book to Antoninus. In his book addressed to the emperor he relates that such things as these were done against us in his own time:

For what has never happened before, the race of the God-fearing is now persecuted, driven about by new decrees throughout Asia.

For the shameless informers and lovers of what belongs to others, taking their pretext from the edicts, openly play the robber, plundering night and day those who have done no wrong. And after some other matters he says:

And if these things are done at your command, let it be considered well done;

for a just king would never take unjust counsel, and we gladly bear the honour of such a death;

but this one request alone we bring to you: that you yourself first take cognisance of those who work such contention, and justly judge whether they are worthy of death and punishment, or of preservation and peace.

But if this counsel and this new decree—which would not be fitting even against barbarian enemies—does not proceed from you, then all the more we beseech you not to overlook us amid such public pillaging. And again he adds, saying:

For our philosophy first flourished among the barbarians; but having blossomed among your nations during the great reign of your ancestor Augustus, it became above all an auspicious good to your empire.

For from that time the power of the Romans grew great and splendid;

and of this you have become, and shall be, the longed-for successor together with your son, if you guard the philosophy that was nursed together with the empire and began to reign with Augustus, which your ancestors also honoured along with the other religions; and this is the greatest proof that our teaching flourished for good together with the empire that began so well—namely, that from the reign of Augustus nothing untoward befell, but on the contrary everything was splendid and glorious, according to the prayers of all.

Of all rulers, Nero and Domitian alone, persuaded by certain malicious men, wished to bring our teaching into ill repute; and from them it came about that, by an unreasoning custom, the lie of slander concerning such people has been spread abroad;

but your pious fathers corrected their ignorance, often rebuking in writing many who dared to take innovating action concerning these matters;

among whom your grandfather Hadrian is found writing to many others, and to Fundanus the proconsul and governor of Asia; and your father, while you were administering all affairs with him, wrote to the cities that nothing innovating should be done concerning us—among whom he wrote both to the Larisaeans and to the Thessalonians and to the Athenians and to all the Greeks.

And as for you, since you hold the same opinion concerning these matters as they did—indeed a far more benevolent and philosophical one—we are persuaded that you will do all that we ask of you. From the same work. Melito, bishop of Sardis, after many of the things delivered by the same Justin, says:

We are not worshippers of stones, which have no sensation, but worshippers of the one God alone, who is before all and over all, and of his Christ, who is truly God the Word before the ages; and so forth.

And in his Selections written for him, the same author, beginning according to the preface, makes a list of the acknowledged writings of the Old Testament;

which it is necessary to set down here also. He writes thus:

Melito to Onesimus his brother, greeting.

Since you have often asked, in your zeal for the word, that selections be made for you from both the Law and the prophets concerning the Saviour and all our faith; and since, moreover, you wished to learn the exact facts about the ancient books—how many in number and what in order they are—I was eager to do this, knowing your zeal for the faith and your love of learning concerning the word, and that above all things, in your longing for God, you prefer these things, contending for eternal salvation.

So, having gone up to the East and reached the place where these things were proclaimed and done, and having learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, I have set them down and sent them to you;

the five of Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy—Joshua son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, the four of Kingdoms, the two of Chronicles, the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon (also called Wisdom), Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job; of the Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Twelve in one book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra;

from which I also made the selections, dividing them into six books. Of Melito, On the Pascha. Now in his work On the Pascha, he indicates at the beginning the time at which he was composing it, in these words:

In the proconsulship of Servillius Paulus in Asia, at the time when Sagaris bore witness as a martyr, there arose a great dispute at Laodicea concerning the Pascha, which fell due in those days according to the season, and these things were written.

Of Melito, On the Devil and the Apocalypse of John. Melito, then, the one in Asia, says that he (the dragon) is a type of the devil who rose up against the kingdom of Christ; and having mentioned only this, he did not work out the passage further.

Of Melito, On the Incarnation of Christ. Melito, in his third book On the Incarnation of Christ, writes:

There is no need for those who have understanding to prove, from the things Christ did after his baptism, the truth and unphantasmal reality of his soul and body—of our human nature.

For the things done by Christ after his baptism, and especially the signs, made manifest his Godhead hidden in flesh, and assured the world of it.

For being God and at the same time perfect man, the same one assured us of his two natures: of his Godhead through the signs in the three years after his baptism, and of his manhood in the thirty years before his baptism, in which, because of the immaturity according to the flesh, he hid the signs of his Godhead, although he was true God existing before the ages. Of Melito, On the Pascha. Of Melito, bishop of Sardis, from the discourse On the Passion:

1. For who does not know the books of Irenaeus and Melito and the rest, which proclaim Christ as both God and man? 2. Of Melito, bishop of Sardis, On Baptism. 2. For what gold, or silver, or bronze, or iron, when heated, is not baptized in water?—the one to be made bright by its colour, the other to be tempered by the dipping.

And the whole earth is washed by rains and rivers, and being well washed, it is cultivated.

Likewise also the land of Egypt, washed by the swelling river, increases its standing grain, fills out its ear, and yields a hundredfold through the good washing.

Moreover, even the air itself is washed by the downpouring of the raindrops.

The many-coloured rainbow, mother of the rains, is also washed, whenever, over the streams, she arches the rivers into a bow, summoned by the water-drawing wind.

And if you wish to behold the heavenly bodies being baptized, come now to the ocean, and there I will show you a strange sight:

the open sea, and the boundless deep, and the unfathomable abyss, and the immeasurable ocean, and pure water—the bathing-place of the sun, and the lamp of the stars, and the laver of the moon;

but as to how they are washed in a mystical way, learn faithfully from me.

The sun, having opened up the course of the day with his fiery steeds, by the whirling of his course becoming fire-like and kindled as a torch, having scorched the middle zone of his course—so that, should he be seen too near, with ten radiant lightning-flashes he would burn up the earth—abashed, descends into the ocean.

Just as a bronze sphere, full of fire within, flashing forth much light, is washed in cold water, sounding loudly, but made bright from its radiance;

and the fire within is not quenched, but flashes forth again, rekindled;

so indeed also the sun, fired like lightning, by no means perishing, is washed in cold water, keeping his fire unsleeping;

and being washed with a mystical baptism, he greatly rejoices, having the water as nourishment;

and being one and the same, he rises as a new sun for men, tempered from the deep, cleansed from the laver;

and having driven away the nocturnal darkness, he begot the bright day.

And according to his course, the movement of the stars and the moon by nature also operate;

for they are washed in the bathing-place of the sun, like good disciples;

for the stars together with the moon pursue the track of the sun, keeping their radiance pure.

But if the sun, with the stars and moon, is washed in the ocean, why should not Christ also be washed in the Jordan? The King of the heavens, and Ruler of creation, the Sun of the dawn, who appeared both to the dead in Hades and to the mortals in the world; and this is the only Sun that rose from heaven. Of the blessed Melito of Sardis, from an unknown work. For as a ram he was bound, he says concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a lamb he was shorn, and as a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb he was crucified, and he bore the wood upon his shoulders, being led up to be slain like Isaac by his father.

But Christ suffered, whereas Isaac did not suffer;

for he was a type of the Christ who was to suffer.

[But even in becoming the type of Christ, he caused astonishment and fear among men.

For it was to behold a strange mystery—a son led by his father to a mountain for slaughter, whom, having bound, he laid upon the wood of the offering, preparing with haste the things for his slaying.

But Isaac keeps silent, fettered like a ram, not opening his mouth, nor uttering a sound with his voice.

For not fearing the sword, nor frightened at the fire, nor grieved at suffering, he bore up, enduring the type of the Lord.

[He lay] like a ram, and Abraham stood by, grasping the bared sword, not ashamed to slay his own son. Of Melito of Sardis, from an unknown work. In place of Isaac the righteous a ram appeared for slaughter, that Isaac might be loosed from his bonds.

That one, being slain, redeemed Isaac;

so also the Lord, being slain, saved us, and being bound, He loosed us, and being sacrificed, He redeemed us. (from an uncertain work) For the Lord was the lamb, like the ram which Abraham saw caught in the thicket of Sabek;

but the thicket prefigured the cross, and that place prefigured Jerusalem, and the lamb prefigured the Lord fettered for slaughter. (from an uncertain work) As for its being caught by the horns, the Syrian and the Hebrew say "hanging," as more clearly typifying the cross; and the word "ram" too makes this precise;

for he did not say a lamb, young, like Isaac, but a ram, like the Lord, full-grown.

And just as he called the thicket of Sabek, that is, of remission, the holy cross, so also Ezekiel at the end called the water of remission that which typifies holy baptism.