Sermons & Letters 71

You have indeed heard, most dear brethren, the Scripture of the Hebrew departure, and the words of the mystery — how the lamb was sacrificed, and how the people were saved, and how Pharaoh was smitten through the mystery. Understand, most beloved, in what manner the paschal mystery is new and old, temporal and eternal, corruptible and incorruptible, mortal and immortal. Old indeed according to the law, but new according to the word: temporal by the type, eternal by grace; corruptible through the victim of the beast, incorruptible on account of the Lord's life: mortal on account of the burial, immortal on account of the resurrection. Old indeed is the law, but new is the word; the type is temporal, but eternal is grace;

corruptible is the sheep, incorruptible the Lord: crushed as a lamb, but raised up again as God. For as a sheep He was led to the sacrifice, yet He was not a sheep; and as a lamb without voice, yet He was not a lamb: for those things were done in figure, but these are found more truly. Instead of the lamb there is God, and instead of the beast He was made man. But the man is Christ, in whom all things are contained. For Isaiah says: 'As a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away: who shall declare His generation?' (Isaiah 53:7-8). Many indeed and many other things besides were foretold by the prophets concerning the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ.

For He was led as a lamb, slain as a sheep; as from Egypt, He redeemed us from the worship of the world, and saved us from the hand of the devil as from the hand of Pharaoh; and He sealed our souls with His own Spirit, and the members of our body with His precious blood. This is He who led death into confusion, and set the devil in mourning. This is He who smote iniquity, and injustice, as Moses condemned Egypt with barrenness. This is He who snatched us from servitude to liberty, from darkness to light, from death to life, from tyranny to a perpetual kingdom. This is He who among many endured many things.

This is he who was slain in Abel, and in Isaac was bound hand and foot, and in Jacob went into exile, and in Joseph was sold, and in Moses was set adrift, and cast into the river by his mother, and in the lamb was slaughtered, and in David was persecuted, and in the prophets was dishonored. This is he who was buried in the earth, and rising from the dead ascended to the heights of heaven. This is the lamb without voice; this is he who was taken from the flock and offered as a victim in the evening, who was buried in the night. This is Jesus Christ our Lord, who rose from the dead and from the nether tomb raised man up to life. Chapter III. — This one, therefore, was slain in the midst of Jerusalem. By whom? By Israel. For what cause?

Because he healed their lame and cleansed the lepers, gave sight to the blind and raised the dead. What have you done, O Israel, such an unheard-of injustice? You dishonored him who had made you noble; you shamed him who had glorified you; you rejected him who had proclaimed you; you slew him who had given you life. Is it not written, 'You shall not shed innocent blood (Deut. 19:10), lest you die most wretchedly'? 'I,' says Israel, 'did this, because it was needful that he should suffer.' You err, O Israel, when you reason thus. It was needful that he should suffer, but not through you; it was fitting that he should be hung upon the gibbet of the cross, but this ought by no means to have been done by your right hand. With this cry, Israel, you ought to have called out to the Lord:

'O Lord, if your will has so decreed that your Son should suffer, yet let him by no means suffer through me. Let him be judged rather by strangers, by the uncircumcised, let him be pierced with nails by some tyrant. Far be it that through me these impious deeds should be perpetrated.' With this cry, O Israel, you were unwilling to proclaim, nor did you refrain from laying your own hands upon your Lord. You are not among his works. Did it strike no shame into you when the withered hand was restored whole to its own body? Nor when the stopped-up eyes were opened? Nor when the palsied limbs were made firm again by his word? But did you not blush even at that recent miracle, whereby one already four days dead rose from the tomb at the command of his voice?

O Israel, you saw such great wonders of Christ, and yet you remained forever in unbelief? Passing over all these, you prepared your Lord for slaughter. For you made ready the sharpest nails, false witnesses, gall too, and the sword, as for a murdering robber. You inflicted stripes upon his little body, and set upon his head a crown of thorns; and those good hands of his, which had formed you from the dust, you bound with cords; and that good mouth of his, by which you were fed with life, you fed in return with gall. On the great festival day you destroyed your Lord. And you indeed enjoyed rich fare, while he suffered the pangs of hunger. You drank wine and ate bread, but he had vinegar and gall.

You were splendid in body, while he was worn down with sorrows. You exulted, while he was afflicted. You sang psalms, while he was judged. You led the dances, while he was laid in the grave. You lay upon a couch of softness, while he was in the sepulcher and the coffin. O most impious Israel, who perpetrated this unheard-of injustice, subjecting your Lord to new sufferings, you slew your Master and your Maker, who honored you, who laid upon you the name of Israel. But you were by no means found to be Israel. Chapter IV. — You did not see the Lord, nor were you willing to understand God. Did you not know, O Israel, that this is the Firstborn of God, who was begotten before the morning star (Ps. 109:3)?

This is he who led you into Egypt and, preserving you there, provided you nourishment. This is he who was sent to you, who healed your parents, who raised the dead. This is he against whom you acted wickedly, whom you butchered. This is he whom you sold. Therefore, O Israel, because you did not tremble over the Lord, you trembled when assailed by enemies; you did not fear over the Lord, you did not wail over the Lord, but you wailed over your dead sons. Because you forsook the Lord, you shall not be found by him. You dashed the Lord down, and you too are dashed to the earth. And you indeed lie in the earth, but he, rising from the dead, was carried up to the height of heaven.

Now therefore come, all you families of men, who are mingled together in your sins, and receive the remission of your sins. For I am your remission, I the Pasch of salvation, I the Lamb who was slaughtered for you, I your redemption, I your life, I your salvation, I your resurrection, I your King. I will raise you up by my right hand. This is our Lord, who made heaven and earth, who was hung upon the wood, who was buried in the earth, who rose from the dead, who ascended to the heights of the heavens; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. In the Latin editions of St. John Chrysostom, this is published under the name of Chrysostom as homily…

…the seventh homily On the Resurrection was published, and is now read as such. Among the Greeks likewise, and among the Latins in the Breviary of the monks of the Cassinese congregation, it is inscribed and read under the name of Chrysostom. But since it is plainly the work not of a Greek, but of an ancient Latin author—just as other sermons of the same editions are wrongly attributed to Chrysostom—it is for this reason lacking in the Greek editions of that Doctor. Moreover, in the manuscript collections 1 and 5, and in two more recent Lectionaries, Vat. 6451 and 6452, we found it ascribed to Leo; and Fr. John Chrysostom Trombelli, who did not consult the Latin editions of Chrysostom, printed it from the Bologna manuscript, collection 2, as though unpublished, under the name of Leo, among the Opuscula of the ancient Fathers, tome II, part I, page…

…231, where nevertheless he judged it to be falsely ascribed to Leo. The style does not differ greatly from Leo's; and the interpolated refrain 'Beloved,' repeated four times, seems able to argue in favor of our Leo. The author is certainly Latin, and indeed a bishop of some Western Church, in which was in vigor the rite of covering the chapter of the Gospel of St. John, 'In the beginning was the Word,' on the very day of the Pasch, or in the vigils of the Pasch, as these words indicate: 'The evangelist who was read says, And the light shines in the darkness, etc.,' as also what is added before the end: 'You have heard the evangelist saying today that whoever believe in God, these are the sons of God.'

'For he gave power to become the sons of God to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' These words, spoken to the neophytes baptized in the night, aptly suggest the reason for reading that chapter, namely that from that reading they might understand the divine gift, by which the Son of God, made the son of man, raised those very men, regenerated through baptism, to the dignity of sons of God. But since none of the documents of the Roman Church published by Cassander, Hittorp, Mabillon, Fronto, Cardinal Thomasius, and Martène present this rite—though they are later than the age of Leo—they nevertheless prevent anyone from affirming Leo to be the author of this sermon.

This rite, however, was famous in Africa, as we learn from Augustine's sermons 119 and 120, in which the same chapter of the Gospel is expounded—which sermons indeed the Maurist Fathers, in note 1 on Sermon 119, hold to have been delivered not on the day of the Pasch, but in the night of Holy Saturday. Hence this sermon seems to be adjudged to some African. And that no doubt might remain, two Vatican Lectionaries, 1270 and the very ancient 3835, inscribe it to Augustine; to whom likewise its belonging is confirmed by an ancient interpretation of the verses of Psalms 117 and 125, which we find expressed in the same words in Augustine.

This one sermon, though formerly published among Chrysostom's works, we have inserted into the appendix, because, being of all the most worthy of Leo, it could be emended in several places from our codices. Chapter I. — Although all the solemnities, beloved, which are celebrated in the churches for the honor of God, are holy and venerable, nevertheless today's day of the Lord's resurrection has a peculiar festivity. This is assuredly because all the other days contain within themselves the joy of the living only, but this one contains also the gladness of the dead. This festival, then, is common to both the lower world and the upper: for the Lord, rising from the dead, both gave a festival there where he conquered death, and here where as victor he returned from death;

and therefore the Psalmist well says particularly of this day: 'This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it' (Ps. 117:24). For in announcing the Lord's resurrection, he proclaimed a day of saving exultation not only to those above, but also to those below; because, when the Lord descended into the dark gloom of the nether regions, then too there was without doubt a most splendid day there where the Savior shone. Whence beautifully the evangelist who was read says, 'And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it' (John 1:5): because although the Lord descended into the darkness, yet he did not feel the obscurity of the darkness. In that horror of the night he retained the inviolable splendor of his majesty—the light of his eternal nature;

as if not the light was overcome by the night, but the night by the light. Chapter II. — Let us therefore rejoice, beloved, and exult in the Lord. For today the light of salvation has been given us by the Lord, according to that which the same psalmist says in what follows: 'God is the Lord, and he has shone upon us' (Ps. 117:27). And what is further added: 'Appoint a solemn day amid throngs, even unto the horn of the altar'—I see fulfilled today also in the Church of God. For since it is filled with religious assemblies even unto the horn of the altar, the fullness of the holy Church has fulfilled that very Scripture. This day, therefore, beloved, is the day of resurrection and of life. The more delightful rejoicing of faith renders it more welcome through Lent:

because to the sadness of the guilty have been joined the days of remissions, so that recompense may straightway follow patient endurance, according to that word: 'Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy' (Ps. 125:5). Whoever, therefore, have sown in tears, receive the rewards of exultation. Let each one know that the greater seeds of weeping he has sown, the greater fruits of joy he shall reap. The appearance, then, of future beatitudes is already contained in things present. For as now there is relaxation after severity, so in the future there will be rest after labor. Chapter III.

— Whence I beseech you, beloved, together with the whole Church, especially you who, regenerated unto new salvation, have taken up white garments: that you keep pure and unstained the gift which you have received; that you may preserve the brightness of your attire also in your manner of life, and that your hearts may be as white as your garments. You have heard the evangelist saying today that whoever believe in God, these are the sons of God. 'For he gave power to become the sons of God to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God' (John 1:12-13). Therefore you too are now not brought forth from the conceiving of the flesh, but begotten of God the Father.

It remains that you preserve, through a holy life and manner of living, the dignity of your holy origin. And truly, according to that which the Apostle says: 'As newborn rational infants, without guile, desire the milk, that in it you may grow unto salvation' (1 Pet. 2:2). 'And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts' (Phil. 4:7). Through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory throughout all the ages of ages. Amen.