論逾越節 第 1-1 章

The Scripture of the Hebrew Exodus has been read, and the words of the mystery have been made plain:

how the lamb is sacrificed and how the people are saved.

Therefore understand, O beloved:

the mystery of the Pascha is in this way both new and old, eternal and temporal, corruptible and incorruptible, mortal and immortal:

old as regards the Law, but new as regards the Word; temporal as regards the type, eternal as regards grace; corruptible because of the slaughter of the lamb, incorruptible because of the life of the Lord; mortal because of the burial in the earth, immortal because of the resurrection from the dead.

Old is the Law, but new is the Word; temporal is the type, eternal is grace; corruptible is the lamb, incorruptible is the Lord, slain as a lamb, risen as God.

For though he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, yet he was not a lamb;

and though he was as a voiceless lamb, yet he was not a lamb;

for the type indeed came to pass, but the truth was found.

For in place of the lamb there came God, and in place of the sheep a man, and in the man was Christ, who has contained all things.

Thus the slaughter of the lamb, and the procession of the Pascha, and the writing of the Law have come to fulfilment in Christ Jesus, for whose sake all things in the older Law came to be—nay rather, in the new Word.

For the Law became Word, and the old became new—both going forth together out of Zion and Jerusalem—and the commandment became grace, and the type truth, and the lamb a Son, and the sheep a man, and the man God.

For as a Son begotten, and as a lamb led, and as a sheep slain, and as a man buried, he rose from the dead as God, being by nature both God and man.

He by whom the Law judges, by whom the Word teaches, by whom grace saves, by whom the Father begets, by whom the Son is begotten, by whom the sheep suffers, by whom the man is buried, by whom God rises.

This is Jesus the Christ, to whom be the glory unto the ages.

Amen. This is the mystery of the Pascha, even as it is written in the Law, as was read a little while ago.

But I will set forth the words of the Scripture, how God commands Moses in Egypt, when he wills to bind Pharaoh under the scourge, and to loose Israel from the scourge by the hand of Moses.

For behold, he says, you shall take a spotless and unblemished lamb, and at evening you shall slay it with the sons of Israel, and at night you shall eat it in haste, and you shall not break a bone of it.

In one night you shall eat it by families and by clans, with your loins girded and your staves in your hands.

For this is the Lord's Pascha, an everlasting memorial for the sons of Israel.

And taking the blood of the lamb, anoint the doorways of your houses, placing upon the doorposts of the entrance the sign of the blood, to ward off the angel.

For behold, I will strike Egypt, and in one night it shall be made childless, from beast to man. Then Moses, having slain the lamb and accomplished the mystery by night with the sons of Israel, sealed the doors of the houses, to guard the people and to ward off the angel.

But when the lamb is slain, and the Pascha is eaten, and the mystery is completed, and the people rejoices, and Israel is sealed, then comes the angel to strike Egypt.

Her who was uninitiated into the mystery, who had no share in the Pascha, who was unsealed by the blood, unguarded by the Spirit—the enemy, the unbelieving—in one night he struck and made childless.

But all Egypt was rent with grief, mourning over her firstborn.

For all Egypt, plunged into pains and plagues, into tears and lamentations, came to Pharaoh wholly in mourning—not only in outward form, but also in soul—rent not only in the robes of her apparel, but also in the breasts of her luxury.

And it was a strange sight to see: here men beating themselves, there men wailing, and in the midst Pharaoh in mourning, sitting upon sackcloth and ashes, clothed in the palpable darkness as a garment of mourning, with all Egypt girded about him as a tunic of grief.

For Egypt was wrapped about Pharaoh like a cloak of wailing.

Such was the tunic woven for the tyrant's body; such was the robe with which the angel of justice clothed hard-hearted Pharaoh:

bitter mourning, and palpable darkness, and childlessness.

And it was upon her firstborn:

for the death of the firstborn was swift and insatiable.

And it was a strange trophy to see, over the dead falling in a single moment.

And the overthrow of those laid low became the nourishment of death.

A strange calamity—if you hear it, you will marvel.

For these things befell the Egyptians: a long night and palpable darkness, and a death that groped, and an angel that crushed, and Hades that swallowed up their firstborn.

But you have something yet more strange and more terrible to hear.

In the palpable darkness the impalpable death lay hidden; and the wretched Egyptians groped at the darkness, while death, searching them out, groped at the firstborn of the Egyptians, at the angel's command.

So whoever groped at the darkness was led away by death.

If any firstborn embraced with his hand a darkened body, terror-stricken in soul he cried out piteously and fearfully:

Whom does my right hand grasp? At whom does my soul tremble? What dark thing lies all about my body? If a father, help me; if a mother, have pity on me; if a brother, speak to me; if a friend, stand by me; if an enemy, depart from me, for I am a firstborn. But before the firstborn could fall silent, the long silence seized him, saying to him:

I am decreed to you, the silence of death. And another firstborn, perceiving the seizing of the firstborn, denied himself, that he might not die bitterly:

I am not a firstborn; I was begotten as a third fruit. But he who cannot be deceived laid hold of the firstborn:

and in a single instant the firstborn fruit of the Egyptians perished.

The first-sown, the firstborn, the longed-for, the cherished one was dashed to the ground—not only of men, but also of the dumb beasts.

And a lowing was heard in the plains of the land, as the cattle bewailed their nurslings;

for the calving heifer and the foaling mare and the rest of the beasts, in labour and swollen with milk, bitterly and pitifully lamented over their firstborn offspring.

And there was wailing and lamentation over the destruction of men, over the dead firstborn.

For all Egypt stank from the unburied bodies.

And it was a fearful sight to behold: the mothers of the Egyptians with hair dishevelled, the fathers out of their minds, dreadfully wailing in the Egyptian tongue:

Wretched are we, made childless in a single instant of our firstborn fruit. And they beat upon their breasts, striking with their hands a clapping beat over the dance of the dead.

Such a calamity encompassed Egypt, and suddenly made her childless.

But Israel was guarded by the slaughter of the lamb, and was also enlightened by the poured-out blood, and the death of the lamb was found to be a wall for the people.

O strange and indescribable mystery!

The slaughter of the lamb was found to be Israel's salvation, and the death of the lamb became the life of the people, and the blood warded off the angel.

in the slaughter of the lamb, the type of the Lord in the death of the lamb.

For this reason you did not strike Israel, but made Egypt alone childless.

What is this strange mystery—that Egypt should be struck for destruction, but Israel preserved for salvation? Hear the power of the mystery.

Nothing, beloved, that is spoken or done is apart from a parable and a preliminary sketch.

Everything whatever that is done and spoken partakes of a parable—what is spoken, of a parable; what is done, of a prefiguration—so that, just as what is done is shown forth through the prefiguration, so also what is spoken may be illuminated through the parable.

For except upon a preliminary construction, no work is set up.

Or is not what is to come seen through the typical image? For this reason indeed a preliminary sketch of what is to come is made, whether of wax or of clay or of wood, so that what is to arise—higher in size, stronger in power, beautiful in form, and rich in workmanship—may be seen beforehand through the small and corruptible sketch.

But when that arises towards which the type points—the thing that once bore the image of what was to come—then this is dissolved as having become useless, yielding up to the truly real by nature its own image of it.

And what was once precious becomes worthless, when that which is precious by nature has been made manifest.

The type has its own time, the matter has its own time.

You make the type for the sake of the truth.

You long for it because in it you behold the image of what is to come.

You bring the matter to the type.

You long for it because of what is to arise in it.

You complete the work; this alone you long for, this alone you love, seeing in it alone the type, the matter, and the truth.

As then in corruptible examples, so indeed also in incorruptible;

as in earthly things, so indeed also in heavenly.

For the salvation and the truth of the Lord were prefigured in the people, and the doctrines of the Gospel were proclaimed beforehand by the Law.

The people, then, became a type of a preliminary sketch, and the Law a writing of a parable; but the Gospel is the narration and fulfilment of the Law, and the Church the storehouse of the truth.

The type, then, was precious before the truth, and the parable wonderful before the interpretation.

That is, the people was precious before the Church arose, and the Law wonderful before the Gospel was brought to light.

But when the Church arose and the Gospel stood forth, the type was emptied, handing over its power to the truth, and the Law was fulfilled, handing over its power to the Gospel.

As the type is emptied, handing over the image to the truly real by nature, and the parable is emptied, illuminated through the interpretation, so indeed also the Law was fulfilled when the Gospel was brought to light, and the people was emptied when the Church arose, and the type was dissolved when the Lord was made manifest; and today the things once precious have become worthless, now that the things precious by nature have been made manifest.

For once the slaughter of the lamb was precious, but now it is worthless because of the life of the Lord;

precious was the death of the lamb, but now worthless because of the salvation of the Lord;

precious was the blood of the lamb, but now worthless because of the Spirit of the Lord;

precious was the voiceless lamb, but now worthless because of the unblemished Son;

precious was the temple below, but now worthless because of the Christ above;

precious was the Jerusalem below, but now worthless because of the Jerusalem above;

precious was the narrow inheritance, but now worthless because of the broad grace.

For not in one place, nor in a narrow plot, is the glory of God established, but his grace has been poured out upon all the ends of the inhabited world, and there the Almighty God has tabernacled;

through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory unto the ages.

You have heard, then, the narration of the type and of its correspondence;

hear now also the structure of the mystery.

What is the Pascha? It is named from what befell:

from the suffering (pathein) comes the term 'to suffer' (paschein).

God, in the beginning having made the heaven and the earth and all things in them, through the Word formed man from the earth and imparted to the figure the breath of life.

And he placed him in Paradise, toward the east in Eden, there to delight.

Having laid down for him these things by the commandment:

Of every tree that is in the Paradise you shall eat for food; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. But man, being by nature receptive of good and evil, like a clod of earth receiving seed from either side, received the enemy, that gluttonous counsellor, and laying hold of the tree, he transgressed the commandment and disobeyed God.

He was therefore cast out into this world as into a prison of the condemned.

And when he had become prolific and long-lived, and through the tasting of the tree had passed into the earth, there was left by him an inheritance to his children.

For he left to his children as an inheritance not purity but fornication, not incorruption but corruption, not honour but dishonour, not freedom but slavery, not kingship but tyranny, not life but death, not salvation but destruction.

And strange and terrible became the destruction of men upon the earth.

For these things befell them:

they were snatched away by tyrannical sin and led into the regions of the lusts, where they were swept along by insatiable pleasures—by adultery, by fornication, by licentiousness, by lust, by avarice, by murders, by bloodshed, by the tyranny of wickedness, by lawless tyranny.

For father brought sword against son, and son laid hands on father, and the impious struck the nurturing breasts, and brother killed brother, and stranger wronged stranger, and friend murdered friend, and man slaughtered man with a tyrant's hand.

So all became upon the earth—some manslayers, some fratricides, some parricides, some childslayers.

And what was more terrible and more strange was found:

a mother laid hold of the flesh she had borne, attacked at the breasts those she had nourished, and buried the fruit of her womb within her womb; and the wretched mother became a fearful tomb, devouring the child she had conceived.

And many other strange and more terrible and more licentious things were found among men.

Father upon the bed of his child, and son upon his mother's, and brother upon sister's, and male upon male, and each lusted neighing after his neighbour's wife.

And over these things sin rejoiced.

Being the fellow-worker of death, it journeyed ahead into the souls of men and prepared for it as food the bodies of the dead.

And upon every soul sin set its mark, and on whomever it set it, these had to die.

So all flesh fell under sin, and every body under death, and every soul was driven out of its house of flesh; and what was taken from earth was dissolved into earth, and what was given from God was shut up in Hades; and the dissolution came of the fair fitting-together, and the beautiful body was sundered.

For man was being divided by death.

For a strange calamity and captivity held him fast.

He was dragged away captive under the shadows of death, and there lay desolate the image of the Father.

For this cause, then, the mystery of the Pascha has been accomplished in the body of the Lord.

But beforehand the Lord arranged his own sufferings in the patriarchs and in the prophets and in all the people, sealing them through both the Law and the prophets.

For that which is to be in a new and great way is arranged beforehand from of old, so that when it comes to pass, it may meet with faith, having been prefigured long before.

So indeed the mystery of the Lord, prefigured long ago, but seen today, meets with faith as accomplished, even though it is thought new by men.

For the mystery of the Lord is both old and new—old as regards the type, but new as regards grace.

If therefore you wish to behold the mystery of the Lord, look then to Abel who was likewise slain, to Isaac who was likewise bound, to Joseph who was likewise sold, to Moses who was likewise exposed, to David who was likewise persecuted, to the prophets who likewise suffered for Christ's sake.

Look also to the lamb slain in the land of Egypt, which struck Egypt and saved Israel by its blood.

And the mystery of the Lord is proclaimed also through the prophetic voice.

For Moses says to the people:

And you shall see your life hanging before your eyes night and day, and you shall not believe in your life. And David said:

Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. And Jeremiah:

I was like an innocent lamb led to the slaughter.

They devised evil against me, saying:

Come, let us put wood into his bread, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more. And Isaiah:

He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a voiceless lamb before its shearer, so he opens not his mouth.

Who shall declare his generation? Many other things, too, were proclaimed by many prophets concerning the mystery of the Pascha, which is Christ, to whom be the glory unto the ages.

He, having come from heaven to earth for the sake of him who suffers, and having clothed himself with that very one through the Virgin's womb, and having come forth as man, took upon himself the sufferings of the sufferer through the body capable of suffering, and abolished the sufferings of the flesh; and by the Spirit incapable of dying he slew death the man-slayer.

For he, led as a lamb and slain as a sheep, ransomed us from the service of the world as from the land of Egypt, and loosed us from the bondage of the devil as from the hand of Pharaoh, and sealed our souls with his own Spirit and the members of the body with his own blood.

This is he who clothed death with shame, and made the devil to mourn, as Moses made Pharaoh mourn.

This is he who struck down lawlessness and made unrighteousness childless, as Moses struck Egypt.

This is he who delivered us from slavery into freedom, from darkness into light, from death into life, from tyranny into an eternal kingdom, [and made us a new priesthood and a people peculiarly his own forever.] This is the Pascha of our salvation.

This is he who endured many things in many.

This is he who was murdered in Abel, and bound in Isaac, and a sojourner in Jacob, and sold in Joseph, and exposed in Moses, and slain in the lamb, and persecuted in David, and dishonoured in the prophets.

This is he who was made flesh in a virgin, who was hanged upon a tree, who was buried in the earth, who was raised from the dead, who was taken up into the heights of the heavens.

This is the lamb, the voiceless one.

This is the lamb that was slain.

This is he who was born of Mary, the fair ewe-lamb.

This is he who was taken from the flock and dragged to the slaughter, and sacrificed at evening and buried at night; who upon the tree was not broken, who in the earth was not dissolved, who rose from the dead and raised up man from the grave below.

And where was he murdered? In the midst of Jerusalem.

Why? Because he healed their lame, and cleansed their lepers, and gave light to their blind, and raised up their dead.

Where is it written in the Law and in the prophets:

They repaid me evil for good, and childlessness to my soul, devising evil against me, saying:

Let us bind the righteous one, for he is troublesome to us. What have you done, O Israel, this strange wrongdoing? You dishonoured him who honoured you.

You held in disgrace him who gave you glory.

You denied him who confessed you.

You disowned him who proclaimed you.

You killed him who gave you life.

O Israel! Or is it not written for you:

You shall not shed innocent blood, lest you die an evil death? I indeed, says Israel, killed the Lord.

Why? Because he had to suffer.

You are deceived, O Israel, reasoning thus over the slaughter of the Lord.

He had to suffer, but not by you.

He had to be dishonoured, but not by you.

He had to be judged, but not by you.

He had to be hanged, but not by your right hand.

This, O Israel, was the cry you owed to God:

O Master, if indeed your Son had to suffer, and this is your will, let him then suffer; but not by me.

Let him be nailed by a tyrant's right hand, but not by mine. But you, O Israel, did not cry this cry to God, nor purify yourself before the Master, nor were you put to shame by his works.

The withered hand restored to the body did not shame you, nor the eyes of the blind opened by his hand, nor the paralysed bodies made firm again by his voice; nor did the more wondrous sign shame you, a dead man raised from the tomb already four days dead.

You then, putting these aside, at evening prepared for the slaughter of the Lord sharp nails and false witnesses, and snares and scourges, and vinegar and gall, and a sword and affliction, as against a murderous robber.

For bringing upon him both scourges to his body and a thorn to his head, you bound those fair hands of his which formed you from the earth; and that fair mouth of his which fed you with life, you fed with gall; and you killed your Lord at the great feast.

And you indeed were making merry, while he went hungry.

You were drinking wine and eating bread, while he had vinegar and gall.

Your face was bright, while he was downcast.

You were exulting, while he was afflicted.

You were singing psalms, while he was being judged.

You were giving orders, while he was being nailed.

You were dancing, while he was being buried.

You were lying on a soft couch, while he was in tomb and coffin.

O lawless Israel, why did you commit this strange wrongdoing, casting your Lord into strange sufferings—your Master, who formed you, who made you, who honoured you, who called you Israel? But you were not found to be Israel, for you did not see God, you did not understand the Lord; you did not know, O Israel, that this is the firstborn of God, begotten before the morning star, who set the light on high, who made the day bright, who divided the darkness, who fixed the first starting-line, who hung the earth, who quenched the abyss, who stretched out the firmament, who adorned the world, who set in order the stars in heaven, who made the luminaries shine, who made the angels in heaven, who fixed the thrones there, who formed man upon the earth.

This was he who chose you and guided you from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Isaac and Jacob and the twelve patriarchs.

This was he who guided you into Egypt and preserved you and there nourished you.

This was he who lit your way with a pillar, and sheltered you with a cloud, who cleft the Red Sea and led you through and scattered your enemy.

This is he who gave you manna from heaven, who gave you drink from the rock, who gave you the Law at Horeb, who gave you an inheritance in the land, who sent you the prophets, who raised up your kings.

This is he who came to you, who healed your suffering ones and raised your dead.

This is he against whom you committed impiety.

This is he whom you wronged.

This is he whom you killed.

This is he whom you sold for silver, demanding from him the two-drachma tax for his head.

Ungrateful Israel, come, be judged with me concerning your ingratitude.

[At what price did you value] the cloud by day and the crossing through the Red Sea? At what price did you value the giving of manna from heaven, and the supply of water from the rock, and the lawgiving at Horeb, and the inheritance in the land, and the gifts there? At what price did you value the suffering ones whom he healed when he was present? Reckon for me the withered hand which he restored to the body.

Reckon for me those blind from birth whom he gave light by his word.

Reckon for me the dead laid low whom he raised from the tomb after four days.

Beyond all price are his gifts to you.

But you dishonourably repaid your ingratitude against him, repaying him evil for good, and affliction for joy, and death for life—for whose sake even you ought to have died.

Then if a king of a nation is seized by enemies, for his sake war is waged, for his sake a wall is breached, for his sake a city is taken, for his sake ransoms are sent, for his sake ambassadors are dispatched, that he may be recovered—either to be sent back to life, or, if dead, to be buried.

But you cast the opposite vote against your Lord.

For him whom the nations worshipped, and the uncircumcised admired, and the foreigners glorified, over whom even Pilate washed his hands—him you killed at the great feast.

Therefore bitter is your feast of unleavened bread, as it is written for you:

You shall eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs. Bitter to you are the nails which you sharpened. Bitter to you is the tongue which you provoked.

Bitter to you the false witnesses you set up.

Bitter to you the snares you prepared.

Bitter to you the scourges you plaited.

Bitter to you Judas, whom you hired.

Bitter to you Herod, whom you followed.

Bitter to you Caiaphas, whom you obeyed.

Bitter to you the gall which you prepared.

Bitter to you the vinegar which you cultivated.

Bitter to you the thorn which you reaped.

Bitter to you the hands which you bloodied.

You killed your Lord in the midst of Jerusalem.

Hear, all you families of the nations, and behold:

A strange murder has taken place in the midst of Jerusalem—in a city of the Law, in a Hebrew city, in a prophetic city, in a city reckoned righteous.

And who has been murdered? And who is the murderer? I am ashamed to tell, yet I am compelled to speak.

For if the murder had happened by night, or if he had been slain in a desert place, it would have been expedient to keep silence;

but now in the midst of the open street and city, in the midst of the city with all looking on, an unjust murder of a just man has taken place.

And thus he is lifted up upon a tree, and a title is set up signifying the one murdered.

Who is this? To say it is grievous, and not to say it is more fearful.

Nevertheless, hear with trembling, for whose sake the earth trembled:

He who hung the earth is hanged.

He who fixed the heavens is fixed fast.

He who established all things upon the wood is established upon a tree.

The King of Israel is slain by an Israelite right hand.

O strange murder! O strange injustice!

The Master has been disfigured with his body naked, and was not even deemed worthy of a covering, that he might not be seen.

For this reason the luminaries turned away, and the day grew dark, that it might hide the one stripped naked upon the tree—not darkening the body of the Lord, but the eyes of these men.

For when the people did not tremble, the earth trembled.

When the people was not afraid, the heavens were afraid.

When the people did not rend itself, the angel rent himself.

When the people did not wail, the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice.

For this reason, O Israel, you did not tremble at the Lord, you were not afraid at the Lord, you did not wail at the Lord, yet you wailed over your firstborn; you did not rend yourself at the Lord hanging, yet you rent yourself over your slain.

You forsook the Lord; you were not found by him.

You dashed the Lord to the ground; you were dashed to the ground.

And you indeed lie dead, but he rose from the dead and ascended to the heights of the heavens.

I released the condemned.

I made the dead alive.

I raise up the buried.

Who is he that contends with me? I, he says, am the Christ—I who abolished death, and triumphed over the enemy, and trod down Hades, and bound the strong one, and snatched man away to the heights of the heavens; I, he says, am the Christ. Come then, all you families of men, defiled with sins, and receive forgiveness of sins.

For I am your forgiveness, I the Pascha of salvation, I the lamb slain for you, I your ransom, I your life, I your resurrection, I your light, I your salvation, I your king.

I lead you up to the heights of the heavens.

I will show you the Father from the ages.

I will raise you up by my right hand. This is he who made the heaven and the earth, and formed man in the beginning, who is proclaimed through the Law and the prophets, who was made flesh in a virgin, who was hanged upon a tree, who was buried in the earth, who was raised from the dead, and ascended to the heights of the heavens, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who has authority to judge and to save all things—through whom the Father made the things from the beginning unto the ages.

This is the Alpha and the Omega.

This is the beginning and the end—a beginning beyond telling and an end beyond comprehension.

This is the Christ. This is the King.

This is Jesus; this is the commander; this is the Lord; this is he who rose from the dead; this is he who sits at the right hand of the Father.

He bears the Father and is borne by the Father, to whom be the glory and the might unto the ages.

Of Melito, On Pascha. Peace to him who wrote, and to him who reads, and to those who love the Lord in simplicity of heart.

Praise the Father, O you saints; sing to the Mother, O virgins.

We praise, we highly exalt, O saints.

Be exalted, O brides and bridegrooms, for you have found your bridegroom, Christ.

Drink of the wine, O brides and bridegrooms.