ONCE AGAIN A NECESSARY and pressing need has
interrupted the
sequence of my recent discourses. I must put aside my
struggles with
the heretics for today and turn my attention to this
necessary business.
For I was ready to address your loving assembly again on
the glory of
the only-begotten Son of God. But the untimely obstinacy of
those who
wish to keep the first paschal fast forces me to devote
my
entire instruction to their cure. For the good shepherd does more
than drive
away the wolves; he also is most diligent in caring
for his sheep who are
sick. What does he gain if the flocks escape the
jaws of the wild beasts but
are then devoured by disease?
(2) The best general is the one who not
only repels the siege
engines of the enemy but first puts down rebellion
within his own
city. He knows well that there will be no victory over an
outside foe
as long as there is civil war within. Do you not know that there
is no
more destructive force than rebellion and obstinacy? Listen to the
words of Christ: "A kingdom divided against itself shall not stand."
And
yet, what is more powerful than a kingdom which possesses
revenues of money,
weapons, walls, fortresses, so large a number of
soldiers, horses, and ten
thousand other sources of strength?
(3) But even power as great as that is
destroyed when it revolts
against itself. Nothing produces weakness so
effectively as conten-
tiousness and strife; and nothing produces power and
strength
so effectively as love and concord. When Solomon grasped this truth
he said: "A brother that is helped by his brother is like a strong city
and kingdom bolted and barred." Do you see the great strength
which
comes from concord? And do you see the great harm caused
by contentiousness?
A kingdom in revolt destroys itself. When two
brothers are bound together
and united into one, they are more
unbreakable than any wall.
(4) I know that, by God's grace, most
members of my flock are
free from this disease and that the sickness
involves only a few. But
this is no reason for me to relax my care. If only
ten, or five, or two,
or even one were sick, he must not be neglected. If
there is only one
worthless outcast. still he is a brother, and Christ died
for him. And
Christ made great account of the weak ones. He said: "Whoever
causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it were
better
for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck, and to
be drowned in
the sea." And again: "As long as you did not do it
for one of these little
ones, you did not do it for me."And again:
"It is not the will of your
Father in heaven that a single one of these
little ones should
perish."
(5) Is it not absurd, when Christ shows
such care for his little
ones, that we should refuse to care for them? Do
not say: "He is one
person." Rather, you must say: "He is one, yes, but if
we do not
take care of him, he will spread the disease to the rest." Paul
said:
"A little leaven ferments the whole mass." And our neglect of the
little ones is what overturns and destroys everything. Neglected
wounds
become serious, just as the serious wounds would easily
become minor if they
receive the proper care.
(6) Moreover, the first thing I have to
say to the Judaizers is that
nothing is worse than contentiousness and
fighting, than tearing the
Church asunder and rending into many parts the
robe which the
robbers did not dare to rip. Are not all the other heresies
enough
without our tearing each other apart? You must listen to Paul when
he says: "But if you bite and devour one another, take heed or you
will
be consumed by one another."
(7) Tell me this. Do you stray outside
the flock and have you no
fear of the lion that prowls about outside the
fold? "For your
enemy, like a lion, goes about seeking whom he may seize."
Here
you see a shepherd's wisdom. He does not let the lion in among the
sheep for fear the lion may terrify the flock. Nor does he drive the
lion away from outside the fold. Why? So that he may gather all the
sheep together inside the fold, because they are afraid of the wild
beast outside. Do you have no reverence and respect for your fa-
ther?
Then fear your foe. If you separate yourself from the flock,
your enemy will
surely catch you.
(8) Christ, too, could have driven the
enemy away from the out-
side of the fold. But to make you sober and
watchful, to make
you constantly run to your Mother for refuge, he permitted
him
to roar outside the fold. Why did he do this? So that when those
within the fold hear his roar, they may take refuge together and be
more
closely bound to one another. Mothers who love their children
also do this:
when their children cry, they often threaten to throw
them to the jaws of
the wolves. Of course, they would not throw
them to the wolves but they say
they will to stop the children
from bothering them. Everything Christ did
was done to keep us
bound together and living at peace with one another.
II
And so it was that Paul could have
accused the Corinthians of
many great crimes but lie accused them of
contentiousness before any
other. He could have accused them of fornication,
of pride, of taking
their quarrels to the pagan courts, of banquets in the
shrines of idols.
He could have charged that the women did not veil their
heads and
that the men did. Over and above all tiffs, he could have accused
them of neglecting the poor, of the pride they took in their charis-
matic gifts, and in the matter of the resurrection of the body. But
since, along with these, he could also find fault with them because of
their dissensions and quarrels with one another, he passed over all
the
other crimes, and corrected their contentiousness first.
(2) If you will not think I am making a
nuisance of myself on this
point, I shall clarify it from Paul's own words.
He did give top
priority to correcting the Corinthians' obstinacy and
contentious-
ness. And he did this even though he could charge them with all
those other crimes. Hear what he says about their fornication: "It is
actually reported that there is lewd conduct among you."That
they were
puffed up and proud: "As if I were not coming to you,
some are puffed up."
Again, that they would plead their cases in
the pagan courts: "Dare any of
you, having a matter against another,
bring your case to be judged before
unbelievers?"That they ate
meat offered to idols: "You cannot be partakers
of the table of the
Lord and of the table of devils." Hear his words of
reproach for
the women who do not veil their heads and the men who do.
"Every
man praying or prophesying with his head covered, disgraces his
head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head
uncovered,
disgraces her head.He showed that they neglected
the poor when he said: "One
is hungry and another drinks over-
much.And again: "or do you despise the
church of God
and put to shame the needy?" When they were all jumping for
the
more important charismatic gifts and no one was satisfied with the
less important, he said: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets?" We
can
conclude that they were raising doubts about the resurrection
because he
says: "But someone will say: 'How do the dead rise? Or
with what kind of
body do they come?"
(3) Although he could make so many
accusations, his first charge
against the Corinthians was dissension and
contentiousness. At the
very beginning of his letter he said: "I beseech
you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the
same thing, and
that there be no dissensions among you." For he knew, he
knew
clearly, that this problem was more urgent than the others. If the
fornicator, or the braggart. or a man in the grip of any other vice
comes frequently to the church, he will quickly draw profit from the
instruction, thrust aside his sin, and return to health.
(4) But when a man has broken away from
this assembly, when
he has withdrawn from the instruction of the fathers,
when he has
fled from the physician's clinic, even if he appears to be in
good
health, lie will soon fall sick? The best physicians first quench the
fires of fever and then cure the wounds and fractures. That is what
Paul
did. He first removed the dissension and then cured their
wounds limb by
limb. And so lie spoke of dissension before the
other sins, so that the
Corinthians would not stand apart in strife, so
that they would not choose
the leaders whom they should follow, so
that they would not divide up the
body of Christ into many parts?
(5) But he was talking not only to the
Corinthians; he was also
speaking to those who would come after them and
suffer from the
same Corinthian disease. I would be glad to ask those of us
who are
sick with this illness: What is the Pasch;what is Lent? What
belongs to the Jews: what belongs to us? Why does their Pasch come
once
each year; why do we celebrate ours each time we gather to
celebrate the
mysteries? What does the feast of unleavened bread
mean? And I would like to
ask them many more questions which
contribute to understanding this subject.
(6) If I were to ask them, you would then
clearly know how
untimely the contentiousness of these men is. They cannot
explain
what they do. But they refuse to ask anybody, just as if they were
wiser than anybody else. They deserve the strongest condemnation
because
they do not have the answers themselves, but they refuse to
follow those who
have been appointed to lead them. They have
simply risked all they have on
this silly practice and are throwing
themselves head first down into the
depths of danger.
III
When I have this to say against them,
what argument of theirs will
seem clever? They ask: "Did you not observe
this fast before?" It
is not your place to say this to me, but I would be
justified in telling
you that we, too, fasted at this time in earlier days,
but still we put
more importance on peace than on the observance of dates.
And
I say to you what Paul said to the Galatians: "Become like me,
because I also have become like you." What does this mean? He
was urging
them to renounce circumcision, to scorn the sabbath, the
feast days, and all
the other observances of the Law. When he saw
they were frightened and
afraid that they might be subjected to
chastisement and punishment for their
transgression, he gave them
courage by the example of his own actions when
he said: "Become
like me, because I also have become like you."
(2) For, he said, I did not come from the
Gentiles, did l? I was
not without experience of the Jewish way of life
under the
Law and the punishment set for those who transgress it, was I? "I
am a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as regards the Law, a Pharisee; as re-
gards
zeal, a persecutor of the Church. But the things that were gain
to me,
these, for the sake of Christ, l counted loss." That is, once
and for all I
stood aloof from them. Therefore, become like me, for
I, too, was as you
are.
(3) But why do I speak on my own account?
Three hundred
Fathers or even more gathered together in the land of Bithynia
and
ordained this by law; yet you disdain their decrees. You must
choose
one of two courses: either you charge them with ignorance
for their want of
exact knowledge on this matter, or you charge
them with cowardice because
they were not ignorant, but played
the hypocrite and betrayed the truth.
When you do not abide by
what they decreed, this is exactly the choice you
must make. But
all the events of the Council make it clear that they showed
great
wisdom and courage at that time. The article of faith they set
forth at the Council show how wise they were, because they blocked
up
the mouths of heretics and, like an impregnable wall, they
repelled the
treachery of every hostile attack. They proved their
courage during the war
waged on the Churches and the persecution
which had but lately come to an
end.
(4) Like champions in battle who have set
up many memorials of
victory and have suffered many wounds, so, too, these
champions of
the Churches, who could count the many tortures they had
endured
for their confession of the faith, came together from every side,
bearing on their bodies the marks of Christ's wounds. Some could
tell of
their hardships in the mines, others of the confiscation of all
their
possessions, and still others of starvation and continuous flog-
gings. Some
could show where the flesh had been torn from their ribs,
some where their
backs had been broken, some where their eyes had
been dug out, and still
others where they had lost some other part of
their bodies for the sake of
Christ. At that time the whole synodal
gathering, welded together from these
champions, along with their
definition of what Christians must believe, also
passed a decree that
they celebrate the paschal feast in harmony together.
They refused
to betray their faith in those most difficult times [of
persecution];
would they sink to pretense and deceit on the question of the
Easter
observance?
(5) Look what you do when you condemn
Fathers so great, so
courageous, so wise. If the Pharisee lost all the
blessings he possessed
because he condemned the publican, what excuse will
you have,
what defense will you make for rising up against these great
teachers
beloved of God, especially since your attack is so unjust and irra-
tional? Did you not hear Christ himself say: "Where two or three are
gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them?
But if
Christ is in their midst where two or three are gathered to-
gether, was not
his presence all the more pervasive among the more
than three hundred
Fathers at Nicaea? Christ was present there, it
was Christ who formulated
and passed the laws. Yet you condemn
not only the Council Fathers but the
whole world which approved
their judgment.
(6) Do you consider that the Jews are
wiser than the Fathers who
came from everywhere in the world? How can you do
that when the
Jews have been driven from their ancestral commonwealth and
way
of life and have no sacred festival to celebrate? I hear many say that
the Pasch and the feast of unleavened bread are one. But there is no
feast of unleavened bread among them, nor is there a Pasch. Why is
there
no feast of unleavened bread among them? Hear the words of
the Lawgiver:
"You may not sacrifice the Passover in any one of the
cities which the Lord
your God gives you, but only in the place in
which His name shall be
invoked." And Moses was here
speaking of
Jerusalem.
(7) Do you see how God confined the
festival to one city, and
later destroyed the city so that, even if it was
against their wills,
he might lead them away from that way of life? Surely,
it is clear
to everybody that God foresaw what would come to pass. Why,
then, did he bring them together to that land from all over the world
if
he foresaw that their city would be destroyed? Is it not very
obvious that
he did this because he wished to bring their ritual to
an end? God did bring
the ritual to an end, but you go along with
the Jews, of whom the prophet
said: "Who is blind but my children,
or deaf but those who lord it over
them?"
(8) And against whom did they show their
want of sense and
feeling? Was it not against the apostles, the prophets,
and their
teachers? Why must I mention teachers and prophets when they
slaughtered their own children? For they did sacrifice their sons and
daughters to demons. When they ignored the voice of nature, were
they
going to observe the festival days? Tell me this. Did they not
trample
kinship under foot, did they not forget their children, did
they not forget
the very God who created them? Moses said: "You
have forsaken the God that
begot you, and have forgotten the God
that nurtured you." Were they going to
keep the festivals after
they had forsaken God? Who could say that?
(9) Christ did keep the Pasch with them.
Yet he did not do so
with the idea that we should keep the Pasch with them.
He did so
that he might bring the reality to what foreshadowed the reality.
He
also submitted to circumcision, kept the sabbath, observed the fes-
tival days, and ate the unleavened bread. But He did all these things
in
Jerusalem. However, we are subject to none of these things, and
on this Paul
spoke out loud and clear: "If you be circumcised, Christ
shall be of no
advantage to you." And again, speaking of the
feast of unleavened bread, he
said: "Therefore let us keep festival,
not with the old leaven, not with the
leaven of malice and wicked-
ness, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth." For
our unleavened bread is not a mixed flour but an
uncorrupted and
virtuous way of life.
IV
Why did Christ keep the Pasch at that
time? The old Pasch was a
type of the Pasch to come, and the reality had to
supplant the type.
So Christ first showed the foreshadowing and then brought
the real-
ity to the banquet table. Once the reality has come, the type
which foreshadowed it is henceforth lost in its own shadow and no
longer
fills the need. So do not keep pleading this excuse, but show
me that Christ
did command us to observe the old Pasch. I am
showing you quite the
opposite. I am showing you that Christ not
only did not command us to keep
the festival days but even freed us
from the obligation to do so.
(2) Hear what Paul had to say. And when I
speak of Paul, I mean
Christ; for it is Christ who moved Paul's soul to
speak. What, then,
did Paul say? "You are observing days, and months, and
seasons, and
years. I fear for you, lest perhaps I have labored in vain
among
you." And again: "As often as you shall eat this bread and drink
this cup, you shall proclaim the death of the Lord." When he said:
"As
often as," Paul gave the right and power to decide this to those
who
approach the mysteries, and freed them from any obli-
gation to observe the
festival days.
(3) Now our Pasch and Lent are not one
and the same thing: the
Pasch is one thing, Lent another. Lent comes once
each year; our
Pasch is celebrated three times each week, sometimes even
four
times, or rather as often as we wish. For the Pasch is not a fast but
the offering and sacrifice which is celebrated at each religions
service
That you may know that this is true, listen to Paul when he
says: "For
Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed," and again:
"As often as you
shall eat this bread and drink the cup, you pro-
claim the death of the
Lord.
(4) So as often as you approach the
sacrificial banquet with a
clean conscience, you celebrate the Pasch. You
celebrate it not when
you fast but when you share in that sacrifice. "For as
often as you
shall eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death
of the
Lord." Our Pasch is the proclamation of the Lord's death. The sac-
rifice which we offer today, that which was offered yesterday, and
each
day's sacrifice is alike and the same as the sacrifice offered on
that
Sabbath day; the sacrifice offered on that Sabbath is no more
solemn than
today's, nor is today's of less value than that; they are
one and the same,
alike filled with awe and salvation.
(5) Why, then, do we fast for forty days?
In the past, and espe-
cially at the time when Christ entrusted to us these
sacred mysteries,
many a man approached the sacrificial banquet without
thought or
preparation. Since the Fathers realized that it was harmful for a
person to approach the mysteries in this heedless fashion, they came
together and marked out forty days for people to fast, pray, and
gather
together to hear the word of God. Their purpose was that we
might all
scrupulously purify ourselves during tiffs time by our
prayers. almsgiving,
fasting, vigils tears, confessions, and all the
other pious practices. so
that we might approach the mysteries with
our consciences made as clean as
we could make them.
(6) And they did well when they came to
our aid and established
for us the practice of this lenten fast. This is
clear because, if we
keep shouting and proclaiming a fast the whole year
through, no one
listens to what we say. But as soon as the season of Lent
draws near,
even the laziest of men rouses himself, even though no one
counsels
or advises him. Why? He gets advice and counsel from the season of
Lent.
(7) So if a Jew or pagan ask you why you
are fasting, do not tell
him that it is because of the Pasch or because of
the mystery of the
cross. If you tell him that, you give him an ample grip
upon you.
Tell him we fast because of our sins and because we are going to
approach the mysteries. The Pasch is not a reason for fasting or grief;
it is a reason for cheerfulness and joy. The cross has taken away sin;
it was an expiation for the world. a reconciliation for the ancient
enmity. It opened the gates of heaven, changed those who hated
into
friends; it took our human nature, led it up to heaven, and
seated it at the
right hand of God's throne. And it brought to us ten
thousand other
blessings.
(8) There is no need, then, to grieve or
be downcast: we must
rejoice and glory in all these things. This is why Paul
said: "But God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus
Christ." And again: "But God commends his charity towards us,
because when as yet we were sinners, Christ died for us."
John put it
like this: "God so loved the world. Tell me, how did
God love the world?
John passed over all the other signs of God's
love and put the cross in
first place. For after he said: "God so loved
the world," he said:"That he
gave his only-begotten Son," that he be
crucified, "that those who believe
in him may not perish but may
have life everlasting." If, then, the cross is
the basis and boast of
love, let us not say that it is a cause for grief.
Heaven forbid that we
grieve because of the cross. We grieve for our sins,
and this is why we
fast.
V
Although the catechumen keeps the fast
each year, lie does not
celebrate the Pasch since he does not share in the
sacrifice. But
even though a man is not observing the lenten fast, he does
celebrate
the Pasch as long as lie comes to the altar with a clean
conscience
and shares in the sacrifice-whether it be today, tomorrow, or any
day whatsoever. The best time to approach the mysteries is deter-
mined
by the purity of a man's conscience and not by his observance
of suitable
seasons.
(2) Yet we do just the opposite. We fail
to cleanse our conscience
and, even though we are burdened with ten thousand
sins, we con-
sider that we have celebrated the Pasch as long as we approach
the
mysteries on that feast day. But this is certainly not the case. If you
approach the altar on the very day of the Sabbath and your
conscience be
bad, you fail to share in the mysteries and you leave
without celebrating
the Pasch. But if you wash away your sins and
share in the mysteries today,
you do celebrate the Pasch in pre-
cisely the proper way.
(3) Therefore you must safeguard this
exactness and vigor of
spirit, not in the observance of the proper times but
in your ap-
proach to the altar. Now you would elect to endure all things
rather
than change this practice. So, too, you must disdain it and choose
to do or suffer anything so as not to approach the mysteries when
you
are burdened with sins.
(4) Be sure that God takes no account of
such observance of
special seasons. Hear him as he passes judgment on those
at his
right hand: "You saw me hungry and gave me to eat; you saw me
thirsty and gave me to drink; you saw me naked and you covered
me." But
he charged with quite different conduct those on his left
hand. At another
time he brought forward another man in a parable
and castigated him because
He remembered the evil the man had
done. For he said: "You wicked servant, I
forgave you all the debt.
Should not you then have had compassion also on
your fellow ser-
vant, even as I had compassion on you?" Again, when the
virgins
had no oil in their lamps, he locked them out of the bridecham-
ber. And he cast out another man who came into the feast with-
out a
wedding garment because this man was garbed in filthy
clothes and was
wearing the cloak of his fornication and
uncleanness, But no one was ever
punished or accused because he
observed the Pasch in this or that month.
(5) But why speak of ourselves since we
have been set free from
all such necessity? We are citizens of a city above
in heaven, where
there are no months, no sun, no moon, no circle of seasons.
If you
wish to give exact attention to the matter, you will see that, even
among the Jews, little account was made of the season of the Pasch,
but
they cared greatly about the place for it, namely, Jerusalem.
Some men came
up to Moses and said to him: "We are unclean
through touching the dead body
of a man. How shall we
avoid failing ill the Lord's offering?" He said to
them: "Wait here
and let me report it to God." Then, after he reported it,
he
brought back the law which says: "If any man be unclean through
touching a dead body, or be afar on a journey and be unable to keep
the
Pasch in the first month, he shall keep it in the second."
(6) And so is not the observance of the
time annulled among the
Jews so that the Pasch may be observed in Jerusalem?
Will you not
show greater concern for the harmony of the Church than for the
season? So that you may seem to be observing the proper days, will
you
outrage the common Mother of us all and will you cut
asunder the Holy
Synod?How could you deserve pardon when
you choose to commit sins so
enormous for no good reason ?
(7) But why must I speak of the Jews? No
matter how eagerly
and earnestly we wish it, it is not altogether possible
for us to
observe that day on which He was crucified. This will make it
clear.
Let us suppose the Jews had not sinned, that they were not hard of
heart, nor senseless, nor indifferent, nor despisers; suppose they had
not fallen from their ancestral way of life but were still carefully
observing it. Even if this was the case, we could not, by following in
their footsteps, put our finger on the very day on which He was
crucified and fulfilled the Pasch. Let me tell how this is the case.
When He was crucified it was the first day of the feast of unleavened
bread and the day of preparation.
(8) But it is not possible for both of
these to fall always on the
same day. This year the first day of the feast
of unleavened bread
falls on Sunday, and the fast must still last for a
whole week;
According to this, after Passiontide, after the cross and
resurrection
have come and gone, we are still fasting. And it has often
happened
that, after the cross and resurrection, our fast is still being
observed
because the week is not yet over. This is why no observance of the
exact time is possible.
VI
Let us not quarrel, let us not say:
"After fasting these many
years, am I to change now?" Change for that very
reason. Since you
have been so long severed from the Church, come back now
to your
Mother. No one says: "After I lived as her enemy so long a time, I
am ashamed to be reconciled now." You have grounds for shame if
you do
not change for the better but persist in your untimely con-
tentiousness.
That is what destroyed the Jews. While they always
kept looking for the old
customs and life, these were stripped from
them and they turned to impiety.
(2) But why do I speak of fasting and the
observance of special
days? Paul continued to observe the Law and to endure
many a toil;
he patiently put up with many journeys and hardships; he
surpassed
all his contemporaries in the exact observance of that way of
life.
But after he achieved the heights of that life and came to realize
that
he was doing all this for his own hurt and destruction, he immediate-
ly changed. He did not say to himself: "What is this? Am I to lose
the
reward for this great zeal of mine? Am I to waste all this work?"
Rather he
was the quicker to change for the very reason that he
might continue to
suffer that loss. He scorned justification by the
Law so that he might
receive the justification of faith. And so he
loudly proclaimed: "The things
that were gain to me I have counted
as loss for Christ. And Christ said: "If
you offer your gift
at the altar, and there you remember that your brother
has anything
against you, go first and be reconciled to your brother and
then
come and offer your gift."
(3) What do you mean? If your brother has
something against
you, Christ does not permit you to offer your sacrifice
until you are
reconciled to your brother. When you have the whole Church and
so
many Fathers against you, do you have the hardihood to dare to
approach the divine mysteries before you put aside that unseemly
enmity?
Since this is the way you feel, how could you celebrate the
Pasch?
(4) I say this not only to those who are
sick but also to you who
are in good health. When you who are well see how
many are sick,
you will show them great care and kindness, you will pick
them out,
gather them together, and bring them back to their Mother. What-
ever they say against us, however they jump at us, no matter what
else
they do to us, we must not grow weary and stop until we win
them back. For
there is nothing comparable to peace and harmony.
(5) It is for this reason that, when the
Father enters the
church, he does not mount to this chair until he has
prayed for all
of you; when he rises from this chair, he does not begin his
instruc-
tion until he has first given the peace to all. And when the
priests are
going to give the blessing, they first pray for peace for you
and then
begin the blessing.
(6) And when the deacon bids you to pray
all together, he also
enjoins you in his prayer to ask for the Angel of
Peace, and that
everything which concerns you be blessed with peace. As he
dis-
misses you from the assembly, he petitions [peace] for you and says:
"Go in peace." And without this peace, it is altogether impossible
for
us to say or do anything. For peace is our nurse and mother. she
is very
careful to cherish us and foster us. I am not speaking of what
is merely
called by the name of peace, nor of the peace which comes
from sharing meals
together, but of the peace which accords with
God, the peace which comes
from the harmony sent by the Spirit.
Many are now tearing this peace asunder
by destroying us and exalt-
ing the Jews. These men consider the Jews as
more trustworthy
teachers than their own Fathers;they believe the account of
Christ's
passion and death which is given by those who slew Him. What
could be more unreasonable than this?
(7) Do you not see that their Passover is
the type, while our Pasch
is the truth? Look at the tremendous difference
between them. The
Passover prevented bodily death: whereas the Pasch quelled
God's
anger against the whole world; the Passover of old freed the Jews
from Egypt, while the Pasch has set us free from idolatry; the Passo-
ver drowned the Pharaoh, but the Pasch drowned the devil; after
the
Passover came Palestine, but after the Pasch will come heaven.
(8) Why, then, do you sit beside a lamp
after the sun has ap-
peared? Why do you wish to nourish yourself on milk
when solid
food is being given to you? You were nourished with milk so that
you might not remain satisfied with milk: the lamp shone for you
that it
might guide you and lead you by the hand into the light of
the sun. Now that
the era of more perfect things has come, let us not
run back to the former
times, let us not observe the days and seasons
and years: rather, let us
everywhere be careful to follow the Church
by paying heed to charity and
peace before all things.
(9) Suppose the Church were to be tripped
up and fall. The
accurate computation of dates would not succeed in making
her slip
as much as this division and schism would deserve the blame.
But I make no account of the exact date, since God makes
no account of
it, as I proved when I devoted many discourses to this
subject. But the one
thing I seek is that we do all things in peace
and concord. If we do so, you
will not stay home and get drunk
while we are fasting with the rest of the
people, and the priests
are praying together for the whole world.
(10) Note well that this is of the
devil's doing and that it is not a
single sin, nor two, nor three, but far
more than three. It cuts you
off from the flock, it makes you ready to hold
so many Fathers in
scorn, it hurls you into contentiousness, it thrusts you
over to the
Jews, and furthermore it makes you a scandal both to your own
family and to strangers. How can we blame the Jews for waiting for
you
in their houses when it is you who go running to them?
(11) These sins are not the only problem.
During those days of
the fast great harm could come to you from your failure
to take
advantage of the Scripture readings, the religious meetings in the
church, the blessing, and the prayers said in common. Great harm
could
come to you while you and your bad conscience are spending
tiffs whole time
in fear and dread that, like some foreigner or stran-
ger, you may be caught
ill your sinful act. And during all this time,
in common with the Church,
you should be discharging all your
religious duties in a spirit of
confidence, pleasure, good cheer, and
full freedom.
(12) The Church does not recognize the
exact observance of
dates. In the beginning the Fathers decided to come
together from
widely separated places and to flux the Easter date; the
Church
paid respect to the harmony of their thinking. loved their oneness of
mind, and accepted the date they enjoined. My earlier remarks have
proved adequately that it is impossible for us or you or any other
man
to arrive at the exact date of the Lord's day. So let us stop
fighting with
shadows, let us stop hurting ourselves in the big things
while we are
indulging our rivalry over the small.
(13) Fasting at tiffs or that time is not
a matter for blame. But to
rend asunder the Church, to be ready for rivalry,
to create dis-
sension, to rob oneself continuously of the benefits of
religious
meetings-these are unpardonable, these do demand an accounting,
these do deserve serious punishment.
(14) I could have said much more than
this. What I have said is
enough for those who heed me; those who fail to
heed my words
will not be helped even if I should have much more to say. So
let me
finish my discourse at this point. and let us all pray together that
our
brothers come back to us. Let us pray that they cling fondly to
peace and stand apart from untimely rivalry. Let us pray that they
scorn
this sluggish spirit of theirs and find a great and lofty under-
standing.
Let us pray that they be set free from this observance of
days so that all
of us, with one heart and with one voice, may give
glory to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be
glory and power now and forever,
world without end. Amen.