8. For thus the patriarch Abraham rejoiced not to see his own day, but that of the Lord; and thus looking forward he saw it, and was glad [4105] .' And when he was tried, by faith he offered up Isaac, and sacrificed his only-begotten son--he who had received the promises. And, in offering his son, he worshipped the Son of God. And, being restrained from sacrificing Isaac, he saw the Messiah in the ram [4106] , which was offered up instead as a sacrifice to God. The patriarch was tried, through Isaac, not however that he was sacrificed, but He who was pointed out in Isaiah; He shall be led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers he shall be speechless [4107] ;' but He took away the sin of the world. And on this account [Abraham] was restrained from laying his hand on the lad, lest the Jews, taking occasion from the sacrifice of Isaac, should reject the prophetic declarations concerning our Saviour, even all of them, but more especially those uttered by the Psalmist; Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not; a body Thou hast prepared Me [4108] ;' and should refer all such things as these to the son of Abraham.
9. For the sacrifice was not properly the setting to rights [4109] of Isaac, but of Abraham who also offered, and by that was tried. Thus God accepted the will of the offerer, but prevented that which was offered from being sacrificed. For the death of Isaac did not procure freedom to the world, but that of our Saviour alone, by whose stripes we all are healed [4110] . For He raised up the falling, healed the sick, satisfied those who were hungry, and filled the poor, and, what is more wonderful, raised us all from the dead; having abolished death, He has brought us from affliction and sighing to the rest and gladness of this feast, a joy which reacheth even to heaven. For not we alone are affected by this, but because of it, even the heavens rejoice with us, and the whole church of the firstborn, written in heaven [4111] , is made glad together, as the prophet proclaims, saying, Rejoice, ye heavens, for the Lord hath had mercy upon Israel. Shout, ye foundations of the earth. Cry out with joy, ye mountains, ye high places, and all the trees which are in them, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and Israel hath been glorified [4112] .' And again; Rejoice, and be glad, ye heavens; let the hills melt into gladness, for the Lord hath had mercy on His people, and comforted the oppressed of the people [4113] .'
10. The whole creation keeps a feast, my brethren, and everything that hath breath praises the Lord [4114] , as the Psalmist [says], on account of the destruction of the enemies, and our salvation. And justly indeed; for if there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth [4115] , what should there not be over the abolition of sin, and the resurrection of the dead? Oh what a feast and how great the gladness in heaven! how must all its hosts joy and exult, as they rejoice and watch in our assemblies, those that are held continually, and especially those at Easter? For they look on sinners while they repent; on those who have turned away their faces, when they become converted; on those who formerly persisted in lusts and excess, but who now humble themselves by fastings and temperance; and, finally, on the enemy who lies weakened, lifeless, bound hand and foot, so that we may mock at him; Where is thy victory, O Death? where is thy sting, O Grave [4116] ?' Let us then sing unto the Lord a song of victory.
11. Who then will lead us to such a company of angels as this? Who, coming with a desire for the heavenly feast, and the angelic holiday, will say like the prophet, I will pass to the place of the wondrous tabernacle, unto the house of God; with the voice of joy and praise, with the shouting of those who keep festival [4117] ?' To this course the saints also encourage us, saying, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob [4118] .' But not for the impure is this feast, nor is the ascent thereto for sinners; but it is for the virtuous and diligent; and for those who live according to the aim of the saints; for, Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place, but he that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not devoted his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. For he,' as the Psalmist adds, when he goes up, shall receive a blessing from the Lord [4119] .' Now this clearly also refers to what the Lord gives to them at the right hand, saying, Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you [4120] .' But the deceitful, and he that is not pure of heart, and possesses nothing that is pure (as the Proverb saith, To a deceitful man there is nothing good [4121] '), shall assuredly, being a stranger, and of a different race from the saints, be accounted unworthy to eat the Passover, for a foreigner shall not eat of it [4122] .' Thus Judas, when he thought he kept the Passover, because he plotted deceit against the Saviour, was estranged from the city which is above, and from the apostolic company. For the law commanded the Passover to be eaten with due observance; but he, while eating it, was sifted of the devil [4123] , who had entered his soul.
12. Wherefore let us not celebrate the feast after an earthly manner, but as keeping festival in heaven with the angels. Let us glorify the Lord, by chastity, by righteousness, and other virtues. And let us rejoice, not in ourselves, but in the Lord, that we may be inheritors with the saints. Let us keep the feast then, as Moses. Let us watch like David who rose seven times, and in the middle of the night gave thanks for the righteous judgments of God. Let us be early, as he said, In the morning I will stand before Thee, and Thou wilt look upon me: in the morning Thou wilt hear my voice [4124] .' Let us fast like Daniel; let us pray without ceasing, as Paul commanded; all of us recognising the season of prayer, but especially those who are honourably married; so that having borne witness to these things, and thus having kept the feast, we may be able to enter into the joy of Christ in the kingdom of heaven [4125] . But as Israel, when going up to Jerusalem, was first purified in the wilderness, being trained to forget the customs of Egypt, the Word by this typifying to us the holy fast of forty days, let us first be purified and freed from defilement [4126] , so that when we depart hence, having been careful of fasting, we may be able to ascend to the upper chamber [4127] with the Lord, to sup with Him; and may be partakers of the joy which is in heaven. In no other manner is it possible to go up to Jerusalem, and to eat the Passover, except by observing the fast of forty days.
13. We begin the fast of forty days on the first day of the month Phamenoth (Feb. 25); and having prolonged it till the fifth of Pharmuthi (Mar. 31), suspending it upon the Sundays and the Saturdays [4128] preceding them, we then begin again on the holy days of Easter, on the sixth of Pharmuthi (Apr, 1), and cease on the eleventh of the same month (Apr. 6), late in the evening [4129] of the Saturday, whence dawns on us the holy Sunday, on the twelfth of Pharmuthi (Apr. 7), which extends its beams, with unobscured grace, to all the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost. Resting on that day, let us ever keep Easter joy in Christ Jesus our Lord, 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 sixth Festal Letter of the holy and God-clad Athanasius.
[4072] The index gives still Paternus for Letters 6 and 7. On Philagrius, see p. 93, note 2.
[4073] Cf. i. 9, n. 12.
[4074] Deut. xvi. 1.
[4075] Nahum i. 15.
[4076] Luke xxii. 15, 16.
[4077] 1 Cor. v. 8.
[4078] Gal. iv. 10, 11.
[4079] 1 Cor. v. 7.
[4080] Exod. xii. 11.
[4081] Cf. John vi. 4. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.' Cf. Origenis Comment. in Joannem, tom. x. §11. p. 172. ed. 1759.
[4082] Is. i. 14.
[4083] Luke xvii. 15, &c.
[4084] Ib. 19
[4085] 1 Cor. vi. 20; Is. xlii. 12; Matt. xxvi. 65.
[4086] John xii. 28.
[4087] 2 Cor. v. 13-15
[4088] Ib. vi. 1, 2.
[4089] Cf. S. Cyril. Hom. Pasch. xxiv. sub init.
[4090] 1 Cor. xv. 53.
[4091] Ps. xxx. 9.
[4092] Matt. xxv. 26-30
[4093] Gal. v. 22.
[4094] Rom. xiii. 7.
[4095] Matt. xxi. 33.
[4096] Ib. 19
[4097] Jer. xxv. 10.
[4098] The negative (which is here placed within brackets) is found in the Syriac text; but there is little doubt that it is an error.
[4099] Rom. xi. 23.
[4100] Cf. Letter i. S. Cyril, Hom. i. de Festis Pasch. vol. v. pt. 2, p. 6.
[4101] The Passover is no longer to be a feast of the Jews: it is to be celebrated by Christians as a festival of the Lord. Vid. §2. n. 10.
[4102] Matt. xxvi. 38.
[4103] Ps. ix. 14, xxxv. 9; Ib. xxxiii. 1.
[4104] Ps. xcv. 1.
[4105] John viii. 56; Heb. xi. 17.
[4106] Gen. xxii. 15. The Syriac, here rendered by ram,' is the usual word for sheep, common gender. It is the same word that is used directly after in the quotation from Isaiah, and rendered lamb.'
[4107] Is. liii. 7.
[4108] Ps. xl. 6.
[4109] The phrase setting to rights' is used for want of one that would better express the meaning. The Syriac noun is that used to render diorthosis in Heb. ix. 10, from a verb to make straight, set upright, or right.'
[4110] Is. liii. 5.
[4111] Heb. xii. 23.
[4112] Is. xliv. 23.
[4113] Is. xlix. 13.
[4114] Ps. cl. 6.
[4115] Luke xv. 7.
[4116] 1 Cor. xv. 55. Cf. Incarn. 27.
[4117] Ps. xlii. 4.
[4118] Is. ii. 3.
[4119] Ps. xxiv. 3.
[4120] Matt. xxv. 34.
[4121] Prov. xiii. 13, LXX.
[4122] Exod. xii. 43.
[4123] Cf. Luke xxii. 31.
[4124] Ps. v. 3.
[4125] A line or two is preserved here in the original Greek in Cosmas Topog. Christ. p. 316.
[4126] Gregory Nazianzen speaks of the Lenten fast as katharsis proeortios, vol. i. p. 715. §30. ed. Ben. fol. Par. 1778.
[4127] Cf. Luke xiv. 15
[4128] The Saturdays and Sundays during Lent were not observed as fasts, with the exception of the day before Easter-day. S. Ambrose says, Quadragesima tot's præter Sabbatum et Dominicam jejunatur diebus. vol. i. p. 545, §34. ed. Par. 1686-90.
[4129] Cf. Dionys Alex. ad Basilid. in Routh Rell. Sac. iii. 226.
Letter VII.--For 335. Easter-day iv Pharmuthi, iii Kal. April; xx Moon; Ær. Dioclet. 51; Coss. Julius Constantius, the brother of Augustus, Rufinus Albinus; Præfect, the same Philagrius; viii Indict.
The blessed Paul [4130] wrote to the Corinthians [4131] that he always bore in his body the dying of Jesus, not as though he alone should make that boast, but also they and we too, and in this let us be followers of him, my brethren. And let this be the customary boast of all of us at all times. In this David participated, saying in the Psalms, For thy sake we die all the day; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter [4132] .' Now this is becoming in us, especially in the days of the feast, when a commemoration of the death of our Saviour is held. For he who is made like Him in His death, is also diligent in virtuous practices, having mortified his members which are upon the earth [4133] , and crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts, he lives in the Spirit, and is conformed to the Spirit [4134] . He is always mindful of God, and forgets Him not, and never does the deeds of death. Now, in order that we may bear in our body the dying of Jesus, he immediately adds the way of such fellowship, saying, we having the same spirit of faith, as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak [4135] .' He adds also, speaking of the grace that arises from knowledge; For He that raised up Jesus, will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us before Him with you [4136] .'