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| For 330. Easter-day xxiv Pharmuthi; xiii Kal. Mai; Æra Dioclet. 46; Coss. Gallicianus, Valerius Symmachus; Præfect, Magninianus; Indict. iii.
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Letter II.—For
330. Easter-day xxiv Pharmuthi; xiii Kal. Mai; Æra Dioclet. 46;
Coss. Gallicianus, Valerius Symmachus; Præfect, Magninianus;
Indict. iii.
Again, my brethren, is
Easter come and gladness; again the Lord hath brought us to this
season; so that when, according to custom, we have been nourished with
His words, we may duly keep the feast. Let us celebrate it then, even
heavenly joy, with those saints who formerly proclaimed a like feast,
and were ensamples to us of conversation in Christ. For not only were
they entrusted with the charge of preaching the Gospel, but, if we
enquire, we shall see, as it is written, that its power was displayed
in them. ‘Be ye therefore followers of me3930
,’ he wrote to the Corinthians. Now the
apostolic precept exhorts us all, for those commands which he sent to
individuals, he at the same time enjoined upon every man in every
place, for he was ‘a teacher of all nations in faith and truth3931
.’ And, generally, the commands of all
the saints urge us on similarly, as Solomon makes use of proverbs,
saying, ‘Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and
attend to know understanding; for I give you a good gift, forsake ye
not my word: for I was an obedient son to my father, and beloved in the
sight of my mother3932
.’ For a just
father brings up [his children] well, when he is diligent in teaching
others in accordance with his own upright conduct, so that when he
meets with opposition, he may not be ashamed on hearing it said,
‘Thou therefore that teachest others, teachest thou not thyself3933
?’ but rather, like the good servant,
may both save himself and gain others; and thus, when the grace
committed to him has been doubled, he may hear, ‘Thou good and
faithful servant, thou hast been faithful in a little, I will set thee
over much: enter into the joy of thy Lord3934
.’
2. Let us3935
| 3935 We
have here the first fragment extant of the original Greek text. It is
to be found in Cosmas Indicopleustes. p. 316. | then, as is
becoming, as at all times, yet especially in the days of the feast, be
not hearers only, but doers of the commandments of our Saviour; that
having imitated the behaviour of the saints, we may enter together into
the joy of our Lord which is in heaven, which is not transitory, but
truly abides; of which evil doers having deprived themselves, there
remains to them as the fruit of their ways, sorrow and affliction, and
groaning with torments. Let a man see what these become like, that they
bear not the likeness3936
of the conversation
of the saints, nor of that right understanding, by which man at the
beginning was rational, and in the image of God. But they are compared
to their disgrace to beasts without understanding, and becoming like
them in unlawful pleasures, they are spoken of as wanton horses3937
; also, for their craftiness, and errors, and
sin laden with death, they are called a ‘generation of
vipers,’ as John saith3938
. Now having thus
fallen, and grovelling in the dust like the serpent3939
| 3939 Cf.
Vit. Anton. supr. p. 202. | , having their minds set on nothing beyond
visible things, they esteem these things good, and rejoicing in them,
serve their own lusts and not God.
3. Yet even in this state, the man-loving Word,
who came for this very reason, that He might seek and find that which
was lost, sought to restrain them from such folly, crying and saying,
‘Be ye not as the horse and the mule which have no understanding,
whose cheeks ye hold in with bit and bridle3940
.’ Because they were careless and
imitated the wicked, the prophet prays in spirit and says, ‘Ye
are to me like merchant-men of Phœnicia3941
.’ And the avenging Spirit protests
against them in these words, ‘Lord, in Thy city Thou wilt despise
their image3942
.’ Thus, being changed into the likeness of fools, they fell so
low in their understanding, that by their excessive reasoning, they
even likened the Divine Wisdom to themselves, thinking it to be like
their own arts. Therefore, ‘professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into
the likeness of the corruptible image of man, and birds, and
four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them over
to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient3943
.’ For they did not listen to the
prophetic voice that reproved them (saying), ‘To what have ye
likened the Lord, and with what have ye compared Him3944
?’ neither to David, who prayed
concerning such as these, and sang, ‘All those that make them are
like unto them, and all those who put their trust in them3945
.’ Being blind to the truth, they
looked upon a stone as God, and hence, like senseless creatures, they
walked in darkness, and, as the prophet cried, ‘They hear indeed,
but they do not understand; they see indeed, but they do not perceive;
for their heart is waxen fat, and with their ears they hear heavily3946
.’
4. Now those who do not observe the feast,
continue such as these even to the present day, feigning indeed and
devising names of feasts3947
| 3947 Syr. σχηματισάμενος. The allusion in this sentence is evidently to the conduct
of Jeroboam, as recorded 1 Kings xii. 32,
33.
The phraseology of the Syriac resembles that of the Syr. version in v.
33. | , but rather
introducing days of mourning than of gladness; ‘For there is no
peace to the wicked, saith the Lord3948
.’ And as
Wisdom saith, ‘Gladness and joy are taken from their mouth3949
| 3949 Vid.
Letter iii. note. | .’ Such are the feasts of the wicked.
But the wise servants of the Lord, who have truly put on the man which
is created in God3950
, have received
gospel words, and reckon as a general commandment that given to
Timothy, which saith, ‘Be thou an example to the believers in
word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in purity3951
.’ So well do they keep the Feast, that
even the unbelievers, seeing their order3952
| 3952 τάξις, Syr.
Cf. Col. ii. 5, βλέπων ὑμῶν
τὴν τάξιν. | ,
may say, ‘God is with them of a truth3953
.’ For as he who receives an apostle
receives Him who sent him3954
, so he who is a
follower of the saints, makes the Lord in every respect his end and
aim, even as Paul, being a follower of Him, goes on to say, ‘As I
also of Christ3955
.’ For there
were first our Saviour’s own words, who from the height of His
divinity, when conversing with His disciples, said, ‘Learn of Me,
for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your
souls3956
.’ Then too when He poured water into a
basin, and girded Himself with a towel, and washed His disciples’
feet, He said to them, ‘Know what I have done. Ye call Me Master
and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. If therefore I, your Lord and
Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one
another’s feet: for I have given you an example, that as I have
done to you, ye also should do3957
.’
5. Oh! my brethren, how shall we admire the
loving-kindness of the Saviour? With what power, and with what a
trumpet should a man cry out, exalting these His benefits! That not
only should we bear His image, but should receive from Him an example
and pattern of heavenly conversation; that as He hath begun, we should
go on, that suffering, we should not threaten, being reviled, we should
not revile again, but should bless them that curse, and in everything
commit ourselves to God who judgeth righteously3958
.
For those who are thus disposed, and fashion themselves according to
the Gospel, will be partakers of Christ, and imitators of apostolic
conversation, on account of which they shall be deemed worthy of that
praise from him, with which he praised the Corinthians, when he said,
‘I praise you that in everything ye are mindful of me3959
.’ Afterwards, because there were men
who used his words, but chose to hear them as suited their lusts, and
dared to pervert them, as the followers of Hymenæus and Alexander,
and before them the Sadducees, who as he said, ‘having made
shipwreck of faith,’ scoffed at the mystery of the resurrection,
he immediately proceeded to say, ‘And as I have delivered to you
traditions, hold them fast3960
.’ That means,
indeed, that we should think not otherwise than as the teacher has
delivered.
6. For not only in outward form did those wicked
men dissemble, putting on as the Lord says sheep’s clothing, and
appearing like unto whited sepulchres; but they took those divine words
in their mouth, while they inwardly cherished evil intentions. And the
first to put on this appearance was the serpent, the inventor of
wickedness from the beginning—the devil,—who, in disguise,
conversed with Eve, and forthwith deceived her. But after him and with
him are all inventors of unlawful heresies, who indeed refer to the
Scriptures, but do not hold such opinions as the saints have handed
down, and receiving them as the traditions of men, err, because they do
not rightly know them nor their3961
power.
Therefore Paul justly praises the Corinthians3962
,
because their opinions were in accordance with his traditions. And the
Lord most righteously reproved the
Jews, saying, ‘Wherefore do ye also transgress the commandments
of God on account of your traditions3963
.’ For
they changed the commandments they received from God after their own
understanding, preferring to observe the traditions of men. And about
these, a little after, the blessed Paul again gave directions to the
Galatians who were in danger thereof, writing to them, ‘If any
man preach to you aught else than that ye have received, let him be
accursed3964
.’
7. For there is no fellowship whatever between
the words of the saints and the fancies of human invention; for the
saints are the ministers of the truth, preaching the kingdom of heaven,
but those who are borne in the opposite direction have nothing better
than to eat, and think their end is that they shall cease to be, and
they say, ‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die3965
.’ Therefore blessed Luke reproves the
inventions of men, and hands down the narrations of the saints, saying
in the beginning of the Gospel, ‘Since many have presumed to
write narrations of those events of which we are assured, as those who
from the beginning were witnesses and ministers of the Word have
delivered to us; it hath seemed good to me also, who have adhered to
them all from the first, to write correctly in order to thee, O
excellent Theophilus, that thou mayest know the truth concerning the
things in which thou hast been instructed3966
.’ For as each of the saints has
received, that they impart without alteration, for the confirmation of
the doctrine of the mysteries. Of these the (divine) word would have us
disciples, and these should of right be our teachers, and to them only
is it necessary to give heed, for of them only is ‘the word
faithful and worthy of all acceptation3967
;’ these not being disciples because
they heard from others, but being eye-witnesses and ministers of the
Word, that which they had heard from Him have they handed down.
Now some have related the wonderful signs
performed by our Saviour, and preached His eternal Godhead. And others
have written of His being born in the flesh of the Virgin, and have
proclaimed the festival of the holy passover, saying, ‘Christ our
Passover is sacrificed3968
;’ so that we,
individually and collectively, and all the churches in the world may
remember, as it is written, ‘That Christ rose from the dead, of
the seed of David, according to the Gospel3969
.’ And let us not forget that which
Paul delivered, declaring it to the Corinthians; I mean His
resurrection, whereby ‘He destroyed him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil3970
;’ and raised
us up together with Him, having loosed the bands of death, and
vouchsafed a blessing instead of a curse, joy instead of grief, a feast
instead of mourning, in this holy joy of Easter, which being
continually in our hearts, we always rejoice, as Paul commanded;
‘We pray without ceasing; in everything we give thanks3971
.’ So we are not remiss in giving
notice of its seasons, as we have received from the Fathers. Again we
write, again keeping to the apostolic traditions, we remind each other
when we come together for prayer; and keeping the feast in common, with
one mouth we truly give thanks to the Lord. Thus giving thanks unto
Him, and being followers of the saints, ‘we shall make our praise
in the Lord all the day3972
,’ as the
Psalmist says. So, when we rightly keep the feast, we shall be counted
worthy of that joy which is in heaven.
8. We begin the fast of forty days on the 13th of
the month Phamenoth (Mar. 9). After we have given ourselves to fasting
in continued succession, let us begin the holy Paschal3973
| 3973 In
Syriac there is but one word ‘pescha’ to express the
Passover and Easter feasts, it is therefore sometimes rendered Easter,
and sometimes Passover, in the following pages. | week on the 18th of the month Pharmuthi
(April 13). Then resting on the 23rd of the same month Pharmuthi (April
18), and keeping the feast afterwards on the first of the week, on the
24th (April 19), let us add to these the seven weeks of the great
Pentecost, wholly rejoicing and exulting in Christ Jesus our Lord,
through Whom to the Father be glory and dominion in the Holy Ghost, for
ever and ever. Amen.
The brethren which are with me salute you. Salute
one another with a holy kiss3974
| 3974 The
twenty-fifth Paschal Letter of S. Cyril ends with the same words. This
is the usual form in which our author concludes his Paschal Letters. S.
Cyril employs it but once, as above. | .
Here endeth the second Festal Letter of the holy
lord Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
