The Sixth Festal Letter, for Easter 334

Now again, my beloved, God has brought us to the season of the feast, and through his love for humankind we have reached the time of gathering for it. For the God who brought Israel out of Egypt is the one who calls us to the feast now, saying through Moses, “Observe the month of new fruits, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God,” and through the prophet, “Keep your feasts, O Judah; pay your vows to the Lord.” If, then, God himself loves the feast and calls us to it, it is not right, my brothers and sisters, that it should be put off or kept carelessly. We should come to it with eagerness and zeal, so that, having begun joyfully here, we may also receive a pledge of that heavenly feast. For if we celebrate the feast diligently here, we will certainly receive the perfect joy which is in heaven, as the Lord says: “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you that I will not eat it until it is fulfilled with you in the kingdom of God.” Now we eat it if we understand the reason for the feast, acknowledge the Deliverer, and conduct ourselves in keeping with his grace, as Paul says: “So that we may keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” For the Lord died in those days, so that we would no longer do the deeds of death. He gave his life so that we might keep our own safe from the snares of the devil. And, most wonderful of all, the Word became flesh, so that we would no longer live in the flesh, but would worship God, who is Spirit, in spirit. Whoever is not of this mind misuses the days and does not keep the feast. Like an ungrateful person, he finds fault with the grace. He honors the days too much, while he does not pray to the Lord who in those days redeemed him. Though he imagines he keeps the feast, let him by all means hear the apostle’s voice rebuking him: “You observe days, and months, and times, and years. I fear that I have labored among you in vain.” [a]

For the feast is not for the sake of the days. We celebrate it for the sake of the Lord, who suffered for us then, for “Christ our Passover is sacrificed.” So Moses, too, when he taught Israel not to think of the feast as belonging to the days but to the Lord, said, “It is the Lord’s Passover.” To the Jews, when they thought they were keeping the Passover, the feast was useless, because they persecuted the Lord. It no longer bore the name of the Lord, even by their own testimony. It was not the Passover of the Lord, but that of the Jews. The Passover was named after the Jews, my brothers and sisters, because they denied the Lord of the Passover. For this reason the Lord, turning his face away from such a teaching of theirs, says, “Your new moons and your sabbaths my soul hates.” [e]

So now the Lord again rebukes those who keep the Passover in that way, as he did with the lepers who were cleansed, when he loved the one as thankful but was angry with the others as ungrateful. They did not acknowledge their Deliverer, but thought more of the cure of their leprosy than of him who healed them. “But one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell on his face at the feet of Jesus, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine, why are none found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And more was given to him than to the rest. For when he was cleansed of his leprosy, he heard from the Lord, “Get up, go your way; your faith has saved you.” For the one who gives thanks and the one who glorifies have kindred feelings, since both bless their Helper for the benefits they have received. So the apostle urges everyone to this, saying, “Glorify God with your body,” and the prophet commands, saying, “Give glory to God.” Although Caiaphas bore testimony against our Redeemer, and he was treated with contempt by the Jews and condemned by Pilate in those days, yet exceedingly exalted and most mighty was the voice of the Father that came to him: “I have glorified, and will glorify again.” For the things he suffered for our sake have passed away, but the things that belong to him as the Savior remain forever. [f]

But as we commemorate these things, my brothers and sisters, let us not be taken up with food. Let us glorify the Lord; let us become fools for him who died for us, as Paul said: “For if we are foolish, it is to God; or if we are sober-minded, it is for you. For since one died for all, then all were dead to him; and he died for all, so that we who live should no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us and rose again.” No longer, then, ought we to live for ourselves, but as servants of the Lord. And we should not receive the grace in vain, since the time is an especially acceptable one, and the day of salvation has dawned: the death of our Redeemer. For it was for our sake that the Word came down, and, being incorruptible, put on a corruptible body for the salvation of all of us. Paul was confident of this, saying, “This corruptible must put on incorruption.” The Lord, too, was sacrificed, so that by his blood he might abolish death. Once, in a certain place, he rightly blamed those who took part in the shedding of his blood to no purpose, while they did not delight in the flesh of the Word, saying, “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to corruption?” This does not mean that the Lord’s coming down was without profit, for it gained the whole world. It means rather that, after he had suffered in this way, sinners would prefer to suffer loss rather than profit by it. For he counted our salvation a delight and a gain of his very own, while on the other hand he looked on our destruction as a loss. [g]

In the Gospel, too, he praises those who doubled the grace, both the one who made ten talents out of five and the one who made four talents out of two, as those who had made a profit and put them to good use. But the one who hid the talent he threw out as one who had fallen short, saying to him, “You wicked servant! Ought you not to have put my money with the bankers? Then at my coming I would have received my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For it is not his will that the grace we have received should be unprofitable. He requires us to take pains to give him back his own fruits, as the blessed Paul says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace.” Since Paul had this right resolve, owing no one anything but rather giving everything to everyone, he taught the same rightness of principle, saying, “Give to all what is due to them.” He was like those whom the householder sent to receive the fruits of the vineyard from the tenant farmers, for he urged everyone to give a return. But Israel scorned this and would not give, for their will was not right. More than that, they killed those who were sent. They were not ashamed even before the Lord of the vineyard; even he was killed by them. Truly, when he came and found no fruit in them, he cursed them through the fig tree, saying, “Let there be no fruit from you from now on.” And the fig tree was dead and fruitless, so that even the disciples were amazed when it withered away. [h]

Then what was spoken by the prophet was fulfilled: “I will take away from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the scent of myrrh and the light of a lamp, and the whole land will be destroyed.” For the whole service of the law has been abolished for them, and from now on and forever they remain without a feast. And they do not observe the Passover, for how can they? They have no settled place, but wander everywhere. And they eat unleavened bread contrary to the law, since they are unable first to sacrifice the lamb, as they were commanded to do when eating unleavened bread. In every place they break the law, and, as the judgments of God require, they keep days of grief instead of gladness. Now the cause of this for them was the slaying of the Lord, and their failure to reverence the only Son. At this time the utterly wicked heretics and the ignorant schismatics are in the same case: the one because they slay the Word, the other because they tear the coat. They too remain shut out from the feast, because they live without godliness and knowledge, and copy the conduct shown in the matter of Barabbas the robber, whom the Jews wanted instead of the Savior. That is why the Lord cursed them under the figure of the fig tree. Yet even so, in his love for humankind, he spared them, not destroying them root and all. For he did not curse the root, but said that no one should eat fruit from it from then on. When he did this, he abolished the shadow, making it wither, but he kept the root, so that we might be grafted onto it, and “they too, if they do not remain in unbelief, may come to be grafted into their own olive tree.” Now when the Lord had cursed them because of their negligence, he took away from them the new moons, the true lamb, and that which is truly the Passover. [j]

But to us it came. There came, too, the solemn day on which we ought to call to the feast with a trumpet, and set ourselves apart for the Lord with thanksgiving, considering it our own festival. For we are bound to celebrate it, not for ourselves but for the Lord; and to rejoice, not in ourselves but in the Lord, who bore our griefs and said, “My soul is sorrowful to death.” For the pagans, and all who are strangers to our faith, keep feasts according to their own wills, and have no peace, since they do evil against God. But the saints, as they live for the Lord, also keep the feast for him, saying, “I will rejoice in your salvation,” and, “My soul will be joyful in the Lord.” The command is common to them: “Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous,” so that they too may be gathered together to sing that common and festal psalm, “Come, let us rejoice,” not in ourselves, but “in the Lord.” [l]

For in this way the patriarch Abraham rejoiced, not to see his own day, but that of the Lord; and so, looking forward, “he saw it and was glad.” And when he was tested, by faith he offered up Isaac, and sacrificed his only son, he who had received the promises. And in offering his son, he worshiped the Son of God. And when he was held back from sacrificing Isaac, he saw the Messiah in the ram, which was offered up in his place as a sacrifice to God. The patriarch was tested through Isaac. Yet it was not Isaac who was sacrificed, but the one pointed out in Isaiah: “He will be led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers he will be speechless.” And he took away the sin of the world. That is why Abraham was held back from laying his hand on the boy. Otherwise the Jews, taking the sacrifice of Isaac as their excuse, might reject the prophecies about our Savior, all of them, but especially those spoken by the psalmist, “Sacrifice and offering you did not want; a body you have prepared for me,” and might apply all such things to the son of Abraham. [m]

For the sacrifice was not properly the setting right of Isaac, but of Abraham, who also made the offering and was tested by it. So God accepted the will of the one who offered, but prevented what was offered from being sacrificed. For the death of Isaac did not win freedom for the world, but only the death of our Savior, by whose stripes we are all healed. For he raised up the falling, healed the sick, satisfied the hungry, and filled the poor. And, more wonderful still, he 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 that reaches even to heaven. For not we alone are moved by this. Because of it even the heavens rejoice with us, and the whole church of the firstborn, written in heaven, is made glad together, as the prophet proclaims, saying, “Rejoice, you heavens, for the Lord has had mercy on Israel. Shout, you foundations of the earth. Cry out with joy, you mountains, you high places, and all the trees in them, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and Israel has been glorified.” And again: “Rejoice and be glad, you heavens; let the hills melt into gladness, for the Lord has had mercy on his people and comforted the oppressed of the people.” [o]

The whole creation keeps a feast, my brothers and sisters, and everything that has breath praises the Lord, as the psalmist says, because of the destruction of the enemies and our salvation. And rightly so. For if there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, what should there not be over the abolishing of sin and the resurrection of the dead? Oh, what a feast, and how great the gladness in heaven! How all its hosts must rejoice and exult, as they rejoice and keep watch in our assemblies, those that are held continually, and especially those at Easter! For they look on sinners as they repent; on those who had turned their faces away, as they are converted; on those who once persisted in lusts and excess, but now humble themselves by fasting and self-restraint; and, finally, on the enemy, who lies weakened, lifeless, bound hand and foot, so that we may mock him: “Where is your victory, O Death? Where is your sting, O Grave?” Let us, then, sing to the Lord a song of victory. [q]

Who, then, will lead us to such a company of angels as this? Who, coming with a desire for the heavenly feast and the angels’ holiday, will say like the prophet, “I will go to the place of the wondrous tabernacle, to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with the shouting of those who keep festival”? The saints also urge us on this course, saying, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob.” But this feast is not for the impure, nor is the ascent to it for sinners. It is for the virtuous and diligent, and for those who live by the aim of the saints. For “Who will ascend the hill of the Lord? Or who will stand in his holy place, but the one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not given his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor? For he,” as the psalmist adds, when he goes up, “will receive a blessing from the Lord.” Now this clearly refers also to what the Lord gives to those at his right hand, saying, “Come, you blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” But the deceitful man, and the one who is not pure of heart and has nothing pure in him (as the proverb says, “To a deceitful man there is nothing good”), will certainly, as a stranger and of a different race from the saints, be counted unworthy to eat the Passover, for “a foreigner shall not eat of it.” So Judas, when he thought he was keeping the Passover, was estranged from the city above and from the company of the apostles, because he was plotting deceit against the Savior. For the law commanded that the Passover be eaten with due observance; but he, while he ate it, was sifted by the devil, who had entered his soul. [r]

So let us not celebrate the feast in an earthly way, but as those who keep festival in heaven with the angels. Let us glorify the Lord by chastity, by righteousness, and by the other virtues. And let us rejoice, not in ourselves, but in the Lord, so that we may be heirs with the saints. Let us keep the feast, then, as Moses did. Let us keep 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 you, and you will look on me; in the morning you will hear my voice.” Let us fast like Daniel. Let us pray without ceasing, as Paul commanded, all of us recognizing the season of prayer, but especially those who are honorably married, so that, having borne witness to these things and so kept the feast, we may be able to enter into the joy of Christ in the kingdom of heaven. Israel, when going up to Jerusalem, was first purified in the wilderness and trained to forget the customs of Egypt; and by this the Word foreshadowed for us the holy fast of forty days. So let us first be purified and freed from defilement, so that when we depart from here, having taken care to fast, we may be able to go up to the upper room with the Lord, to dine with him, and may share in the joy which is in heaven. In no other way is it possible to go up to Jerusalem and eat the Passover, except by keeping the fast of forty days. [s]

We begin the fast of forty days on the first day of the month of Phamenoth, the 25th of February. We continue it until the 5th of Pharmuthi, the 31st of March, pausing it on the Sundays and on the Saturdays before them. Then we begin again on the holy days of Easter, on the 6th of Pharmuthi, the 1st of April, and stop on the 11th of the same month, the 6th of April, late in the evening of the Saturday, from which the holy Sunday dawns on us, on the 12th of Pharmuthi, the 7th of April. Its beams reach, with unclouded grace, to all the seven weeks of holy Pentecost. Resting on that day, let us always keep the joy of Easter in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom be glory and dominion to the Father forever and ever. Amen. All the brothers who are with me greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Here ends the sixth Festal Letter of the holy Athanasius, clothed with God. [t]