The Nineteenth Festal Letter, for Easter 347

“Blessed is God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Such an opening is fitting for a letter, and most of all now, when it brings thanks to the Lord, in the apostle’s words, because he has brought us back from far away and has allowed us again to send you the festal letters openly, as we used to do. For this is the season of the feast, my brothers and sisters, and it is near. It is no longer proclaimed by trumpets, as the history records. It is made known and brought near to us by the Savior, who suffered for us and rose again, just as Paul preached when he said, “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.” From now on the feast of the Passover is ours. It does not belong to strangers, and it no longer belongs to the Jews. For the time of shadows has been done away with, and those former things have ceased. Now the month of new things is at hand, in which everyone should keep the feast, in obedience to the one who said, “Keep the month of new things, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God.” Even the pagans imagine that they keep festivals, and the Jews pretend, as hypocrites, to keep them. But he rebukes the feast of the pagans as the bread of mourners, and he turns his face from the feast of the Jews as from outcasts, saying, “Your new moons and your sabbaths my soul hates.” [a]

For actions that are not done lawfully and devoutly do no good, even if people think they do. They rather prove the hypocrisy of those who attempt them. So although such people pretend to offer sacrifices, they hear the Father say, “Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me. Even if you bring fine flour, it is worthless; incense too is detestable to me.” For God needs nothing. Since nothing is unclean to him, he is full as regards these things, as he testifies through Isaiah when he says, “I am full.” Now a law was given about these things to instruct the people and to foreshadow things to come. For Paul says to the Galatians, “Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, shut up in the faith that was afterward to be revealed to us. So the law was our instructor in Christ, so that we might be justified by faith.” But the Jews did not know, nor did they understand. So they walked in the daytime as if in darkness, groping for the truth we possess, which was contained in the law, but never touching it. They kept to the letter, but did not submit to the spirit. When Moses was veiled they looked at him, but when he was uncovered they turned their faces away from him. For they did not know what they were reading, and wrongly put one thing in place of another. So the prophet cried out against them, saying, “Falsehood and faithlessness have prevailed among them.” And so the Lord also said of them, “The foreign children have dealt falsely with me; the foreign children have grown old.” Yet how gently he rebukes them when he says, “If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote about me.” But being faithless, they went on to deal falsely with the law, asserting whatever they pleased, but not understanding the Scripture. And besides, since they had made a hypocritical show of the plain wording of Scripture and trusted in it, he is angry with them and says through Isaiah, “Who has required these things from your hands?” And through Jeremiah, since they were very bold, he threatens, “Gather together your whole burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers or command them, on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, about whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” For they did not act as was right, and their zeal was not according to the law. Instead they sought their own pleasure on such days, as the prophet charges them: they beat down their slaves, gathered together for quarrels and fights, struck the lowly with their fists, and did everything that served their own gratification. That is why they remain without a feast to the end, even though they now make a show of eating meat, out of place and out of season. For instead of the lamb the law appointed, they have learned to sacrifice to Baal. Instead of the true unleavened bread, “they gather the wood, and their fathers light the fire, and their wives knead the dough, to make cakes for the host of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to foreign gods, so that they may provoke me to anger, says the Lord.” They have the just reward of such schemes. For although they pretend to keep the Passover, joy and gladness are taken from their mouths, as Jeremiah says: “From the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the voice of those who are glad and the voice of those who rejoice has been taken away, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.” So now, “among them, whoever sacrifices an ox is like one who strikes down a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who kills a dog; whoever offers fine flour is as if he offered pig’s blood; whoever gives frankincense as a memorial is like a blasphemer.” These things will never please God, and this is not what the word required of them. But he says, “These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.” [d]

And what does this mean, my brothers and sisters? It is right for us to look into the prophet’s saying, especially because of heretics who have turned their minds against the law. God, then, gave commands about sacrifices through Moses, and the whole book called Leviticus is taken up entirely with arranging these matters, so that he might accept the one who offers. And through the prophets he blames the one who has despised these things, as disobedient to the command, saying, “I have not required these at your hands. Nor did I speak to your fathers about sacrifices, or command them about whole burnt offerings.” Now some are of the opinion that the Scriptures do not agree with one another, or that God, who gave the command, is false. But there is no disagreement whatever. Far from it! Nor can the Father, who is truth, lie, “for it is impossible for God to lie,” as Paul declares. All these things are plain to those who consider them rightly, and to those who receive the writings of the law with faith. Now it seems to me (may God grant, through your prayers, that the remarks I venture to make are not far from the truth) that the command and the law about sacrifices did not come first. Nor did the mind of God, who gave the law, have whole burnt offerings in view, but the things that were pointed out and foreshadowed by them. “For the law contained a shadow of the good things to come.” And, “Those things were appointed until the time of setting things right.” [f]

So the whole law was not about sacrifices, though there was a command about sacrifices in the law, given so that by means of them it might begin to instruct people, draw them away from idols, and bring them near to God, teaching them for that present time. That is why God gave them no command about sacrifices or whole burnt offerings at the beginning, when he brought the people out of Egypt, nor even when they came to Mount Sinai. For God is not like a man, to be concerned about these things in advance. His command was given so that they might know him who is truly God, and his Word, and might despise those that are falsely called gods, which do not exist but only make an outward show. So he made himself known to them by bringing them out of Egypt and leading them through the Red Sea. But when they chose to serve Baal, and dared to offer sacrifices to things that have no existence, and forgot the miracles done for them in Egypt, and thought of going back there again, then indeed, after the law, that command about sacrifices was laid down as law. In this way their minds, which had once dwelt on things that do not exist, might turn to him who is truly God. They would learn, not to sacrifice in the first place, but to turn their faces away from idols and conform to what God commanded. For when he says, “I have not spoken about sacrifices, nor given commands about whole burnt offerings,” he immediately adds, “But this is what I commanded them: Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people, and you will walk in all the ways that I command you.” So, having been instructed and taught beforehand, they learned to serve no one but the Lord. They came to know how long the shadow would last, and not to forget the time that was coming, when neither the bull of the herd, nor the ram of the flock, nor the male goat would any longer be a sacrifice to God. All these things would be fulfilled in a purely spiritual way: by constant prayer, an upright way of life, and godly words. As David sings, “May my meditation be pleasing to him. Let my prayer be set before you like incense, and the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.” The Spirit who is in him also commands, “Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Lord. Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.” [g]

Samuel, that great man, rebuked Saul no less plainly, saying, “Is not the word better than a gift?” For by this a person fulfills the law and pleases God, as he says, “The sacrifice of praise will glorify me.” Let a person “learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” and I will not condemn the adversaries. But this wearied them, for they were not eager to understand, “for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” And the prophet foretold their end when he cried, “Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil thought, saying, Let us bind the righteous man, because he is not pleasing to us.” The end of such abandonment can only be error, as the Lord says when he rebukes them: “You are in error, because you do not know the Scriptures.” Later, when they were rebuked, they should have come to their senses. Instead they grew insolent and said, “We are disciples of Moses, and we know that God spoke to Moses.” By those very words they dealt all the more falsely and accused themselves. For if they had believed the one they listened to, they would not have denied the Lord who spoke through Moses, when he was present among them. The eunuch in the Acts did not act this way. When he heard, “Do you understand what you are reading?” he was not ashamed to confess his ignorance, and he begged to be taught. So the grace of the Spirit was given to him who became a learner. But as for those Jews who persisted in their ignorance, as the proverb says, “Death came upon them, for the fool dies in his sins.” [h]

The heretics are like these. They have fallen from true discernment and dare to invent godlessness for themselves. “For the fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt and have become abominable in their deeds.” Those who are foolish in their thoughts do wicked deeds, as he says: “How can you speak good things, when you are evil?” They were evil because they thought wickedness. How can those whose minds are set on fraud act justly? How can one who is ready beforehand to hate, love? How can one who is bent on the love of money be merciful? How can one who looks at a woman to lust after her be chaste? “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, adulteries, murders.” By these the fool is wrecked, as if by the waves of the sea, led away and enticed by his fleshly pleasures. For it stands written, “All the flesh of fools is greatly tossed by storms.” As long as he keeps company with folly he is tossed by a storm and perishes, as Solomon says in the Proverbs: “The fool and the one who lacks understanding will perish together, and will leave their wealth to strangers.” They suffer such things because there is no one of sound mind among them to guide them. For where there is good sense, there the Word, the Pilot of souls, is with the ship, “for whoever has understanding will gain guidance.” But those who have no guidance fall like leaves. Who fell away so completely as Hymenaeus and Philetus, who held evil opinions about the resurrection and suffered shipwreck regarding faith in it? And Judas, being a traitor, fell away from the Pilot and perished with the Jews. But the disciples were wise, and so they stayed with the Lord. Though the sea was rough and the boat was covered by the waves, for there was a storm and the wind was against them, still they did not fall away. For they woke the Word, who was sailing with them, and at once the sea grew calm at its Lord’s command, and they were saved. They became preachers and teachers at the same time, telling of our Savior’s miracles and teaching us also to imitate their example. These things were written for our sake and for our benefit, so that through these signs we may acknowledge the Lord who worked them. [j]

So let us, with the faith of the disciples, talk often with our Master. For the world is like the sea to us, my brothers and sisters, of which it is written, “This is the great and wide sea; there the ships go; there is Leviathan, which you created to play in it.” We float on this sea as if driven by the wind, by our own free will, for everyone steers his course as he wills. Either he enters into rest with the Word as his pilot, or, seized by pleasure, he suffers shipwreck and is in danger from the storm. For as there are storms and waves on the ocean, so in the world there are many afflictions and trials. So the unbeliever, “when affliction or persecution arises, falls away,” as the Lord said. For since he is not established in the faith, and keeps his eyes on the things of time, he cannot withstand the difficulties that afflictions bring. Like that house the foolish man built on the sand, he too, having no understanding, falls before the onset of temptations as if before the winds. But the saints, whose senses are trained in self-possession, who are strong in faith and understand the word, do not lose heart under trials. Even when, from time to time, harder trials are set against them, they remain faithful; they wake the Lord who is with them, and they are rescued. So, passing through water and fire, they find relief and keep the feast as they should, offering prayers with thanksgiving to God, who has redeemed them. Either they are tested and so made known, like Abraham, or they suffer and are approved, like Job, or they are oppressed and treated deceitfully, like Joseph, and bear it patiently, or they are persecuted and are not overtaken. As it is written, through God they “leap over the wall” of wickedness, which divides and separates brothers and turns them from the truth. In this way the blessed Paul, when he took pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in distresses for Christ, rejoiced, and wished all of us to rejoice, saying, “Rejoice always; give thanks in everything.” [l]

For what is so fitting for the feast as turning from wickedness, a pure way of life, and prayer offered to God without ceasing, with thanksgiving? So let us, my brothers and sisters, looking forward to celebrating the eternal joy in heaven, keep the feast here too, rejoicing at all times, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks to the Lord in everything. I give thanks to God for the other wonders he has done, and for the various kinds of help now granted to us. Though he has disciplined us severely, he did not hand us over to death. He brought us back from far away, as if from the ends of the earth, and has united us with you again. While I keep the feast, I have remembered to give you notice too of the great feast of Easter, so that we may go up together, as it were, to Jerusalem and eat the Passover, not separately but as in one house. Let us not water down the word of God, like meat boiled in water. Nor let us destroy the commands of the Gospel, as if we had broken its bones. But as if it were roasted with fire, with bitterness, fervent in spirit, in fasts and vigils and sleeping on the ground, let us keep it with repentance and thanksgiving. [m]

We begin the fast of forty days on the 6th of Phamenoth, the 2nd of March. Having passed through it properly, with fasting and prayers, we may be able to reach the holy day. For whoever neglects to keep the fast of forty days cannot celebrate the Easter festival, being like one who treads on holy things rashly and impurely. Further, let us remind one another and spur one another on not to be careless, and especially to fast during those days, so that fasts may receive us one after another and we may bring the feast rightly to its close. [n]

The fast of forty days begins, then, as has already been said, on the 6th of Phamenoth, the 2nd of March, and the great week of the Passion on the 11th of Pharmuthi, the 6th of April. Let us rest from the fast on the 16th of that month, the 11th of April, on the seventh day, late in the evening. Let us keep the feast when the first day of the week dawns on us, on the 17th of the same month Pharmuthi, the 12th of April. Then let us add, one after another, the seven holy weeks of Pentecost, rejoicing and praising God, because by these things he has made known to us beforehand the everlasting joy and rest prepared in heaven for us and for those who truly believe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Through him and with him be glory and dominion to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The brothers who are with me greet you. I have also thought it necessary to inform you of the bishops who have been appointed in place of our blessed fellow ministers, so that you may know to whom to write and from whom you should receive letters. In Syene, then, Nilammon, in place of Nilammon of the same name. In Latopolis, Masis, in place of Ammonius. In Coptos, Psenosiris, in place of Theodorus. In Panopolis, because Artemidorus wished it on account of his old age and bodily weakness, Arius has been appointed as assistant bishop. In Hypsele, Arsenius, who has been reconciled to the church. In Lycopolis, Eudaemon, in place of Plusianus. In Antinoopolis, Arion, in place of Ammonius and Tyrannus. In Oxyrhynchus, Theodorus, in place of Pelagius. In Nilopolis, in place of Theon, Amatus and Isaac, who have been reconciled to each other. In Arsenoitis, Andreas, in place of Silvanus. In Prosopitis, Triadelphus, in place of Serapammon. In Diosphacus, by the riverside, Theodorus, in place of Serapammon. In Sais, Paphnutius, in place of Nemesion. In Xois, Theodorus, in place of Anubion; and with him there is also Isidorus, who has been reconciled to the church. In Sethroitis, Orion, in place of Potammon. In Clysma, Tithonas, in place of Jacob; and with him there is Paulus, who has been reconciled to the church. [o]