A Word on Pascha #
Bishop Aphrahat the Persian
The Holy One (God), commanding Moses that the Israelites should keep the Pascha on the fourteenth day of the first month, said: “Speak ye unto all the congregation of the children of Israel…, that they shall take to them every man a lamb… without blemish… a male of the first year… from among the lambs and kids they shall take it, and shall keep a great feast, the Lord’s Passover. Let them take the lamb on the tenth day of the month, and let it be kept until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it, that the Angel who will pass through the land of Egypt to smite it may not destroy them. And with diligence let all the people eat the lamb. Thus shall ye eat it: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands. And ye shall not eat of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire… and ye shall not carry any of the flesh out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof.” (Ex. 12:3–12, 46)
And so did the children of Israel: they ate the Pascha on the fourteenth day of the first month, which is called the Month of Flowers (mebecus)—the first month of the year.
Take heed, beloved, to those rites which the Holy One prescribed for the Jews when they performed the Pascha, having given them instruction concerning all that pertained to it. He commanded them to eat the lamb in one house and not to carry anything from it out of the house. Moreover, observe also what Moses commanded the Israelites concerning the very place where they were to keep the Pascha. “When ye shall come into the land which the Lord shall give you,” he said, “keep the Pascha in its appointed season” (Num. 9:2). And: “Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates…, but only in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose” (Deut. 16:5–6). And in this way shall ye eat the Pascha before the Lord your God—ye and your households—and ye shall rejoice with joy in the feast of your Pascha.
Elsewhere, He gave also this commandment concerning the Pascha: “A foreigner or hired servant shall not eat thereof. But every slave that is bought with money, after thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof” (Ex. 12:43–44).
Great and wondrous are these mysteries, beloved! For if, when they were in their own land, the Israelites dared not celebrate the Pascha anywhere except in Jerusalem—how is it now, when they are scattered among all peoples and tongues, among the uncircumcised and unclean, they eat their bread defiled among the nations? As was foretold of them by the prophet Ezekiel, where God, presenting the matter through types and shadows, commanded them to eat their bread defiled. For which cause the prophet pleaded with Him, saying: “O Lord of Hosts, my soul hath not been defiled in uncleanness… neither hath abominable or unclean flesh entered into my mouth.” And the Lord answered him: “The sign which I have shown thee is a sign that the children of Israel shall eat their bread unclean among the Gentiles, whither I will scatter them” (Ezek. 4:13–14).
How, then—if, as I have said, the Israelites in their own land could not keep the Pascha except before the Lord in Jerusalem—how do they now dare to perform the mystery of the Pascha among foreign nations? Moreover, that their right to perform the Pascha has been taken away, God Himself has testified through the Prophet, saying: “The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an altar” (Hos. 3:4), and without a priest vested to offer incense. And again He says elsewhere: “I will scatter Jerusalem,” and: “Your new moons and sabbaths and great feast days I will not endure” (Isa. 1:14); and: “Bring no more vain oblations; do not appear in My courts” (Isa. 1:12); and again: “I will pluck them out of their land, and the house of Judah from among them” (Jer. 12:14).
And again, speaking almost in the same words to Moses long before, He proclaimed through him: “I will provoke them to jealousy with those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation will I anger them” (Deut. 32:21).
So then, come now, and I shall ask thee, O scribe, wise and learned teacher of the people, who yet understandest not the words of the Law: show me, when was it fulfilled that God would “provoke His people by those who are not a nation, and anger them by a foolish nation”? You will surely not deny that it is through the Gentiles that this word of Scripture has been fulfilled—the word which Moses wrote for you in the letter of the Law. And therefore, if you are keeping the Pascha in another place, in the land of your sojourning, you do so as a proud transgressor of the Law.
For a “bill of divorcement” (Matt. 5:31, 19 and elsewhere) has been written and given unto you. And if you do not believe this, then hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah, who says: “I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage, I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies” (Jer. 12:7). “My heritage has become unto Me as a speckled bird” (Jer. 12:9). What does it mean, O wise and discerning teacher, this “speckled bird”? It signifies the Church gathered from the Gentiles. See why He calls it “speckled”: because it is gathered from many tongues and peoples, and has drawn near those who were afar off.
If you do not believe that the Gentiles have become the heritage of the Lord, then once more listen to what Jeremiah says, as he summons the Gentiles in the name of the Lord and rejects Israel with disdain, saying: “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein; and they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken” (Jer. 6:16–17). Because the children of Israel would not listen, the Lord rejected them and foretold concerning them thus: “Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them” (Jer. 6:18). David likewise says: “Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast purchased of old” (Ps. 73:2); and Isaiah proclaims: “Hear, ye that are afar off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge My might” (Isa. 33:13). Elsewhere also, the Holy Spirit foretells through the prophet concerning the future Church which would be composed of the Gentiles: “In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths” (Isa. 2:2–3).
Why did Isaiah say: “They that are afar off shall hear what I have done; and they that are near shall acknowledge My might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites” (Isa. 33:13–14)? What does the inspired prophet mean when he foretells that the Lord will show and reveal the power of His might, that the transgressors will flee from Zion, and that trembling and fear shall seize the Gentiles? In this saying, He summons the Gentiles to contend with His people, declaring His strength to the distant nations in that, with fearsome vengeance and righteous judgment, He punished and condemned His own people, and rejected them—yet gathered the Gentiles into Zion, which He named the “holy city” (Isa. 52:1; 64:10). He struck terror, like convulsions, into those Gentiles who became prophets (preachers) of the truth. On the contrary, of the prophets of Jerusalem He said that from them would spread the leaven of paganism throughout the world.
So now, listen, beloved, to what I will say to you concerning this Pascha, whose mystery and figure were given to the ancient people, while the reality itself is now revealed and proclaimed among the nations. Though the wavering and doubting minds of foolish and unlearned men are troubled by this great day—the very first and true Pascha—(for they ask, “How can we truly celebrate and observe this Pascha?”), nonetheless, in very truth, our life-giving Savior is the true Lamb: a yearling, spotless, without blemish or imperfection in appearance, as the prophet divinely foretold of Him: “He did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him and to deliver Him” to the sufferings of the Cross (Isa. 53:9–10).
He is called a yearling Lamb because in His innocence, purity, and meekness, He was like a child. As He Himself told His disciples: “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3); and Isaiah speaks of the righteous: “The child shall die an hundred years old, but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isa. 65:20).
Although our Savior ate the Pascha with His disciples on the night of the fourteenth (of Nisan), the night in which He was taken, and gave to them the mystery of the true Pascha—for after Judas had departed from them, He took bread, blessed it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then, having blessed the wine, He likewise said to them: “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins: this do in your gatherings in remembrance of Me” (Matt. 26:26–28; 1 Cor. 11:24–25). Yet our Lord did this before He was arrested. For He departed from that place where He had celebrated the Pascha and given His body for food and His blood for drink, and went with His disciples to the place where He was taken.
Thus, while they were eating His body and drinking His blood, He had already been counted among the dead. The Lord gave His body as food by His own hands, and before He was crucified, gave His blood as drink.
On that same fourteenth night, they seized Him, and His trial and sentence continued until the sixth hour. At the sixth hour, He was condemned and crucified. When He was judged, He said nothing and gave no answer to His judges. For although He had the power to speak, it would have been improper for the One already numbered among the dead to speak and give answer.
From the sixth hour to the ninth, darkness covered the land; and at the ninth hour He gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father. He remained among the dead throughout the fifteenth night, through the Sabbath day, and for three hours into the Friday. In the night which followed the Sabbath—and in that very hour in which He had given His body and blood to His disciples—He rose from the dead.
Show us, then, you who are experienced and learned in the sacred Scriptures—show us, where are the three days and three nights during which Jesus Christ was among the dead? For we see that He was in the realm of the dead for only three hours on Friday, the night before the Sabbath, the whole Sabbath day, and then He rose during the night before the Lord’s Day. Count for me a full three days and three nights, and we shall see what they are—for in truth, only one full day and one full night passed between His death and resurrection.
Yet we cannot doubt what our Savior said: “For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40). And indeed, if we reckon the time from the hour in which He gave His body for food and His blood for drink, we find three days and three nights in the following way:
Night began the moment Judas left the assembly of the Apostles, and the eleven partook of the body and drank the blood of our Savior—this was the night of Friday. From that point until the sixth hour, when He was condemned, we count one day and one night. Then, the three hours of darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour, and the three hours that followed until evening, make up another night and day. Thus we have two days and two nights. Finally, the full Sabbath night and the entire Sabbath day complete the total of three days and three nights during which our Lord was among the dead. For He rose from the dead during the night that preceded the first day of the week.
Furthermore, the Jewish Passover was celebrated on the fourteenth day—comprising both a night and a day; and our great day of the Passion is likewise Friday, the fourteenth day—a night and a day. After Passover, the Israelites ate unleavened bread for seven days, until the twenty-first day of the month; likewise, we celebrate the Pascha of our Savior for the same number of days. They ate unleavened bread and wild bitter herbs; but our Savior rejected the cup of bitterness mingled with gall—for He tasted, but would not drink, and thus He consumed and destroyed all the bitterness of the nations.
Moreover, the Jews each year recall in their souls their sins; but we make remembrance of the sufferings and crucifixion of our Savior. They were delivered from bondage to Pharaoh at Passover; but we were freed from the captivity and slavery of Satan on the day of the Lord’s crucifixion. They slaughtered a lamb from the flock and by its blood were spared from the destroying angel; we, by the blood of the chosen Lamb, the Son of God, are delivered from the works of sin we ourselves committed. For them, Moses was the deliverer; for us, Jesus is both Deliverer and Savior.
For them, Moses parted the sea and led them through it; our Savior descended into the depths, shattered its gates, and opened a path through it by His entry, making a way for all His faithful. For them, manna was given as food; our Lord has given us His own flesh to eat. For them, He brought forth water from the rock; for us, the Savior has poured out life-giving water from His own side (John 7:38). For them, He promised the land of Canaan as an inheritance; for us, He has promised the land of eternal life.
For them, Moses lifted up a serpent so that all who looked upon it might live and be delivered from the bites of serpents; for us, the Lord Himself was lifted up on the Cross, and through Him we are delivered from the bite of Satan. Moses set up the Tabernacle of Witness and taught the Jews how to pray and how to offer sacrifices for the cleansing of their sins; but Jesus has raised up the Tabernacle of David and made it firm, as He Himself said to the Jews: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). In this very tabernacle He promised us life, and through it our sins are cleansed.
Furthermore, that former tabernacle was a tent, made to serve for a short time; but our Tabernacle is the temple of the Holy Spirit forever. Therefore, beloved, consider and ponder the commandment concerning the Paschal lamb, how the Holy One (God) ordered that it be eaten in one house, not in many—meaning in the one house of the Church of God.
And it is further said: “A foreigner or hired servant shall not eat of it” (Ex. 12:45, 48). Who, then, are these “foreigner” and “hired servant” if not our sinful inclinations and desires, which deprive us of the right to partake of the Pascha? For of the hired servant, our Savior said that he is not the shepherd of the flock, and when “he seeth the wolf coming, he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth” (John 10:12).
Moreover, the Holy One commanded that nothing of the lamb be eaten raw or boiled in water, but only roasted with fire (Ex. 12:9). This too is plain and clear—for the sacrifice offered in the Church of God is consumed by fire, not boiled in water, nor offered raw upon the altar.
And this is also prescribed: “Let your loins be girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staffs in your hands” (Ex. 12:11). Great mysteries are contained in these instructions. For he who partakes of Christ, the true Lamb, girds his loins with faith, shods his feet with the power of the Gospel, and holds in his hands the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17).
The Jews were also commanded: “You shall not break a bone of it” (Ex. 12:46). This was fulfilled on the Cross, when they “broke not His legs” (John 19:36).
Also added is this command: “Every slave who is bought with money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it” (Ex. 12:44). The purchased slave is the sinner, who, repenting, is redeemed by the blood of Christ, and by circumcising his heart from evil deeds, approaches the font of baptism, which is the fulfillment and realization of true circumcision; then he becomes a partaker of the divine mysteries, and communes of the body and blood of Christ.
Finally, it is written: “They shall eat it with haste” (Ex. 12:11). This is also observed in the Church of God. For with haste, with fear and trembling, they eat the Lamb, standing reverently on their feet, eager to receive life in the gifts of the Spirit which they are given.
Israel passed through the sea on the night of the Passover—a day of salvation; and our Savior washed the feet of His disciples on that same Paschal night, showing the mystery of humility, baptism, and the suffering of the Cross. As the Apostle says: “As many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death… that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3–4).
Our Savior, having taken water and poured it into a basin for washing, girded Himself with a towel. When He began to wash the disciples’ feet and came to Simon Peter, Peter said to Him, “Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?… Thou shalt never wash my feet.” But the Lord answered him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” Then Peter replied, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet” (John 13:3–10). After He had washed their feet, He reclined at the table, where He gave them His body and His blood.
This short writing I have sent to you with the purpose and intention that you may always be ready to give an answer to the Jews. For they, while transgressing the Law, still observe the rites of the Passover, though they no longer have any right to do so, and they preserve for themselves tablets of the Law and the Ark of the Covenant. Yet they do not understand what the prophet foretold concerning them, saying: “In those days they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel; neither shall it come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made any more” (Jer. 3:16). If it is said that the Ark of the Covenant shall no more be remembered, nor visited, nor made again, then surely whoever tries to restore it is already a transgressor.
And in another place, Jeremiah says: Israel and Judah “continued not in My covenant” (Jer. 31:32). As for the covenant that the Lord intended to make with the Gentiles, He foretold it thus: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord” (Jer. 31:31–32).
If they argue that the prophecy states the new covenant is to be given to the house of Israel and Judah, and not to the Gentiles, then say to them that the same God who called Israel “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah” (cf. Isa. 1:10) is also He who called Abraham and made this promise to him with His own mouth: “Your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made you” (Gen. 17:5); and elsewhere He says to him: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18).
When you have understood all this with certainty, share it with the brethren and children of our Church who are tossed about with doubts and contradictions and fall into confusion about the timing of Pascha. Yet for those who truly believe, this is not difficult to understand.
If it should happen that the day of Christ’s Passion falls on the first day of the week (Sunday), then the feast should be observed in the following week, so that the entire week may be dedicated to the remembrance of Christ’s suffering and to the celebration of Pascha. For after Pascha there are seven days of Paschal joy, and then the same feast continues until Pentecost, but not beyond.
If, however, the day of the Lord’s Passion falls on any other day, then there is no cause for contradiction or confusion. Friday is our great day. According to the count of days in the month, the day of the crucifixion, on which our Lord suffered, is the fourteenth day, and the time He was among the dead—that is, one night and one day—is the fifteenth day: from the sixth hour of Friday until the evening of the day preceding Sunday, that is, the sixteenth day, on which He rose.
For in the evening of the fourteenth day He ate the Passover with His disciples according to the Jewish law. On that same fourteenth day, Friday, He was tried until the sixth hour, at which time He ascended the Cross and remained alive upon it for three hours. He descended to the dead in the evening, on the threshold of the fifteenth day—which is the Sabbath—and in that fifteenth day He was among the dead. On the night of the sixteenth day He rose and appeared to Mary Magdalene and to the two disciples walking on the road.
Therefore let the doubting and questioning understand that it was indeed on the night of the fourteenth day that our Lord celebrated the Passover, eating and drinking with His disciples. But as soon as the cock crowed, He neither ate nor drank any more, for He was taken and led to trial. As I said earlier, during the fifteenth day and its night He was among the dead.
Thus we must observe this Pascha every year in its proper time, keep the holy fasts, and offer constant prayer—earnestly, attentively, and with fitting words. That is, by singing the Psalms of David, we must offer thanksgiving and praise, seal ourselves in the font of baptism, rightly ask for holy blessings, and faithfully fulfill all that pertains to the celebration of the Pascha.
“For Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:9–11).
And if anything at all is to be questioned or considered in this matter, then it is far more important to pay attention to the fourteenth day than to the mere yearly celebration of Pascha. But even this means that we ought carefully to observe the fourteenth day of every month and the Fridays of every week; for this is fitting and proper for us. Yet at the same time, we should also regard every day of the week as suitable for doing good works before the Lord our God.
Finally, from this brief writing which I have sent to you, do not suppose that it is beneficial for you to stir up disputes among yourselves—which truly bring no profit or blessing—but rather concern yourselves with this alone: that you may possess a heart that keeps the commandments, so that you may celebrate Pascha at its appointed time and observe all the rites that belong to the great feast of the Passion of our Savior.