Exodus 12

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. [Exodus 12:46]

Christians eat the flesh of the lamb every day, that is, they consume daily the flesh of the Word. "For Christ our pasch is sacrificed." And because the law of the pasch is such that it is eaten in the evening, for this reason the Lord suffered in the evening of the world, that you may always eat of the flesh of the Word, because you are always in the evening until the morning comes. And if in this evening you shall be anxious and "in weeping and fasting" and shall lead your life in every labor of justice, you shall be able to say, "In the evening weeping shall have place and in the morning gladness." For you shall rejoice in the morning, that is, in the world to come, if in this world you have gathered "the fruit of justice" in weeping and labor.

And we must eat the meat roasted with fire with unleavened bread. For the Word of God is not only flesh. He says, indeed, "I am the bread of life," and "This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever."36We must not, however, fail to remark that all food is loosely said to be bread, as it is written in the case of Moses in Deuteronomy: "He did not eat bread for forty days, and he did not drink water," instead of saying he partook of neither dry nor wet nourishment.
Now I have noted this because it is also said in the Gospel according to John, "And also the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Then too the unleavened bread is commanded to be eaten with bitter herbs; nor is it possible to attain the promised land unless we pass through bitterness. For just as physicians put bitter substances in medicines with a view to the health and healing of the infirm, so also the Physician of our souls with a view to our salvation has wished us to suffer the bitterness of this life in various temptations. [He knows] that the end of this bitterness gains the sweetness of salvation for our soul, just as, on the contrary, the end of the sweetness found in corporeal pleasure, as the example of that rich man teaches, brings a bitter end: torments in hell.

But we eat the flesh of the lamb and the unleavened bread with bitter herbs either by being grieved with a godly grief because of repentance for our sins, a grief which produces in us a repentance unto salvation which brings no regret, or by seeking and being nurtured from the visions of the truth which we discover because of our trials.

One must not therefore eat the flesh of the lamb raw, as the slaves of the letter do in the manner of animals which are irrational and quite savage. In relation to men who are truly rational through their desire to understand the spiritual aspects of the world, the former [slaves of the letter] share the company of wild beasts.We must strive, however, in transforming the rawness of Scripture into boiled food, not to transform what has been written into what is flaccid, watery and limp. This is what they do who "have itching ears and" turn them away "from the truth" and transform the anagogical meanings so far as they are concerned to the carelessness and wateriness of their manner of life.

Consequently let us compare the divine Scripture with itself and follow the path of the solution that it would open to us. For we find in the sacrifice of the Passover that it is ordered to be offered "in the evening." In like manner, the command is given that "nothing will remain of the flesh until morning." It is not insignificant that the divine word wants us to eat not yesterday's meat, but always fresh and new, particularly those who offer to God the Passover sacrifice or "the sacrifice of praise." It commands them to eat this new and fresh meat of the same day. It prohibits yesterday's meat. I remembered the prophet Ezekiel said something similar when the Lord had commanded him to bake cakes for them in "human dung." For he answered the Lord and said, "O Lord, never was my soul contaminated, and dead or unclean things did not enter my mouth. Even yesterday's meat never entered my mouth." In this case I was often asking myself what this exultation of the prophet was that as something great he brought mean before the Lord and said, "I never ate yesterday's meat." But as I see from this place, taught and instructed by these mysteries, this prophet spoke to the Lord saying, I am not a priest so cast down and ignoble that "I eat yesterday's meat," that is, old meat.

We must also inquire who that being was of whom it is said in Exodus that he wished to kill Moses because he was setting out for Egypt. And afterwards, who is it that is called the "destroying angel"? And who also is he who in Leviticus is described as Apopompeus, that is, the Averter, of whom the Scripture speaks thus: "One lot for the Lord, and one lot for Apopompeus"?

And who else could be the destroyer in Exodus, which Moses wrote, except the one who is the cause of destruction to those who obey him and who do not resist and struggle against his wickedness?

God says, "In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not cast the flesh abroad out of the house." The flesh of Christ and the holy thing of the Lord cannot be cast out. The faithful have no home but the one church. This home, this house of unanimity, the Holy Spirit announces unmistakably in the Psalms: "God who makes men to dwell together of one mind as in a house."

For the faith of the sacred Scripture sets forth that the Church is not without, nor can be separated nor divided against itself, but maintains the unity of an inseparable and undivided house; since it is written of the sacrament of the passover, and of the lamb, which Lamb designated Christ: "In one house shall it be eaten: ye shall not carry forth the flesh abroad out of the house." Which also we see expressed concerning Rahab, who herself also bore a type of the Church, who received the command which said, "Thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household unto thee into thine house; and whosoever shall go out of the doors of thine house into the street, his blood shall be upon him." In which mystery is declared, that they who will live, and escape from the destruction of the world, must be gathered together into one house alone, that is, into the Church; but whosoever of those thus collected together shall go out abroad, that is, if any one, although he may have obtained grace in the Church, shall depart and go out of the Church, that his blood shall be upon him; that is, that he himself must charge it upon himself that he perishes; which the Apostle Paul explains, teaching and enjoining that a heretic must be avoided, as perverse, and a sinner, and as condemned of himself. For that man will be guilty of his own ruin, who, not being cast out by the bishop, but of his own accord deserting from the Church is by heretical presumption condemned of himself.

Does any one perchance flatter himself with this notion, that although in the morning, water alone is seen to be offered, yet when we come to supper we offer the mingled cup? But when we sup, we cannot call the people together to our banquet, so as to celebrate the truth of the sacrament in the presence of all the brotherhood. But still it was not in the morning, but after supper, that the Lord offered the mingled cup. Ought we then to celebrate the Lord's cup after supper, that so by continual repetition of the Lord's supper we may offer the mingled cup? It behoved Christ to offer about the evening of the day, that the very hour of sacrifice might show the setting and the evening of the world; as it is written in Exodus, "And all the people of the synagogue of the children of Israel shall kill it in the evening." And again in the Psalms, "Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice." But we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord in the morning.

As also the Word of God, when desirous [to establish the paschal feast] said to his disciples, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you." Now that is a wonderful account, for a man might have seen them at that time girded as for a procession or a dance and going out with staves and sandals and unleavened bread. These things, which took place before in shadows, were typical anticipatory symbols. But now the truth has drawn near to us, "the image of the invisible God," our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Light. Instead of a staff, he is our scepter; instead of unleavened bread, he is the bread which came down from heaven; who instead of sandals has furnished us with the preparation of the gospel. It is he who, to speak briefly, by all these means has guided us to his Father. And if enemies afflict us and persecute us, he again, instead of Moses, will encourage us with better words, saying, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the wicked one." And if after we have passed over the Red Sea, heat should again vex us or some bitterness of the waters befall us, even then again the Lord will appear to us, imparting to us of his sweetness and his life-giving fountain, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink."

But the deceitful, and he that is not pure of heart and possesses nothing that is pure (as Proverbs says, "To a deceitful man there is nothing good") 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." Thus Judas, when he thought he kept the Passover, because he plotted deceit against the Savior, 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, who had entered his soul.

Moses caused the doorposts of the Israelites to be signed with the blood of a lamb; but you have given us a sign, the blood itself of a Lamb without blemish, slain for the sin of the world. Ezekiel says that a sign was given on the foreheads of the persons.

"He that has opened a pit and dug it." We do not find the name of "pit" (lakkos) ever assigned in the divine Scriptures in the case of something good, nor a "well" of water (phrear) in the case of something bad. That into which Joseph was thrown by his brothers is a pit (lakkos). And there is a slaughter "from the firstborn of Pharaoh unto the firstborn of the captive woman that was in the prison (lakkos)."

Children of purity and disciples of chastity, let us celebrate the praises of the virgin-born God with lips all pure. Being counted worthy to partake of the flesh of the spiritual Lamb, let us take the head with the feet, understanding the head as the divinity and the feet as the humanity.

Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for baptism; what have you to say about those who are still children and conscious neither of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any danger presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified than that they should depart unsealed and uninitiated.A proof of this is found in the circumcision on the eighth day, which was a sort of typical seal. It was conferred on children before they had use of reason. And so is the anointing of the doorposts, which preserved the firstborn, though applied to things which had no consciousness.

Joseph came into Egypt alone, and soon thereafter six hundred thousand depart from Egypt. What is more marvelous than this? What greater proof of the generosity of God, when from persons without means he wills to supply the means for public affairs?

And we can also understand the same about this: "This month shall be to you the beginning of months"; although it is understood as the 7th in terms of time, because it spoke of the Lord's Passover, which is celebrated at the beginning of spring. Therefore, in this beginning of months, He made the heavens and the earth, which was fitting for the beginning of the world, where a suitable spring season was for everyone.

For he who is baptized is seen to be purified both according to the law and according to the gospel. According to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop. According to the gospel, because Christ's garments were white as snow, when in the gospel he showed forth the glory of his resurrection.

[The father of the prodigal son] orders the shoes to be brought out, for he who is about to celebrate the Lord's Passover, about to feast on the Lamb, ought to have his feet protected against all attacks of spiritual wild beasts and the bite of the serpent.

Therefore, the just man commends his vow with swiftness. And our fathers hastened to eat the Passover, having their loins girded, and their feet shod with shoes, and carrying burdens of the body, so that they would be ready for the passage; for the Passover of the Lord is a passage from sufferings to exercises of virtue. And therefore it is called the Passover of the Lord; because even then in that Lamb the truth of the Lord's Passion was announced, and now it is celebrated by his grace.

Now if its type had so much power, both in the temple of the Hebrews and in the midst of the Egyptians, when sprinkled on the doorposts, how much more power does the reality have. In its types this blood sanctified the golden altar. Without it, the High Priest did not dare to enter the sanctuary. This blood has ordained priests. In its types it has washed away sins. And if it had such great power in its types, if death shuddered so much at the figure, how would it not even more so be in terror of the reality itself, pray tell?

What then did Moses do? "Sacrifice an unblemished lamb," he said, "and smear your doors with its blood." What do you mean? Can the blood of an irrational animal save one who expresses reason? "Yes," he says. "Not because it is blood but because it prefigures the Master's blood." Although statues of the emperor have neither life nor perception, they can save the men endowed with perception and life who flee to them for refuge, not because they are bronze but because they are images of the emperor. So too that blood which lacked life and perception saved the men who had life, not because it was blood but because it was an anticipatory type of the Master's blood.

That well-known prophecy likewise was fulfilled: "Not a bone of him shall you break." For even if this was spoken with reference to the lamb among the Jews, the type preceded for the sake of truth and was, rather, fulfilled in this event. Moreover, that is why the Evangelist cited the prophet. Since he might not seem to be worthy of credence because he was repeatedly making reference to his own testimony, he summoned Moses to testify that this not only did not take place by accident but that it had been foretold in writing from of old. This is the meaning of that famous prophecy: "Not a bone of him shall be broken."

"The lamb," the Lord says, "must be without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats." In another place of Holy Writ, it is prescribed that if anyone is unable to keep the Passover in the first month, he is to do so in the second. According to the regulation above, anyone who is unable to sacrifice a lamb may substitute a kid. In the house of the church, moreover, Christ is offered in a twofold manner: if we are just, we eat of the flesh of the lamb; if we are sinners and do penance, for us a goat is slain. This does not mean that Christ is from the goats that stand, as he has taught, on his left hand, but that Christ becomes a lamb or a goat in conformity with individual and personal merit.

"You shall eat it with its head and shanks and inner organs." To me, the head seems to be that of the Lamb, written of in St. John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God." The shanks represent the human nature that he deigned to assume for our salvation. Another interpretation, however, is also possible. The head may be taken to signify spiritual understanding; the shanks, historical narrative; the inner organs are whatever lies hidden within the letter, whatever is not perceived on the surface but is brought to light by exegetes only after they have well considered it in painstaking investigation.

All such efforts are only of use when they are made within the church's pale. We must celebrate the Passover in the one house. We must enter the ark with Noah. We must take refuge from the fall of Jericho with the justified harlot, Rahab.

We read in Exodus that on the fourteenth day a lamb is sacrificed; on the fourteenth day when the moon is a full moon, when its light is at its brightest. You see Christ is not immolated except in perfect and full light.

Why is this lamb offered up in the evening and not during the day? The reason is plain enough, for our Lord and Savior suffered his passion at the close of the ages. So John says in his letter: "Dear children, it is the last hour." Since, moreover, it is the last hour, it is the beginning of night, for day has come to an end. It must be understood, however, that as long as we are in this world, as long as we abide in Egypt, we are not in a clear light but in a dark mist. Although the church shines as the moon in the nighttime, nevertheless we cannot yet dwell in the full splendor of the true sun.

I cull these few flowers in passing from the fair field of the Holy Scriptures. They will suffice to warn you that you must shut the door of your breast and fortify your brow by often making the sign of the cross. Thus alone will the destroyer of Egypt find no place to attack you. Thus alone will the firstborn of your soul escape the fate of the firstborn of the Egyptians. Thus alone will you be able with the prophet to say, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise."

For why would the Lord instruct them to kill a sheep on this very feast day except that it was he about whom it was prophesied: "As a sheep is led to the slaughter." The doorposts of the Jews were marked with the blood of a slaughtered animal. Our foreheads are marked with the blood of Christ. And that sign, because it was a sign, was said to keep the destroyer away from the houses marked with the sign. The sign of Christ drives the destroyer away from us insofar as our heart receives the Savior.

The Egyptians not only had idols and crushing burdens which the people of Israel detested and from which they fled. They also had vessels and ornaments of gold and silver, and clothing, which the Israelites leaving Egypt secretly claimed for themselves as if for a better use. Not on their own authority did they make this appropriation, but by the command of God. Meanwhile, the Egyptians themselves, without realizing it, were supplying the things which they were not using properly. In the same way, all the teachings of the pagans have counterfeit and superstitious notions and oppressive burdens of useless labor. Any one of us, leaving the association of pagans with Christ as our leader, ought to abominate and shun them.

The bridegroom, who was to call good and bad to his marriage, was pleased to assimilate himself to his guests, in being born of good and bad. He thus confirms as typical of himself the symbol of the Passover, in which it was commanded that the lamb to be eaten should be taken from the sheep or from the goats—that is, from the righteous or the wicked. Preserving throughout the indication of both divinity and humanity, as man he consented to have both bad and good as his parents, while as God he chose the miraculous birth from a virgin.

They are to bear in mind that those who celebrated the Passover at the time through figures and shadows, when they were commanded to mark their doorpost with the blood of the lamb, marked them with hyssop. This is a mild and humble plant, but it has very strong and penetrating roots. So, "being rooted and grounded in love," we may be able "to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth," that is, the cross of the Lord.

Now next, that the legs of those two were broken, while his [Christ's] were not. He was already dead. Why this happened was stated in the Gospel itself. It was fitting, you see, to demonstrate by this sign as well that the true point and purpose of the Jewish Passover, which contained this instruction, not to break the lamb's bones, was to be a prophetic preenactment of his death.

[The word] pascha is not, as some think, a Greek word, but a Hebrew one; yet most conveniently there occurs in this name a certain congruity between the two languages. Because in Greek [the word for] "to suffer" is paschein. For this reason "pascha" has been thought of as a passion, as though this name has been derived from [a Greek word for] "suffering." But in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, "pascha" means "a passing over." For this reason the people of God celebrated the pascha for the first time when, fleeing from Egypt, they "passed over" the Red Sea. So now that prophetic figure has been fulfilled in truth when Christ is led as a sheep to the slaughter. By his blood, after our doorposts have been smeared [with it], that is, by the sign of his cross, after our foreheads have been marked [with it], we are freed from the ruin of this world as though from the captivity or destruction in Egypt. And we effect a most salutary passing over when we pass over from the devil to Christ and from this tottering world to his most solidly established kingdom. And therefore we pass over to God who endures so that we may not pass over with the passing world.

From their single ancestor, in not much more than four hundred years, the Hebrew people became so numerous that at the time of the exodus from Egypt there were, we are told, six hundred thousand men of military age. This number does not include the Idumeans, who were not reckoned with the people of Israel, although they were descended from Israel's brother Esau, who was a grandson of Abraham. Nor does it include those other descendants of Abraham who were not of the line of his wife Sarah.

But now then, can there be anybody who is not curious to know what the meaning can be of the fact that the Jews answered from Scripture the inquiry of the magi about where the Christ would be born and yet did not go with them to worship him themselves? Don't we see the same thing even now, when by the very rites and sacraments to which they are subjected for their hardness of heart, nothing else is indicated but the very Christ in whom they refuse to believe? Even when they kill the sheep and eat the Passover, aren't they demonstrating to the Gentiles the very Christ whom they themselves don't worship along with them?And isn't it the same sort of thing, when people have their doubts about the prophetic testimonies in which Christ was foretold and wonder if they haven't perhaps been compiled by Christians after the event, not before? We appeal to the codices in the possession of the Jews to set the minds of doubters at rest. Don't the Jews on such occasions too show the Gentiles the Christ whom they decline to worship with the Gentiles?

And let us know that the law also of the most wise Moses is found to have commanded something of this kind to the Israelites. For a lamb was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month, as a type of Christ. For our Passover, Christ is sacrificed, according to the testimony of most sacred Paul. The hiero-phant Moses, then, or rather God by his means, commanded them, when eating its flesh, saying, "Let your loins be girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands." For I affirm that it is the duty of those who are partakers of Christ to beware of a barren indolence. Yet it is a further duty not to have as it were their loins ungirt and loose but to be ready cheerfully to undertake whatever labors become the saints; and to hasten besides with alacrity wherever the law of God leads them. And for this reason he very appropriately made them wear the garb of travelers [at the Passover].

Yet they were also completely ignorant of the commands of Moses himself, who ordered them specially to eat this bitterness when he established the paschal sacraments for them to observe and said, "You will eat it with bitterness, for it is the pasch of the Lord." For he did not order, as they think, the consuming of the very bitter juices of insignificant herbs with the roasted flesh of a lamb. Rather, he commanded the fruitful devouring of the bitter words of Christ's precepts with the sacrament of the Lord's passion. For do not the words of the Lord seem to be bitter when he says: "If you wish to be perfect, leave all that you have and come, follow me?" And when he says that one is not to possess two tunics or a wallet or sandals, that bitterness of such words is a medicine for souls.

[The Son of God's] cross is our victory, and his gibbet is our triumph. With joy let us take this sign on our shoulders, let us bear the banners of victory. Let us bear such an imperial banner, indeed, on our foreheads! When the devil sees this sign on our doorposts, he trembles. Those who are not afraid of gilded temples are afraid of the cross, and those who disdain regal scepters and the purple and the banquets of the Caesars stand in fear of the loneliness and the fasts of the Christian.

After having inflicted the Egyptians with many plagues, he led them out of Egypt in the month of flowers, when the most pleasant spring appears and the sadness of winter passes away.

This, I say, is the first month of the year. This brings joy to every creature. It clothes the naked trees. It opens the earth. This produces joy in all animals. It brings mirth to all. This is for Christians Xanthicus, the first month, the time of the resurrection in which their bodies will be glorified by means of the light which even now is in them hidden. This is the power of the Spirit who will then be their clothing, food, drink, exultation, gladness, peace, adornment and eternal life.

Original sin could not have easily been forgiven, if a victim had not been offered for it, if that sacred blood of propitiation had not been shed. Even then the words in Exodus were not vainly said of our Lord: "I shall see the blood and shall protect you." That figure of the lamb represented this passion of Christ our Lord. Blood is given for blood, death for death, a victim for sin, and thus the devil lost what he held.

The sacrifice of this lamb was so great that even the shadow of its truth was sufficient for salvation in freeing the Jews from the slavery of Pharaoh, as though already the liberation of the creature from the slavery of corruption was prefigured, the image of Christ's coming passion worked for the advent of salvation. Therefore it was declared by God that in the first month of the year on the fourteenth day of the moon, a year-old lamb without blemish should be sacrificed. With its blood they were to make signs upon the doorposts of their houses, lest they be frightened by the angel of destruction. And on that very night when the lamb was eaten in their homes, which was the celebration of the Passover, they should receive liberation through the figure of slavery. It is not difficult to interpret the spotless lamb of Christ and his sacrifice made to free the slavery of our death. For, marked by the sign of his cross as by the sprinkling of blood, we shall be saved from the angels of destruction even to the consummation of the world.

Consequently our elders decided that one full month must be observed for the birthday of the world and that Easter should be observed in whatever part of it both the day and the moon coincided. This is not without scriptural authority, for Moses said, "This month shall stand at the head of your calendar, the first month of the year." With these words he consecrated a whole month for the day of the world's birth. Thus our elders, who had found that March 22 was the birthday of the world, defined April 21 as a limit in determining the first month. So it will be permitted to celebrate Easter neither before March 22 nor after April 21. But when during this month both the moon and the day coincide, that is, the fourteenth day of the moon and Sunday, then Easter is to be celebrated. Now again, since the fourteenth day of the moon frequently does not fall on Sunday, they preferred to have the moon extended for seven days, provided they observed Sunday in the joy of the resurrection. So when the day falls thus, we always postpone Easter as far as the twenty-first day of the moon for the sake of Sunday, so that Easter is celebrated neither before March 22 nor after April 21. In this way it is found that the month and the day and the moon are retained in the observance of Easter.

For Moses says: "They shall take of the blood of the lamb and put it on both doorposts and on the lintels of the houses in which they shall eat it." All of which things indeed bring forth great edification for us, if they are examined through mystical interpretation. For who the blood of the lamb is, you have learned not now by hearing, but by drinking. This blood is placed on both doorposts when it is received not only by the mouth of the body but also by the mouth of the heart. For the blood of the lamb is placed on both posts when the sacrament of His passion is received by the mouth for Redemption, and is also contemplated with attentive mind for imitation. For he who receives the blood of his Redeemer in such a way that he does not yet wish to imitate His passion has placed the blood on only one post; it must also be placed above on the lintels of the houses. For what do we understand spiritually by houses except our minds, in which we dwell through thought? The lintel of this house is the very intention that presides over action. Therefore, whoever directs the intention of his thought toward the imitation of the Lord's passion places the blood of the lamb on the lintel of the house. Or certainly our houses are the bodies themselves, in which we dwell as long as we live. And we place the blood of the lamb on the lintel of the house because we bear the cross of His passion on our forehead.

Concerning this lamb it is added further: "And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted with fire." Indeed we eat the lamb at night, because we now receive the Lord's body in the sacrament when we do not yet see one another's consciences. Yet these meats must be roasted with fire, because fire indeed dissolves the meats that water has boiled; but those that fire cooks without water, it strengthens. And so fire cooked the meats of our Lamb, because the very power of His passion rendered Him stronger for resurrection and strengthened Him for incorruption. For He who recovered from death—clearly His flesh was hardened by fire. Hence also through the Psalmist He says: "My strength has dried up like a potsherd." For what is a potsherd before fire except soft clay? But it is subjected to fire so that it may become solid. Therefore the strength of His humanity dried up like a potsherd, because from the fire of passion it grew into the power of incorruption.

But having received the sacraments of our Redeemer alone is not sufficient for the true solemnity of the mind, unless good works are also joined to them. For what does it profit to receive His body and blood with the mouth, and to oppose Him with perverse conduct? Hence it is well added concerning the eating: "And unleavened bread with wild lettuce." For he eats bread without leaven who performs righteous works without the corruption of vainglory, who shows the commands of mercy without admixture of sin, lest he wickedly seize what he seems to dispense rightly. They had also mixed this leaven of sin into their good action, to whom the Lord spoke through the voice of the prophet in rebuke: "Come to Bethel and act impiously." And after a few words: "And sacrifice praise from what is leavened." For he offers praise from what is leavened who prepares a sacrifice to God from robbery. Wild lettuces are indeed very bitter. Therefore the flesh of the Lamb must be eaten with wild lettuces, so that when we receive the body of the Redeemer, we afflict ourselves with weeping for our sins, so that the very bitterness of repentance may cleanse from the stomach of the mind the humor of a perverse life.

Where it is also added: "You shall not eat any of it raw, nor cooked in water." Behold, now the very words of the history drive us from a historical understanding. Surely, dearest brothers, that Israelite people established in Egypt had not been accustomed to eat raw lamb, that the law should say to them: "You shall not eat any of it raw"? Where it is also added: "Nor cooked in water." But what does water signify except human knowledge, according to what is said by Solomon in the voice of heretics: "Stolen waters are sweeter." What do the raw flesh of the Lamb signify except His humanity considered without reflection and left without reverence of thought? For everything that we consider carefully we, as it were, cook with the mind. But the flesh of the lamb is neither to be eaten raw nor cooked in water, because our Redeemer is neither to be considered a mere man, nor is how God was able to become incarnate to be thought through by human wisdom. For everyone who believes our Redeemer to be a mere man, what else does he do but eat the raw flesh of the lamb, which he was unwilling to cook through understanding of His divinity? And everyone who attempts to examine the mysteries of His incarnation according to human wisdom wishes to cook the flesh of the lamb in water, that is, he wishes to penetrate the mystery of His dispensation through dissolute knowledge. Therefore, whoever desires to celebrate the solemnity of Paschal joy, let him neither cook the lamb in water nor eat it raw, so that he may neither seek to penetrate through human wisdom the depth of His incarnation, nor believe in Him as in a mere man; but let him eat the flesh roasted by fire, so that he may know that all things were dispensed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Concerning which it is rightly added: "You shall consume the head with the feet and the entrails," because our Redeemer is the Alpha and Omega, that is, God before the ages and man at the end of the ages. And as we have already said, brothers, we have learned from Paul's testimony that God is the head of Christ. Therefore, to consume the head of the lamb is to receive His divinity by faith. To consume the feet of the lamb is to seek out the footsteps of His humanity by loving and imitating. What indeed are the entrails except the hidden and mystical commands of His words? These we consume when we take up the words of life with eagerness. In this word "consuming," what else is reproved but the torpor of our sloth? We who do not seek out His words and mysteries by ourselves, and hear the things spoken by others unwillingly.

"Nothing of it shall remain until morning," because His words must be examined with great care, so that before the day of resurrection appears, in this night of the present life all His commands may be penetrated through understanding and doing. But because it is very difficult for all sacred eloquence to be understood and every mystery of it to be penetrated, it is rightly added: "But if anything remains, you shall burn it with fire." What remains of the lamb we burn with fire when we humbly reserve to the power of the Holy Spirit that which we cannot understand and penetrate concerning the mystery of His incarnation, so that no one may proudly dare either to despise or to proclaim what he does not understand, but hands it over to the fire when he reserves it to the Holy Spirit.

Since therefore we have learned how the Passover ought to be eaten, let us now recognize by whom it ought to be eaten. It follows: "And thus shall you eat it. You shall gird your loins." What is understood by the loins except the delight of the flesh? Hence the Psalmist also asks, saying: "Burn my loins." For if he had not known that the pleasure of lust resides in the loins, he would by no means have asked that they be burned. Hence, because the power of the devil has prevailed over the human race especially through lust, it is said of him by the voice of the Lord: "His power is in his loins." Therefore he who eats the Passover ought to have his loins girded, so that he who celebrates the solemnity of resurrection and incorruption may no longer be subject to corruption through any vices, may subdue pleasures, and may restrain the flesh from lust. For he does not know what the solemnity of incorruption is who still lies subject to corruption through incontinence. These things are hard for some, but narrow is the gate that leads to life.

And we now have many examples of the continent. Hence it is also well added: "You shall have sandals on your feet." For what are our feet except our works? And what are sandals except the skins of dead animals? Now sandals protect the feet. And what are the dead animals from whose skins our feet are protected, except the ancient fathers who have gone before us to the eternal homeland? When we contemplate their examples, we protect the feet of our works. Therefore to have sandals on our feet is to contemplate the life of the dead and to guard our steps from the wound of sin.

"Holding staffs in your hands." What does the law designate by the staff except pastoral care? And it should be noted that we are first commanded to gird our loins, afterward to hold staffs, because those ought to undertake pastoral care who already know how to subdue the excesses of lust in their own bodies, so that when they preach difficult things to others, they themselves do not weakly succumb to soft desires.

And it is well added: "And you shall eat in haste." Note, dearest brothers, note what is said: "in haste." Learn the commandments of God, the mysteries of the Redeemer, the joys of the heavenly homeland with haste, and take care to fulfill the precepts of life with haste. For since we know that it is still permitted today to do good, we do not know whether it will be permitted tomorrow. Therefore eat the Passover in haste, that is, yearn for the solemnity of the heavenly homeland. Let no one grow sluggish on the journey of this life, lest he lose his place in the homeland. Let no one interweave delays in pursuing his endeavors, but let him complete what he has begun, lest he not be permitted to fulfill what he has started.

In what follows, "on their gods I shall pass judgment," the Hebrews affirm that on the night on which the people departed, all the temples in Egypt were destroyed, either by an earthquake or by a bolt of lightning. But we say, spiritually, that when we depart from Egypt, the idols of error take flight and the whole culture of perverse dogmas is crushed.

It was commanded that the paschal lamb, by whose immolation the people of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt, should be selected five days before the [feast of] Passover, that is, on the tenth [day of the lunar] month, and immolated on the fourteenth [day of the lunar] month at sundown. This signified the one who was going to redeem us by his blood, since five days before the [feast of] Passover (that is, today), accompanied by the great joy and praise of people going ahead and following, he came into God's temple, and he was there teaching daily. At last, after five days, having observed up to that point the sacraments of the old Passover, he brought them to perfect fulfillment, and he handed over the new sacraments to his disciples to be observed henceforth.[Then], having gone out to the Mt. of Olives, he was seized by the Jews and crucified [the next] morning. He redeemed us from the sway of the devil on that very day when the ancient people of the Hebrews cast aside the yoke of slavery under the Egyptians by the immolation of the lamb.

Passover means "passing over." It derives its ancient name from the Lord's passing over on this [day] through Egypt, striking the firstborn of the Egyptians and freeing the children of Israel, and from the children of Israel's passing over on that night from their slavery in Egypt in order that they might come to the land which had once been promised to their heirs as a land of peace. Mystically it signifies that on this [day] our Lord would pass over from this world to his Father. Following his example, the faithful, having cast off temporal desires and having cast off their slavery to vices by their continual practice of the virtues, should pass over to their promised heavenly fatherland.

This [cross] we have been given as a sign on our forehead, just as Israel was given the circumcision. For by it we faithful are set apart from the infidels and recognized. It is a shield and armor and a trophy against the devil. It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us, as Scripture says.