ds: Seize and take Him away. O wicked Judas, to what do you command to lead Him who said, Heaven is My throne, and earth the footstool of My feet (Isai. 66:1)? A If grace were to be given to you, you would not be worthy, for a defiled vessel cannot contain the heavenly ointment. And what shall I say of Judas? Peter, who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, saw the King being crucified and, having abandoned the keys, fled; and the thief, he whose doors of paradise were opened by men, snatched the keys for himself. Peter, who said, If it be necessary for me to die with You, I will not deny You (Matt. 26:35), denied Him; and the thief, who had not promised with his voice but was dying with Him in His resurrection, said: Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. The thief did not fear rulers and authorities, and Peter did not endure the threat of a maidservant; the thief cried out, Lord, and Peter said, I do not know this man, whom a little before he called the Son of God. Peter, who had walked upon the sea, denied Him who had trodden the liquid nature; and the thief, not having walked upon the back of the sea, but having walked upon the gates of the rich, cried out, Lord. The sons of Zebedee, who said, We can drink the cup that You are about to drink (Matt. 20:22)—for this was the case—fled at the time of the cup; but the thief snatched the cup of salvation from the hand of the sons of Zebedee, saying: I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord (Ps. 115:4). Thomas, the curious investigator of the incomprehensible mystery, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with Him (John 11:16); and when he saw Him being crucified, he fled. He sees Him being crucified, and he flees; he sees Him resurrected, and he doubts, saying: Unless I put my finger into the mark of the nails, and my hand into His side, I will not believe (Ibid. 20:25). But the man-loving God, who came down for the sake of one sheep, did not despise this one sheep; B but He takes it upon His shoulders and says: Bring your hand here, and put it into My side. I endured the soldier’s lance, and shall I not endure the apostolic hand? But O thief of good deeds (for my speech is to you), you learned to steal, you were not taught to believe. You did not become a disciple, and how do you call Him Creator, saying: Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom? You spoke well, you believed piously. You have often stolen with danger, you have often opened the treasuries of the rich, and you never found such a pearl as Christ. You did not become an apostle, you did not hear the lawgiver saying: You shall see your life hanging (Deut. 28:66); and how did you pluck life from a tree? Did you not hear Isaiah saying: By the stripe of His passion, the sufferings of men receive healing (Isai. 53:5); and how did you find a remedy in sufferings? Truly, says the thief, I see all creation subsiding and trembling, and I recognize the Master of creation hanging upon the wood. For if this were not the Creator of all, the sun, seeing Him being stripped, would not have hidden its own rays in shame, and darkened the God-fighters. If this were not the Creator of heaven and earth, the heaven, seeing Him being crucified, would not have put on darkness like sackcloth. If this were not the Master of all the earth, having received the blood from His side, it would not have been shaken from its foundations. If this were not the Master of life and death, death approaching Him would not have been overthrown, and the monuments of the saints would not have been opened. If this were not the Lord of the temple, the temple, seeing Him being crucified, would not have rent its own veil. If this were not He who does not wish for the death of sinners, He would not have interceded for the sinners, saying: Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing (Luc. 23:34). For His death established all things. For He descends into Hades, and ascends with all. C Therefore, I cry out, saying: Lord, remember me. I do not implore as a servant, "Remember me when it goes well for You," but, "Remember me, when You come into Your kingdom." And what does the Master say to him? Amen, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in paradise. Let the precise logothetes of the incomprehensible generation say how He said to the thief, Today you shall be with Me in paradise? Let them first interpret this, and then His ineffable birth, which he proclaims prophetically: Who shall recount His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth (Isai. 53:8). The Fathers expanded this faith, thus they glorified the uncircumscribed, believing and not investigating curiously. Today you shall be with Me in paradise. He spoke, and it was done. But, O man-loving Master, all the righteous are standing outside of paradise, and do You bring a thief into paradise? Truly, I bring a thief first into paradise, that I may persuade the world that I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. To Christ Himself be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
ADMONITION ON THE FOLLOWING SERMONS FOR PASCHAH
D The first sermon which occurs, being very short, is a fragment not worthy of Chrysostom; but it is nevertheless of a better character than those which follow, which proceeded from a writer not unlearned indeed, but quite intricate. Seven sermons follow after these from the same writer, who is endowed with as much obscurity as Chrysostom enjoys clarity. The style is altogether perplexed and iron-like. The writer has as his aim to refer all things which are mentioned in the twelfth chapter of Exodus concerning the paschal lamb sacrificed by the Jews in Egypt, to Christ sacrificed for the salvation of the world. And indeed, all Christians agree on this matter, that the lamb once...
CATECHETICAL SERMON FOR HOLY PASCHAH
If any are pious and God-loving, let them enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival. If any are grateful servants, let them enter rejoicing into the joy of their Lord. If any have labored while fasting, let them receive their denarius today. If any have worked from the first hour, let them receive today their just debt. If any have come after the third hour, let them celebrate with gratitude. If any have arrived after the sixth hour, do not let them worry; for they suffer no loss. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let them draw near without doubting. If any have arrived at the eleventh hour only, do not fear because of the lateness. For the Master is generous; He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who arrives at the eleventh hour, just as to him who worked from the first. He has mercy on the last, and provides for the first; He gives to the one, and bestows upon the other. And He honors the action, and praises the intention. Therefore, enter all of you into the joy of our Lord, and first and second, receive the reward. Rich and poor, dance with one another. Temperate and slothful, honor the day. Those who have fasted and those who have not fasted, rejoice today. The table is full, feast on it all. The calf is abundant, let no one depart hungry. Let all partake of the wealth of goodness. Let no one lament for poverty; for the common kingdom has appeared. Let no one mourn for transgressions;
for forgiveness has risen from the sepulcher. Let no one fear death; for the death of the Savior has liberated us. Captured by death, He extinguished death. He chastised hell, He who descended into hell; He made it bitter when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, anticipating this, cried out: "Hell has become bitter," he says, "from below." When it encountered Him, it became bitter; for it was taken away: it became bitter and was mocked. He accepted a body, and encountered God; He accepted earth, and met heaven: he accepted what he saw, and fell into what he did not see. "O death, where is your sting? O hell, where is your victory?" A Christ has risen, and you have been overthrown. Christ has risen, and the demons have fallen. Christ has risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ has risen, and no dead remain in the tomb. For Christ, having risen from the dead, has become the firstfruit of them that sleep; to Him be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
On Pascha I
The Jews, who denied the heavenly Pascha, celebrate a earthly one; but we, who celebrate the heavenly Pascha, have surpassed the earthly. And that which they perform, the Pascha B of the salvation of the firstborn who were among the Jews, was a symbol, when the firstborn of the Jews did not perish together with the firstborn of the Egyptians, having been symbolically preserved by the blood of the paschal victim; but the Pascha celebrated by us is the cause of salvation for all mankind, beginning from the first man, who in all is preserved and brought to life. The parts, however, of the perfect and those temporary things were images and types of eternal things, conceived beforehand in order to shadow forth the truth now arising. But the truth being present, the type must yield to time; just as when a king arrives, no one, the king still living, deems it worthy to worship his image. From this, indeed, it is clear how much the type yields to the truth, because the type celebrates the brief life of the Jewish firstborn, but the truth the perpetual life of all men. For it is no great thing to avoid death for a brief time, for one who is soon to die; but it is certainly a great thing to avoid death altogether; which happens to us, for whom Christ has been immolated as our Pascha. C The very name of the feast carries great excellence, if it is explained according to the truth of the matter. For Pascha signifies "passing," because that exterminator who was striking the firstborn "passed over" the houses of the Hebrews. Furthermore, the passing of the exterminator is true among us, because He passes over us untouched, having been raised up to eternal life by Christ. Thus it is necessary to contemplate the whole argument of the Pascha spiritually, and to believe the apostolic narrations. The faithful soul deeply desires to understand the whole rationale of the figure, how it stands in relation to the truth, and, so to speak, to contemplate its own spiritual realities through those things that were once bodily; so that all legal matters may be perceived in the mind according to Christ, and through spiritual things the bodily ones may be more clearly understood, and the invisible things may appear as if depicted by the visible. Therefore God, being about to inflict the tenth plague upon the Egyptians (and that was the death of the firstborn), said to Moses: "This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it D is the first to you among the months of the year" (Exod. 12:2). And then He commanded the sacrifice of the Pascha, and the anointing of blood on the doors; and by this anointing He promised the salvation of the firstborn. What does this mean, if it is immediately referred to the contemplation of the truth, that that time of the year is defined as the beginning, when the Pascha was taking place and the salvation of the firstborn? Because for us, too, the sacrifice of the true Pascha is the beginning of eternal life. For the year is a symbol of the age, because, running its course in a circle, it always revolves into itself, and rests in no end. And the Father of the future age, Christ, was offered for us in sacrifice, and, as if rendering our former life of no time, He gives us the beginning of another life through the laver of regeneration, according to the likeness of His death and resurrection. Therefore, whoever knows that the Pascha was immolated on his behalf, let him set this as the beginning of life for himself, from which Christ was immolated for him. For then He is immolated for him, when he acknowledges the grace, and understands the life obtained through this sacrifice. With these things understood, let him strive to receive the beginning of a new life, and let him not return again to the old life, the end of which arrived. For, "We who died to sin," he says, "how shall we still live in it?" (Rom. 6:2). The beginning of the year, therefore, has such a symbol. On the tenth day of the month He commands each house to take a single lamb, and for there to be as many in the house as will eat, so that they may eat the whole, and nothing remains; and likewise that the lamb be immolated on the fourteenth day at evening. Therefore, the victim is to be immolated with those who are to be saved by it for five days; but the fifth day being ended, the victim is immolated, death passes over; and he who is saved enjoys perpetual light, with the moon shining at night, and the sun succeeding the moon: for this is how it happens on the fourteenth day and the full moon. These five intervals of time denote the whole time of the world distributed into five parts: from Adam, indeed, down to Noah, from Noah down to Abraham, from Abraham down to Moses, from Moses down to Christ, and the fifth part from the advent of Christ. At which time salvation was proposed to every man through that blessed sacrifice; but it was not yet being perfected. In the fifth interval of time, however, the true Pascha was being immolated, and the firstborn man who obtained salvation through it, went forth into perpetual light (Matt. 20:1 sqq). That the Pascha was not immolated in the very evening, but at evening, signified that Christ was to suffer not at the very end of the present age, but at the end. The parable, which distributed the day into five parts, exhibited the time thus divided, and says that those were called to the vineyard—that is, to the operation of justice—some about the first hour, others about the third, others about the sixth, others about the ninth, and the last about the eleventh. For there were these diverse callings, and diverse justifications; one in the time of Adam, one in the time of Noah, one in the time of Abraham, one in the time of Moses; the last and most perfect in the advent of Christ, when the reward of works is rendered first to those who were the last, according to the Savior's parable; because we who are first in baptism receive the regeneration, to whom Christ was immolated, at which time He rose, and breathed into us the Holy Spirit for our renovation. This fourteenth day, therefore, is mystically considered, and such is the symbol of the sacrifice, and that night is luminous, and the day which succeeds the sacrifice. And that the victim was entirely eaten in individual houses, and the meat not carried outside, signifies that there is one house only having salvation in Christ, namely the Church poured out over the whole world, which was once alien to God, but now belongs properly to Him alone, because it received those who were sent by the Lord Jesus; just as the house of Rahab, the former harlot, who received the explorers sent by Jesus, was the only one preserved when Jericho was devastated. Therefore, even if there are many houses of the Hebrews, they have the power of one, just as different churches throughout cities and villages, which are many in number, are one Church. For Christ is one in them everywhere, perfect and indivisible. Therefore the victim was perfect in individual houses, nor was it divided into different parts. For Paul says we are all one in Christ, because there is one Lord, and one faith (Ephes. 4:5). The law, therefore, necessarily prefigured that the union of the indivisible victim would be in Christ, and likewise the unity of the Church. In Christ, indeed, and in the sacrifice of Christ, we have salvation; and
IN PASCHA A I AND II.
A ...and one Lord, and one faith. The law, therefore, necessarily prefigures in Christ the indivisible unity of the sacrifice, therein setting forth also the unity of the Church. For in Christ, and in the sacrifice of Christ, we hold our salvation; and we know that all things which were prepared before the advent were for the sake of the advent, and that this alone was set forth from the beginning for the salvation of all humanity, as if Christ were sacrificed for all before our very eyes. We know that this salvation pertains to one Church only, and that no one can have a share of Christ or be saved outside the Catholic Church and faith. B Knowing these things, we believe that the salvation of the whole world is accomplished not by the things of the law, but in Christ; nor do we assign any part of our hope to the godless heresies, but we place them entirely outside that hope, as indeed they possess not even the slightest participation in Christ, but vainly claim the saving name for themselves, for the sake of deceiving and harming those who are more capable of attending to the name and the outward form than to the truth. Let no one, therefore, tear the old things away from Christ, nor suspect that any of those who came before could be saved without Christ, nor let anyone call those who now teach falsely, perverting the truth and preparing vain simulacra of churches—things outside the truth and alien to Christ—Christians, nor choose communion with them; for it is not permitted; since the sacrifice is not brought out from the sacred house, nor offered for communion to those who are outside. C We see the lamb prefigured for the glory of the Lord, as being perfect, and male, and yearling. Perfect indeed, because Christ alone is lacking in nothing in all virtue, and is in every way blameless, from beginning to end lacking in no righteousness, as He Himself says: "For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3. 15). Therefore all the sacrifices were brought as perfect and blameless, because they were all sacrificed as a type of Christ. And God commanded that the priests should be whole and perfect in their bodies, because they all were a type of the true priest. The lamb is male, because it is by nature leading, holding the headship, just as the male has bodily headship over the D female. For by nature and in truth Christ is leader and king, as He is the heavenly man, and while He was joined to us as a brother according to the fleshly nature, He stands over us as Master according to the spiritual divinity. Therefore He alone is the bridegroom, as the bride is the whole of humanity. And neither John, the greatest of the prophets, is the bridegroom—he who says regarding Christ and himself: regarding Christ, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom" (John 3. 29); and regarding himself, "But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears his voice, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full." Nor indeed are the apostles the bridegrooms of the Church, although they received the likeness to Christ by grace, and became sons of Christ through Christ’s Spirit. But what says the blessed Paul? "For I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11. 2). He is therefore truly the Ruler and Master and King, the Lord, not only because He was God among men, but also according to the pre-existing divinity, because He is by nature King of all creation; not having received kingship by grace, but possessing it in truth and by birth from the Father. Moreover, the lamb is also a yearling, which signifies the Lord being new upon the earth, and having nothing of the ancientness that is among men. If anyone, therefore, says that the Lord is mere man, and places Christ in our own nature, this lamb is not perfect, nor blameless; for no man is blameless; this lamb is not male; for no man has natural and complete headship over his fellow men. And if he counts the Lord among created things, and says He has divinity by favor, not in truth, this one also does not have the male lamb sacrificed for him. For he has not known the King by nature, but turns to another who is not so by nature nor in truth. But also if anyone draws anything from human ancientness unto Christ, or dares to say He is susceptible to sin, or subject to the servitude of the law, or subject to death by necessity, this one does not have the yearling lamb, nor has he perceived the newness that is in Christ. It remains to contemplate the symbol of the lamb and of the kid. Therefore the lamb is, according to Isaiah, the symbol of Christ’s gentleness: "For as a lamb he was led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb" (Isa. 53. 7). But the kid is, according to the law, a sacrifice for sin; for he says, "a male goat from the goats for sin" (Lev. 5. 6). Having been brought, therefore, gentle as a lamb, he was sacrificed as a kid for sin, by his gentleness offering himself for the salvation of men; of which may we be worthy to attain through faith and love of the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered for us, through whom and with whom to the Father is the glory, with the holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ON HOLY PASCHA II.
The reasonableness of the legal types appears in the truth; for instance, the lamb being blameless, just as the law used the sacrifice of the passover; its being male, its being a yearling, its being taken on the tenth day of the month and sacrificed on the fourteenth toward evening, its being reckoned as the beginning of months when the passover was celebrated. For all these things are established in Christ and in the passion of Christ; they are true and necessary, and in themselves they can have no meaning; nor would those who are ignorant of Christ be able to provide a defense regarding these things, and teach why God commanded them; nor does even the determination of a sacrifice for the salvation of the firstborn have any cause at all, or the making of the anointing of blood upon the entrances; for what power has the slaughter of sacrifices for the salvation of the firstborn? And what necessity is there for the anointing of blood as a sign upon the houses? For God knew the houses of the Hebrews even without signs; so it is strange to say, "I will see the blood, and I will cover you" (Exod. 12. 13). But by leading these things also to the truth, one will recognize their reasonableness, just as we showed in the case of the other things mentioned before. For when the blameless victim suffers for us, the death introduced by the first-formed man is dissolved, and the first-born man is saved, being in all of us, brought to life by the resurrection of the Lord. For rightly, life becomes a saving sign for those who partake of it, dissolving sin and death. And looking toward this, God saves those who are anointed with it through faith, not being able otherwise to escape the justly avenging angel, unless through the blood poured out for us out of love for mankind. Do you see what power the type possesses when contemplated in the truth? So if any Jew should attempt to say, "Why indeed did the Son suffer, so that the world might be saved, as if it could not have been saved without this?" let it be said to him: "Why indeed was the passover sacrificed for the salvation of the firstborn of the Jews, as if they could not have been saved without this?" And that person will have nothing to answer (for God has no need of sacrifices, nor of a sign for the recognition of houses), but to us the matter pleads, and bears witness to the holy faith, our injustice being dissolved in the righteousness of Christ, and not able to be dissolved otherwise (for darkness is dispelled by light), and our death being abolished by the life of Christ, just as darkness by light. That sacrifice, then, was sacred, because it was a type of the true one; but this one is sacred in reality, as the true one, being handed over to death and destruction at the hands of the impious, yet taken by the will of God for a holy sacrifice, and offered by his own will as an oblation to the Father. For, he says, the Father delivered the Son for us, and "Christ gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell" (Ephes. 5. 2). And while the counsel was destructive to those who expected the destruction of Christ, the faith is saving to those who seek salvation through the death of the Lord. Punishment and death passes over these, because they are not held by death unto perdition, according to that which was said by the Savior: "If anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death" (John 8. 51). For through the blood poured out for us we receive the holy Spirit: since in one…
we could not receive the holy Spirit, who is not of the same nature as we are, by means of blood that is not of the same nature; and through this we shut the entrance to death. Now, the entrance to death is twofold, and therefore the seal of the blood is made twofold. In two A doorposts, he says, and on the lintel (Exod. 12. 7). For death enters through sin, as the Apostle says (Rom. 5. 12). But sin becomes something else in us through passion, which is twofold; for one part leans toward weakness of spirit, the other toward more bitter savagery; and another part comes through reasoning, when it does not think what is sound or correct. And indeed, reasoning is like a threshold, that is, a lintel, above both doorposts; for it is like a guide and is naturally superior, while passion can be referred to the doorposts, which are subordinate to the reasoning, just as the doorposts are subordinate to the lintels. Which are those passions that lead to weakness? Gluttony, drunkenness, and lustful desire. Which are the bitter affections of the soul? Anger, arrogance, which Paul, to eliminate, was saying: "Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in bed chambers and acts of lewdness, not in strife and envy; but put on our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 13. 13-14), when, being conformed to the passion of Christ, we are clothed with the holiness of Christ, neither dissolved in pleasures nor exasperated in angers. Good, too, is the anointing and garment for the reasonings: wisdom not carnal, but that which is according to Christ; so that we may be mortified regarding the carnal mind, as if we were already dead, but may be adorned with spiritual adornment. For thus, neither through brutish affections nor through senseless reasonings will sin invade us, nor will death master us. Such, indeed, is the mystery of the anointing. After the anointing comes the eating, which places the divine body in us and commingles it to union. "They shall eat," he says, "the flesh roasted with fire this night" (Exod. 12. 8). Night is the present age. "The night is far B spent," says Paul (Rom. 13. 12). A partaking of the sacred body is ignited; that is, through ignited and fervent zeal. "Fervent in Spirit," he says (Rom. 12. 11); and "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish, if it is already kindled?" (Luke 12. 49). But as fire, if understood as the eating of flesh, indicates fervent zeal, so do the unleavened breads [indicate] simplicity, and the bitter herbs [indicate] the sorrows that follow. For "unleavened bread," he says, "with bitter herbs they shall eat" (Exod. 12. 8). Let there be simple customs, not feigned, with the old custom and the craftiness of leaven having been put aside, and a new and simple custom having been accepted, by which fermentation is made. For he says, "Our Pascha, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5. 7-8). Bitter are the tribulations; "But also in tribulations," he says, "we glory, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience probation, and probation hope, and hope does not confound" (Rom. 5. 3-5). "Through many tribulations it is necessary for us to enter into the kingdom" (Acts 14. 22). Therefore, we admit tribulation as if it were a delight, because of the hope and the kingdom that come from it. The commandment forbids eating the flesh raw. This, indeed, to those who hear it corporally, seems to be against reason, since God forbids that which by chance has never been done; for no one eats raw flesh; but among us it is considered most consonant with reason, lest we approach the participation of the divine body perfunctorily; for they do not participate who handle it perfunctorily, nor do they prepare themselves for such a communication through good works. "Faith," he says, "without works is dead" (James 2. 20). And therefore, to the slothful and negligent, tribulations are sent for their own benefit, as Paul says (Heb. 12. 6). But regarding spiritual works, it begets a love of carnal pleasure. Wherefore, the Lawgiver, signifying this by another symbol, forbids eating it boiled in water: for it is prepared boiled for the pleasure of eating; but with pleasure it is not permitted to eat the divine food: for spiritual virtue is not mixed in a carnal manner. C Do not, therefore, boil the sacred flesh, he says, mixing it with juices; but let it be eaten only roasted with fire, with intense zeal alien to pleasure. The love of pleasure is alien to the love of God, as Paul says: and "Whose god is the belly" (Phil. 3. 19), to them God Himself is not God. Nor are those who turn the Eucharist into sumptuous banquets accepted by the Apostle, while they turn that sanctifying communion into an occasion for taking large and luxurious food and drink. To whom Paul says: "It is not to eat the Lord’s supper: for each one presumes to eat his own supper, and one indeed is hungry, but another is drunk. Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God, and confound those who do not have? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise" (1 Cor. 11. 20-22). And he says that from that negligent use regarding the sacred food, temptations befall them, because they do not approach the holy thing holily. Therefore, he says, "Among you there are many weak and sickly, and many sleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not certainly be judged" (1 Cor. 11. 30-31). For they incur the guilt of impiety who do not prepare their own body for communication of that very body, which he gave to us, so that being mixed with it, we might be judged worthy to receive the holy Spirit: since for this reason the Word of God put himself into a body, and became flesh according to the evangelical voice (John 1. 14), so that, being clothed in his flesh, we might be participants; uniting our flesh to the spiritual [flesh], and Spirit to spirit as much as permitted; so that we might be similar to Christ, having become temples of the Spirit, as the Apostle says: "You are the temples of God; and again, do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God?" By the holy Spirit, we also pertain to the body of Christ, so that we may cherish these in sanctification, I say, cherish them as members of Christ. "Do you not know," he says, "that your members are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid" (1 Cor. 6. 15). By such symbols the Law has ordained, disposing then the previous figures for our benefit. "But the head," he says, "with the feet and the entrails" (Exod. 12. 9); indicating by the head the beginning of the advent to men; which, indeed, was the first advent: but the feet are the end; and this is the second advent, without which neither was the former to be believed; indeed, he did not fulfill then all things that were announced D prophetically. Idly, therefore, do the Jews not believe, because those things which look to the glorious advent have not been completed; nor do they think that he who so arrived is Christ. Therefore, encompassing these, he says, "Head with feet"; that is, the first advent with the second, so that you might receive the lamb led to slaughter with ignominy, and see the King appearing with glory; which both Isaiah the prophet foretold: nor should you require the redemption of Jerusalem; but rather wait, as it is said: "He shall come from Zion who would liberate, and he shall turn away the ungodly from Jacob" (Isa. 59. 20; Rom. 11. 26). This is the second advent, to which the remnant of the people is to be turned. But in the first advent you see the contrary to have happened; namely, "I have left my house, I have dismissed my inheritance"; and "He delivered the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death" (Isa. 57. 9). When he says, therefore, "Head with feet," he proclaims this to the Jews: Do not separate the inglorious advent of the Lord from the glorious, so that you not be separated, as unbelievers, from his communion. "But also with the entrails," he says. What is this? Do not be scandalized by him, because he will appear [human], but look also into the hidden things. Do not think him to be a man, as you are, from the fact that he is a man according to the body; but know him spiritually, and in him you will know the Father. For as long as you do not regard what is within, and are not a participant of the entrails, you have not yet seen Christ, thinking him to be a man, and not God. But he says: "He who has seen me, has seen the Father" (John 14. 9). It must be considered, however, what is meant