Treatise on the Passover
English translation of Origen's Treatise on the Passover (Περὶ τοῦ Πάσχα / Peri Pascha), which survives only in the Tura papyrus (P. Cairo 88746, 6th–7th c.), discovered in 1941 and preserving two books. Translated from the reconstructed Greek text of B. Witte (Die Schrift des Origenes «Über das Passa», 1993). Passages the papyrus has lost are marked […]. This English translation is released into the public domain.Book I
Introduction to the first book
Explanation of the meaning of the word "Passover"
Before undertaking a word-by-word explanation of the Passover, it is fitting to offer a few brief remarks on the simple term "Passover." For most of the brethren, perhaps all of them, accept an etymology of the word "Passover" according to which the feast would take its name of "Passover" from the passion of the Savior.In truth, the feast here set before us is properly named in Hebrew not "Passover" but "phas," of which the translation is "passage" (for the three letters of "phas," together with the more forceful rough breathing among the Hebrews, make up the name of this feast). Since, then, it was on the occasion of this feast that the people of Israel came out of Egypt, it is consequently called "phas," that is, "passage."
Because it is not possible to pronounce the Hebrew word with Greek phonetics — the Greeks being unable to say "phas" with the reinforcement of the rough breathing, which is harder in Hebrew — the term was Hellenized. Among the prophets it is said "phasek," and then, more completely Hellenized, it came to be called "Pascha."
If, then, one of our own should meet with Hebrews and quite incautiously tell them that the etymology of "Passover" derives from the passion of the Savior, he would be covered with ridicule by them, since he would be wholly in the dark as to the meaning of the term — granted that the perfect interpret the word "Passover" exactly as the Hebrews do.
What has been said so far about the word simply in itself is already sufficient for our instruction concerning the meaning of the term "phas" and for our edification, so that we do not hastily employ the Hebrew tongue without first knowing the Hebrew meaning of the words. Now we shall pass to the explanation of the text itself, it being established that the meaning of "Passover" is passage.
The meaning of the Passover for Christians
Since the people of the Hebrews once came out of Egypt, a legislation pertaining to this feast is fittingly assigned to them.This is the prescription: In each house the individual members, having chosen a lamb, male, perfect, and without blemish, are to sacrifice it and eat it in the evening, roasted with fire, neither raw nor boiled in water, so that in this way the destroyer of the firstborn of the Egyptians, on seeing the doorposts of their gates anointed with blood, may not touch them.
This done, the people come out of Egypt, the firstborn of the Egyptians perish, and Pharaoh, after the departure of the Hebrews, repents and sets out in pursuit of them, accompanied by his army and his chariots. In this way he sinks into the Red Sea, while Moses with the people passes through the sea.
The Apostle too teaches us that even to this day the Passover is celebrated, the lamb is immolated, and the people depart from Egypt, when he says: "Christ our Passover has been immolated, that we may keep the feast not with the old leaven of impiety and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth."
If, then, Christ our Passover has been immolated, those who sacrifice Christ come out of Egypt, pass through the sea, and shall see Pharaoh drowned in the sea. But if some of them wish to return to Egypt, they shall not enter the holy land.
Literal interpretation of Exod 12:1–2
Explanation of Exod 12:1–2
But now we shall pass to the text itself, word by word, so that the meaning inherent in the historical events may be shown more rationally.The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month is for you the beginning of months, the first for you among the months of the year.
This month is the beginning of months
God says to Moses and Aaron, as they come out of Egypt, that this is the beginning of months and the first among the months of the year. As regards the historical sense, then, this is indeed the first month, and the Jews celebrate this feast every year on the fourteenth day of the first month, when they sacrifice a lamb in their houses according to the Law given to them through Moses. Yet since Christ came "not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to bring them to fulfillment," He has shown us what the true Passover is, the true passage out of Egypt.It is the beginning of months for the one who effects this passage precisely when the month of the passage out of Egypt comes, so that for him there may be the beginning of another birth, when a new manner of life begins for the one who definitively abandons the darkness and sets out on the way toward the light. I refer specifically to the sacrament granted through water to those who have placed their hope in Christ. This water is called "the laver of regeneration." Regeneration: what else does it mean but the beginning of a second birth?
For you
It is truly necessary to live according to a perfect manner of life and love, so that one, though still continuing to live in the present world, may be able to hear the words: "This month is the beginning of months for you." For this prescription is not given by God to the whole people, but only to Moses and Aaron; for it is not written, "And God said to the people, This month is for you the beginning of months, the first for you among the months of the year," but it is written: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month is for you the beginning of months, the first for you among the months of the year. Only then does He add: Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel: On the tenth day of this month let each one take a lamb.For if He had added, "Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel: This month is for you the beginning of months," God would have spoken indistinctly both to Moses and Aaron and to the whole people. But since it is said to Moses and Aaron, This month is for you the beginning of months, the first for you among the months of the year, and then the command is given to convey to the people not this order, but that on the tenth day of the month they take a lamb in the houses of each family, it is clear that that was the beginning of the month not for the whole people, but only for Moses and Aaron, to whom the command is given.
For it is necessary to have renounced completely the creation and this world, in order to understand that one has become almost another person than what he was, so that he may be able to hear: this month is for you the beginning of months, the first for you among the months of the year. That the perfect believer indeed has the beginning of another birth and becomes another person than what he was before, the Apostle teaches us when he says: "Our old man has been crucified with Christ," and again: "If we have died together with Christ, together with Him we shall also live"; of himself he says simply: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."
These, though still living in the world, are able to hear that this is the first month and that it is for them the beginning of months. Let us reflect on the fact that the perfect believer, having become another person than what he was, receives from God promises and blessings. It is not Abram who receives the promises, but Abraham; and it is not Jacob who receives the blessings, but Israel. The first disciple of the Savior is Peter and not Simon; James and John, apostles, are sent forth having become Boanerges, which means "sons of thunder."
If we observe attentively the whole of Scripture taken in its totality, we shall find in it that designations of this kind are noted because those who have been made perfect have other names: they are no longer what they were, but have become other persons than those they were previously.
Beginning and first
And so it became for them the beginning of months. It is fitting to ask […] but this month is for you the beginning of months, it is the first among the months of the year. He could have said, "This is for you the beginning of the months and of the year," or, "This is the first month of the year for you"; instead, as though there were a distinction to be drawn, He says that the month is a beginning, and that it is the first. How, then, should we advance along the road until we come to understand whether the words "beginning" and "first" are said with an equivalent meaning or are used with two different senses, unless the way were pointed out to us by similar passages found in Scripture?In the account of creation it is said, at once, at the very outset: "In the beginning God made heaven and earth." Since Scripture knows the difference between "first" and "beginning," it does not say, "He made as a first thing." The creation had the Demiurge as its beginning, but it was not made by the Demiurge as a first thing, since the Demiurge made many other things before […] All the things that exist had a beginning, whether they were the first or the second in their reckoning. Strictly speaking, one speaks of the first only when there is nothing else that precedes; whereas the word "beginning" takes on its meaning in relation to the things of which it is the starting-point, even if they come at the end.
What is first, this is also a beginning; but what is a beginning is not also first. To arrive at a better understanding of what we are saying, we shall make use of an example that will open for us the road to the meaning. If an architect who had never yet built a house were to set about doing so, we should find with respect to this building both the absolute beginning and the beginning. For since the architect had never before begun to build a house, when he does so, then he builds for the first time, because before this one he had built no other house. And though this very house that he builds is the first of all, it has a beginning, precisely by virtue of being the first, so that the beginning comes to it from its foundation; but it also has a starting-point, since this is the one the builder erects as the first. If he then goes on to build a second or a third house, […] it is not one of these that has the absolute beginning, but the building erected earlier, inasmuch as it was the first.
To understand more clearly we shall give yet another example. Suppose there are many pieces of wood set one beside another. We shall find for all of them a beginning, because each of them has its own beginning, even the last; but only the one that was stacked first has the absolute beginning. This one, which holds first place by reason of the order of arrangement, also has its own beginning, while the subsequent pieces of wood, deprived of first place, each have their own beginning.
Now then, since the beginning does not possess the absolute beginning, whereas the first does in fact possess the beginning as well, Scripture defines this month as the beginning of months and the first of the months of the year for them. And that what has been said may not seem a mere assertion, let us call upon the testimony of the Savior Himself, who teaches us the distinction between beginning and first. In the Apocalypse, attributed to John, He says: "I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" […] in this way indicating that the sense of "beginning" is one thing and that of "first" another.
Since it has been demonstrated that of necessity the first is also a beginning, it follows that here, by the fact of being first, He says that He is also a beginning. "I am," He affirms, "the first and the last, the beginning and the end," for inasmuch as He is the firstborn of all creation, He is first; inasmuch as He is Wisdom, He is a beginning. For thus Wisdom affirms through Solomon: "The Lord created me as the beginning of His ways."
Perhaps John too, being aware of this, began his Gospel thus: "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God." He understands the beginning as Wisdom, and he does not say that the Logos was the beginning but that He was "in the beginning." When the Son is beside the Father in His glory, He is not called first. This attribute belongs to the Father alone. For God alone is unbegotten, and the Son is not first […] He, inasmuch as He orders every created thing with wisdom, is the beginning. Therefore, when He comes into the world, John does not say, "The Logos was first," but "in the beginning was the Logos."
Jacob too, afterward named Israel, in blessing Reuben expresses the same distinction between first and beginning: "Reuben, my firstborn, my strength, and the beginning of my offspring." For he knows well that Reuben, inasmuch as he is his firstborn, is also the beginning of his offspring.
In Scripture many other similar passages will be cited that, to inattentive readers, apparently present a tautology, but to careful and learned interpreters reveal a difference of meaning. Should it say: "In the same way the fool and the senseless shall perish" […].
The Passover is not a prefiguration of the passion
The lamb is offered in sacrifice by the saints or by the Nazirites, whereas the Savior is offered in sacrifice by the transgressors of the Law and by sinners. And since the paschal lamb is sacrificed by the saints, the Apostle says: "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed," that is, Christ is offered in sacrifice according to the typology of the Passover, but He is not offered in sacrifice by the saints; the Passover is a type of Christ, not, however, of His passion.For we must offer the true lamb, if we have been consecrated or offer as equals to the priests, roast it and eat its flesh. If this did not come about with the passion of the Savior, then certainly His passion is not a type of the Passover, but the Passover becomes a type of Christ in Himself, when He is offered in sacrifice by us. Each of us first takes the lamb, then consecrates it with an invocation, next offers it in sacrifice, and so, after roasting it, eats it and, having fed upon it, leaves no remainder of it until dawn, and then celebrates the unleavened bread, because he has by now come out of Egypt.
The Savior says that the Passover is spiritual and is not this one of the senses: "Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you." Are we then to eat His flesh and drink His blood in the manner of the senses? But if He speaks spiritually, then certainly the Passover is a spiritual reality and does not concern the senses.
Let us consider, then, whether the words uttered by the Savior are connected with those reported concerning the Passover. As in that passage it was said that whoever did not eat the Passover would be cut off from the midst of his people, so now too the true lamb says that whoever does not eat of His flesh has no life. As there the destroyer cannot strike the one who has fed upon the lamb, so now too the one who has eaten of the true lamb escapes the destroyer.
[…] As we said before, that the Passover is not a type of the passion but is properly a type of Christ. The Savior Himself says it: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up." According to the type of the serpent hung upon the wood by Moses, without indicating a reality different from the passion of the Savior, in correspondence with His being lifted up on the wood, it is evident that the passion is to be understood after the type of the serpent and not of the Passover. For had He said, "As Moses celebrated the Passover in Egypt, so must Christ suffer," it would have been incontrovertible that the passion was a type of the Passover. But since instead He set up a comparison between the passion and the serpent lifted up on the wood, His passion could be a type of nothing else but this […].
Perhaps Christ is offered in sacrifice, and is crucified not for all, but for those who can affirm: "For me the world has been crucified, and I to the world," and for those who can declare: "Having stripped the principalities and the powers, He made a spectacle of them in His triumph on the cross," and for those who can say: "There could be for me no boasting, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified for me, and I to the world."
Explanation of Exod 12:3
But let us now proceed to what follows in the pericope: Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel: On the tenth day of this month let each one take a lamb for every family, let each one take a lamb per house.In what manner the Hebrews celebrate the Passover
He does not say, "Let them sacrifice a lamb on the tenth of the month," but "Let them take a lamb." They are commanded to sacrifice this lamb on the fourteenth day of the month, and it is in this way that the Hebrews celebrate the Passover. They must, then, take the lamb in every house and in every family beginning from the tenth day, feed it still on the eleventh, the twelfth, and the thirteenth day, and finally consecrate it with a prayer: "This lamb is offered in sacrifice for this and this reason," without neglecting the eighteen names. On the fourteenth day, between the two evenings, the lamb is immolated, so that five are the days that intervene from the choosing of the lamb until its immolation. All of this takes place according to what is perceptible to the senses.Choosing on the tenth day
[…] Christ is the true lamb because He, who is second after the Father, is taken during the second monad, that is, I mean the number ten.Keeping it until the fourteenth day
Just as, according to that prescription, the lamb is not immolated at the same time as its choosing on the tenth day of the month, but on the fourteenth, so that five days pass, in the same way whoever takes the true lamb, that is, Christ, does not sacrifice Him and feed upon Him at once, for five days pass after His choosing.For whoever sets himself to listen to Christ and believes in Him, this one chooses Christ, but he does not sacrifice Him and feed upon Him before five days have passed. For, since the senses of man are five, unless Christ be present in each one of them, He could not be offered in sacrifice and, roasted, eaten. When He should make clay with His saliva, anoint our eyes with it, and make us see distinctly; when He should open the ears of the heart so that we might be able to hear with these ears; when we should smell His fragrance, recognizing that His name is the fragrance of ointment poured out; if by taste we should learn that the Lord is good, and by touch should handle Him, as John too says: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, seen with our own eyes, and our hands have touched, that is, the Logos of life," then we should be able both to sacrifice the lamb and to eat it, and so to come out of Egypt […].
That which was according to the typology of the mystical realities reveals also a spiritual understanding, of which we shall speak hereafter. The biblical saying too which affirms: "See, thou shalt make all things according to the typology of the tent that was shown thee on the mountain" gives to understand that the legislation is a shadow and a typology […].
The eighth Psalm is introduced by the title: "For the winepresses." And when the temple is built, the number of the bearers and of the hewers of stone who labored upon it is specified: "Seventy thousand bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers of stone."
We have come out. Correspondingly, there are further indications that specify the prescription to offer the Passover in sacrifice in the first month and on its fourteenth day, between the two evenings, when the light of the moon is full and perfect. For the lamb was offered in sacrifice on the fourteenth day of the month, between the two evenings, when, at the beginning of the fifteenth, the lunar sphere reaches its fullness, in the opinion of the experts.
We too, if the perfect and true light did not rise for us and we did not see that the higher part of our soul is well illumined, could not offer the true lamb in sacrifice and feed upon it.
One lamb per house
[…] And indeed, when He tells the disciples to have the people arranged upon the grass, He gives this exhortation: "make them sit down in groups of guests," and thus prepares a banquet for them.For He serves them the food, after having gathered the multitude of those who eat His bread, not in undifferentiated groups but like with like. And the passage that immediately follows is akin, indeed identical, to the explanation already given.
Explanation of Exod 12:4–5
If they were too few in one house to be sufficient for eating a lamb, he shall take to himself his neighbor, the one nearest. And each shall measure, upon a lamb, what is sufficient for him, reckoning the number of persons. Let the lamb be for you perfect, male, and a year old. You shall take it from among lambs and kids […].Each must associate to himself his nearest neighbor
Each one must associate to himself the neighbor nearest to his house, so that the guests may be sufficient for the lamb, that is, the number of persons is counted for one lamb.A perfect lamb, a year old and male
A perfect lamb, male, a year old. For Christ is perfect because He is lacking in nothing and, in Himself, is in nothing imperfect. Male refers to His strength and His courage. He is called "a year old" because a year indicates a perfect number, inasmuch as in the space of twelve months the sun returns to its seat.Choosing between lambs and goats
Those who eat do not feed in the same way but differently, each according to his capacity, since not all can partake of Him as a lamb, but some, and perhaps the greater number, feed upon Him as a kid. The perfect, with great effort, now without sins, feed upon the lambs, because "Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," while those who still lie under the weight of sin will take from the kids, because, according to the Law, it is affirmed that a goat is offered for sins.Perhaps the Gospel too knows the same distinction, when the Savior feeds those who followed Him with loaves that are not alike but different. For to some of them He breaks five of wheat, to others seven of barley, so that those who are not able to partake of the purer bread, the bread of wheat, of Christ, because they still live in a beast-like way and are not yet rational, may feed upon the bread of barley.
And because these are the more numerous, the loaves of barley are seven: this is the number of idleness, according to which the greater part of people live, sluggish and unoccupied until the rising of the day. The loaves of wheat are five, just as the senses are, which spiritual men do not allow to suffer hunger. These continually nourish the senses with spiritual bread, and therefore enjoy the possession of them, as it is also written in the Bible: "They shall neither hunger nor thirst, nor shall their eyes be overcome by sleep."
Explanation of Exod 12:6–7
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. The whole assembly of the children of Israel shall slaughter it at sunset, and they shall take some of its blood and place it upon the two doorposts and upon the lintel of every dwelling in which they shall eat of the lambs, among them […].In full, the assembly of the children of Israel must sacrifice the victim at sunset
We are given the command to sacrifice the lamb at sunset because in the last hour the true lamb, our own, the Savior, came into the world […].The anointing of the houses with the blood
We sacrifice and anoint with the blood our own houses — by which I mean our bodies. This anointing is precisely our faith in Him, through which we believe that the power of the destroyer is brought to nothing.Explanation of Exod 12:8–9
Once we have been anointed — that is, once we have believed in Christ — then we are given the command to approach the food of Christ, as the words that follow clearly show: They eat the flesh roasted with fire this night, and they feed upon the unleavened bread set on bitter herbs. You shall not eat of a lamb raw or boiled in water, but roasted with fire, the head with the feet and the entrails.Eating the flesh roasted at the fire, neither raw nor boiled
[…] If Christ is the lamb, and if Christ is the Logos, what is the flesh of the divine words if not the divine Scriptures? It is upon these very Scriptures that we ought fittingly to feed, when they are neither raw nor boiled. If some make a superficial use of these words, they would be feeding upon the flesh of the Savior raw; and, precisely because they partake of His flesh raw, they would procure for themselves not life but death, inasmuch as they eat of His flesh like wild beasts and not like men — for "the letter kills, but the spirit gives life," as the Apostle teaches. If the Spirit is granted to us as a gift by God, "God is a consuming fire," and the Spirit Himself is fire. And so the Apostle, fully persuaded of this, exhorts us to be "fervently kindled with the Spirit."Rightly is the Holy Spirit called fire; and we, receiving Him, duly enter into familiarity with the flesh of Christ — by which I mean the divine Scriptures — so that, once we have cooked them at the fire of the Spirit, we may feed upon them, precisely because they have been roasted with this fire. For the words of Scripture are so transformed by this fire that we shall behold the sweetness of their nourishment, without cooking them together with some inferior water. Of a higher quality is the water that Christ promised to give to the Samaritan woman […].
"From His bosom shall flow rivers of water welling up unto eternal life." Yet the Savior disparages the water of the Samaritan woman when He says: "Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again," while He exalts this other water when He declares: "If anyone drinks of this water that I shall give him, he shall never thirst again, unto eternity" […].
In conclusion, we are commanded not to cook the flesh of the Savior — that is, the words of the Scriptures — in such water, not to mingle with these words some other matter that would soak them and soften them through boiling. On the contrary, we are commanded to partake of them only after they have been cooked with fire — that is, with the divine Spirit — and not to feed upon them when they are raw or boiled with water.
The Jews partake of them when they are raw, because they rest upon the mere literal interpretation of the Scriptures. For if, through the Spirit, they came to know wherein the true circumcision consists, and — would that it were so! — also the true meaning of the Sabbath, and "if they work while it is day, before the night comes, when no one can any longer work," only then would they eat the Scripture cooked with fire by the Spirit […].
Unleavened bread and bitter herbs …
[…](Origen's commentary on the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs is entirely lost in the papyrus; the edition prints only the section title, with no body text.)
The head, with the legs and the entrails
Some partake of His head, others of the hands, others of the breast, some of the entrails, others of the thighs, and some even of the feet, where there is not much flesh, because each one shares in the lamb according to his own capacity. And thus we are able to take a fitting portion of the true lamb, if we partake of the divine Logos.There are those who partake of the head, and preferably of each part of the head — of the ears, for example, so that "having ears they may hear" His words; those who taste of the eyes will see distinctly, "so that their feet do not stumble"; those who feed upon the hands are the industrious, whose hands are neither slack nor cramped in giving, cleaving tenaciously to the teaching of the Lord before His wrath blazes forth.
Others, leaning upon the breast of the Lord, will through this food come to know also who are the betrayers of Christ. Those who feed upon the entrails will behold even "the depths of God"; for the entrails are furnished with intricate folds and set in motion the complexity of the vital functions for the benefit of the body. Such likewise is the one who has been initiated into the mysteries — or rather, he will behold the profound meaning of the Incarnation, hidden and as it were situated in the midst, if we take the head to be the divinity.
Those who partake of the thighs keep guard over their flesh, following wherever Christ goes. Those who share in the feet, without any hesitation, run with zeal "toward the prize of the heavenly calling of Christ." The head might also be faith, and the feet the works, without which faith is dead.
The food of those who eat the Passover is varied, and yet all share the same purpose: he who feeds upon the head shares it with the one who eats the feet, because "the head cannot say to the feet: I have no need of you." Many are the parts that are eaten, but the body of Christ is one alone. Yet, so far as is possible, let us strive to preserve the harmony of the parts, that we may never be accused of rending Christ.
Explanation of Exod 12:10
You shall not leave any part of the lamb until morning, nor shall you break a bone of it: what remains you shall burn in the morning.Leaving nothing until morning
Just as the mysteries of the Passover celebrated in the Old Testament have been done away with by the truth of the New Testament, so the mysteries of the New, which we are to celebrate in like manner, will not be necessary in the resurrection; for this is the meaning of the "morning," when nothing shall be left over and whatever remains shall be burned […].You must not break any of its bones
We partake of the flesh of Christ, that is, of the divine Scriptures, […] we strive to follow in the footsteps of the true lamb, for the Apostle declares that Christ is the lamb of our Passover when he says: "Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed." His flesh, His bones, and His blood, as has already been shown, are the divine Scriptures: if we eat them, we possess Christ, inasmuch as His bones have become words, and the thoughts that arise from the words, flesh. If we approach them as is fitting, we contemplate what is to come "in an enigma and as through a mirror," for His blood is the evangelical faith of the new covenant, as the Apostle testifies when he says: "profaning the blood of the covenant." Anointed with this blood, that is, with faith, we shall escape the destroyer.What remains until morning must be burned
[…] "Imperfectly we know, imperfectly we prophesy," as the Apostle himself teaches, "but when perfection comes, that which is imperfect shall be abolished" — which corresponds to the burning up completely in the morning. For the night signifies the present world, and the day the world to come. This too the Apostle attests when he says: "The night is far advanced, the day is at hand."Truly few are they who, possessing senses long exercised "to distinguish the beautiful from the evil," able to nourish themselves on solid food, will also be able to leave nothing of the flesh until morning, according to the Scripture — perhaps one in a thousand, or two out of ten thousand; and among these were the blessed apostles.
Explanation of Exod 12:11
By the following rules the Scripture prescribes also that those who eat the Passover be clothed in such a manner: Thus shall you eat the Passover: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands. And you shall eat the meal in haste. It is the Passover of the Lord.The loins girded
We shall be instructed by other words of Scripture as to why the loins are to be girded. The Apostle, in his explanation of the offspring that comes from the loins of Abraham, who was blessed by Melchizedek, says: "And Levi, who himself receives tithes, paid the tithe, because he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek went to meet him." In another passage he affirms: "though he came from the loins of Abraham"; and in the book of Job it is said, concerning the devil: "His strength is in his loins and in the navel of his belly."For the devil has power to harass and to lay men low above all by force of this appetite, since the loin is to be interpreted as the male sexual organ and, by a decent expression, the navel of the belly as the female, so that it may appear plainly that it is chiefly through this urge that the devil holds dominion over both male and female.
Once the Scripture has indicated that the loins stand for sexual relations, we are on the right path to understand why, when it speaks of the Passover, it requires that we eat it with our loins girded, gathered together by families.
We are given the command, when we eat the Passover, to be pure from sexual acts — since this is the meaning of the girdle about the loins — for it teaches us to place a covering around the organ that produces the seminal fluid, and it orders us to restrain the stirrings of sexual union, when we partake of the flesh of Christ […].
He who prepares himself for the contest, and observes those who submit to continence for the sake of a perishable combat in order to win a temporary victory, aspires by his own exertion to gain an incorruptible victory. If, then, a man girds his loins in this manner, he will be able to leave no remnant of the flesh until morning.
Perhaps with this same intention John the Baptist too, as a perfect man, wore "a girdle of leather about his loins," because he wished to make evident that he had mortified every sexual appetite of his: for the leather signifies mortality, since mortality had wholly penetrated his nature. He who eats the Passover and is married will gird his own loins. "Blessed are those who, though having a wife, live as though they had none," says the Apostle.
The sandals on the feet
The Scripture says that those who eat the Passover are to keep their sandals on, a directive that to some might seem to contradict the oracle given to Moses. For when Moses was walking upon holy ground, he was given the command to take off his shoes.How is it, then, that although the Passover too is holy, those who eat of it are prescribed to put on their sandals? But these passages of Scripture are not in opposition, for they express different ideas.
When a man walks upon holy ground, he receives the command to have nothing with him that is in a condition of death, because he had nothing of himself in this state to conceal; whereas when he eats the Passover, he is given the command to eat in haste so as to be ready, as the Apostle also teaches when he says: "Having your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel."
So that, when the day comes, he may go out without hindrance, he is given the command to have his sandals already on his feet; and in this precept he shows a meaning still more evident concerning the condition of the flesh at the resurrection, for it comes out of Egypt together with us: "For we must mortify the members that are upon the earth — fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry" and what follows, and so come out of Egypt.
The staff in hand
To see the likeness between the Law and the Gospel, let us compare what is said according to the Law with what is said according to the Gospel. Moses, who prepares to lead the people out of Egypt in order to bring them into the holy land in obedience to the command of God, receives the order to have no sandals; while to the apostles sent to lead out of the spiritual Egypt the people coming from the pagan nations, the command is given "to carry no staff on the road, nor wallet, nor to have sandals on their feet."Thus, as there those who eat the Passover in haste are commanded to have their sandals on their feet, so likewise in the Gospel to those who are now able to sacrifice and eat the Passover, as has been explained, the Apostle commands that, "having girded their loins with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness and taken the helmet of salvation," they have their sandals on their feet in readiness for the Gospel, and that they hold also the staff in their hands because they share in discipline, since the staff is precisely the symbol of discipline.
For we have read in the book of Proverbs that "he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him corrects him with care."
Book II
Introduction to the second book
Justification of the spiritual exegesis
In ancient times, in the days of Moses, the sacred rite of sacrifice was carried out with a hidden spiritual meaning of its own, according to the command given by God for the salvation of the firstborn of Israel, on account of the outbreak of wrath against Pharaoh and against those who, subject to his rule, did not obey the word of God.Now we raise a question: whether it was only for the men of that time, once the event had come to pass, that this rite was celebrated — so that we need not admit, differently, some other meaning for our own times, the times of the fulfillment, in which the end of the ages has come to meet us.
This being so, we have found that the sacred and inspired Scriptures do not pass over these things in silence but rather urge us on to the fulfillment of the commandments that have been given to us, because they have been fulfilled for us, according to the exhortation: "Search the Scriptures, in which you have life, and they bear witness concerning Me."
There is, then, a testimony of the Scriptures which resides not only in the voice of the prophets — a knowledge written in the deeds themselves, which the prophet, in full awareness, prescribes to the Hebrew people when he observes the choice of the lamb, the keeping of it, and the sacrifice; and again the sacrifice, the roasted food, the manner of dress, the haste in the consuming of the sacred offering, the burning to ashes of what remains, "the commandment, appointed by Law, to be fulfilled throughout their generations unto eternity as a memorial for them and for their children."
For he recognizes that all this concerns not only history but also an anagogical meaning, as it is written: "Comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
Those for whom the spiritual exegesis is intended
I now attempt to set forth, with the help of the grace of God, a spiritual understanding, so that there may become known to the friends of truth the power of the salvation of God accomplished in Christ, as it is written: "To as many as received Him, He gave the power to become children of God, they who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." The adoption in Christ has become the power that obtains for us such a salvation — for us who are born not of blood, nor of the will of a man or of a woman, and whom He calls His brethren, when He declares: "I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren."Explanation of the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament prescriptions on the Passover
Capture and choice of the lamb
To the advantage of these last salvation has come, thanks to His blood, the blood of Christ, the perfect lamb; for "as a lamb He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb silent before its shearer, so He opens not His mouth. Who shall tell of His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth, and for the iniquities of His people He was led to death. And I will give the poor in exchange for His death and the rich in exchange for His tomb, because He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth." For His death was not caused by sin, but He Himself "bears our sins and is afflicted for us; by the blows He suffered we were healed."As those of old were prefigured in a male lamb, so are we in a man like a lamb; as they were in a perfect lamb, so are we in the fullness of the will of the Father; as they were in a lamb of one year, so are we in the completion of the ages — for as a year is the completion of the months, so is He the completion of the Law and the Prophets —; as they were in a lamb without defect, so are we in a lamb without sin; as they were in the first month, so are we in the beginning of all creation, because "in Him all things were created"; as they were in the ten, so are we in the fullness of the monarchy. The until the fourteenth day, of the second week, signifies the rest of two weeks, which went from the first creation, which is hidden, to the second, which is visible.
The sacrifice and the eating of the roasted victim
The whole multitude of the children of Israel shall slaughter it toward evening. The whole multitude of the children of the man who sees God, that is, of the power of God; at evening, that is, at the end of the times.And they shall anoint with its blood the lintels and both the doorposts of the doors. The lintels: that which is above the head of all the lambs; the doorposts of the doors: their edges, through which they enter and go out among them — some enter into them, others go out from them — in which are contained those who dwell among them.
The sacrifice takes place in Egypt, where Pharaoh reigns, a land turned toward the things of the earth and blinded by darkness, which is ignorance. Those live in the gross ignorance of their blindness who are subject to the lordship of him who is king in Egypt; and this man, who has fixed his dwelling there, is under the dominion of the deceptive opinion of his own arrogance, as it is written: "Who then is the Lord? I do not know Him. I will not let Israel go." This declaration accords with this other one: "I will set my throne above the clouds, I will ascend to heaven, I will be equal to the Most High."
Those who listen to the prophet fulfill this commandment, since they are as strangers in the presence of Pharaoh, inasmuch as they have fallen under his tyranny in a time of famine, in that they have received from their fathers the most ancient oath that their offspring would be strangers, as was said to father Abraham.
The offering of this sacrifice is made by them in ignorance, because "they do not know what they do" — and for this reason it is forgiven them — namely, that "it is expedient that one man should die for the people." It is not permitted that a prophet die outside Jerusalem, that is, outside the company of those who strive to live in peace and in justice.
The form of dress of those who take part in the meal
Although they were under the Law, they did not carry out its prescriptions, but, acting against the Law, they turned aside from the salvation that comes by the natural law […] Rather, those have consented to celebrate the Passover according to the Law who are zealous for the faith and hold in check the thoughts of the body, who with sandals ready for the preparation of a journey that brings good, and with staves in their hands, henceforth pass their life in fear, which is for them salvation: "If you do not eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no part with Me."This the true lamb says, the lamb who truly "takes away the sin of the world" and who, alone, dies for the salvation of the whole people, according to the high priest of that year, who spoke without knowing what he was saying. For the sacrifice was made ready for the salvation of those who dwell as strangers because of their childish love for the earth, which by feeding them had become their nurse.
Having this nurse, they treated her as if she were their mother, since they did not know the true one, reared bodily in the licentiousness of the flesh in this transient world, made the sweeter by the pleasure they tasted, while ignorance of their paternal world held them under the yoke. These are called Hebrews. And so it is that Scripture declares: "The God of the Hebrews has called us." At the passage of the passing world into the abiding aeon of the Father, the conversion of the sons comes about through the perfect fulfillment of the word "Passover," which means precisely passage. For they pass through the naming of the mystery and take part in it, and thus they obtain salvation for themselves, inasmuch as they are not destroyed together with the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, "from Pharaoh who sits upon his throne, to the maidservant who is beside the mill" — that is, those who live, in ignorance, in the pride stirred up by riches and power, and do not know Him who "raises up rulers out of the dung and sets them upon royal thrones."
They were held in subjection in their ignorance, shut within their own borders, one by fate, another by chance, another by the tyranny of the prince, since, on account of food conformed to that of the time of their infancy, they had been reared forgetful of their natural mother and of their true Father, who said: "I have set My gaze upon the sufferings of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry, and I have come down to deliver them from the taskmasters of the works, to deliver them from the slavery inflicted by Pharaoh and from the hand of the Egyptians, to lead them toward the land of the fathers, which I swore to Abraham and to Isaac to give them for an inheritance" — which He accomplished in the fullness of the times when He came to remove sin by means of His flesh, doing away with the enmity.
By His coming He "brought the glad tidings to us who were far off and to those who were near," ransoming us from the dominion of darkness and transferring us into His light. In keeping with this, He has brought us out of Egypt and away from its princes, whom He nailed to the cross, when He made of them a public spectacle, in His triumph. Therefore: "Behold, I come — it is written in the scroll of the book concerning Me — O God, to do Thy will," having first said: "Sacrifice and offering Thou hast not willed, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me; Thou hast not been pleased with holocaust for sin."
Through this offering of Himself is obtained the purification of the world gone astray, until it shall come to its conversion. He "makes peace with all things through the blood of His cross," having done away with the enmity, which is the wrath for the destruction of the disobedient.
The haste regarding the manner of eating the sacrifice
For if these had disposed themselves with fervor to obey the legislation, according to what has been said, celebrating it with a bunch of hyssop — that is, with the fragrance of thoughts directed toward conversion — the true Passover would have been accomplished for them, Christ, who says: "I sanctify Myself for these, and not for these only, but for all who believe in Me."It was not in faith that they set themselves to celebrate this rite, but in unbelief, without knowing the Scriptures that the prophets had announced: "If you have not believed, you will not understand. I have not come to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me," and His will consisted in being delivered up on behalf of all who believe.
Had those been zealous to lead Him to the sacrifice for their own sanctification, the commandment would have been fulfilled for them: Eat the lamb in haste; it is the Passover of the Lord — that is, it is the passage of the Lord.
The destruction by fire of the remains
He who has crossed beyond the borders set by God on account of the disobedience in Adam is the Lord, He who has blunted the sting of death and cast down its power, and has given to the spirits imprisoned in Hades the possibility of leaping forth outside, through the proclamation of the good news; in other terms, He has offered a way of ascent to heaven through His ascension, when gates and portals were lifted up at His entrance: "Princes, lift up your portals, and be lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter in."And since the command was heard a second time by the powers that guarded the gates, at their reply, "Who is He?", they heard this answer: "The Lord strong and mighty in battle, the Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory" — Lord of the glory of the Father, in whom the Father is glorified. He "reconciled the world to Himself, not reckoning the transgressions against Him, canceling the bond that was against Him, which was hostile to Him, and He took it out of the way." This was accomplished in Christ when He says: "It was God reconciling the world to Himself in Christ." And the reconciliation consists in this: "Like an innocent lamb led to the sacrifice, without knowing it."
For they contrived a wicked plan against Him, knowing that "it is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many sufferings, die, and on the third day rise again." And since the disciples, on hearing it, were in a certain way grieved, He added: "That I go away comes about for your benefit: if the grain of wheat does not die, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit" — words that correspond to these others: "Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."
Since, then, "the children have blood and flesh in common, He likewise was associated with them, in order to reduce to nothing, through His death, him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and to set free those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their life long."
The true lamb, that is, Christ, has freed us from the slavery of the ruler of the darkness of this world — the lamb of whom the lamb slaughtered in Egypt was the type, in that time the savior of the Hebrews from the ancient dominion of the prince of Egypt, defined as darkness, the reckless Pharaoh, who scatters the works accomplished in the light of virtue, by reason of his mighty domination — that is, the manner of thinking of those who live in the darkness.