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Didascalia Apostolorum

tr. Connolly, 1929

Concerning the Pascha and the Resurrection of Christ our Saviour

Wherefore, a Christian ought to keep himself from vain speech and from words of levity and profanity. For not even on Sundays, in which we rejoice and make good cheer, is it permitted to any one to speak a word of levity or one alien to religion: as our Lord also teaches us in the Psalm by David, saying thus: And now, ye kings, understand; and be instructed, all ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto him with trembling. Give ye heed to discipline, lest the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the way of justice: for his wrath will shortly be kindled against you. Blessed are all they that trust on him.² We must conduct our festivals and our rejoicings, then, with fear and trembling; for a faithful Christian, it saith, must not sing the songs of the heathen, nor have anything to do with³ the laws and doctrines of strange assemblies; for it may happen that through (their) songs he will make mention also of the name of idols, which God forbid that it should be done by the faithful; for the Lord by Jeremiah upbraids certain folk and speaks thus: They have left me, and have sworn by them that be no gods.⁴ And again He saith: If Israel will return, let him return unto me, saith the Lord; and if he will put away his abominations out of his mouth, and will fear before my face, and swear, As the Lord liveth.⁵⁶ And again He saith: I will take away the name of idols out of your mouth. And by Moses again He saith to them: They have provoked me to jealousy by that which is no god; and with their idols they have angered me.⁷ And in all the Scriptures He speaks of these things.

And not by idols only is it not lawful for the faithful to swear, but neither by the sun, nor by the moon; for the Lord God speaks by Moses thus: My people, if ye shall see the sun and the moon, ye shall not be led astray by them, and ye shall not⁸ serve them: for these have been given you for light upon the earth.⁹¹⁰¹¹ And by Jeremiah again He saith: Ye shall not learn according to the ways of the gentiles; and ye shall not fear the signs of heaven.¹² And by Ezekiel He speaks thus: And he brought me in to the court of the house of the Lord, between the porch¹³ and the altar. And I saw there men whose backs were toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east: and they were worshipping the sun. And the Lord said unto me: Son of man, is this a light thing to the house of Judah to do these abominations which they do here, that they¹⁴ have filled the earth with iniquity, and have turned again to provoke me to anger? And they are become as scoffers: but I will deal (with them) in wrath; and mine eye shall not spare,¹⁵ and I will not have mercy. And they shall cry in mine ears with a loud voice, and I will not hear them. You see, our beloved, how sternly and bitterly sentence is passed on those who worship the sun or swear thereby, that the Lord should deal in His wrath. Therefore it is not lawful for a believer to swear, neither by the sun nor by any other of the signs of heaven or the elements; nor to make mention with his mouth of the name of idols; nor to utter a curse out of his mouth, but rather blessings and psalms and (words from) the dominical and divine Scriptures, which are the firm foundation of our faith: and especially in the days of the Pascha, wherein all the faithful throughout the world fast;¹⁶ as our Lord and Teacher said when they asked Him: Why do John’s disciples fast, but thine fast not? And he answered and said to them: The sons of the bridechamber cannot fast, as long as the bridegroom is with them. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: and then they shall fast in those days.¹⁷ But now by His working is He with us, but visibly He is absent, because He has ascended to the heights of heaven and sat at the right hand of¹⁸ His Father.

Wherefore, when you fast, pray and intercede for them that are lost; as we also did¹⁹ when our Saviour suffered. For while He was yet with us before He suffered, as we were eating the Passover with Him, He said to us: To-day, in this night,²⁰ one of you will betray me.²¹ And we said unto Him, each one of us: Is it I, Lord? And he answered and said to us: He that putteth forth his hand with me into the dish. And Judas²² Iscariot, who was one of us, rose up and went his²³ way to betray Him. Then our Lord said to us: Verily I say unto you, a little while²⁴ and ye will leave me; for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the lambs of his flock shall be scattered.²⁵ And Judas came with the scribes and with the priests of the people, and betrayed our Lord Jesus.

Now this²⁶ was done on the fourth day of the week. For when we had eaten the passover on the third day of the week at even, we went forth to the Mount of Olives; and in the night they seized our Lord Jesus. And the next day, which was the fourth of the week, He remained in ward in the house of Caiaphas the high priest. And on the same day the chiefs of the people were assembled and took counsel against Him. And on the next day again, which was the fifth of the week, they brought Him to Pilate the governor. And He remained again in ward with Pilate the night after the fifth day of the week. But when it drew on²⁷ (towards day) on the Friday, they accused him much²⁸ before Pilate; and they could show nothing that was true, but gave false witness against Him. And they asked Him of Pilate to be put to death; and they crucified Him on the same Friday.

He suffered, then, at the sixth hour²⁹ on Friday. And these hours wherein our Lord was crucified were reckoned a day. And afterwards, again, there was darkness for three hours; and it was reckoned a night. And again, from the ninth hour until evening, three hours, (reckoned) a day. And afterwards again, (there was) the night of the Sabbath of the Passion.— But in the Gospel of Matthew³⁰ it is thus written: At even on the sabbath, when the first day of the week drew on, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary³¹ to see the tomb. And there was a great earthquake: for an angel of the Lord came down and rolled away the stone.—And³² again (there was) the day of the Sabbath; and then three hours of the night after the Sabbath, wherein our Lord slept. And that was fulfilled which He said: The Son of man must pass three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,³³ as it is written in the Gospel. And again it is written in David: Behold,³⁴ thou hast set my days in measure.³⁵ Now because those days and nights came short, it was so written.

In the night, therefore, when the first day of the week drew on,³⁶ He appeared to Mary Magdalene and to Mary the daughter of James³⁷; and in the morning of the first day of the week He went in to (the house of) Levi;³⁸ and then³⁹ He appeared⁴⁰ also to us ourselves. And He said to us, teaching us: ‘Are ye fasting for Me these days? or have I any need that ye should afflict yourselves? But it is for your brethren that ye have done this; and do ye the same in these days when ye fast, and on the fourth of the week and on the Friday always, as it is written in Zechariah: The fourth fast, and the fifth fast,⁴¹ which is the Friday.⁴² For it is not lawful to you to fast on the first of the week, because it is My resurrection; wherefore the first of the week is not counted in the number of the days of the Fast of the Passion, but they are counted from the second day of the week, and are †five†⁴³ days. Wherefore, The fourth fast, and the fifth fast, and the seventh fast, and the tenth fast shall be to the house of Israel.⁴⁴ Fast then from the second day of the week, six days wholly,⁴⁵ until the night after the Sabbath; and it shall be reckoned to you as a week. But the tenth⁴⁶,—because the beginning of My name is Yod,— wherein was made the inception⁴⁷ of the fasts. But (fast) not⁴⁸⁴⁹ after the custom of the former People, but according to the new testament which I have appointed you: that you may be fasting for them on the fourth day of the week, because on the fourth of the week they began to destroy their souls, and apprehended Me.—For the night after the third of the week belongs to the fourth of the week, as it is written: There was evening and there was morning, one day.⁵⁰ The evening therefore belongs to the following day: for on the third of the week at even I ate My Pascha with you, and in the night they apprehended Me.—But fast for them also on the Friday, because thereon they crucified Me, in the midst of their festival of unleavened bread, as it is said of old in David: In the midst of their festivals they set their signs, and they knew not.⁵¹

‘And be ye constant in fasting during these days always, and especially you who are of the Gentiles. For because the People was not obedient, I delivered them (the Gentiles) from blindness and from the error of idols and received them: that through your fast and theirs who are of the Gentiles, and your service during those days, when you pray and intercede for the error and destruction of the People, your prayer and intercession may be accepted before My Father who is in heaven, as though from one mouth of all the faithful on earth; and (that) all things which they did unto Me may be forgiven them. For this cause also I have already said to you in the Gospel: Pray for your enemies,⁵² and: Blessed are they that mourn, over the destruction of them that believe not.’

Know therefore, our brethren, that (as regards) our fast which we fast in the Pascha, it is on account of the disobedience of our brethren that you are to fast. For even though they hate you, yet ought we to call them brethren; for we have it written in Isaiah thus: Call them brethren that hate and reject you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified.⁵³ For their sake therefore, and for the judgement and destruction of the (holy) place, we ought to fast and to mourn, that we may be glad and take our pleasure in the world to come; as it is written in Isaiah: Rejoice, all ye that mourn over Zion;⁵⁴ and again He saith: To comfort all them that mourn over Zion: instead of ashes, the oil of gladness; and instead of a spirit afflicted with pain, a vesture of glory. We ought then to take pity on them, and to have faith and to fast and to pray for them. For when our Lord came to the People, they did not believe Him when He taught them, but put away His teaching from their ears. Therefore, because this People was not obedient, He received you, the brethren who are of the Gentiles, and opened your ears that your heart might hear⁵⁵; as our Lord and Saviour Himself said by the prophet Isaiah: I appeared unto them that asked not after me, and I was found of them that sought me not; and I said, Behold, I am here, to a people that called not (upon) my name.⁵⁶ Now of whom did He speak thus? Was it not of the Gentiles, because that they had never known God, and because that they were serving idols? But when our Lord came to the world and taught you, you believed, you who have⁵⁷ believed in Him, that God is one;⁵⁸ and they also who are⁵⁹ worthy shall believe, until the number is filled up of them that are to be saved, a thousand thousand, and ten thousand times ten thousand,⁶⁰ as it is written in David.

But concerning the People, who believed not in Him, He said thus: I spread forth my hands all the day long to a people that obey not and resist, and walk in a way that is not good, and go after their sins: a people that is provoking before me.⁶¹ See, then, that the People provoked our Lord in that they believed not in Him. Wherefore he saith: They provoked the holy Spirit; and he was turned to enmity unto them.⁶² And again He speaks otherwise⁶³ of them by Isaiah the prophet: Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations, a people that sitteth in darkness: ye have seen a great light; and they that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, light is risen upon them. They that sit in darkness⁶⁴ He said concerning those who have believed in our Lord Jesus from (among) the People. For by reason of the blindness of the People a great darkness was round about them. For they saw Jesus, but that He is the Christ they knew not; and they understood Him not, neither from the writings of the prophets nor from His works and His healings. But to you of the People who have believed in Jesus we say: Learn how the Scripture bears witness to us and saith, they have seen a great light. You then who have believed in Him have seen a great light, even Jesus Christ our Lord; and they also shall see who are (yet) to believe in Him. But they that sit in the shadow of death are you who are of the Gentiles; for you were in the shadow of death, because you had set your hope on the worship of idols, and knew not God. But when Jesus Christ our Lord and Teacher appeared to us, light rose upon you, for you beheld and set your hope on the promise of the kingdom everlasting; and you have departed from the customs and practices of (your) former error, and no more serve idols as you were wont to serve them, but have already believed and been baptized in Him: and a great light is risen upon you.

Thus then, because the People were not obedient, they were made darkness; but the hearing of the ear⁶⁵ of you who are of⁶⁶ the Gentiles was made light. Wherefore, do you pray and intercede for them, and especially in the days of the Pascha, that by your prayers they may be found worthy of forgiveness, and may return to our Lord Jesus Christ.

It behoves you then, our brethren, in the days of the Pascha to make inquiry with diligence and to keep your fast with all care. And do you make a beginning⁶⁷ when your brethren who are of the People keep the Passover. For when our Lord and Teacher ate the Passover with us, He was betrayed by Judas after that hour; and immediately we began to be sorrowful, because He was taken from us. By the number of the moon, as we count according to the reckoning of the believing Hebrews, on the tenth⁶⁸ of the moon, on the second day of the week, the priests and elders of the people assembled and came to the court of Caiaphas the high priest; and they took counsel to apprehend Jesus and put him to death: but they feared, saying: Not in the festival, lest the people make a tumult;⁶⁹⁷⁰ for all men were hanging upon Him, and they held him for a prophet⁷¹ on account of His miracles of healing which He did among them.

But Jesus was⁷² that day in the house of Simon the leper, and we together with Him, and He related to us that which was about to happen to Him. But Judas went out privily from us, thinking that he would evade our Lord, and went to the house of Caiaphas where the chief priests and elders were assembled, and said to them: What will ye give me, and I will betray Him to you⁷³ when I have found an occasion? But they appointed and gave him thirty pieces of silver. And he said to them: ‘Make ready young men armed, because of His disciples, that if He go forth by night to a desert place I may come and lead you’. And they made ready the young men and prepared to seize Him. And Judas was watching, when he might find him an occasion to betray him.⁷⁴

But by reason of the multitudes of all the people, from every city and from all the villages, who were coming up to the temple to keep the Passover in Jerusalem, the priests and elders took counsel and commanded and appointed that they should keep the festival straightway, that they might seize Him without disturbance. For the inhabitants of Jerusalem were engaged with⁷⁵ the sacrifice and the eating of the Passover; and moreover, all the people that were without were not yet come, for they had deceived them⁷⁶ as to the days. That they might be convicted before God of erring utterly in all things, therefore they anticipated⁷⁷ the Passover by three days, and kept it on the eleventh of the moon, on the third day of the week. For they said: ‘Because the whole people is gone astray after Him, now that we have an occasion let us seize Him; and then, when all the people are come, let us put Him to death before all, that this may be known openly, and all the people may turn back from after Him.’

And so in the night when the fourth day of the week drew on, (Judas) betrayed our Lord to them. But they made the payment to Judas on the tenth⁷⁸ of the month, on the second day of the week; wherefore they were accounted by God as though on the second day of the week they had seized Him, because on the second of the week they had taken counsel to seize Him and put Him to death; and they accomplished their malice on the Friday: as Moses had said concerning the Passover, thus: It shall be kept by you⁷⁹ from the tenth until the fourteenth: and then all Israel shall sacrifice the passover.

Therefore⁸⁰ you shall fast in the days of the Pascha from the tenth, which is the second day of the week; and you shall sustain yourselves with bread and salt and water only, at the ninth hour, until the fifth day of the week. But on the Friday and on the Sabbath fast wholly, and taste nothing. You shall come together and watch and keep vigil all the night with prayers and intercessions, and with reading of the Prophets, and with the Gospel and with Psalms, with fear and trembling and with earnest supplication, until the third hour in the night after the Sabbath; and then break your fasts. For thus⁸¹ did we also fast, when our Lord suffered, for a testimony of the three days; and we were keeping vigil and praying and interceding for the destruction of the People, because that they erred and confessed not our Saviour. So do you also pray that the Lord may not remember their guilt against them unto the end for the guile which they used against our Lord, but may grant them a place of repentance and conversion, and forgiveness of their wickedness.

For he who was a heathen and of a foreign people, Pilate⁸²⁸³ the judge, did not consent to their deeds of wickedness, but took water and washed his hands, and said: I am innocent of the blood of this man.⁸⁴ But the People answered and said: His blood be upon us, and upon our children⁸⁵; and Herod commanded that He should be crucified; and our Lord suffered for us on the Friday. Especially incumbent on you therefore is the fast of the Friday and of the Sabbath; and likewise the vigil⁸⁶ and watching of the Sabbath, and the reading of the Scriptures, and psalms, and prayer and intercession for them that have sinned, and the expectation and hope of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, until the third hour in the night after the Sabbath. And then offer your oblations; and thereafter eat and make good cheer, and rejoice and be glad, because that the earnest of our resurrection, Christ, is risen. And this shall be a law to you for ever, unto the end of the world. For to those who have not believed in our Saviour He is dead, because their hope in Him is dead; but to you who believe, our Lord and Saviour is risen, because your hope in Him is immortal and living for ever.

Fast then on the Friday, because thereon the People killed themselves in crucifying our Saviour; and on the Sabbath also, because it is the sleep of our Lord; for it is a day which ought especially to be kept with fasting: even as blessed Moses also, the prophet of all (things touching) this matter, commanded. For because he knew by the Holy Spirit and it was commanded him by Almighty God, who knew what the People were to do to His Son and His beloved Jesus Christ,— as even then they denied Him in the person of Moses,⁸⁷ and said: Who hath appointed thee head and judge over us?⁸⁸ —therefore he bound them beforehand with mourning perpetually, in that he set apart and appointed the Sabbath for them. For they deserved to mourn, because they⁸⁹ denied their Life, and laid hands upon their Saviour and delivered Him to death. Wherefore, already from that time there was laid upon them a mourning for their destruction.

But let us observe and see, brethren, that most men in their mourning imitate the Sabbath; and they likewise who keep Sabbath imitate mourning. For he that mourns kindles⁹⁰ no light: neither do the People on the Sabbath, because of the commandment of Moses; for so it was commanded them by him. He that mourns takes no bath: nor yet the People on the Sabbath. He that mourns does not prepare a table: neither do the People on the Sabbath, but prepare and lay for themselves⁹¹ the evening before; because they have a presentiment of mourning, seeing that they were to lay hands on Jesus. He that mourns does no work, and does not speak, but sits in sorrow: so too the People on the Sabbath; for it was said to the People concerning the mourning of the Sabbath thus: Thou shalt not⁹² lift thy foot to do any work, and thou shalt speak no word out of thy mouth.⁹³ Now who testifies that the Sabbath is a mourning for them? The Scripture testifies, and saith: Then shall the people lament, family overagainst family: the family of the house of Levi apart, and their women apart; the house of Judah apart, and their women apart:⁹⁴ even as, after the mourning of Christ until now, on the ninth of the month of Ab⁹⁵ (August) they come together and read the Lamentations of Jeremiah and wail and lament. Now nine represents Theta;⁹⁶ but Theta denotes God. For God therefore they lament, even for Christ who suffered—rather, on account of God our Saviour, but over themselves and their own destruction. Does any man lament, brethren, except he have a grief? Therefore do you also mourn for them on the day of the Sabbath of the Pascha until the third hour in the night following; and thereafter, in the Resurrection of Christ, rejoice and make good cheer for their sake, and break your fast; and the surplus of your fast of six days offer to the Lord God. And let those of you who have abundance of worldly possessions minister diligently to those who are poor and needy and refresh them, that the reward of your fast may be received.

Wherever, then, the Fourteenth of the Pascha falls, so keep it; for neither the month nor the day squares with the same season every year, but is variable. When therefore that People keeps the Passover, do you fast; and be careful to perform your vigil⁹⁷ within their (feast of) unleavened bread. But on the first day of the week make good cheer at all times; for he is guilty of sin,⁹⁸ whosoever afflicts his soul on the first of the week. And hence it is not lawful, apart from the Pascha, for any one to fast during those three hours of the night between the Sabbath and the first of the week, because that night belongs to the first of the week; but in the Pascha alone you are to fast these three hours of that night, being assembled together, you who are Christians, in the Lord.⁹⁹

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