Iberian Fathers, Volume 1

Easter

EASTER! (De pascha) Chapter 1 Many haye tried to unravel the mystery of Easter and at the same time to make it understandable by a calculation of the month, the moon, and the day; but either because it is impossible to know or because it is difficult to put into words, they have left it rather obscure, as if they had said nothing about it. I know that many have tried to investigate in great detail why we celebrate Easter on different days according to a computation of the moon, following Jewish custom; they declare that it seems more correct to them that the commem· oration of the Lord's Passion be the most important factor, and that just as we observe our birthday on a single day every year, so we should follow the custom observed by most of the bishops of Gaul until quite recent times: that Easter should always be celebrated on March 25, on which date the Resur· rection of Christ is reported to have taken place. I also have decided to investigate carefully and to explain clearly the ob· servances of our ancestors. Chapter 2 The Passion of Christ is the redemption of the creature, of which the Apostle said: "It was made subject to slavery-not I Cf. Introduction pp. 14·15. 103 104 MARTIN OF BRAGA by its own will but by reason of him who made it subjectin hope, because it itself also will be delivered from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the sons of God."1 This creature is the spirit of life which created all things with earthly bodies, subject to the hope that it might be freed from the corruption of death into the freedom of the sons of glory, which was made subject to slavery on that day on which the world was created, which Christ saved when He came to free it through His Passion, that it might be revealed that when the creature had been subjected to slavery that day of sorrow would be turned into a day of joy. Since the sacrifice of this lamb was so great that even the shadow of its truth was sufficient for salvation in freeing the Jews from the slavery of Pharao, as though already the liberation of the creature from the slavery of corruption was prefigured, the image of Christ's coming Passion worked for the advent of salvation, and, therefore , it was declared by God that, in the first month of the year on the fourteenth day of the moon, a year-old lamb without blemish should be sacrificed with whose blood they were to make signs upon the doorposts of their houses,2 lest they be frightened by the angel of destruction, and that on that very night when the lamb was eaten in their homes, which was the celebration of the Passover, they should receive liberation through the figure of slavery. It is not difficult to interpret the spotless lamb of Christ3 and His sacrifice made to free the slavery of our death. For, marked by the sign of His cross as by the sprinkling of blood, we shall be saved from the angels of destruction even to the consummation of the world. It should be sufficient to have written this brief, concise preface in order that, as we have proposed, without troubling to discuss further, we may commence on the method of calculating Easter, the month and the moon and the day. 1 Cf. Rom. 8.20,21. 2 Cf. Exod. 12.3-11. 3 Cf. 1 Cor. 5.7. EASTER 105 Chapter 3 Inquiry has been made by our elders, according to what has been written, as to what is the first month and what is the first day and on which day the fourteenth moon occurred when it was commanded to celebrate the Passover. For, at the time when this tradition arose among the Jews, the meaning of the names of the month was not reckoned by the course of the moon. lVhen they finally calculated this time and day of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection, this gave them the method of knowing what was the first month of the year and what the first day of this month and when they should reckon that the fourteenth moon had occurred and why they should observe the mystery of Easter in accordance with the moon and day...