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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 84 Pages
Page 15
Letter XIX.--(For 347.) Coss. Rufinus, Eusebius; Praef. the same Nestorius; Indict. v; Easter-day, Prid. Id. Apr., Pharmuthi xvii; AEra Dioclet. 63; Moon 15.
'Blessed is God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [4439] ,' for such an introduction is fitting for an Epistle, and more especially now, when it brings thanksgiving to the Lord, in the Apostle's words, because He hath brought us from a distance, and granted us again to send openly to you, as usual, the Festal Letters. For this is the season of the feast, my brethren, and it is near; being not now proclaimed by trumpets, as the history records [4440] , but being made known and brought near to us by the Saviour, Who suffered on our behalf and rose again, even as Paul preached, saying, 'Our Passover, Christ, is sacrificed [4441] .' Henceforth the feast of the Passover is ours, not that of a stranger, nor is it any longer of the Jews [4442] . For the time of shadows is abolished, and those former things have ceased, and now the month of new things [4443] is at hand, in which every man should keep the feast, in obedience to Him who said, 'Observe the month of new things, and keep the Passover to the Lord thy God [4444] .' Even the heathen fancy they keep festival, and the Jews hypo-critically feign to do so. But the feast of the heathen He reproves, as the bread [4445] of mourners, and He turns His face from that of the Jews, as being outcasts, saying, 'Your new moons and your sabbaths My soul hateth [4446] .'
[4439] Eph. i. 3.
[4440] Cf. Letter i. 1.
[4441] 1 Cor. v. 7, cf. Letter i.
[4442] Cf. Letter 6, S:2, and note.
[4443] Deut. xvi. 1, LXX.
[4444] Deut. xvi. 1, LXX., cf. Letter 1, S:9, and note.
[4445] Hos. ix. 4.
[4446] Is. i. 14.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/letters-2.asp?pg=15
