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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 23
Letter XX.--(For 348.) Coss. Philippus, Salia; Praefect the same Nestorius; Indict. vi; Easter-day iii Non. Apr., viii Pharmuthi; AEra Dioclet. 64; Moon 18.
Let us now keep the feast, my brethren, for as our Lord then gave notice to His disciples, so He now tells us beforehand, that 'after some days is the Passover [4504] ,' in which the Jews indeed betrayed the Lord, but we celebrate His death as a feast, rejoicing because we then obtained rest from our afflictions. We are diligent in assembling ourselves together, for we were scattered in time past and were lost, and are found. We were far off, and are brought nigh, we were strangers, and have become His, Who suffered for us, and was nailed on the cross, Who bore our sins, as the prophet [4505] saith, and was afflicted for us, that He might put away from all of us grief, and sorrow, and sighing. When we thirst, He satisfies us on the feast-day itself; standing and crying, 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink [4506] .' For such is the love of the saints at all times, that they never once leave off, but offer the uninterrupted, constant sacrifice to the Lord, and continually thirst, and ask of Him to drink [4507] ; as David sang, 'My God, my God, early will I seek Thee, my soul thirsteth for Thee; many times my heart and flesh longeth for Thee in a barren land, without a path, and without water. Thus was I seen by Thee in the sanctuary [4508] .' And Isaiah the prophet says, 'From the night my spirit seeketh Thee early, O God, because Thy commandments are light [4509] .' And another says, 'My soul fainteth for the longing it hath for Thy judgments at all times.' And again he says, 'For Thy judgments I have hoped, and Thy law will I keep at all times [4510] .' Another boldly cries out, saying, 'Mine eye is ever towards the Lord.' And with him one says, 'The meditation of my heart is before Thee at all times.' And Paul further advises, 'At all times give thanks; pray without ceasing [4511] .' Those who are thus continually engaged, are waiting entirely on the Lord, and say, 'Let us follow on to know the Lord: we shall find Him ready as the morning, and He will come to us as the early and the latter rain for the earth [4512] .' For not only does He satisfy them in the morning; neither does He give them only as much to drink as they ask; but He gives them abundantly according to the multitude of His lovingkindness, vouchsafing to them at all times the grace of the Spirit. And what it is they thirst for He immediately adds, saying, 'He that believeth on Me.' For, 'as cold waters are pleasant to those who are thirsty [4513] ,' according to the proverb, so to those who believe in the Lord, the coming of the Spirit is better than all refreshment and delight.
[4504] Matt. xxvi. 2.
[4505] Isa. liii. 4.
[4506] John vii. 37.
[4507] Cf. Letter vii. 5-7. The striking similarity between the seventh and the twentieth Letters has been already noticed.
[4508] Ps. lxiii. 1, 2, LXX.
[4509] Is. xxvi. 9.
[4510] Ps. cxix. 20, 43, 44.
[4511] Ib. xxv. 15; xix. 14; 1 Thess. v. 17.
[4512] Hos. vi. 3.
[4513] John vii. 38; Prov. xxv. 25.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/letters-2.asp?pg=23
