Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Christ, the Tree of Life

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. (Rev 22:1-6)

The river flowing out from the Church in the present life hints at a baptism of regeneration being activated through the Spirit, those cleaned and washed, polished up, surpassing snow and crystal. The river of God, having been filled with waters running through the heavenly Jerusalem, is the Life-giving Spirit which proceeds from God the Father and through the Lamb, through the midst of the most supreme powers which are called throne of divinity, filling the wide streets of the holy city, that is, the multitude in her being “increased more than the grains of sand,” according to the Psalmist.… By the river, as has been said, the gifts of the Life-giving Spirit, those which through the throne of the Father and the Son, that is, the cherubic ranks upon whom God is enthroned, go out into the wide street of the city, that is, the thickly populated crowd of the saints, as out from the first into the second, being derived according to the harmonious arrangement of the heavenly hierarchies. by Tree of Life is meant Christ, whom we apprehend in the Holy Spirit and in relation to the Spirit. For the Spirit is in him, and he is worshiped in the Spirit and is the Bestower of the Spirit, and through him the twelve fruits of the apostolic choral assembly are granted to us, the unfailing fruit of the knowledge of God through whom the “acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense” are proclaimed to us, having been foretold by the prophet.

Leaves of the tree, that is, of Christ, are the most superficial understandings of the divine decrees, as his fruits are the more perfect knowledge being revealed in the future. These leaves will be for healing, that is, for the purging of ignorance of those pagans inferior in the activity of virtues, because “the glory of the sun is one thing, the glory of the moon is another, and the glory of the stars is something else,” and “there are many mansions in the Father’s house.” They will be worthy, the one of a lesser brightness and the other of greater, according to the correspondence of the deeds of each. And one must also understand this differently. The Tree of Life producing twelve fruits is the apostolic assembly according to their participation in the true Tree of Life, who, by his communion with the flesh, bestowed upon us participation in his divinity. Their fruits are those which have produced a “harvest one hundredfold.” The leaves are those bore harvest of “sixtyfold and thirtyfold,” those who will bring forth healing of the nations, those lesser, transmitting the radiance of the divine lights which they received through those who bore a fruit harvest one hundredfold. For whatever difference there is between the leaves and fruit, then such is the difference between those who were saved then, some being glorified less and some glorified more, as has been written.

Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.… The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Rev 21:9-14, 21-27)

Through these it is shown that not only the angels apply distressing wounds, but they are like doctors, on one occasion cutting and on another pouring on assuaging medicines. For the one, then bringing the wound upon the ones deserving it, now shows to the saint the great blessedness of the Church. Correctly it says the Bride of the Lamb is wife, for when Christ was sacrificed as a lamb, He gave Himself in marriage by His own blood. For just as the woman was formed out of the sleeping Adam, by removal from side, thus also, Christ having voluntarily slept by death on the cross, the Church, constituted by the pouring out of blood from His side, is given in marriage, having been united to the One suffering for us.

Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse

The Lord God Almighty is its temple. God established the temple so that the people gathered within the walls of the temple might call on him whom neither the world nor the temple can contain. In this way their minds might obtain through the work of faith what cannot be seen of God. However, where he openly manifests himself to the faithful there a temple is neither desired nor existent, for he who sanctifies the temple is known in the sight of all. What an image there is in these words, that the city, which has no need of a temple, has no need of the brightness of the heavenly luminaries! And what is the reason for this? Because the glory of God gives it light. The glory of God, that is, the presence of his majesty, about which it is said: “We shall see him as he is.” Therefore, why would those who shall see God have need of sun or moon?

By the light, the Lamb is clearly shown to be the city’s lamp, and the kings and the nations will walk in his light. The prophet knew this and said: “In Your light we shall see light.” The apostle also spoke concerning this light: “The night is far gone, the day is at hand.” The Evangelist also writes in a similar way: “The life was the light of people, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” This is to say, what the nature of our weakness had concealed and what the shadow of our humanity had rendered dark was made clear by the assumption of the Lord’s body. And while God, who is light, inhabits the lot of our flesh, He enlightens the whole by the greatness of his glory. For this reason the honor and the glory of the kings and the nations are given to Him, because all have been made glorious through Him, and the darkness of night shall not overcome His faithful, whom the presence of the Lamb and the Word of the ineffable, unbegotten Father illuminate.

Apringius of Beja, Explanation of the Revelation

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday of Easter

New Jerusalem, Bamberg Apocalypse Folio 55r

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (Rev 21:1–7)

And from this is shown the expression of newness of transformation characteristic of greater joy, which the Jerusalem from above will reach, descending from the bodiless powers above onto human beings on account of both sides <human and angelic> having a common head, Christ our God. This city is to be held together by the saints—about whom it is written, “Holy stones are employed upon the earth”—having the cornerstone Christ. It is called, on the one hand, city as the dwelling place of the Royal Trinity—who dwells in her and walks about in her as it has been promised—and, on the other hand, bride since she is united to the Master being joined to the highest and inseparable union, adorned, as if within, according to the Psalmist, having glory and beauty in the varied abundance of virtues.

From heaven the saint is taught that this tabernacle is real, of which the type was shown to Moses, rather the prefiguration of the type, which happens <to be> the type of the Church today. In this “tabernacle not made by hands” there will be neither weeping nor tear. For the Provider of everlasting joy will give the unceasing delight to be seen by all the saints.

Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Albrecht Durer

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev 7:9-17)

They will no longer hunger or thirst, as the Lord says: “I am the bread of life. One who comes to Me will not hunger, and one who believes in Me will never thirst”; and again: “One who drinks from the water I shall give him will never thirst, but there will be in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life.” Neither will the sun or any heat beat down upon them. This is what God says through Isaiah about the church: “There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat, and protection from the storm and rain”; and again: “Throughout the day the sun will not smite you, nor will the moon throughout the night.” He says that the power of the sacraments is effectual in His own, and is in no way extinguished by the heat of temptation.

He had said that the Lamb took the book from the one sitting “on the throne.” Now he says the Lamb is sitting in the midst of the throne, that is, Christ in the midst of the church. This is His throne, with which He rose again on the throne. And he will lead them to the springs of the waters of life, that is, to the pasture of the spiritual sacraments, as the church herself says: “The Lord shepherds me and I shall have need of nothing. He has established me there in a place of pasture. He has led me beside water of refreshment”; again through Isaiah: “They will be fed on all roads, and their pastures will be on all pathways. They will neither hunger nor thirst nor will the heat or sun beat down upon them. But He shows mercy upon them and will encourage them and will lead them through springs of water, and will make every mountain into a level road and every pathway into a pasture for them.”

All these things happen spiritually to the church when, having our sins forgiven, we rise again, and, having disarmed the old man of our former life, we put on Christ and are filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. For in this way the Lord promises this life to His church: “Behold, I am making Jerusalem cheerful and my people a delight. And I will be joyful over Jerusalem, and I will be glad over my people. And neither will the voice of weeping nor the sound of crying be heard in her any longer. And in that place there will no longer be an infant and elderly person who does not fulfill his time. For a young person will be a hundred years old, and a sinner who dies at a hundred years old will be accursed. They will build houses, and they will live in them. And they will plant vineyards, and they and their descendants will eat their fruit.” All these things concern spiritual worshipers, not those of the world whose works frequently [are shown] in their courses [to have been performed] in vain. For a young person will be a hundred years old because although someone may be a hundred years old, nevertheless a young person is brought forth. For every gender and age, when baptized, rises again unto the age of Christ, as the Apostle says: “Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the full age of Christ.”

Tychonius, Exposition of the Apocalypse 7.16–17

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday of Easter

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:8–10)

The preaching of the Old Testament joined with the New reveals the Christian people singing a new song, that is, the proclaiming of their public confession. It is new that the Son of God became man; it is new that He was given over into death by people; it is new that He rose again on the third day; it is new that He ascended in the body into heaven; it is new that He gives the forgiveness of sins to people; it is new that people are sealed with the Holy Spirit; it is new that they receive the priestly service of supplication and await a kingdom of such immense promises. The harps, whose strings are stretched on its frame, signify the body of Christ, that is, the flesh of Christ bound to his passion. The bowls represent the confession of faith and the extension of the new priesthood. The praise is “of many angels,” indeed, it is of all who bring the thanksgiving of all the elect to our Lord for the deliverance of the human race from the destruction of death.

Victorinus of Petovium, Commentary on the Apocalypse 5

The song sung to God incarnate is new, since it had never been invented before the incarnation. What was the song? You are worthy, he says, to effect this salvation for human beings, You who were slain for us, and with Your blood you took possession of many from among those under heaven. Very correctly he said from every tribe and tongue and people and nation: for He did not acquire possession of everyone (for many died in unbelief), but only those who were worthy of salvation. The prophet also said something similar, “Arise, O God, judge the earth, because You” will place “your inheritance among all the nations,” where he does not simply say “all the nations.” And he made them kings and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth. You can indeed understand this literally, for the kings and leaders of the churches are faithful people and servants of Christ. But you can also understand kings to be those who control their passions and are not controlled by them. And you can understand priests to be those who present their own persons “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” as Scripture says.

Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse 5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday of Easter

John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. (Revelation 1:4–8, 12–18)

He means that it was to Him who loved us that glory and might are due. For how did He not love who “gave Himself as a ransom” for the life of the world? And to Him who washed us from our sins by his blood: for He Himself removed “the bond which stood against us with its legal demands, and He nailed it to the” wood of His “cross,” paying for our sins by His own death, and with His own blood setting us free from our transgressions. He did this by “becoming subject unto death, even death on the cross,” and so healing our disobedience. And appointed a kingdom for us: and what is the advantage of our becoming, as he says, priests to God and His prophets? That human beings should have been considered worthy of these both confirms for us the kingdom to come and promises ineffable glory in the present. For this is greater and more wonderful than washing away our sins in his own blood, and deserves to be called the gift of God, just as our appointment as priests and prophets of God without having made any kind of previous offering is the mark of such a gift.

And His feet, he says, were like burnished bronze: he refers to the bronze mined on Mount Lebanon as being pure even in itself and as rendered even purer when it has been refined in a furnace and cleansed of its slight impurity. In this way the steadfastness and constancy, as well as the brightness and glory, of faith in Christ is signified when it has come to assurance. For the apostle calls Christ “a rock,” and Isaiah calls Him “a precious stone” in the foundations “of Zion.” Else he means that the burnished bronze is the copper-colored frankincense which medical men are accustomed to call male. This is fragrant when burnt; for the fiery furnace represents the symbol of the burning of incense, which is the foundation of the preaching of the gospel—for the feet are the foundation of the rest of the body, which is Christ. For He is fragrant, and with spiritual fragrance he gives charm to the things in heaven and the things on earth. Paul, too, calls Christ “a foundation” in writing the first epistle to the Corinthians, saying, “Like a wise master-builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. Let each one take care how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse 1.13, 27

Patristic Wisdom for Easter Sunday

Il Baciccio, The Women at the Tomb

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” (Luke 24:1–7)

The women came to the sepulcher, and when they could not find the body of Christ,—for He had risen,—they were much perplexed. And what followed? For their love’s sake unto Christ, and their earnest zeal thereunto, they were counted worthy of seeing holy angels, who even told them the joyful tidings, and became the heralds of the resurrection, saying, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.” For the Word of God ever lives, and is by His own nature Life: but when He humbled Himself unto emptying, and submitted to be made like unto us, He tasted death. But this proved to be the death of death: for He arose from the dead, to be the way whereby not Himself so much but we rather return unto incorruption. And let no one seek Him Who ever lives among the dead, for He is not here, with mortality, that is, and in the tomb. But where rather is He? in heaven plainly, and in godlike glory.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke 24

Patristic Wisdom for Good Friday

O God, my God, hear me; why have You forsaken me?
The words of my transgressions are far from my salvation.

Psalm 22:1 LXX

Peter Paul Rubens

When He says: Look upon me, He begs that the aid of the resurrection may appear most swiftly for Him. Next comes: Why have You forsaken me? The word why is known to introduce a question; so the Master of consubstantial wisdom, the Spokesman of the Father is so confused by the impending death of His flesh that in apparent ignorance He asks the Father why He has been abandoned by Him. These and similar expressions seek to express His humanity, but we must not believe that divinity was absent to Him even at the passion, since the apostle says: If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Though He was impassible, He suffered through the humanity which He assumed, and which could suffer. He was immortal, but He died; He never dies, but He rose again. On this topic, Father Cyril expressed this beautiful thought: “Through the grace of God He tasted death for all, surrendering His body though by nature He was life and the resurrection of the dead.” Similarly blessed Ambrose says: “He both suffered and did not suffer, died and did not die, was buried and was not buried, rose again and did not rise again.” In the same way we say that man too even today suffers, dies and is buried, though his soul is not circumscribed by any end. So He attests that He was forsaken when He was interrogated, though in fact He could not have been consigned to the hands of wicked men if the power of His majesty had not allowed such things to happen. In the gospel-words: You would not have any power against me, unless it had been given you from above. He also broadcasts the experiences of the humanity which He assumed, repelling words of blasphemy and impious speech, for He says that words begotten by sins are far from Him. The salvation of His sacred soul was not to embrace the speech of sinners, but gladly to endure by the virtue of patience what He suffered through God’s dispensation. As He Himself says in the gospel: Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Then He added: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. He also speaks of the words of my sins when they belong to His members. He who was without sins called our sins His, just as in another psalm He is to say: O God, You know my foolishness, and my offenses are not hidden from You. So let us hear from the Head’s lips the words of the members, and realize that He has rightly spoken in our name, for He offered Himself as victim for the salvation of all. Hence Paul says: Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 22

Patristic Wisdom for Maundy Thursday

Albrecht Dürer

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:14-20)

He says, “I will no more draw near unto such a Passover as this,” one namely that consisted in the typical eating,—for a lamb of the flock was slain to be the type of the true Lamb,—“until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God:” that is, until the time has appeared in which the kingdom of heaven is preached. For this is fulfilled in us, who honor the worship that is superior to the law, even the true Passover; nor is it a lamb of the flock which sanctifies those who are in Christ, but Himself rather, being made a holy sacrifice for us, by the offering of bloodless oblations, and the mystical giving of thanks, in which we are blessed and quickened with life. For He became for us the living bread that came down from heaven, and gives life to the world.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Homily 141

But He is also within us in another way by means of our partaking in the oblation of bloodless offerings, which we celebrate in the churches, having received from Him the saving pattern of the rite, as the blessed Evangelist plainly shows us in the passage which has just been read. For He tells us that “He took a cup, and gave thanks, and said, ‘Take this, and divide it with one another.’” Now by His giving thanks, by which is meant His speaking unto God the Father in the manner of prayer, He signified unto us that He, so to speak, shares and takes part in His good pleasure in granting us the life-giving blessing which was then bestowed upon us: for every grace, and every perfect gift comes unto us from the Father by the Son in the Holy Spirit. And this act then was a pattern for our use of the prayer which ought to be offered, whenever the grace of the mystical and life-giving oblation is about to be spread before Him by us: and so accordingly we are wont to do. For first offering up our thanksgivings, and joining in our praises unto God the Father both the Son and the Holy Spirit, we so draw near unto the holy tables, believing that we receive life and blessing both spiritually and physically: for we receive in us the Word of the Father, Who for our sakes became man, and Who is Life, and the Giver of life.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Homily 142

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Palm Sunday

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. (Luke 22:1–7)

By its shadows, the law prefigured from of old the mystery of Christ. He is himself the witness of this when he said to the Jews, “If you would have believed Moses, you would have also believed me, for he wrote concerning me.” Christ is presented everywhere by means of shadows and types, both as slain for us, as the innocent and true Lamb, and as sanctifying us by his life-giving blood. We further find the words of the holy prophets in complete agreement with those of most wise Moses. Paul says, “When the fullness of time was come,” the only-begotten Word of God submitted to the emptying of himself, the birth in the flesh of a woman, and subjection to the law according to the measure that was fitting for human nature. He was also then sacrificed for us, as the innocent and true lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. This feast day was called Pascha, a word belonging to the Hebrew language and signifying the passing over.…

As then Israel was delivered form the tyranny of the Egyptians, and having loosed its neck from the yoke of bondage, was now free; and fleeing from the violence of the tyrant passed with dry foot in a manner wonderful and beyond the power of language to describe through the midst of the sea, and journeyed onward to the promised land: so must we too, who have accepted the salvation that is in Christ, be willing no longer to abide in our former faults, nor continue in our evil ways, but manfully cross over the sea, as it were, of the vain trouble of this world, and the tempest of affairs that is therein. We pass over therefore from the love of the flesh to temperance; from our former ignorance to the true knowledge of God; from wickedness into virtue: and in hope at least, from the blame of sin unto the glories of righteousness, and from death into incorruption. The name therefore of the feast on which Emmanuel bore for us the saving cross was the Passover.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Homily 141.